2014 MLB Season
Welcome to a new season! Spring training is in full swing. Now it just needs to thaw up here.
Metsman 
Calico696 
iPhone-imal LOL... This year should be fun to watch. I am out of work right now and watching the Spring games. Granderson has 2 homeruns today and dArnaud is 2 for 2. If they can hit, they should at least be around .500.
Haha. Have to get the digs in while we can. Mess will be alright next year.
Calico, all we have is hope. Don't count on it. Yanks infield is terrible.
MeisterNJ Meister - True, the infield is questionable for sure. However, I am old enough to remember times when they were even worse.
I remember some bad Yankees teams, when you would look at the Orioles schedule for when the Yanks are coming to town and say, there's three sure wins.
I hear the Mets are going to win 90 games this year. The vibes are real positive from Mets land.
Andy Loigu So am I Calico. My first memories of Yankee Stadium are the chants for Lou Pinella. I thought the crowd was booing. When they weren't ripping out a seat and hitting someone over the head with it.
Ah the Len Sakata, Wayne Tolleson, Mike Pagliarulo days. Ugh. Wretch. Ugh.
Can't wait to see jeter hit some touchdowns.. No but seriously let's go YANKEES!!!!! Hopefully they can get the captain one more ring....
Mr. Tone Len Sakata won a World Series championship ring with the Orioles in 1983, as the utility infielder.
He hit a 10th inning walkoff homer against Toronto in August. He contributed.
The O's got Johan. We'll see if he's got anything left.
Maybe he'll be the next Mike Cuellar ... Houston gave up on him and the O's got him cheap.
Carl Yastrzemski's grandson is in spring training with the O's.
Maybe there is a triple crown in his future?
Well, if he wants his dad's old number eight, some guy named Ripken wore that ... might not be available.
By the way speaking of Lou Piniella (an Orioles minor leaguer before KC got him in the expansion draft) ...I remember the first time I saw Boog Powell batting ... same thing, thought the crowd was boooing.
Boog had a good line. Always said, "when I'm in a slump, they leave off the g."
Earl Weaver had an even better one -- "Two things kept Boog out of the Hall of Fame. His knife and his fork."
JeffersonRepub I'll make sure I watch the Yankees when Ken Singleton is in the booth ... he's always good for an old O's story each night ;-)
I'm really not looking forward to this season for the Phillies. Even the Mets have a better shot at this point.
Reloaded9mm The Mets have a lot of young, promising pitching, which can lift a mediocre team into contention. But they are not at major league level with position players, they need some improvement for their lineup to "rise" to mediocrity (with all due respect to David Wright who is a bonafide All-Star and may end up in the Hall of Fame)..
With the Phillies, they have some interesting young players who I've seen at Triple-A, who could become All-Stars, such as Ruf, Asche, and Dom Brown and they still have Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee around to throw shutouts. They end up anywhere between a wild card or the basement, who knows? But they have some upside and a great manager in Ryne Sandberg, who the players respect and give their all for, I've seen that first hand.
Interesting move with the Phillies picking up AJ Burnett ... depending on whether his head is on straight or not, he could be Cy Young, or a total bust.
They will need him early because Hamels looks like he'll miss his first couple of starts.
42 games of experience and you're already annointing Sandberg as a great manager, Andy? C'mon. Let's have a little more sample size before you start engraving his Hall plaque.
If the Mets get production out of 1B and C, they will be ok. Wright, Granderson, and Murphy will produce. They can live with mediocrity out of the corner OF positions and SS. I think it will be a season like 2005 was. They were an 80 something win team. The following year they took off. In the offseason they will have trade chips with their pitching to upgrade positions on the field. If Colon and Gee are good, they can deal them in a package for someone.
Clyde Potts What exactly are you going to deal Bartolo Colon for? A Triple A bullpen catcher and a plate of fries?
Opening Day @ Bea McNally's... who's in?
Monday, March 31st:
Cubs/Pirates on ESPN and Mets/Nats on SNY @ 1:15.
Red Sox/O's on ESPN2 @ 3:05
Cards/Reds on ESPN @ 4:10
Sounds like a great afternoon of baseball... I've got no problem taking a 1/2 day off. Who's with me?
I always take opening day off.... hmm...... for me it'd be the Reds game tho, wouldn't be able to stay long after it started, get home/dinner with the wife etc....
I'll be at Camden Yards that day, how about I make a sign that says BeaMcNally's loves ESPN and then I wave to you guys?
Of course, McNally is a revered name for O's fans.
I guess some of these guys never watch any Triple-A baseball, if they watched the IronPigs the two years Sandberg managed there, they'd be impressed. If they'd been in that clubhouse, they'd be impressed.
There's a reason the Phillies gave him that job. People act like it is so easy to make the big leagues.
Oh, by the way ... Sandberg is in the Hall of Fame.
His plaque has already been engraved. They may just need to update it in a few years.
My mistake, Lagares or Young will be in CF. Neither is a lock to be everyday players.
What's keeping the Mets from signing Stephen Drew?
You can't win without a quality shortstop.
Because Drew thinks he's worth $14 million a year for 3 years. I hope he never plays again.
And the most Henry Aaron ever made in a single season was $200,000.
My, how times have changed. Sometimes I ask myself, why do I stay interested in this stuff?
Scott Boras is a cancer to the game. He over prices his clients. It'll be refreshing to see one get jack... The guy is a scumbag.
Yeah, I know what you mean ... defense up the middle is the key ... you put your thumpers on the corners.
It helps if your middle infielders can at least get on base for a decent percentage, move runners, etc.
The Mets can use some guys who will hit ... oh, would .270 be asking too much?
The Mets had Rey Ordonez playing SS during their run in the late 90's. He couldn't hit a lick.
Their problem in those days, they were trying to get everybody to be home run hitters. It was the crappy steroid era.
I'll say this about Rey ... he's the only guy I've ever seen batting eighth in a Triple-A lineup, who made the big leagues. Says something about his glove.
I saw Rey make some super plays down in Norfolk .. he was one of the guys they called the O Boys ... I won't get into who the leadoff hitter and right fielder was ... been there, done that.
That 1995 Norfolk squad was a great team, finished first by 11 games over the Richmond Braves ... in addition to the O boys they had the league's biggest slugger in Butch Huskey and they had Generation K. Was a very impressive team to watch, they had everything.
Back then, when people talked about the Mets great future, I believed.
As Joe B on WFAN would say, "oh, the pain."
Columbus had a shortstop named Jeter that year ... he was great there, too, always hitting and scoring runs, but the Clippers did not make the playoffs.
We know, now, how many big league playoff and World Series games that guy played, and shined in, since then.
The very first game of his major league career he threw out a runner at home while on one knee in shallow left field.
Big push is on to make Opening Day a national holiday.
Heard Ozzie Smith advocating the cause on the radio today.
If you could have only one or the other as a national holiday, which would you choose ...
the day after Super Bowl Sunday.
Opening day of MLB baseball.
I think our definitions of "big push" vary greatly, Andy. I haven't heard a peep. What I hear... baseball's popularity is sinking like a stone with the younger generation.
That said, I think the day after the Super Bowl should be a holiday. You need the morning off to deal with the hangover. On Opening Day, I just leave work at noon (-;
Since opening day at home stadiums occurs on different days and the opening day whether home or away doesn't have all teams playing how does that exactly work ? Probably why a geen-yus like Ozzie Smith hasn't been heard from much since retirement . As for the Super Bowl just play it earlier like they used to before it became a showcase for idiotic hours long pregame shows and stupid commercials . Hell I remember super bowls in the 70s starting at 1 pm before the money grabbing frenzy began ! No reason why it should start any later than 4 pm EST . Either that or have it on the day before Presidents Day and move the Daytona 500 to the next Sunday .
Zombo I remember the early starting Super Bowl games, too, definitely agree the games are on too late.
If Opening Day ever becomes a holiday, it should obviously come with the requirement that all the teams open on the same day. This has been discussed with Ozzie ... you could look him up on the web if you haven't seen the media coverage.
The Pete Rose dilemma is getting lots of media play these days and a book came out that's getting good reviews from certain media people.
I'm fine with putting Rose in the Hall of Fame ... there is nothing about his career accomplishments I could tell you that you don't already know.
Because of the gambling, that cuts to the very integrity of the sport, I'd keep the restriction going that he can't work for a MLB organization any longer.
There ya go, the wisdom of Solomon ... cut the baby in half.
As for any recollections of Rose I can offer from those days in the 1970s when I was in a lot of locker rooms, I can offer this ....
the guy was so intense it was scary ... there was a certain fire in his eyes, even when everyone else was relaxed.
I never tried to interview the guy. Sparky Anderson and Johnny Bench were a lot more approachable. Sparky would talk your ear off ... man, could he ever talk.
Here's a little bit of Opening Day trivia ... who hit the most Opening Day homers?
Consider that a long-time (like over 50 years) Orioles fan is asking this.
In a game or career total? In a game, Tuffy Rhodes. Career? maybe Cal Ripken. Or Frank Howard.
Since it's Andy asking the question, I figure it's a one-time Oriole... so that would leave me torn between Frank Robinson and Eddie Murray. I'll go with Eddie Murray.
Dammit. I picked the wrong one.
Andy, Adam Dunn and Ken Griffey, Jr. Have since tied him though, so your trivia question is a bit out of date (-;
I knew about Griffey and Dunn, I googled the question before I put it on. I learned to do that after a question about Don Baylor last summer turned out to have been matched.
Frank held the record for about 25 years.
All three of those guys played part of their careers with Cincinnati.
Cal Ripken is believed to be the only Oriole to hit an opening day homer as a rookie.
He and Murray hit them back to back that day. Cal went on to be Rookie of the Year even though he was 7-for-70 at one point and about to be shipped to the minors.
Interesting that Tuffy Rhodes' name came up ... he's the only National Leaguer (as far as I know) to hit three homers in an opener ... did it in a game Doc Gooden started for the Mets. I read in one article that two players have done that in the American League, but it didn't mention who they were.
An oddity, the last team to open its home season with a doubleheader was the Oakland A's during the Charlie Finley years, in 1971. They lost both games to the White Sox, which is probably why they never did it again.
Here's an O's oddity ...Manny Machado is the youngest Oriole to ever have a two-homer game, they were his first two MLB homers, and they both were caught by the same fan! That was a special night at Camden Yards, ESPN Sports Center was all over it.
In 2006 in Japan, only about a week after Japan won the WBC, a former New York Mets outfielder won an opening day game with a walk-off grand slam. That same guy became the first (I'm not aware of anyone doing it since) player to hit for the cycle in both the American and Japanese major leagues... you guys will hate me for this, but you already hate me anyway ... it was Alex Ochoa.
ALers to hit 3 home runs on Opening Day are George Bell in 1988 and Dmitri Young in 2005.
Here's an Opening Day trivia question for you guys:
What pitcher started the most Opening Day games in MLB history?
BTW, from what I've read, Ozzie Smith is just playing the shill for Budweiser with that national holiday nonsense. Just an attempt to sell more beer...
Knew it had to be one of those greats who lasted 20 years or so. When you said his teamate I remembered they were briefly teamates on the Mets.
They didn't call Seaver "The Franchise" for nothing.
Palmer didn't get as many opening day starts as people might think, because when the O's had Dave McNally, he was the guy getting the ball for the openers.
Palmer was scheduled to start the 69 opener, but got scratched with a bad back.
He didn't start an opener until 1974.
One of many good things about Brooks Robinson was the honesty with which he answered reporters' questions.
When so many people who picked the O's to beat the Mets in 69 were asking "what happened?" ... Brooks said ... "Seaver and Ryan, there's nobody who throws that hard in OUR league."
Oddly enough, the Mets traded Ryan into the AL a couple of years later.
I remember staying up late one night when Ryan had a no-hitter going in Anaheim, and Boog Powell broke it up with a grand slam, after Ryan had walked the bases loaded.
For the first seven innings, he was just smoking it past them.
In 1981, I was at a game in Philly, when Nolan Ryan (then with the Astros) struck out Pete Rose three times.
I doubt if anybody else ever did that.
If you had to guess what Pete Rose, the all-time hit leader, had for a career batting average, what would you guess? I'll bet your guess is too high.
Since no one wants to guess, I'll just tell you, lol. His career BA was .303, which is hardly remarkable. The thing that made Pete Rose great was his ability to play balls to the wall without getting hurt. Over the first 21 seasons of his career, he averaged almost 155 games played per season.
Interestingly, it took him 2,621 extra at-bats to get 67 more hits than Ty Cobb, who had a career average of .366.
Like many great players who were not on roids, Rose's last few years in the majors dragged that lifetime average down.
Same thing happened to guys like Mantle, Brooks, Johnny Bench, I could go on.
Brooks had some months of August when he'd "hit the wall" and go two or three weeks without a hit, but still kept trotting out to third base every day. In September, and the playoffs, he was a hitting machine again, with the exception of the 69 series ... and Ron Swoboda was no help. LOL
Anyway, considering all the games he played, I'm impressed that Rose's average remained over .300 ... yeah, the guy played a heck of a lotta baseball games and he never swung for the fences, strictly a contact hitter.
Aaron, similarly, had a lot more at bats and games than Ruth, but I still was in awe when he hit 715.
I do suspect Pete Rose took a lot of those pills they used to call "greenies," though I never saw him doing it.
I remember some players used to drink a lot of coffee, I mean copious amounts, just to jack themselves up.
It's a long season.
Ty Cobb was even before MY time (that's really ancient) but the way he held the bat certainly looks odd in the old pictures.
Look at the results, though.
Jon Niese's MRI came back. It's official... he sucks, lol. The MRI don't lie.
GC Just another clue that he's smarter than his old man... he's not gonna waste a single minute rooting for those damn Mets, lol.
What kept the Mets from signing Nelson Cruz?
He looks good in black and orange feathers.
The Mets didn't read the market right on him. They assumed he'd get a multi-year deal which is why they jumped on Chris Young.
No way was Cruz ever going to the Mets . Since no team wanted him on a multi-year deal due to his PED issues and age he opted (or rather his agent advised him) to go somewhere with a home run friendly park for a single season to hopefully put up big numbers then test the free agent market again a year later . By no stretch of the imagination is Citifield a home run friendly park .
Some O's fans call Camden Yards the House that Cal Built.
Some of us who miss old pitcher-friendly Memorial Stadium, call Camden Yards the House Built for Cal.
Citifield is the park that Fred Wilponzi built - to honor the Brooklyn Dodgers ! Shea wasn't exactly a bandbox either , but Wright was averaging 29-30 home runs each year there until they moved into the new Ebbets Field . But hey why would the idiot owner worry about a stadium keeping his own player out of the baseball HOF when he can honor Jackie (great player,but never played for the Mets) Robinson with his own rotunda !
Wright hit 21 homers in 2012 and 29 in 2010. Has nothing to do with the field. 2011 and 2013 he was hurt. Add in no protection in the lineup and that is why he didn't do more. When he hit did better at Shea he had a healthy Beltran and Delgado in the lineup.
As long as old school writers keep the steroid guys out, I think Wright will get into the Hall of Fame, despite all the Mets frustrations.
Then again, if I had a vote right now, I'd vote for Dale Murphy, and put Gil Hodges in posthumously, so what do I know?
I did have a Heisman Trophy vote, back in 73, and it helped John Cappelletti became Penn State's one and only winner. The story that unfolded, involving his brother with leukemia, was one of the nicest sports stories ever. Can't believe that was ... 40 years ago?
If you have to worry about an owner tailoring a stadium to get one player in the HoF, that is just wrong. It would be a PES. Performance Enhancing Stadium.
I've always been a big DeeDubya fan... he's a lock for the Mets HOF, but Cooperstown? If he retired today, certainly not. If he plays five or six more seasons at his current level... probably not.
He's probably going to have to play 19 or 20 to get to 3,000 hits and he's not likely to hit 400 HRs, let alone 500, and the 1,500 RBI mark is probably out of reach as well, unless his body holds up better than it has two of the last three seasons. So, damn fine player, Mets all-time great, but not baseball all-time great, IMO.
I liked Joe Garagiola's line (he was Kiner's teammate in Pittsburgh) about Frank Howard ... "he could hit it out of any park, including Yellowstone."
Besides, hitting homers isn't the only way to make the Hall ... Richie Ashburn led the world in singles when he played. Ryne Sandberg got lots of RBI hits with two strikes. Mike Trout hits his fair share of homers but I think of him as a guy who is dangerous running the bases.
Citifield was constructed by idiot Wilpon to be a shrine to the Brooklyn Dodgers , I'm sure thinking about his own team had nothing to do with it other than being a pitchers park . In fact fan outrage of zero Mets memorabilia inside after it opened had the Wilponzis scrambling to make it actually LOOK like the Mets played there . There is no bigger disconnect between ownership and it's players than the Mets as they build a park perfect for the talents of Jose Reyes then let him walk . Now they're still looking for a lead off hitter and a shortstop !
I think it was a shrine to the Brooklyn Dodgers AND the New York Giants. The black and orange color scheme is hard to miss in some spots.
Well, if the Mets young pitching pans out, they may be glad they play in a big park with distant fences.
When the O's had four 20-game winners in the same year, they played in a big park ... it never kept Frank or Boog from hitting their dingers.
When the good pitchers left the scene, they brought the fences closer at Memorial Stadium, with disastrous results ... all the visiting teams licked their chops when they came to Baltimore in 86, 87 and 88 (the year of the 0-21 start, ugh).
At Camden Yards, I've never felt they have any kind of a home field advantage. Great place to enjoy a game as a fan, but not a great place to be a pitcher.
It's cool to look back at why certain stadia got built.
Memorial Stadium in Baltimore was horseshoe shaped, built for the Colts and Navy football ... they were nationally ranked back in the day and their games with Notre Dame drew standing room crowds.
When the Orioles came to town, they were just those horrid St. Louis Browns teams, now in feathers. It took a few years, but they developed some young pitchers and started winning ... played six world series and a boatload of playoff games from 1966 to 1983, in a stadium that was intended for football.
A visiting player once said, "you need five outfielders in this place." Well, the O's had Paul Blair ... there is a reason why I rave about how he played center field.
Andy, In your opinion do you think Paul Blair was better than a young Andruw Jones? Trout?
Throw Garry Maddox into the mix too. 3/4 of the planet is covered by water; the rest is covered by Garry Maddox.
He was right up there with them ... it's like being asked to compare three of the world's most beautiful women. I saw Trout play left down in Baltimore last summer ... Blair and Maddox never played anywhere but center, no matter who else was in the game.
A few baseball topics of interest to me right now ... that Aroldis Chapman injury ... what can baseball do? Pretty hard to pitch if you're wearing an NHL goaltender's mask. If the pitcher throws from behind a screen, they'd probably have to call the pitch a foul ball if the screen interferes with fielding the ball in any way.
The Mets will play the Blue Jays in Montreal this weekend. That's cool.
I saw a game at The Big O in 2003. I took a trip to Lake Placid, figured why not catch an Expos game ... the draw for me was Frank Robinson being the manager and Vlad Guerrero being one of those rocket arm guys, wanted to see him.
I've heard there is some $$$ in Montreal that's trying to get Tampa Bay to move to Montreal and build a more cozy "retro" park for them. If Montreal is in the AL East, they'd be playing Boston, New York, Toronto ... it would be like the old six-team NHL. For old guys like me, that would be pretty cool.
Blair had an arm as amazing as his glove and range.
Sept. 13, 1970 (a sunny Sunday) Yaz was at third for the Red Sox and George "Boomer" Scott hit a ball to straightaway center that Blair caught on the warning track.
The throw home was a strike from over 400 feet ... Yaz tagged and started to go but changed his mind and hopped back to the third base bag. Now, Yaz wasn't the fastest guy in the world, but he wasn't a slowpoke either. I could tell by Yaz's facial expression, that he looked at Brooks and the third base coach and said, 'WOW." Brooks just had that big Arkansas country boy grin on his face.
I've been told Mariano Rivera made throws like that during batting practice. I've told those guys, well, I've seen Paul Blair do it in a game.
A couple of the best arms I've ever seen were Jesse Barfield and Mark Whiten. Vlad Guerrero too.
Yes, Barfield really had a gun, I saw him make a great throw to cut down Mike Devereaux trying to go first to third.
I realize it was only one play, but I saw Guerrero with a chance to make a throw against the Phillies, as Jimmy Rollins got sent home by the third base coach ... Vlad's throw bounced right in front of his feet ... guess he got his mechanics messed up.
Most of the time these pros make the game look easy.
I'm still looking for the play where Ochoa threw Rickey Henderson out by a mile, after which Francesa said he'd never seen Rickey thrown out at home before. It was a FOX Saturday afternoon game, it's gotta be somewhere. Rickey's reaction was hysterical, it made all the highlight shows the next few days.
Best way to describe that Guerrero throw is, he looked like a football player spiking the ball after a touchdown.
It happens.
Vlad has the numbers to be in the Hall of Fame one of these days, even though he swung at the first or second pitch just about every at bat I saw him, I'm not going to be harsh on him. A fun player to watch.
Vlad could hit anything pitched near the same zip code. Uncanny hand eye coordination. I seem to remember him hitting a bounced pitch. I could be misremembering.
You didn't misremember. I saw that hit off a bounced pitch on ESPN Baseball Tonight.
I recall a diving catch Garry Maddox made, the first time I saw him, in the press box in Philly. The guy next to me, who knew what an O's fan I was, asked, "think Blair would have caught that?"
My cocky answer was, "he'd be standing there, waiting for it."
Earl Weaver himself said, what put Blair in a class by himself was his uncanny ability to know where the ball was going the moment it left the bat. He just got that great jump on the ball ... I don't know how you can teach that, Weaver used to say. It's a skill you either have or you don't.
To this day, I often remark when balls fall into the outfield, "Paulie would have caught that one."
Sounds good. Unless it's just us two and you wanna meet somewhere closer to work. There's Willie McBrides in Branchburg or Chelsea's in Whitehouse? Not sure what's down closer to you. But Bea's is perfectly fine too.
"A source" which means a guy who does not want to be quoted, told me Cole Kimball hasn't pitched in any Grapefruit League games this spring, but will most likely be pitching for the Scranton Triple-A team "soon" ... whatever soon means.
They will play four games at Lehigh Valley in the middle of May ... looking forward to catching up with Cole there ... it may be awhile before I hear John Sterling say, "the Yankees are going to the bullpen and here comes Cole Kimball."
Branchburg or Whitehouse are on the way home and work for me. Whichever has better tv's and food. Hackettstown is actually a good bit out of the way though if others want to join and that works better, it's still fine with me.
Hopefully, my trip to Baltimore will go better than my 1982 sojourn for Opening Day.
The O's played on Monday, April 5, under sunny skies, and beat a good KC team that had Brett, Willie Wilson, Amos Otis (another AO who I liked) and a lot of good guys ... stayed overnight with my uncle in Greenbelt, Md. and the next morning ... there's a blizzard going on.... major blizzard... the O's homestand got wiped out ... they didn't play again for five days.
Fortunately, when I called the office in Jersey (I'd just started a job at an insurance company that winter) they had snow days, too.
Once I started to venture home, I got caught in another snowstorm and had to stay a night in Newark, Delaware.
When the snow finally melted, my wife asked me, "was it worth it?" Of course, I said, YES.
Do you recall all this from memory Andy, or do you have to look it up from notes? I can't remember what I had for breakfast this morning, let alone what I was doing 30 years ago (probably building playing with legos or GI Joe).
Anyhow, are the Tigers insane or what? That contract is ridiculous and there was no need to do it now. They could have waited till this time next year.
For Monday, let's do Bea McNally's... that way others can join us if they want. Ok with you, MNJ?
LOL, Cabrera is going to make over $43,000 per plate appearance over the life of this deal if he stays healthy and continues to average 676 plate appearances per season. He certainly won't be earning any of it in the field, lol.
Andy, have fun in Charm City. Be sure to stop by the James Joyce Pub... it's a short walk from the inner harbor. One of my favorite places down there.
http://www.thejamesjoycepub.com/
When I was 14 a neighbor's dad gave me the nickname of Storehouse of Useless Information.
Some things we remember 30 years later like it was yesterday, other things become a blur. Obviously, the Orioles have been quite a passion for me. That Cabrera contract is nuts. After Frank Robinson won the Triple Crown, his next contract was for 200 grand ... shows you where baseball salaries have gone.
Imagine what Mike Trout will get when he goes to arbitration ... he'll probably be the best player in baseball the next five years.
Here's a place Orioles fans love. Rick Dempsey was a real fan favorite, modest stats but he had a lot of big moments and he was real colorful character, to say the least.
James Joyce Pub ... I'll have to go ... in a city that named its new football team for a piece of literature, I'm sure that place draws a classy crowd.
http://www.yelp.com/biz/dempseys-brew-pub-and-restaurant-baltimore
I'll bet Dempsey's has the coldest Natty Boh in town. I always have one while I'm down there; same as I always start my Pittsburgh trips off with an Iron City before moving on to better beers, lol.
Natty Boh has been sponsoring Orioles baseball since Bob Murphy and John Sterling were broadcasting them.
Chuck Thompson, who was the voice of the Orioles from about 1963 into the 90s, always would say after a win ... "ain't the beer cold."
Happy birthday, Alex Ochoa.
I'll host him at Andy's Old School Orioles Tavern
Our menu lineup:
The Roberto Alomar -- Turn two with this spicy poultry-in-motion delicacy, roasted over an open fire on a SPIT.
The Paul Blair -- Our catch of the day.
The Raffy Palmeiro -- Performance enhancing ingredients, seasoned with Viagra. It's finger-pointing-good.
The Nick Markakis -- Our light-hitting Greek salad.
The Boog Powell -- Our giant-sized grand slam hamburger.
The Earl Weaver -- The crabbiest crabcake you'll ever enjoy.
The David Wells -- Our all-you-can-eat buffet. Help yourself to all you want.
The Alex Ochoa -- Our super sub, a real hot prospect. If not satisfied, you can trade it for ...
The Bobby Bonilla -- Our robust and spicy all-beef hot dog.
Drinks
The Dave McNally -- Our finely crafted Irish Coffee.
The Jim Palmer -- A smooth beer, but with some serious buzz.
The Cal Ripken -- Wholesome milk for the clean-living role model.
The Frank Robinson -- It packs a wallop.
The Brooks Robinson -- Arkansas style country whiskey.
The Tippy Martinez -- Last call, for when it is closing time.
The Cabrera contract is a joke. They had him under control for 2 more years. He probably has 5 years left in him. He's not in prime shape. He'll break down soon with the way he treats himself.
A long-term contract for that guy? What are they thinking, or is it, what are they drinking?
Had a great time watching the early games with MeisterNJ and Clyde Potts yesterday. The food was good, the beer was great and the company even better. sheanimal even made a brief appearance to sponge a free lunch off of me, lol.
What can I say? Same old Mets... but at least the Buccos are off to a good start.
Don't think the O's will win too many 2-1 games this year, but it was nice to see one... was like old times. Can't win them all if you don't win the first one. Saw some defensive plays I'll be talking about 30 years from now ... when I'm in my 90s.
Plus ... saw the rebirth of Grady Sizemore. Welcome back to the show. And, of course. Mr. Cruz' first big fly as a bird. Welcome to the bird cage.
Enjoyed the James Joyce ambience and they stayed open nice and late ... expected to see someone like Frank Sinatra or Humphrey Bogart to come strolling in ... with a doll at their arm :)
Weird weather, woke up to five inches of snow, get to the ball park and it feels like 70 degrees.
I see Philadelphia won at Arlington, Texas, by a 14-10 score.
What happened there, did Romo throw a pick on the final drive? LOL
And Washington beat the Jets, I mean Mets, three field goals to a touchdown.
With the Mets starting staff, when they score a touchdown they are supposed to win the dang game.
CC Sabathia's salary is $23M for 2014, the ENTIRE Houston Astros payroll is $21.1M.
The Astros lit him up for six runs in the first two innings and win the game 6-2. Gotta love it...
That's what is great about baseball, on any given day, even an Alex Ochoa can beat you.
Blah blah blah. One game ian, one game. He'll be alright. Not ace material anymore, but still a good pitcher.
Glad you liked the James Joyce Pub, Andy. The only other place I ever recommended to anyone in Baltimore was Boccaccio for Italian food but I think it has closed due to the owner passing away. They made the absolute best Osso Buco I've ever had in the states and I order it whenever I see it on a menu.
I didn't go to Rick Dempsey's place, because, like Yogi said, nobody goes there because it is too crowded.... at least on Opening Day it was.
The James Joyce Pub was really nice, thanks for the info.
