Thanks everyone for the continued updates as Spring Training gets rolling and the numbers pile up.
I’ve been very busy lately (more on that below) but happened to tune into the Twitter Garbage Fire ignited by Ken Davidoff’s curious piece in the Post yesterday suggesting Lucas Duda was the club’s most “overhated” and underappreciated Met. I have no problem with opinion columnists sharing opinions — particularly provocative ones — but this one simply didn’t ring true and marked the second time this month a Post columnist goofed in delivering supposed insights to the team (see Kernan’s since scrubbed-clean Jerry Blevins piece discussed below). I have a lot of respect for the Post sports but they can’t be misinterpreting fan sentiment and also cover it well.
While objectively there probably are some Mets fans who dislike Duda (some people don’t like puppies either) Davidoff’s search for an angle overlooks the obvious. Duda in fact strikes me as an especially easy player to root for, even among a current squad with plenty to like: He’s darn good to start with, and his seeming discomfort in the spotlight to me makes him come off very much one of us.
Some of you may know this, but I’m busy in part because I’m making the final touches on the manuscript for a new-and-improved Mets by the Numbers book, publishing later this year (June 7) by Sports Publishing LLC. Again written with Matt Silverman, MBTN Mach II is more than just an update of the 2008 classic but a thorough and loving re-write with more cool stuff! Not everyone gets to re-write their first book, and I’m very proud of this version, and hope you will consider a few copies for yourself and the Met fan in your life. More news on that to come.
In the meantime, lots of interesting Met books are on the way this year including Greg Prince’s Amazin’ Again — a lickety-split recap of that terrific 2015 season we just had, Ron Darling’s intriguing Game 7, 1986, Erik Sherman’s Kings of Queens and Matt’s own One-Year Dynasty, all reflections on the 30-year anniversary of that season.
Dirk Lammers, a journalist who chronicled the Mets’ futile quest for a no-hitter until Johan Santana came along and ruined it all, has applied his deep knowledge of everything no-hitter into a new book, No-Hit Wonders, which I’m proud to say includes an enthusiastic back-cover blurb by yours truly. Dirk has done great work well beyond his service providing the uni-number graphics at this site, and you’ll enjoy that one too.
