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Epoch Times
05-05-2025
- Sport
- Epoch Times
Swingin' Soto's Bat Coming Alive for First Place Mets
As May welcomes in MLB action, mega-superstar Juan Soto seems to have, finally, found his hitting groove with the New York Mets. The Mets are on a roll. On the road Friday night in St. Louis taking on the Cardinals at Busch Stadium, a 9–3 victory for New York widened the club's lead over the Philadelphia Phillies by 3.5 games in the National League East. The batting average is slowly creeping up for the four-time all-star. Smacking two hits on Friday has this past winter's top free-agent prize at .258. Soto, due to the enormous contract agreed upon with Mets' owner Steve Cohen and his Cooperstown-like performances over the past eight seasons, is expected by the Mets' fan base to deliver as he never had. As the calendar changes, Soto seems to have found a comfort level with his new baseball surroundings. Soto, 26, signed with the Mets last December, with no deferrals in his historic contract, will earn almost $61.9 million this season. Pressure to perform at a high level each day and night on the field, however unfair, has a target on Soto. Last season after putting up monstrous numbers wearing New York Yankees' pinstripes (and hitting in front of Aaron Judge), Cohen, a hedge fund trader by day, went all in to sign his guy. But, is it realistic to pin this season's Mets' success in 2025 on one player? There are 25 other teammates who need to execute their talents as well. In an email sent to The Epoch Times, former Mets' manager Terry Collins disagrees with the idea that this season for his former employer will be decided solely on how well Soto performs. When the Collins-led 2015 pennant-winning Mets marched into the World Series against the Kansas City Royals, a late season acquisition of Yoenis Cespedes apparently made the difference for the club to have clinched a postseason berth. 'It's very hard to compare the two teams this early in the season. We really didn't start to build our 2015 team until halfway through the season. But we did have great pitching, which this current team has. Plus, we were without our star David Wright for most of the season.' Related Stories 5/2/2025 12/13/2024 Soto could be the reincarnation of Cespedes for this version of skipper Carlos Mendoza's Mets. With Francisco Lindor hitting ahead of him in the lineup, and slugging Pete Alonso behind him, Soto's opportunities for success at the plate couldn't be more inviting. Then add Mark Vientos, Francisco Alverez, Brandon Nimmo, and Jeff McNeil in the Mets' hitting mix, and fans at Citi Field in Queens have every right to already be cautiously optimistic for a return to the postseason in October. Juan Soto #22 of the New York Mets celebrates his sixth inning home run against the Arizona Diamondbacks with his teammates in the dugout at Citi Field in New York City on May 1, or not, waiting for a hot streak from Soto at the plate had a segment of Mets' fans inpatient. Well, better late than ever. When Soto signed his billionaire owner's contract, he also signed up for a never dimming spotlight for a 162-game season. With Soto performing as expected, a bullpen clicking perhaps even better than the high expectations were for when breaking from spring training, the Mets are a juggernaut their rival Los Angeles Dodgers have to scout to a higher level than in past seasons. Both clubs met in last season's National League Championship Series, with the Dodgers taking the series in six games. It's that supporting cast for Soto, who won the National League batting title in 2020, that allows him more freedom to be choosy with the pitches he swings at. Alonso is March/April's National League Player of the Month, as the first baseman is hitting at a .345 clip. Lindor continues to be a nightmare for opposing pitchers. His 38 hits, six home runs, and 10 walks going into Saturday's game is even more intimidating than the .295 batting average registered. Nimmo's 22 RBIs (second to Alonso's 30) and 52 total bases aren't giving opposing pitchers any leeway on experimenting with the type of pitches thrown. The nucleus of the 2025 Mets lineup does show some similarities with the 2015 club. 'In 2015, we (Mets) signed Michael Cuddyer in the winter, which really helped', explains Collins. ' But as we began to add pieces like Kelly Johnson, Jose Uribe, Addison Reed, and Tyler Clippard, attitude in the clubhouse changed. That attitude exists now with the Mets. So as we get further into the season it will be interesting to see what moves the Mets make to address possible weaknesses. They don't have many.' Soto, hitting only three home runs in the first 31 games of the season, had Mets' fans on edge. They expect Soto to demonstrate Superman tendencies, day in and day out. Fans' appetites were quenched (at least for now), when Soto swatted two home runs on May 1 in a game with the Arizona Diamondbacks at Citi Field. The 36,239 fans on hand for what would be a Mets 4–2 loss, seemed to put aside the game's losing outcome, and exhaled knowing that their superstar outfielder hitting .258 remembered how to swing for the fences. 'The inclusion of Juan Soto strengthens any teams' lineup,' said John Arezzi, producer of The Terry Collins Show podcast to The Epoch Times during a phone conversation on Friday. 'Soto is one of the elite players in the game. He's ready for a breakout.'
