Met Fact and Opinion III

[DocTee]

Opinion: Celebratory banners should celebrate pennants and world championships, nothing else.

FACT: The Mets wore pillbox hats in 1976 (on occasion)

[stevejrogers]

Opinion: Thankfully it was only one year for the Mets! Somehow the Pirates thought a Bi-Centennial Celebration meant it had to last ten years!

Fact: The Mets, Yankees, Dodgers, Twins, Giants, and Red Sox have all made the postseason at least once per decade since the 1960's. Throw in the A's for since the 1970's

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Opinion: The Twins accomplishment is the most impressive.

Fact: Wally Backman's 1982 season ended when he broke his collarbone in a bicycle accident

[nymr83]

Opinion: thats just not fair, Rothlisberger and Kent both received less severe injuries in motorcycle accidents

Fact: The Mets' new stadium will have about 10,000 less seats than Shea.

[Guest metsguyinmichigan]

Opinon: That means there can be 10,000 fewer people booing Braden Looper when the Cards come to town in 2009 -- if they're still hauling his greasy butt on their roster at that point.

Fact: Clem Labine was the first Met to wear No. 41.

[Elster88]

metsguyinmichigan wrote: Opinon: That means there can be 10,000 fewer people booing Braden Looper when the Cards come to town in 2009 -- if they're still hauling his greasy butt on their roster at that point.

This is also a fact.

You guys never play right.

[smg58]

Elster88 wrote: ="metsguyinmichigan"]Opinon: That means there can be 10,000 fewer people booing Braden Looper when the Cards come to town in 2009 -- if they're still hauling his greasy butt on their roster at that point. This is also a fact. You guys never play right.

Now now. We don't know if Looper's butt really is greasy. Well I don't, at any rate.

[smg58]

metsguyinmichigan wrote: Fact: Clem Labine was the first Met to wear No. 41.

Opinion: Nobody'd remember his name if he wore a different number.

Fact: Jose Reyes raised his OBP by over 50 points this past year, and his SLG by over 100 points.

[nymr83]

Opinion: he'll regress in 2007, but will return to his 2006 production for several consecutive years after (a prediction is an opinion, right?)

Fact: Carlos Beltran received $119 million over 7 years from the Mets, Carlos Lee received $100 million over 6 years from the Astros. (Omar looks like a genius now isn't part of the "fact" right?)

[Guest Edgy DC]

Opinion: The signing looks smart and the Yankees needing a centerfielder at the time and not grabbing makes it even better. The fact that they ultimately decided to spend their money on Johnny Damon? That makes it better still. Better, better, better.

Fact: On August 22, 2000, with the Mets being blown out, Bobby Valentine called Derek Bell in to pitch. Derek's first pitch was clocked at 47 miles per hour.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Opinion: I will never know quite what degree of humiliation Derek Bell felt to be a guy widely believed to have been paid too much, but I imagine he felt some when included in that Hampton trade.

Fact: Hubie Brooks returned to the Mets in 1991.

[Vic Sage]

O: As the #3 overall pick in 78 draft, i always thought he'd be more for the Mets than he was. As it turned out, the best thing he did was get traded to the Expos for Gary Carter, bringing the final piece of the championship puzzle to NY.

F:SNY will now feature 3 players from the 86 team in its pre- and post-gme broadcasts: Keith, Ron and Lee Mazzilli.

[Guest sharpie]

Opinion: Three guys on one of those shows is one too many.

Fact: Derek Bell wore sunglasses when he pitched that one inning.

[Guest attgig]

O: Derek Bell would have still thrown 47 mph if he didn't wear sunglasses.

F: Mets have had only one player manager in its history - Joe Torre.

[Guest Yancy Street Gang]

Opinion: If Willie had flopped badly this year, Julio Franco might have become the second player-manager in Mets history.


Fact: Yogi Berra spent 11 seasons wearing a Mets uniform.

[stevejrogers]

Opinion: There are a few out there (don't worry I'm not one) that feel Berra is a bit of a phony for burying the hatchet and returning to the MFY "Family"

Fact: This year marked the first time since 1988 that the Mets played a postseason game in pinstripes

[nymr83]

Opinion: it shouldn't be the last time, wear the traditional stripes at home and the grays on the road. keep the black uni crap out of the playoffs.

Fact: Kaz Ishii was 3-9 with a 5.14 ERA and 1.5 WHIP in 2005, the Mets gave him 16 starts.

[G-Fafif]

Opinion: Ishii was worth the risk given the lack of serious alternatives (Matt Ginter) and the price to get him (Jason Phillips).

Fact: Mike Cubbage managed the final seven games of 1991 and was never given another managerial job in the bigs.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Opiniion: Mike Cubbage looked like John Denver.

Fact: Bill Almon was the number one pick in the country in 1974.

[smg58]

Opinion: The list of #1 overall picks in the MLB draft is, with a small number of exceptions, really unimpressive.

Fact: Moises Alou's OPS has exceeded .900 in each of the last 3 seasons.

[G-Fafif]

Opinion: Moises Alou's hot start will win him enough fan goodwill to withstand a June decline.

Fact: No Met played as many as 45 games at second base in 2004, a year in which the Mets themselves played 162 games.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Opinion: We'll miss Kaz Matsui in 2007.

Fact: 347 innings, 456 strikeouts. Armando Benitez.

[Guest iramets]

Fact: Kaz Matsui had a .671 OPS during his Mets' career, and his offense was better than his defense.

Opinion: if the Mets miss him for a second in 2007, they're in very serious trouble.

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Fact: Posters in Met Fact/Opinion are to post an opinion on the previous guy's fact, not the previous guy's opinion, and leave a fact for the next guy to respond to, not an opinion.

Opinion: This can't be too hard to figure out.

Returning to the last Fact:

Fact: 347 innings, 456 strikeouts. Armando Benitez.

[Guest iramets]

Sorry. Whenever I see the name "Kaz Matsui," I lose all reason and good judgment.

[smg58]

Johnny Dickshot wrote: Opinion: We'll miss Kaz Matsui in 2007. Fact: 347 innings, 456 strikeouts. Armando Benitez.

opinion: I guess I was one of the many who couldn't forgive his blow-ups against the Braves in September 01, but Benitez was much better than he generally got made out to be, and it's unfortunate that we basically got nothing for him.

fact: Soriano got 8 years at $18M per year, and Zito got 7 years at $18M per year.

[Frayed Knot]

Opinion: I'm glad the Mets aren't responsible for either one of those contracts

Fact: More than 1/4 of the walks that Rey Ordonez received as a Met (64 of 251) were intentional.

[Guest iramets]

Opinion: More than 3/4ths of the praise Rey Ordonez received as a Met was irrational.

Fact: Paul LoDuca hit 60% of his HRs last year between April 29th and May 13th.

[RealityChuck]

Opinion: LoDuca is pretty smart defensively.

Fact: Dave Kingman had the lowest batting average for a home run champion.

[soupcan]

Opinion: Kingman was a poor man's Mark McGwire.

Fact: After 435 career games Jose Reyes has only three less doubles (82 to 85) six less homeruns (33 to 39), 41 less runs scored (352 / 301) and 64 less hits (588 / 524) than Captain Intangibles had after 480 games from the start of their careers.