Must be nice to be able to spend the ENTIRE Astros budget on one "good pitcher" (-;
Here's a great place right outside Baltimore I enjoyed during my stay ... but I'd recommend keeping quiet about being a Steelers or Yankees fan, not that it's a rough crowd or anything like that. By the way, Milt Pappas is the pitcher they traded for Frank Robinson ... and he won a lot of games.
https://www.facebook.com/PappasParkville
ESPN Sports Center said this is the first time the Mets and Yanks have both started 0-2 since 1965.
Now, nothing at all was expected from the Mets in 65 ... they were still in their lovable losers infancy, but the Yankees were coming off five straight AL pennants, and 65 was the year they tumbled into a generation of mediocrity. Their middle of the pack, out of the race by Labor Day 65 season, was followed by a disastrous last place season in 66 and they didn't seriously contend again until 72, no World Series until 76.
Some historical perspective the Yankees fans won't want to hear or read.
Interesting stat Andy. Here is another, the Yankees lost their first three games and went 3-4 to start the season on the road in 1998. Arrived home and went on to win 114 regular season games and swept the WS.
162 is a lot of games. Anything can happen between now and the end. One thing though, CC better start working on better location of pitches since his velocity is gone.
Much was expected of the Yankees in 98 and they delivered. They started that season in Anaheim with a West Coast road trip ... the Angels turned out to be the only team in the league with a winning record over the Yankees for the entire Torre era.
The 1998 Yankees were a good young team with a lot of talent.
The 2014 Yankees? Not so much... a 32-year old journeyman with no power at 3rd base, a 40-year old on his farewell tour at short, a 37-year old second baseman who never had any power and no longer has any speed, a 34-year old first baseman who will hit some HRs but likely isn't going to crack .250.
And then you have the OF... Beltran is 37, Ichiro is 40, Ellsbury is the youngest position player in the starting lineup and even he's over 30. Brett Gardner's over 30, too. Alfonso Soriano? Good luck expecting him to carry the offense. He'll put 30 in the seats; he'll also strike out 150 times...
I think you're seeing the real Yankees right now... a pathetic offense that could only muster 3 total runs in two games at one of the friendliest hitters parks in the league.
Their pitching actually looks pretty good on paper... but are they going to maintain a 2.00 ERA? That's about what they're going to have to do.
I don't know how Yankee fans look at this team with any optimism whatsoever.
A couple of starts that meant something ... in 1966 the O's started out 12-1 ...
won the World Series.
In 1988 the O's started out 0-21.
Lost over 100 games and finished last.
That's right, 0-21, and Cal played every inning of every game.
A lot of questions with the Yankees, indeed.
Unless they pull off some amazing mid-season deal, it doesn't look promising.
Oh, just asking, when is the Mets' future scheduled to start?
So far the Mets are garbage. I'm having more fun watching my sons Freshman team play. At least they have talent. All the Wilpon's had to do was spend like $20 mil more on a couple of good players. Instead we have to watch this nonsense at 1B playing a different guy every day. Just give Ike the job for 50 at bats and see what he does. If he sucks, you go to Duda. If he sucks you get rid of both of them and move Murphy to 1B and play Wilmer Flores every day at 2B or Eric Young Jr. I get so tired of management making stupid decisions.
At least Robertson looked good last night. Trust me, I don't have high hopes for this year's team at all.
20 mill to sign a couple more good players? To win 78 rather than 75 games? For what? Patience Metsman. Next year they'll get Harvey back, Wheeler and Syndergaard will have more experience, and maybe another youngster will step up.
What good are the arms if they can't score. They could have locked up two good bats and they could have competed this year and possibly been contenders next year. Instead we have to watch a train wreck.
At least the Mets have a bumper crop of young pitching, that's the way to start building.
When the Orioles started to transform from the awful St. Louis Browns into a respectable franchise in 1959, the starting point was a group of young pitchers who were nicknamed the "Kiddie Korps." Pieces from the farm system started fitting into place ... especially a really big one named Boog Powell... Davey Johnson also came through the system ... and they built an outfield with jewels they found in the Rule 5 draft ... like 1965 Rookie of the Year Curt Blefary (left unprotected by the Yankees) and multi-time Gold Glove winner Paul Blair (left unprotected by the Mets of all people) .... then, when they got Frank Robinson by trading one of those Kiddie Korps pitchers, they had a World Series winner in 1966 and went to the World Series 4 of the next 6 years.
It takes a few years and you've got to be smart. I'm not trolling, honest, I have a life. This was the former St. Louis Browns, one of the worst franchises in the history of sports ... bad teams can be transformed but it takes patience and smarts.
A song about the old St. Louis Browns, including a line that "they lost more than the Mets could ever dream..."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEicZnTrWYA&feature=kp
The Mets can look at their own history when it comes to building championship teams ... amazing pitchers like Seaver, Ryan, McGraw got it done in 69 and the cornerstones of the 86 team were home grown too ... and Hernandez and Carter came in real smart trades. Someone on the radio recently said the Mets almost traded Mookie in that Carter deal ... that would have changed their history if they'd done that ... but, the curse had not set in yet.
There were no high priced free agents on the 86 team and I was very happy for Davey Johnson managing a winner so soon in his career as a skipper.
A good guide in how NOT to build a team can be found in the book The Worst Team Money Can Buy ... about the 1992-93 Mets.
A big part of the Mets problem ... they are STILL paying Bobby Bonilla.
Haha. Pick that big festering scab of Metsman named Bobby Bo. Wonder what he's up to nowadays, besides picking up a check on July 1st:
http://www.celebritynetworth.com/articles/entertainment-articles/bobby-bonilla-baseball-contract/
This one is for Ike "Grand Slam" Davis ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdqoNKCCt7A
Sandy Alderson will probably do nothing to get a closer for 2015. So all that young pitching that will be in the rotation will lose games because the bullpen blows.
Metsman, they should just give the job to a young guy or a failed starter. You don't need an established 'closer'. The idea that you need to go out a pay a guy just for the ninth is just bad business. What do we have, 10 'closers' who have lost their job one week into this season? Do you want to go out and pay a guy like Papelbon a bunch of money to find out he's lost it a year later? Mariano was a failed starter. Heck, you can take a good starter and make them a closer like Smoltz.
Alderson has done a piss poor job assembling a bullpen since he got here. I figured Mejia would be in the bullpen. Maybe Vic Black will step up.
The Orioles used to take their promising starters of the future and bring them into the bigs as relievers, rather than keep them in the minors ... guys like Mike Flanagan and Dennis Martinez ... the only time I remember them spending big money on a reliever was when they signed Don Aase, and that did not work out real well.
Cardinals have done that as well. They won the WS with Wainwright closing it out.
In 1989, the Orioles gave the closer job to someone they had drafted and developed through the minors, Gregg Olson ... he was the first reliever to win the Rookie of the Year award.
Following a 1988 season that was a total disaster, the O's stayed in the AL East race (no wild cards back then) right to the final weekend of the season.
Frank Robinson got Manager of the Year ... the team's rallying cry all season was ... "Why Not?"
You guys are old enough to remember 1989, right?
In the 90s the O's got Lee Smith to be their closer ... after Olson came down with arm problems.
Lee Smith was one of the best relievers of all time, but by the time the O's got him,
his best years were behind him.
Their best minor league reliever at the time was a guy Mets fans remember fondly ... Armando Benitez.
Seriously, when the O's traded Ochoa, a lot of Orioles fans were saying, "we traded the guy who should be our future closer."
Gotta give Suzyn Waldman credit for a line that made me laugh ...
Nelson Cruz got doubled off after Ellsbury caught a fly ball today. "Why was he running like that?" John Sterling asked. "He must have thought that was HIM in the outfield," was Suzyn's reply.
I can't stand her. Dan Patrick plays the clip all the time where she gushed over Clemens' return in the middle of the season like a teenager meeting the Beatles at the airport. Her voice is about as smooth as fingernails on a chalkboard.
Oh MY GAWWWDDD it's RAWWWWGER CLEMMMENS. Oh My Good Goodness Gwacious... He's in the bawx. Rawger Clemens is in Geowge Steinbwennews bawx... Rawger Clemens is cawming back.
Sterling should have stuck an icepick in the base of her brain stem.
If I remember correctly, Carton came up with a Waldman alarm clock ... that was good for some laughs.
Well, today I had to listen to Sterling with that "THE-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-E YANKE-E-E-S
W-I-I-I-I-I-I-I-N."
I usually find it funny, but not when they beat my O's.
By the way, Robertson is going on the DL with a badly strained groin. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but they didn't miss him today. Kelly did a nice job in his place. Girardi says it will be "closer by committee" for awhile.
A really special moment 40 years ago tonight ... I was among the millions of people watching on TV as Hammerin Hank hit number 715.
I hope all schools are devoting some time to this today, in the interest of sensitivity training, because Aaron had to endure a lot of death threats, ugly things that just should not happen.
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/remembering-715-hank-aaron-rocked-bias-hatred-mighty-blow-article-1.1746903
PBM Congrats to Ike Davis for achieving what David Wright had been unable to do to date... escaping the Wilpon family.
Welcome to the 'Burgh, Ike... Have an Iron City and a double pastrami from Primanti's and then get in there and play ball.
He might be able to hit .240 and STILL hit 35-40 HRs at PNC, lol.
And Mets keep the stone gloved Duda - brilliant ! Watch Davis' hitting take off now and balls thunk off Duda's glove like hitting a statue . Frankly neither was the answer at first , but the Wilponzis won't trade pitching and seem to think an aging strikeout machine in decline like Granderson can bat cleanup .They would have done better giving Marlon Byrd a two year contract instead !
Duda is actually swinging the bat well. I was at the game tonight. He missed a 3 run homer by a couple of feet. I would switch the lineup up. Granderson isn't a cleanup hitter. He was a 2 hitter for the Yankees. He just looks lost at the plate. Put him where he's comfortable. Murphy and Wright are hitting well, make them 3 and 4.
Maybe Dice-K will have a season like Uehara did last year.
These guys who Alex Ochoa used to hit during six seasons in Japan are doing their thing in the states, now, having big moments.
Ryan Howard may or may not have hit for the cycle today ... there was a controversial scoring decision on a ball he hit that could have been scored a double. They saved his bat and the ball just in case the scoring decision gets changed.
Nutty stuff. A guy who hardly ever hits a triple, reminds me of Olerud's cycle in 97.
Pujols at 498 homers ... now that the steroid era has ended (hopefully) that 500 homers milestone has lots of luster again.
Andy - "As Jonny Gomes said on his way out of the Red Sox clubhouse Sunday night: “Sleep fast!”"
BLDYes, short turnaround for the O's and Red Sox today ... that morning Patriots Day game is a great tradition up there.
Yes, Alex Ochoa was an all-star and gold glove winner in Japan, had some big hits against guys who now are in the big leagues. Played centerfield behind Kuroda and made him look good =) ... sorry you hate him so much.
He got more money and more playing time in Japan ... didn't care that he was out of sight and out of mind for the American fans (except for guys like me, of course) ... the guy was a player.
I don't believe that Pujols has been clean his entire career... not for a second.
Plus, with the prevalence of "bandbox" ballparks, 500 isn't all that impressive a number anyway. Look at Ryan Braun... with the unbalanced schedule, how many of his games are played at Miller Park, the Great American Ballpark, PNC Park, Wrigley Field or Busch Stadium? He should hit 500 by the time he finished his twelfth season. Three are in the top 11 in HRs surrendered for last year.
The only stadium of these that I would personally consider a "pitchers park" is St Louis. Oddly enough, though... PNC was the next to stingiest park last year for surrendering HRs... must be the way the wind blows in off the Allegheny, because the dimensions aren't that imposing.
Jank Mejia continues to impress. If Harvey comes back as good as new and Wheeler continues to improve, the hype surrounding the Metsies chances next year may not turn into "the same old Mets" by Memorial Day. All they have to do is figure out a way to score some runs. Their lineup is atrocious. Granderson is turning out to be as big a bust as I thought he would and no one else appears to be much better at this point.
Grand slam for Ike Davis tonight.
Let us hoist an Iron City for him and wish him well, as he discovers there is life after Metsdom.
Trivia question: Ike's grand slam last night versus the Reds made him the 3rd player in major league history to hit two grand slams in a single season versus the same team while playing for two different teams. Who were the other two?
Hint: one of the other two has a Mets connection and the other is related to one of the guys calling the game last night on ESPN, who also has a NY connection with a game 7 walk-off HR in the ALCS.
Right family, wrong generation... Brett and Aaron were the 3rd generation of Boones in MLB. This particular occurrence happened before Alex Ochoa was a twinkle in Andy's eye.
Just taking a blind stab at it, as a guy who has mostly watched the American League most of his life, thinking of power hitters who have a Mets connection and got traded in mid-season, how about Mike Piazza?
Piazza is correct. He did it in 1998 against the Arizona Diamondbacks as a member of the Dodgers and the Mets. Nice job, Andy.
RAY Boone (Bob's father and Brett & Aaron's grandfather) was the other and he performed the feat in 1953 against the St Louis Browns as a member of the Cleveland Indians and the Detroit Tigers.
Cool. You should give that one to Jason Stark and he can stump Mike and Mike with it next week.
Stark had a good one today, name the active players who have over 900 career extra base hits. David Ortiz, of course, was one of them ... Derek Jeter was guessed, but he's still a few short ... just a few. I was in the car, there were a couple of others, but I can't remember who they were now.
I remember Bob Boone, he was the Phillies' regular catcher when I covered a lot of their home games in the 70s ... he got his rest every fourth or fifth day when McCarver caught Steve Carlton. Boonie was one of the serious guys, but he was pleasant with the media.
Jason Giambi is technically still playing. I'm sure he's on that list. Todd Helton? It's probably mostly doubles, but he's gotta be up there as well
Helton retired? I'd have known that if I didn't skip fantasy baseball this year. Lol, at least he would've made the list, unlike Giambi.
The Mets brought up Bobby Abreu from AAA Las Vegas today. That's probably what prompted the trivia question; I'm sure HE's on that list.
I heard part of that as well. Helton was one of the answers. Didn't hear the others. Giambi would be a good guess. What about Beltran? Has good pop and had good speed for the first half of his career.
Beltran, maybe. How about Beltre? He's gotta be close, too. Miggy can't be there yet, can he?
Soriano's been in the league a long time... he's got over 400 homers. I would put him up there as a definite maybe too.
Konerko? He's been playing in Chicago forever. If he doesn't have 900 xbhs, he should be ashamed, lol.
Yes, Soriano has over 900 XB hits, Pujols has over 1,000. Beltran and Beltre are getting there.
Mike Schmidt had some sensible observations about the "significance" of hitting 500 homers, when he was a guest on ESPN radio this morning. I can tell you, first hand, he wasn't this talkative 40 years ago!!!
Schmidt was only the seventh guy to reach 500 homers, and it was nine years until the next 500 homers guy reached that number, Eddie Murray (who hit #500 at Camden Yards by the way, as an Oriole, after playing for a few other teams in the interim). Since then a lot of guys have reached 500 homers.
Schmidt pointed out correctly, the ballparks used to be bigger, the strike zone was bigger, pitchers were "meaner" (they would back you off the plate with hard stuff aimed at your chin) ... but he still gave Albert credit and respect ... we don't know FOR SURE if he was one of those steroid guys.
That's a big problem today, everybody is under suspicion. Reminds me of when I was saying nice things about Jim Thome when I did a radio show on WNTI called "Sports Buzz" along with a Centenary student. I was saying Thome should go into the Hall of Fame, but a guy called in saying Dick Allen should go in before Thome does. I'll always remember his line, "I don't believe anything that's happened after 1990."
And, yes, Allen was like Mickey Mantle, he hit them out of sight. Joe Garagiola used to say, "he can hit it out of any park, including Yellowstone."
Heard that as well Andy. He also mentioned the extensive training and how much stronger guys are now and how that has led to pitchers nibbling, getting behind, and then serving up meatballs because they're behind. All great points.
Yes. He said the guys make more money today and did say that there is more money involved in today's game ... hence, they train year round.
Used to be, players would work an off-season job at an insurance office, a bank, a local store, some sold used cars, because they needed the money.
A funny line after the O's won the 1966 series was, 'we HAD to win. Our wives already spent the winners' share."
Now, the World Series money hardly matters to these guys, after all the millions they've made, and y'know what, in our capitalist society, God bless them. Nobody holds a gun to the owners' heads telling them they need to pay them that much.
I know about the selling cars part first hand ... I purchased a car from Curt Blefary.
He was the Orioles' great Yankee Killer.
Now, when I talk about that, I get, "who was Curt Blefary?"
Pujols grew up in the Dominican until the age of 16 and was in the same dugout as Mark McGwire in his rookie season. That's not necessarily proof, but certainly reason for suspicion.
One for Andy from The Onion---
Camden Yards Concessions To Stop Selling Crack After Seventh Inning
BALTIMORE—In an effort to improve spectator safety, Oriole Park at Camden Yards personnel announced Monday that the ballpark’s concession stands will henceforth stop selling crack cocaine at the conclusion of the seventh inning. “By cutting off crack sales toward the end of the game, we feel we can enhance the overall baseball experience for all of our guests, including those who want to burn a little rock,” director of ballpark operations Kevin Cummings told reporters, adding that the stadium will be leaving in place its longstanding regulations prohibiting ticket holders from purchasing more than two vials of the cocaine freebase at once, as well as instructing concession stand workers and bleacher vendors not to sell to anyone who looks like they’ve already had too much to smoke. “We want our visitors to exercise moderation while they’re smoking crack and cheering on our Baltimore Orioles, and we feel this new rule will make that possible. From now on, fans who have been hitting the pipe all afternoon can take a bit of a breather to come down and stop tweaking out long enough to stagger home safely. That’s what Orioles baseball is all about.” Cummings added that the stadium’s concession workers would continue to check IDs for everyone seeking to purchase crack, noting that—per Baltimore city regulations—sales of the drug are prohibited to anyone 14 years of age or younger.
yankeefan With all the good places to eat around there, who needs that stuff? lol
If you guys like trivia, hope you have fun with this one ...
Who is the only guy to be on the opening day roster of two different MLB teams in the same season?
I think a hint is in order... say a 5 year window in which the event occurred, lol.
Hint time ... it happened this year, and it was possible because the season began in Australia more than a week before everybody else played their openers.
I declare shenanigans. "Opening Day" was Monday, March 31st. I know, because I was there at Bea McNallys. Clyde and MeisterNJ can even back me up (-;
The fact that games were played half a world away two weeks prior is irrelevant. Unless the guy in question was on two different rosters on that day, I don't consider it to be valid. No offense to you, Andy... my beef is with the guy who invented the question.
No. I'll have to end this soon, got some important things to do.
Clyde is probably thinking of Joel Youngblood ... he played an afternoon game for the Mets on Aug. 4, 1982, then got traded to the Expos. They were playing a night game in Philly, so he hopped in a rent-a-car and went down the pike and played games in two cities for two different teams in the same day.
He may be the only guy who ever did that.
In 1975, I attended the Orioles home opener in the afternoon as a paying fan, then hopped in my car, went up I-95 for a little less than two hours and took in the Phillies home opener as a credentialed media member.
I may be the only person crazy enough to do something like that! At 25, I had that kind of energy.
Well, I told my girlfriend at the time, Philly was on the way home, anyway =)
She had accused me of being with another woman.
OK, here's the answer.
Pitcher Seth Rosin was on the Dodgers opening day roster, all he did during the two games "down under" was warm up in the pen a couple of times. He then got picked up on waivers by the Texas Rangers, and pitched in three games with them.
Now he's in Triple-A. Yep, play baseball, see the world. Reminds me of an Ochoa quote after he got traded to Colorado and was asked about being called a five-tool player ... "My best skill set is packing."
IronPigs won today, PIGS FLY! PIGS FLY!
Joe McEwing, of County College of Morris, good old "Super Joe," is now the third base coach for the Chicago White Sox.
Another CCM guy who played in the majors was Adam Riggs, who played with the Dodgers, Padres, and Angels in the 90s and 00s, then played a few years in Japan with the Yakult Swallows.
Pineda gets busted for pine tar and ejected from the game. How dumb can the guy be after the uproar last time?
The commentator said, right after Pineda got tossed, that pine tar does not alter the flight of the ball, the "integrity" of the pitch. He didn't understand why a pitcher should not get a better grip on the ball ... it could protect the batter from getting drilled by a pitch that "got away."
Still, "foreign substances" on the ball are illegal. I think they should clarify the rule here, regarding pine tar, look at it, because I don't see where pine tar use should be illegal. But, in this case, after what happened last time, Pineda should have known the Sawx would be watching him and would go after him like this.
If pine tar allows a pitcher to artificially "get a better grip", doesn't it follow that he can put more spin on the ball and get it to break more?
Five ribbys for Nelson Cruz and the O's win a 10-8 "pitching duel."
How about the O's trading JJ Hardy to the Mets for a pitcher ... could be a trade that "helps both teams." Machado was a shortstop in Double-A and a real good one, so that could be his position for the next decade upon his return to the O's from the DL.
The Mets probably would not want to pay Hardy the money he's worth.
I had to do a double take, I thought you were saying that Hardy had been traded to the Mets. Ha. Not a bad idea, but don't think they are looking for a rental.
How bad does Granderson look? Jason Bay, part deux?
Worse than Jason Bay, if that's possible. Batting .125 with 1 HR and 5 RBI in 72 ABs with 25 strikeouts, LOL.
He is approaching the Grandoza line (.100) . Never wanted his 200 strikeouts a season anyway . Maybe if the Mets traded him to Pittsburgh he would start to hit ?
That's great. A caller had a good one this morning on the Dan Patrick Show. Dude! Where's my Tar?
PINEda suspended for 10 games. Should get an extra 5 for stupidity. PINEda was caught 2 week ago v Red Sox, then on NATIONAL TV does it again, against the Sox, after they gave him a pass the first time.
Granderson just got a clutch RBI base hit. I think he's starting to come out of it. He had a hit yesterday too.
Keep wishing Metsman. Just means he's due for 20 K's and one HR for the next two weeks.
Yeah, Metsman... This isn't even really much of a slump for him.
.125 over 72 ABs? If he gets on a hot streak and goes 11 for his next 28 (with 17 strikeouts), he'll be right at .200 where he should be. Him and Colon... $22M more right down the toilet. Really? These guys are who you choose to spend that kind of $ on? LOL...
This franchise needs a high colonic, starting at a Terry Collins and all the way through the top.
Coming out of it for Granderstrikeout means 15-20 HRs , 200 strikeouts with a .220-230 BA . Way to waste 15 million a year for the next 4 years Mets on a declining has been . Fat Mike Francesa lobbied for the Mets to get this guy for months on WFAN . Yankees don't want him , nor does any othuh team ovuh dere , but he's be a good fit for da Metz ovuh heeuh . Below is a parody that does that pompous windbag some justice.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptPBCSsPJR4
It's early. In another month he could be batting .240.
Zombo, Colon had one bad game where he gave up 9. Each of his other starts he's given up 3 runs or less and gone 6 or more innings. He's earning his paycheck.
The Orioles waited the market out and got Nelson Cruz for a lot less money.
When the Mets are in the thick of the wild card race with the July trade deadline approaching, we'll talk trade.
They should have a First Half Manager of the Year Award ... Collins would be winning it again ... they always start building up their fans' hopes this time of year ... like Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown.
I've heard it time and time again from former players, pine tar does not impact the flight of the ball, does not give you any more break, etc. ... it is not the same as scuffing a ball, does not produce the same result.
It just keeps it from slipping out of your hand and drilling the batter in the head.
I played against Adam Riggs in big league one summer and in the Morris Majors when I was in college. Best player I've ever played against. He hit a ball so hard one time that I dove to catch it in RF (I played OF from time to time when I wasn't catching) and it spun out of my glove because it had such top spin.
Adam took good care of his mom when he played in Japan ... made sure she had no financial worries. You've got to like a guy like that.
You've got to be a phenomenal player, to even get a shot in the big leagues.
And for anybody who says if I can't make the majors, I'll play in Japan, whoa ... it isn't so easy.
Guys who have been there will tell you, it is better than Triple-A, it is Four-A.
A guy I talked to once, named Tyrone Woods, said, "In the American minors, it's all about 'player development' but in Japan, they play to win. I mean, those guys wanna win."
Tyrone Woods was surprised that I knew he played in the same outfield with Alex Ochoa in Japan. He shouldn't have been ;-)
He said, "Everybody kept asking Alex if he was related to Lorena Ochoa and they kept asking me if I was related to Tiger. They know their golf over there."
He told me a real funny Alex Ochoa story ... his former Mets teammate Matt Franco was the first baseman for the other team and when Alex got a walk, Franco started the chatter "hey old buddy," real friendly like.
"Our manager allowed no friendly stuff with the other team at all, they were THE ENEMY. So, Alex kinda mutters under his breath that they'd get fined for talking to players on the other team, and Franco yells real loud, YOU MEAN I'M NOT WORTH FIFTY BUCKS FOR YOU?" Alex started laughing and, sure enough, paid his fine.
He might have been juicing then. He was so much better than anyone on the field. From what I understand, he hurt his neck and was never the same after being named Dodger Minor Leaguer of the year.
Metsman I'm hoping Colon has a very good season . With Harvey coming back in 2015 , Syndgergaard , Montero in the pipeline he could be traded away his second year for a position player probably in a package deal. Granderson's average has been around .230 with near 200 strikeouts his last full season . Not someone any team should put in the cleanup spot or anywhere above 5,6,7 in the lineup .
I think Grandy will hit once the weather warms up, but the best part of his career is behind him.
Last I heard, Adam Riggs lives in Texas now. His old high school coaches in football and baseball at Lenape Valley have told me he was an outstanding person, as well as a great athlete.
It's a shame that the juicing has cast a shadow over everyone who played in the 90s and until about 2004-05. Nobody knows for sure who did what.
They had a 100th anniversary celebration at Wrigley Field, invited lots of old Cubs, and Sammy Sosa wasn't invited. Imagine that, SAMMY SOSA.
Yep, the same Sammy who played for the Orioles in the twilight of his career, just like Bobby Abreu is doing now with the Mets.
The cancelled checks that Kurt Radomski had from Riggs makes him more suspect than most. He was specifically mentioned in the Mitchell Report. But, with the amount of money that was potentially on the line, I can't say that I blame a borderline MLB guy for doing everything to try and get himself a piece of the pie.
Alex Ochoa wasn't on the list, and he was on the Mets ... he was a goody two-shoes.
A lot of Orioles managed to get on the list ... anybody remember Larry Bigbie?
That report got criticized because the informants were New York based, worked with the Mets and Yankees ... a lot of people thought it was done by a New England guy who was out to discredit the New York teams.
Certainly, Andy Pettitte still is respected, Matt Williams is now the manager of the Nationals, life went on.
I read two books by Jose Canseco ... Juiced and Vindicated ... he may have had selfish motives for writing them, but he shed a lot of light.
Andy since you like Alex Ochoa so much hard to believe you missed Juan Lagares playing center field for the Mets . Right up until he pulled a hammy he was hitting .314 and playing defense like he played last year which discouraged many a base runner from trying for that extra base due to his rocket of an arm . Of course since it's the cursed Mets he'll probably have hamstring issues forever now like Jose Reyes !
http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/04/17/juan-lagares-hamstring-injury-not-that-bad/
Granderson gets the walk off hit for the Mets tonight. He's swinging the bat much better in the 2 hole.
Yes, I like what I've seen of Lagares. If he hits for the cycle soon, I'll definitely pay attention to him. My point about Ochoa has been, the Mets traded him too soon. He had options left, he could have gone back to Triple-A if he needed more work. He had nothing more to prove there, but regular at bats and playing time would have helped him. He was a better hitter after the Mets traded him. For the Mets sake, they should hold onto Lagares, because he's a talent.
Not that many good outfield arms in today's game, so he should be a keeper.
The good news for the Orioles is, Manny Machado went 3-for-4 in a rehab game tonight. They've missed him.
Orioles broadcaster Joe Angel's home run call, whenever Machado belts one, Hasta La Vista, Baby!
How was he doing before that hit in the 9th, Metsman? If the two guys in front of him hadn't both gotten two-out hits, his line for the night would have been 0-4 w/ another strikeout, lol.
The Mets have been winning with smoke and mirrors . Being the worst hitting team in MLB will catch up with them sooner rather than later . It's not just Granderson it's the catcher , SS , CF , etc. If they all hit consistently like Murphy and Wright they'd be fine .
Quit being Debbie Downers. You want to bitch and moan, do it if they go on a losing streak.
The Mets have been winning because I haven't been watching the games. When the hockey playoffs are over, watch out. I've had a history of giving the Mets the "evil eye." You do not want me watching too many of their games ;-)
Most of the Mets games I watch parts of are against Washington, the Yankees, and Philly, and bad things usually happen to the Mets when I put them on.
The exception was a few times I wanted to watch R.A. Dickey (two years ago) and Matt Harvey (last year) when they really were pitching great. I'll watch baseball history, players I'll remember, no matter what teams are playing.
