COMING UP: DAVID WRIGHT INTERVIEW
Coming up is my interview with David Wright yesterday in Port st. Lucie, FL. Here is a quick preview:
Moises Alou is Ready for 2008
I 
was able to catch up with Moises Alou during a Mets batting practice session on a back field yesterday in Port St Lucie, and he sounds excited. I took this photo seconds before the first pitch of the Spring Training game against the Braves, as Alou warmed up. The pictures of the interview are on a different camera, and I’ll have them up once I get back to New York.
After setting a record for the longest hitting streak of a person over 40 years of age, which set a franchise record and also was the longest streak in MLB since 2006, Mets LF Moises Alou scratches his head thinking of what else he could have done to help a team that couldn’t win in September. Of course you could say woulda, shoulda, coulda all day long, but it’s much simpler to just focus on the task at hand.
“That happened last year and you just have to be positive about it,” said the 41-year-old 0utfielder. “You just have to work harder to have a better season.”
Moises Alou is one of Horse-Racing’s biggest fans. He even has his own collection of horses back at home, several of whom were named after MLB players. Other than working hard to prepare for the next season, working with his horses is probably something he did during a tough off-season to get the collapse off his mind and instead look forward to the future… until of course a huge move was made by the Mets Front Office. They were able to acquire arguably baseball’s best pitcher, Johan Santana, for only a few talented prospects, while at the same time were able to keep other prospects that were rumored to be shipped away, like Mike Pelfrey.
“When you have a pitcher of Santana’s caliber, it really gives you a lot of confidence into the season.”
The confidence is huge. Even though had the Mets finished to their potential last September, they would have won the division, the players were not only shocked at what happened, but worried that they were not a powerhouse anymore. And besides, just look at the Phillies, not a powerhouse by any means, but the confidence they have now after winning the NL East last season looks pretty high.
“I think before the Santana trade, we felt like we had a very good team. We just have to stay stronger throughout the season, we have to stay injury-free, hopefully catch some breaks, and with the talent that we have, we should go all the way.”
The deal for the lefty Santana looked real nice when it happened, and it has only looked better ever since. He reported to camp early, there are no problems, and schedule-wise, he is right on track.
Every team in the NL East is excited. The Phillies just won the division, the Braves have a great rotation, and the Nationals and Marlins were able to prove their potential against the Mets in the last week of 2007. Alou says the Phillies and Braves look to the be Mets’ biggest worry, but if the Mets focus on their own work, they should be fine.
“The Philles are the defending champions,” said Alou. “They have a good closer in Brad Lidge. Atlanta is always a good team. They know how to win, and they play well. I think with the team that we have, we shouldn’t worry about it, we should just worry about ourselves.”
Like Moises said, as long as this team stays healthy, they should be fine. They had some serious bumps and bruises last year that kept the team apart at times, especially in the starting rotation, but this year everything seems fine, although it is only spring training.
The Second Half of the Day
Alright, I’m back. I already told everyone about the first part of the day, now to the second half. I saw Carlos Delgado doing fielding drills off the wall with a bouncy ball, somehow to get him back into the swing of things after hurting his hip a few days ago before flying to Manhattan for a day to get his hip looked at. I asked him for an interview and he said he had to hit but maybe later. That means the interview won’t happen because the chances of finding him are not high.
Following the game, I chased SNY’s Keith Hernandez out of the elevator at Tradition Field to the parking lot, where I was able to do a short 5 or 6 question interview.
When we figured we might as well walk back into the stadium to try and see if any players were remaining (this is probably an hour or so after the game was over), and we saw someone sitting at a bench with some organization that was doing a quick video and autograph thing before leaving. Nobody else was there except for them David Wright, and us. We approached him, and I asked him if he would do an interview and he said “Sure, no problem.”
David Wright is the nicest person ever. Even when we hadn’t talked to him yet, he said hi to us and asked how we were doing just when we were walking by him. I was able to do a 5 minute interview with him, and it concluded a crazy, but GREAT day.
I’ll have the David Wright transcript tomorrow.
Chat with Moises Alou, Javy Lopez
I was able to pull Mets outfielder Moises Alou aside from his hitting workout, as I did a quick 5-question interview with him. He was very nice, he first said “I have to go out and shag,” but after standing around for a second, he just said “Okay, quick quick quick.” I asked him about the NL East this year, how him and the team are getting past last year’s collapse, and what team within the NL East that worries him the most.
I also sat in the Braves dugout for a quick interview with Braves Catcher Javy Lopez and asked him some questions for the Baseball Youth magazine, and some others.
I am going to try and snatch an interview with a starting player walking out of the players’ parking lot later in the game when they leave.
The practice fields are nice, they have the dimensions of CitiField, and some of the players were having a hard time getting the balls over the tall parts of the outfield wall.
More updates later…
Matt’s Interview with Endy Chavez
3/1/07
Matt Tracy interview with Endy Chavez.
1. Matt: How do you think spring training has gone so far?
Chavez: We are doing good because we are doing the little things, we’re working hard, and we’re taking a lot of advantage.
2. Matt: How has the progress been for Spring Training?
Chavez: Like I said, the reaction is very comfortable, and we’re getting a lot of good reaction.
3. Matt: Will the bullpen and the offense hold for the starting pitching this season?
Chavez: Our starting pitching is very solid. We need to be consistent and need to make some runs, and we don’t have any problems on defense.
4. Matt: What did you think about today’s game?
Chavez: Today’s game? We played pretty good. We had a close game, We won, we hit the ball pretty good, and we played good defense, getting good pitching, doing good job.
Matt: What was everyone’s reaction to the catch you made in Game 7?
Chavez: Everybody was going crazy. Everyone said “that was a nice catch,that was a good catch that I’ve never seen before.� It was fun, it was special.
Matt: Thank you
Chavez: Alright.