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).