Uh oh Andy is going to give the Mets the Maloik ! Like they're going to need any help with no closer , no clean up hitter , spotty pen , and .120 hitting chumley's like Granderstrikeout in the lineup !
Give Mookie a real job, someone who knows something about winning.
http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/10837493/mookie-wilson-upset-how-being-treated-new-york-mets
And they have Dice-K in the bullpen. Somebody has to step up.
Until the Mets are actually over .500 on Labor Day, guys like Metsman are going to have to tolerate the skeptics.
As long as the pitching holds up they should be a .500 team. It would be nice if they could trade one of these arms for a premium bat. Dillon Gee has been really good since May of last year. Maybe they can package him and a couple prospects for a good SS. Troy Tulowitski would be an awesome fit. One can dream I guess.
I knew something Mike and Mike didn't know this morning ... I'm sure Meister did, too. They didn't know that Jose Bautista of the Blue Jays is the leading homer hitter for this decade of the "teens" since 2010. Jayson Stark stumped them again.
Guess he's been "flying under the radar" playing in Canada. Bautista has one of the best outfield arms in today's game, too.
If I was the O's GM I'd trade JJ Hardy to the Mets for Gee in a heartbeat. Gee would need an ERA under two, to be a consistent winner with the Mets ... he could win 20 with a 3.50 ERA with the O's.
I could name three pitchers from the past who could win 20 with this year's Mets ... Sandy Koufax in his late 20s, Doc Gooden in his very early 20s, and Tom Seaver circa 1969, when he would win 1-0 extra inning games. The Mets often went into extra innings 0-0 in the late 60s ... I remember the night he pitched 10 scoreless innings at Houston and got no decision. The Mets lost 1-0 in 24 innings, when all the other games that night were over.
Here's the problem for the Mets if they want to make trades and contend.
Teams want prospects in order to make trades ... who are the Mets prospects that other teams would want?
I remember a funny newspaper cartoon when the O's were really bad ... someone is calling the O's and says, "I'm desperate for .220 hitters." The O's guy says, "yeah, got plenty of those."
Yes, I heard the question and he was one of my guesses. Who was the other hitter Andy? Miguel Cabrera? My other guess would have been Chris Davis, though he's only had the past two for hr's really. 50+ goes a long way though.
Miggy was the other one. Chris Davis is a player the O's picked up off the scrap heap, who had big seasons in 2012 and 2013 ... he's hurt right now, hope it does not hinder his season.
Davis plays first base real well defensively .. you appreciate it when you see him play in person ... good footwork and makes a great stretch on the low throws ... saves the infielders errors.
Best defensive 1B they've had there since Eddie Murray.
Andy, I'm disappointed. You know that's not true. Rafael Palmeiro was the best defensive 1B they had since Eddie Murray. He won a gold glove!
Looked it up, Chris Davis had six homers in 2010 and 2011 combined, not very many at bats.
You never know what you might get when you give somebody an opportunity with a new team.
IKE Davis had a lot more of a track record when Pittsburgh traded for him.
By the way, Alex Ochoa was a phenomenal pinch hitter with Cincinnati, but since that team had no pitching, they lost a lot of 9-8 games. 58 RBI in 244 at bats in 2000 is one heck of an RBI per at bats ratio ... especially when you're coming off the bench against relief specialists! Give the guy some credit and I won't post about him so often.
Like I said, best at the position since Murray. I get your point about Raffy.
I saw Bob Gibson pitch, and as great as he was, he managed to lose 9 games when he had that 1.12 ERA season ... two guys he could not get out were Pete Rose and Henry Aaron ... no disgrace there.
I would say that Raffy is a better defensive 1B than Davis. I don't think it's that close. He was very good. I'm not an authority on the Birds though.
IronPigs are losing 7-0 to the Pawtucket Red Sox and it feels like it is 35 degrees with the wind blowing in from right field. Gotta love Triple-A baseball to go to these morning games ;-)
Raffy could play, but he was a DH much of the time. He did put up some ungodly numbers, but now we know how he did it.
I know Metsman likes to deal with the present and future, but I recall the year Brady Anderson had with the O's in 96 ... 50 homers and he batted leadoff every game. I remember when Brady and Steve Finley were skinny rookies with the O's and they went on to hit a ton of homers.
Oh, well, the IronPigs are playing a stinker, so my mind is wandering here.
It's an official game ... 8-0 PawSox after five, and they're putting down the tarp. ... they should just call off this turkey and send everybody home.
The IronPigs are wearing their alternate uniform that has bacon strips on it .... made me hungry.
Cole Kimball got his first save of the season for the Trenton Thunder last night (Double-A Yankees) ... hope he gets a few in the Bronx before the summer is over.
Why would the Mets trade for Hardy when they can just sign him after the season is over? Gee is under control through 2016.
Why would even the Mets want an average SS who will be 32 in August and a free agent for a 28 year old Gee ? Sounds like a great deal - for the O's !
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/h/hardyjj01.shtml
I think you meant to say the CARDINALS "managed" to lose 9 games he started that season. They scored a total of 13 runs in those 9 games.
Dillon Gee isn't exactly a #1 starter, either, Zombo. I don't like the trade Andy proposed either... but let's not turn it into Nolan Ryan for Jim Fregosi (-;
I'd have no problem trading Gee . But Mets have zero luck lately with aging on the decline players like Bay , Granderson , etc. .Besides Mets need all the good pitching they can keep with Tommy John Warthen as the pitching coach .Three players needing TJ surgery in less than a year .That's got to be a single team record . On the flip side Leo Mazzone had 3 players needing TJ surgery in 18 years with Atlanta .
If we hadnt already blown RF with Granderson, I would say that Gee for Markakis would be a deal I could be in favor of... provided the O's ate about $10 or 11M of his overpaid salary.
Did I say "we"? I meant "they"... I forgot that I was no longer a Mets fan there for a second, lol.
I'd eat a major part of Markakis' salary if trading him gets us a quality starter.
The Mets' biggest need is for a shortstop, though. If they think Gee is the second coming of Tom Seaver, and they think Hardy is too old, even though he's the reigning gold glove winner, we'd consider Niese, even though there is injury history there.
Since the Rangers are at intermission right now ...
Gee's stats do not indicate he's a future Hall of Famer, in a bandbox like Camden Yards, against AL lineups with the DH to boot, I doubt he'll have an ERA under three.
If the Mets want to keep waiting till next year, hold onto him.
But, if the Mets think they can win 90 and make the playoffs this year, and if they want a quality player to upgrade at short, Gee may be the only trading chip they have. I doubt there is a better shortstop than Hardy who could be had in a trade ... unless they want to spend the money on Drew.
The Mets have to make room for Syndergaard. So, someone has to be traded. Better to trade Gee now while his value is at it's highest. Again Andy, Hardy is in his walk year. You're not going to trade a pitcher who is under team control through 2016 for a rental player.
Drew is going to have to wake up to reality that no one is giving him $14 million per year for multiple years.
The Cheapons did not sign a closer when Parnell went down even when they saved 3 million by trading Davis so I doubt they will be going after a short stop . To them low attendance = low spendance . The dumb bunch running this club just sent out emails to fans asking them to sign a letter saying that they will promise to support the team . Like that's going to make a difference !
http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/mets/post/_/id/85428/mets-ask-fans-to-sign-letter-supporting-team?ex_cid=espnapi_public
This trade talk is hypothetical anyway ... I'm just looking to improve the O's.
If the Mets are going to make a run at it THIS YEAR, they will need to come up with a shortstop from somewhere. A team that's willing to spend would take a player in his walk year and try to extend him.
I remember when the O's got Reggie Jackson as a rental, because they needed a left handed bat. They tried to sign him long term.
Many years later Reggie said, "for $250,000 more, I would have died a bird."
Unfortunately, Reggie went to the dark side.
That's a good one, sending emails to fans asking them to sign a promise to support the team.
If you give the fans real hope, do what it takes to contend, they'll come to the games.
The Mets have pitching to build on ... will really be interesting to see what they do in July if they stay over .500 until then.
Just another cheap ticket selling ploy . Well if they win tonight only 75 more to go . I see the letter thing backfiring with names like Fred Coupon and Ben Dover with many comments demanding the team be sold . Like the NY Police Dept. asking for Tweets with pics of civilians and cops only to get almost all pictures of police brutality .
http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/22/tech/nypd-twitter-fail/
April is certainly going well for the Mets ... Collins always gets them off to a good start, gotta give him that.
Yankees, Mets and Phillies ... all washed out.
It's hockey night in Jersey ... Lundqvist needs to come up big, for his team, his legacy, and all the Rangers fans who pay good money to go to those games.
How about some power play goals, blue?
Interesting pairings in interleague play today ...
Dodgers - Twins, Pirates - Orioles.
What's the big deal, you ask? They bring back memories of some very special seven-game World Series classics from when I was young .. Drysdale, Koufax, Killebrew, Oliva, Kaat, the headline that said Orioles are down to their last 20-game winner, Clemente, Stargell, Parker, Blass, Blyleven, Paul Blair, Boog, Frank and Brooks, Singleton and Murray.
What a joke the Mets are. They tease us with wins then lose 6 of 7. What was the point of signing David Wright to a long term deal when he still has no solid bat protecting him... The bullpen is garbage.... Alderson has done nothing but get some prospects in his tenure. This isn't Pittsburgh. Sign real free agents. 80 + million payroll in NY.... Give me a break... The next commissioner needs to get these piece of crap owners out of here...
I've said it before. Patience Metsman. What do you want? Overpriced FA's? So, would you want a Josh Hamilton, Papelbon, Mike Hampton (oh, wait, you've been there), etc.? For what? One or two years to be good, maybe win a playoff series? Or would you want something like the Cardinals and contend for many years? They built their entire team through the draft. Very few FA's. Only ones I can think of are Beltran (after the Mets) and Holliday. And they only got them when they knew they were going to contend. What they should do it beef up their international scouting and find a good Cuban or Dominican or two.
Jose Abreu at first would have been nice , but they already have a glut of (bad) players there clogging up the spot . Only shot fading has-been FAs like Bay , Colon , and Granderson allowed . Wilmer Flores is coming up to save the team huzzah ! Sending Satin down for Campbell might help , but sitting on his hands is the Alderson style . Even Ron Darling is embarrassed about the fan loyalty letter .
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/mets-insider-darling-embarrassed-true-new-yorker-article-1.1783544
"What a joke the Mets are. They tease us with wins then lose 6 of 7."
The only thing I find odd about this statement is that you somehow seem like you had a semblance of belief that it wasn't going to happen. It was never a question of "if", only "when" they were gonna drop 10 straight and 18 outta 20 (-;
MeisterNJ, they could have gotten certain players on one year deals. They don't have any position prospects anywhere near ready to fill spots on the field. They have a surplus of pitching prospects. They need to make a deal to bring in a good SS. The bullpen they should stockpile with all the young arms instead of these reclamation projects that Alderson keeps bringing in. The bullpen is always piss poor at best every year this guy has been in charge.
Don't mock reclamation projects. The Rays have lived off them for their bullpen. Look at Fernando Rodney, Farnsworth (well, he was good for them), etc. Their bullpen is always pretty good. You just need the right reclamation projects. Or take some of your so-so starters and turn them into relievers. Let your pitching prospects develop a little longer, identify who you want to keep, and flip a couple to the Cubs for their hitting prospects.
And again, your one year deals would not help that much this year. You seem to want mediocrity now rather than sustained success. Alderson obviously sees that getting a couple of one year contracts wouldn't do them much good. Play more kids. Give them a chance.
What don't you get, they don't have any position players in the minors over AA. Most are in A ball. So if you're waiting for those guys, then you're looking at 2 more years or more. Wright will then be in his mid 30's. They need a big ticket guy. Someone like Tulowitski who is in his late 20's is what they should trade for. Growing all your players at home doesn't work in NY.
I don't know if they addressed this in the new home plate collision rule, but players should have to slide on any play where a body is near the plate. My son just took a ball in the face yesterday from the catcher while stealing home, now his Freshman season is over because he fractured his face below the eye. If he had slid he'd still be playing. He beat the pitcher to the plate but that doesn't help you if the catcher throws the ball at your face. Sucks... he was having a great season. All levels of baseball should require you to slide if a play is being attempted.
Im not sure i understand Metsman... if your kid had slid, wouldnt the catcher just have thrown the ball lower? Because your implication was that it was a deliberate play by the other team. Did he at least score the run?
That's awful Metsman ! Hope your son heals up fast 100 healthy . I wouldn't want the injury prone over 20 million a year Tulowitski and they wouldn't ever get him , especially since they'd look like even bigger fools after letting Reyes walk for much less than that . The stupid rotten ownership is getting the payroll cut by Alderson just like they wanted . Only he's been terrible at building the team , especially the pen . Maybe all these high school players he's been drafting will be ready by 2018 ? I predict John Ricco takes over as GM next year anyway , because if the Wilpons don't fire Alderson or he doesn't step down no one will be at the home games !
I didn't say it was deliberate, I'm saying if he slid, the throw would have been above him. The pitchers glove was up by his face. At first I thought the kid wacked him in the face with his glove. Yeah he was safe and they won the game.
Thanks Zombo. It was a freak injury.
I'm all for building with the draft, but you have to bring in free agents too. That's what the Yankees did in the 90's. They had the home grown core, but they also brought in guys like O'Neil, Martinez, Clemens, Cone, etc.
That's terrible, Metsman. Freak injuries happen. You can put all the safeguards and rules in that you want and still get hurt. Sorry to hear that.
Metsman, your team is not close to being the team the Yankees were when they did bring in those FA's. '95 Yanks went to the playoffs and would have been a serious WS contender in '94 if it weren't for the strike.
Not yet. And prob won't. I'm usually just a COD guy. Play Need for Speed occasionally.
No? Sports games are my go to. Not that I don't like a good FPS... I remember having our whole frat house networked together in the mid-90s so we could have a mass death match on Quake, lol, and I have bought CoD: Ghosts and Ryse: Son of Rome for the Xbox One and Assassins Creed IV for the PS4, but i havent logged any appreciable time on any of them.
I'm really waiting for a next-gen golf game so I can start winning $ off my buddies, lol.
MeisterNJ, my son saw a specialist today. The injury isn't as bad as the hospital made it out to be. He can resume activities on the 19th.
Didn't the Yankees get O'Neil in 93? They weren't good that year. You can't get better if you don't add pieces. The Mets just promoted Raphael Montero. So it's only a matter of time before Syndergaard comes up too. So how do you figure now isn't the time to sign guys? They have good starting pitching. And now Mejia is going to the bullpen. He's got great stuff that could maybe translate into a closer.
There may be light at the end of the tunnel yet Metsman , if Saul Katz sells his Mets ownership stake (per the NY Times) and Wilpon no longer has majority control of the team . In the meantime they are bringing up Montero to pitch Wednesday , basically throwing him to the wolves against Tanaka in the subway series . Wilponzi won't let Terry Collins or Keith Hernandez be interviewed on WFAN , that's just too funny !
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/13/sports/baseball/wilpons-partner-has-expressed-interest-in-selling-his-share-of-mets.html?ref=sports&smid%3D=tw-nytsports&_r=0
Glad to hear your son will only miss a week or so, Metsman. Broken orbitals can be dangerous; sounds like he got really lucky. Good for you, taking him to a specialist; ER doctors are notoriously unreliable.
He definitely got lucky. He could have been blinded in that eye. Better to slide than be sorry.
Doesn't help that Selig is friends with the Wilpons. Hopefully the next commissioner puts pressure on them to spend or get them out of here.
Glad to hear about your son. That's very good news.
Yankees traded Roberto Kelly for Oneill. He wasn't a FA. That was the start of the Yanks getting better. Yanks of '93 >>> Mets of '14. Yes, Met's pitching is getting there. Hitting? Pretty friggin awful. I think they had 3 more k's while I type this. Trade for a hitter and add another FA or two in the offseason. All I'm saying is give it one more year. It would be stupid to try and win this year. Other than pitching, the Mets don't have much they can/want to trade for a hitter. You don't even have a Roberto Kelly. At least he was a pretty good fielder. David Wright and D'Arnaud are the only hitters you have that are worth a damn. Maybe the draft will give you a couple of bats.
I think you meant Murphy since d'Arnaud is hitting .206 and at this point looks no better than Josh Thole throwing runners out and blocking wild pitches . Hopefully Syndergaad will make the Dickey trade worthwhile . Lagares was hitting good , so naturally Collins benches him !
What are you talking about Zombo? If Brett Gardner had missed 2nd base by thirty yards into centerfield, d'Arnaud would've had him dead to rights last night (-;
D'Arnaud should be pretty good. Catchers take longer to develop Zombo. And he didnt' play much of last year.
d'Arnaud doesn't show much , not even flashes of being a star catcher some day unless hitting a HR in the Yankee bandbox counts . Their number one pick 2012 catcher Kevin Plawecki shows more upside . Another player who gets no respect is Eric Young Jr. Not the greatest stats , but once he is on base his speed makes him a huge difference maker .
Plawecki is only in AA. He's off to a great start in his minor league career, but you can't predict what he'll do at the major league level. D'Arnaud should be ok after he's gotten enough at bats and experience. If he hits .250-.275 and 10HR and 65 RBI I think you sign up for that any day.
Eric Young is not an every day player. He's pushing 30 and has never been an everyday player in his career. You have to pick your spots with him.
Hah ! E. Young scores the first run again leading the league in that category with 12 . Three hits in each of the last 2 games . Funny how people listen to the hype and believe a player like d'Arnaud already traded away by two teams will eventually be some kind of super star who is still learning at 25 and Young is already too old to play every day at 28 ! He's a victim of robot manager Collins and his idiotic lefty-righty match ups . I ignore the hype and believe my own two eyes !
Same with the over hyped Zach Wheeler . I said two years ago here Harvey was the much better pitcher and so far Wheeler looks more like a middle rotation guy not a top of the rotation stud . Other teams rarely trade away their can't miss prospects . The ones with flaws who need much improvement/development are the ones who usually go.
I switched on Yanks Mets after the Rangers finished their huge comeback over the Pens.
It looked like the score was 5-1 Yankees and I felt my Rangers high drag down ever so slightly... Then I noticed there were two 1s in the Mets score and I perked right back up. Lol, what is this, 6 straight wins over the Skanks for the Mets? Too funny... the Yankees are the worst team $200 million can buy.
Why is the Subway Series being played midweek? Weekday ticket sales that slow in the Bronx?
Sure. 30 games proves you right Zombo. Let's review after the All Star break, shall we?. And I said pretty good. Not superstar. So you're ready to give up on D'Arnaud at 25 but not EYJr at 28?
Zombo lets evaluate D'Arnaud after a full season. We're 38 games in. He's one hot streak away from having a good batting average. Some of you were down on Granderson, and he's batting .317 in May. His swing looks a lot better than it was last month. Point is, it's a marathon. This isn't a 40 game schedule, it's 162. Even the best players in the game have bad stretches. As far as Eric Young goes... look at last year over a full season. He led the league in steals and only scored 70 runs. He had 539 ABs. He's on pace to score 119 runs this year. You really think he is going to keep up that kind of pace?!
He also had an infield single and hit one up the middle at Yankee stadium in these 2 games. His average is up to .205 now.
Thanks, Mets, for keeping the O's in first place in the American League LEAST.
Yeah, it's still early.
Mike Trout's homecoming in Philly ...
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2014/05/13/mike-trout-homecoming-angels-visit-philadelphia/9042357/
Gee has a strained lat muscle,Jacob DeGrom will take his start tomorrow . Finally getting to see some of these pitching prospects.
As far as Granderson goes he's the wrong fit for Citifield (bandbox HR king) and someone who strikes out 200 times has no business hitting cleanup . EY Jr. got on base without getting a hit yesterday and scored three more runs . He's Reyes without the hamstring issues , keep playing him while he is hot . Time will tell on d'Arnaud , but the fact that two other franchises traded him away doesn't say much about what they he feel he can become .
Minnesota let Johan go as a Rule iv FA and let Ortiz go as well. And the Tigers traded John Smoltz for a 1 year rental of Doyle Alexander. Just because a team trades someone means exactly what? Depends on who is doing the trading, no? Arizona has made some pretty dumb trades recently. Are you going to tell me Adam Eaton and Tyler Skaggs aren't going to amount to anything either? It took Clayton Kershaw more than three years to become an awesome pitcher. Development isn't linear Zombo. There are peaks and valleys.
Pretty hard to develop when a player is injury prone and hurt a lot . d'Arnaud now has a concussion from Soriano's bat hitting his helmet Tuesday night . If he's not breaking his foot by fouling a ball off it it's some other injury . He was a number one draft pick and so was Kevin Plawecki and from what I saw of Plawecki this spring he will eventually be the better player with pitcher Noah Syndergaard being the jewel of the Dickey trade .
Yes, it might be the thing that prevents him from reaching his potential. Fouling a ball of your foot and getting a bat to the helmet is through no fault of his own. If he can get past his injuries, we'll see if he develops. Takes catchers a little longer than others. Yadier Molina wasn't any good as a hitter until he was almost 30. It took him 7 seasons. Wieters took a few seasons as well, and he was a super propect. Was just coming into his own until his own injury.
Hey Zombo.... Still think EY should be playing? 0 for 8 in the last 2 games and batting. .236. Why in the world would I want him playing over Juan Lagares who can actually hit the ball and plays probably the best CF in the game?!
Mets starters batting averages at Citi Field:
Daniel Murphy - .293
David Wright - .274
Ruben Tejada - .240
Travis d'Arnaud - .204
Chris Young - .179
Eric Young Jr. - .176
Lucas Duda - .172
Curtis Granderson - .128
I might play Lagares over EY... but I don't see any reason to play Granderson in front of him at home; except maybe for that little matter of the 13 MILLION dollars they're paying the bum.
Believe me I've been as baffled as you why Chris Young is playing over Lagares . It gets worse - tonight's lineup (at Nationals) has Granderson playing CF , 40 friggan year old Bobby Abreu in RF , and EY in LF. Something is going on or Collins is officially the dumbest most clueless manager along with Alderson the biggest idiot GM in MLB ! Mike Francesa can't comprehend it either .Starters should be EY, Lagares , and Granderson with Chris Young being the fourth outfielder. It's confounding . Fat old Abreu shouldn't even be on the team - Alderson/Collins have to go !
In TWO games at Yankee Stadium, Grandyman hit 2 HRs and 5 RBI.
In TWENTY games at Citi Field he has 1 HR and 7 RBI to go with his .128 average.
Those Wilpons sure can pick guys who thrive at their ballpark.
Francesa talked about that today too .He said it's not a fair ballpark even for a pitcher's park .The ball just does not travel there and even the idiot Jeff Wilpon admitted that right center is a problem and the dimensions might be changed there . But the team could do without idiot Collins comments about the park getting into the player's heads . Just how dumb is that guy ?
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/harper-bring-citi-fences-power-em-article-1.1794479
They were talking about Citifield on the Michael Kay show. Time to bring the fences in to a more fair depth. 398 ft to right center is a joke. At most it should be 370.
Well, the Mets future is built on pitching ... you sure you want to bring in the fences?
Just asking.
Even with the right center fence brought in it's still a huge park .What the team needs is new ownership that doesn't tolerate incompetence and make the organization look like an unbelievable joke from the bizarro world every week or two ! Whether it's making a mountain out of a molehill over what Matt Harvey does or says , benching Lagares one of their best young players for no apparent reason , or private credit card info being emailed to the entire press corps these dolts steering the ship keep running it into the iceberg . A front office that tolerates incompetence IS incompetent !
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/mets-accidentally-share-gm-sandy-alderson-credit-card-info-article-1.1795325
Andy, you have to have a happy medium. What good is the pitching if no one can hit in the ballpark. Just make it fair. Down the lines at 330 I think is fair, but the right field gap is a joke. 398?! Make it 370 and it would be much better.
Vet Stadium in Philly was 330 down the lines, 371 in the gaps, 408 to dead center, and it was symmetrical ... Schmidt and Luzinski hit their bombs and Carlton won Cy Youngs ... it certainly was a fair ballpark.
Lagares had an impressive game Saturday. I just hope the Mets don't mess him up.
Back in the mid 90s the Mets (and most of baseball) were home run obsessed and tried to make Ochoa into a pull hitter ... this is after he batted .340 in Triple-A and hit for the cycle at The Vet. It took Alex a couple of years and a couple of trades to get back to being himself. By then he got labeled a fourth outfielder, it became his role, and he was too nice a person to complain.
If the Mets screw up Lagares, they only have themselves to blame.
Were you Ochoa's agent or something? lol...
The Mets are run by the dumbest owners in baseball. It wouldn't shock me if they screw Lagares up.
We all have our favorite players. One difference between the time the Mets had Ochoa and now ... back then the Mets had some legit outfielders like Lance Johnson and Bernard Gilkey.
I always wished the O's had held onto Ochoa ... they had a rotten defensive outfield for many years after they traded him ... they even had Fernando Tatis in the outfield for awhile ... they said they needed his right handed bat. Have you ever seen Tatis in the outfield? Probably not, since after his horrors in Baltimore, nobody ever played him in the outfield again.
But to answer your question, no, I'm not his agent.
I looked him up and saw that the Mets DID play Tatis in the outfield ... a lot.
That surprised me.
I wonder if the ball ever actually touched his glove when he played in the Orioles' outfield ... where could I look that up?
Gotta love how the Mets don't make an attempt at Drew and he only signed a 1 year deal for $10 million with the Red Sox. What a joke. They better make a deal at the deadline to lock up a SS long term if they didn't want Drew.
No. Didn't realize the Mets weren't past that point giving up a pick. Its a joke though with the Chris Young signing. $7.5 mil for a guy who hits .200.
As opposed to paying $13M for a guy who hits .150 at home? Sounds like a bargain in that context (-;
That point is the draft Metsman. You should be more focused on that than wishing for a few more wins in May.
If the Mets were going to contend, signing Drew would have been important.
More first rounders miss in baseball than any other sport. My favorite example is Jeff Jackson, who the Phillies drafted in the first round, ahead of Frank "Big Hurt" Thomas.
Five years later, while Thomas was winning the MVP award, Jackson was batting .190 in Double-A and the crowds in Reading were chanting "draft pick," "draft pick," whenever he came to bat. Poor guy.
The O's first round pick in 1970 was a hotshot from UCLA named Mike Reinbach.
He went 5-for-20 with 2 RBI ... that was his whole major league career.
R-I-P Mike, he died in an auto accident in 1989. He's probably happy, out there in that Field of Dreams, that there is a baseball fan out there who remembers him.
Point is the Mets think like a small market team in NY which is a joke. They have to sign real players too.
Brien Taylor was drafted 1st overall in '91 by the Yanks. One bar fight and the resulting injured pitching wing later and he was never the same. I just read that he's serving 3 years for drug offenses. Sad.
No Metsman, what I was saying is the point at which you don't lose a 1st rd pick is the day of (or day after I guess, actually) the draft. Man, touchy are we? Ha.
At the time I posted it I thought the draft pick compensation period passed. If it were just a question of money, then it is inexcusable not to get him. The real test will be this offseason. If they don't spend with all these arms in the major leagues then people are going to really be pissed. Reasonable people don't expect them to spend $200 million, but what wrong with $120 million? That could add 3 more good bats.
What a cluster**** this season is. They don't know how to handle their players and then when you hear Collin's reasoning for making certain moves, he sounds like the biggest idiot in baseball. I love the comment where he said Lagares wasn't hitting, so that was his justification for playing two guys barely batting over .200. He must not watch the games when he manages. Lagares looks like he's going to be a really good player. They'll find a way to screw him up though. The Wilpon's need to go. It doesn't matter who they bring in to be GM or manage the team. You can smell their stench on every stupid move made. They're horrible owners.
I liked Bob Uecker's explanation for why Alex Ochoa wasn't playing ... they need Jeffrey Hammonds to keep hitting into double plays.
Is Stephen Drew the second coming of Tulowitzki or am I missing something? Metsman, what is a few more wins going to do for you in 2014? Mets aren't a good team. I predicted this, with great ease, two years ago. 2015 should be a larger step forward. 2016 real contention.
Luis Aparicio is 80 now, but he'd still be an upgrade for the Mets. LOL
He stole a base and made a great play in the hole in the first O's game I ever saw at Memorial Stadium.
Sorry if I sound impertinent.
I never said he was. But I also don't want to watch a SS bat .180 and make stupid mistakes in the field. Even if a team isn't going to make the playoffs, I want to see some life. The Mets didn't need to wait for these arms. They had a decent enough rotation this year to contend if they were willing to bring in some bats. Instead, they brought in a guy in Chris Young who is a 4th outfielder at best and they think Eric Young is good. This team would have been a lot better with Nelson Cruz in LF and Drew at SS. Both would have cost them a total of 1 year and around $20 million.
