In an apparent youth movement, the Mets will sign Galarraga (he's 43!) to a minor league deal and invite him to spring training.

while pedro is one of my favorite players in all sports, and while the move to the n.l. away from facing the yankees N times a year, in my opinion, is personally good for him, i kinda wish some other NL team had taken the big gamble on him.
the mets have a lot of holes, they need a first baseman, a right fielder, a left fielder (floyd clearly wanted out by the 2nd half), a catcher either in the near-term but def for the long-term, possibly a 2nd baseman if kaz pulls a knoblauch (and i don't mean having sex with derek jeter), a long reliever, an 8th inning guy, and a frontline starter that can go longer than 6 innings.

the money spent on pedro could be spent on a bunch of medium guys who would fill a lot of the holes.
that being said, pedro is definitely a smart enough pitcher to be able to dominate the likes of most of the n.l. for the next year or two. doo-de-doo.

the nite the pedro news broke, espn ran a top 10 of worst mets moves of all time. the humongous ghost of mo vaughn looms large in more ways than one.

Rule 5 draft day!
Oh Boy!
I don't know how I didn't know this, but add to the list of good players who were taken in the Rule 5 draft: Roberto Clemente. I guess Johan's path to "greatest Rule 5 Draftee Ever" won't be that easy. The Pirates took Clemente from the Brooklyn Dodgers. In the Dodgers' defense, he didn't really become good until his 6th season in the majors, and the Pirates could afford to use him because they stank.
Well, the good news about today was that the Mets didn't lose anybody, which was fortunate because both Blake McGinley and Royce Ring had a chance of being taken.

According to multiple papers, the Mets may get Manny! Floyd and Matsui?

And Olerud!

Wait a minute, according to boston.com, the Mets have reached a deal with Pedro for 4 years and $50-56 million. I guess we're not getting Manny.

apparently, the a's tim hudson is availible. imagine if we had scott kazmir as a chip to get him. but you know what, we really needed to shore up that #5 starter's spot. -phew- glad that's been taken care of. oh wait...

someone far more intelligent than I offers a fitting note of departure for Mike "second-ugliest met to dave weathers" Stanton...


Michael Wolverton, a San Francisco-area computer research scientist who also writes for Baseball Prospectus, an influential statistics think tank, devised a system by which each situation a reliever can enter - bases loaded with one out, man on first with two out, etc. - is converted into the number of runs that typically score. The reliever is then judged by how many runs he allows either above or below average.

Wolverton's statistic, called inherited runs prevented, not only counts the pieces of runs a reliever either saves or allows, but also adjusts for runners he may bequeath to a pitcher who follows him.

The Royals' Nate Field, despite his rather pedestrian 3.77 E.R.A., is the 2004 leader in Inherited Runs Prevented with 8.0 total runs saved. On Tuesday, Field entered a game with none out and the bases loaded, and got three straight outs to save Kansas City 1.92 runs.

Inherited runs prevented also shows just how disastrous the Mets' Mike Stanton has been in 2004. Though Stanton, a veteran left-hander, had a 3.75 E.R.A., he did not save any runs but in fact cost his team 6.3 runs, third worst in the majors.

Quick comments, then back to my finals. I'm not too upset about any of this from a Mets perspective (although it's not what I would have done). The Yanks, on the other hand, are making a lot of dumb moves.

Leiber, Benson, and Wright all signed for about the same money. Wright is coming off a very strong season, but now that he's not with Leo Mazzone anymore, it seems very possible that he'll revert to form and this will be a disaster for the Yanks. Leiber clearly has a better track record than Benson, but I can see the logic in not giving your 3 year deal to a pitcher who will be 35 on opening day. Close call. But really stupid move by the Yanks for not exercising the option on Leiber. Could've had him for $8 mill for one year.
Womack stinks. If he's their everyday player at 2B next year, big mistake. But if they eventually replace him, he could be a useful utility guy/pinchrunner.
And it sounds like the Yanks are going to get Milton for Benson/Wright/Leiber money, which is really dumb because he's a very mediocre pitcher and does horribly against lefties. Leiter for 1 year probably would've been a better move if they were desperate for a lefty.
I'm sorry to see Leiter go, but I can live with it. It does put a lot of pressure on Omar to sign Pedro now, because his other options are dwindling. Matt Clement!

Moises Alou?
Boo!
How 'bout JD Drew?

last winter, every yankee move gave me the scary shivers. the bad scary shivers, because every move seemed so dope. 'dream' weaver for kevin brown? soriano for a-rod? flash gordon?
this winter, umm, "tuff" wright and "mowack "womack?"

why aren't we in play for jon leiber? we know he can pitch well in new york. we know he is a power pitcher (well, compared to our 'finesse' staff) and we are willing to blow big bucks on kris benson.

and way to let go one of the two most popular mets from over the past 6 years. apparently, the mets offered Sen. Al Leiter (R-NJ) a contract, Sen. Al accepted, and then the mets retracted. wow, class all the way.
what makes it worse is that, supposedly, the marlins contract contains a deal to do broadcasting for them after he retires. that's cool, tom seaver is the best in the biz anyway. ("arguably the best pitcher of all time" according to the new bill james abstract).

So how soon before the Mets sign Denny Neagle? I mean, he seems like a good fit, with the injuries and soliciting ho's and all.

Howard Stern uncovered why the Mets paid so much for Benson. Anna Benson told Stern that "I told [Kris], cheat on me all you want. If you get caught, I'm going to s- - -w everybody on your entire team — coaches, trainers, players. I would do everybody on his whole team."

Obviously, Minaya assumed that he'd be included.
And as further evidence, here's another quote from Anna:
""I helped with negotiations . . . I went back and forth a lot with that. He didn't even have anything to do with that. I did that deal . . . I laid out a lot of the terms."

Harmando Boo-Nitez and his giant ass have signed with the SF Giants. possibly $7 mil a year for the worst postseason closer in modern history.
Are the giants serious about winning the world series for the first time since bouncing from ny? or are omar vizquel and boonitez the magic bullets missing from the revolver for a team that needed hits from heads besides barry?

if the mets are willing to spend so much for a player clearly declining/past-his-prime like sosa why not spend it on pedro? i think pitching in the NL, in a park like shea, getting away from pitching agains the yanks so much would benefit him greatly.

my prediction if sosa becomes a met? .240, 30 HRs, 79 rbi. is it that brazy a predicion? peep his 03 numbers.... .253, 35 HRs, 80 rbis, .332 OBP.
why all the energy and time wasted this year on getting sosa yet so little on vlad last winter? when will the mets learn not to go after power guys but high average guys?
the myth of sissiphus lives on....

Bonds' OBP if he had gone hitless for the whole year would still be .391, which is the same as Vlad's, and higher than Beltre's.

That's fucked up. Just rename the award already.

si to guillen (although it might involve giving up piazza)
no, por favor no, to sosa (owed $39.5 total over the next 2 years)

this article made me want to vomit into my bandwagon boston hat...

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=schoenfield/041109

the d'backs fired wally backman.

that's what he gets for poo-pooing on even interviewing with the mets.

is it just me, or does shea-hey willie randolph's omnipresent, goofy smile and vacant stare not exactly inspire confidence?

of course, as ryan says, in the end, it doesn't really matter who the manager is, as long as we've got the dope players on the field.

minaya reportedly loves orlando cabrera. hmmm, sign The O.C., put him at short, trade reyes for kazmir? olerud at first?

The Yankees have talked to the Rangers about acquiring Soriano for pitcher Javier Vazquez, a source told the New York Times.

-sure, why not?

Mannyfest Destination
last nite was beautiful. This postseason and what the Red Sox accomplished is the perfect example of why baseball is the best sport.
Standing amidst the wild celebration outside the riviera was a little melancholy, because I thought of how far the mets are from even approaching the cardinals talent level, let alone the red sox, and seeing all these red sox fans come out of the woodwork, whooping it up made me want to experience the thrill of a mets victory here in new york, we were just kids the last time, which makes it all the more maddenning that we are so far from our own celebration.
props to the dominating domincans.

My theory is: all Times sports columnists are blowhards. Murray Chass eats my fucking balls.

more badness from the times...

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/27/sports/baseball/27rhoden.html

More goodness from the Times:
Article on WFAN caller Jerome from Manhattan.

An excerpt: "overhearing his mother talking on the telephone about his Social Security disability payments, he hollered: 'Don't give me the check! Send it to the Yankees! Get more players!'"

Good article from the NYT Week in Review about clutchness that features a nice quote from Orel Hershiser, a pitcher who I'm sure has often been described as clutch:

"Some people will perform better in the clutch, but I think guys are sometimes lucky. I'm not sure if there's enough of a sampling to know if it's about the guy."

Totally unrelated, here are some nifty scouting reports.

John Kruk is an idiot. He said on "Fact or Fiction" that Jason Varitek should catch for Tim Wakefield tomorrow. That would makes all sorts of sense:

1) If it did.
2) If the whole world hadn't seen Varitek have three passed balls last week.
3) If Kruk wasn't a blowhard.

Seriously, I've had it with these ESPN announcers who are paid to yell or make bullshit opinions so jerkoff fools who agree with them feel smart for once.

wow, read this last sentance...
"Instead, the images of the Yankees' lack of heart were everywhere -- from Hideki Matsui leading off the second inning swinging at a borderline 2-0 pitch, despite being down by six runs; to A-Rod being booed by Yankees fans after his final at-bat of the season; to Tom Gordon, who, according to one team source, was so unnerved by October pressure that he was throwing up in the bullpen during Game 6."

Who's Your Papi?
Wow! What the hell happened the last four days? What a blur. It seems like an eternity has passed since Saturday night. The Yanks were one inning away from a sweep, with Mariano on the mound. And now, after lots of Papi, Schilling's unbeliavably courageous performance, Derek Lowe coming off the scrap heap, Bellhorn breaking out of his slump with a huge homerun, and Damon breaking out of an even bigger slump with the grand slam, the Sox have somehow triumphed. And on the other side, we see Rivera blow 2 saves, Torre make very questionable moves, ARod cheat, and Jeter slug .233.
And I have to say, while my rooting didn't quite reach the level of the Mets in the postseason, it was pretty damn close.
Go Sox!

You may have noticed that the Red Sox beat the Yankees. That was cool.

thanks fox!
after a tiring weekend, i fell asleep on the couch at midnite, thus missing the end of game 4! and i'm sure i'm not the only person on the east coast who fell asleep long before the game ended.

but hey, at least viewers in oregon, washington, idaho, california, nevada and arizona got to enjoy the game in its entiriety and still enjoy a full night's rest, because, well, those are the people who want to see the game the most.

You know what really aggravases me?

The Mets- the METS!- swept the Yankees this year. Remember that? Yeah. The METS!

