KTE: The Gigantors

[Guest sharpie]

When last we saw the Giants back in June they were playing mediocre ball and fielding an aging team. Not much has changed.

There have been a few bright spots for the boys who play in the most advertising-laden park in the majors. Pedro Feliz has had a pretty good year, as has Noah Lowry and Moises Alou. Omar Vizquel has been suprisingly effective at the plate. That�s about it for the good news.

Barry Bonds might be back in September. Yawn.

The matchups:

Steve Trachsel makes his �05 debut vs. Kevin Correia (2-4, 4.86). Correia was in the minors when the Mets last faced the Giants and given his 35/27 K/BB ratio, he�s likely to spend some more time there before everything is all said and done.

Tomorrow Tom Glavine, slave to regular rest, goes against �04 CYA-contender Jason Schmidt (10-6, 4.41). The Mets pummelled Schmidt when he came to Shea in June. You never know what you�ll get with the portly righthander who seems to mix good games up with bad ones. He�s been a major disappointment for the Jints this season.

Sunday Kris Benson returns from the shortest outing of his career to face lefty Noah Lowry (10-11, 3.81). Lowry was also beaten soundly by the Mets back in June but he�s pitching his best ball lately, going 8 2/3 innings on Monday against the Phils before LaTroy Hawkins got the last out in a 5-0 victory (the only help the Giants gave us in their matchup against the Phils).

Mets have not fared well at Pac Bell/SBC Park. They lost their first 12 games there and ended with a 2-12 record when it was called Pac Bell and are 1-2 with the name change. Note that their winning percentage has doubled from .166 to .333. Always look on the bright side!

X-Mets:

Edgardo Alfonzo has been relegated to part-time duty as his 2-40-286 numbers haven�t justified a starting spot or alla that cash the Giants piled on him.

Armando Benitez recently came offa the d.l. No saves yet but since another X-Met, Tyler Walker, is on the d.l., you�ve gotta figure that Mando will get his chances. One can only hope that it won�t be this weekend as we all remember Mando the Marlin and his total domination of his old mates (which is becoming somewhat of a misnomer as Trachsel and Floyd will likely be the only Mets in the starting lineup that Mando would�ve played with).

No X-Giants on the Mets.

Presenting Your Gigantic Met Team:

C � Mackey Sasser
1B � Dave Kingman
2B � Jeff Kent
SS � Jose Vizcaino
3B � Edgardo Alfonzo
LF � Kevin Mitchell
CF � Willie Mays
RF � Tsyoshi Shinjo
SP - Ray Sadecki
RP � Armando Benitez

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

John Franco's greatest moment as a Met came at Pacific Bell Park: that 2000 NLDS Game 2 game-ending strikeout of Barry Bonds.

So maybe they haven't won a lot of games there, but they did win a big one. I wouldn't trade that win for an .800 regular season winning percentage at that park.

But, with a 2005 pennant race under way, it's time to start piling up some regular-season wins there.

[Elster88]

Did the Kid have a short stint with the Jints?

[Guest sharpie]

Yes, you're right. A brokedown Carter went to the Giants after the Mets. The Manager of the GiantMets, Roger Craig, for some reason wants Sasser's lefthanded bat in the lineup. Go figure.

[seawolf17]

Only six players have played exclusively for both the Mets & Giants (and no other major league teams). Name them.

Hints:
1) At least three of them should be obvious, as they're still active (although one of them is active in another country).
2) The fourth has the most perfect winning percentage in Mets history.
3) The fifth would be the tallest player in Mets history, were it not for Eric Hillman.
4) The sixth pitched for the Mets in 1971, and the Giants from 1972-78.

[Guest sharpie]

Alfonzo, Ty Walker and Shinjo are the active ones.

[seawolf17]

Yep.

[Guest sharpie]

Charlie Williams is #4 after the Mays trade.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Mays
Shinjo
Charlie Williams?

[seawolf17]

He's hot! Can he get the last two?

[seawolf17]

I should have been more specific... San Francisco Giants, NOT NY Giants. Mays doesn't count. Sorry.