Look at the Yankees. They spend money every year. Last year they missed the playoffs. They responded by spending half a billion on free agents. The Mets got one free agent for 4 years and everyone else on short term deals. They didn't even add to the payroll, it decreased by $10 million this year.
Calling Chris Young a fourth outfielder is an insult to all fourth outfielders.
Before AO my favorite fourth outfielder was Merv Rettenmund ... he batted .322 with 58 RBI in 1970 and .318 with 75 RBI in 1971 to help the Orioles win a couple of pennants ... THAT'S a fourth outfielder!
If it wasn't for Paul Blair catching everything that came back to earth (Killebrew hit a few that kept going), he would have been the regular center fielder for the birds.
Jay Johnstone batted .318 with 53 RBI for the Phillies in 76 and .284 with 59 RBI in 1977, to help win division titles both years.
If it wasn't for a third of the earth being covered by Garry Maddox, he would have been the Phils' regular center fielder.
Here's an obscure player for you guys ... the Orioles had a pitcher named Gordie Sundin, who appeared in one game and did not get anyone out.
He goes down in history with a career major league ERA of "infinity."
Mets top pitching prospect Noah Syndergaard was sent to the 15 day DL now with forearm soreness . With the bad luck this team has he'll be needing Tommy John surgery soon !
http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20140526&content_id=76874836&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb
Sandy Alderson was on the Michael Kay show today. He basically said the fans have to come to games in order for them to increase payroll. Are you kidding me... No one wants to pay for a crappy product. Would you buy fresh salad or browning salad.... WTF is wrong with this team. Time for the next commissioner to get these idiot owners out of here....
If you want them to buy the fresh salad, you have to keep buying the rotten salad, Metsman. That's the standard business model everywhere.
Do you think ShopRite could always afford to pay for fresh produce? Hell, no... Generations bought soft potatoes and moldy cabbage so that you could bask in the glory of organic yellow bell peppers.
Now, it's time for you to do your part for the poor, misunderstood Wilpons (-;
23 wins so far with that lineup?
Says a lot of positive things about the Mets' pitching, despite the atrocities out of the bullpen.
Yeah and when it comes time to pay those pitchers, they'll let them walk. The Mets are the NY version of the Kansas City Royals... It'll be a continuous rebuild as long as these jokers own the team. No team since the Marlins in 2003, has won a World Series with less than a $100 million payroll.
It just so happens I ventured to Citi Field to see the Metsies on Monday.
One, I wanted to see Ike Davis' first game back, had a feeling he'd hit one to the moon. Well, the guy who pinch hit for him did.
Two, I wanted to see Lagares ... when I went to see Ochoa in 1997 he went 4-for-4 against the Phillies at Shea ... in 2001 I saw him hit a triple for the Reds ... thought maybe I'd see Lagares do something special I'd always remember.
Now, it's really unfair to compare anybody to Paul Blair... as Weaver said many times... Blair was in a class by himself defensively ... there was a ball over Lagares' head that Blair would have caught easily, would have been there waiting for it.
I like Lagares, he actually got me to go to Citi Field for the second time in my life, but he's not Paul Blair.
It was fun to see the Pirates... I remember the 60s and 70s when seeing the Pirates was something really special... when I mentioned to a kid wearing a Pirates 21 jersey that I'd seen Roberto play in the World Series ... his eyes got big ...like WOW ...like I'd seen the burning bush or something like that ... that's the stuff that makes sports special.
Why would the comissioner get involved Metsman? Wilpons aren't doing anything like Donald Sterling. There is no penalty for running a team poorly. That's delusional.
They're doing the same thing Frank McCourt did. They're pocketing the TV money for their own personal debts.
Being stupid isn't illegal.
God must love stupid people, He made so many of them. --
Don Rickles
Point is, it's apparent they don't have the resources to run the team. Attendance is going to keep going down as long as they put a crappy product on the field and they'll keep lowering payroll in response. In the best interest of baseball, they need to be forced to sell the team.
Y'know, commissioners have made some odd rulings in the past regarding "the best interests of baseball" ... in 1976 Bowie Kuhn voided the A's sale of their stars to the Yankees and Red Sox "in the best interests of baseball" ... said it was to keep the cash strapped A's competitive. Well, you all know what the Yanks and Red Sox have gone on to do, in spite of those deals being voided in 76.
The A's are an interesting study, they have had so many winning teams that never drew fans ... they moved into San Francisco's territory and that area has never supported two teams adequately. It has amazed me that they have stayed in Oakland all these years. Their legacy is Moneyball, but they did have three great WS teams in the 70s.
You might want to look up that one, almost 40 years later, in the context of its long- term effects on the sport
Metsman, it's a business. If the Wilpons want to pocket profits, they're allowed to as long as they meet payroll. Dodgers were in jeopardy of not meeting their payroll obligations. Their situation was more dire and is not equal. I haven't heard anything about the Mets not being able to meet payroll. Did I miss something?
Heck, the Houston Astros payroll is what, the same as Granderson's contract? Nobody calling for a change in ownership there.
Hey Zombo, still want EYJr playing everyday? 'Young is already too old to play every day at 28 ! He's a victim of robot manager Collins and his idiotic lefty-righty match ups . I ignore the hype and believe my own two eyes !'
What are your eyes saying now?
Ask any Phillies fan about Abreu's fielding in right field --- even when he was in the prime of his career.
He drove Phillies fans crazy with his lack of hustle out there.
Wow Zombo, Cursing me out. Great way to make an argument. I won't return that volley. You really don't like to hear your own words a month later eh?
I never claimed to be a Mets expert. Zero desire to be one. I'm a Yankee fan. I do know a little about baseball. Enough to know that EYJr is what he is at age 28. Below average defender, low BA and OBP, no pop, fast runner. And the discussion wasn't whether he was better than Abreu and Young. It was about EYJr being a good player vs. a developing 25 year old catcher. To refresh your memory:
'Hah ! E. Young scores the first run again leading the league in that category with 12 . Three hits in each of the last 2 games . Funny how people listen to the hype and believe a player like d'Arnaud already traded away by two teams will eventually be some kind of super star who is still learning at 25 and Young is already too old to play every day at 28 ! He's a victim of robot manager Collins and his idiotic lefty-righty match ups . I ignore the hype and believe my own two eyes ! '
So the .220 BA and .315 OBP/ poor D carries no weight? Has his hammy been hurting all season? You also said that EYJr is a huge difference maker once he gets on base. As Andy might say (well, quote, actually), 'You can't steal 1B'. A huge difference maker he is not. It's been a long time since those two 3 hit days in a row.
Saying that EYJr is better than Abreu and Young isn't exactly a ringing endorsement, is it?
Good day sir.
MeisterNJ, so being involved in Ponzi schemes and lying to fans is in baseball's best interest? They have a ton of loans they also need to pay off. They're not in good shape at all. Maybe they're making their payroll now, but who knows how much longer they can do that.
Eric Young is a backup. He's useless unless he leans into one every time he is up.
To refresh YOUR memory ;
"David Wright and D'Arnaud are the only hitters you have that are worth a damn. Maybe the draft will give you a couple of bats." (Anyone knowing anything about the Mets will tell you Alderson only drafts cheaper to sign many years away high school players).
Yes .196 hitting Travis d'Arnaud who will probably be out hurt more than EY since always being hurt is why two other teams gave up on him is one of the team's best hitters - LMFAO !. Wright , Murphy , and Lagares are the best hitters on the Mets this year . Doubt if Yankee fans even know who Lagares is , after the Mets idiot manager sat his best outfielder for most of that week then got mad at reporters for asking him why . As far as spending goes it's the world's largest market with the high prices to go along with that and the team has it's own big money producing tv network . It wasn't that long ago (2008) when the Mets drew 4 million fans per year when they had a contending team . Big Yankee fan Mike Francesa will tell you it doesn't work that way in NY by demanding fans show up at the park , then they will spend more . I can imagine the outcry from hypocritical Mets hating Yankee fans if their team did that !
But if they are only going to spend on turds like fat old Colon , bum Chris Young , and declining strikeout king Granderson with his warning track fly outs at Citi Field , and weak rag arm incapable of throwing anyone out at home plate there , I'd prefer they kept that money in their pocket ! Keep on posting your Mets expertise - I can always use a good laugh !
Let's be fair Zombo. Granderson had a rough April. He's batting .282 with a .382 OBP 5 HR and 15 RBI in May. That's a pretty good month. If he does that the rest of the season then he'll have over 20 HR and over 80 RBI. That's a decent season. It's not what people may have expected, but how well would he have hit for the Yankees if the Yankees had a bad lineup? Anyone who thought Granderson was going to carry this team is nuts.
Colon hasn't been as bad as you may think. 7 of his 10 starts were quality starts. The problem is, in the 3 bad ones, he gave up 6 or more runs. That made his ERA skyrocket.
Chris Young was the garbage signing. I shook my head the day it was announced. They were better off with Matt DenDekker or Kirk Neiuwenheis in LF.
D'Arnaud will be a better major leaguer than EYJr. Guy played for a couple weeks. See if he can get healthy and produce. Jeez. If you're going to kick every prospect to the curb who struggles for the first month or two of their major league caeer, you'll never have a Trout, Schilling, David Price, etc. you'll never get anywhere. Right now they're down to Wright and a bunch of AAAA players.
No expertise is needed Zombo, they suck. Keep the cheapshots coming.
Metsman, victim of a Ponzi scheme, no? Are you trying to say that they were a knowing party to the Ponzi scheme? Since when is being a victim a crime?
Good I hope Colon continues to pitch well so he can be traded for prospects by the trade deadline - probably always the plan with him anyway . I was always against Granderson in this big ballpark . He had success in Detroit in a big park , but that was years ago .In his last years he needs to play in a home park with a short right porch and a good hitting lineup to cover for his many strikeouts .This ain't that team and will never be that team , hopefully he can eventually be traded too .Hell even his biggest fan Mike Francesca criticized him today for having talent , but no grit when Granderson complained about the home fans booing .You get big money to play on the biggest baseball stage in the world - take the heat or get out ! He also said Duda and Davis were the same type grit-less (wussy) type players .
LOL! d'Arnaud will turn out to be Mets former catcher Josh Thole without catching a no- hitter and a Cy Young pitcher . In 62 games with the Mets the guy has shown nothing but mediocrity . Can't throw anyone out stealing and is horrible at blocking wild pitches.Besides not being able to stay healthy for a full season in his whole career . If I were you Meister I'd stay the hell away from Vegas and the sports book !
As far as EY Jr. goes , play him when he's hot , sit him when he's not and have him pinch run in the latter innings. Not rocket science - except for anyone but Terry Collins apparently !
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/d/darnatr01.shtml
"Granderson had a rough April. He's batting .282 with a .382 OBP 5 HR and 15 RBI in May. That's a pretty good month. If he does that the rest of the season then he'll have over 20 HR and over 80 RBI. That's a decent season."
LOL, so you just ignore April and project him to keep doing what he's done in May? Chances are much better that May was the aberration, not April.
in 29 home games, he's hitting .171 with 2 HRs and 10 RBI with 38 Ks in 105 ABs. That works out to 6 (I'll be generous and round up) HRs and 28 RBI and 106 Ks for his 81 games at Bailout Ballpark this year... luckily he has 61 road games left and only 52 at home, lol.
Ike hit into a big double play to help his old team today. If memory serves correctly, he swung at the first pitch.
Since I helped a charitable cause this week (the financially ailing Mets) which is so important to "true New Yorkers" everywhere, can I get a tax deduction for the tickets, parking, and food and drink? And all those tolls?
Zombo, now you're sitting and pinch running your 'huge difference maker'? Backpedaling are we?
I know it's your fandom speaking much of this and it leads to impatience. The hot start to 2012 didn't help. If the Wilpons take off the financial reins and let Alderson do his job things may yet turn around. As for D'Arnaud, all I'm saying is let's see if he can stay healthy and see what you have. He hit for average and power at every stop in the minors. You don't judge rookies on 60 MLB games, especially catchers. They don't all hit or pitch right out gate. Think the Pirates want the poor hitting 2B who showed occasional pop that they let go a few years back? Name of Jose Bautista? What other choice do you have? Giving up on guys like him and Wheeler is not a recipe for success. If they have some success, you can establish some value and trade them if you don't think they're part of your long term plan. Well, if only the Mets had a long term plan, lol.
Andy, I went to the Monday game as well. For that game (with the exception of de Grom's start), I can understand wanting some recompense for ticket prices, tolls, food and drink, but you shouldn't have paid for parking! Park over by the Hall of Science for free. The eight block walk is good for you and will help you work off some of the frustration from seeing a chump like Valverde throw away the game.
Gadfly Thanks for the heads up.
My GPS told me I was at Shea Stadium. That was my best laugh of the day.
I'm an Orioles fan and I covered the Phillies at Vet Stadium for a few years when I was a sports editor in South Jersey, have been to a lot of minor league games over the years as a journalist and enthusiast ... I saw the Orioles' only win of the 69 series and two game-7 losses to the Pirates.
My "claim to fame" is being in the house when they won their three World Series championships, 1966 and 70 in Baltimore and 1983 in Philly. Wonder how many other people have been able to do that? None of the tickets were more than $25 ... how times have changed.
After all that, it's been a bit anti-climactic, but I still love baseball and the ballparks, never know what you may see on any given day.
The last time I saw the Mets win a game in person, Mike Piazza homered. Steve Trachsel was the winning pitcher, held Barry Bonds hitless. YES.
To show you what an odd-ball fan I am, when Alex Ochoa was with Cincinnati, I'd always go when the Mets started a lefty on the mound, because I knew Alex would be in the lineup batting second.
Saw him hit a grand slam against Bruce Chen.
This is probably the first time Trachsel and Chen's names have ever been mentioned on this thread ;-)
No Press priveleges for you Andy? Figured you'd get parking and maybe access to the pre-game spread!
You have to make arrangements for press priveleges in advance, and actually have to be working that day.
At the Vet, they had me park in the same lot as the players. Tug McGraw had a van with cartoon characters painted on it, it was hysterical.
Tug was a character and a half.
$25 for a WS game? Wow. I sat behind homeplate for Game 2 of the '98 WS at Yankee Stadium. Tix were $395 or so. El Duque pitched a great game. Boy his pitches really moved. We had better seats than Bruce Willis, who was a few rows behind us. Can't imagine what that ticket would cost today.
2014 World Series tickets at Yankee Stadium? I'm sure they're pretty much worthless, lol.
One of my collectors' items is a 1964 World Series ticket for Connie Mack Stadium in Philly.
Funny story, my old buddy Skip and I were cutting college classes to be at Game 4 of the 70 series ... O's were up 3-0 with Palmer starting ... we were ready for the sweep. O's lose it (on a late Lee May homer) and now the series goes to a fifth game.
We're in a coffee shop and this guy, a complete stranger, says to everybody in the place, "I can't afford to miss another day of work. Anybody want these tickets?" ... He didn't have to ask twice ... that's how we got to be there the next day to see the O's clinch.
You can tell it was a different day and age ... a couple of college guys getting World Series tickets FOR NOTHING from a blue collar worker, at a simple coffee and donuts place.
Face value of each ticket ... ten bucks.
A real good story regarding how prices have changed ... the first time I ever drove on my own after getting my license ... gave the guy at the gas pump a single dollar bill ... got three gallons.
Ianimal, Granderson was 8 for 30 on this last homestand. That works out to a .266 avg over that span. It's a long season. Guys go through streaks.
MeisterNJ, you really think the ridiculous returns they were getting from Madoff didn't raise red flags? They had to know something was up, otherwise they are the dumbest millionaires ever.
I remember going to a Mets game in 96. We got field level seats at Shea for $16. At Citifield, you'll be lucky to find an upper deck seat for that price.
Metsman, I have no idea what the Wilpons know/didn't know. And neither do you. They got falsified statements every month showing everything was hunky dory, as well as payments from Madoff....for years...., and they aren't the only millionaires/billionaires duped. A lot of smart people were swindled. Possibly knowing something is a far cry from implicating them in the scheme. Should they have? Yes. People are blind to things when everything is going well.
So your reason for wanting MLB to take the team away from them is analagous to a homeowner who lost his job (i.e. Wilpons lost millions, a major source of their income), yet was still able to make all of their mortgage payments (payroll) for the past few years . Knock knock, Metsman is at your door ready to take your house. Just because he thinks your checkbook can't be balanced. Not in America.
Actually, he was 8 for 16 at one point on the homestand... and then he went oh-fer his next 14 at-bats. 12 more Ks in that 9-game homestand as well. 4 wins, 5 losses for the Metsies... figures that they took two out of three from the Bucs though, LOL.
And that 8-30 "streak" only raised his season average from .192 to .205. It was also included in the stats that resulted in his then home batting average of .171. With his 0-3 performance yesterday, he's back down to .167 at home in 30 games.
0-4 with the bases loaded and .087 in 23 at bats with RISP and 2-outs... clutch, he is not.
Face it... he's a 5 million dollar player (when he's doing well) that's getting paid $13 based on what he did at Yankee Bandbox. This season, he looks like someone who belongs in AA ball. And he's just one more reason the Wilpons suck.
You keep complaining about the money they DON'T spend when I'm FAR more disgusted with the money they waste when they DO. If the Wilpons decide to spend money on someone, rest assured, that guy is gonna stink up the joint.
Yeah but Frank McCourt was trying to get a TV deal so that he could afford the team. He got booted because Selig didn't like him. He gave the Wilpon's time to work their situation out and not McCourt. How is that right? I hope the next commissioner pulls the same crap Selig did. Boot these yahoos just because he doesn't like them.
What is with you and Zombo basing conclusions on small samples Ianimal? If Granderson finishes with 25HR and 90 RBIs, do you think that's a bad season? Lets see how the rest of the season unfolds before conclusions are made. I get sick of hearing Mets fans quit on a player after a short span of games. D'Arnaud and Wheeler are perfect examples. A lot of fans are already down on them. They're young. They have time to put it together. Not everyone is like Matt Harvey and comes out the gate hot.
If Granderson finishes with 25 HRs and 90 RBI, I'll eat the hat of your choosing. It still isn't $13M production... and 50 games isn't a small sample; it's a pretty good basis for analysis. And I didn't even need that long... I knew (and said on here) that he was going to be a complete bust the day they signed him.
I haven't said "boo" about either d'Arnaud or Wheeler. You're right, they're young and their fates haven't been written yet.
If Grandy gets 90 RBI, that would lead the team.
Remember, this is a team that gets eaten alive by the locusts every August.
What the Mets need, is to pull off a lucky trade, like the one the O's made in 2008 when they got Adam Jones and Chris Tillman from Seattle for Erik Bedard.
And then they got Chris Davis off the scrap heap and Matt Wieters and Manny Machado came from the minor leagues.
Good scouting, drafting and player development can overcome a cheap owner.
What's been holding the O's down is their pitching prospects either getting hurt or under-performing ... an O's/Mets merger might produce a mighty interesting team.
Wieters is on the DL right now, may come back soon as a DH, but his throwing arm may not be up to being a catcher for awhile ... they've had the injury bug this spring, still hanging in the AL East picture because all the teams are having issues.
Thank goodness the O's got Nelson Cr-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-z ...
he's only six homers away from 25 right now;-)
Yes, from what I understand, Selig doesn't like him. But you're leaving out key details, Metsman. McCourt was going through a nasty divorce, which was the reason he was having financial trouble and the ownership was in question. His ex could get half the team, which would have forced a sale,in any case. Once he couldn't make payroll, MLB had enough. But if you want to leave that out to make your case for the Wilpon ouster, so be it.
I'm sure McCourt wasn't the first owner to go through a nasty divorce. Selig made a move that was personal, just like his personal relationship with Fred Wilpon kept him from acting against them.
Forget about the Wilponzis ever selling now . After the mediocre San Diego Clippers just got an insane ridiculous offer for 2 billion dollars , the Mets team value just zoomed up to at least 3 billion .
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/31/sports/basketball/steven-ballmer-buys-los-angeles-clippers-from-rochelle-sterling.html?_r=0
Five or Six billion definitely if these internet billionaire stupid idiots are so clueless and willing to pay it ! Heck I wouldn't rule out 8 -10 million for the Yankees or Dallas Cowboys if these sport nut geeks have over 20 billion or more to throw away !
They really showed that Sterling guy, huh? Paying him $2B for a team that was worth $750M. That'll teach him that racism won't be tolerated, I'm sure...
Jayson Stark had a good one this morning. And I knew the answers. Trout is one of three players to have 50 HR's and 50 SB's the past 3 seasons (2012-present). Can you name the other two?
Cutch is definitely on that list... The other I'm not so sure about. One of the Uptons or one of the CarGos, I would guess. I'll go with the CarGo in Milwaukee.
woohoo... I usually suck at baseball trivia, lol. Luckily this one was recent history and somewhat intuitive.
Jayson Stark's trivia is usually current ... I'm the guy who dusts off the relics.
If you missed Mariano Rivera's interview with Francesa today, I recommend it as a good You Tube hit. I learned stuff I never knew before.
Rivera said he went on the DL while in Triple-A in 95 and came back with eight miles per hour more on his fastball, and he does not know to this day, how he did it.
He says the cutter, which made him the greatest closer of all time (of course you guys know that) was simply his gift from God. He does not know how to teach it to anybody, he simply had to learn how to throw it for strikes.
See that, I should not have skipped out on church so much when I was a kid, or God would have given ME that cutter back in 1964 .... I woulda made everybody forget Koufax. LOL ... Woulda been the closer for the O's four 20-game winners;-) and woulda made sure we beat those Pirates.
With steroids being rampant back then, I don't think we can say anyone is free of suspicion. I'm sure there is already more than a couple guys who took them that are in the HOF.
So the Mets draft a college kid that can't throw, field, or run. So only thing they're banking on is that he can hit for power and drive in runs. Sounds like another Lucas Duda...
Typical Mets... playing fairly well, win 7 of 9, scratch their way back to within 1 game of .500 and then get swept in a 3-game series by the worst team in baseball.
I've seen plenty of mediocre O's teams from the late 80s until the recent arrival of Buck ... run of the mill finish-close-to-.500 teams, don't just win one, lose one, all season long ...
they'll win five and look like world beaters ... then lose six and look awful ... beat the best team in the league three of four ... get swept by the worst team .... I know, it gets old.
I remember in 91 when Minnesota came into Baltimore on a 15-game win streak and the O's broke it ... people were celebrating as if the O's just won the World Series ... problem was it was only June. Two weeks later they were playing like poo-poo again... Wilson Alvarez no-hit them. The unforgettable Wilson Alvarez.
Wazzup with those Blue Jays, pulling away from the field?
They're acting like they're the 66 Orioles or something.
The Mets, with a dearth of guys who can hit, missed picking up on this guy. Before Billy Beane picked him up for the A's, Brandon Moss led the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs in RBI and also was a very good defensive outfielder ... the Mets had to know about him, he played plenty of games against their (at the time) Buffalo Triple-A team.
Instead of spending millions on Granderson and Young, they could have pulled Brandon Moss off a Triple-A roster. How come the A's are the team that's always finding guys like this?
http://blog.sfgate.com/athletics/2014/06/03/brandon-moss-homers-fuel-as-win-at-yankee-stadium/
And the irony is that Billy Beane was a Mets failed prospect . Hell they just could've payed Marlon Byrd a two year contract that equaled about one year of Granderstrikeout's four year contract .Alderson is washout as GM and was just brought in to cut payroll and deflect blame off of the Wilponzis . Did he ever put together a successful team that wasn't steroid fueled ?
I think he pretty much made it clear that he was only here to lower payroll when he stated that the fans have to show up to increase payroll.
My point in bringing Brandon Moss into this is that the Mets aren't doing a good job of minimal budget talent acquisition either.
They've had their share of good and bad draft picks... every team has hits and misses ... there is more to it than that.
Moss was a Red Sox draft pick who ended up in Triple-A with the Phillies and had a fabulous year... his performance with the A's has shown it wasn't a fluke ... I still can't believe he's not a Phillie now ... the Mets could have scooped him up if they had been paying attention and it would not have cost them a lot of money.... they could have just invited him to spring training as one of those low-risk give-him-a-shot guys.
It's not like I just discovered Brandon Moss in hindsight either ... Mets fans will get a kick out of this story ... Lastings Milledge gets a couple of mentions ... remember him?
http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/ironpigs/index.ssf/2011/06/brandon_moss_homer_helps_lehig.html
The Mets are 23rd with an $82 million payroll. The Royals and Padres have bigger payrolls in small markets. People need to boycott going to games. That's the only way to get these idiot owners out of here. Either that or someone needs to record Fred Wilpon using a racial slur.
Travis d'Arnaud sent down to the minors because he can't hit a lick . Yeah I'm sure two MLB teams let the next Johnny Bench/Mike Piazza go because they didn't see any flaws in him ! Good hitting catchers are the hardest players of all to discover . If d'Arnaud was the real deal two teams would have never ever have traded him . Didn't I just say this recently ? I guess you can hit some people in the head with a brick repeatedly and they'd still swear it was mosquito bite ! That pretty much covers the entire Mets front office and ownership . I'd almost believe in Andy's curse , but I know it's just stupid clueless ownership .
Francesa called them "snakebit" today on his show.
Bench was a star right from the get-go. So was Piazza, but he was the last player drafted, every team in the majors passed on him several times ... he almost did not get a shot at the major leagues, hard as that may seem to believe considering the career he ended up having.
Bench and Piazza both were Rookie of the Year winners.
Looked it up, Piazza was the 1,390th pick in 1988, he went in the 62nd round.
In 1993 he was NL Rookie of the Year.
Francesa is a fat dope commenting about the Mets compared to Steve Somers . Somers called Alderson a snake oil salesman today , while Francesa knocked almost the whole team except Wright , Harvey , and his one trick pony .220 hitting Granderstrikeout who can hit the occasional HR to RF , but strikes out more often than not with RISP and whose noodle arm can't throw anyone out from RF .
I loved Piazza when he played , but don't believe for a minute that he didn't use PEDs .I read his book and he really doesn't deny it or confirm it , nor does he make any kind of fuss when the baseball HOF denies him entry - twice now . I remember when he had the groin injury and got really skinny just like someone would going off the juice . I never thought he was legit after that .
Liked Piazza's TV commercials with Terry Bradshaw.
By the way, it's Phillies Phire Sale time ... unfortunately, their most reliable performer is the Phanatic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0C1Tx7YZP48
Zombo, you could make a long list of all time greats who got sent down in the beginning of their careers. How do you just give up on the kid that fast? Next we'll hear that you're ready to give up on Wheeler if he's got a 4.50 ERA at seasons end. You have to give these guys time to grow. Mike Francessa is an idiot. You can't expect players to be superstars the moment they come up. He was trashing Alderson today because D'Arnaud, Wheeler, and Syndergaard haven't panned out yet.
"Mike Francessa is an idiot."
That's the first sensible thing you've written in a while, Metsman (-;
New York has always been a brutal place to try to break into the major leagues ... unless you are a Tom Seaver or Derek Jeter, that is.
Cal Ripken is lucky he went 7-for-70 with Baltimore in the first part of 1982...
can you imagine if he struggled like that with the Mets? He might have ended up like Billy Beane.
Wow, looked up Billy Beane .... the Mets only gave him 18 at bats before trading him to Minnesota -- at least they got a good player in Tim Teufel who helped them win a World Series.
Alex Ochoa had over 500 at bats as a Met before being traded to Minnesota for Rich Becker -- who had an awful time with the Mets.
iPhone-imal, I don't give up on prospects after a year or less. This front office needs to bring in some hitters. Young is useless. Most knowledgable baseball people knew Granderson would hit .220-.240. The problem is this garbage front office thought he'd hit 40 homeruns when the rest of the lineup sucks or is mediocre. Granderson's splits with the Yankees show he was even at home and on the road. The difference was he had help. The Mets needed one more good bat to compete and as usual they didn't come through. They did the same crap when they were good. They added one piece instead of doing what was necessary. These owners suck...
A team with a huge payroll that's going nowhere is those Phillies ... that championship core is still reaping the financial benefits for past glories.
People on Philly radio have changed Ruben Amaro's name to Ruined Tomorrow.
If anyone cares, Jimmy Rollins is just a few hits away from breaking Mike Schmidt's all-time team record.
He probably could have started for the Mets in RF yesterday... a cancer-stricken Gwynn on his deathbed is twice as good as Grandersuck.
ianimal, Granderson isn't the problem on this team. Take a look at the rest of the lineup. Murphy is the only one with a good batting average. You knew coming in that Granderson would not bat for average. He's on pace to hit over 20 home runs. If the Mets brought in a good bat for LF and SS it would have made a big difference. But it's the same old Mets. These owners don't want to spend anymore. They're 23rd in MLB in payroll. That's unacceptable in a NY market.