Stupid Sox, not winning a game.

The one thing about the Ortiz at-bat in Tuesday's game is that he was 5-10 off Rivera and didn't have good numbers against Flash, even if Rivera is Rivera. That didn't seem to bother Mariano Wednesday night, though, when he blew two cutters past him (but nearly gave up a homer on the other).

First off, dumb move by Francona not brining in Foulke in the 8th instead of Timlin. That was a critical inning against the best part of the Yankees lineup. Put your best guy in.
Dumb move by Torre as well, not bringing in Rivera to face Papi. Rivera's been much tougher on lefties than righties over the last 3 years (502 OPS vs. 629). Lefties against Gordon: 619. Of course, if the ball had gone into Matsui's glove instead of bouncing off it... Boy, there was a lot of shitty play in LF last night.
As for the issue about whether Myers should have come in to face Matsui in the 8th, not as ridiculous a non-move as I would have thought. Lefties over the last 3 years have a 716 OPS against Timlin and a 684 OPS against Myers, so not a very big diff diff. Of course, that doesn't change the fact that Foulke should've been on the mound in the first place (lefties with a 572 OPS against).

Now that I've thought some more about it, although the Cards are the clear favorite, I guess I wouldn't be totally shocked if the Astros pulled the upset. Backe and Munro haven't been that bad.

And finally, there are some ridiculously good players batting second for their teams right now. ARod, Walker, Beltran, Bellhorn. Which one of these doesn't belong? (hint: he's the one who did one hell of a Carl Everett impression last night).

Well, I’ll be damned. Game 2 of the Braves-Astros series is being played as I write this. I’m not watching it, but I just checked the game on the internet, and the Astros are winning 2-0 on 2 solo shots. One by Jeff Bagwell and one by Raul Chavez.
Raul Chavez!
Raul Chavez had 162 at-bats this season and hit no homeruns. Only 2 players had more at-bats without a dinger: Jamey Carroll (who actually had a decent year) and Brent Mayne. Nobody else was particularly close to 162 ABs. 523 people hit a homerun in the majors this year. Raul Chavez was not one of them. He is now one of 22 people to hit one during the playoffs. Even forgetting about homeruns, Chavez was one of the worst hitters in baseball this year. The only players with a worse OPS and at least 100 at-bats were Doug Glanville, Andy Green (who?) and Damian Rolls. So, I’d say its pretty damn surprising that he’s even starting a game in the postseason, let alone hitting a homer. Even more surprising is that he hit it off Mike Hampton, who was pretty stingy this year, allowing only 15 homers.
The only thing that comforts me somewhat about this is that Chavez does have 2 homers earlier in his career, as well as 32 career AAA homeruns in 2,538 at-bats, which is a lot of AAA at-bats. So, in the end, I guess I’m happy for the guy. He’s been toiling in the minors since 1990. He’s had a few cups of coffee in the majors, but this is the first year he’s had significant playing time. He probably won’t have much more of a career, but he can always say he hit a homerun in a playoff game, and a fairly important one at that. Pretty cool for Raul Chavez.

Amazingly, Chavez isn’t the first person to hit a homer this postseason after not hitting one during the regular season. Tom Wilson hit a solo shot in his only at-bat during game 1 of the Dodgers-Cards game. Wilson didn’t hit any homers this year, but he only had 12 ABs (including 4 with the Mets!). He did hit 12 taters in 195 minor league at-bats, so this wasn’t all that shocking. There have been some other pretty surprising catcher homeruns this postseason, too. Both Mike Matheny and Brad Ausmus have gone yard. What the hell is going on?

Prophetic words Aram, that Moose would beat Johan "guaranteed". Last week's sweep wasn't particularly telling cuz they pulled Santana after like 4 or 5 innings to keep him fresh for the playoffs.

Cards (over Astros) over Sawx (over Yanks) (sorry Bryan)

I agree that Clemens will end up winning too. Sentimental pick by the writers.

Ravi's picks were quite eloquent. I agree with everything Ryan wrote except I'm taking the Astros.

the only thing i would disagree with is the nl cy young, where i would go with (as much as i hate to say it....) roger clemens. also, as much as i hate to say it, the yanks will beat the twins in three, maaaybe four. i think last week's sweep was particularly telling. moosina beats johan game 1, guaranteed.

(to the tune of "who needs the quik-e mart?")
whooo needs vladimiiir?
not wilpon, not wiiilpon.

Quick picks (without a ton of thought):

MVPs - Bonds and Vlad
Cy Youngs - Johan and Unit
First Round Playoff Winners:
Braves (tough call)
Cards
Red Sox
Twins

Go Twins!

I'm not excited about this Minaya thing at all. First off, this doesn't change the fact that the Wilpons will continue to run the ship and make stupid moves just to look good on the back page of the papers. Nothing's going to be solved until the Mets hire a real GM and let him run the ship.
The best thing I've heard about Minaya is that he's good as far as scouting Latin America. Sounds great if we were hiring him to be the "head of Latin American Scouting" or something, not to be the GM.
From everything I've read, it sounds like the Duquette didn't have much to do with the July 30 disaster, that he was in fact against making the moves. If that's the case, I think he's done a decent job, certainly not one bad enough for him to be fired after a year. Matsui hasn't lived up to expectations and they really should've picked up a 5th starter before the season, but Cameron and Hidalgo were good moves. And at least he didn't take on any absurdly bad contracts.

Minaya? Why should we be impressed with him?
Here are some of his major trades with the Expos:
-Traded Guillermo Mota and Wilkin Ruan to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Received Matt Herges and Jorge Nunez.
-Traded Jason Bay to the New York Mets. Received Lou Collier.
-Traded Scott Strickland, Matt Watson, and Phil Seibel to the New York Mets. Received a PTBNL, Bruce Chen, Dicky Gonzalez, and Luis Figueroa.
-Traded RHP Jim Brower and a player to be named for RHP Livan Hernandez, catcher Edwards Guzman and cash.
-Traded RHP Javier Vazquez for the Yankees' 1B Nick Johnson, OF Juan Rivera and LHP Randy Choate

Also, he rented Cliff Floyd and Bartolo Colon, trading them away soon after - here's the sum of those trades:
- Traded Lee Stevens, Brandon Phillips, Cliff Lee, and Grady Sizemore for Orlando Hernandez, RHP Rocky Biddle, and Jeff Liefer.
-Traded a PTBNL, Graeme Lloyd, Mike Mordecai, Carl Pavano, and Justin Wayne for Sun-Woo Kim and Seung Song.

Okay, obviously the Livan Hernandez pickup was outstanding, although he didn't start getting good until some other team's pitching coach gave him advice in the middle of the season and he changed his delivery, so there's some luck at play.
I liked the Vazquez deal at the time, although Nick Johnson has been hurt a lot.

On the negative side, he has traded Guillermo Mota, Jason Bay, Carl Pavano, and Grady Sizemore.

omar minaya as new head of baseball operations, and will be above jim duquette in the mets hierarchy. should we be excited? or is this another sign of too many cooks in the kitchen? mmmm, fourth place stew! needs a sprinkling of some more valent though.

Cliff Floyd: .260/18/63/.814 OPS/11 steals, the 113 games played this year are the most he's played the last three- makes $6.5 million

Brad Wilkerson: .256/31/62/.870 OPS/13 steals, played 153/146/151 games the last three years- makes $315,000

The Mets will go places with this Floyd kid, I can feel it...

At first I was a little concerned with the Art Howe fiasco. I was concerned that the Mets would be set adrift, without direction. but thankfully, the mets braintrust has made me feel more at ease with the future with talks that the new manager could possibly be Jim Fergosi. JIM FERGOSI!!!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!!??!??!??????!!!!!!!!!!!!!! JIM FERGOSI!?!?!?!??!?!??!

Why was Dierker dumped again? That's a very interesting choice, but do you think he could handle NYC?

One more name for Mets manager: Davey Johnson.

Boy, that Kazmir trade looks worse every day.
6 scoreless innings and 9 Ks against one of the best offenses in baseball. Pretty damned good for a 20 year old. The future looks pretty bright, and even if you're concerned about his ability to stay healthy long-term, his trade value is a lot higher now.

Howe is as good as gone, so I guess we can start discussing who the next manager should be.
Piniella? Bobby V? Showalter? Backman?
One name I haven't heard mentioned, but would consider is Larry Dierker. From what I've read about and by him, he seems to be really bright and progressive. And the Astros won 4 divisions in his 5 seasons. They haven't won since he left.
And one name that has been mentioned a lot that I have no interest in is Larry Bowa. He's been a disaster in Philly.

Oakland and Minnesota are now tied in the standings, so it's unclear which one the AL East winner ends up playing. For you Yankee and Red Sox fans: who would you rather face at this point? As much as I like the A's, I think I'm more scared of the Twins right now.
In his last 19 starts, Johan Santana has only given up 3 earned runs once. Once in 19 games! Over those games, he has a 1.41 ERA and has averaged over 7 1/3 innings per start. He has 179 Ks (almost 9.5 per game!) and 26 BBs over that span.

Do you want to face Johan Santana twice in a five game series? No, you don't.
And Brad Radke is having a great season, too. 3.43 ERA. 134 Ks and only 19 BBs.

I've always been a big Clement fan (lots of K's), and if I were them, I'd go after Pavano too. But knowing the Mets, they'll end up re-signing Benson, and sign Wells.

The Mets made a huge mistake when they traded for Kris Benson, but there's no reason for them to make another huge mistake by re-signing him to a multi-year contract. And, no, I don't accept justifying the trade as a valid reason to sign a mediocre pitcher to a pricey long-term deal.
The talk is that the Mets have offered a deal around $6 million per year for 3 years. And Benson wants a lot more. Everyone's acting like Benson is some sort of elite pitcher.
He's not. His ERA this year is 4.68. The NL average ERA is approximately 4.33 (based on my rough calculation). So, his ERA is about 93% as good as the league average.
How about the rest of his career? Here is Benson's ERA+ (ERA compared to league average, adjusted for ballpark, 100=average) along with my rough 2004 calculation:
1999 112
2000 119
2001 Didn't play
2002 92
2003 85
2004 93

That's a pretty clear pattern. During his first 2 years, he was an above average pitcher. After missing a whole season, he has consistently been a below average pitcher.

Next year, the Mets will probably have a rotation of Glavine, Leiter (team option), Trachsel, Zambrano, and someone else. Benson would be an adequate number 5 starter, but he's not worth the money being talked about, particularly because there are better pitchers on the market.

Here are some free agent pitchers and some of their 2004 stats, ranked by ERA (there are probably better ways to rank them, but ERA is a simple, well known stat). I'm leaving out Pedro because he will command far more money.