[Guest sharpie]

Just remembered that Darryl played for the Giants. Gotta go with him in right over Shinjo.

[Guest sharpie]

Also, I note that Roberto Hernandez played part of a season with the Giants so he would be the only X-Giant on the Mets.

Shows what happens when you do things off the toppa your head.

[MFS62]

seawolf17 wrote: I should have been more specific... San Francisco Giants, NOT NY Giants. Mays doesn't count. Sorry.

Huh?
Mays played in SF from 1958 until he came to the Mets.

I don't recall Schmidt being portly.

Good report.

Later

[seawolf17]

Dammit... I hate putting up a quiz but not being completely clear.

Two more guys, in addition to Williams, Shinjo, Walker, and Fonzie, played exclusively with the SF Giants and the Mets, not spending any time at all as a New York Giant. Clues are above.

[Guest sharpie]

Terry Bross was 0-0 with both the Mets and the Giants so I guess he's the guy with the perfect winning percentage. He was/is 6'0 so he's not the tallest guy.

[seawolf17]

Terry Bross is right, but for the wrong guy. Wasn't Bross like 6'9"? He was enormous.

[Guest sharpie]

Oops. UMD listed him as 6'09 which I read as 6 feet, 0.9 inches.

He had a perfect record, though.

[seawolf17]

1-0 would be a perfect record, especially if it came in his only game as a Met.

[Guest Spacemans Bong]

brooklynfans

insert bitter rant about San Francisco and Stoneham stealing the Giants here

/brooklynfans

[Guest sharpie]

wouldn't the upper manhattan fans be more likely to grouse about Stoneham and the Giants leaving than the Brooklyn fans?

[MFS62]

I lived in Upper Manhattan during that era, but I was always a Brooklyn fan.

Later

[Guest mlbaseballtalk]

sharpie wrote: wouldn't the upper manhattan fans be more likely to grouse about Stoneham and the Giants leaving than the Brooklyn fans?

You would think, but by the end of it there really wasn't much of a fanbase left.

Brooklyn Dodgers are more "history's darlings" though and for some reasons the Dodger fans are still more vocal.

Great example, and I don't know how this started, but Steve Somers on WFAN one night recently just opened the phones for old-time baseball talk, and the majority of callers said they were either Dodger or Yankee fans!

Who knows why. Probably Boys Of Summer had something to do with it. Certaintly the exploits of former Brooklyn players in LA, especially Brooklyn's own Sandy Koufax, may have contributed while SF shunned the former NY Giant players (including Mays) and made the SF only stars (Marichal, McCovey, Cepeda, ect) the more popular players

Personally, I've always found it facinating that from 1900 to about 1940 that the Giants were THE team in terms of a "flagship" franchise in the NL and MLB, and the Dodgers were this stumbling, bumbling, little brothers. And from 1941 on the roles would reverse themselves where now the Dodgers are (and should be despite what MLB is doing to them) the flagship franchise of the NL and MLB and the Giants have been floundering a bit both on the field and at the gate.

Most telling of course is that the Giants won their 5th and last title in 1954, at the time that was good for a tie with the Red Sox and A's for third behind the Yankees (allready in the double digits) and the Cardinals (with their 6th coming in 1946) Dodgers finally get their first in 1955 and went on to surpass the Dodgers in 1988. Last year the Red Sox pulled into a tie with them for third all time behind the Yanks with 26, and the tie between the Cardinals and A's with 9 each

Steve

[Guest Spacemans Bong]

sharpie wrote: wouldn't the upper manhattan fans be more likely to grouse about Stoneham and the Giants leaving than the Brooklyn fans?

It's noting that Brooklyn fans lead the world in moaning about their team leaving, while Giant fans pretty much accepted it. And it wasn't because there were no Giant fans - all three teams were pretty much as popular as the other.

Oh yeah, a TON of Brooklyn and NY Giant fans at the series this weekend. Hats and jerseys everywhere. The Mets tend to bring out the older fans who were around then.