There’s a number of reasons why I’m the one writing this post and not the usual ladies who do these. I see Murph fairly frequently, as I watch the Mets more nights than not. I also have a multitude of accidental fanservice photos of Murph (which you’ll see in this post) because he has a habit of fanservicing himself unintentionally.

But the main reason? Daniel Murphy is the namesake of my internet-famous (not really) cat.

Can you blame me? I was a sophomore in college recently returned from a Spring Training trip when I found that six-week-old kitten. He didn’t look like a Jed, so I couldn’t call him after my all-time favorite person to do anything with baseball, Jed Lowrie, but he did look an awful lot like a Murphy, so Murphy it was. My roommate and I had just discovered that Daniel Murphy was extremely good-looking, too, so his name popped into my head. As you can see, we were clearly right:

I took this in 2011 at Nationals Park.

More photos of Human!Murphy after the jump. I’ll let you know if they’re not mine, which will be somewhat unlikely since I have so many, but you get the idea.

» Continue reading “Designated Hotter: Daniel Murphy”

Soon my safe haven might be a shelter for everyone. (Photo by me.)

Most people know I’m a Mets fan. You can figure it out pretty quickly based on how I’m dressed, what I do every night at 7 pm (stare at SNY for three hours and cry), and the memorabilia scattered around my house.

What most people don’t know from looking at me at first glance is that I have Asperger’s syndrome.

Asperger’s is on the autism spectrum on the higher end; people with Asperger’s can lead normal lives, but tend to have issues with social skills and whatnot. I thrive in academia – I’m a historian and I’m training to be an archivist – but throw me into a room with lots of talkative people and it’s too much for me. I’m prone to sensory overload, so when I was at a concert with a good friend recently and it was only general admission, it was my worst nightmare. (I also ended up with a concussion, but let’s not go there for now.) If things are too loud, smell too strongly, have a certain texture, or are even too bright, it’ll be painful beyond belief for me. A loud family member of mine, my paternal grandmother, physically gives me headaches.

And I’m on the higher end of the spectrum. Imagine what it’s like for people lower on the scale.

I love baseball to bits and pieces. I’ve been going to games my entire life and I’ve been raised to treat baseball as something sacred, almost like a religion, which I do. I’m at my happiest when I’m at the ballpark, even if it’s a little high school field somewhere in rural Pennsylvania. It’s a truly magical place for me, and it’s one of those rare times when I can go out in public and feel entirely safe and not judged by everyone around me. I feel different a lot of the time, and I still have this sinking feeling from my childhood that people are judging me, but at the ballpark that all disappears for me because we’re all united in the same spirit – the passion for baseball. Nobody thinks I’m crazy there. I fit in.

Sometimes, though, even there the crowds and noises and smells can be overwhelming for me, and if I’m separated from the people I’m with it can make me somewhat nervous until I find them again. It’s easier once the game has started and less people are on the concourses, but prior to that everyone’s bustling about and there’s so much chaos that it’s easy to be overcome by it all.

My childhood team is about to make it all easier, though: they’re considering adding quiet seating at Citi Field to allow families affected by autism to come to the ballpark and not be entirely overwhelmed. This is actually really exciting to me because although I’m able to handle sitting in regular seating with the crowds, other people further down on the spectrum might not, so now they, too, can enjoy the game that’s been such an intrinsic part of my life for all of these years. The more I think about it, the more I realize this can help people not just with autism spectrum disorders, but with other conditions, as well – epileptics might find this seating safer, for one. People with service animals who need quieter areas to sit can come here, as well, as the animals might find it less overwhelming, too. This opens up a whole new realm to people who want to attend a ballgame but for various medical reasons just aren’t able to.

Sometimes I get uncomfortable about being catered to – in fact, I generally don’t like it, as it can come across as insulting. When I tell people I have Asperger’s, I either hear, “Really? You don’t even seem like you’re autistic!” or “Oh my God, your life must be so hard and terrible.” Autism spectrum disorders carry a certain stigma with them these days (which is why I get angry at Autism Speaks – and the internet – but that’s an issue for another time). At first, when I heard that Citi Field was considering this seating, I was concerned that they were condescending to people like me, but then I thought about it a bit more and I realized something. Buildings have been handicap-accessible for decades now. There are sections in most structures for smokers and non-smokers. There are signs up on the sides of roads to protect blind and deaf children from being struck by motorists. This really isn’t much different than all of that, to be honest. It’s just adding accessibility to a group of people who previously didn’t have much of it.

And that’s fine with me, especially if it means that maybe I’ll have some more people to recite stats back and forth with to disturb the general public with how much we remember.