........ERA, K/9, BB/9, HR/9
Pavano 3.09, 5.5, 2.2, 0.6
O.Perez 3.16, 5.8, 2.0, 1.1
Wright 3.19, 7.5, 3.6, 0.5
Clement 3.44, 9.5, 3.6, 1.1
Radke 3.59, 6.1, 0.9, 1.0
Wells 3.61, 4.0, 1.0, 0.9
Ru.Ortiz 3.67, 6.5, 4.8, 0.7
Morris 4.40, 5.8, 2.4, 1.5
Wilson 4.63, 5.7, 3.2, 1.4
Benson 4.68, 5.5, 3.0, 0.7
Millwood 4.86, 7.8, 3.2, 0.9
Lowe 5.15, 5.2, 3.3, 0.7

Other than Boomer, all those pitchers are in the 27-31 age range. Benson is 29. So, age isn't a huge issue here. There are obviously a lot of free agent pitchers having much better years than Benson.

For some longer term perspective, in 2003, the only pitcher on that list that Benson had a better ERA than was Wright (who obviously hasn't had a very good career until this year). Career ERA? Benson beats just Wright and Wilson.

Getting into stats that a bunch of you will ignore, here's the above list ranked by VORP over the last 2 years (which is how many runs saved versus a replacement level pitcher):

Radke 82
Pavano 80
Wells 80
Ru.Ortiz 72
Clement 67
Perez 63
Morris 53
millwood 47
Wright 39
Wilson 24
Lowe 18
Benson 10

By the way, Esteban Loaiza would top that list by a narrow margin, although after his recent struggles, I understand the concerns about him. Still...

Anyway, to sum up my thoughts, I would need to think more carefully about this to come up with a first choice and I need to see how the market plays out to see what it will take to sign any of these pitchers. My gut says to go with Radke, Clement, or Pavano.
Those guys would actually have a chance to improve our beloved Mets.

great article from sunday's post by mike vaccaro....
ON the one hand, the plight of a Mets fan isn't so terribly unusual, or unique. Jets fans know what it's like to root for the "second team" in town. So do Nets fans, and Devils fans, and Islanders fans. So do White Sox fans, and Angels fans, and Clippers fans, and fans of the Tattaglia Family, and Jersey music fans who favor Bon Jovi over Springsteen, and fans of "heads" (which, according to mathematicians, wins only 49.2 percent of the time against its long and bitter rival, "tails").

Life as The Other Guy ain't easy. It's how you become The Other Guy in the first place, right?
Well, here's a Mets fan named Ken McConnell who would beg to differ with that. Listen to him:
"I've been a Mets fan since '63," McConnell, a Long Island native now living in Hollywood, Fla., writes. "I became a Mets fan because my father was a Dodgers fan, because my older brothers took me to Shea and the Polo Grounds when I was a kid. From the start, we knew we weren't the Yankees. That was fine. We didn't have the history with the Mets, but we had that link to the Dodgers and the Giants.

"We always knew it was a fair fight, because the Yankees won all those pennants in front of quiet, polite people from Jersey and Westchester. New York City was a National League town. It was always a National League town. And we figured it always would be. The Mets proved it for a lot of years. Only now, New York isn't a National League town. You're a fool if you believe that. And you're a bigger fool if you believe it'll ever be that way again."

It's what people always forget when they talk about this Yankee dominance that is alleged to extend all the way back to Babe Ruth. It just isn't so. It wasn't so when the Yankees had to share the town's affections with the Giants in the '20s and '30s, it wasn't so when they had to share the city's soul with the Dodgers in the '40s and '50s, and it wasn't so when they had to share New York's baseball buck with the Mets in the '60s, '70s and '80s.

In Shea Stadium's first 29 years of existence, 1964 to 1992, the Mets outdrew the Yankees 20 times. And if you remove from the equation the years 1976 through 1981, when the Yankees were winning pennants in a newly renovated Yankee Stadium while the Mets were barely fielding a semi-pro team in the dying days of the M. Donald Grant administration and beyond, that number is 20 out of 23.

"It burns me when we get treated like stepchildren," McConnell writes. "Like it's always been the way it is now. It hasn't. The Mets were equals. They were always equals."
McConnell is one voice, an angry one, and there are thousands of others. As another Mets season winds its way into complete nonsense, they feel increasingly disenfranchised. It takes a little bit of the joy out of the game when your single biggest rooting interest is that the team fires the witless manager sooner, rather than later, the better to begin thinking, again, about a new form of tomorrow.

Yankees fans increasingly believe that Mets fans are growing extinct. And while it's true that it sometimes seems an impossible task to identify a Mets fan under the age of 30, they're out there, too. And they are furious. No second team in this market stirs the smoldering embers of frustration the way the Mets do. Jets fans are conditioned to expect the worst. Same with Nets fans. Devils fans and Islanders fans have almost relished the championships they've won in obscurity while the Rangers toiled haplessly in the limelight.

Mets fans?

They get to sit, and seethe, and they get to watch Paris Wilpon and his daddy, Fifth Avenue Fred, go on vacation and let all their underlings absorb the heat while another season careens into the abyss. Mets fans are so much more honorable than the men who own the team, it isn't funny. For years, they've been dared to abandon the ship. And they never do. In their heart of hearts, they think this could still be a National League town again.

If the Mets ever rise above playing like they belong in the International League, that is.
"A long time ago, I made a choice," another Mets fan named John Bliss wrote me a few weeks ago. "I picked the Mets. For better or worse, I have to live with that choice. For better or worse, I'm glad I made the choice I did."

For better or worse, Mets fans find themselves rooting for The Other Guy now, wondering if that isn't a permanent designation. Another season up in flames. Another year deeper in the Wilpon Family Reign of Error. Another year removed from equal footing in America's most passionate baseball town.

Wondering if they'll ever be able to recover.

Worried that they already know the answer to that question.

the post's marc hale reports that the mets probably won't call up victor diaz because they "have no room in the outfield" that right, let's see what this gerald williams kid has first. meanwhile, take a gander at this list of chumps who could be joining the Flushing Tides shortly....

Craig Brazell, First base22 HRs, 65 RBIs, .266 BA through 118 games at AAA NorfolkA sweet left-handed swing is Brazell's trademark, a seemingly effortless turn that has accounted for nearly 100 minor league homers. He had a cup of coffee with the Mets last month.

Matt Ginter, Pitcher1-3, 4.61 ERA in 14 games [13 starts] for the MetsGinter spent much of the first half with New York and has been up and down from Norfolk over the last six weeks, filling in when a spot starter was needed.

Heath Bell, Pitcher3-1, 16 saves, 3.23 ERA at NorfolkBell made his Major League debut last week against San Diego, throwing an impressive two scoreless innings. He has been a solid closer during an unstable year for the Tides.

Tyler Yates, Pitcher1-4, 7.07 ERA in 10 games [seven starts] for the MetsYates was sent back to Norfolk to begin working again as a relief pitcher. He won the fourth starter's spot out of Spring Training but pitched poorly. He's 6-2 with four saves and a 3.18 ERA for Norfolk.

Pat Strange, Pitcher9-9, 5.18 ERA at NorfolkA starter with staying power, Strange has won 63 games in the New York system since 1998. He has 11 Major League games under his belt with a 6.35 ERA.

Esix Snead, Outfielder.264 BA, 40 SB at NorfolkThe speed merchant has the ability to change a game with his legs, but has spent his entire career figuring out how to get on base. Scored a run in his only appearance with the Mets this year.

Aaron Heilman, Pitcher7-9, 4.14 at Norfolk, 0-1, 9.82 [one start] for the MetsHeilman has pitched better in the second half of the season with the Tides but was unimpressive in his lone start with the Mets last week.

Wayne Lydon, Outfielder.272 BA, 65 SB at AA BinghamtonIs on the verge of breaking Snead's club mark for thefts. The B-Mets are in the Eastern League playoffs, so he may not arrive until the middle of the month, if at all.

Benson will miss his next start with a "fatigued shoulder"! AH HAHAHAHAHA!!! Booo.

Howe "liked Wheeler for his ability to throw strikes". Yeah, throwing strikes is pretty dope, especially when they're fat strikes that get blasted all over the park.

1) The New York Mets signed Cuban defector Alay Soler on Friday, giving the pitcher a three-year deal worth $2.8 million.
--why can't we sign all kinds of chump pitchers (no offense, chump) from all over for less than one million per, instead of overpaid losers like Stanton and Franco?

2) the astros are morons- once again they take one of our crappy relievers, taking Wheeler off waivers. In return, Mets get some scrubby OF hitting .283 in A-ball.

3) mets.com, one of the worst websites in the world, has the nerve to headline yesterday's game recap "Pair Of Homers Not Enough". Perhaps this would be appropriate if it were a pair of grand slams, as they lost 10-2.

damning quote from bob klapisch...
"It's a negative pleasure, rooting against a rookie, but it's all the Mets have these days. The real fun at Shea evaporated long ago. "

the mets are 5 games ahead of the expos, and the way this season is headed, it's quite likely we will finish in last. part of me wants them to finish in last, hoping that this will drive the message home to wilpon, but I know it's pointless, if the past 4 seasons have not taught wilpon anything, if the past 4 years couldn't prevent the disastrous trades of this year, then what will? no present, no future, an overused past. good times.

as oppossed to zambrano i know exactly where my pitch is going when it leave my hand, right into the batter's wheelhouse.

Aaron Gleeman gives some love to my man Mike Cameron.

And how 'bout Victor Zambrano's elbow injury. That's pretty bad luck. No way the Mets could have predicted that. Oh wait, he had an elbow injury when they got him...

This article was fun until the non-sequitor at the end:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=klapisch_bob&id=1861995

According to EqA, I am tired.

New Murderer's Row?
As of today, according to EqA, the Cardinals have 3 of the top 12 hitters in baseball (Edmonds and Rolen are tied for 4th and Pujols is 12th). That's a pretty stacked heart of the order. If the season ended today, the Cards would have 3 of the top 4 hitters (according to EqA) in the playoffs (along with JD Drew). I know all the talk about pitching winning championships, but that's gonna be a tough lineup to pitch too in October. And now they've added Larry Walker, who if he had enough at bats to qualify would rank aheal of all three of them.

If the problem was really dealing with Boras, then they probably wouldn't have signed him in the first place. And like you said, they won't really have to negotiate with him until Kazmir's been playing for 6 years, so it doesn't seem like much of an issue.
And for the record, the prospect the Mets got stinks, and the Mets sent another prospect with potential big upside, too.

Hey, at least Benson's wife is hot. Morons.

I'm not sure who's dumber though, Ken Williams or Duquette.

My thoughts on the trades:

(First off, Aaron Gleeman pretty much sees most of the same way, and says it better.)

