Travis d'Arnaud Has A Large P

So tell me, Mets fans.  Have you seen the jersey being worn by new Mets catcher Travis d'Arnaud in Port St. Lucie?

Take a look at this photo taken by MetsBlog's Matt Cerrone and see if you notice something odd.

Photo by Matt Cerrone/MetsBlog

Now I don't claim to be an expert on fonts, but it sure looks to me as if the first "d" in d'Arnaud is actually an upper case "P" turned upside down.  So do the Mets have a shortage of lower case letters as they do with experienced outfielders?  Or did they just use up their entire budget on left-handed relievers, low-risk, high-reward reclamation projects and Bobby Bonilla?

Travis d'Arnaud is not the first Mets catcher to have a lower case letter in his surname.  In fact, they've had several in recent years.

In 2005, Mike DiFelice played in 11 games for the Mets.  He also spent time as a Met in 2006 and 2007, when he was a teammate of Paul Lo Duca.

If you look at the photos below, the lower case letters on the jerseys of DiFelice and Lo Duca were actually smaller versions of upper case letters.  However, they were definitely Is and Os and not one of the other 24 letters in the alphabet.

Lower case letters in players' surnames were like opinions in the mid-2000s, as it seemed every Met had one.  Even pitcher Mike DeJean, a teammate of DiFelice in 2005, had a mini-"E" on the back of his jersey.

But all Travis d'Arnaud gets is an upside-down upper-case "P" on his first Mets jersey.  I guess he shouldn't complain.  After all, it could have been worse.  He could have been traded to Washington or Los Angeles (of Anaheim) instead of New York, where he might have been a "Natinal" or an "Angee".

Studious Metsimus Presents The Happy/Crappy Recap For 2010

It's that time of year again, when we toss out our memories of the 42nd season in Mets history without a playoff sniff and think of what might be in 2011.

2011 will be a big year for the Mets and their fans in three respects. First, 2011 will mark the 25th anniversary of the 1986 World Champion Mets. Citi Field will surely have tributes throughout the year celebrating the players who brought Mets fans their most recent championship.

Second, 2011 will be the 50th season in Mets history. Mets fans have witnessed plenty over the past half-century. From Casey Stengel to Tom Seaver. From the Black Cat to the Miracle Mets. From "Ya Gotta Believe" to the Midnight Massacre. From (pause to catch my breath) the Magic Is Back to Davey Johnson. From "We're Gonna Dominate" to "Little Roller Up Along First". From Terry F. Pendleton to Mike F. Scioscia. From The Worst Team Money Could Buy to "I'll Show You The Bronx". From Generation K to Bobby V. From "L.A. Woman" to "Who Let The Dogs Out?". From Art Howe to the '06 division crown. From Shea Goodbye to "Why, Ollie, why?"

Speaking of Ollie. the third reason why 2011 will be big for the Mets and their fans is...drum roll, please...

Oliver Perez's albatross of a contract will expire at the end of the year!

There. I feel much better now that I got that out of my system. I'll also feel much better when 2011 begins because then the awful 2010 season will feel like it's more in the past. Instead of saying "do you remember when Frankie Knuckles played "Rock 'Em Sock 'Em In-Laws" with his girlfriend's father this year?", I'd end that sentence by saying "last year".

Let's face it. The Mets didn't give us much to cheer for in 2010. Should we cheer because Rod Barajas had one good month in him? Should we tear the roof off this sucka because our best pitcher was Mr. Thesaurus himself, R.A. Dickey? Should we party like it's 1999 because David Wright got his power stroke back at the expense of his batting average and higher strikeout totals?

If anything, this year's Happy/Crappy recap is mostly crappy for what happened on the field. However, for Studious Metsimus (the site and its staff), the year's recap will most certainly be happy.

On one hand, the site was mentioned on many well-known Mets sites. We were mentioned on Faith and Fear In Flushing, as well as MetsBlog, Mets Police and Mets Gazette, to name a few. We also moonlight as writers for two other sites, Mets Merized Online and Kiner's Korner. This exposure increased the Studious Metsimus readership exponentially to where it is today, with readers now numbering in the...wait for it...DOZENS!

Another happy moment for the Studious Metsimus staff came with all the road trips we made following the Mets. We sent our roving reporter/culinary expert Joey Beartran to Port St. Lucie in February, where he met (but forgot to interview) numerous current and former Mets. Despite his failure to score any interviews, Joey did find his way onto Bob Ojeda's Wikipedia page, so all was not lost.

The Late Winter Training trip was followed by road trips to Baltimore, Washington, San Francisco (where the Mets planted the seeds that the Giants watered and eventually blossomed into San Francisco's first World Series title), Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Overall, we attended eight road games, witnessed our first walk-off loss (July 3 at Nationals Park - thanks, K-Rod!) and saw many beautiful cities...yes, even Philly.

There seems to be one other thing that the Studious Metsimus staff did this year that was quite memorable. Dare we say it, we believe it qualifies as the Happiest Recap of Them All! Perhaps this photo will help...

Photo taken by David G. Whitham

That's right. We got married, y'all! The lovely Taryn Cooper (of My Summer Family fame) became a part of the Studious Metsimus family (quite literally) on May 5. Of course, the Mets decided to throw us a party on our wedding day in exactly the way you would think, by losing 5-4 to the Cincinnati Reds on a walk-off hit in the 10th inning.

Despite the fitting gift by the Mets, anytime I look at my Amazin' wife, I'll always believe that I was the one who walked off with a victory that day.

So in conclusion, I'd like to thank the Mets for being so bad this year. After all, if they had been worth watching for most of the season, I might have decided to spend more time with them instead of developing the loving relationship I now have with my wife. And that, my friends, is indeed one very Happy Recap!


From all of us at Studious Metsimus (Joey Beartran, Yours Truly, Taryn Cooper and...wait a minute...when did Terry Collins become part of the Studious Metsimus staff?), we'd like to thank you for your continued support and wish you and your families a safe and happy New Year. May you all have your own happy recaps in 2011 and beyond!