R.I.P. Tony Gwynn, a national treasure ... eight batting titles, over 3,000 hits and a guy who always had a sense of humor and things in their proper perspective.
Too bad the two times he got to the World Series, the Padres played the 84 Tigers and the 98 Yankees ... the Pods had no shot either time.
LOL, you're kidding, right, Metsman? Granderson's not the problem?
A $13M per year free agent signing who has hit .186 with 3 HRs and 11 RBI in what is just about a full half season at home? That's not a problem?
A $13M per year free agent signing who hits .197 with runners in scoring position? That's not a problem?
A $13M per year free agent signing who hits .067 with runners in scoring position and two outs? That's not a problem?
A $13M per year free agent signing who hits .167 with the bases loaded? That's not a problem?
He's on pace to hit over 20 HRs? That's the best you can do in his defense? How many ribeyes is he on pace for? 70? How many runs is he on pace to score, 70?
A guy makes $13M and puts up a .220 average with 70-21-70 production (provided he doesn't get hurt... he's got the calf going already and we haven't even hit the heat of summer yet).
You think that's an acceptable level of production for that salary? He's on pace to have an extremely similar stat line to Lucas Duda... who makes 10% of what Grandersuck does, and who you rag on constantly. You should be thrilled with what Duda is doing on a per dollar basis then, if you think Granderson's not a problem.
Just spending $$$ is not the answer if it gets spent badly, that's why I brought up Brandon Moss a few days back. You need good scouts and player development coaching, too. Some teams, whoever they get, they become better players.
There's a story going round (heard it on WFAN) that the Mets are going to be sold to a group that will relocate them to Montreal and then ....(it gets better) ...
the Wilpons will use the $2 billion to bring another team to New York and still be owners.
ianimal, you're missing the point. He has been hitting since May 1st. His average at home during that span is .245. On the road he is hitting .294. So if you go by his production in May and June he could end up hitting around .250-.260 with 25 HR and 90 RBI. You don't think that is a $13 mil player? You need your head examined if you think that production isn't worth that. His numbers are what they are presently because of a horrible April. Look at Mark Texieria. How many years did he have a slump in April and May and still had his numbers at the end of the season.
Chris Young. Batting .196 and getting a lot of playing time. Matt Den dekker. Batting .163 and getting most of the time in CF with Lagares hurt. Eric Young. Batting .220 and strikes out at least once in every game he plays and has a .315 OBP for a so-called leadoff hitter. Recker and Teagarden both batting .200 and .165 respectively at C. Andrew Brown off the bench batting .182. Tejada and Flores both batting .230 at SS.
So tell me again that it's Granderson's fault this team is bad.
Here's the conspiracy theory article and it is nut-job crazy from some questionable French website ! Yah the stadium that was built 5 years ago is just going to be abandoned and torn down for redevelopment while the Wilpons just build another stadium in Brooklyn . Where the hell do people get this nonsense from ?
http://www.heralddeparis.com/hoodwinked-are-the-wilpons-about-to-pull-off-the-ultimate-developers-dream/237510
Because he makes more $ than all 6 or 7 of them combined? The .067 with 2 outs and RISP is the most horrific stat out of any... and that isn't a handful of at-bats: he's TWO for THIRTY!
Just imagine how much better that $13M could have been spent. Especially when you see what the O's got for $8M in Nellie Cruz. He's ALREADY got over 20 HRs, LOL.
Not to mention the $9M the Wilpons spent on the second coming of the "fat toad"...
So, if you're saying that the Wilpons are the real problem, I would certainly not argue with you. But strictly from a production expectation perspective, it's hard to find a bigger loser on this team than Grandersuck... although Dee Dubya is rapidly approaching the point where he's in the conversation.
Metsman, Granderson also played a bunch of games against teams with poor pitching the past month including the Rockies (in Coors), Phillies, Marlins, D-Backs Cubs, and Padres. If Granderson can't hit .250 against them he shouldn't be in the majors. Not like he was hitting against Cy Young candidates. Your argument to just pencil in his last month's worth of production in for the rest of the year for him is flawed as well so before your start examining other people's heads start a little closer to home.... Haha.
Here's a good trivia question ... who is the last pitcher to toss 300 innings in a season? National League left hander.
Big Unit's highest total was 271 ... his three wins in the World Series were impressive.
MeisterNJ, I merely said if he finished the season with those stats, then how is he not worth the money? I wasn't penciling it in as what he'll end at. But yeah if someone thinks on Oct 1st that those numbers aren't worth $13 million then they do need their head examined.
ianimal, the rest of those guys mentioned don't belong in the major leagues. I don't care how much they make. Cruz got what he got because of the whole PED cloud hanging over him. I find it idiotic that you pretty much blame the hitting whoas on Granderson and Wright when there are 4 or 5 other spots in the lineup that are doing absolutely nothing.
And yeah ianimal the Wilpon's are the real problem. If they had gone out and filled the needs in LF and SS we wouldn't be having this conversation. I've said it before, only the 2003 Marlins have won with a dirt cheap payroll in the last decade. Every other team spent over $100 mil. They've got a homegrown pitching staff for the most part and a few homegrown position players. They need to fill the rest of the needs with free agents. You can't grow all of your players. It's not realistic. This team will never win with cheap owners at the helm.
Redwing hit it -- it was Steve Carlton with the Phillies in 1980.
By the way, had fun at a Father's Day breakfast yesterday with names of big league fathers and sons ... of course there were the Griffeys and the Ripkens, but I impressed my buddies by coming up with the following ... with no books or laptop with me.
Sandy, Sandy Jr. and Roberto Alomar; Bobby and Barry Bonds; Ray, Bob, Aaron and Brett Boone; Ruben and Ruben Jr. Amaro; Don and Damon Buford; Cecil and Prince Fielder.
Y'all are welcome to add to the list.
Not only is Nelson Cruz hitting those dingers, he made a sensational catch in left over the weekend ... gold glove, baby!
I guess Lucas Duda will be due an $11+M pay raise come October then. Because he's got a better shot for 25-90 than Grandersuck does.
The pitchers are not the only ones getting Tommy John surgeries... Orioles' catcher Matt Wieters is getting it, and he's out for the season.
What about the Alous, Andy? The original batch were all brothers, but Moises was the son of one of them, right?
Metsman, I find it idiotic that you would blame the young kids in the lineup when the two guys who make $30M combined have combined to hit 4 for 53 with RISP and 2 outs and 1 for 9 with the bases loaded. The reason the Mets are 2nd in the league with most runners left on base begins with those two.
The fact that the rest of the team sucks, too, certainly doesn't help. But I always place the most blame on those who are paid to perform, not the cannon fodder thrown to the wolves because the owners are the most clueless in baseball.
Yep, Felipe was Moises' dad. I saw Felipe hit a homer at Connie Mack Stadium on Aug. 26, 1962 ... man, am I getting old!
Tim Raines and Tim Raines Jr. are another pair that did not immediately come to mind. I was 31 years old when Raines was a rookie ... and now he has a kid who has played in the big leagues. Holy Cow, as Phil Rizzuto used to say.
Here's the whole father-son big league baseball list. May be an omission here and there, since it is Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_second_generation_Major_League_Baseball_players
Dale Berra was a chip off the old block, as evidenced by this quote:
"The similarities between my father and myself are very different."
I still remember that Felipe homer in 62 -- a line drive job into the lower left field stands off Art Mahaffey.
Cepeda hit a real bomb in the same game, looked like a Jack Nicklaus drive off a tee.
Giants went to the World Series that year.
But again ianimal, if those guys have their numbers at the end, then who are you going to blame? You keep saying Granderson isn't hitting but yet he's batting .352 this month. Each month he's hitting better. He didn't get a hit last night, but hit a sac fly and drew a walk. You keep looking at April. And I don't care about RISP with 2 outs. 2 years ago he batted .231 in that same category. It was .208 in 2011!You wouldn't take 40HR and 100+RBI over that stat? Or 25HR and 90RBI this year over that stat? The team isn't balanced. That is the problem. Tejada is in his 4th season. He's not a kid anymore. Duda, Teagarden, Recker, Young, and Young Jr have been around for awhile too. They're not kids. They're in their late 20's and 30's. Duda you could deal with at first if other positions are addressed. The rest of those mentioned are 4A players or worse. What kids are you talking about? The only kids are Lagares and D' Arnaud. One is hurt and the other is in AAA.
Well, the O's got Frank Robinson when he was 30, and he won the triple crown and made the O's world champions.
Granderson is a couple-a-years over 30 and he's no Frank Robinson, not now.
Teams need a lot of good players and a lot of good pitching, but most teams that do something big have that megastar, too, someone who keeps the offense out of scoring slumps.
If they have their numbers at the end? Who cares if they go on a tear when the team is 20 games out of first place in August? Will that allow them to win 25 games out of 20? last I checked, that was physically impossible.
The fact of the matter is that 53 times they have come up to bat with two outs and a chance to knock runs home. 51 times they failed. You don't think those failures cost the team quite a few wins so far? You may not care about that stat, but it's probably the single most important stat when it comes to winning and losing ballgames. What's the point of getting guys on base if your "stars" are going to choke just when they should be raising their game?
I'll grant you that Granderson has had his best month of the year statistically (so far - there's nothing like an 0-19 week to bring that month back in line with his norm)... whoop-de-fuggin-doo. Unfortunately for the Metsies, it has coincided with Wright's worst month of the season... he's batting .118 with 3 RBI over that stretch. If this team is going to win, they both need to play at the top of their game; they haven't and it shows in the W-L column.
You say Granderson isn't the problem, because he's doing marginally better than the guys who are making around a mill or less... I say that DOES make him the problem because he's getting paid to be a hell of a lot more than marginally better than the guys who you want to blame. Hitting .225 wouldn't be that much of a problem if he stepped up and hit .450 when the pressure was on... instead, he does even worse in big moments... the thirteen million dollar man, lol.
And what are his numbers in May and June with RISP? I can't sift through 3 months of stats and see what time period hurt his overall numbers, but I'd guess if he's batting .197 with RISP, that April is to blame.
You keep going back to the $13 mil. The market dictates what these players make. The elite players are making $10 mil more per year than Granderson. Look at Jacoby Ellsbury's stats. They're not eye popping. He's got mediocre numbers and is making over $20 mil a year. Granderson is not being paid to carry the team. He's a piece of the puzzle and the Mets never finished the puzzle. That is why they suck.
"The market dictates what these players make."
Name one other team dumb enough to pay Granderson $13M for 2014. (Not to mention $16M for each of the next two years and $15M when he's 36).
I don't recall there being a huge bidding war for his services. The Red Sox might have been able to afford to overspend for his marginal performance, but when you're a de facto small-market team like the Mets who has to get value for every dollar you spend, this was cash straight into the crapper.
Andy, given the universal switch to a 5-man rotation, it's likely that we'll never see 300 innings pitched ever again. I'm amazed that RJ was able to get 271.2. Even assuming that he was able to get a few extra starts due to scheduling... at 35 starts, he averaged 7.75 innings per start. One would have to average 8.5 per start to reach 300 with 35 starts. If you only get 32, you could pitch 32 complete games and only get 288...
The five-man rotation certainly cuts down on innings.
Also, they are so into pitch counts now. In 1975 and 1976, when Jim Palmer threw 323 and 315 innings in back to back years, he made 38 starts and then 40 starts. He also had a save in 1975.
Out of those 78 starts, he had 48 COMPLETE GAMES. including 16 shutouts.
Having guys like Brooks Robinson, Mark Belanger and Paul Blair backing him up in the field didn't hurt, either.
If Andy Reid was managing the Orioles instead of Earl Weaver, they would not have had four 20-game winners in 1971.
The O's finished in first by 12 games. Dobson, Cuellar, and Palmer all got their 20th win on the final weekend of the season against Cleveland.
Reid would have rested them for the playoffs. A great big LOL and good night;-)
The Big Unit has got to be a first ballot hall of famer next season. A real no-brainer of a pick, should be a unanimous vote, you would think.
In the 2001 game in which Randy Johnson had 20 strikeouts, Alex Ochoa had an RBI that gave Cincinnati a 1-0 lead against him.
In one of the most awesome pitching displays ever, Alex spoiled the shutout by driving in a run. Give the guy some credit, once in awhile.
He was a good fastball hitter, which meant most pitchers would not throw him one.
Ok ianimal, who were they supposed to get for this team if not Granderson? No one wanted Cruz either. How'd that work out? Teams seem more reluctant nowadays to sign certain players in their 30's to multi-year deals. What exactly is your stink with him lately anyway? He's drawing a ton of walks and he's hitting well over .300. What the hell do you want him to do? If the rest of the team was doing that they'd be winning games.
How about that Colon guy ianimal.... He's still pitching in the 8th... man he sucks... LOL
Colon has had a cleansing of late; I'll give you that... but let's not forget all of a sudden that he was sitting at 2-5 with a 5.84 ERA a month ago.
Eric Young now has a better BA than Grandersuck. He went 2-4 with a pair of doubles, 2 RBI (one with 2 outs) and a run scored. Co-hero of the game along with the Toad. "Man he sucks... LOL." And only making 1.85M... he should probably fire his agent and hook up with Grandersuck's.
ianimal, his ERA doesn't tell the whole story. Look at his games. He gave up 9 runs in one game 6 in another and the rest of his games he has been good. He was good in 12 of his 14 starts. That's awesome. Would I have preferred the Mets spent his money on a good bat... Yes. But you can't say Colon has been bad or you know nothing about baseball.
Oh I'm sorry... Granderson drawing 3 walks today was horrible.... What am I thinking... You are brainless ianimal. You look at his season average instead of what he's been doing for the last 2 months. What he did in April has had no impact on the Mets record. The Mets had a winning record on May 1st. So he got better and the rest of the team has slid.
There was a third game where he gave up 7 earned runs, but overall he hasn't been too bad. Probably actually worth his $9M price tag.
As for Grandersuck, maybe the reason he's doing better in June is "because" the rest of the team is doing worse. He's great at getting a two-out hit with nobody on base. When there are guys in scoring position... not so much. And it's not just this year... He's pretty consistently much worse statistically when the pressure is on.
I love how you love to dismiss April and point to June as if one is more real than the other. He's a streaky guy who has far more bad streaks than good ones. Hence, his shitty average come the end of every September. But you keep on thinking that the two-week .375 Grandersuck is the "real" one. Talk about brainless, lol.
Two years ago it was Dickey, last year it was Marlon Bird, this year it is Colon ... older guys who are not the future, keeping the Mets "respectable" just so the August crash will feel that much worse.
The first time I ever saw Bartolo Colon pitch, was in 1996 for the Canton Indians in a Double-A game in Trenton. Nothing is too corny or in too much bad taste for those people who work the board at the ball park. When Colon's name was announced while taking his warmups, they had the sound effect of a toilet flushing.
And, there was his name and picture on the scoreboard. That's why I remember it, sorry to say.
Also, when Edgardo Alfonzo batted there for the Binghamton Mets, you heard the clip from the old TV show, "Hel-lo, I'm Mister Ed."
That's the incentive to work your way out of the minor leagues.
Oh excuse me ianimal, 11 of 14 starts were good for Colon. That's lousy right...
If you can't give me a breakdown of what his stats are with RISP in May and June then your argument is pointless. He could have had an 0 for April and gotten all those hits the past 2 months for all we know. If that's the case he's not the reason the team is losing. The team was 15-11 in April.
No I don't think the .375 is the real Granderson, but neither is the .125 in April. He'll finish around .240-.250 realistically. If he's got his home runs and RBIs then who cares that his average is that. That is what I expected of him coming to the team. He's not a player who carries a team.
So what if the team was 15-11 in April? Who's to say that they couldn't have won 18 or 19 games in April if he had done his part? Now that he's on a hot streak, DW is crapping the bed.
I think we both agree that the Mets suck and that the Wilpons are to blame; we just disagree on who should be producing on the field. I say that responsibility comes with the big pay checks.
I agree that the guys with the big paychecks should be the guys getting the big hits.
I saw Frank Robinson come to the O's and give that team a whole new personality, even though they already had some All-Stars before he got there.
That first April, Frank came in there, boom, boom, boom ... 10 homers just like that, O's are 12-1 ... I'll always remember the Boog Powell quote ... "man, I'm getting pitches to hit like I've never seen before."
Last Mets hitter who was like that? Delgado.
Everybody needs to contribute and young players always need to learn and keep getting better, but the big hitters you bring in have to be the guys who lead the way ... and make everybody else better in the process.
When Carlos Delgado was in a groove, he was as good as anyone. He was Pedro Serrano with Jobu in a good mood, lol.
You guys forgetting that the Mets had Beltran for a few years? He had a few very good years, and more valuable ones than Delgado when you add in his speed and defense.
I think the primary focus of this discussion was strictly offense, for a stretch there, Delgado was scary good.
Stats alone don't always tell you if a guy got BIG hits ... that big knock that wins you a close game.
For Beltran I can certainly say the guy has been terrific in the post-season (it's the Mets curse that kept the bat on his shoulder in Game 7 of '06 ... he was just up against supernatural forces that night).
Here's an interesting stat. ianimal likes to use the 2 outs with RISP stat. Delgado in 2006 when the team was good only hit .255 in that situation. Man did he suck... I guess 38HR and 114RBI is no good unless you can hit with 2 outs and men on...
Here's another one... the best all around player in today's game.... Mike Trout. He's only hitting .261 in that category. Damn... he must suck, right ianimal?
Jacoby Ellsbury.... .226.
Joey Votto.... .176
Hanley Ramirez.... .242
Should I keep going? I'm sure you'd be happy to have any of these players on the Mets.
My compliments of Delgado shouldn't be construed as anything negative about Beltran.
.255 is a hell of a lot better than .067, no?
Also, Delgado only hit .265 overall that season, so he was about the same when the pressure was on as not. Grandersuck chokes on it. Three times as likely to make an out when it counts as when it doesn't. That's the point that you're missing.
You're also talking about 30 ABs. That is a tiny sample size. What about .257 with runners on with 5HR and 28RBI? You wouldn't take that?
It depends... he's failing three times out of four.
If he's getting the hits and RBI in close games that are on the line, that's great. Or, ok at least...
But, if the 75% of the time that he's failing when men are on base happens during close games and he gets the hits and RBI during blowouts one way or the other, then no... it doesn't really matter much to the team, does it?
Plus, you ARE talking about almost a full half season... that only equates to about 60-65 RBI on the year, plus any solo HRs. Not $13M production, in my estimation.
I don't know what you consider $13 mil production. If you expect him to hit .330 and hit 40HR and 120RBIs then he'd be making triple the money he is now.
So, you're saying Lucas Duda should make $13M a year? That's ridiculous. They're overpaying Granderson by a ton. He should be making Chris Young money. Chris Young should be making Eric Young money.
The Mets also don't use Granderson correctly. They look at the two years of 40HR and expect him to bat cleanup. He was the number 2 hitter for the Yankees and led off for Detroit. I would have Lagares lead off when he's healthy, Granderson 2nd, Murphy 3rd, Wright 4th, Duda 5th, D'Arnaud 6th when he returns, Young Jr 7th, Tejada 8th. Lagares needs to lead off because he's batting .300 with a .344 OBP when he does. Young is batting .231 and not getting on base enough to lead off. I don't care how many bases he steals. He's not a leadoff hitter.
If D'arnaud becomes the hitter he's expected to be then you can swap him and Murphy or him and Duda.
Granderson has 69 Ks in 237 at bats this season, not a guy I'd bat second.
In his last full season he had 195 Ks, but at least he was hitting a ton of homers.
The Mets had their winning formula going last night, get a run and a shutout.
Grandy's problem is going to be his age as the season wears on ... and with the crackdown on steroids, the era of guys improving their numbers in their mid and late 30s is over now.
I'll keep it positive and give Metsman credit for being the biggest optimist in the world.
Let's see, last year in 392 at bats Lagares batted .242 with a .283 OBP ... .283??
According to the stats I looked at, he's batting .288 right now in 156 at bats.
I don't see the track record here, for this guy to be an everyday leadoff man for a contending team.
I like Lagares, enjoy watching outfielders who can throw, run, and catch the ball ... but making this young man your everyday leadoff hitter is asking for a lot.
I thought you put blinders on when outfielders run, throw, and catch, Andy....when MVP is the discussion. ;).
I'm sure Trout has an MVP in his future ... Miggy just did some unreal hitting the last couple of years.
By the way, the voters agreed with me.
The kid the Buccos brought up, Gregory Polanco, looks like the real deal... 17-45 in his first 9 games with 9 runs scored, a ding-dong and 6 ribeyes. Too bad they didn't bring him up sooner; they might be contending... but that's the screwed up thing with baseball today.
No I'm not saying Duda should get $13 mil. You put your dues in and that's what you get during free agency. Granderson would have gotten more if he didn't get hurt last year. He's getting paid for past success. That's how it works. You think Pujols is worth his contract? Hell no. You could also say maybe the fact that Granderson got few ABs last year is the reason he got off to a slow start. The fact remains he's hitting now and the rest of the team needs to step up.
Andy, Lagares is batting .295. On this team he is the best option to lead off. You're only guaranteed to lead off once in a game. He could be in situations where he has to drive in a run later in the game and his clutch numbers are good.
Tomorrow is the 50th anniversary of Jim Bunning's perfect game at Shea Stadium ... I caught the last couple of innings on TV, after getting a phone call from a buddy.
The losing pitcher was Tracy Stallard, the same guy who gave up Maris' 61st homer in 1961. The Yankees won that game 1-0, Stallard pitched well, but he's remembered for the one run he gave up that day.
Talk about a pitcher not getting run support;-)
The Yankees had clinched the pennant a week earlier anyway, the only suspense was Maris.
Another oddity of that last day of the 61 regular season. Jim Gentile of the Orioles was tied with Maris for the league lead in RBI ... Gentile sat out the last day to protect his .300 batting average ... the Maris homer put Roger one ahead of Gentile for the league RBI title.
Paying for past success is fine if the success was your own (Jeter is a good example). Paying for the success afforded another team is an act of moronity only idiots like the Wilpons fall victim to. Is Bobby Bonilla still getting paid or are they finally done with that?
And are you really putting Grandersuck in the same conversation as Pujols? Lol...
The leadoff batter is the guy who gets that one more at bat after the lineup has turned over three times .. I've always preferred a veteran to be in that role.
You guys know, by now, that I followed Alex Ochoa's career ... at Cincinnati Barry Larkin batted leadoff just about every day (future HOF) and Alex batted second against leftys ... got a lot of RBI ... batting third behind him was Junior Griffey ... so you know Alex got some pitches to hit.
When Larkin got hurt, the first time Alex led off a game, he homered at St. Louis ... first pitch fastball, first pitch of the game, was sitting on it... made Sports Center. He had some good times with the Reds. By then he'd been in the majors a few years.
Trout was no ordinary rookie ... he was a one-in-a-million rookie ... if Lagares is anything like Trout the Mets really have something.
The last Orioles rookie I can think of, who got any significant time leading off, was Al Bumbry in 1973 ... and he got Rookie of the Year.
Bumbry served in Vietnam, in combat, his life was on the line.
I don't think anything in baseball ever scared him after that.
There are some (very few) rookies who are just special like that. By the way, Al Bumbry was at a baseball camp in Phillipsburg just recently ... great guy.
Trout was the second best hitter in all of baseball in 2012 ... too bad he had to spend part of it in Triple-A.
Looked him up, had forgotten he played with the Angels for part of the 2011 season and did not set the world on fire ... even he was human ... nothing against him, still a phenomenal player.
Oh, by the way, Alex Ochoa went 10 for his first 20, one of the best starts by a Mets rookie ever.
http://www.baseball-almanac.com/players/player.php?p=troutmi01
Just for the record.
Pujols is making a lot more money.... He's batting .255 and making 25-30 million per year
As our ongoing conversation went to leadoff hitters and outfielders, I think back on Brady Anderson, who hit 50 homers for the Orioles in 1996 and every single one of them came as the lead off hitter.
When you look at his entire career, you can't help but wonder, "where the h*** did THAT come from?"
Yeah, especially since it was 1996. That's why I'd rather reminisce about Frank and BOOG.
ianimal my point is most long term contracts don't work out for the entire duration of the deal. The Mets aren't the only ones who fall prey to this.
Anyone who would give a long-term deal (5 or more years) to anybody over 30 in this post-steroid era is asking for disappointment.
Gotta give Joe Girardi credit for staying as composed as he did on the play at third yesterday ... OMG the runner went so out of the baseline.
Earl Weaver, Billy Martin, or Lou Piniella (a one-time Weaver player in Double-A) would have totally flipped out.
I agree Andy. These 10 year deals to guys in their early 30's are ridiculous. They'll be lucky to get half their return back.
I think way back to when the O's had Reggie Jackson as a rental and then tried to sign him ... they just could not go for the long term deal he wanted, so they let him walk ... they called up a rookie to fill his spot in the lineup ...
a 20-year old kid named Eddie Murray! He was an outfielder in Double-A and was the Orioles' DH for a year before he became the first baseman.
It helps to have a farm system.
You guys have put up with me raving about Paul Blair's outfield play ... thought I'd share something I read in a book about the Texas Rangers of the 70s called "Seasons in Hell" by Mike Shropshire (a really, really funny book) ...
"The word 'fan' apparently is derived from another word, 'fanatic,' and that can aptly be applied in Baltimore ... ... baseball was regarded as theatre ... the Baltimore baseball ethic historically has been based around pitching and defense and the Rangers would see those concepts exemplified on a grand scale while they were getting their tails kicked in this three-game weekend series against the Orioles ... Paul Blair, the best centerfielder that the big leagues would see in the decade, was flanked by Al Bumbry and Rich Coggins, a trio of antelopes that could flag down anything hit between the foul lines but was also particularly artful at snatching away home run balls two or three feet above the fence."
There ya go, praise for that outfield from somebody besides me.
Best part of the book was the 10-cent beer night, when they were the visiting team in Cleveland in 1974 ... there will never be a 10-cent beer night anywhere, ever again .. it turned into an ugly riot.
He doesn't like Cleveland, said the stadium is "en route to Lake Erie, where they go to watch the fish die."
Also liked this line, "Ken Aspromonte, the Indians manager, said if the team had played like that in the first half of the season, it would now be neck and neck with the Orioles in the A.L. East. If they played every game against the Rangers, hell yes they would."
Jayson Stark this morning: Masahiro Tanaka is on pace for 260k's this season. Three other active pitchers have had that many k's in a season. Can you name them?
"Best part of the book was the 10-cent beer night, when they were the visiting team in Cleveland in 1974 ... there will never be a 10-cent beer night anywhere, ever again .. it turned into an ugly riot."
Cleveland had another 10-cent beer night six weeks after the riot, but they reduced the number you could buy at a time from 6 to 2, lol.
Also, the regular price of a beer at the ballpark in those days was $0.65, so 10-cents was probably what the beer actually cost you if you were sitting at a bar instead.
Here are some prices from a program I saved because Paul Blair autographed it ...
this was an ALCS game, by the way ...
National Boh ... 45 cents
Crab cake ... 50 cents
Roast beef sandwich ... one dollar
Hot dog ... 40 cents
Peanuts giant size ... 25 cents ... kids size ... 15 cents
RING ... RING ... Hello, New York Mets? This is the Baltimore Orioles. What do you want for Bartolo Colon? We're only looking at him as a half-season rental, so we're not going crazy here, but we've got a month to talk trade.
No, Victor Zambrano is not pitching anymore,
Thank you.
So the Mets are holding onto him for that pennant push?
They may not be able to get a bag of balls for him next year. LOL
The O's don't have any position players in the top 100 prospects anyway ... if they are able to obtain a pitcher by the trade deadline, they'll have to trade someone off the big league roster.
Dylan Bundy has started pitching in Class A with the Aberdeen Ironbirds ... maybe he'll be able to help soon, but they certainly don't want to push him too hard at this stage.
They probably will deal Colon. If they still plan on brining up Syndergaard then they have to make room.
Greinke, Scherzer and Darvish are the only other big number strikeout pitchers that come to mind.
I'm pretty sure it's not Scherzer and I don't follow the Rangers, so I'll go with Greinke. Probably would have been the season he won the Cy Young w/ KC... 2009?
So, what do you think of Gregory Polanco so far, Metsman? The kid's got all the potential in the world. With him, I think the Pirates may have the best outfield in all of baseball with Marte in left and McCutcheon in center. You'd certainly be hard pressed to find a team who's definitively better in that respect. I'd give up all the outfielders on the Mets roster for any one of those guys. Of course, the Pirates would be stupid to accept, lol.
I saw the Pirates in person this year ... they have a marvelous outfield, looking like the Orioles of the 70s. You appreciate the ground they cover when you look out at that big expanse of green.