After much thought, I've made my decision that I hate the Zambrano trade more than the Benson trade. The Benson trade seems stupid to me, but trading Kazmir has the potential to go down as a disaster.

Kazmir is one of the best prospects in baseball. He's 20 years old and pitching very well at AA (31 ip, 19 h, 12 bb, 37 so, 0 hr, 1.45 ERA). If for some reason the Mets had really soured on Kazmir despite his dominance of AA, it seems like we should have been able to get a lot more. Zambrano is about to turn 29 and has a 4.43 ERA while leading the league in walks. Peterson may be able to improve Zambrano, but he presumably would have had some positive effect on Kazmir, too.

As for the Benson deal: Peterson and Huber both seem like decent prospects, although not outstanding. Huber is hitting very well in AA, but supposedly his defense might necessitate a move from catcher, which would hurt his value a lot. I really don't like trading Ty Wiggz. Wigginton is a solid hitter who can play 3 infield positions and possibly learn to play corner outfield, as well. The Mets have had a lousy bench for years, and Wiggy could have finally been part of the solution to that, giving us a solid utility guy for the next few years.
I have nothing against Benson, my gripe is with the fact that he's a free agent at the end of the year. We could have signed him anyway. And then we would've given up a draft pick. I'd rather keep Wigginton, Huber, and Peterson, and lose the pick.

-I think the Nomar deal is horrible for obvious reasons.

-I think the Dodgers got the better of the Marlins, although I think the trade is better for the Dodgers than it is bad for the Marlins because of their different needs. Mota had a career year last year, and even though his ERA is low again this year, his K and BB numbers are less encouraging. Penny is a big addition for LA, which doesn't have a great rotation for the playoffs.
Choi is a huge pickup. He's fairly young, cheap, and a very good hitter. And the OF went from Bradley-Roberts-Encarnacion to Bradley-Finley-Green, which is a nice improvement. Encarnacion stinks.
Brent Mayne is no Lo Duca, but Lo Duca has been a terrible second half player. For his career, his 1st half OPS is .840 and his second half is .686.

-The more I think about, the dumber the White Sox seem. Contreras has upside, but it seems like a huge risk to take on his salary for the next 2 years.

Good news for big market teams in general:
Bill Would Raise Franchise Value of Sports Teams

And even better news for the Yankees in particular:

Steinbrenner's Plan to Have Other Teams Buy Him a Stadium

here's the "Happy Recap," the mets traded their future for a #4 and #5 starter who each have eras around 5.

it's very hard for teams to consistently give their fans a winning product. it's much easier to offer their fans hope for the future. now, us mets fans have neither.

where was this pressure on wilpon coming from? i think the majority of mets fans were willing to be patient this year and even next because of the excitement of our farm system and our slow building back into contention.

thank goodness they are off the air. now, i can concentrate on nfl training camp 2004!!!!!!

just to inject some more real perspective on the mets situation. they may still be in the 'hunt' for the nl east, but they are the fourth worst team in the entire National League. The mets are better only than the d-backs, the rockies, and the expos. they are currently tied with the brewers and a half-game back of the pirates. esteemed company. so yes, to reiterate what ryan said, this team should be looking into selling, not buying.

remember when shane-o-wac was on the cover of sports illustrated back in '99? well, you know what? maybe they were right, maybe he is the next mickey mantle....off the field.

Shane Spencer - DUI
From the police report:
"I asked if he had any alcohol to drink. He said a few. I asked how many was a few. He said six or seven."

This isn't a very timely post, but you know how every year after the Rule V draft, somebody asks "has anyone good ever been taken?" and someone else responds Bobby Bonilla and whoever the other guy is. Well, I just read that Johan Santana was taken in the Rule V draft by the Marlins from the Astros, and then traded to the Twins the same day. Imagine either the Astros or Marlins rotations with Santana!

Now that the Mets are 5 games out, I think it's pretty unlikely that they're going to make a miraculous comeback and win the division. So, I think the whole Kris Benson idea should be killed.
Furthermore, the Mets should start thinking about trading whatever chips they do have for some prospects. Maybe wait till the deadline to pull the trigger, but start exploring the trade market. I think we could get a lot in return for Al Leiter. Other than Johnson, he'd probably be the best available pitcher. He has the best ERA in baseball! And he's essentially a free agent at the end of the year.
And we could probably get a decent package for Hidalgo, too. Since joining the Mets, he's been great, so we should be able to get a lot more for him than we gave up. Either Oakland or L.A. could use him.

"It does not hurt or nothing".

--if it does not hurt, then you play. very simple. Props to ESPN for saysing "if stupidity were an injury, Shane Spencer would be on the DL often, and he is again." Another reason to not wear sandals.

This sums up the Mets perfectly (from espn.com):

Mets outfielder Shane Spencer is on the disabled list for doing something "stupid."

Spencer was wearing sandals when he stepped on some glass on a bar room floor, causing a cut on his right heel that required five stitches. The incident occurred on Thursday night after New York lost to the Montreal Expos, 4-1.

"It's frusrating," Spencer said. "You do not want to go on the disabled list for something stupid. It does not hurt or nothing. It is just a big gash."

Hilarious post on the Raindrops about the Super Joe to the Padres deal falling through.

Go, Johnny, Go! Go, Johnny, go, go, go!

No, we mean Go Johnny, go. as in leave. unless he can play first base. worth a shot, everyone else has played there.

where is glavine's run support?

thankfully, today was day camp day, so all the kids left before the later innings. i went on camp day once, ohhh, how the girls swooned for cutey-pie dave magadan. the dream lives on for the little girls of today with dave wright.

Art Howe is a moron! I'm generally not that critical of him, but why the hell did he bring John Franco into the game today? 8th inning, tie game, 1-1. Very critical moment in the game. He could have brought in Looper, but okay, most managers wouldn't have done that. Here are some of his other options:
     ERA, IP, K, BB, HR
Moreno  3.21, 33.2, 29, 10, 0
Botallico 3.34, 35, 35, 17, 0
Franco  5.14, 35, 27, 19, 3

Clearly, Moreno and Botallico have performed better this year. Moreno pitched 2/3 of an inning the night before, maybe he's not ready to go. Why not Botallico? I probably would have even put in DeJean. Or have some balls, and have Looper pitch the 8th and 9th.

Instead, Franco pitches. Gives up a 2-run homer. And the Mets lose.

And just 2 days earlier, Franco got the loss in a critical spot.

It's time for Franco to either retire or be released. But at least if he's going to be on the team, save him for less meaningful spots. Don't ever bring him in with the tie scored. And don't do it twice in a three day period.

edit: Well, Moreno pitched the 9th, so he was obviously able to pitch today. Granted, he gave up a run in the 9th, but I still would've preferred to see Howe bring him in instead of Johny Franco.

Garcia, 2 HRs, 5 ribbies last nite. No real surprise to me.

How long until Wright gets hurt? Or until they slaughter him in the papers?

The Mets acquired C Tommy Piazza, younger brother of Mike, from the Los Angeles Dodgers and assigned him to rookie ball in the Gulf Coast League.

-bring him and Glavine's brother up. They can be like the fake Diesel and Razor Ramon.

Yesterday was indeed a painful loss. At least I had a delicious Mama's Special sandwich. And Chump is right, there was no reason to expect better from this team. If Piazza's out for awhile, it is going to hurt whatever chance we still have. Let the David Wright era begin!

I wanted to address the gripes from fans about how Benitez is suddenly closing out games successfully. Here's Benitez's saves and blown saves as Mets closer and with the Marlins:

2000 41-5
2001 43-3
2002 33-4
2003 21-7
2004 32-3

Obviously, he stunk in 2003, but he's converting his save opportunities at about the same rate he did from 2000-2002 with the Mets.

last nite was easily the most painful loss of the season. basically, we traded closers with the fish. ours didn't get it done. then theirs, a man so unloved he was annointed with one of the most comical nicknames ever, "Harmando Boonitez," came on and shut us down for like the 10th time this season.  a sad nite at shea, witnessed by an embarassingly small crowd.
 
that being said, it's important to keep things in perspective. before the season i hoped this team could get to .500, and that basically entails a loss every other day, which  is what we're getting.

DeJean seems like a decent pickup. They were getting rid of Karim anyway, and they can use all the help they can get in the 'pen. Since leaving Colorado, DeJean has had ERAs of 2.78, 3.12, and 4.68. His K/9IP rate has been in the 7-8 range, and is over 8 this year. He's always walked too many people, but it's not ridiculously out of control. I think he's just had a little bad luck this year, and should bounce back to be servicable down the stretch.
 
All that said, he's ranked as the second worst reliever in baseball this year by Prospectus' Adjusted Runs Prevented.

DeJean, a 33-year-old righthander, struggled mightily in his first taste of the American League this season. He parlayed a combined 19 saves with the Brewers and Cardinals last year into a one-year, $1.5 million free agent deal with the Orioles, and gave them an 0-5, 6.13 record in 37 appearances. Opponents strafed him for a .308 average with two homers, and his control was shaky with a 36-28 strikeout-walk ratio in 40 innings.
 
--is there no one in AAA with a 6.13 era who can pitch one inning every few days?

regarding olerud.  piazza, hilariously, said he doesn't want to return to catching more.
 
regarding wiggs to first-base.  i mean, seriously, can we set a record for most guys playing first? piazza, ziele, spencer, valent, hey wiggs, your turn! is floyd next?
 
regarding delgado. can someone explain how the giants, ever since they've moved into pacbell/sbc seem to be a cash cow yet can't/won't spend the cash to add someone even close to a lethal bat next to bonds? oh wait, alfonzo. yeah.
 
regarding walks: boo on bonds for breaking rickey's record.
 
regarding henry. yeah. that's right, harrison ford up in here.

Well the prob with Delgado is that he has a no-trade and doesn't wanna go anywhere. That's probably why no one is talking about him.

Mentioned in one of the papers today that if/when Wright gets called up, Wigginton will play 1B part-time (if he's not traded). Umm, okay, why not just let him be a set-up man too for Looper?

Olerud
The Mariners are supposedly about to release Olerud or designate him for assignment. If he'd be willing to come to NY and play part time, I think he'd be a useful addition for the rest of the year. He'd be the best defensive 1B we'd have, and as a lefty, could work in a pseudo-platoon with Phillips, with Piazza going back and forth between 1B and C.
Even with his off year, Olerud is hitting better than Phillips and Zeile, as well as Garcia, who he can replace as the non-Valent lefty off the bench.
EqA this year:
Olerud .268
Zeile .250
Phillips .225
Garcia .236

Olerud had a .278 EqA last year, and .320 the year before.
If we can get him for almost nothing, I think it's a no-brainer. Of course, some team may be willing to give him a starting job, so he might not want to come to play part time.

