IGT - September 10, 2012 Mets v. Gnats

[Centerfield]

Years from now when Lucas Duda is in the twilight of his career, there will be spirited debate about whether you sign him to a long-term extension and let him finish his career as a Met, or make the economical decision to let the first-ballot Hall of Famer finish his career elsewhere. Arguments about the a player's ZFACTORGRADEOUTPUT after 39 years of age will be pitted against heartfelt anecdotes of Duda's post-season heroics.

"A player with that many championship rings can play on my team any day. He should be a Met as long as he wants."

"Hey, Tom Seaver was a pretty good Met. Why don't we sign him for next year too?"

"Asshole"

"Loser"

The one thing thing these CPF'ers will agree on is that Duda's success can all be traced back to that one day in September of 2012, when Duda, with the Mets hopelessly out of the race, gave Mets fans something to cheer about by smacking 4 HR's against the Nationals. Two of them off then-Cy-Young candidate Gio Gonzalez.

"Yup. That was definitely the turning point in his career."

"Oh, and remember, Colin McHugh started that game too. That was the first of his many complete game one-hitters."

"Really? That's right, we had no idea how good he'd be then."

"What a special day that was for us when you look back on it."

[G-Fafif]

Was that the same game when Josh Thole earned the nickname Joshhy Bench for going 6-for-6 or was that one of those two next nights when Dickey threw back-to-back shutouts to win his 19th and 20th "in style," as he called it?

[G-Fafif]

Nah, Thole wasn't in the lineup. This was the night Shoppach told McHugh how to pitch to that hotshot rookie Harper and the rest of the league figured out from there that he wasn't so tough.

How many of these guys are in the HOF now? I don't mean the Mets HOF.

Ruben Tejada � SS
Ronny Cedeno � 2B
David Wright � 3B
Scott Hairston � RF
Ike Davis � 1B
Kelly Shoppach � C
Jason Bay � LF
Andres Torres � CF
Collin McHugh � RHP

[Centerfield]

It's like something out of the Back to the Future plot. Somehow we have to figure out how to take out Jason Bay so Duda can get into the lineup tonight. If we don't, the future may be irreparably altered.

[Benjamin Grimm]

This thread smells a little bit like Mike Lupica.

[Centerfield]

I'm not sure if you're insulting me or not.

If so, I hate you.

[G-Fafif]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: This thread smells a little bit like Mike Lupica.

According to Lupica, Doc won 300 games. I'll take it.

[Fman99]

Centerfield wrote: Years from now when Lucas Duda is in the twilight of his career, there will be spirited debate about whether you sign him to a long-term extension and let him finish his career as a Met, or make the economical decision to let the first-ballot Hall of Famer finish his career elsewhere. Arguments about the a player's ZFACTORGRADEOUTPUT after 39 years of age will be pitted against heartfelt anecdotes of Duda's post-season heroics. "A player with that many championship rings can play on my team any day. He should be a Met as long as he wants." "Hey, Tom Seaver was a pretty good Met. Why don't we sign him for next year too?" "Asshole" "Loser" The one thing thing these CPF'ers will agree on is that Duda's success can all be traced back to that one day in September of 2012, when Duda, with the Mets hopelessly out of the race, gave Mets fans something to cheer about by smacking 4 HR's against the Nationals. Two of them off then-Cy-Young candidate Gio Gonzalez. "Yup. That was definitely the turning point in his career." "Oh, and remember, Colin McHugh started that game too. That was the first of his many complete game one-hitters." "Really? That's right, we had no idea how good he'd be then." "What a special day that was for us when you look back on it."

That was the same day I pounded all those Brazilian exotic dancers, right? Suh-weet!

[G-Fafif]

Centerfield wrote: It's like something out of the Back to the Future plot. Somehow we have to figure out how to take out Jason Bay so Duda can get into the lineup tonight. If we don't, the future may be irreparably altered.

You don't remember that Bay reached for his cap right before game time and sustained a concussion?

[G-Fafif]

McHugh's soon-to-be past victims:

?Werth RF
Harper CF
Zimmerman 3B
LaRoche 1B
Morse LF
Desmond SS
Espinosa 2B
Suzuki C
Gonzalez P

[Edgy MD]

Wally Backman reportedly in the house tonight. I'm not sure if that's 1985 Wally Backman in some shitty acid-wash jeans or what.

[G-Fafif]

Edgy DC wrote: Wally Backman reportedly in the house tonight. I'm not sure if that's 1985 Wally Backman in some shitty acid-wash jeans or what.

Presumably with the outline of a can of Skoal in the back pocket.

[Frayed Knot]

A nice hitting night tonight would help to fuck up Gio Gonzalez's CY chances.
I'd be in favor of that. RA I suspect would be too.

[Ceetar]

Frayed Knot wrote: A nice hitting night tonight would help to fuck up Gio Gonzalez's CY chances. I'd be in favor of that. RA I suspect would be too.

well, two walks..no hits though.

I suddenly realize there are only 6 Mets games left for me to watch this season. It's due to an awesome vacation, but that's still rather jarring to realize.

[Frayed Knot]

Mick-Q hasn't looked long for this game since the very beginning.
Yeah, the Shoppach drop was a killer, but he's nibbling around most hitters and, as a result, has thrown a bunch of pitches. He's totally pitched around Harper twice and has had several loud outs in addition to the two bombs.

[Frayed Knot]

By this point the remaining goal for this game is to avoid being no-hit.
I give it them a 60/40 shot at it.

[Guest themetfairy]

I think we can call it a day on the Kelly Shoppach experiment.

[Frayed Knot]

themetfairy wrote: I think we can call it a day on the Kelly Shoppach experiment.

What, for one dropped pop-up?
He's a helluva lot better than whatever else we've got there now.

[seawolf17]

Fifth inning, and the announcers have already given up. Gary's stumping to get Keith to give him one of his extra Gold Glove trophies.

[Frayed Knot]

Well considering that the game, just like the season, not only seems like a lost cause but is dragging along time-wise as well, I can't say as how I blame them.

[Guest themetfairy]

Why was there a horse on the field between innings?

[seawolf17]

Looked like the horse from "War Horse".

[Guest themetfairy]

Or a Trojan Horse.

[Frayed Knot]

Over the last (not quite) four full games and 36 innings (9 + 9 + 10 + 8) the Mets have 26 hits + 14 walks, but just 6 total runs

A large part of the problem is lack of power -- 21 of those hits are singles, with 4 2Bs plus Hairston's HR tonight
But then a huge chunk of it is just some real lame RiSP hitting.
Two or three will-timed [u:1woejtxc]singles[/u:1woejtxc] and they could be 2-2 over these four games.

[Ceetar]

themetfairy wrote: Why was there a horse on the field between innings?

Well, he's out 10-15 games with a sore calf, so he figured he'd watch a team that plays real baseball instead of going to Boston with the team.