TV never does it justice.
Have you seen them in the last two weeks, Andy? They took a huge leap forward when the brought up the 22-year old rookie. Second coming of Clemente, some are saying. I won't go that far, but he's got 5-tool skills, without a doubt.
Always exciting to see five-tool skill players come up.
They don't have to be the next Clemente or Mays to be good and contribute to wins and a team's quest for a championship.
I'm so glad the steroid era is over, because now the guys with natural five-tool skills get more chances to play.
He showed what he can do last night against those Mets.
Also happy for a couple of pitchers I saw in the minors, former IronPig Vance Worley, the Vanimal, and former Trenton Thunder closer Mark Melancon.
http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2014_06_26_nynmlb_pitmlb_1&mode=recap_home&c_id=pit
iPhone-imal, I was too busy watching my son's game last night and watching as his idiot coach managed to run the team out of a big inning. He got 2 kids picked off at 3rd base with the bases loaded each time. Apparently he thinks they have a team of Rickey Henderson's and has them all take big leads whether they have speed or not. I've never seen 2 kids picked off at 3rd in one inning in my life. And he did that with the 3 hitter up and my son batting 4th after that. He also took their starting pitcher out who was cruising the entire game and had a low pitch count. Needless to say the base running gaffes and taking the pitcher out backfired. They blew an 8-3 lead after 5 and lost 11-8.
I'll take a look at Polanco tonight and over the weekend. McCutchen is definitely a great player.
A record that will never be broken (it can only be tied) is Tippy Martinez of the Orioles picking off three Blue Jays in the same inning ... and it was a tied ballgame in extra innings.
The O's won on a walk-off homer by Lenn Sakata ... yes, Meister, Lenn Sakata had a walk-off homer.
These are the things that don't show up when you look at somebody's career stat sheet.
There are some hitters who don't hit a lot of homers, but you should never throw a first pitch fastball to, even if you are Nolan Ryan. Alex Ochoa was such a hitter, so was Paul Blair, just to name a couple of guys I've watched. I'm sure there are many more.
By the way, Ochoa hit a 10th inning pinch-hit homer to beat the Braves 7-6 in a 1997 game in which the Mets trailed 6-0 early. Not bad for a "scrub." And Mets-Braves games were big events in those days, the Mets were in the race at the time.
Heard Jayson Stark today. Won't give away the trivia answer, because Meister likes to have fun with it on this thread ... but I will say that the answer was not Jose Reyes or Mike Trout.
Wasn't Miggy Cabrera either, LOL
Jayson Stark this morning: Jose Altuve is batting .346 with 36 sb's. Name two other active players who have hit higher than .340 with 30 or more sb's in a season. I didn't get either of them.
Rod Carew is a pretty easy choice. The other I'm not sure of, but I would guess Tony Gwynn, just because he died recently. If not for that, I would probably guess Ty Cobb.
Did Soriano or Jeter ever do it for the Yankees? I can't see Soriano hitting .340 but Jeets did a few times, I think, and they both stole quite a few bases in their day..
Time it divulge it ... Jeter and Ichiro.
Ichiro did it in his "rookie" season with Seattle .350 with 56 steals. WOW.
In 2006, the year when Jeter should have won the MVP, he hit .343 and swiped 34.
Jeter got 214 hits that year, a very impressive number, 39 of them were doubles.
I was out to lunch... Yes, Jeter. I should have gotten that one! For some reason I thought it was Carlos Gonzalez with that amazing year he had in 2010 but he was a bit short on both: .336 and 26 sb's.
Vlad Guerrero batted .336 with 40 steals and had 206 hits and 111 RBI with Montreal in 2002.
With the lousy attendance the Expos had in those days, it should be remembered as "The Best Season Nobody Saw."
JULY 1 MEANS:
Mets paid Bobby Bonilla a 4th installment of $1,193,248.20. Owe him that amount every 7/1 thru 2035
Don't hate on Bobby Bo, you to would sign that deal. Blame Met Management
Ok, but that is a fraction of their payroll. That should never be an excuse not to invest in the team. They're 23rd in payroll this year in a NY market.
Bobby Bo must have had a real sharp agent, that's all I can say.
When the O's traded for him, he put up impressive numbers at bat, but he was a pain in Davey Johnson's rear end for a year and a half and then left, and they never did win anything.
Bobby Bo refused to DH, even though he gave them nothing on defense, and it looked like Davey was under management's orders to play him every day and try to keep him happy.
I'm always defending Alex Ochoa here. In the old Oriole Way they would have brought him along slowly, the way they did with guys like Baylor, Grich, even Ripken and so many others. Without Ochoa the O's had the stinkiest outfield defense in the league for the next 10 years. Balls kept falling in for hits that never fell in before.
A bad trade for both teams, because the Mets expected Ochoa to become a star and home run slugger right away.
Baylor and Grich took three years to become home run hitters, but helped them in lots of other ways. They just got away from that tried and true Oriole Way.
Ramblings of a long-time O's fan.
Ha. Wright hurting his shoulder took them completely out of the race in a week. This management is a joke. Someone was telling me they know Yogi Berra's son Dale. Dale knows Jeff Wilpon and thinks he's a complete idiot and meddles with all the baseball operations. As long as the jackass has his hands in everything this team will never prosper. It's like a company who's president micromanages all aspects of the companies operations. It's not a working model for success. You have to let your employees do their jobs. That's why you see teams like Atlanta, St. Louis, and San Francisco prosper continually. Baseball operations are allowed to do their jobs. They all have good farm systems and bring in the free agents they need to fill out their rosters.
Out of the race in a week? Mets were out of it on opening day, who are you kidding?
LOL, MNJ... I think the Mets were eliminated from contention the day pitchers and catchers reported.
Don't look now... here come the Pirates.
After a horrendous 12-20 start, they've posted the best record in the NL since May 6th, going 32-20 over that span. Still a lot of work to do, but we'll be raising the Jolly Roger before it's over...
Leaving for the 'Burgh in a few hours. I definitely have to catch a game out there one of these days.
Iman ... that's a headline I used in 1976 ... Don't look now, here come the Pirates.
The Phillies ran off to a 15 1/2 game lead that August, but then had a bad road trip while the Pirates just kept putting up their wins, day by day, and made it a September race ... closed to within three before Philly got hot again.
Meddling owners are a real problem ... George and Billy and the 80s Yankees ... the O's went downhill when Peter Angelos bought the team and put his sons in charge because they were fantasy baseball players .... I'm serious! He fired Frank Robinson so his sons could play fantasy with real money and real players. Did not work out very well.
All I can say to the Mets fans is ... be real patient and persevere.
I remember Dale Berra from when he played for the Pirates in the early '80s. He sucked, lol. He was a much more accomplished cokehead than a baseball player...
Yes, that's who we want determining who and who isn't an idiot. Someone who has done and been caught with drugs.
Dale Berra was a chip off the old block, when he said, "The similarities between my father and myself are very different."
Wasn't nearly the player his father was, but he was a great multi-sport athlete at Montclair High. I saw him play football, dominated the game.
If he chose baseball over football because of who his father was ... well, can't second guess ... the Pirates picked him in the first round.
A degenerate cokehead that grew up with Yogi Berra as a father is probably uniquely qualified to spot an idiot. Not only did he grow up looking at one, once he grew up, he saw one every time he shaved.
MeisterNJ they were only 5 games out a week ago. That's my point. Whether they really had a chance is moot. Mathematically they were in it. 10 games out in July, time to sell.
You know management is clueless when Alderson says they like the team they have. Obviously he is too proud to release Chris Young. The guy is batting .199.
Being "in the race" at this stage of the season is very deceiving, especially if you are a below .500 ball club.
Last year, the Phillies' delusion that they were "in the race" really cost them, when they had the opportunity to sell and build for the future, but did not.
A smart GM knows what he realistically has and what he needs.
In 96, with a team that really was on the old side, the O's trailed the Yankees by 12 games but the owner wanted no "get younger" deals ... the O's got into the playoffs in 96 and 97, but the cupboard was bare when it came to the future.
Fourteen consecutive losing seasons followed.
Back when the Mets still were contending, I was warning Mets fans that their team was on a similar road.
At least you've got some real pitching prospects now, but any hopes for playoffs this year really were a pipe dream.
A sign that a team's outlook is bleak is when minor league teams drop you as an affiliate.
First Norfolk dumped the Mets as a Triple-A partner, after a three-decade relationship. Then, after a couple of seasons, Buffalo dumped them.
Now, they are having a good year by all accounts at Las Vegas.
The O's went through something similar. Their Triple-A team was in Rochester for 40 years, but they got dumped in 2002, because nobody can make money trying to sell tickets when the parent club sends them lousy teams. During that O's drought period they had to play in Ottawa and then, ironically enough, Norfolk accepted them, where they are now.
Andy, that goes back to the argument I had with MeisterNJ about the Wilpon's having no money. MLB let them take out two loans to meet their obligations, yet McCourt tried to do it on his own with the Dodgers by getting a TV deal and he was ousted. The Wilpon's should have been thrown out too. Now they are like a small market team at the bottom of baseball in payroll. When Kansas City and San Diego have bigger payrolls, you know the future is bleak. I was checking out the position prospects Alderson drafted over the past few years. None of them stand out other than maybe Kevin Plawecki and he is struggling in AAA so far. So basically all this guy did was lower payroll and make a couple of trades. Those trades are yet to reap any major results.
Interesting proposition, an owner can be ousted for making decisions, ahem, detrimental to the best interests of the game.
HEY, guess who is in first place this morning in the AL East?
I'll enjoy it while it lasts.
Back when baseball was two leagues, with no divisions, no wild cards and no layers of playoffs, the teams that were in first place on the Fourth of July went to the World Series almost every time ... with the exception of the 64 Phillies.
At the Little League games they are now passing the hat for a second collection, for the Mets. LOL
Just for the record (it would make a good trivia question) the last teams to finish 10th in MLB were the Houston Astros (the Mets beat them out by a game thanks to winning seasons from Koosman and Seaver) ...and the Washington Senators (despite Frank Howard leading the majors with 44 homers).
Koos and Tom Terrific winning 19 and 16 games respectively for a team that batted .228 is quite an achievement. They went on to be ever more AMAZIN in 1969, the year baseball expanded and created East and West divisions ... worked out well for the Orioles, they won the AL East five of the next six years.
Bill Madden writes in today's Daily News that what's going on in the majors now, the steady decline in offense combined with the steady increase in the length of games, is becoming a source of grave concern.
jd2 There's more guys throwing 95mph or more than ever before with wicked breaking stuff. That is part of the reason offense is down. That and most players are clean now. I have no issue with how long games are. The only way a game is going to be quick is if it's a 1-0 pitchers duel with few base runners. That's just how the game is. It's not something you can fix. If it's a 7-5 game. Most likely it's at least a 3 hour game. You want to quicken the game then get rid of commercials. You add up all the 3 minute breaks and you could lose a half hour easily.
They're talking about things like enforcing the rule on how quick the pitcher has to deliver his next pitch when no runners are on base, and not letting batters out of the batters box after each pitch.
We see in the World Cup how substitutions are extremely limited, and becomes part of the strategy. Maybe pitching changes could be limited, say, a pitcher has to pitch to at least three batters? Just a thought.
Maybe shifting should be limited - keep third basemen on his side of second base.
Just call strikes the right way and it will take care of itself. Enough of the tiny strike zone. Enforce the entire zone and the game will speed up a bunch.
In what is remembered as "the year of the pitcher" 1968, most of the Orioles games went about two hours. Nearly all of them did. The O's staff led the league with a 2.66 team ERA and the defense made the plays day in and day out. The pitchers worked fast, it was just the way they were taught, how they operated.
Less offense should produce shorter games, it would figure, but today you have all these games in which teams strand a dozen runners. We have 3-2 games that take three and a half hours now.
Without the long commercial breaks, we could not have the megamillion salaries.
Me, I don't mind long games, but I'm a guy who grew up loving baseball in a time when the world was quite different.
The umps did call a bigger strike zone in those bygone days.
Jim Palmer went to the Hall of Fame getting guys with high heat, and he wasn't the only Oriole who pitched that way, just the most famous.
Seaver and Ryan, Gibson, all got them with a lot of high heat, too.
I think the strike zone got smaller under pressure from ownership to create more offense, the belief that fans wanted more scoring, more homers, meaning more money coming in through ticket sales and TV ads.
I'll be getting away for a couple-a-days, checking out some Beltway Baseball (Orioles-Nationals) maybe Bryce Harper will bang one off the warehouse.
Eutaw Street, here I come.
I wonder what the record is for how many cleanup hitters a team has in one season. The Mets have used 4 different guys in the past week.
No they haven't. They've used 1 cleanup hitter, the rest are scrubs who have happened to hit 4th.
poor and Yankees in the same sentence? Has that ever happened? At least it's not more Met talk. Any more and the title of the thread needs to be changed to 2014 MiLB Season.
Last time I heard poor and Yankees in the same sentence was probably about 1968 or 69.
Bumped into someone who asked me what I thought of the Mets' recent improvement, winning six of seven games.
Said I honestly don't know what's going on, their wins come when I don't watch.
From what I pick up here and there, changing hitting coaches has helped.
Actually they went 8-2 in the last 10 games. They'll probably lose all that momentum when the second half starts.
If they are going anywhere this year, it will be up to David Wright, as the veteran face of the franchise, to pick the team up on his shoulders and carry them offensively through August and September.
In other words, be like Eddie Murray in 1982 and 83.
That could go a long way towards putting David into the Hall of Fame.
Guys, I have a "tickler file" at home with a lot of stuff filed by date and month and check out what I pulled from July 14, 1996 ... the Mets split a doubleheader at Shea with the Astros and stood at 43-48, still within striking distance of the Braves.
This is verbatim from their press notes ... so you can blame the PR department for the hype ..."It didn't take NL base-runners long to learn that Alex Ochoa did, indeed, have one of the strongest right-field arms in the game today after he was recalled in late June. His 52 outfield assists in three minor league seasons were not exactly chopped liver. In addition, Alex makes consistent contact with a quick-wristed stroke that shoots hard line drives to all fields. Exciting and enthusiastic, he became only the sixth Met to hit for the cycle and at midseason sports a scintillating .328 BA in his first 15 games."
Wow, get that guy's plaque ready at Cooperstown. LOL ;-)
The Mets won their next three on the home-stand and were 46-48.
Those Braves must have been shaking in their boots ;-)
Did I read that right?
Adam Jones is the CENTER fielder tonight, Mike Trout is the LEFT fielder.
Greg Luzinski and Boog Powell were left fielders in their day ;-)
I seem to remember someone on this thread saying Adam Jones did not deserve a gold glove.
Best tv commercial I have seen in quite awhile. Nike featuring Derek Jeter and everyone tipping their hat to him for the class-act he has always been. I too tip my hat to Jeter. Re2pect!!!!
justwondering Trout got himself an MVP award. Hurray.
The best league won. No game seven at home for the Mets this year, sorry.
Two guys I can think of who got the league MVP, All-Star Game MVP and World Series MVP during their careers are Brooks and Frank Robinson, which I happen to remember being an O's fan. That's a nice trifecta of awards.
Also, Cal Ripken won an All-Star Game MVP and league MVP in the same year.
I'm sure there are others, just not taking the time to go through all the lists right now. Y'all are welcome to add anyone else that did these things. Wonder if Jayson Stark ever reads the thread :-)
Fair enough.
Here's some trivia ... this guy broke Joe DiMaggio's rookie record for total bases and was the first rookie to win the American League batting title.
His initials are the same as an NFL wide receiver who was known as a real diva.
Who is he?
Given the hint, I'm going to guess that his initials are T.O.
The only good ball player with those initials that comes to mind is Tony Oliva (although I'm sure his mother named him Antonio), which would actually give him the same initials as Andy's man-crush (-;
Man-crush is the understatement of the year. Man-worship is more like it.....
No good guess comes to my head. Prob an Oriole.
OK, wise guys, who were the first two brothers to each win 20 games in the same league in the same season?
These days, we hardly ever have a 20 game winner, they don't pitch enough innings.
I'll throw another one out there, who was the first guy to make his major league debut as a pitcher, with his brother being the starting pitcher for the other team?
Good guesses.
Phil and Joe Niekro both won 21 games in 1979, Phil with the Braves, Joe with the Astros.
The night that 22-year old Pat Underwood made his starting pitching debut with the Detroit Tigers, the opposing starting pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays was his brother Tom Underwood. That was the first time anyone made his major league debut with his brother as the other team's starter.
Hey, how about those Staten Island Yankees beating the Williamsport Crosscutters (Phillies) in a Single-A New York-Penn League game tonight? Slow night, I suppose.
Since you guys accused me of being gay, I'm going to pound away with the trivia questions, showing no mercy.
Who is the only catcher to ever hit two grand slams in the same game?
Hint: he also was only the second player in MLB history to hit a grand slam with his team trailing by three runs in the bottom of the ninth, with a full count.
Unlike Mike and Mike, when Jayson Stark has that buzzer ready on live radio, you guys can look this one up.
Who has accused you of being gay Andy? Not I. Don't care what you are.
I never look these up, I try and get them on my own.
Damn, should have gotten the Niekros.
Hmmm. Two grand slams in a game? Piazza?
LOL... Who called you gay Andy? How does being a trivia nut make one gay? The only thing I'd accuse you of is being the president of the Alex Ochoa fan club.
Who are the only two guys to play behind Nolan Ryan in three of his no hitters?
By the way, it's OK to be gay, but I'm not gay.
This has gotten plenty of airplay in Baltimore whenever the O's are in first place, probably gets play in places like Boston and Detroit whenever they are going well, too ... good golden oldie, just like me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NfTwLuiPeA
Since Meister took a stab at it, the only catcher to get two grand slams in the same game is Chris Hoiles, a former Oriole.
The three pitchers who beat Ron Guidry in 1978 all had Mike for their first name. Hope google guru Mike Greenberg stumbles across this. Who were they?
As Jayson Stark likes to say, good luck.
I'm going to be like an old-school wing-t quarterback, call running play after running play, then, when I've lulled the corners to sleep, I'll go over the top and ask a trivia question that has AO as the answer.
I'm so devious LOL
Nolan Ryan only had two guys playing behind him in two no-hitters? That's the most amazing sports feat ever!
I have something in common with Mike Piazza now.
I've made a public statement that I'm not gay.
Meister picked up on an ambiguous sentence, shows he was an excellent student there at North Warren and wherever he went to college.
There's another thread going where I lavish praise on a North Warren grad who went on to an excellent college.
Anyway, you get what I mean with the question.
No, Nolan Ryan was not Eddie Feigner with The King and His Court.
Speaking of The King, if LeBron James could be persuaded to leave Miami for Cleveland, if the Orioles move to Millville, maybe they can get Mike Trout?
Just pondering.
OK, answers .. the two guys who played behind Nolan Ryan in three of his no hitters (there were many others who played in one or two) ...were outfielder Leroy Stanton and shortstop Rudi Meoli.
In those days the Angels could take batting practice in a hotel lobby and not break anything.
The three pitchers who Ron Guidry lost to in his 25-3 season of 1978 ... Mike Caldwell, Mike Flanagan, and Mike Willis.
After he beat Mike Torrez in that Fenway game where Bucky hit that home run, the regular season losses really didn't matter anymore.
Before the Orioles and Ravens came to Camden Yards, the Baltimore Inner Harbor area already was a big tourist attraction ... look at all the people who go there who are from out of town and don't care about the teams.
If the O's moved to Millville and got Mike Trout, they could put a big corn field in left field and in his debut, Mike could come out from the rows of corn and enter the field ... the crowd would go crazy ... and Mike and Mike from ESPN would be there ... what fun.
I have two pieces of paper from Rutgers New Brunswick and one from NJIT collecting dust in my basement Andy.
I remember Chris Hoiles. He was around during the Alomar/Brady Anderson era, no?
Leroy and Rudy, not so much.
Yes, Hoiles was there in the 90s.
OK, last one of the day.
Who was the oldest left handed pitcher to start an All-Star game?
It's not Randy Johnson, who was the oldest guy to pitch a perfect game. This guy was a Yankee in the 90s, but he was a Tiger when he got this distinction.
You gotta know when to hold 'em... know when to fold 'em... know when to walk in... the season-ending run...
That still sticks in my craw... Game 6 of the '99 NLCS.
I think that and Beltran looking at strike 3 in Game 7 of the 2006 NLCS are the two pitches that left me with the most disbelief as a Mets fan.
For getting it right, y'all get this ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjFmDhD_z8k
Kenny Rogers and Carlos Beltran were working against supernatural forces when they had those moments described above ... so was Tom Glavine when he took the mound against the miserable Marlins on the last day of the 2007 season.
Here's one that goes back to the days of four-man rotations and complete games.
Who is the only guy to strike out over 300 batters and not lead the league?
There's something else to consider when comparing offensive stats from different eras ... these steroid monsters who compiled big numbers were doing a lot of their damage against fifth starters and against the soft underbelly of pitching staffs that did not produce complete games.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=RDhckIjL7z5z4&v=hckIjL7z5z4
Guidry's best season for strikeouts was 248 in 1978, he was a fantastic pitcher.
I'm sure you've heard how close he came to giving up on his career, before it all came together for him.
The answer is Curt Schilling, who struck out 316 in 2002 while The Big Unit struck out 334. Both guys were on the Diamondbacks.
What's really amazing is how close they were with starts and innings pitched.
They both had 35 starts, Unit pitched 260 innings and Schil went 259.1 ... the last of the great workhorses.
Sorry if the wording of the question threw anyone off ... while Schil and Randy took the mound as much as they possibly could, I'm sure most of baseball had gone to five-man rotations by 2002.
Andy - Are you sure it's the only time? Didn't Pedro Martinez strike out over 300 in '97 and '99? He lost out to Schilling who led in '97 and Johnson in '99.
I was originally thinking like MeisterNJ the year J R Richard had over 300 and Ryan was second. But Ryan was in the high 200's that year.
Pedro led the American League in 1999; RJ led the National League.
But, you're right... Pedro struck out 305 for Montreal in 1997 and lost the NL Strikeout title to Schilling who struck out 319 for the Phillies.
Since Pedro was runnerup to Schil that would make him another guy who struck out over 300 but did not lead the league, so my question stands corrected.
I can give you a real good example of how people need to be careful with trivia questions, and you'd appreciate it, being a Steelers fan. For everybody, sorry to digress into football on a baseball thread, yada, yada.
In the winter of 2009, I was a co-host on sports radio show on WNTI Thursday nights, as a volunteer, helping out a college kid who was kind of over his head with it.
One night, the Express-Times was short handed and I had to go and miss the radio show. When I was finished, the radio show had about 20 minutes to go, not enough time to drive back to Hackettstown.
On the car radio the kid gives the following question: What team has won the most Super Bowls? Some guy calls in and says it is a three-way tie between Dallas, Frisco, and Pittsburgh, each with five ... and the kid awards him a prize.
I pull off the road and call ... Pittsburgh has six.
The kid says, but the book said ...
I interrupt and say, really steamed, "Pittsburgh won its sixth A MONTH AGO."
You're right about wording - I took "lead the league" to mean the MLB lead. If it had said "lead their league" I might have been thinking AL or NL.
Well, I'm not putting up any more trivia questions at 4:30 in the morning.
Gotta have a cup of coffee in me to do this.
OK, this one should be safe ... name a player who won MVP awards while playing different positions.
I can think of two, but somebody may know someone else.
What I like about trivia questions, it brings something other than the current Mets into the chatter.
Statistically speaking, each league stands alone. So when someone "leads the league", it is referring to whichever league he happens to be in. If he leads both leagues, they will say he "leads the Major Leagues"... at least that's been my experience.
You are correct.
Even though the leagues have interleague play now, the stats still sand alone.
I still remember writing things like Mike Schmidt is the Major League leader in home runs, Reggie Jackson leads the American League, etc.
Pete Rose leads the majors in hits, Carl Yastrzemski leads the AL.
Nolan Ryan leads the majors in strikeouts, Tom Seaver leads the NL.
Here's another "safe" trivia question.
Everyone knows Jackie Robinson was the first black player to appear in a MLB game.
Who was the player who "completed" MLB integration, meaning, when he took the field, for the first time EVERY major league team had a black player.
Another way to ask it, name the last team to integrate on the field.
By the way, the expansion teams from 1961 on are exempt from the question, plus, they all had black players. By then, everyone knew you needed them to have a competitive team.
Everybody knows Jackie Robinson was the first black man to appear in a MLB game. Too bad everybody's wrong. Moses Fleetwood Walker played in 42 games at catcher for the Toledo Blue Stockings in 1884.
"anything before the first world series doesn't count."
So... then Cy Young only has 160 victories? Funny, the record book says 511... even though 351 of them were prior to the first World Series season in 1903.
I heard the answer to the last team to integrate, but I can't recall exactly. Was it Philadelphia?
For getting the RED SOX correct, lollipopz gets a fanfare. Pumpsie Green was their first black player in 1959... 12 years after Jackie Robinson ... no wonder the Baseball Gods kept extending that curse!
Moses Fleetwood Walker is correct, but I suppose, since there was no American League yet, it wasn't the Major Leagues (plural) we're really getting nitpicky, but it's all fun.
To get back into regular season mode,
*When is the last time the Yankees MISSED the playoffs two years in a row?
*When is the last (I believe it also was the only) time the Mets MADE the playoffs two years in a row?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGhPw4KqYxc
Yes, Robin Yount won MVP awards at shortstop and in the outfield. Meister, you may also play the fanfare for your achievement, I don't feel like posting it again ;-)
Hank Greenberg won them at first base and the outfield, as did Stan The Man Musial.
I think lollipopz is right; I seem to remember hearing Boston was the last team to integrate on Jackie Robinson Day.
Here's the list of first black players by team.
Even though Moses (a fitting first name) is on record as the first black player, the players and virtually everybody connected with the game at the major level in the mid-20th century had not seen one and the "moral code" that blacks were to be separated was so strong and ingrained, the Jackie Robinson story is remarkable.
Somebody could double-check me on this one, but I believe Robinson is the only last name that appears on the list of Hall of Fame players three times, Jackie, Brooks and Frank ... but I could be wrong.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_first_black_Major_League_Baseball_players_by_team
OK, there are four Robinsons ... add Uncle Wilbert to the list.
Four Williams (Billy, Dick, "Smokey Joe" and Ted)
there are three Browns (Mordecai, Ray, and Willard)
Three Johnsons (Ban, Walter and "Judy")
We all now know more about baseball history than most of the players you see on the field these days, except maybe for your occasional Derek Jeter or Todd Helton, someone like that.
I'm just happy that we're back to real baseball tonight.
The Major League Baseball Extra Innings package is free from today, July 18th through Thursday July 24th on DirecTV. It's possible that it's free on other providers as well.
The Johnsons should be tying the Robinsons any year now... Big Unit's a no-doubter.
Do me a favor, if you have a chance, and check and see if you can get the Pirates game on MLBEI, or if it's blacked out.
Sometimes they are scheduled as part of the regional coverage on MLBTV and the game is blacked out. I don't know if it's because of MLB blackout rules (which I could never understand) or something to do with Root Sports network. I'm thinking that since you're in Morris County, you may have different blackout restrictions than Warren.
When all else fails, I always get my O's games on good old WBAL radio, as I've been doing for over 50 years, which has a great night-time signal ... love Joe Angel's home run call ...
HASTA LA VISTA, BABY
They lead the league in home run calls in foreign languages. I also heard SACRE BLEU! when they played interleague games in Montreal.
I remember one Friday night game when Brady Anderson hit the first pitch of the game out..."The Orioles, are in Toronto, and have immediately made their presence felt."
John Sterling would have probably gone "Brady bashed one" and started singing the Brady Bunch ... you guys can have him.
Maybe my "one shining moment" as the Hackettstown Tigers' football play by play guy came when Brian Wickkiser ran the opening kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown and after my usual 'how about that' I added, WHAT A WAY TO BREAK THE ICE."
Loving the MLBEI free trial. Watched the Bucs pull one out, then I saw Andy's O's channel their inner Mets and snatch one from the jaws of victory, then a 16-inning classic between the Halos and the Mariners. Good stuff.
O's need to get Papelbon from the Phillies. That would be a relief.
Also, a serviceable starting pitcher would be nice.
Fortunately, in the AL LEAST, just playing .500 the rest of the way may be good enough.
I like the Pirates in the NL because the O's and Pirates have a history of meeting up in the World Series when they both are good. That Pirates outfield is terrific.
I heard during the O's/A's broadcast on Saturday night that Carl Yastrzemski's grandson Mike is tearing it up for the O's minor league teams. He probably won't make the show this year (I think he's only gotten as far as AA ball), but I look forward to seeing him in the future.