Trade Market
Obviously, whoever gets Randy Johnson is goint to greatly improve their chances of winning the World Series. I think if either the Yanks or Sox could get him for prospects, they would be HUGE favorites. Even if the Sox have to give up Nomar, I think it makes them much better in the postseason (moreso than the regular season). Can you imagine a rotation of Johnson-Schilling-Pedro in the postseason? That would be almost unstoppable, particularly when you consider that none of the Yankees' pitchers are having particularly great years. Vazquez has been strong, but Mussina and Brown haven't pitched that well.
If the Angels can get the Unit, they're suddenly up there with the Yanks and Sox, and actually make winning the AL East a big deal, because the Wild Card will probably have to face the West winner.

There's another potentially big impact player who nobody seems to be talking about: Carlos Delgado. He's a free agent at the end of the year and the Jays are out of the race, so I imagine he could be had for a fairly low price. He's having a lousy year, but he's been one of the best hitters in baseball for years now (last year he led the AL in OPS+, and was in the top 10 the 3 previous seasons), so unless there's something really physically wrong with him, he should bounce back. He'd be a huge bat to add to any number of lineups.
I think the team that could really use him is the Giants. Batting Delgado behind Bonds would finally force teams to throw some strikes to Bonds, and if they don't, there would at least be someone to drive Bonds home.
The Angels could really use him, too, with the lousy production they're getting out of Erstad at 1B.
Or the Braves. Replacing LaRoche with Delgado might win the division for them.
Or the White Sox if Thomas ends up out for the season.
Or even the Yankees or Red Sox. The Yanks could DH him. The Sox could DH either him or Ortiz and move Millar into a platoon with Trot. And since the Yanks and Sox have all righty starters (for now), it would be extra useful to have that big lefty bat to hit against them in the inevitable ALCS.

It's funny you mentioned the walks thing, cuz Marc and I were discussing it the other day. Bonds has 2200 walks for his career. That's a good 4 seasons worth of at-bats that he's missed out on. I don't know what his HR-to-AB ratio is, but we figured maybe 1 in 20 at bats (even though it's probably better than that). So there's 110 HRs right there, which would give him 800 by now. Ridiculous.

I'd just like to take this intra-All Star Break time to remind you all how ridiculous Barry Bonds is, and point out that he's on pace to have more walks than hits at a 2 to 1 ratio, and at the end of the season, not including errors, Bonds will have been on base 366 times (more than his previous high of 350 something back in the season when he had 198 walks), which has to be some sort of record.

If he maintains this rate and since he's scoring runs at a clip that projects to 129 at the end of the year, the simple calculations will tell you that any time Barry Bonds gets on base (and this may be minutely higher since I'm not accounting for however many times gets on base because of errors) he will have scored 35% of the time he gets on base.

Verification? Maybe someone else can do the research because I'm too lazy.

For further fun, but let's convert a random sample of, say, 150 of his intentional walks over the past five years, into plate appearances for Bonds from the last five years, if so, given his HR/PA ratio, but let's say it's 17% (which I don't know, and am again too lazy to calculate) can it logically follow that Bonds could have passed 700 HRs by now, or that he could be closer to 3000 hits (which getting to anymway may be tough considering he's going to be 40 in July, is 336 hits away and noone pitches to him).

I'm not saying they're all pointless, some of them are very relevant. But in my opinion, this new one on Adj Standings, along with others, is unnecessary and not useful.

If Unit goes to the Yanks, I quit watching baseball. Fundamentally destroying the game right there if that happens.

Brad, I disagree entirely with your classification of Prospectus. Prospectus tries to eliminate the statistics that don't matter, like, say RBIs, and come up with measurements of how a team is doing outside of its results, which are subject to variance. The measurements don't mean anything w-r-t the standings, obviously, but they're anything but pointless.

I know it was sarcastic, I wasn't ripping on you. It's just that Prospectus comes up with more and more stats that, when it boils down to it, don't really mean anything. I mean, sure, they can come up with theories and such, but no one can legitimately say what's going to happen. Players/teams have runs, and they also have slumps. I think everyone knows that the Mets won't continue this great run they're having, nor will the Yanks continue to suck like this. But hey, a guy can dream.

However, I must say, I'm quite impressed with how the Mets have been playing. They're doing all the little things right, which they've had a problem with for a long time. Surprised no one's making mention of the hitting coming around now that Baylor was made hitting instructor, although I doubt that's really a factor.

Does this Soler guy really think he'll be able to help in a month? And do the Mets really believe him? And does anyone really believe he's 24?

What I got out of that article:

"Soler has undergone two major shoulder operations"

Sweet.

My first post on Adjusted Standings was sarcastic. Obviously, I'd rather the Mets be in first in the real standings. But, it's not pointless. What's done is done, but it's a useful tool to predict how teams are going to do the rest of the season because it's a more accurate measure of how good a team is than looking at their actual W-L. A lot of people already look at Pythagorean records (there was an article in the Times(?) earlier this week about it), this just takes it a couple steps further in eliminating the luck.

And how about this Cuban guy the Mets supposedly signed?

So is there any way to convince MLB to use Adj. Standings? Cuz otherwise it's another fucking pointless stat that Prospectus is coming up with.

According to Baseball Prospectus's Adjusted Standings, the Mets and Red Sox are both in first place.

Hooray!

harbringer of doom? desperate times in beantown?

the sawx signed pedro astacio.

speaking of blimpie's fine array of roast beef sandwiches, the mets have interest in bringing back paul wilson in a deal possibly involving ty wiggington. mmm, imagine those two slathered in mayo and swiss cheese......

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7597-2004Jun26.html

interesting article about how selig got miller park built and also about the expos. if the link doesn't work then it's in sunday's wash. post.

just goes to show that mets management has more or less no idea what they're doing when it comes to talent.

Matsui needs to be locked in a dark video room, strapped to a chair with his eyelids taped open clockwork orange-style, and forced to watch:

a) physics lessons, to be able to tell when someone has no chance of catching a fly ball
b) tape of zeile and timo's antics in the 2000 world series, to learn how NOT to run the bases
c) all 88 games in which elster did not make an error

I hate matsui.

well they're really only paying 1 mil since hidalgo is making 8, weathers was making 3, and houston kicked in 4. and his buyout is only 2 mil, so i don't think it's that bad a deal.

Just looked through my ticket stubs and noticed something amazing - since I've lived here, I've paid to go to nine Mets games at Shea (in 2002 I covered them and didn't have tickets), and they are 8-1, losing only to Randy Johnson last year in the back end of a doubleheader. Those games include the incredible post September 11th Piazza home run game, a Mo Vaughn 8th inning homer against the Yankees to win it on Sunday night baseball (at which Wayne Housie subsequently got a flat tire), and a walkoff shot by Piazza in extra innings against the Padres last year. This year alone, they are 3-0 and have outscored their opponents 19-6, with four of those runs coming off Braden Looper, who sucks. So bring me to games and pay for me. Thank you.

unless someone can convince me otherwise (ryan) i'm not down with the hidalgo trade, who hit .185 in june, .202 in april and no homers since april 13th. while no one appreciated seeing weathers fat face every day, still, he was there every day, our workhorse. plus we're paying half hidalgo's salary and plus the cost of not exercising his dumb option.
as saro says, karim garcia has now lost the right to pee where he pleases.

In case you hadn't noticed, Bonds is way ahead of his own OPS and OBP records, and in line for 3rd all time in SLG for a season.

1985 Draft:
1 B.J. Surhoff C Brewers U of North Carolina
2 Will Clark 1B Giants Mississippi State U
3 Bobby Witt RHP Rangers U of Oklahoma
4 Barry Larkin SS Reds U of Michigan
5 Kurt Brown C White Sox Glendora, CA
6 Barry Bonds OF Pirates Arizona State U

I guess things worked out pretty well for the Giants, anyway.

I think I like Don Baylor better than Walling as hitting coach. For whatever it's worth, the announcers sounded very excited about the work Baylor did with Matsui earlier in the day.

Here's an interesting stat from CameronSucksProspectus that shows how many times he's struck out with runners in scoring position:

85,000,000

My calculations show that they're correct.

I know it's in vogue to bash Mike Cameron, and I'm obviously disappointed in his performance, but here's an interesting stat from Baseball Prospectus showing how many extra base hits the Mariners and Mets OF are giving up (this may not format too well):

Mariners
opposing 2B+3B & as apx % of AB
2003 234 2.3%
2004 390* 6.8%*

Mets
opposing 2B+3B & as apx % of AB
2003 348 6.1%
2004 267* 4.4%*

* Projected over a full season

You gotta love this:

"At least for now, Mets officials are opposed to trading top prospects for a potential free agent like Beltran when they can sign him this offseason and lose only a draft pick. Then again, a former Mets employee says of owner Fred Wilpon, 'He's going to do something stupid. I can just feel it.'"

Next year, Ravi? Shit, I'll take it back right now.

I think Ryan has had 150-minute at-bats in stickball.

sorry ravi, but if it aint getting mathematics, something's gotta give. shouldn't mess with a former budget analyst. first of all, the yankees have never been terrible. hmm, no, guess not, no, hmm, the late 60's, the early 70's. the early 80's after the last gasp of the bronx zoo v. the dodgers, the late 80's/early 90's, perhaps the final bottoming out came when George was SUSPENDED from baseball for spying on one of his players. no, you're right the yankees have never been bad. although i guess it's fair that when they've been as amazingly good as they have been it's hard to ever remember bad times.

below please find year-by-year attendance totals for each team, yankees listed first, then mets. 62+63 the mets played in the polo grounds, in 74+75 the yanks played in shea stadium. until the start of the yankees run (which i pegged as 94-the strike year when the year finished with the yanks in first) the mets up until that point had outdrawn the yanks in total numbers (59,36,147 v. 56,058,972) and also outdrew them more seasons than not. the current yankees run changed things, but only a little, the totals since 1962 show the yankees at 83,979,303 v. the mets at 80,353,821. i'll also note that it is the most dominating run by a team in any sport in our lifetimes and probably since the 60's celtics, oh wait, the early 80's islanders, BRO, the yanks' recent run also coincides with an absolute explosion in the amount of tourists coming to new york city that began in the last term of the giuliani administration, it went from the high teens during the dinkins years, to 36 million a year last year, ever go to a yankees game and notice all the out-of-town visitors?

what it boils down to is my earlier assertion that there are probably close to an equal amount of mets and yankees fans.