(Steph writes about having Asperger’s at her blog, Asperger’s Illustrated. Go check it out if you’re interested in learning more about living with an autism spectrum disorder and follow her on Twitter at @1863_project.)

My hero. Image is from Wikipedia.

This was the day I’ve been waiting for…for fifty years.

Let me explain. I’m a twenty-three-year-old Mets fan. When your team’s been around for fifty years and you’ve never had a no-hitter, though, you carry a burden like that as if you were alive when the team was founded.

Tonight, Johan lifted the yoke from our collective shoulders, hurling a no-hitter for the first time in Mets history. He had eight strikeouts on the night, including the last out of the night, David Freese, who Johan was down 3-0 to before battling back to earn the K.

Mike Baxter also contributed in a big way with a game-saving catch that you’ll undoubtedly see everywhere on ESPN for the next several days. He slammed into the left field wall, injuring his shoulder in the process, but he kept the no-hitter alive and made everything possible. Now we just have to hope he’ll be okay – Baxter grew up in Queens as a Mets fan and undoubtedly wanted to do anything he could to ensure his team achieved something it had never done before.

It was an individual on Twitter who pointed out the strange coincidence in the numbers tonight: the Mets scored eight runs on eight hits to go with Johan’s eight strikeouts. Gary Carter wore number eight.

I’m going to go back to sobbing like a lunatic now.

We've got the All-Star Game! Photo by me from 2009.

And this Mets fan couldn’t be more excited about this, because it means she might have a chance to actually go.

Except she doesn’t have that sort of money.

Anyway, Citi Field has officially been tabbed to host the 2013 Major League Baseball All-Star Game, which is super-excitng since the Mets haven’t hosted since 1964. That was in Shea, which I’ll admit was a fairly ugly building, but the last time there was a walk-off homer in the All-Star Game it happened in that game. That’s a good trivia question: who was the last person to hit a walk-off home run in an All-Star Game? (It’s Johnny Callison.)

Here’s a few tips I can give you in advance:

• The lines at Shake Shack will be too long. If you want to get food there, go as soon as you get into the building.
• Box Frites has fries that you can get with a bacon aioli. GET IT. And get it quickly because it sells out.
• There’s no such thing as a bad seat in Citi Field, but I personally like sitting in left field – you can see everything and if you’ve got a good enough camera you can get great photos of whoever’s at bat.
• Check out the Mets Hall of Fame if you get the chance – it’s quite nice and there’s some awesome memorabilia in there!
• The main store tends to be crowded, but the ones in the upper levels aren’t usually as packed. If you want to find something quickly, those are your best bets.

In all, this is super-exciting and it might just be what Citi Field needs to finally fill the seats! I’m stoked even though I won’t have the money to go, and you should be too!

R.A. Dickey's memoir reveals some shocking personal secrets.

Nobody wants to learn these sorts of things. It really hurts when it’s about someone who you admire.

I really admire R.A. Dickey for a number of things, the foremost reason being that he prioritizes reading and education and makes sure to spread that message around. Well, that and he named his bats after Lord of the Rings and Beowulf swords and his new minivan the Millennium Falcon. He’s somebody that makes being a nerd and an athlete at the same time okay, and I love that.

His upcoming memoir, however, is going to be revealing some things about his life that I never would have expected from someone who seems so confident today, both on the mound and in the clubhouse. His childhood was quite bleak, and we’re really lucky he’s still here.

He even considered not being here.

An article from NESN this morning revealed some of the details of his book, scheduled to be released on March 29th (Thursday):

As Andy Martino of the New York Daily News — which will also be providing excerpts of the memoir in Thursday’s issue — points out, Dickey “reveals that he was sexually abused as an 8-year-old, and later lived with so much anger and shame that he contemplated suicide just a few years before signing with the Mets.”

Dickey, who has finally come into his own over the past two seasons with the Mets, also reportedly writes about “closing down Nashville barrooms with his mother at age five, sleeping in abandoned houses as a teenager, swimming with alligators and turning to sports in an effort to mitigate the pain brought on by the sexual abuse.”

Martino’s article goes into more detail:

In the memoir, Dickey writes of repeated abuse by a female babysitter, and one instance perpetrated by a 17-year-old boy.

“I felt dirty, I felt ashamed and alone, and I felt there was something terribly wrong with me,” Dickey says. He kept the secret for almost 25 years, not even telling his wife, Anne, until they were married for eight years.

Nobody wants to read this about anybody, let alone somebody who is in the public eye as much as he is – this is a Major League pitcher we’re talking about here. I am honestly astounded at his courage in talking about these experiences. I’ve recently been opening up about how badly I was bullied as a kid to help others, but this is an even more difficult confession to make, and I salute him for doing so. At the very least, this might help to both raise awareness and encourage other people to speak up and help themselves and others.

