Worries here

[Elster88]

This thread gives me agita.

[Theoldmole]

[TransMonk]

Yancy Street Gang wrote: I'm confident that the Mets will get to the playoffs. I'm not that confident that the Mets will go deep into the playoffs, but that's a worry for October.

If you have a 12 game lead in the division in June but do not feel you can go deep in the playoffs then that possibility needs to be addressed now. It would be different if we didn't break away until August 15th, but now is the time to try and shore up any weaknesses. Not many teams have this much of an advantage so early that they know barring major injury or an historic collapse they have great odds to make the postseason.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I agree. Now (or soon) is the time for the Mets to address it.

I just don't feel it's the time for me to worry about it.

[TransMonk]

Point made.

[Edgy MD]

Good point, Monk.

Don't think I didn't also notice your controversial usage of an in "an historic."

[dgwphotography]

"It's a dog eat dog world, and the Mets are wearing Milk-Bone underwear"

[TransMonk]

Edgy DC wrote: Good point, Monk. Don't think I didn't also notice your controversial usage of an in "an historic."

You're right, before a pronounced "h" I should have used the article "a". Thanks for the reminder.

[Guest Hillbilly]

If they show up to play tonight, then I won't worry. The subways series will be telling too.

[soupcan]

TransMonk wrote: Edgy DC wrote: Good point, Monk. Don't think I didn't also notice your controversial usage of an in "an historic." You're right, before a pronounced "h" I should have used the article "a". Thanks for the reminder.

You guys are so fucking queer sometimes.

[Edgy MD]

You're right, before a pronounced "h" I should have used the article "a". Thanks for the reminder.

No, stick to your controversial gay guns.

[Elster88]

You guys are killing me.

[Guest ABG]

I'm worried. I was worried when we were winning 9 out of 10 on the road. Maybe it's because that's how I've been conditioned in my lifetime of Mets fandom, but I feel like its more likely because we're way too heavily reliant on two older pitchers on the downside of their careers.

Really, I think they have to address this in a significant way. I don't know if that can be done internally with Pelfrey, but if not I'd like to see them make a substantial move for a Willis--even if that means giving up Milledge. Getting another top of the rotation guy is about all that will calm my nerves.

[soupcan]

I didn't necessarily mean 'gay' when I wrote 'queer' btw.

I thought about writing 'fucking gay' then decided that 'queer', which still lends itself to a homosexual interpretation but in my opinion is less definitive than 'gay', better expressed my feeling.

[soupcan]

ABG wrote: I'd like to see them make a substantial move for a Willis--even if that means giving up Milledge.

I don't have a problem giving up Milledge for Willis. I do wonder what more it would take in addition to Lastings to get Dontrelle.

[Guest old original jb]

Of course I'm worried. I'm a Mets fan. I have to be either dissapointed or worried.

All this triumphalism and talk of an inevitable Mets jugernaut was making me feel very uneasy anyway. Now I can once again view the Mets as a fragile Rube Goldberg type jalopy held together by bailing wire, paste, and weird toe-protecting shoes from Nike. Sure the'yre ahead in the NL east by a lot, but the starting pitching is suspect, the closer has been Looperlike, the set up guy has mysterious twinges, Floyd is in limbo, and his vaunted rookie replacement and Mets #1 trade bait is every day --often in astonishingly original ways--proving himself to be some kind of Bogus Yutz ®.

You see, even with an 11 game lead, possibly half the NL All-Star starting squad, and the best record in the NL, the Mets can make their ultimate triumph (IF it occurs) look like a heroic stand against the odds.

I feel, well, normal again.

(edited to try to superscript my trademark)

[TransMonk]

old original jb wrote: ...the Mets can make their ultimate triumph (IF it occurs) look like a heroic stand against the odds.

See...JB got it right.

[Theoldmole]

I think "an historic" may be correct.

[Edgy MD]

See, controversisal.

[Benjamin Grimm]

It may be correct, but if it is it's probably a legacy of a pronounciation that's gone out of vogue. This is a grammatical rule that probably should be updated, but Don Fehr and the player's union would never go for it.

[Guest GYC]

http://www.dadeweb.com/pages/newman/index_historic.htm

Some guy e-mailed Merriam Webster and asked.

Thank you for your letter. Although the h in "historic" is indeed pronounced, either "a" or "an" can be used as the article before it. The practice of using "an" before such words is a carryover from linguistic conventions of long ago, when "historic" and a number of other words were actually pronounced with a silent h (particularly in England), much like "honor" and "hour" are pronounced today. As English evolved, the pronunciation of the h in these words became more common, but the shift to the proper article was slow to take place with it. A lot of h words, particularly those with an unstressed or weakly stressed first syllable ("hysterical," "heroic"), continued to use "an" as an indefinite article, especially in spoken English, when the words are often run together. You might occasionally see such a construction used in roadsigns reading, "You Are Now Entering an Historic District." The practice of using "an" with words beginning with a pronounced h still exists to this day, though it is less common in written English. We hope this is helpful. Sincerely, Neil S. Serven Merriam-Webster Editorial Department

[metirish]

GYC can you ask Neil S. Serven if he's worried about the Mets....

[MFS62]

My current concern is that the team still seems reliant on the home run to score. I don't see good situational hitting skills throughout the lineup, or the ability to "build runs".
In absence of the long ball, it seems like most of the big scoring innings have been the result of walks and errors rather than stringing together a series of hits.
Just my impression, though.

Later

[Edgy MD]

particularly those with an unstressed or weakly stressed first syllable

That's not usuually the distinguisher, it's more typically words with slender vowels --- a short e or i or y, which those examples have.

We go back to M*A*S*H* here. Hawkey once tried to phone a supply order, disguising himself as Charles, and embellsihed Winchester's upper-crust Boston Brahmin accent by including "an harmonica." This, of course was a word with a broad vowel, which caused BJ's face to grow puzzled, leading Hawkeye to re-iterate, "Yes, I said 'an harmonica'."

[metirish]

I don't think the Mets are at all reliant on the long ball, on the last road trip IIRC they were being lauded becuase they didn't just bombard teams with home runs, they scored in many different ways....these past two games just sucked, Soler you never know what you're going to get and Pedro was returning to Fenway and like others before him was way too amped up or whatever....Glavine needs to settle things down.

[Benjamin Grimm]

He also needs 5.09 Schaefer points to capture the Pitcher of the Month award for June.

Pressure is really on Tom Glavine tonight.

[soupcan]

metirish wrote: I don't think the Mets are at all reliant on the long ball, on the last road trip IIRC they were being lauded becuase they didn't just bombard teams with home runs, they scored in many different ways...

6 of the last 7 runs the Mets 'ave scored 'ave been solo 'omeruns. The one that was not was a basesloaded walk.

[Guest Hillbilly]

I say an hypothesis. But I don't think I've ever published it. My English wife has a freind named eather ayman.

[Elster88]

Yancy Street Gang wrote: He also needs 5.09 Schaefer points to capture the Pitcher of the Month award for June. Pressure is really on Tom Glavine tonight.

6 innings of shut-out ball ought to do it then.

[Guest Mr. Zero]

Worried that our shortstop's cold streaks will be as cold as his hot streaks are hot.