Category Archives: Mets

You can exhale: The Mets locked up Tim Byrdak

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The Mets announced yesterday that they agreed to a one-year contract extension with Tim Byrdak. The news came right on the heels of the lefty’s second win of the season.

After a rough start to the year, Byrdak has capably served his role for the Mets. He has held lefties to a .208/.260/.323 line and though he’s 37 now, he’ll likely again be a solid lefty one-out guy in 2012.

After the announcement, Sandy Alderson stressed that the Mets now have two left-handed relievers locked up heading into the offseason: Byrdak and Daniel Herrera. But since Herrera also seems to profile as a LOOGY, it’s tough to imagine the Mets carrying both pitchers on the 25-man roster.

Wait, that’s not true. It’s easy to imagine them doing so, it’s just tough to imagine how it would be a good idea. Unless the team believes Byrdak or Herrara can regularly retire both lefty and righty hitters — Jerry Manuel’s much-coveted “crossover” guy, carrying both would mean committing a pair of rosters sports to maybe 90 total innings. Unless they have a great rotation — which they won’t — that would likely wind up putting a lot of stress on the other arms in the bullpen.

For long parts of this season, much was made of the Mets’ need for a second lefty in the bullpen. That makes sense, given some of the strong lefty hitters in their division and Terry Collins’ worship of platoon matchups. But ideally one of those lefties would need to be able to work more than part-inning stints lest the bullpen collapse on itself (even more).

Also worth nothing: Byrdak is hilarious. Sometime in the next couple weeks I’ll post a montage of his videobombs on teammates.

Sandwiches of Citi Field: Pastrami on rye

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New to the Citi Field menu this year, the pastrami sandwich is available at a concession stand on the Field Level concourse behind left field. It’s also available elsewhere, but I’m pretty sure this is the one you want.

Every sandwich is made with meat hand-sliced fresh from the brisket, weighed out on a scale to six ounces — plenty of meat for a sandwich on regular-sized bread*. The guy making my sandwich then squirted mustard on one slice of rye and pressed it up against the other, ensuring even mustard distribution across both slices. That’s going the extra mile. Oh, and it comes with a pickle:

I don’t normally eat a lot of pastrami, but even as a novice I can tell this is a hell of a pastrami sandwich. The big challenge I’ve always found in cooking brisket is keeping it moist, but that’s not an issue here. This is meatjuice-dripping-down-your-arms moist. Tasty too, by no means overseasoned but with the flavor of coriander lingering after every bite.

The bread is soft — maybe too soft. I generally prefer rye that’s chewy around the crust, and this wasn’t exactly that. It didn’t take anything away from the sandwich, but I think good, strong, flavorful rye can often add something. The mustard tasted like mustard and the pickle was predictably amazing.

It’s $10.50, which is a lot. But then the touristy deli stops in Manhattan charge way more. They also give way more meat, but that seems like more of a gimmick than an effort at a well-proportioned sandwich.

*- Speaking of which: When I worked at the deli we were told to aim for about 1/3 pound of meat for sandwiches on bread or regular rolls and 1/2 pound for sandwiches on heroes. We never measured it out because with a couple weeks’ worth of meat-slicing experience it becomes pretty easy to eyeball amounts. I always tended to go a little bit over on my sandwiches, figuring people could always take meat off the sandwich.

But one time, in my first week, a guy asked for an “American.” That wasn’t on the menu, but he meant the standard ham-turkey-roast beef-cheese combo familiar from six-foot catering heroes. I kind of lost focus while slicing the guy’s ham and gave him about a full sandwich’s worth, and the roast beef we had was tough to slice thin, so he wound up with a lot of that. Then I wanted to make it look even so I gave him a lot of turkey too.

He wound up with a full pound of meat on his sandwich. I know because he took it back and showed it to my boss after he opened it, and I got my first (and only) stern talking-to about sandwich construction. Looking back on it now: Why’d you sell me out like that, guy? I gave you a pound of meat! You could take half of it off the sandwich and have enough to make another massive sandwich later in the day. C’mon, guy.

Mets as Taco Bell menu items

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For yesterday’s Baseball Show, Randy from The Apple asked me which Taco Bell menu item Jose Reyes would be if Jose Reyes were a Taco Bell menu item. This inspired Twitter discussion about which Mets best correlate with which products, and, ultimately, this post.

Jose Reyes: Volcano Taco. The Volcano Taco is fiery and awesome, one of the very best options on the Taco Bell menu. But like all hard tacos, its value is hampered by its brittleness.

David Wright: Crunchwrap Supreme. We got so excited when the Crunchwrap Supreme first joined and dominated the menu that it might now be the victim of its own hype. Nonetheless, the Crunchwrap Supreme is excellent. It can boast all the ingredients that make Taco Bell great, there’s just nothing about it that stands out as obviously spectacular.

Daniel Murphy: Cheesy Gordita Crunch. Sometimes the Cheesy Gordita Crunch is on the menu and sometimes it’s not. Sometimes it seems soft, sometimes strong. Some people seem to overrate it, some underrate it. But it’s always pretty good, and due to its unique construction it’s pretty versatile.

Mike Pelfrey: Nachos BellGrande. Nachos BellGrande can be pretty frustrating. Sometimes you’ll get a bite that’s got the perfect distribution of toppings and be all, “holy crap, these nachos are amazing, they’re everything everyone told me they’d be and more.” But then other times you’ll wind up with a chip with nothing on it, and be like, “These nachos are mentally weak.” Too much of the Nachos BellGrande can be difficult to stomach. They require some patience, and they’re always much better at home than on the road.