I only ever saw Yaz play during the extremely latter part of his career, but that Red Sox team in '78 with Jim Rice, Fred Lynn, Pudge Fisk and Dwight Evans was fun to watch... too bad they lost that one game playoff to the Skanks. Damn you, Bucky Dent (-;
105 year old throws out the first pitch in San Diego.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/yahoo-sports-minute/105-year-old-agnes-mckee-throws-out-first-pitch-at-padres-game-021811932.html
Whatever Carl Yastrzemski's final home run total was, he would have had one more if it wasn't for Paul Blair. I saw Blair go way up over the top of the center field wall to rob Yaz of a dinger ... and the O's won 2-1.
Carl was a class act, would love to see his boy make it with the O's. The O's once had Pete Rose's son in Double-A ... a former Oriole's son who made the O's was Damon Buford ... later went to the Mets as part of the xxxxx-Bonilla trade.
By the way, because the A's broke the game open against the O's yesterday, and we were informed there was a no-hitter going on, I put on the Mets game. Saw the Mets tie it and then become the Bad News Bears in the bottom of the ninth.
Gave them the evil eye, again. Sorry about that.
I remember a real entertaining Red Sox-O's game I saw at Memorial Stadium in 1976.
Both teams had a first inning grand slam, Bobby Darwin for the Sawx and Reggie Jackson for the O's.
Then Jim Rice drove in the winning run in the 15th, Boston wins 6-5.
Out of those guys ianimal mentioned in the above post, Rice was the guy who socked it to the Orioles time and time again.
Thought the O's might come down to earth on this trip through Oakland and Anaheim, but they are holding their own.
Adam Jones has really been clutch for us and Markakis is doing very nicely in the leadoff role.
Jason Stark this morning:
There are three sets of teamates who have won MVP's. Can you name them? I got two of the three sets.
I was 2 for 3 too, MNJ... I don't usually listen to Mike&Mike, but Howard had just gone to commercial so I switched to M&M right as they had JS on, lol.
How about Miggy and Verlander,
Pujols and Hamilton (the Angels spent a lot of Hamiltons for him LOL)
and Ryan Howard and Jimmy Rollins.
The last one is the tough one because the Phillies aren't a good team anymore and those were back in 06 and 07.
Ryan Howard is the answer to this trivia question ...
Who reached 100 and 200 homers in the fewest at bats?
I have his bobblehead at home, from going to Ryan Howard bobblehead day.
He hasn't been the same since that injury on the last out of the playoffs against St. Louis.
Some teams I remember with three teammates who won MVP awards...
The 1962 Yankees with Mantle, Maris and Yogi Berra.
The 1964 Yankees with Mantle, Maris and Elston Howard ... Yogi was now the manager.
The 1971 Orioles with Brooks, Frank and Boog.
The 1979 Red Sox with Yaz, Lynn and Rice
Very good Andy. I forgot about Howard winning the MVP. And from the names they were bantering back and forth about I figured out Miggy and Verlander.
The 1978 Cincinnati Reds had FOUR teammates who had won MVP awards...
Johnny Bench (twice), Pete Rose, Joe Morgan (twice) and George Foster.
The 1983 Phillies had Rose, Morgan and Schmidt, but it didn't help them in the World Series against the last great Orioles' pitching staff.
Interesting to see if either one gets traded soon.
Rollins got his MVP the season when he showed up at training camp and said "we're the team to beat."
The Mets, being the defending division champs, did not like that, but Rollins backed it up.
By the way, no Met has ever been the National League MVP, the Mets have never won the award, even in years they have made the playoffs.
Fenway Park and Wrigley Field are the two oldest ballparks in Major League Baseball. What ballpark is number three?
Not Oakland. Oakland and Anaheim are tied for fourth, both opening in 1966. This ballpark opened in 1962.
Believe it or not, I haven't been to Dodger Stadium yet. Still have all three So. Cal. stadiums on my outstanding list.
The A's are supposed to build a new stadium in San Jose in 2017. We will see if it happens.
I've been to the Angels stadium, last summer. Have family that live close to there. Went to the old Padres' stadium but not for baseball. Saw the Chargers play. Really want to make it to the Giant's park and Dodger Stadium, before they blow it up.
and I finally remembered that MLB Extra Innings was free. Caught a little bit of the Giants and Phillies' games. Really cool. Not all the games are available. Clicked on a few that weren't part of the free trial I guess.
Which ones couldn't you get, MNJ? They've all been available for me that I've tried. If it wasn't available, it must have been subject to blackout... MLB's blackout rules are kind of strange. Odd that you got the Phillies game... I think that's the one team that is always blacked out in my area (along with Mets and Yankees-whose games can be found on other channels anyway).
I've gotten so accustomed to watching the Buccos every night that I had to pay the $120 so I can watch the playoff race down the stretch every day, lol. They sucked me in (-;
Any channel above 723. Forget what games. Think Red Sox and another. Maybe because there's NESN?
I don't think that's it. Maybe the Sawx were on MLB network so it was blacked out on MLBEI? That's the only thing that I can think of.
I'm old enough to remember when Dodger Stadium opened in 1962. The Angels shared it with them until their own park (still in use) opened in Anaheim in 1966.
The Oakland stadium opened for Raiders football first, then the A's moved there from Kansas City for the 1968 season.
Dave McNally of the Orioles pitched a complete game 4-1 win in the A's first game there on April 17, 1968 in front of 50,000 fans. Boog Powell and Brooks Robinson hit homers... I was a senior in high school and that makes me certifiably old.
Curt Blefary got the first hit in that park and Boog hit the first homer.
I purchased a used car from Curt Blefary, who used to work at Town and Country Chevrolet in Toms River, one of many different jobs he had while looking for work in coaching. Curt loved playing for the Orioles so much, his wish was to be buried at Memorial Stadium. Before they demolished the place, his wife had his ashes scattered where home plate used to be.
His best stats were in his first three years with the O's and then they declined. Much, much later, he admitted he had a serious problem with alcoholism. He was gone too soon at age 57.
Clear the deck; cannonball coming... raise the Jolly Roger!!!!
Pirates complete a 5-1 home stand and head to Denver 2-1/2 games behind the Brew Crew and likely tied with the Redbirds for second place if the Rays hang on to their 3-run lead in the 9th.
30-35k asses in the seats every night. Refreshing to see after watching the tumble weeds on SNY all season.
I was watching some of that last night. It's nice when the Yanks go to rain delay I can watch another game. The channel with several games on split screen is pretty cool too. They will....not...suck...me in.....must resist......
For a Yankees fan who is going to watch the Yankees whenever they're on, it's hard to justify the expense just for off-days and rainouts. For me, I could watch it just for the local Pittsburgh commercials... makes me want to drive out there; I've never been in the summer time.
Exactly. Similary for football as well. Between playing the Giants twice a year, Monday night, Thurs. night, and Sunday night football, I can see the Redskins 5 or 6 times a year.
Yeah, but that's still 10 or 11 games that you miss. The Steelers are on primetime five times, have the late afternoon "Game of the Week" once and also play the Jets.
I still will pay for the Sunday Ticket just for those other 9 games that I would have otherwise missed. Going to the bar nine different Sunday afternoons would cost a lot more than the 149.99 subscription price, lol.
That's a good point, ianimal. I'll have to run that by the Home Office and maybe I'll get the ticket this year. She's a Steelers fan as well.
I would say if the Mets finish around .500 that the season is a success. It will hopefully drive this ownership to go out and spend some money to bring in a left fielder and SS.
They should bring up Syndergaard. He's not learning anything in Vegas other than how far a ball travels in thin air.
The Phillies are probably getting good offers for Cole Hamels, who has looked like a left handed version of Jim Palmer in his last couple of starts.
Since Hamels is still only 30, probably has five top notch years left, what could the Phillies possibly get that would be worth trading him?
They'll probably be willing to GIVE him away to anyone who takes Ryan Howard off their hands too, lol.
100+ million dollars back and/or roster flexibility? With that contract, they can't expect too much in return in the way of prospects unless they pick up half.
Ryan Howard would look good in an IronPigs uniform the rest of the season.
He could sign autographs at charity fundraisers.
Amazing how much smarter a manager Ryne Sandberg becomes, when Hamels is on the mound.
I would think if Colon is dealt that Syndergaard will be moved up.
Supposedly the Mets are in play for Tulowitski and Cargo. I hope they don't empty the farm system for either of them. I read one article that says a combination Neise and D'Arnaud would get Tulo. I would do it. They still have Kevin Plawecki as a catching prospect.
Syndergaard is having a rough year in Vegas , besides the Wilponzi's would never trade their only left hand pitcher signed to an affordable contract to take on the big contract of injury prone Tulowitski . Gotta love the fan's fantasy trades despite no big deals getting done year after year in Queens . Colon will be dealt , maybe Murphy if they don't want to resign him to a multi-year deal , that's about it ! The penny pinching owners have a 600 million dollar payment due on SNY in 2015 to be refinanced and won't spend jack squat on players salaries until about 2018-2020 if at all !
http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/sports/2014/01/8539630/refinancing-wilpons-probably-more-same-mets
Neise is a shoulder injury waiting to happen. You don't need a lefty if you have 5 good righties.
Actually, Syndergaard is having a good year in Vegas. K/9 of 9 and 2.9 walks / 9. For Vegas that's good. Everyone hits there. You can't look at the ERA. It's misleading.
Joe Torre is in the Hall of Fame.
The guy the Yankees' fans didn't want for their manager because he was a 'loser.'
He had no previous Yankee connections as either a player, coach, or managing.
I remember everybody asking, "what has he ever won?"
Metsman , I would trade any of their pitchers right now for a quality bat except for Harvey and deGrom .Frankly I've seen enough of Niese , but Mets cheapskate ownership values him for his cheap contract and uses the only lefty in the rotation excuse to keep him around . Guess they have no confidence in top lefty prospect Steven Matz .Given Alderson's declaration today that nothing will get done by the deadline and any trades will probably be explored in the off season , it's once again a do nothing deadline - except maybe to cut salary . If they pull a Reyes with Murphy , letting him go in the off season without making a trade now , then Alderson is total buffoon and Wilpon puppet !
On Syndergaard it's not about his ERA , but the few times I've seen him pitch on SNY his pitches have lacked movement - could be related to the injury he had earlier this year .
http://nypost.com/2014/03/05/add-steven-matz-to-the-list-of-mets-big-arms/
If the Mets played the Phillies every day, they would not have to worry about trading for a quality bat. LOL
Be careful that you don't trade away too many pitching prospects for quality bats that are on their way down.
Now that steroid use is being policed, you don't have these guys anymore who put up monster numbers into their late 30s.
The Mets may have a quality bat emerging in Duda, with regular playing time, he's developing into a solid hitter. Part time roles are hard for young players who were used to being everyday players in the minors ... it took a couple of changes of scenery and the right hitting coach for Alex Ochoa to adjust to it (just an example, no man-love comments, please, show me you guys are better than that).
It took Don Baylor a long time to develop into a proficient hitter at the big league level, too. Starting out, he was playing, then not playing, then changing positions, etc. There, better example?
He didn't go to Japan, wasn't out of sight out of mind, played all his baseball here in the states. In Baylor's eighth MLB season, he really put everything together and was AL MVP, with his third MLB team.
Here's a video on Sandy Alderson, some insight on what makes him tick.
http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/69502602/v34430803/emphasis-on-leadership-in-the-army-resonates-in-mlb
Zombo, I wouldn't trade Wheeler either. He's given up 1 earned run in each of his last 5 starts. He seems to have turned a corner. Harvey, Wheeler, and Degrom are my only untouchables. I would trade Syndergaard before any of them. If you package him, Plawecki, and Montero to get Tulowitski, I'd do it in a heartbeat. Or I'd trade the latter two with Neise or Gee and hopefully keep Syndergaard.
Murphy can probably be had on a team friendly contract. They still have control over him until after the 2015 season. He's a $10-12 million player for 3-4 years. Trading him would make no sense because then they have another hole to fill in the offseason.
The problem with Tulo would be, he'd no longer be playing half his games at Coors Field.
His home/road splits are beyond belief.
An analogous situation to Tulo was Larry Walker... at home his stats were equal to Ted Williams, on the road his stats were equal to Trot Nixon. I remember pulling that out for a buddy of mine who was a Sawx fan, lol.
I remember when Trot Nixon played for the Trenton Thunder.
His walk up song was A Country Boy Can Survive.
Tyrone Woods' walk up song was the Fred Sanford theme ... it suited him, love someone with the ability to laugh at himself.
And, I believe I've already shared what they did when Bartolo Colon came into a game ... sound effect of a toilet flushing.
LOVE the minor leagues.
"He's given up 1 earned run in each of his last 5 starts. He seems to have turned a corner."
My only complaint (and it's relatively minor) would be that he hasn't gotten through the 7th inning in any of those starts. He needs to become a little more economical with his pitch count. I understand that a 9K per 9 IP pitcher is going to throw a lot of pitches, but he really needs to learn to work in a couple of 1, 2 or 3 pitch at bats here and there to keep the ball out of the hands of the bullpen a little more.
The other day the Mets had a 2-0 win and the starter only went seven?
Jim Palmer never came out of a game he was leading 2-0 ... if Weaver had the audacity to even visit the mound, Palmer would say things like ... "sit down Earl, relax and enjoy the game, I got this ..."
No matter what the pitch count was ... and he pitched 19 years, all of them with the Orioles.
He pitched 3,948 innings with a 2.86 ERA ... will Wheeler ever do that?
How about those Orioles? Another win against the Angels!
Zack Britton's doing a marvelous job in the closer role. Found a home grown closer, that's the way to do it.
From Buster Olney today ( well, paraphrased....a little): Ten years ago in Mets Losing Baseball history: Mets trade Ty Wigginton, Matt Petersen, and an infielder by the name of Jose Bautista to the Pirates for Mr. Anna Benson and Jeff Keppinger. They also traded Scott Kazmir to Tampa for Victor Zambrano. Mets promptly lost three in a row to fall nine games under .500 and never recovered.
The Tigers pick up David Price; their postseason rotation of Price, Scherzer and Zoolander is gonna be tough to beat, even though JV hasn't been at his best thus far... I have to assume he's gonna put it together by the end of the year.
The A's with Sonny Gray, Samardjzifgianga, Kazmir, and Lester can match and maybe even exceed that. At least 1through 4 if not 1-3.
The A's picking up Lester was big as well, although I'm not nearly as high on Samardzia as you are. Probably because I hate Notre Dame, lol.
I really can't believe that Oakland gave up Cespedes for a "rental" though... unless he's gonna be a FA at the end of the year, too.
I forgot about Porcello, who's having a good season. Edge probably to the Tigers after thinking about it a bit more.
Believe Cespedes is a FA after next season. He's tailed off after a great rookie year. Only batting .246 since then. Billy Beane knows what he's doing. It's a good trade for both teams. The dropoff from Cespedes to Gomes isn't huge, and it's mostly on defense.
Porcello is from Morris County, saw him pitch for Seton Hall Prep.
One thing the Tigers did is create a hole in center field and the lead off spot.
May not be that big a deal with that rotation, though.
As fans of AL East teams, are we ready to concede the playoffs to Detroit and Oakland yet? Still have to play the games, they aren't played on paper.
Yes, it's Oakland and Detroit's to lose. Glad the Yanks didn't pack up the few prospects they have to trade for a rental.
Mets didn't move Colon? That's a mistake.
I'm sure the Mets got offers for Colon ... the Orioles could use him for half a season and I'm sure they'd pick up the contract for next year as well.
David Wells helped them make the playoffs in 96, they've had bulky pitchers before.
The O's don't have highly regarded position player prospects to trade these days (nary an Alex Ochoa among them) so the Mets probably did not like whatever they offered.
But still, Colon is a drag on their payroll going forward and may keep the Mets from acquiring the pricey star that Metsman is pining for.
John Kruk with Letterman ... funny stuff.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO-MP0MvnZI
You know what then Andy, this team won't be good enough next year if they won't budge on payroll. Colon can't be an excuse.
Speaking of pitching, I was down in the land of crab cakes and Francis Scott Key over the weekend and saw Nick Markakis (a player I know you guys just love) hit a first inning leadoff homer and Chris Tillman and the bullpen made it stand up.
A 1-0 win for the Orioles ... just like it's 1974 all over again.
By the way, on Labor Day of 74, the O's swept a double header from the hard hitting Red Sox (who were about to choke away an eight-game first place lead) 1-0, 1-0.
Didn't see it, but I heard about the double no-hitter deGrom and Peavy had going on Saturday, that must have been something for the fans at that game.
I heard Jayson Stark on ESPN this morning ... Mike and Mike got it right and the big guy danced to Celebration ... cool stuff.
I'll just throw in that the Orioles had three Cy Young winners in their rotation in 1981 ... Jim Palmer (1973, 75 and 76) who they called "Cy Old," Mike Flanagan (1979) and Steve Stone (1980).
They called Dennis Martinez Cy Future, but alcoholism kept him from reaching those heights with the O's ... fortunately he got help and revived his career in the National League later on.
http://baltimore.orioles.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20020912&content_id=126757&vkey=news_bal&fext=.jsp&c_id=bal
Whatever your favorite team is, here is a positive baseball story at a time when the sport could use them ... which deals with Dennis Martinez and his overcoming addiction.
My Predictions
NL East NL Central NL West
1.Braves 1.Cardinals 1.Dodgers
2.Nationals 2.Pirates (WC #1) 2.Giants (WC #2)
3.Mets 3.Brewers 3.Diamondbacks
4.Marlins 4.Reds 4.Padres
5.Phillies 5.Cubs 5.Rockies
AL East AL Central AL West
1.Orioles 1.Tigers 1.Athletics
2.Blue Jays (WC #2) 2.Indians 2.Angels (WC #1)
3.Rays 3.White Sox 3.Mariners
4.Yankees 4.Royals 4.Astros
5.Red Sox 5.Twins 5.Rangers
NL Wild Card AL Wild Card
1. Pirates (Winner) 1.Angels (Winner)
2.Giants 2.Blue Jays
Dodgers 3 Pirates 1
Braves 3 Cardinals 2
Athletics 3 Tigers 0
Angels 3 Orioles 1
Dodgers 4 Braves 2
Athletics 4 Angels 3
Dodgers 4 Athletics 3 Game 7 Dodgers 1-0 in 12 Innings
Dodgers - World Series Champions
Baseball Superdude Well, we'll have to wait about three months to see just how Super you are, Superdude. If you didn't say so yourself.
I appreciate the O's pick, but that's still anybody's division.
Detroit has a great rotation, and Miggy, but a really shaky bullpen.
Don't see Atlanta finishing ahead of the Nats, pretty hard to argue with the Dodgers winning it all.
This morning I can just picture Henry Fonda, on Golden Pond, looking at his sports page ...
"Look at the goddamn Orioles! Baltimore's always been a sneaky town."
Those g****** O's keep pounding those home runs.
Helped the Mets' and Pirates' drives for the playoffs by beating St. Louis a couple of times (-; Too bad they didn't get to play the Cards last October. Too bad they're not in the NL East, where they would have run away and hid by now if they'd swapped leagues with the Nats.
They've had a killer schedule the last month with games against all these teams with winning records, and they've been doing OK.
What concerns me is, what are they going to do to score runs when the weather cools off and the ball doesn't carry as well? Cross that bridge when we get to it.
Big win for the Buccos tonight. They lit up Zoolander for 5 in the 1st and coasted to an 11-6 win.
One other advantage to the MLBEI package... you get to hear how the other halves live. The Pittsburgh announcers, primarily Bob Walk (quite possibly the worst name ever for a pitcher) and Greg Brown are serviceable... Not the best, but reasonably unbiased. I usually watch the home broadcast but make sure to watch the visiting broadcast at least once per series. So far, the best has been the Tigers tonight; they are a professional tandem that doesn't sugarcoat things for the home team. The worst have been the Padres announcers; a couple of blithering homers that add nothing to the experience.
For me, I still believe that Mets fans are lucky to have Gary, Keith and Ron... They are IMO the very best in the business. A close second and very far from third is Gary Thorne and his sidekick in Baltimore. I've enjoyed his passion and honesty since he was doing NHL games on "The Deuce" back in the '90s. My friends and I used to joke about how he was going to "stroke out" inside the booth due to his over exuberance. Orioles fans are lucky to have him.
We are fortunate to have Gary Thorne, who also does great work with hockey.
Jim Palmer did all the commentary for many years, but he'll be 70 next year and he's cutting his workload back (I watched him pitch in 1970 and now he's going to be 70, oh, heavens).
I've enjoyed Baltimore's radio announcers throughout the years, starting with Bob Murphy, who the Mets fans all know.
For nearly four decades Chuck Thompson, a gentlemanly guy with a style you don't hear much anymore, was the voice of the Orioles. He's now in the Broadcasters' Hall of Fame.
John Sterling was there a couple of years in the 60s, but he sold his soul for the big bucks.
Since broadcasting and the Orioles came up, here's a clip voiced by Chuck Thompson, just to give you a feel for how he sounded.
Since Mama's is serving up those 1970 priced slices, might as well relive the 1970 World Series. I was in the stands for games four and five.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6Cs5_fx7tI
I apologize for watching the Mets tonight ... the O's got rained out and the Rangers playoff games are over ... not even a lousy Jets or Giants game to watch ... giving the Mets the old evil eye again.
I know they win a lot of games, but not when I'm watching.
I guess the post-steroid era has begun. Home runs are down to 1993 levels and ballparks are on average smaller than they were back then. We're halfway through August and no one has more than 31 dingers. After those three guys is Trout with 27. If they all go on a relative slump for the next six weeks, it's entirely possible that no one breaks 40, albeit unlikely, I admit. Still, through 2,508 games, the average HR/game ratio is 0.893, which like I said is the lowest since the pre-strike 1993 season when the ratio was 0.888.
Bring back the juice... chicks dig the long ball (-;
Raise the Jolly Roger... the Bucs finish the two game "sweep" of the home portion of the 4-game home and home series with Detroit to improve their record to nine games above .500.
Most impressive is that they've been playing without arguably their three best players: Cutch, Neil Walker and Pedro Alvarez... Cutch and Walker due to injury, Alvarez because he's been mired in a horrible slump. Luckily, guys like J Hay (Jerome Harrison), Russell Martin and Travis Snider have stepped up in big spots. Every night, it seems like someone new... even Ike Davis comes up big once in awhile. It's really refreshing to see a club play like a team, like a well oiled machine... unlike the ragtag mercenary vagabonds you are forced to watch if all you have is local coverage.
On another note, how 'bout dem KC Royals? Sitting in first place on August 13th. Whodathunkit?
Yeah, it's like the 70s all over again ... the good teams are the Pirates, A's, O's and Royals.
By the way, when the A's and O's met in the ALCS in 1971, 73 and 74, Joe Garagiola called it the Vowel Series.
The Reds need to step up, they also were great in the 70s.
The Yankees of the late 70s? Aaaah, they were the best team money could buy.
Funny Dock Ellis story ... before a game with the Reds he said "I hate those guys. I'm gonna hit every one of them."
Game starts and he plunks Rose, Morgan and Driessen. Perez dodged his attempts and drew a walk to force in a run ... and they're all laughing about it on the bases. When he threw at Bench, the ump said, "I'm gonna have to throw you outta here" and the manager put up no argument. He tied a record for hitting three batters in one inning.
He had substance abuse problems big time, everybody knew it, and to his credit, he later tried to help people who had problems. May his soul rest in peace.
Guys took getting hit as part of the game back then, at least if their heads were not targeted. Can you imagine if that happened with the way the guys are now and the ESPN over-analysis exposure of today?
Andy, I think a bigger reason for the home run dropoff is that teams are drafting more hard throwers now than ever before. The Greg Maddux type pitchers who locate are becoming extinct.
Just my opinion, but the steroid guys used to turn around that heat.
The only way to pitch to them was to try and fool them.
Now, that guys are normal again, the fastball is back in play.
Bob Gibson, Nolan Ryan, Seaver, Palmer, Drysdale, Marichal, "Sudden Sam" McDowell, these guys were not cute, they would just go out there and bring it ... dare you to get the bat on it.
Goose Gossage coming out of the pen and throwing bullets for three inning saves.
In an earlier era, Rapid Robert Feller. Fastballers are nothing new.
Greg Maddux surrendered 0.62 HRs per 9 innings pitched over the course of his career. Randy Johnson, who threw a lot harder, gave up 0.9 HRs per 9 IP.
I think mid-90s and above fastballers are more prone to giving up the longball, especially those without a lot of control who throw them right down Broadway more often than not.
Hate to drop names, but I did have access to a lot of players in the 70s.
My approach always was to ask a simple question any normal fan would ask.
When asked, how do you get great hitters out in the big leagues, Ed Ott, of the Pirates, told me very directly ... "if I draw an X on the wall and a guy who throws 85 hits it nine out of ten times, I'll take him over the guy who throws 99 and never hits that mark. There are three ways to get a big leaguer out, location, location, and location."
Direct quote from Ed Ott, who has a World Series championship ring.
Thread has been as quiet as the Mets' bats.
I see Matt Harvey has been told he's not pitching this year, to shut it down. Yeah, he might as well save his bullets for games that mean something.
I'll give you that the Mets have a real stockpile, a bumper crop of young pitching, but now that steroid use and offense is down everywhere, everybody has pitching.
The teams that are winning right now are doing it because they can score a few runs.
They need to get a couple of bats this offseason. If they don't raise payroll to $110 million with all this pitching, then they are stupid. That's the only way they are getting the offense they need, is to spend money. Even if they make a trade, they'll have to take on money. And hopefully this year is just an anomaly for Wright and not the start of a massive decline.
I think this sweep by the Nationals deflated whatever air was left. I'd like to see them put Colon on the waiver trade deadline and get rid of his salary.
Yeah, having all that pitching with so little hitting is like driving a Cadillac with bald tires.
We got some chuckles with this one at the paper ...
who has scored more runs against Cole Kimball, the Mets or Warren Hills?
The answer is Warren Hills.
Cole really became a true pitcher in summer baseball and at Centenary. The Nationals saw the potential and their coaches took him to the next level.
I take my hat off to anybody who makes the majors and especially anyone who sticks around for awhile.
It is so hard to make it there and even harder to stay there. And now he's trying to make it back, pitching in the Atlantic League, where there are a lot of former big leaguers and Triple-A guys.
With an O's rainout and yesterday's off day, got to watch the Mets twice this week.
You already know this, but I'll add my own words of praise here ... Ron Darling is really a good analyst.
And Mike Trout is the best player in baseball. Yeah, you already know that. What could I tell you about him that you don't already know?
So if I write about the guys on the fringe, don't hold it against me, OK?
Where's Superdude? Entered with a splash and now he's vanished. We hardly got to know you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDZ_lSJjgvk
O's are tied at Cleveland 1-1 into the ninth.
The Indians are 60-60. That was the Tribe's record in the first Major League movie, when Lou Brown came up with the idea that "every time we win, we peel a section."
Well I don't remember who said Granderson's contract is too high, but now I agree. Why they are leading him off is beyond me. Throw him in the 5th or 6th spot. I mean, it doesn't really matter at this point because the team is done for the year, but why not put someone else there to mold for next season. I'd rather see Lagares there.
That was me (...raising hand...). I said before the season that Granderson's contract was a mistake. He was on the decline, offensively and defensively.
You really don't remember, Metsman? I'm hurt (-;
Grandersuck's August is eerily similar to his April... so much for projecting his stats forward based on his June aberration, huh? Maybe he shouldn't play in months that begin with "A"?
How about that Lucas Duda, though...? 3rd in the league in HRs and 6th in ribeyes. A shoo-in for 30 HRs and 90 RBI, with a shot at 100, which according to Metsman is worth at least $13-15M per year. Looks like the kid is due for a big bump in salary, considering he makes 10% of that now.
Duda's getting regular playing time and he's not in the outfield now (which was ridiculous) so it's been a chance for him to show everyone he belongs.
How about that Ike Davis? Pulling the Buccos fat out of the fire with a pinch-hit three run bomb in the 8th inning tonight. Big win after blowing a 2-run lead late. Cutch and Alvarez both left the game with injuries; it's gut check time, but they're still within striking distance of at least a wild card berth.
Another day, another game-winning HR for Ike Davis for the Pirates. Thankfully, Cutch also returned to the lineup today after appearing to aggravate his broken rib crashing into the wall catching a fly ball last night. He went 1-3 with a ribeye on a sac fly.
If Ike can get hot, they may not miss Pedro Alvarez, who left last night's game with a foot injury that appears semi-serious, quite as bad. Although, to be honest, El Toro hasn't really been himself this year; his bat is a mere shell of what it's been the last two years and his fielding/throwing at 3B got so bad, they had moved him to first and pushed Ike out of his platoon with Gaby Sanchez. Defensively, the Pirates are much better off with Davis's glove out there.