62: 1.4 .9
63: 1.3 1.0
64: 1.3 1.7
65: 1.2 1.2
66: 1.1 1.9
67: 1.2 1.6
68: 1.1 1.8
69: 1.0 2.2
70: 1.1 2.7
71: 1.0 2.3
72: .9 2.1
73: 1.2 1.9
74: 1.7 1.7
75: 1.3 1.7
76: 2.0 1.5
77: 2.1 1.0
78: 2.3 1.0
79: 2.5 .7
80: 2.6 1.2
81: 1.6 .7
82: 2.0 1.3
83: 2.2 1.1
84: 1.8 1.8
85: 2.2 2.8
86: 2.2 2.8
87: 2.4 3.0
88: 2.6 3.0
89: 2.1 2.9
90: 1.8 2.3
91: 1.8 2.3
92: 1.7 1.7
93: 2.4 1.8
94: 1.6 1.1
95: 1.7 1.2
96: 2.2 1.5
97: 2.5 1.7
99: 3.2 2.7
00: 3.2 2.9
01: 3.2 2.6
02: 3.4 2.8
03: 3.4 2.1

Chump,
Apparently you name belies your knowledge of baseball attendance.

Going back to 1974, the Yankees have finished amongst the top three teams in AL attendance 18 times.

The Mets? 6 times, all from 1985-1990. The closest since then was in 2002 when they were 5th out of 16 NL teams.

Sure the Yankees only got 3 million fans and have stayed at that number over the last five years, but they have been more consistent in keeping the Stadium packed than have the Mets. And the only two years the Mets did it were 87-88. But you know why? Because the Yankees, unlike the Mets have never gone thru stretches of being terrible, so there is always a demand to watch an average (at worst) product. Sure the Mets when good will draw fans, but that has as much to do with NY being able to support 2 baseball teams than it does with Mets fans being trooer or whatever you think.
I've been to yankee stadium and to shea when both teams were terrible, and there were FAR fewer people at Shea than I remember at Yankee stadium.

The fact is this: The mets suck. Apart from a few aberrations in the past, they always have. And until they get better owners and operating personnel, they will continue to, and when people go to see them it’s only because their success is a novelty.

And Bryan, will you say the same thing about Pedro when he’s wearing pinstripes next year? I know the fans polled in SI article won’t.


I miss baseball.

But I now understand one-day test cricket completely.

I think the only difference between one-day and other test lengths are the number of overs, of which there are 50 (6 balls in one over, 300 total "pitches") per inning (nine outs (which is each batter one one team had a turn), or 50 overs, whichever comes first) in one-day matches.

It's pretty cool.
However the batter can be at bat until he gets out or chooses to stop which could go for something like 150 minutes! ONE BATTER!

Pedro rules.

Sports Illustrated covered New York this week (they are covering a state a week), in a poll of state residents, the yanks clocked in at 50% of the state as their favorite baseball team, the mets at 25%. pedro edged out steinbrenner as enemy of the state, and the mets finsished second to the yanks as favorite sports team overall.

at first glance, the matchup 50% to 25% might seem depressing. i think it's actually encouraging. this poll was taken a few months ago, before the season started. think about it, the yanks just got a-rod, they've been the best team in baseball for the past 7 years, the mets coming off their worst year in some time, which in turn came on the heels of a bad year before. the mets got swept by the yanks last year, all the embarrassment of mo vaughn, alomar, etc. and we still clocked in at 25% favorite baseball team and 2nd favorite team out of any sport overall. that's encouraging.

my own opinion is that before the yanks run got steamrolling in 1998, there were more mets fans than yankees fan. i base this on general perception and cold hard numbers. the mets consistently outdrew the yanks through 1999. the yanks never hit more than 3 million fans in a season until 2 or 3 years ago, the mets hit it several times throughout their history.

i would garner that this recent yankees era coupled with mets embarassment will hurt the mets in the long-run as all these kids are yankees fans now, but i think once the mets get a little better you will see them close to even in terms of fan suppport.

In retirement, and while sitting around the fire during a camping trip, Van Slyke said Kent Hrbek played a tape recording of his best farts.

I HAVE NEVER BEEN MORE EMBARASSED TO BE A METS FAN than i was last nite. hiro, pete and myself went to the game, sat in field level (rather easy to sneak in if one person has a field level tick by using the ol pass-back). first of all, mama's of corona ran out of sandwiches in the fifth. but that wasn't the problem, in the 6th, runners on 1st and 2nd, ONE OUT, cameron up. me hiro and pete stand up and try and start a cheer. a few other heads do so as well. the rest of the crowd? nothing doing. nothing. people are sitting not even clapping. then, the ultimate indignity. this middle-aged putz mutters "down in front!" so we sat down, feeling embarrassed for trying to cheer. cameron grounds out, and pete turns around and goes "that's what you get"
then again, in the bottom of the 9th, the house should be on its feet when matsui comes to the plate with runners on 1st and 2nd. we're trying to get the crowd going, on its feet. nothing, everyone's sitting on their hands, half the crowd had left after that 6th inning. only AFTER matsui tied it up did the crowd finally stand up and make some real noise when floyd came to bat. i feel embarrassed for hiro, who came to shea as a guest, i feel embarrassed for mets fans themselves.
have the past 3 years ruined us? made us too jaded to cheer? or maybe it was because we were in field level? whatever it was, it was sad.

That might have been the worst call I've ever seen during yesterday's game. Easily could have blown the game for the Mets. I don't think anyone should be fined if they say that ump sucks. The ump should get fined though.

"The New York Daily News says David Weathers is suffering from triceps tendinitis."

This is nonsense. David Weathers clearly does not have triceps. He, Stanton and Karim could put the Sizzler all-you-can-eat bar our of business.

Arthur Rhodes is back on track after putting together three straight scoreless innings. Rhodes lowered his disappointing ERA to 4.20

-that's not disappointing. man.

As for Bonds swinging at intentional balls, isn't it illegal to step across the plate to swing? Although somehow, Dave Winfield once hit a home run on an intentional ball- it must not have been outside enough.

Astros catcher Brad Ausmus says that if Barry is sincerely tired of all this intentional walking, he can fix it himself:

"If he doesn't want to be walked," Ausmus said, "try swinging at the first two intentional balls. Managers would pitch to him much more if the count was 0-2."

if biz can hit towering home runs this way, why couldn't barry?

huge props to glavine, an important game on many levels, one of which being the bullpen has been overworked these past few games.
mild debate on the FAN about trading glavine, leiter and piazza in late june. sid and mac made the point that the mets didn't get much back in the trades last summer of alomar, benitez, burnitz etc, so it's not as if someone like glavine will bring back much of value.
still, as ryan has pointed out, by the time the mets are trooly ready to compete, glavine and leiter won't be much help. if glavine and leiter go this year, this year as an interim year will trooly be unbearable as there's no one who can step in to help this sorry ass rotation.
who had money on the mets offense being carried by spencer, garcia, valent and danny garcia this year?

Regarding Billy's post below about the BOB, obviously, it doesn't come close to comparing to Coors. Colorado's park factor is 1179, which means that it's overall increase to offense is 17.9% over the average park. The BOB only increases 3.4%. So, it definitely was a ridiculous comment by Howe. Plus, if he does believe that the BOB is such a problem, why did they bring up a flyball pitcher like Baldwin to pitch there and in Houston?
I heard Howe on Mike & the Mad Dog yesterday, and he said that players on the DBacks told him that the wind the other night was the strongest they'd ever seen in the park, which is why Baldwin got killed. Without seeing the game, I obviously have no idea how much of an impact the wind had. The wind does seem to be conspiring against the Mets. Last Saturday, the Mets had four homeruns robbed by the left field wind (in conjunction with Geoff Jenkins) at Shea.
In an unrelated note, big props to Tom Glavine for outdueling the Big Unit yesterday. This is a ridiculous stretch of facing Johnson, Webb, Pettitte, Oswalt, and Clemens. If we can win 2 of those games, I think I'd be happy, and now we're half way there.

Alex Cora homered to conclude an 18-pitch at-bat against Matt Clement.

Mike Hampton is 0-4 with a 7.41 ERA.

Travis Lee had season-ending surgery Tuesday on his left shoulder. Lee ended up making a million dollars per hit this year.

from a NY Times article today mentioning Pittsfield as an earlier place where baseball was possibly played in the EIGHTEENTH century:
"Abner Doubleday, Santa Claus and Dracula are equally mythic figures."

Abner Doubleday is NOTHING if not a Mythic figure-- bigger than Santa Claus, Dracula, Elvis, The Beatles, Eskimos and Jesus.

howie?

Art Howe didn't blame Baldwin for all the homers, he said that the BOB is very similar to Coors Field with respect to balls traveling far. Ryan, please use "park factor" or some such stat to prove that this is an absurd comment so that I can hate Howe even more.

We should've hired Steve Howe.

non-baseball: apparently Furdz is going to India? I think it's a lie. him and ravi are going to a burmese stickball camp where they will learn to pitch 100 mph.

here's my 2-cents on a new schedule, (from a mets-centric point of view)
12 games v. 4 other nl east teams=48 games
9 games v. 11 other nl teams=99 games
that equals 147 games, for the 15 remaining to get to 162, it's either 6 v. the yanks and 9 v. 3 teams from a division (the mets and yanks would both demand that the 6 games be left intact in any rescheduling) or 3 v. the yanks and 12 games v. 4 random al teams (could do it based on last year's record like the nfl).

of course, i'd rather see 2 divisions in each league rather than three so there's less of a chance for a bogus division winner, i would then have 2 wild card spots to hand out to the 2 next-best teams based on record. i don't think fans in tampa bay, pittsburgh, montreal, or kc feel any better that their teams are in 5th place rather than in 7th or 8th in a 2-division format. no one gets fooled, and for the teams in the middle of the pack, they'd be watching the wild-card standings after the all-star break rather than their division standings anyway.

Bruce Chen, at 26, is on his NINTH team. Braves, Phils twice, Mets twice, Spos, Reds, Stros, Jays, Red Sox and now Orioles. He's definitely goingto pass Zeile.

from some site: "The Rangers have announced a 30-year agreement establishing Ameriquest
Field in Arlington as the new name for The Ballpark in Arlington. Too bad
the Rangers' highest-paid player didn't get into the bidding. Chan Ho
Park sounds better than Ameriquest Field."

gee, do you think barry was a bit salty there? i bet if the bases were really poo more heads would play stickball.

bryan, without turning the blog into a debate on which sport is more steeped in tradition, soccer or baseball, i'll point out that while both leagues date back to about the same time, almost every team in england dates back to the early 20th century, as opposed to a handful in m.l.b., plus each team began, and continue to remain, deeply tied to each community through their existence as not just teams, but community organizations which are partly owned by the fans themselves. almost all stadiums date back to the 1920's, when stadiums were cathedrals, almost all fans in attendance are clad in team colors and scarves and sing team chants in unison that date back decades as opposed to sitting around and clapping when the screen says so.

