A Day in the Life (of King Henry)

Our ongoing "Day in the Life" series gets you even further behind the scenes than usual with videos that give you a glimpse of what goes into creating the one-of-a-kind atmosphere at KeySpan Park.

Today, check out a Day in the Life of everyone's favorite Monarch of the Ballpark. He's the Imperial Ingestor, the Emperor of Entertainment, the Maharajah of Mealtime, the Tyrant of Tomfoolery, and the Ruler of What's in the Cooler!

Ladies and gentleman, the one and only King Henry:



Stay tuned for more Day in the Life videos!

-- Dave

David Wright, Part II

Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm going to hear even more "man crush" comments, but this is some good stuff that deserves to be told. David Wright took batting practice with the Cyclones again today, and we opened the gates early so fans could watch the Mets' star take some hacks. He once again peppered the scoreboard with some long home runs, and looked sharp fielding ground balls at third base.

But that's the boring stuff. Here's the good stuff:

He signed autographs for just about every person in attendance, making his way to pockets of crowds in the stands, taking pictures, and talking to the fans. At one point, he had to break away to take some more swings, and a little boy (wearing a David Wright shirt) who was just about to get an autograph looked heartbroken. In fact, he started crying, and had to be hugged by his mom.

At the end of the practice, I mentioned the boy to David, and he made a point to go over to him, and sign an autograph. The little guy was thrilled, and started to walk away with a huge smile on his face. "Hey, Noah," said Wright, calling the kid by his first name. "Come back here, buddy. This is for you." He signed the bat he used during batting practice and gave it to Noah! The kid was awestruck and speechless. He just started screaming!

Then Wright signed his spikes, his batting gloves, his cap -- just about everything he wore or used during the day -- and gave them out to random kids in the stands!

That is what sports and the athlete/fan relationship is all about. All the negative stuff gets the headlines, but what David Wright did today was one of the coolest things I've seen in my nine years with the team. I think it's safe to say there were some kids here who are now DWright fans (and hopefully Cyclones fans) for life!

-- Dave

All Wright

David Wright was at KeySpan Park today, working out with the Cyclones as he rehabs his way back to the Mets.

DWright looked great (especially sporting the Cyclones logo on his chest), blasted some home runs off of the scoreboard, took some ground balls at third base, ran, threw, and joked around with the Cyclones players and staff! He said he felt good, and was looking forward to getting back on the field with the Mets.

He will be back again to take batting practice on Wednesday, and in a special offer, fans can get to the game early to watch!

The KeySpan Park gates will open extra early tomorrow, at 3:00pm, with BP slated to start at 3:30. You MUST have a ticket to the August 26th game to be admitted to the ballpark. (Get yours here.)

Without getting all wishy-washy, I'll say that David Wright is perhaps the most gracious, polite, down-to-earth superstar athlete I've ever met. In a world full of negative stories about the players we look up to, Wright symbolizes all the things that are good about sports, and makes it really easy to root for him to do well.

So come to KeySpan Park and cheer him on tomorrow, then stay to watch the first-place Cyclones continue their push for the playoffs against the Vermont Lake Monsters!

-- Dave

(No) No Moore

On Sunday, August 23rd, 23-year-old Brandon Moore tossed the first no-hitter in franchise history -- a seven-inning, complete game in which he allowed just three walks and struck out six batters.

The no-hitter was Moore's sixth win of the year, and lowered his ER%A on the season to 2.15.

Brandon checks in on the blog with a recap of his no-hit experience:

You probably won't believe this, and I know it sounds strange when you're talking about a no-hitter, but up until the fifth or sixth inning or so, I was actually pretty upset with myself, because I felt like I wasn't throwing a good game. Being able to locate my fastball is a huge part of my game, and yesterday I just wasn't able to put it where I wanted to. I was so focused on that lack of command, and so mad at myself about it that it kept me from even realizing I hadn't given up a hit...which is probably a good thing.