29 games to go... the pennant race is officially on.
Chris Davis is doing some nice work at third base!
I wouldn't go so far as to say he's making people forget about Brooks Robinson, but he's looking a lot like David Wright!
So I guess since Duda is having a good year and makes nothing, it cancels out Granderson's contract. I think if Granderson batted 5th or 6th he'd have at least 15 more RBI's and maybe he runs into a couple more homeruns, but he hasn't proved he's worth his contract. Last night is a case in point why I like Lagares at leadoff. He hit a little trickler and easily beat it out for an infield single. He's got speed and they should be molding him to leadoff. He just needs to learn to not swing at pitches well out of the zone. He's kind of like Vladimir Guerrero except without power. He'll get hits on balls an inch off the ground or a foot outside.
Plainly and simply, Lagares needs to learn to walk more.
You don't want your leadoff guy swinging at everything like Bad Vlad... you want him getting on base. He has a .282 average, which is respectable... but his OBP is only .319, which isn't.
Hell, Granderson's OBP is 3 points higher and he's batting .217. That's a problem Lagares needs to correct.
With that BA, his OBP needs to be about .360... then, you'll have yourself a leadoff hitter who sets the table on a regular basis and will score 100+ runs. Until then... same old Mets.
Not saying Markakis is the best leadoff hitter in the league ... the best leadoff guy the O's ever had was Don Buford ... you could look him up for some real good leadoff stats ... but at least at a time the O's needed someone desperately to fill the lead off role, Markakis has taken it on and been helpful.
He has a .344 OBP with 54 walks and 64 runs scored in 131 games so far this year. His career OBP is .358, not bad.
He's the first Oriole since Hall of Famer Eddie Murray to get 1,500 hits through his first nine seasons.
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2014-08-04/sports/bal-taking-a-look-at-nick-markakis-spot-among-the-greatest-orioles-of-alltime-20140803_1_orioles-players-that-markakis-solid-orioles
A serious issue about the Mets... each of the last several seasons they have started out respectably, more or less stay in contention for a while, but as the season wears on ... they just die ... crap out ... fall apart.
When will this team, as it is basically built right now ... hold up for a full season?
Yeah but that's just it, it's not like Granderson is at a .350 OBP. Lagares gets more hits and their OBP is comparable. I would say Lagares beats him out with that being the case. You're only guaranteed to leadoff once in a game. After that he could be in RBI situations and I'd rather give Lagares that extra at bat in a game than Granderson.
Might as well give Lagares a shot at it, let him learn hands on. He's still developing, so we can't draw any negative conclusions on what really is a small sample size of at bats.
If it wasn't for their head-to-head wins against the Phillies, the Mets would be buried in last.
Even though the leadoff hitter often only leads off an inning once a game, he still needs to be a guy who gets on base.
He's still following the eighth and ninth guys (usually the pitcher in the NL) so most of the time he's coming up with nobody on, and needs to get something started. Give the thumpers some chances with 'ducks on the pond.'
Absolutely right, Andy... plus in the NL it's not uncommon for the pitcher's slot to make the last out in an inning. Often, with guys on base, the other team will walk the 8 hitter with 2 outs to get to the pitcher. So, for this season, absolutely let Lagares lead off... but, if he's going to grow into even a decent lead off hitter, he needs to learn to be much more selective at the plate.
Bobby Ojeda put up some stats last night. Walks and batting average are down in the 2010's. The game is becoming more a free swinging game. If Lagares can bat around .300 then his OBP would probably be .340 or .350. That's just fine in the leadoff spot if he can do that. Anyway he puts the ball in play, something Granderson doesn't do well. So if they don't find a better option next season, I'm fine with Lagares leading off.
The number of strikeouts is up to an alarming rate, but we need to remember that championships are won by the teams that are BETTER than everybody else.
Something isn't right just because everybody else is doing it.
With scoring being down to its lowest point in over 20 years, it puts a premium on making contact and getting them on, moving them over, and driving them in.
"Free swinging" and striking out does not win. Let the losing teams strike out all they want, the winning teams will cut the strikeouts down and put rallies together.
For anyone out there who may be curious about why I like Alex Ochoa, of all people, here's a nice article about him.
I'll just have to be thick skinned now and suffer through all the insults I get for posting it.
http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120625&content_id=33893464&vkey=news_t418&fext=.jsp&sid=t418
Combined no-hitter for the Phillies today ... not surprised that Cole Hamels was involved.
The O's acquired Kelly Johnson and as soon as he steps on the field, he will be the answer to this trivia question ... who is the only guy to play for all five teams that are in the AL East?
Trivia ... can be easily looked up.
The Phillies have played in the World Series against all five of the teams that are presently in the AL East ...
which is the only one they beat?
which is the only one they faced twice?
Correct.
The Yankees beat the Phillies in 1950 and 2009.
I expect pretty soon we'll have our MVP discussions ... even though the O's would not be where they are without Nelson Cruz, I'm fine with Mike Trout for MVP this year ... don't think the Angels would be where they are without him, and he's due to be recognized for being the outstanding five-tool player that he is.
You probably heard Mike Greenberg say Clayton Kershaw is the MVP of the NL.
Should a pitcher get that award? He can get the Cy Young.
Did y'all see who the Mets fired?
The lady in charge of the ticket department. Now this nice lady has to go on unemployment, pay through the nose for healthcare, suffer the indignities of answering questions about why she left her previous job, yada, yada, yada ...
the Mets don't draw fans because the team stinks, that's why they don't draw fans.
Sorry, but I'm going to have to extend that curse (-;
I feel your pain ... Orioles fans have hated Peter Angelos through the years with similar disgust.
You know that the O's traded Alex Ochoa and Damon Buford to the Mets for Bobby Bonilla ... well ...a year before that trade the Montreal Expos offered LARRY WALKER to the O's for Ochoa and Armando Benitez ... and Angelos turned it down.
Then he approved a trade for Bonilla. The O's could have had LARRY WALKER (who should be in the Hall of Fame).
That's an owner who does not know what the *@%# he's doing.
By the way, when Jeter visits Baltimore on his last trip, I'm sure the O's will give him the respect and honors he deserves, but I'd do one thing for laughs ... make sure Jeffrey Maier is there to give Jeter an autographed ball.
Jeffrey Maier and Jeter are a part of Orioles history forever.
Larry Walker was a Coors Field Hall of Famer... he hit .381 there with 154 HRs and 521 RBI in only 597 games. That's .381 with 42 HRs and 143 RBI average over 162 games.
Unfortunately, he hit .282 combined everywhere else... a reduction of almost .100 points. Likewise, his HRs and RBI per 162 away from Coors are only 27 and 92. Not bad... I once referred to them as "Trot Nixon numbers" compared to the "Ted Williams numbers" he put up in Denver.
So, if you JUST look at his Coors Field numbers, he's a shoo-in. If you look at his overall numbers (.313, 383 HRs, 1,311 RBI, 471 2B, 230 SB), he's low borderline for induction. But, if you disregard his Coors numbers completely and solely look at his body of work everywhere else but Coors, he's not even close to the HOF... so I think that if I had a vote, I would not put him in.
I like that he had a .400 career on-base % over a long career. He was good with the glove, too.
Camden Yards is a great park for hitters and I often wonder what kinds of numbers he would have put up there, in his prime years (late 20s and early 30s) ... the main thing, though, I never could understand why the owner didn't want to give up his two top prospects for him ... and then a year later went for Bonilla.
From what I read in the papers in those days, Walker wanted to be an Oriole and was willing to sign a fair deal to play there ... Bonilla ... well, the Mets fans know what Bonilla was like and the O's only had him for a stormy year and a half. He never wanted to DH and the O's had to always put defensive replacements out there for him in the late innings.
His bat drove in runs but his lack of fielding skill gave most of those runs back.
Win number 81 for the Birds ... Jonathan Schoop (pronounced scope) goes downtown again ... doing Paul Blair's old number proud ... Paul is up there in heaven smiling.
From 1998 to 2011, the Birds could not reach that .500 mark ... too much bad pitching and horrid defense ...
Now the younger generation of O's fans knows what it was like back in the 60s, 70s, and early 80s..
Bobby Bo.... Still paying him and his last stint with the Mets he was playing cards with Rickey Henderson in the clubhouse in 99 when the Braves beat them in the NLCS.
How are the O's in first place? They have 27 one-run wins (leads the league) and are 12-5 in extra inning games.
With two All-Star type players out with injuries (Wieters and Machado) and the incredible hulk (Chris Davis) having trouble staying close to the Mendoza Line, the O's "scrubs" and minor league call-ups have played a major role.
Being willing to spend some bucks and sign Nelson Cruz is a big reason they are "cruz-ing," but with winning teams it's as much about the unheralded guys, as it is about the stars.
Who has the most opening day wins without a loss?
He pitched for the Blue Jays, Yankees, and Orioles.
Anyone who pitched for the Blue Jays can't be too old.
O's have run away with the division. Don't think they have the starting pitching to go too far in the playoffs though.
Bucs sweep the Cubs in Chicago to move into Wild Card position. Now, they head to Philly and they need another sweep of an overmatched team or at the very least win 3 out of 4. Gotta make (Jay) Hay while the sun shines.
20 games left... four @ Philly, four @ Atlanta and three @ Cincinnati with nine at home versus the Cubs, Red Sox and Brewers.
They need to pound the Phillies, Cubs, Sox and Reds so they give themselves some breathing room versus the Bravos and Brew Crew. With as bad as they've been on the road (30-40), I don't have a lot of confidence.
Andy, didn't the O's have similar stats last year with respect to one-run and extra inning games? I think that was the reason I didn't expect them to contend this year; I thought it was an aberration and that they would regress to the mean in that respect. The fact that they're doing it again could mean that it actually wasn't a statistical anomaly, it might just mean that they want it more when the chips are down.
I agree that they don't have quite the starting pitching that Anaheim, Oakland and Detroit (and maybe KC) do... but they've got magic and the will to win, and that goes a long way.
O's had those similar stats in one run/+ inn games in 2012. Last year they didn't and didn't fare as well.
The O's have had a "magical" way of winning those tight ones ever since Buck got there. Buck has to be the difference. Meister is right that last year was not quite so magical, despite Chris Davis' monster statistical year.
You guys were close guessing David Wells, he did pitch for Toronto, Yanks, and O's also. The answer is Jimmy Key (7-0), who won some big games for the Yanks with Derek at shortstop..
We always mention names like Koufax, Gibson, Seaver when we think of great pitchers but Key might not have been spectacular, but he got them out ... bottom line.
Just like eight other guys who played for the Twins, Alex Ochoa went 0-3 in Wells' perfect game.
He never started another game at Yankee Stadium until four years later, August of 2002 with the Angels ... and he homered off Wells.
Suzyn Waldman asked him about it and Alex just laughed and said, "I was due."
I only do it, if there is something interesting that is related.
He's had some big hits and homers against some pretty darn good pitchers, guess I was the only one paying attention.
His last MLB homer tied a game against that Moneyball Oakland team, the 2002 team featured in the movie, after their 20-game win streak had ended. It was a pinch-hit shot to straightaway center off Mark Mulder in the seventh inning. He stayed in the game and the Angels got a big 7-6 win on their way to the playoffs.
All the Mets fans in the east who don't like him were sleeping.
Looked it up, Mulder was 19-7 that year.
After the World Series, the following spring, he went to Japan, played there five years and hit 100 of them, even though he had a contract with the Cardinals. He had a clause in his contract that he could pursue any opportunity in Japan if he wished. It was cool going on the Japan Times website and seeing final scores, stats, wrap ups, in the morning.
He batted fourth in the Japan Series for the Chunichi Dragons against Daisuke Matsuzaka and the Seibu Lions. Imagine that. And he hit for the cycle that year, we've already been there and done that on that short-lived trivia thread.
The magic number is now 11 ...
my cuz got tickets for Sunday ... Jeter's last game in Birdland, that'll be awesome.
I saw Henry Aaron's final Baltimore game on Sept. 29, 1976, the last game of the O's home season that year. Everybody thought it would be Brooks' last game in Baltimore, so they had ceremony for both of those guys, but Brooks came back in 1977 for one more season. He shouldn't have, he just couldn't do it anymore.
In the NL ... raise the Jolly Roger ... Buccos win again, their playoff hopes are looking pretty strong.
MVP? How about Trout and Stanton?
Thankfully, the Brewers and Braves both lost, too. The Bucs are now two games up in the loss column. Need to keep beating the Phillies, though.
I would go for Trout and Stanton. Kershaw is only going to wind up with about 27 starts. 27 awesome starts, but still, Stanton plays every day.
The Marlins aren't making the postseason, so Stanton can't be all that valuable, right? Isn't that how the argument goes? If it was for best statistical player, he would win hands down, though.
I also refuse to vote for a pitcher for MVP; how can a guy who plays once a week be the most valuable?
If Josh Harrison has a September to match his NLPOTM August and the Bucs make the playoffs again, he could come out of nowhere to win it. He hit .347 with 21 runs scored, 12 2Bs, 3 3Bs, 4 HRs and 9 RBI from the leadoff spot during the month of August. He's missed three games after rolling his ankle after making a phenomenal defensive play on Saturday, but so far in September, he's 8 for 19 (.421) with 3 runs and 2 RBI in 4 games. He should be back in the lineup tonight.
Right now, Cutch has the name recognition and the hardware on his mantel... so he's still the frontrunner for the Pirates.
BUT... right now, as of this minute, I would vote for Adrian Gonzalez of the Dodgers. He's having a great year statistically and the Dodgers are 20 games over .500.
Other guys in the mix would be Yadier Molina and Jonathan Lucroy, I think.
The NL award certainly is still up in the air ... with two and a half weeks to go and divisions and wild cards still being contested.
Adrian Gonzales from LA LA land would be a real good choice if the Marlins fall flat and finish below .500 or even finish below the Mets.
Andre Dawson and Cal Ripken stand out in my memory as guys who won with losing teams, and Ernie Banks back in the 50s.
I remember the day in 91 when I was watching CNN and not even thinking about sports ... and the crawl on the bottom said Cal Ripken won the AL MVP award ... it was so totally unexpected ... the thought of him winning had never crossed my mind because the O's were so inept and rotten that year .. and there it was ... huh? Did I read that right?
From the leadoff spot? Are you saying a leadoff hitter can't win MVP because he doesn't have big RBI and HR numbers?
That's also only over 435 at bats because he started the season as a bench player who played his way onto the field and into the All-Star Game. Add in 17 steals and the fact that he's hitting .413 with RISP and 2 outs. And he plays great defense at every position on the field. He's played 2B, 3B, SS, LF and RF this season and acquitted himself well at each position. He's about as valuable as it gets.
Right now, no... but like I said, if he duplicates August in September, you'll start to hear some buzz about him. You heard it here first (-;
Several leadoff guys have won the award ... Maury Wills in 1962 with the Dodgers, Zoilo Versalles with the Twins in 65 ... Pete Rose in 1973 with an awesome hits total.
That 62 award was an interesting one if you want to get into comparing stats, compare Wills that year with Willie Mays, Frank Robinson (not an Oriole yet) and Tommy Davis. Wills won over some guys with awesome numbers, especially for those days.
ianimal,
by that argument, Brett Garder should finish right behind Trout in the AL MVP then. Gardner is one of the best OF's in the game, has 16 hr's and 56 rbi to go with 19 steals. Lower BA, but more runs. His numbers right now are probably what Harrison's will look like at the end of the year, no?
You forgot the first rule... since the Yankees are nowhere near close to contention, he wouldn't be eligible. He's probably the MVP of the Yankees, sad as that is.
Plus, how many games has he played defensively at 3B or shortstop? Plus, his BA is almost 50 points lower. He hits .238 with RISP and 2 outs. He's no Jay Hay.
But if Gardner had those numbers and the Yankees won the pennant and you could show that he was the guy who kept coming up with the clutch hit that resulted in them winning games... then yeah, I don't have a problem with him winning MVP. If someone hits 20 HRs and each of them is a game winner, isn't that more valuable than a guy who hits 35-40 in games that had already been decided one way or the other? The word "valuable" is tricky in real baseball... not so much in fantasy, lol. I'll take "Mike" Stanton any day of the week.
ianimal, my argument isn't whether Gardner is MVP, it's that Harrison's numbers aren't MVP worthy. Gardner has more runs scored than Harrison, by a good measure (yes, more ab's but better pace as well), which is the #1 job of a leadoff hitter. Nevermind BA, they're OBP's are almost identical. Gardner just walks more. Avg is overrated.
Like Andy pointed out, Maury Wills won the MVP in 1962 with 6 HRs and 48 RBI in 695 ABs and 759 PAs. So, those two stats certainly aren't sancrosanct when it comes to winning the MVP.
Batting average isn't nearly as overrated as home runs are. Look at Granderson... he got paid based on the home runs he hit at Yankee Bandbox, ignoring the fact that his average was terrible. How'd that work out for the Mets? If you get a guy who can hit for average, he can pretty much do it anywhere.
If Jay Hay were a lefty hitting at Yankee Bandbox like Gardner, we wouldn't be having this discussion... but he's a righty who plays in a real major league ballpark. That's why these comparison stats are meaningless... they don't have the same context.
Their OBP might be similar (Jay Hay isn't your prototypical leadoff hitter... he's way too free-swinging and looks for XBHs, but being that's where he's needed, he's valuable enough to pull it off - he's still 6 points higher in OBP, too), but Josh is slugging .513 and has an OPS of .860... he's also in striking distance of winning the batting title. He's also 5th in slugging percentage and 6th in OPS.
Harrison has 66 runs in 462 plate appearances, which equals 1 run per 7.00 PAs. Gardner has 81 runs in 572 PAs; which equals 1 run per 7.06 PAs, so actually Jay Hay has a slightly better pace. You weren't giving Gardner an advantage for walking instead of hitting and only counting ABs, were you?
Like I've said all along... he's definitely NOT the MVP now, but if he duplicates August and winds up batting .325 and winning the batting title and has 18-20 HRs with 85 runs scored and 60-70 RBI, while maintaining the extremely clutch timing of his hits and his RBI... he WILL be "in the discussion".
Cutch only had 21 HRs and 84 RBI when he won the MVP last year and that was as the 3rd place hitter.
Interesting thing in 62 was that Wills led the second place Dodgers with 130 runs scored, but his teammate Tommy Davis drove in a league leading 153. Davis also led the league with 230 hits and a very productive .346 batting average.
Willie Mays of the pennant winning Giants also scored 130 runs while driving in 141. He also led the league in homers, but the RBIs are the big thing.
Frank Robinson of the Reds (3rd place in a 10-team league, 3.5 GB) led the league with 134 runs scored, drove in 136 and led the league with a .624 slugging %. He also led the league by far with 51 doubles. Mays was second in 2B with 36.
Another shortstop and leadoff hitter who won the MVP in the 60s that baffled me was Zoilo Versalles of the pennant winning 65 Twins.
Zoilo led the league in runs scored with 126, even though he only batted .273. He had 182 hits and 41 walks.
Teammate Tony Oliva was the batting champion (.321) and drove in 98 runs. Tony "O" had 185 hits and 55 walks. He scored 107 runs. The only guys with over 100 RBI were on non-contending teams.
Here you go, Metsman... the out you were looking for against the Wilpon family. If Donald Sterling had to sell his team because of blatant racism, what about blatant misogyny? Should certainly be dealt with just as harshly, right?
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/mlb-can-take-stand-nfl-didn-t-in-vetting-jeff-wilpon-accusations-with-severe-potential-consequences-015709001.html
Inside the Park HR for Cutch last night at Philly. Can't imagine it happens often in that bandbox. He hit it off the angled wall by the 409 sign about 10 feet up and Ben Revere inexplicably went up against the wall to try and catch it. The ball took a right turn and rocketed along the wall into right field. Even though he was only trotting to first base, he still made it around relatively easily.
Bucs win 6-3 and are now only 3.5 games behind the Cards, whose Magic Number remains at 14. The Pirates maintain their 1.5 game lead over Milwaukee and Atlanta for the 2nd Wild Card.
J Hay was 2-4 with a run, a ribeye and a double... he's now leading the league in batting at .318.
ianimal, if this isn't enough to get rid of these ass clowns then I don't know what is.
Man, shame that Stanton got hit in the face last night. He suffered facial fractures and is done for the year. Never like to see that.
The same thing happened to Paul Blair in 1970. Got a pitch flush in the face.
He had to see a hypnotist in order to become a good hitter again, to overcome fear of the ball.
Blair's injury happened early enough in the season that he was able to return and have a great World Series (.474) ... while Blair was out of action, the O's discovered Merv Rettenmund, who hit really well with a chance to get regular at bats on an extended basis. Merv went on to be a fourth outfielder who played as much as the three regular starters and had a "mervelous" year in 71.
Blair tried switch hitting in spring training in 71, but went back to being strictly right handed as the season went on.
That was ugly and no, it's definitely not something you want to see happen to anybody. I think he'll get the MVP out of sympathy now (plus his outrageously impressive stats), regardless of the Marlins not making the playoffs. I doubt anyone else has a chance.
Cutch had another pitcher deliberately throw at him again last night. This time it was Luis Garcia of the Phillies and it was directly at his head... missed by inches.
But the Bucs keep winning... took 3 of 4 from the Phils after sweeping the Cubs in Chicago. Unfortunately they got swept by St Louis before that or the road trip would have been better than 6-4. They start their final 9-game home stand with 3 versus the Cubs starting tonight. They've clawed back to within 2 games in the loss column of the lead in the NL Central.
Uh oh, Hulk Davis suspended:
http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/story/chris-davis-suspension-25-games-orioles-amphetamines-first-baseman-091214
Tsk tsk tsk.
He's only batting .196. No big loss. He may have power but that means nothing in the playoffs if he can't put the ball in play.
We just saw why they'll miss him, bottom of the 11th, birds down by a run, Cruz gets walked ... he might have seen something to hit if the Hulk was in the on-deck circle.
Well, I can hope the O's end up missing him as much as the Ravens miss Ray Rice (meaning not at all) but one big fly might have made a difference in this game.
Well, after that one, gotta post this ... O-R-I-O-L-E-S
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Mr7mQuGmp0
Gave Jeter his much deserved RE 2 PECT last night.
Where the heck is he going to put all that stuff? He may have to sell a couple of hundred of his cars to make room in his garage LOL
90 wins for the Orioles ... and they are doing it with "scrubs."
Magic number is uno.
http://m.espn.go.com/general/blogs/blogpost?blogname=sweetspot&id=51343&src=desktop&rand=ref~%7B%22ref%22%3A%22https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F%22%7D
Interesting story about a guy who started the year in the lower independent league, making $600 per month. A few weeks ago, he was called up by the Pirates and during a 6-game road trip, he received $654 as his meal allowance, lol.
He's been pitching lights out in relief though... 6'-9" and lanky with an upper 90s fastball. Is he the second coming of K Rod circa 2002? I doubt it, but at least one moron is making the comparison (-;
http://m.mlb.com/news/article/94788342/pirates-reliever-john-holdzkom-can-recreate-francisco-rodriguezs-magic
First Orioles championship without a Robinson or a Ripken.
Frank and Cal Sr. were coaches on the 79 team.
Anyone listen to Selig talk with the Mets broadcasters yesterday? What a joke... I hope the next commissioner has a set of balls. He needs to remove these ahole owners.
Well, I believe Gary Cohen, Keith and Ron Darling are employed by the Wilpons, not really at liberty to ask Selig any tough questions, the kind the die hard Mets fans would want asked ...
commissioners used to have the power to do what was right for the game ...
now they are just puppets for the owners ... a Republican Congress is sympathetic to ownership and those with the economic hammer ...
a Democratic Congress would be more likely to be sympathetic to the needs of players ("labor"), the people working at the ballparks (who really need the money), and the paying fans. That's as political as I care to get.
Raise the Jolly Roger... again. The Bucs are rolling, having won 10 out of 12 after a 9-1 ass-whooping on the Red Sox last night. Hopefully, they can complete the sweep tonight as there's a big series this weekend with the Brew Crew coming to town. Currently, the Pirates lead Milwaukee by 2.5 games in the Wild card race (3 games in the loss column) and trail St. Louis by 2.5 games for the division lead (2 games in the loss column).
St. Louis has a relatively easy schedule down the stretch (Reds, Cubs and D-backs), so I don't figure on the Pirates being able to catch them, but they should be able to hold off the Brewers and Braves, who are pretty much out of it... down 6 games in the loss column for the wild card. But, they have 4 games at home against the Bucs so they can cut into that lead quite severely with a 4-game sweep.
Gonna be an interesting 10 or 11 days, that's for sure...
It's looking better and better for those Pirates to get into the wild card game for the second year in a row.
YES!!!! Cubs win!!!!
Pirates are 1 game out in the loss column with 5 games to go...
A's vs Royals tonight. It's about time the Royals made the postseason. I was 6 the last time they were in.
79-83 season for the Mets. If only Wright and Granderson had typical seasons. Hopefully they bounce back next season.
Time to change the calendar... BUCTOBER is upon us!!!
Clear the deck, cannonball coming!!!! Raise the Jolly Roger!!!!!
Bumgarner versus Volquez. In his one start versus the Bucs, Bumgarner got lit up for 5 earned in four innings at AT&T Park. Let's hope there's more in store for him at PNC.
What a crazy game last night. I would prefer a nice, boring Buccos blowout tonight, lol. I don't know if I would have survived if I were rooting for one of those two teams last night.
That was a GREAT game last night! I love it when we get some different teams into the post season instead just the usual suspects.
What a great week for Kansas City fans! Clobbering Brady Monday night and now this!
I liked them better when they were the Quarter Pounders with Cheese... you know, before the metric system.
Shortest. Buctober. EVER. Lol.
Gotta tip your cap to Bumgarner. He pitched a whale of a game, pounding the strike zone.
How 'bout those Royals?
Great day in baseball today. Four, that's right four, playoff games in one day!
Detroit at Baltimore 12:07 PM on TBS - Verlander vs Chen
San Francisco at Washington 3:07 PM on Fox Sports 1 - Peavy vs Strasburg
St. Louis at LA Dodgers 6:37 PM on Fox Sports 1 - Wainwright vs Kershaw
Kansas City at LA Angels 9:37 PM on TBS - Ventura vs Shoem
Let's go Cards!
Really looking forward to Wainwright/Kershaw. That should be a great pitching display.
Me too Meister. Kershaw is something else, but doesn't do as well against the Cards as other teams. On paper, it should be a 1-0 final score game.
You would Metsman. Well run organization who is in contention every year. The anti-Mets.
Not one, but two brooms needed yesterday! Great work by both the Royals and the Orioles.
Clayarm Glassjaw. MVP? I think not... give it to Leonardo Davinci Stanton or whatever he's calling himself these days, lol
Congrats to the KC Royals and their fans. Well done! A well deserved trip to the Fall Classic for sure. I can only root for them if they don't face my Cards though. ;-)
My Cards are on their last leg. But, they've been there before and have prevailed. It's one win at a time at this point.
Looks like some lucky kids in the Philippines will be sporting their new "St. Louis Cardinals - 2014 National League Champions" t-shirts shortly (-;
Yup. *&^%$#@! Giants.
Let's go Royals!!!!!
BTW - I think I saw a kid wearing a Denver Broncos SB XLVIII Champions t-shirt in one of those ebola videos. ;-)
http://metsblog.com/metsblog/mets-are-not-changing-managers-despite-maddons-availability/
Jeff Wilpon is the biggest idiot in the game... Does he really view Terry Collins as the manager who will take the team to the next level....
Oh no! Oscar Taveras was killed in a car accident in the DR. He was only 22. RIP
http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/11770647/st-louis-cardinals-oscar-taveras-killed-crash
I am beyond sad over this. I have been a life long Cardinals fan and so has my family. He had SO much potential and was just starting to make it big and show his talent. His girlfriend also died w/him. R.I.P. Oscar
sunshinenj I guess nobody wants to talk about the World Series. *&^^%$#@@! Giants.
Anyway, I stayed up to watch game 7 and in the bottom of the 8th my cable went out.
Hell of a pitching performance from Bumgardner!
It was a good series except the one blow out. With a one run win on the 7th game, Thats pretty good.Even if I had to watch the score on the web.
Old Gent Whoops, sorry for the typo above.
Great article on Bumgarner's family life.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/31/sports/baseball/world-series-2014-madison-bumgarner-sf-giants-ace-is-product-of-north-carolina-and-proud-father.html?_r=0
Oh, there was a World Series? They really shouldn't schedule it during hockey season (-;
Great game 7. I watched the end of it.
Hockey ianimal? Might be the last thing MLB is worried about.
Where's Andy?
It was the lowest rated 7-game series ever, but you're probably right about hockey being the one thing they aren't concerned about, lol.
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