The view is good at Citi. Photo by EliseMyers

Only a few weeks ago, I visited Yankee Stadium to witness a depressing sweep over my dear Toronto Blue Jays. For one game, (and one especially disheartening loss, I might add), I was joined by Dana Wagner, fellow Aerys writer, Cubs fan, and resident beer expert. You can read the article we wrote for Around The Horn on the beers of Yankee Stadium here.

If you recall, the beer selection at Yankee Stadium left a lot to be desired- at least for snobby foragers of craft and micro brews like ourselves. The closest Yankee Stadium came to “local” beer was Yuengling, a lager based out of Philly, which was confuddlingly listed in the menu of “Imported Beers.” But I digress.

That was then.

We are gathered here today in part to forget about the follies of the Bronx. For recently, we explored a new territory, known as Citi Field, home of the Mets, in the borough of Queens. For those of you who are not aware, there are other baseball stadiums in New York City. I know, right? Shocker. » Continue reading “Beer Tour: Citi Field”

NL East Standings courtesy of: MLB.com

As the regular season winds down and playoff wishes are either granted or dashed, for this edition of the National League East for Around the Horn, I got a little perspective from Aerys Sports lead writers for the Florida Marlins and Washington Nationals.

Miri Diaz, lead writer for A Fishy Situation:

As a Marlins fan, I am used to seeing my team struggle a bit. This season was the worst that I can remember. June… no one wants to think about June. I think we only won as many games as I can count with my 10 fingers. August was almost just as bad.   This year has also seen it’s fair share of drama. This team is like the Real Housefish of Miami. Logan Morrison is not one to keep his mouth shut, so he’s always involved in something somehow. Hanley Ramirez, the team diva and Mr. Do No Wrong in team owner, Jeffrey Loria’s eyes, acting like a drama king. Then Wes Helms and Mike Cameron are released from the team due to conduct. Sigh…

I just want this year to be over with so we can look at 2012 with a lot of great things coming. I just hope the ownerships respects the history of this team and the fans and keep changes decent.

Keara Dowd, lead writer for Win For Teddy:

To sum up the Nats season in a word, only one comes to mind: future.  This season we got to see the development of young talent finally pay off with Danny Espinosa, Wilson Ramos, and Ian Desmond.  Stephen Strasburg returned, Jordan Zimmermann emerged, and Bryce Harper debuted.

There wasn’t much expectation for this year from the beginning.  The team improved from last season, which is a victory in itself.  This team grew closer with the sudden resignation of Jim Riggleman, and they pushed through a bad situation.  While many aspects of the team are still up in the air, one thing is certain: the next couple of years are going to be very, very fun to watch.

Thanks Keara and Miri!

The Philadelphia Phillies just won their 5^th consecutive NL East Division title and are on pace to have the best overall record in the National League, and possibly in all of baseball.  I’ll be completely honest, I’m beyond STOKED!  I’ve been a Phillies fan since birth, I watched them win the whole thing in 1980 and 2008, almost win it in 1993 and 2009, and hopefully will see them win it in 2011!

The Atlanta Braves are still leading the Wild Card race by 3 1/2 games over the St. Louis Cardinals, but the Cards are hot on the their trail and don’t look like a team that’s going to go away easily.  So the Braves who lost two games to the NY Mets over the weekend, need to step it back up if they want to see the postseason. For more on the Braves, visit:  She Is Out Of Your League.

As for the NY Mets, they definitely need to make some changes. And it doesn’t appear they will get much help from their minor league guys, most aren’t ready to be called up to the majors or they just don’t have real strong prospects to choose from, not yet anyway.  For more on the Mets, visit:  Curious Case of Sidd Finch

Heather Carnassale is lead writer for a View From Section 116 (Aerys Sports Phillies Site)

NL East Standings 9/5/11 - MLB.com

The Philadelphia Phillies still reign supreme in the National League East with a 88-48 record.  In fact they still have the best record in the majors.  But the Phillies have had a couple losses lately against Eastern rivals Washington Nationals and Florida Marlins, which are two teams the Phillies should have no trouble beating.  The Phillies hot and cold offense is a contributing factor to the losses.  Though they have had some blow outs in their favor, it seems that when one of the Phillies gets into a hitting slump, it becomes viral and they all catch it.  Can’t always rely on the pitchers to bail them out.

And speaking of pitching, the Phillies bullpen is suddenly not looking so reliable and that’s definitely a concern heading down the stretch. But with the best record and what some still consider to be the best starting rotation in baseball, the odds are still in the Phillies corner.