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Spring music festivals, Torch Club anniversary on tap for April
The slow but sure arrival of spring means more outdoor music, and we're more than ready for a few such shows on deck for April. But that's not to scoff at the walled-in gigs, including a special anniversary for a bedrock local venue, and the official unveiling of Channel 24. Sacramento's newest venue hosts sellout gigs later this month from Tucker Wetmore and Sierra Ferrell, and a gobsmackingly not sold-out hometown show from Sacramento electronic royalty Tycho on April 25. Local artists, message Aaron Davis on Instagram if you have upcoming shows, @adavis_threetosee. Full disclosure: I moved to Sacramento in 2003, so I only know the hallowed ground of the Torch Club at its current digs on 15th and I streets, where it has burned luminously for 25 years. Longer tenured Sacramentans will remember its prior locations at 16th and L — or 6th and J or 8th and L — spread across a whopping 91 total years in business. The seminal haunt celebrates its silver anniversary throughout the weekend of April 11-13 with a Cooperstown-like lineup of Loose Engines, Island of Black and White, Hayez, Mercy Me, Mind X, Elvis Cantu, Peter Petty, Stacie Eakes, Red's Blues, Element Brass Band, Jimmy Pailer & Lew Fratis and more. A 'pre-party' gig is also on deck Thursday featuring one of the two final shows for the retiring Max Riley Group, and newly formed rock outfit PIVOT (fronted by MAU drummer and Owlfest host Scott Alan Carpenter), which earlier this year dished up their thumping debut, 'Bullmask.' ( A crushing catastrophe befell our old friend Scott Holbrook of Keep Smilin' Promotions earlier this year, when a fire tragically ravaged his family's home. Holbrook for years has been the man behind countless gigs at Auburn's 'Foothill Fillmore' (formerly the whimsical Auburn Event Center, and a nickname willed to the Auburn Odd Fellows Lodge) and other events in the region. The aptly titled Holbrook Fest is set to raise funds for Holbrook and his family to rebuild; it's technically free, but cash donations will be accepted, and there's a raffle. A full day of music comes courtesy of rapidly ascending jamgrass outfit Broken Compass Bluegrass — their popularity seems to have markedly transcended gigs at the cozy beer garden where they cut their teeth, so we love seeing them come back. Country rockers Eli Howard and the Greater Good, Primus tribute act Seawater, fellow bluegrass act Caltucky and Bobby Dickson's Unchained Ghost Train join the action. We'll echo the event organizer's advice to make reservations for this one (11 a.m. Sunday, April 6, at Sac Yard; On Keep Smilin's calendar this spring are Moonalice April 19 and David Nelson Band on May 9, with the annual Grateful Dead smorgasbord Ain't Necessarily Dead Fest at Auburn Regional Park this fall Sept. 13 ( Sacramento punk rock standouts Another Damn Disappointment (A.D.D.) are roaring back this month with their first official album release in more than 15 years. 'Bedlam,' which releases April 21, serves as a unique and assuredly cherished time capsule for the resilient act — it will be their final album to feature founding member, bassist and 'captain of the ship' Casey Marsullo, who was killed in a car crash in 2016. A lengthy labor of love and memorial to Marsullo, the remaining members of the band were able to use tracks recorded before his passing to finish out the record — a 14-track gauntlet of melodically-framed, biting punk rock reminiscent of golden era Epitaph Records acts like NOFX and Pennywise, with shortcuts of stripped-down acoustic introspection darting throughout the barreling autobahn. A.D.D. celebrates the album's release alongside Deviates, Lesdystics and Knocked Down. (7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 26, at Goldfield Roseville. $20. Sunday nights at the Golden Bear seldom fail to make for a roughshod Monday morning — we expect nothing less from this fiery trio of indie rock and synthpop acts, led by local staple Death Party at the Beach — which we haven't seen locally since the blistering show they put on