Nelson Figueroa started 17 games, compiling a 2.25 ERA, for the Buffalo Bisons (Triple-A) in 2009, before being promoted by the Mets in late August. Over the final six weeks of the 2009 season, he was the Mets most consistent and effective arm, despite losing five games.

Figueroa went on to pitch winter ball, including a complete game three-hit shutout for the Dominican Republic in early February. This spring, in three appearances, he has pitched eight innings, allowing no runs.

Could he be the Mets No. 5 starter in 2010? No one in the Mets organization is saying, one way or another. As a matter of fact, no one — including Mets pitching coach Dan Warthen, manager Jerry Manuel or GM Omar Minaya — has told Figueroa he is in consideration for the No. 5 spot.

Today, I talked to the 35-year old veteran about his recent success, the frustration that comes from not knowing where he stands and the communication between he and the Mets this spring …

This interview was originally posted on Mets360.com. Download the latest Spring Training interviews and Voices podcast radio shows from Mets 360 on iTunes … click here to sign up

I sat down with Mets right fielder Jeff Francoeur to talk hitting. We discussed his history of streaky hitting (including a few prolonged slumps) and what he and New York Mets hitting instructor Howard Johnson are doing this spring to develop a more consistent approach at the plate …

This was originally published for Mets360.com. You can download the 360 Seconds and Voices podcasts from Mets360.com on iTunes … click here

… and this, my friends, is Spring Training …

Biegel is our special guest on Voices, the exclusive podcast of JohnStrubel.com. You can listen to the streaming audio here:

… or you can download the podcast through iTunes here.

The book is on sale now and is available online at:

Barnes and Noble
Amazon.com

Here’s is the press release from Random House:

The captivating, utterly improbable but ultimately true story of one man’s quest to solve sports’ greatest mystery: What happened to the most famous of all home-run balls–the holy grail of sports?

October 3, 1951. Giants third baseman Bobby Thomson hit the most dramatic home run in the history of baseball. The moment occurred in the bottom of the ninth inning of a sudden-death playoff game between the New York Giants and their arch rivals from Brooklyn, the Dodgers. People across the nation watched on their new TV sets, and the home run became known as “the Shot Heard ’Round the World.”

But after clearing the left-field wall, the central artifact of the play–the ball itself–inexplicably went missing. The mystery of what happened to the legendary baseball has remained unsolved for a half century.

Until now.

Miracle Ball is the gripping account of author Brian Biegel’s two-year effort to unravel the mystery that experts said could never be solved. After his father, Jack, finds a baseball at a thrift store with clues dating back to 1951 and believes it could possibly be the most coveted piece of sports history, father and son begin a journey to prove its authenticity. Biegel becomes consumed with the quest–recognizing it as the only chance to rescue himself from an emotionally devastating personal crisis that had long been crippling him.

Visit Brian Biegel online

New York Times

Weber attended the Jim Evans Academy of Professional Umpiring, called balls and strikes himself and interviewed more than 200 people for the book including more than 20 current major league umpires and long list of players, managers and front office personnel (Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Tom Glavine, Barry Zito, Paul Lo Duca, Kenny Lofton, Ron Darling, and Robin Yount, as well as former baseball commissioner Fay Vincent, Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox, Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland).

Simon and Schuster adds:

Weber reveals how umps are tutored to work behind the plate, what they learn to watch for on the bases, and how proper positioning for every imaginablesituation on the field is drilled into them. He describes how they’re counseled to respond — or not — to managers who are screaming at them from inches away with purposeful inanity, and tells us exactly which “magic” words result in an automatic ejection. Writing with deep knowledge of and affection for baseball, he delves into such questions as: Why isn’t every strike created equal? Is the ump part of the game or outside of it? Why doesn’t a tie go to the runner? And what do umps and managers say to each other during an argument, really?

Here’s the streaming audio podcast …

The book is available online at:

Amazon.com
BarnesandNoble.com
Simon and Schuster