Barry Bonds summed up the Spider Man controversy pretty well:
"What the [bleep] are you asking me for? I don't care. Our job is to play ball, not to worry about what add is on the billboard. I don't care. They can have [bleepin'] dog-poo as bases so I have to step in [bleep] as far as I'm concerned. What the hell."

Another reason the front office has no idea of what they're doing... Stubborn morons.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=klapisch_bob&id=1796337

What's the difference if they fire him now or at the end of the season? Do it. Do it!

Yeah, the ads were inevitable. Hard-line purists can complain all they want, but they can't scream about there being only four black starting pitchers (obviously due to a lack of effective marketing w/r/t the NBA and NFL) and criticize marketing efforts. Or they shouldn't, but I'm sure they will anyway.

I'm not sure British sport(s) is more steeped in tradition than baseball is.

Bob Nightengale of Baseball Weekly:

"According to sources close to owner Fred Wilpon, the Mets are expected to fire manager Art Howe at the end of the season, eating the final two years of his contract."

Hooray!

The owners can do whatever they want, it's their business. They have to weigh how much revenue advertising on uniforms and the field can bring in against possible lost revenue over the years by turning off fans. Honestly, I have no idea how many fans will watch less because of it, and it would be very hard to speculate. My instinct is that its a lot of nostalgic media types (i.e., Bob Costas) who will complain, but few actual fans will stop going to ballgames. NASCAR is wildly popular despite all the ads. Ravi's soccer jersey that says "Sega" is pretty dope; I don't even know what team it's for. I think there will be some old-timers who may turn away from the game, but a lot of young people are used to seeing advertising everywhere.
I think the key is for MLB to take it slow. If they cover the uniforms in ads, and people are outraged, then it'll be hard to undo the damage. But if they take it slow (like this Spiderman thing), people will gradually get used to the ads, and if there is a lot of backlash, MLB can reconsider when it has a better idea of the costs and benefits.

remember when spider-man married mary-jane at shea stadium before a game in 1987? yeah.

as long as people continue to support professional athletics whether it be at the stadiums, watching on tv and buying the merchandise, in greater numbers, the salaries of all involved will increase. so owners are perfectly allowed to seek out any soucre of revenue they want. soccer in europe is more tradition-bound and steeped in history than american sports teams, in fact england had its first ever franchise relocation last year, yet they began to have advertising on uniforms over 15 years ago.

WASHINGTON -- Presidential candidate Ralph Nader called the advertisements on uniforms during major league baseball's season-opening series an "obscene embarrassment" and sent a letter of protest Tuesday.

"This overcommercialization is sapping the fun out of being a fan of major league baseball," Nader wrote in his letter to commissioner Bud Selig. "Now, you have sunk to a greedy new low."

The ads appeared on the uniform sleeves and caps of the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Devil Rays during their two-game series in Tokyo on March 30-31.

While the New York Mets and Chicago Cubs wore similar ads when they played in Tokyo in 2000, and baseball said in advance that the Yankees and Devil Rays would wear patches, Nader said the ads this year "ambushed fans across the country and left them shaking their heads at this obscene embarrassment."

Tim Brosnan, baseball's executive vice president for business, has said he is open to considering additional uniform advertising in the future, but Selig and chief operating officer Bob DuPuy have said it is not under consideration.

"We urge that you immediately put this issue to rest once and for all and eliminate any current or future possibility that major league baseball will accept advertisements on uniforms," Nader wrote.

Mets designated RHP Grant Roberts for assignment.

--that is dumb.

No Pete Harnisch, but they do have a pitcher named Damon Ponce DeLeon.

from New York magazine, how to rebuild the mets to contend in 2006:

http://www.newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/sports/features/n_10297/index.html

we've been given a second chance. let's go see rickey in newark! i think they have pete harnisch too. is he finally over his depression/chewing tobacco addiction? should we wear dallas green masks and watch him freak out and run away sobbing?

rumours of the yankees' demise were greatly exxxagerated.

Rickey Henderson has signed a deal to play with the Newark Bears of the Atlantic League.

Still.

Well, I guess it's a good thing they didn't sign Bubba, since he left the Rays for "personal reasons".

reyes cannot play more than one game without tweaking his hamstring and being unable to run properly. every season on every level he has suffered leg injuries, and this same injury has bothered him going back to last season. if by pessimistic you mean realistic, then yes. over under on games reyes plays this year? 70.

I agree with Bryan (cheer). And I'm hungover (boo).

It is not "wildly optimistic" to think Reyes will be on the Mets in 2006. He's young and has hamstring problems, okay, but he's young enough that they can afford to wait. I would say it's wildly pessimistic to think that he won't be on the Mets in 2006.

i think, at this point, it's wildly optimistic that reyes will be on the mets in 2006. after yesterday's "minor setback" it's obvious that reyes' very career is threatened by his hammies. every time he runs, which is a lot, the odds will be good that he will tweak his hammies. which makes it all the more curious that the mets still refuse to send him to a hamstring specialist.

the post reports that david wright could be up as early as this season, they quoted unnamed internal mets sources who pointed out that edgardo alfonzo also made the jump from double-aa bing to the majors.

also, there's been a 'minor setback' with floyd too. get him off the team. met fans shouldn't be further tortured by the tantalizing prospect of having his big bat in the lineup when in reality it hasn't and will not be in the lineup in anywhere near a regular basis in the future.

who would i rather have at 2nd right now, danny garcia or alfonso soriano.

who would've thought that our 2004 offense would be based on spencer and garcia. especially garcia, jeez if he weren't in the lineup we'd be worse than the spos.

it also seems doubtful that phillips will be on this team or in the major leagues in 2006. odds are better that he will be singing for a U2 cover band called 'october sky' or 'achtung one' or something. with ty wiggs on drums. i imagine he's a big fan of the drums.

You're right, I forgot about Wright. I also forgot that the Mets farm system isn't a wasteland anymore.

No need for a 3B.
David Wright is our best offensive prospect.
He was named #5 prospect in baseball by Baseball Prospectus.
So far this year in Binghamton (in 80+ plate appearances), his line is 380/494/662.
He'll almost definitely be our starting 3B in 2006, and if he keeps up anywhere close to what he's doing now, he'll be a factor next year.
Looking ahead to 2006, I assume we'll have:
2B Reyes
SS Matsui
3B Wright
LF Floyd
CF Cameron
C Phillips (Huber?)

that leaves RF and 1B, where we should be able to find some pretty big bats to go along with our otherwise reasonable lineup.

What about a 3B? I think any one of them would be an upgrade over Wigginton, who's clearly a bench player. I think I'd pick Lowell, he seems to be the best defensively and is the most reliable.

F an Ice Williams, why didn't the Mets pick up Double J?!?!

--Giants signed LHP Jason Jacome to a minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A Fresno. Jacome, 33, last played in the majors in 1998. He spent last season in the Atlantic League.

There's a Rob Neyer column on ESPN talking about next year's free agent hitters. Since it's just about time to give up on this season, I guess we can start discussing who the Mets should get next year. Only names that jump out at me are Magglio Ordonez (who Ravi took instead of Bonds in our fantasy draft) and if he repeats his performance from last year, Richard Hidalgo. Delgado would be tempting, but he's a little old and we'd have to get rid of Piazza. RF seems like the clear place to get a big hitter for next year, so Magglio it is.

After bonds' IBB in the 4th tonight, he now has 500 IBBs for his career! That's about ONE SEASON of ABs taken away due to intentional walks. Hank Aaron is in 2nd place with 293 IBBs.

Good article about the work Rick Peterson does to prepare the pitchers for each game.

according to page six, pedro martinez was partying it up at the 40/40 club the night before shutting down the shtanks. troo.

There's another crazy idea for deciding who gets home field: how about the team with the best record? In the event they have the same record, the team with the fewest-ex Yankees will receive it, unless one of the teams is the Red Sox, who will win it automatically.

that's a damn fine interesting and original idea. it would give teams a real incentive to get better (to make it a real incentive, the 2 at-large spots would have to be doled out only amongst the top 4 divisions. ) but why punish good teams and make it really tuff on them by lumping them in with teams that also really really good. and because of off-season braziness, a team can improve/change significiantly over the off-season so i'm not sure that last year's w-l record is indicitive of who should be in premier divisions the next season.

this system may also go too far in the other spectrum of rivalries, in the current system, you can pretty much only establish a rivalry with teams in your division, and that is too limiting. but in this system, rivalries would change every year because there would be no continuity.
but it's a great idea.

The Mets signed Gerald "Ice" Williams!

Yes, perhaps he's the answer in the OF. After all, he's only 37.

I'll work on the schedules in a little bit, but here's an idea because I'm STILL really against the All-Star Game deciding what league gets home field, as I think the alternating year thing was fine. Really, what does home field advantage in the world series really mean? Last licks, DH. wacky ballpark dimensions and I guess the fans, (although I don't know if the fans in baseball factor into homefield advantage)? Anyway, back to the matter at hand, fuck this "now it's important" bullshit, I want to see John Kruk bat lefty against Randy Johnson, I want to see Barry Bonds pick Torii hunter over his shoulder aqfter getting robbed, I want to see Roger Clemens go crazy on the mound (oh wait...), I want to see any and all the players play andhave fun. So that game was a tie, WHY change everything?

My idea? How about whichever League wins more games during the season in Inter-league play, that team receives home field. And if somehow all those games end up even for al and nl, THEN use the All-Star Game for it.

Or they could just get rid of the DH, fire Bud Selig and hire me as the Commissioner of MLB.

