In the movie Network, Howard Beale told America to stick their heads out the window and yell: “I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!” Mets fans, it's our turn. Every Mets group on Facebook — dozens of them, hundreds of thousands of us — lives at the mercy of an algorithm. It decides who sees what, and it can take everything away overnight. We know, because it happened to us. Kiner's Korner had 9,000 members. In May, Facebook locked our admins out of our

Somewhere along the way, being a Mets fan on the internet started feeling like shouting into the void. Endless hot takes. Endless arguments. Endless algorithms deciding what you should see. And eventually every Mets fan starts looking into the screen like Travis Bickle: “You talkin’ to me?” So we decided to do something different. Talkin’ Mets on the Korner is the Kiner’s Korner community — a place for Mets fans who never really left. Live game threads, Mets history and memor

There are end-of-season press conferences, and then there are end-of-September press conferences for a team that was supposed to be playing in October. David Stearns knows the difference. And he wasn't interested in pretending otherwise. “Anytime we're having an end of season press conference at the end of September, it's not where you want to be,” Stearns said as he opened his postseason autopsy of a Mets season that began with enormous expectations and ended with the organi

If David Stearns is building the Mets' organization one piece at a time, the past few days have brought a few dominos tumbling into place. On Tuesday, the Mets removed the interim tag from Andy Green and gave him a three-year contract to remain the team's manager. Two days later, Stearns added another piece to the front office — actually, make that two. The first one happens to be named Derek. Derek Falvey, to be exact. The second is Kris Gross, who was promoted to Assistant

Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss. Andy Green had the interim tag removed from his title as he has signed a three year deal to become the current and future manager of the New York Mets today. It comes as a mild surprise as Green has previously brought up the family concerns being a real thing regarding whether he wanted to manage full time again and return to the front office. But the deal must have been too good to pass up, and with core players like Juan Soto, Franci

There are a lot of ways to get to Citi Field. Some arrive through the Jackie Robinson Rotunda wearing a Mets uniform. Others arrive through the media entrance, carrying a laptop, a credential and enough memories to fill a book. And then there are those who arrive for the first time with their families, carrying the kind of hardware that might eventually become a regular part of their professional lives. For Jonathan Santucci and Mitch Voit, Monday was one of those days. The t

The Polar Bear walks back into the building he called home for seven seasons, grateful for the memories, the fans, and the chance to put on a baseball uniform—even if it's the wrong one. There are some things in baseball that feel a little strange, no matter how many times you remind yourself that it's a business. Pete Alonso walking into Citi Field wearing an Orioles uniform is one of them. For seven seasons, the Polar Bear was one of the faces of the New York Mets. He hit h

There are moments in history when we realize just how insignificant sports really are. September 11, 2001, was one of those moments. For the New York Mets, the days following the attacks on the World Trade Center had nothing to do with standings, pennant races or baseball. Shea Stadium, normally a place where thousands gathered to watch the Mets play, suddenly became something entirely different — a staging area, a relief center and, perhaps most importantly, a place where pe

At Gillette Stadium, Jesse Cole proved that sometimes the best way to save baseball is to stop worrying so much about baseball I have been going to baseball games for a very long time. Long enough to remember when going to the ballpark meant keeping score with a pencil, arguing about whether the manager should have left the starter in, complaining about the price of a hot dog and wondering why the team couldn't simply bunt more. I have seen good baseball games, bad baseball g

There was a word that kept popping up around the Mets on Monday, even when nobody was actually saying it. Earned. Not given. Not handed out because there happens to be an empty chair. Not awarded because somebody in the front office needs to see what a kid can do before the season ends. Earned. And listening to Mets manager Andy Green and president of baseball operations David Stearns speak Monday, that philosophy came through loud and clear. It started with Green, who was as