On Monday night, the Atlanta Braves begin a 3-game series against the Phillies, who they have been desperately been trying to catch in the east.  And though the Phillies maintain a considerable lead on the Braves (7 and 1/2 games) they are resting comfortably as top dog in the Wild Card race.  With the San Francisco Giants a good 8 and 1/2 games back, the Braves are in a good position right now.  However, there is no doubt they would LOVE to knock the Phillies off the NL East pedestal and win the division.  But if they have to get in with the wild card, can’t see them being too upset about that.

» Continue reading “NL East Division: Labor Day Edition”

Standings courtesy of: MLB.com

What do the Florida Marlins, Washington Nationals, and New York Mets all have in common?  They are at least 20 games back behind the division leading Philadelphia Phillies.  But can’t say the same about the surging Atlanta Braves who are making a serious playoff push.

Here’s a breakdown of the National League East, starting from last to first.

The Florida Marlins have definitely had their ups and downs this season.  They’ve been no stranger to drama with the firing of their coach and more recently with their Twitter-loving, young left fielder Logan Morrison.  A little over a week ago, he was optioned to Triple-A and allegedly never got a definitive reason why.  Rumors swirled that it was due to his outspoken tweets but Morrison himself felt it was more than likely his offensive struggles.  Regardless, Morrison recently tweaked his groin in a minor league game last Wednesday and that’s not good.

The Marlins will hopefully get a much needed boost with the return of second-baseman Omar Infante, who had been on the 15-day disabled list with a fractured right middle finger.  The Marlins were 2-13 after Infante’s injury and even though they have no shot of seeing the post season, his return is a welcomed sight.

To get more info and the latest news on the Florida Marlins, check out:  A Fishy Situation

The New York Mets are another team who have had their struggles this season. Last weekend they were swept by the Arizona Diamondbacks and this past weekend swept by the Milwaukee Brewers.  Granted both of those teams are hot right now but its not like the Mets didn’t have their chances nor were exactly blown out. In fact in Saturday’s loss to the Brewers, the Mets had a 9-7 lead heading into the top of the ninth, where Mets pitchers Jason Isringhausen and Manny Acosta gave up four runs combined to blow the game and give the Brewers an 11-9 victory.

Shortstop Jose Reyes has been out with a strained left hamstring but there’s a possibility he will begin rehabbing by the end of this week.  Reyes ran to first base before Sunday’s game and around the outfield, a little bit.  He’s not at 100% but hopefully he keeps improving.

To get more info and the latest news on the New York Mets, check out:  Curious Case of Sidd Finch

» Continue reading “Rounding Up the NL East”

graphic by elisemyers

Baseball season is now halfway through with the conclusion of the All-Star Break, and boy, were those first three-point-five months filled with exciting surprises! We saw pitchers hit, teams dream, slugging stars, and a slew of injuries pad Disabled Lists across the leagues. Fans are anticipating as many thrills and ills in the second half as we cheer our teams closer to September. Here is a sampling of what to watch as the season shapes out:

This just in… the New York Mets traded their closer Francisco Rodriguez for two players to be named later to none other than the Milwaukee Brewers, as announced shortly after the conclusion of the All-Star Game late Tuesday night. The Mets, desperate to save some money, are relieved with this trade, and it seems like both teams are benefitting. Brew Crew fans welcome their new ace, whose star-power presence will hopefully soothe the impending woes of favored first baseman Prince Fielder’s expiring contract with the club. We are curious to see the club’s plan for juggling two closers, as the Crew already holds the mustachioed John Axford in their ‘pen.

On the topic of aces, what about that Cliff Lee? The Philadelphia Phillies certainly have a strong string of pitchers this season, but Lee in particular is growing into something more for the Fightins– a pitcher who hits. Lee put his first homie in the books in a game against the Braves, and he also racked up 6 ribbies for the Phils, including a nice sac fly against the Red Sox. These numbers may not astound you, but keep in mind, he’s a pitcher, folks! These guys are only stepping to the plate once in a rotation. In this next half, we are watching Lee’s arm, and his bat, and any other pitchers who want to surprise fans with some souvenirs into the stands.

While in Pennsylvania, take a road trip to visit the astounding Pittsburgh Pirates. These boys had three All-Stars for the first time since before the World Wide Web (1990). And if that is not a testament to their turnaround this season, allow Google to find something else for you. The Pirates are only one game behind the first place slot in the NL Central, where the Cardinals and Brewers are currently tied with 49 wins each. We want to see where the Bucs are headed as the season shapes out. The Pirates are looking fierce this season, and could care less of your cynicism as they race for the penant in the second half.

» Continue reading “Due Up … The Second-Half Lineup”