Also, the union is probably extremely pro the unbalanced schedule...cuts down travel time. What really needs to happen is a realignment of teams/divisions. Can be done as radically as possible, imagine a tier system based on geography, like the new AL east, consisting of Yankees, RedSox, Braves, Marlins, and the Phillies. For the first year selection would be based on average w-l record since, let's say, 2000. The best teams would be in this top division and make for exciting games based on geography. The last place team in this new AL East would then be relegated the following season (or maybe do promotions/demotions every other year) in the the New NL East where only the winner gets to the playoffs...Mets, Toronto, Tampa Bay, Montreal, Baltimore which would promote it's top team into the AL East the following year. Enough people say that once you get into the playoffs it's all a crapshoot, so you can't really say that it wouldn't be fair to lump all the good teams together, I think it would be beneficial, and force them to compete, with relegation mainly as a psychologial tool to encourage it. Furthermo', the schedules would still be balanced enough that each team would play one another throughout the year, and relegation would bring new rivalries in also. While we're at it, let's get rid of the leagues altogether! I'm sure it would never happen mainly because of how much money DHs make.

in the current system:
AL EAST
Yankees, Red Sox, Baltimore, Toronto, Tampa Bay
AL CENTRAL
Chicago, Minnesota, KC, Detroit, Cleveland
AL WEST
Texas, Anaheim, Oakland, Seattle
NL EAST
Mets, Atlanta, Phillies, Montreal, Marlins
NL CENTRAL
Cubs, Cardinals, Astros, Brewers, Pirates
NL WEST
Giants, Dodgers, Padres, Diamondbacks, Rockies

NEW Hotness:
Division Troo EAST-Yankees, Red Sox, Braves, Marlins, Baltimore
Division Boo EAST-Mets, Phillies, Tampa, Montreal, Toronto

Division Troo CENTRAL- Cubs, Astros, White Sox, Minnesota, Cardinals
Division Boo CENTRAL-Pirates, Brewers, Tigers, Indians, Royals

Division Troo WEST- Oakland, Seattle, Anaheim, Giants, D-Backs
Division Boo WEST-Dodgers, Padres, Rockies, Rangers

The playoffs would be seeded by w-l record since there would be balanced schedules, it wouldn't matter where the seeds come from so say two teams in Boo Division East have great records, they would make the playoffs (the al and nl would be gone in this insane system remember) and maybe something like this (I'm going to give it an East coast bias, but obviously any teams would work):
1.Yankees 2. Oakland 3. Astros 4. Marlins 5. Mets 6. Red Sox 7. Pirates 8. Dodgers...so pretty much you'd get the winners of each division seeded by record and then two at-large spots based on record. This is crazy, I love it, here's playoff tree like this--

First Round--
1. Yankees vs. 8. Dodgers
4. Marlins vs. 5. Mets
3. Astros vs. 6. Red Sox
2. Oakland vs 7. Pirates

Interesting Matchups no?
Yanks vs. the Bums
Mets Marlins games--always fun
Roger Clemens trying to kill the red sox's dreams
Can oakland get into the second round past the upstart-feel-good pirates?

Second Round--
1. Yankees vs. 7. Pirates
5. Mets vs. 6. Red Sox

HEY! Pirates Yankees! Spirit of Mazeroski! Upstart-feel-good Pirates! Yankee aura vs. Pittsburgh grit!
In the other series, you have a rematch of the one of the best world Series? SURE YOU DO BECAUSE THIS SYSTEM ROCKS!

NEW FORMAT WORLD SERIES:
1. Yankees vs. 6. Red Sox

Need I say any more?

ty wiggs has got so much grit, so much hustle, so much HEH-AHT....that he has an ulcer. unbelievable. the post had a good line, they said the mets are bringing up infielder danny garcia to take wiggy's place. garcia is hitting .220 at norfolk so he should feel right at home with the mets. sad, but trooo.

Armando Benitez is on pace for 86 saves.

Fuck Dave Hanson.

So apparently the Mariners announcers and I (and Ravi) have something in common. They were talking about the scenery in the Pacific Northwest, and one said, "There was nothing like that where I grew up, on the South Side of Chicago." Then the other pipes in: "Not in Queens, New York either." Bizarre.

I don't like interleague play, but the real tragedy is interleague play with the unbalanced schedule. Without interleague play, the unbalanced schedule would be fine and more balanced.

I agree that the schedule should be more balanced. No need to see the Expos over and over. I'm also in favor of cutting down to one Mets-Yankees series every year. These "rival" series are probably the most unfair part of the schedule. Now I realize the Mets don't have a great chance anyway this year, but assuming they will one of these years, is it really fair that they have to play 6 games against the Yankees while the Marlins play 6 against the DRays? Plus, the fact that they play so much has kind of ruined the intrigue. One series a year would be enough. I'd go with something like this for the NL East:
15 interleague games (3 each against 5 teams)
12 games against each NL East team (48 games)
9 games against each of the rest of the NL (99)
How you divide up the 9, I don't really care. You could either alternate who gets the extra 3-game home series each year, or do it 5/4, with a 4game series in one park, and a 3 & a 2 in the other.

Some of the other divisions would need to be structured somewhat differently (because of more/less teams), but the math could work out if someone puts the time into it.

seeing as how the season is already in the toiled and we haven't even hit the second homestand yet, i propose a new topic. barry bonds and giants will be here exactly three (3) times this season, we play the giants, and all other non nl east teams, a grand total of 6 times each this season. i think most of us all agree that this is stupid, that the mets have been robbed of traditional rivals like the cubs, pirates, cards, dodgers and giants. let us use our fertile minds for that most noble calling that has called such luminaries as ghostface and prodigy and come up with alternative schedules MLB can use. Some could be pure, meaning no interleague, some brazy involving every team playing each other (full interleague) and some realistic (the mets must play the yanks 6 times a year).

Rick Peterson for manager, he looks like a mercenary from one of those syndicated "VIP"-type saturday-afternoon-WB show.

I don't like the outfield logo thing. Looks crappy in my opinion.

what's more amazing is that furdz knew about bobby v and where he is now.

if they fired art howe, is it reasonable to expect that don baylor would be the interim manager?

todd zeile player/manager?

damn yo. we got blog-jakked. by furdz, of all peoplez.

I harbor nothing but venom towards Fart Howe.

I am really sick of all the haters, especially in wfan 66 think the mets have a great squad this year..all the way from the young guys, the veterans. i mean what more can you ask but a chance to win...and we def have that this year, what with that no good egotist bobby..im not even gonna say his name..hope you like sushi or in the great words of inspektah deck Kondicihwa Bitches!!..any way sorry to get off track...i really proud of the mets..but the ticket prices..and the ball..and the uniforms.and the hats..what is that a rag to wrap around your ass?..where am i? when i was young i wanted to play baseball...it is a good sport...pass that shit...i hate myself....this is furdz i am so lonley i blog jacked you bittches...break all yall selves!!! boka boka boka...

words of confidence from the skipper:
"i knew we were going to lose three in a row at some point. we'll probably lose three in a row at some other point."

WOW! words of wisdom from up on high, the captain of the ship. i know i speak for the rest of the shea faithful when i say that i am inspired, made confident, and emblazened by these words.

Johan Santana is KILLING my fantasy team. It's embarassing.

while they do seem to have relaxed their policy somehwhat this year, the past two years they have been strict, i recall seeing garbage cans by the security desk by the gate entrances filled with bags of chips, plus nothing allowed in with a plastic cap, only thermoses.

Chump, both of us have already brought food and drinks to Mets games this season, and yours passed through security.

Gammons really is a moron, and just gets by nowadays on his name, much like Mike & the Mad Dog (those fuckers).

Ryan, what were you doing reading the Christian Science Monitor?

Ooh, time for Politics & Booze!

on a somewhat related note, i believe that this is the third year in a row that the Parks Dept. has raised the parking rates for both shea and yankee stadiums (the parks dept. technically runs both the stadiums and most of the lots in the area and licenses out parking rights for some lots or runs some lots outright through the municpal parking corporation). it's obvious to all that there is little to no maintenance costs associated with these lots, they are simply vast stretches of asphalt (or garages at yankee stadium) the ny post revealed that parking at the 2 stadiums is one of the biggest cash cows for the parks dept. surprise, because it's pretty much pure profit. what if the parks dept. actually put their effort into parks, like municipal stickball lots?

and while you can bring food into both stadiums, it has gotten particularly harder to do so, especially at yankee stadium where they stop just short of a cavity search and have a longer list of banned items than shea. there's something particularly obnoxious over both stadium's security policies as both stadiums are public property, built, rebuilt, and maintained with precious parks dept. budget dollars. both security policies are obstensibly for security, but as mushnick has pointed out, it's merely a smokescreen to weed out more food being brought in to sell more food. mushnick pointed out that at pnc park in pittsburgh (i think, might be different new park) the stadium opened without any water fountains, which are required by law. the owner claimed accidental oversight, that's a pretty big oversight, in the months where no water fountains were in place, sales of bottled water skyrocketed.

were you guys aware that pac bell park is now SBC Park aka Stick Ball Croo Park?

I think Bonds is more motivated to pass Ruth than Aaron because (1) Ruth is white and (2) Ruth is generally considered the best player ever. Hitting more homers than Ruth is another check in Bonds' column when debating best player ever. I don't think the righty/lefty thing matters because there's no serious argument that a righty is the greatest hitter ever. Ruth, Bonds, Williams - all lefty. The best righty hitter would probably come down to Hornsby, Foxx, Mays, Aaron, maybe even McGwire or Thomas. Gammons recently called Aaron one of the 3 greatest players ever, which is just plain wrong. Aaron had tremednous longevity, but he was never quite on the highest level of greatness. Using OPS+ as a rough guide, Aaron ranks 22nd all time. And his best season ever ranks 70th all-time. Bonds and Williams have both had 6 better seasons and Ruth had 11 better and 2 tied with Aaron's best.


On an unrelated note, I just read an article in the Christian Science Monitor complaining that the cost of going to a baseball game is preventing a large portion of the population from being able to attend. According to TMR's Fan Cost Index, it costs $155.52 to take a family of four to a ballgame. The FCI includes 4 average priced tickets, parking, 4 soft drinks, 2 beers, 4 hot dogs, 2 programs, and 2 adult-size caps.
WHAT THE HELL DO YOU NEED 2 PROGRAMS FOR? AND DO YOU NEED TO BUY 2 HATS EVERY TIME YOU GO TO A GAME?

Actually my argument isn't so much with the Index, it's with the premise of the article. The Index is calculating the average cost of a game, maybe on average people buy all that crap. But if the complaint is that people can't afford to go to a game, the average cost isn't relevant, the lowest reasonable cost is.
There are a bunch of Mets game that have $5 tickets available. I'll be conservative and assume that you'd want to take your kids to a weekend game, which probably has few $5 options. Let's say a "bronze" game for $12. That's $48 for 4. Parking, I believe is $10, or you can generally find free parking on the street and walk a little bit. If you take the train, a Metrocard would probably cost a little under $14, assuming your kids aren't young enough to ride free and the parents don't have unlimited cards for work.
Food? You can bring your own. I made a tasty sandwich for myself on Opening Day. And you'd probably be feeding your kids if you were just sitting at home all day, so that's really not an additional costs.
If you want to splurge, get your kids an ice cream and a program. Let's say one program and one snack per kid to keep them quiet. That's probably another $10-12 bucks.
So, I think you can do it as cheaply as $48, or as much as $74.
That's not really all that expensive for an afternoon of fun for your family.
We live in a city where movie tickets cost $10.25 and if you want to see a popular movie, you have to buy in advance online for another $1.50. That's $11.75 for something on a screen. $12 for a live major league baseball game is pretty reasonable.
Compare that to any other major sport or a big-name concert or a Broadway show. Heck, it costs at least $10 to go to a damn museum.

Oh, and Winston, I believe your body can go wherever it wants as long as your feet are in the batters box. If the ball hits you while you're in the strikezone, I'm pretty sure it's still a strike. And it would be damn hard to hit the ball if you were hanging over the strike zone.