The carnage is complete -- we think -- as Luke Weaver, Clay Holmes and Tyrone Taylor joined A.J. Minter, Huascar Brazoban, Luke Raley and Freddy Peralta in exiting Flushing for assumedly greener pastures. Weaver is heading to Pittsburgh, Holmes and Taylor to the Chicago's north side and the friendly confines (for Taylor, at least) of Wrigley Field (with Brazoban heading to the south side and the White Sox). In return, the Mets get two minor league infielders: shortstop Sammy

We all saw this coming, but that doesn't make it any easier to stomach. The dismantling of the Mets' bullpen -- perhaps their lone strength in this dismal season -- continued this morning, as Huascar Brazoban and Brooks Raley followed A.J. Minter out the bullpen door. Brazoban went to the White Sox, who gave the Mets two so-so prospects (and I guess they insisted no backsies on Luis Robert Jr.). Interesting, given that only two years ago, the Chisox broke the Mets' record for

It's no surprise that the Mets unloaded Freddy Peralta today, sending him to the Tampa Bay Rays for three prospects. Peralta was awful for the Mets, a starter who ran up pitch counts so quickly that he frequently didn't make it into the fifth inning, let alone out of it. Peralta's final Mets stat line is plain ugly: An ERA of 4.99, a run and a quarter greater than his lifetime record, a .788 OPS against, 17 homers and 31 doubles in 22 starts. It's easy to say that this was

The first domino has officially fallen. With the trade deadline looming and a season that never came close to meeting expectations, the Mets and David Stearns have begun what promises to be a busy few days by sending veteran left-handed reliever A.J. Minter to the Minnesota Twins in exchange for infield prospects Bruin Agbayani and Billy Amick. For a team that entered spring training believing it could contend for a World Series, Thursday night's move served as the clearest a

It’s been a while since this former journalism major sat at the keyboard and started to write. A lifetime, and a career change has put some real time on the calendar. But the urging of a good friend, aware of my background in sports and journalism, and the events of a special weekend have spurred the urge, and so here we go. The man behind the Kiner’s Korner website, Mark Rosenman, is one of my best friends. Even though I am a huge Yankee fan, I am first and foremost a VER

I've made the drive to Shea Stadium and Citi Field more times than I could possibly count. I've made that drive as a kid sitting beside my dad, as a teenager with friends, as a lifelong Mets fan, with my wife and children, as an author, and now as someone fortunate enough to cover the team I've loved for most of my life. Every great ballpark has a journey. For some fans, it's walking through the streets and bars of Chicago's Wrigleyville toward Wrigley Field. For others, it's

Cooperstown -- As America’s Pastime, baseball would seem to have an obligation to join in the festivities (such as they are) marking America’s semiquincentenial (that’s a 250th birthday, for those of you scoring at home), and during last weekend’s Cooperstown festivities, the National Baseball Hall of Fame rose to the occasion by honoring a former ballplayer who 50 years ago took time out from his center field position to play a game of Capture the Flag. Rick M

On Sunday in Cooperstown, Carlos Beltrán officially became baseball royalty. The Hall of Fame plaque will forever tell the story in bronze. But for those watching from the crowd—or from a clubhouse hundreds of miles away—it represented something much larger. It represented Puerto Rico. When I spoke one-on-one with Francisco Lindor one day after Beltrán's emotional induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the Mets superstar wasn't thinking about statistics or milesto

There is nothing quite like Hall of Fame Weekend in Cooperstown. For a few days, baseball is frozen in time. The legends. The stories. The reminder of why we fell in love with this game in the first place. Then you leave Cooperstown, head back toward reality, and for me that reality means a trip to Citi Field tonight — covering a Mets team facing one of the most important weeks of its recent history. Because while Cooperstown celebrates the players and moments that built base

There are baseball games. There are baseball events. And then there is Hall of Fame Weekend in Cooperstown. If you have never experienced it, imagine taking the Baseball Hall of Fame, emptying out its Plaque Gallery, putting the contents into pick up trucks and then telling them to drive very slowly down Main Street while thousands of baseball fans scream. That, more or less, is the Parade of Legends. And if you think I’m exaggerating, consider this: Cooperstown is a village