Jew for Jesus on the Mets

Shawn Green's New York Mets teammate David Newhan was born to Jewish parents and had his bar mitzvah at a Conservative synagogue. Now, however, Newhan prays to Jesus and considers himself a Messianic Jew. This according to a New York Times report.

Dr. Martin Abramowitz - an expert on Jews in baseball - said the Mets new pinch hitter has "a 'Jews for Jesus' orientation."

Even if Shawn Green hits .220

ESPN.com's Page 2 ran a story yesterday about Dmitriy Salita, an observant Jewish boxer from Brooklyn.

Jeff Pearlman wrote about how Jews have a great love for Jewish professional athletes. You should read the story in its entirety, but here's an interesting excerpt:

"while Jewish people often struggle when it comes to slugging a baseball or dunking or knocking out a bully, we worship the chosen few among us who can. It's why, even if Shawn Green hits .220 for the Mets this season, he'll never have to worry about losing a core fan base. It's why former 49ers offensive lineman Harris Barton can walk into any Bay Area synagogue and be swarmed. It's why Perry Klein and Steve Ratzer and Steve Dubinsky -- anonymous sports schlubs to 99.9 percent of America -- maintain a special place in the hearts of Jewish die-hards. We loooooove our athletes."

It's so true. Sad but true.

Spring Fever

Spring is here and Opening Day is approaching quickly. The Jew York Mets blog -- celebrating Shawn Green on the Mets -- is back in business.

The Mets will open the 2007 season with three Jewish players - Shawn Green, David Newhan and Scott Schoeneweis. Only Green played for the New York Mets last season. Schoeneweis signed a three year contract to join the Mets bullpen. Newhan's role will be limited to late-inning defensive replacement and pinch hitting.

Shawn Green's role is not certain. He had the starting right field job coming into spring training, but he has struggled at the plate in exhibition games. Lastings Milledge has been hot all spring. There's a chance he could overtake Green for the starting job. We'll see over the next 10 days.

4 Jews; 4 hits

In Friday's baseball game between the Red Sox and Orioles, four Jewish players were in the game, with three in the starting lineups.

Here's how they fared:

Orioles
David Newhan 1 for 3 with a run scored

Red Sox
Kevin Youkilis 1 for 4 (double)
Gabe Kapler 1 for 4
Craig Breslow 1 relief inning pitched, no runs, no walks, 1 hit, 1 strikeout

A multicultural household

Excellent story about New York Met Shawn Green's Jewishness in yesterday's New York Daily News.

His upbringing: "He wasn't bar mitzvah'd. His parents didn't really practice the religion... Shawn would go to an occasional Passover seder around Southern California, that was about it."

His family: "Shawn married a Christian, Lindsay, and the family is raising two kids in a multicultural household."

His plans for next week and beyond: "Green will fast and he will contemplate and that will be fine. Next season, he says, he probably will move to Manhattan, become more involved in local functions and in New York City's Jewish community, population nearly one million."

The media: "Jay Horwitz, vice president of media relations for the Mets, says there were 11 Jewish newspapers and organizations on the phone for Green the day he was acquired by the Mets... He's been invited to everything from Brises to bar mitzvahs."

No conflict for Green

As we approach the High Holy days, "MOT" baseball fans often consider which players might be affected by the schedule. In past seasons, Shawn Green has missed games for Yom Kippur but he has also played baseball on the fast day. This year no Mets games will be played on the holy day. It's the off-day between the regular season and the playoffs. (I'm still looking for postseason tickets, if you want to help me out.) Today's Daily News reports that Green has not yet discussed with Willie Randolph if he'll skip a workout.

Looking for other "MOT" baseball players in this year's postseason? St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jason Marquis could pitch to Shawn Green in the Division Series (NLDS). If the Phillies make the playoffs, Mike Lieberthal could bat against the Mets in the Championship Series (NLCS).

The Red Sox have 4 Jewish players on their 40-man roster but they lost the division to the New York Yankees and won't be in the playoffs this season. Do you know who the 4 players are? Post your guess in the 'comments' section. We'll reveal the correct answer later.

Give me a ticket, please

Who wants to give me Mets playoff tickets?

At this point I'm just looking for tickets to the NL Division Series. I don't want to be too optimistic to think about the NLCS or the World Series just yet.

The Mets will have the top postseason seed in the National League. If the Phillies win the wild card, the Mets will play the division winner with the worst record. In that scenario, they play NLDS Game 1 on October 3 and Game 2 on October 5. Neither day is shabbat or yom tov. In other words, I'm available! If there's a 5th game, it would be played at Shea on October 9 - chol hamoed - I'm available!

If the wild card team comes from another division, the Mets will face the wild card team in the first round of the playoffs. Games 1 & 2 of the NLDS would be played at Shea Stadium on October 4 and 5. Again, not shabbat or yom tov. Game 5, if necessary, would be played on October 9.

The bottom line is this - the Jewish holidays do not conflict with the Mets home schedule for the Division Series. But I don't have any tickets. I entered the Mets lottery but didn't win.

I NEED PLAYOFF TICKETS!!!

Sure, I could always buy from StubHub. I've done that before and I've always been very happy with their service. They guarantee that you'll get the tickets in time for the game. StubHub has Game 1 tickets available now for just over $100. That's not a bad price!

(I see that TicketsNow also has Mets playoff tickets for sale but I've never used that site.)

Anyway, now that I'm blogging about Shawn Green and leading his Mets Jewish fan club, don't I deserve a freebie? I shouldn't need to pay for a ticket. I'm kind of like a member of the press now, right? Anyone know how I could get a press pass to Shea Stadium?

Mr. Green, when you read this post, please feel free to arrange for a game ticket for me. I deserve it. I really do. Thank you!!!