The Mets Blogosphere Just Got a Little More Crowded

(Note: Double the content today. A.F.O.M.G. is up first with the following piece about David Wright's new weblog. Immediately after this post appears Sip's recap of the first week in Mets baseball. Enjoy.)

So I was bouncing around the internets this past weekend and I came across a link for the new MLBlog written by David Wright, cleverly titled "Getting it Wright." Here's the link: http://davidwright.mlblogs.com/.

Now before we start raggin' on the guy for the unoriginal name, consider that D-Dubs is down on it as well. "The first thing I realize is that I need a cool name for my blog to replace 'Getting it Wright,'" he writes.

He then asks users to submit possible names in the comments section. Unlike the comment board here at Yankees 2000, Wright's comment board was a regular beehive of activity, with 320 responses submitted in the 3 days since his first entry was posted. Y2K readers take note.

Before we get to the actual content of Wright's first post, one thing that immediately struck me as odd about the design of the blog is that the second photo on the page comes from one of the Mets' worst losses all last year.

I was fortunate enough to be in a situation where I wasn't watching that game last year, against the Pirates I believe it was, when the Mets blew a 4-run lead with 2 outs in the 9th inning.

I definitely read about that game, however, and I definitely saw the photos of the Mets looking stunned and dejected in the dugout after the Pirates completed their improbable victory in extra innings.

This is the picture I most closely associate with that loss. For some reason, this is one of 5 pictures that appears in the column. Very strange.

The only possible explanation is that the site designers were trying to highlight the friendship between Wright and Floyd, which Wright alludes to in various places in his post.

I love the relationship these guys have. I doubt many of our readers caught their appearance on TRL this past week, lord knows I didn't, but if you managed to see "Mets Weekly" this past weekend on SNY, there was some great behind-the-scenes footage of the two of them.

My favorite moment had to be from footage shown backstage after the duo's appearance, during which Floyd had promised to hit a homerun in the Mets' next game.

Wright mentioned that he was nervous going out there, and then, after a slight pause, said there was no way he could have been nervous out there as Floyd was going to be the next night, given his promise to hit a homerun.

As Floyd began to formulate a response, Wright then assumed a genuinely speculative look, and said "Hmm... Babe Ruth... Cliff Floyd..." moving his hands up and down as he spoke.

It's hard to describe it properly but it was genuinely funny, and was suggestive of how close the two are.

Back on the blog, Wright credits Cliff with helping him get accustomed to the big leagues during his first full season. "My first season with the Mets went by fast. It was a lot of fun and memorable to say the least -– even having to take orders from Cliff Floyd.

"It was all part of the rookie experience, sort of my initiation into the big leagues. That stuff is all in good fun and it really helped make me feel like part of the team."

I smiled when I read that. Something about the way he described his servitude to Floyd last year reminded me of how the counselors at camp used to treat the kids they liked the best. You know, beat the shit out of them, make them do shitty jobs. It sounds crazy, sure, but it makes sense when it happens.

In any event, Wright confirms that he is no longer responsible for Cliff's belongings, saying that charge has shifted to newcomers Brian Bannister and Anderson Hernandez.

Like he always does, Wright said everything you'd hope he would about his expectations for the upcoming season.

"My biggest expectation going into this season is to win a lot more games. One way or another, that’s what we need to do and that’s really the only thing that matters," Wright said, adding that the only statistics that count are the ones in the won-loss column.

If I were younger, it's possible that Wright's quotes would bother me a little bit. They're always so perfect.

But I never get the sense that he's pandering when he gives an interview. I just believe the most important thing in his life is baseball, and that he's committed to turning the Mets, the team he grew up rooting for, into a winner.

Even if the fanbase thinks otherwise, the job of doing that doesn't fall solely on his shoulders. Wright points to the strong veteran presence on the team, saying those guys are responsible for setting a team-first mindset on the club.

"Those guys keep reinforcing –- as cliché as this sounds -– that we have to play for the team on the front of our jerseys rather than the name on the back," Wright says. "We have to pull for one another, play for one another and pick each other up."

Now look, I'm the guy who got borderline misty when he saw those MSG commercials last year when D-Wright said "We love being Mets. We bleed orange and blue," but let me just say that I've been waiting my whole life for somebody to talk the way Wright does. He just gets it.

As if all that weren't good enough, Wright also seems to be down with Y2K speak, referring to Mike Piazza as "a legend in this city."

Maybe we'll ask him to write a guest blog sometime. In the meantime, davidwright.mlblogs.com will have to suffice. Wright intends to update the blog at least once per homestand, so it's probably not worth turning it into a daily destination.

Still it's a great new feature, a great way for MLB to bring the fans closer to the game.

In any event, that about wraps it up. Great win yesterday. Would have been such an easy game to lose, and to see us gut it out was really encouraging. You've read a thousand times in the papers today how important it is that we beat up on lesser teams, but it's a point that can't be said often enough.

For one 5-game stretch, we did that. Now if we can only win a few on the road we should be in good shape.

- A.F.O.M.G.