For Baxter, College Is Just As Important As Baseball

A little over a week ago, Jon Morosi of Fox Sports, wrote an article about the rarity of college graduates playing Major League Baseball.

Through a survey conducted by Fox Sports, of the 917 players who have appeared in a game in the 2012 season, only 39 of them had a four-year degree.

That number is up from back in 2009 when the Wall Street Journal reported that only 26 players and managers had obtained their four-year degree.

This got me thinking. How many Mets players would be included on this list of college graduates.

The answer. Not many.

When I asked the Mets media relations staff, I was given one name. Mike Baxter.

During my recent trip to Pittsburgh, I had the chance to talk with Baxter about his decision to complete his degree.

You started at Columbia and then transferred to Vanderbilt. Was that for baseball reasons or academic reasons?

It was just baseball. When I was at Columbia I loved it there. I thought it was a really great school, but an opportunity kind of presented itself where Vanderbilt was transitioning and I decided it would probably be a better fit for me, both academically and athletically.

Conference Call With Rusty Staub

On Wednesday night, Mets bloggers had the opportunity to speak with Rusty Staub.

I decided to ask him about the upcoming Banner Day and how he, as one of this year's judges, would go about picking a winning banner.

“I think to pre-determine what I am looking for is crazy. I’ve seen banner day before. Some of the stuff has been very heartfelt, some of it has been very elaborate. To try and figure out which is going to look better than the other right now, I have no chance. I do think it’s a great thing the Mets are bringing this back. It was something that was a big day for the fans, and there is not a question there’s a lot of interest by a lot of the fans. I am looking forward to it myself. I think we’re all going to have a good day.”

Thanks to the guys over at Metsblog for transcribing the conference call. For more quotes from the conference call, click here.

Slideshow: Mets vs. Pirates

PNC Park in Pittsburgh is, by far, the nicest MLB ballpark I've visited so far. One of the perks to the park is that it was an easy walk over from the hotel. There was no need to worry about parking! It is also very fan friendly. Here is a slideshow of my trip to PNC Park.

Buffalo Pictures

I went to see the Bisons play Monday night in Buffalo. Below are some pictures from the game. They lost to the Indianapolis Indians by a score of 8-6.

Bullpen Leaves A Lot To Be Desired

Frank Francisco is awful. Manny Acosta is even worse.

Francisco can blame the umpire all he wants, but at the end of the day, he blew it. He blew Sunday's game against the Marlins, as well as Friday's game, and blew the Mets' chance to sweep Miami.

The ump didn't give up a triple to Emilio Bonifacio and a single to Greg Dobbs.

When Francisco argued with the home plate umpire, and eventually got himself ejected, SNY announcer Gary Cohen wondered if Francisco would land himself a suspension.

I doubt it, but may I suggest a 128 game suspension?

I have zero confidence in Francisco when he enters a game. I haven't felt this way since the days of Armando Benitez.

The fact that Terry Collins told reporters after Sunday's game that he would address the closer situation on Monday suggests to me that he is about done with Francisco's nonsense.

As for Acosta, I don't even know where to start. Someone explain to me why he is even on this team. I can't figure it out.

Give this team their props. They fight back day after day and put themselves in positions to win. What's the point of all that though if you go to the bullpen and they ruin it?

At this point, I'm not sure who would be the ideal choice to take over as closer. We may be seeing a closer by committee situation taking place soon.

David Wright Is Impressing This Critic

I'm not a big David Wright fan. I never have been. Don't ask me why, because I don't know.

It's hard not to be impressed by Wright at the moment though.

Since I can't keep up with what the Saber Nerds consider a "good stat," I'll just give you his whole line.

He leads the National League in batting average (.402) and on-base percentage (.489).

There's only one man who has had a hotter start to the season as a Met, and that was Cleon Jones who hit .411 in his first 50 games of the 1969 season.

In Saturday's start against the Marlins, Wright went 4-6 with three RBIs. Not too shabby for a guy who still has a fractured right pinky.

It's also hard not to notice that the apparent confidence he has at the plate right now is carrying over to the field.

To date, his fielding percentage is .986, and he has committed just one error. His throws the past few games have been spot on.

I don't expect Wright to maintain any of these stats. He's bound to go into a slump at some point. It's just the  nature of the game.

Even Wright feels that his dominance at the plate won't continue.

Can .400 continue for Wright? 

"I'm going to be honest with you," the third baseman replied as he prepared to depart Marlins Park on Saturday. "No."

How does Wright feels looking at the stadium scoreboard and seeing .402? 

"It feels like it's May," Wright replied. "There's a long way to go. Those are unrealistic goals."

Let's hope for the Mets' sake that these numbers do continue. Let's face it, whether you like him or not, if Wright is playing well, the Mets are playing well.

All Aboard!

With the sweep in Philadelphia Wednesday night, it seems as though more and more people are hopping on the Mets bandwagon.

Yes, it's early and there's still plenty of time left in the season for the team to tank, but for now, they're a lot of fun to watch.

They're a young group that has some personality and some fight.

Raise your hand if you thought, going into Philadelphia Monday night, that after having to face Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee the team would walk away winning not one, not two, but ALL THREE games?

If you raised your hand I think you're lying. But anyway...

The 2012 Mets may not be the most talented group out there, but they have a lot of heart and it's paying off.

This has been a fun season so far. Keep it up. Let's Go Mets!