Daniel Ray Herrera: Cinnamon Twists. Cinnamon Twists are unlike anything else on the Taco Bell menu. They’re small, but they’re a pretty good value. They can serve a useful but very specialized role when you need something sweet to counter all the salty stuff you’ve had. But you’re never going to want them as a full meal.

Nick Evans: Doritos Loco Taco. I’ll turn this one over to Twitterer @TeamHate: We’re not sure if it exists, but we’re all willing to give it a try.

Dillon Gee: Chicken Flatbread Sandwich. The Chicken Flatbread Sandwich is pretty new to the menu and some people probably went a little too crazy about it when it first showed up. But it’s OK. It’s inexpensive and a good, efficient way to fill out your order. Five Chicken Flatbread Sandwiches would make for a pretty boring and underwhelming meal, though.

Ryota Igarashi: Strawberry Fruitista Freeze. If Taco Bell decided to take the Strawberry Fruitista Freeze off the menu tomorrow, I’d be fine with that. And then years later I’d think back and chuckle, “Man, remember what a bad idea that turned out to be?”

Lucas Duda: XXL Grilled Stuft Burrito. The XXL Grilled Stuft Burrito is massive and pretty good.

Jason Isringhausen: MexiMelt. People sometimes snicker about the MexiMelt because it’s got a silly name and it’s been around forever. But truth is, the MexiMelt can still get the job done in a limited role.

Johan Santana: Bacon Cheeseburger Burrito. The Bacon Cheeseburger Burrito has been gone so long that it has receded in our minds, a hazy memory of something superbly awesome. But Taco Bell enthusiasts everywhere pine for its return.

Jason Bay: Taco Bell screwed up my order. Look: No one goes to Taco Bell expecting five-star haute cuisine. But you at least expect they’ll give you what you ask for with reasonable efficiency and at a fair price. Then every once in a while everything goes wrong, and you wind up paying too much and getting way less than you expected.

Who else?

Sandwiches of Citi Field: Pulled chicken sandwich

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You might not know about this one. I’ve only seen it available in the Caesar’s Club, conveniently located right behind the press box. It may also exist at some of the other clubs at Citi Field, but I haven’t spent much time in any of those.

Speaking of, though: If you’re a sandwich enthusiast and Citi Field regular and you know of some less-heralded sandwiches available in odd spots in the park, let me know. I’m going to eat every one eventually. I’ve got my eye on the pastrami and the Mex burger, and I know there’s a Reuben at the Caesar’s club too. I hope all will be better than this:

That’s pulled chicken, cheddar cheese and barbecue sauce on French bread. I ate this one near the end of the Mets’ double-header with the Braves last week and it had clearly been sitting under a heat lamp for a while. But even knowing how it would have been better earlier in the game, this was still a pretty disappointing sandwich.

The bread was OK — toasty, bready — and the chicken was reasonably moist considering the circumstances. But I could hardly taste anything besides the cloyingly sweet barbecue sauce. I should have gussied this one up with some toppings, but by that point they were clearly trying to shut the toppings stations down for the night and I didn’t want to make anyone’s life more difficult.

Speaking of chicken sandwiches available at Citi Field and toppings, though: On Friday I tried the fried chicken sandwich from Blue Smoke again and topped it off with fresh jalapenos and pickles. It was unbelievable — better even than my wife’s pulled pork sandwich, which has never been as good as the first time I had it.

LOL Mets 2012 schedule

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Major League Baseball released its full schedule for 2012, and the Mets’ kind of sucks. I’ve come to be something of an apologist for Interleague Play even if I think it lasts too long every summer. It’s a good way for fans to get to watch great players we don’t often see in person, like Jose Bautista and Kevin Youkilis and… Nolan Reimold?

The Mets will host two Interleague series in 2012: One with the Yankees and one with the Orioles. With the NL East and AL East due to match up, the Mets drew the one team in that division that’s not really at all compelling. The Orioles have a bunch of young players so there’s some chance they start to turn it around by June 18, 2012, but I was really hoping to get to watch Bautista tee off in Citi Field.

Of course, the Blue Jays are one of only six big-league teams I haven’t seen in their home park, so perhaps a road trip is in order. The Mets are ticketed for Toronto the weekend of May 18-20. Are there any notable sandwiches there? The Wikipedia tells me that one of the city’s nicknames is “Hogtown,” so that sounds promising.

John Sickels scouts Chris Schwinden

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There is nothing special about [Chris Schwinden’s] velocity, his fastball is just in the 86-90 range. He mixes in a cutter, curveball, and changeup, relying on sharp command of his secondary pitches to succeed. He has little margin for error and needs a strong defense behind him, but there are pitchers with worse stuff who have made careers for themselves due to superior command, and he’s shown the ability to make adjustments to higher level competition.

Schwinden really snuck up on us this year, but I don’t see him as a total fluke. I think he projects as a fifth starter or long relief type as long as his command remains strong.

– John Sickels, MinorLeagueBall.com.

Sickels scouts Schwinden, a surprise Triple-A success. I link it here because I like the idea of the Mets trying him — and guys like him — in the bullpen. Middling starters often turn into very effective relievers. And though Schwinden doesn’t have the type of stuff typically associated with late-inning bullpen roles, he appears apt to get the ball over the plate — more than many members of the Mets’ current bullpen can boast.

But obviously the first step is securing enough decent starters that they won’t need Schwinden in the Major League rotation.