the Porchfest stage in October. They're joined by ethereal singer Ari$ and the debut of the cinematically haunting, Helio Sequence-influenced trio Goodnight Mouse, helmed by Sohail Al-Jamea of Poly Holiday and Ember Valley. (8 p.m. Sunday, April 13. One does not simply walk into Sacramento and get to play with both veteran garage rockers Th' Losin' Streaks and pop punk mainstay Dog Party, let alone have both of those local heavyweights open for you. Naturally, we had questions about this Johnny Pandora fella rounding out this wild-eyed bill. Capturing the 'essence of his warrior ancestors by mixing Japanese culture with western rock 'n' roll,' he is leather-clad and coiffed hellcat 'Johnny' Daigo Yamashita. He hails from Tokyo, but sounds more like he hails from Memphis around the time that Sun Records was just figuring out that maybe they had a little something brewing. (Saturday, April 19 at Torch Club. $15. A question country music fans may have seen posed: 'who the f**k is Johnny Blue Skies?' The answer is, the newly forged alter ego (and cheeky tour moniker) of throwback country kingpin Sturgill Simpson, under which he released the stirring 2024 'Passage Du Desir' - a decade after his indelible breakout masterpiece, 'Metamodern Sounds in Country Music.' (8 p.m. Wed. April 23 at Memorial Auditorium. $99.70. Claimstake Brewing keeps the Kith & Kin Music Fest tradition going, with a platoon of slightly gritty, trashcan-rattling caterwaulers do-si-doing around the Americana-rock realm, spearheaded by venerable local staple Forever Goldrush. Grover Anderson & the Lampoliers, Turkey Buzzards, Oh Lonesome Ana and Dave, Brian & the 40 Hour Work Week all join the party (noon Saturday, April 26, 11366 Monier Park Place, Rancho Cordova. $33.85/$44.52. If you're in the area, one of Sacramento's newest beer slingers, the lager-forward Geisthaus Brewing is throwing their inaugural Frühlingsfest (or 'spring fest'); no word on if they're hosting live music, so it might be cheating to mention this here, but we're here for the beer as well ( Community group Friends of Folsom is back with the sophomore iteration of their local reggae-focused, single-day music festival, last year dubbed the 'Flower Festival,' this year going by the Second Annual Framily Festival. Last year's headliner Pato Banton — who has guested on recordings and toured with the likes of the English Beat, Steel Pulse, UB40 and Sting — endeared himself enough to the 'Framily' that he's back atop the lineup for year two, flanked by the also-returning workmanlike local reggae-rock kings Arden Park Roots. Joining this year's party are Lot 49, Eazy Dub, Skinny Hendrix, the Bennys, Cash Prophets and J.B. Barton. (noon, Saturday, April 26, Digger and Sharon Williams Rodeo Park, 200 Stafford St., Folsom. $46. The summer concert season out at Rocklin's grass-laden Quarry Park Amphitheater — which has now been hosting shows for nearly a decade — is taking shape with reggae fusion standout Collie Budz getting things going April 12, and Oakland's classic hard rock act Y&T returning April 19. This cozy venue continues to ramp up the relative star power of its bookings year over year, with a 2025 calendar including Southern rock ax-slinger and jam circuit hero Warren Haynes Band (May 2), rootsy singer-songwriter Trevor Hall with a solo set from Fruit Bats (June 8), alternative indie fuzz rockers Silversun Pickups (June 14), country legend Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives (July 25) and blues smolderer Tab Benoit (July 27). There's also a flurry of '90's acts on deck including the venerable Wallflowers (May 25), Toad the Wet Sprocket with Sixpence None the Richer (July 20), Gin Blossoms (Aug. 19) and Everclear with Local H on Sept. 7. ( Last month, Delfino Farms dropped its lineup of summertime bangers for the Folk on the Farm series. It's getting a bit light on the 'folk' and leaning into more scooting country rock, with the the cozy Camino stage set to host acts including Silverada, Ben Chapman and Mamas Gun, bluegrass darlings AJ Lee & Blue Summit, desert-psych gem Cut Worms, with Latin blues rock legends Los Lobos and tons more. (