It was really, really, hot and humid, and I was mostly trying to get quick outs and get back into the dugout as fast as possible. My teammate, Collin McHugh, kept on bringing me water, which was a huge help. It's funny -- he told me after the game that he never saw someone throw a no-hitter and look so horrible while doing it. Between the heat and my thinking about locating my fastballs, I was just drained. Completely exhausted. I kept on falling behind hitters and throwing a lot more pitches than I wanted to, so getting to sit in the dugout and grab some water was pretty much the only thing on my mind...until the sixth inning.

I was going over the game in my head, and I just kind of starting thinking, "wait...have they gotten a hit yet?" I walked a couple of guys, and hit another one, so they had runners on base throughout the game, but I couldn't really remember any hits. Almost immediately, I tried to push it out of my mind. If I was throwing a no-hitter, I didn't want to think about it. I had to force myself not to look at the scoreboard. When I did look, I focused on the balls, strikes, and outs. Deep down, I knew it, but I just didn't want to confirm it.

After I got through the sixth inning, though, I knew it was for real. I finally looked at the zero on the scoreboard, and I knew I had three more outs to go. I went out to the mound for the last inning, and just kind of said, "Here we go. Let's see what happens."

I got a fly ball, and then a strikeout, and then I got two strikes on the next batter, and threw two borderline sliders, trying to get a groundball or a strikeout. They were pretty close, and I thought the ump was going to ring him up, just because it was the last out of the game, but he didn't, and I walked him. The next guy grounded out to second base for the last out.

Some of the guys were saying I was at about 87-88 MPH the whole game, and for the last batter got up to 90-91. I didn't feel any different, but I guess I just had that adrenaline pumping a little more.

When I got that last out, I was just so happy that we won, and that the game was over. Thinking about the no-hitter didn't even hit me immediately. But then the guys swarmed the mound, and everybody was telling me what a good job I did, and congratulating me. It was such a cool experience. I've never thrown a no-hitter before, and I later heard that it was the first one for the Cyclones, too, so it's very cool for me to be a part of the team's history.

The whole experience was awesome! I was so happy to be a part of it. I heard from friends, family and lots of former teammates right away, which was amazing. I was actually kind of shocked how fast the news was spreading, and it was great to hear from so many people.

Thanks a lot to all the fans who wished me congratulations, and who cheer us on every night! We're going to do everything we can to win a championship for Brooklyn this year!

-- Brandon

Wes' Week That Was

23-year old Wes Wrenn was selected by the Mets in the 35th round of the 2009 draft, out of The Citadel, in South Carolina. He makes his home in Greensboro, NC. Wes is taking his first professional steps towards his big-league dreams, and has agreed to check in on the Blog from time to time to get us behind the scenes in the life of a new minor league ballplayer.

Last Saturday I was asked to work a women’s baseball clinic. I was kind of skeptical at first because I thought it was going to be some women that didn’t know much about baseball and I'd have to spend some valuable off time babysitting or explaining how many outs are in an inning...or what an out or an inning even is.

Well, I couldn’t have been more wrong!

These women knew as much, or more than, I did. They were asking some great questions during the Q&A and then when we took the field, they all had their gear and were ready to go. John Servidio and I took them through some stretches and then started playing catch. We could tell right away that there were some ballplayers in the group. We then went into some skills challenges and this was when it became very interesting.

Without mentioning names, there were some very athletic, competitive, entertaining, and interesting women in the group. Seeing their reactions to a dropped fly ball or missed ground ball was hilarious; some chose to show how they felt by throwing their gloves, others had a few choice words to say, and the few that did neither just kind of laughed and danced their way back to the end of the line.

The winner of each competition was awarded the opportunity to throw out the first pitch of that night’s game. I guess that is why there were some that became a little heated. Overall, it was a lot of fun and I don’t think I have laughed that much on a baseball field since the kids camp we had a few weeks back.

As usual, it was great to meet the fans face-to-face, and get to know the people who support our team. Thanks again to all the women who participated for making it so much fun!

-- Wes