IGT 5/13/13: Mets v. Cards: Oh, Ricky, You're So Fine

[Guest Swan Swan H]

The Mets visit the Cardinals, and their center fielder is a guy who's been here before:

Baxter 9
Murphy 4
Wright 5
Davis 3
Duda 7
Buck 2
Ankiel 8
Tejada 6
Hefner 1

[Edgy MD]

I like Terry. I see a combination of capitulation and defiance in every lineup.

[Ceetar]

clearly he read yesterday's thread where I pointed ago Baxter is getting on base and Tejada isn't hitting so bat Mike first.

[Guest Swan Swan H]

Ceetar wrote: clearly he read yesterday's thread where I pointed ago Baxter is getting on base and Tejada isn't hitting so bat Mike first.

Yeah, he printed it out and took it to read on the can.

[Edgy MD]

That's where he capitulates to reality. The cleanup slot is where he defies it.

Could you be more human? I like Terry.

[Edgy MD]

Swannie's lineup is BS. This is the lineup according to Kevin Burkhardt, indictating we have three Adam Dunns in the lineup, two of them at first and a third one at catcher. Also important to note is that we have Hitler on the mound.

[Guest Swan Swan H]

In addition to the hideous penmanship, it's curious how he lists the first three slots by name (rf, 2b, 3b) then goes 3-7-2-8-6, then 'p' to wrap it up.

[Guest Swan Swan H]

Ankiel will be in 16, per Rubin.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Matt Harvey wouldn't be pitching today by any chance, would he?

[batmagadanleadoff]

Being a Met fan this year must be something like rooting for Wes Westrum's Mets in '67. One pitcher and 24 dwarfs. And even Seaver, in '67, wasn't as good as Harvey is right now.

[Benjamin Grimm]

Swan Swan H wrote: Ankiel will be in 16, per Rubin.

It would be better if he was in 2008.

I don't know what the point of this is, really. It's not a move for the future, and that's the kind of move they really need to make.

This one's not likely to do any harm, though, unless Ankiel takes playing time away from someone more deserving, but the Mets don't seem to have that kind of someone.

[Guest Swan Swan H]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Matt Harvey wouldn't be pitching today by any chance, would he?

No, but I hear the Cardinals signed Glendon Rusch to play third base. Oh, and Hefner has allowed just three ER in his past two starts.

[Benjamin Grimm]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Being a Met fan this year must be something like rooting for Wes Westrum's Mets in '67. One pitcher and 24 dwarfs. And even Seaver, in '67, wasn't as good as Harvey is right now.

Coming into this season I was hoping it would be a 1983 kind of year. Instead it's smelling more like 1979.

[Ceetar]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: This one's not likely to do any harm, though, unless Ankiel takes playing time away from someone more deserving, but the Mets don't seem to have that kind of someone.

Not going to find out like this. Lagares has like 4 AB. And the guy sent down, Brown, didn't have much more. Kirk Nieuwenhuis had 16 or so and strikes out less.

[Benjamin Grimm]

You're right. It's better to test guys like Lagares or Nieuwenhuis, who may prove to be part of the future, than Ankiel, who's very unlikely to be.

[Edgy MD]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Swan Swan H wrote: Ankiel will be in 16, per Rubin. It would be better if he was in 2008. I don't know what the point of this is, really. It's not a move for the future, and that's the kind of move they really need to make. This one's not likely to do any harm, though, unless Ankiel takes playing time away from someone more deserving, but the Mets don't seem to have that kind of someone.

Sometimes moving to survive the present is a move for the future.

[G-Fafif]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: Being a Met fan this year must be something like rooting for Wes Westrum's Mets in '67. One pitcher and 24 dwarfs. And even Seaver, in '67, wasn't as good as Harvey is right now. Coming into this season I was hoping it would be a 1983 kind of year. Instead it's smelling more like 1979.

I'm coming to believe 2013 is on the verge of establishing its own discernible, meaningful precedent, as in "oy, it's another 2013 this year!"

[Ceetar]

G-Fafif wrote: Benjamin Grimm wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: Being a Met fan this year must be something like rooting for Wes Westrum's Mets in '67. One pitcher and 24 dwarfs. And even Seaver, in '67, wasn't as good as Harvey is right now. Coming into this season I was hoping it would be a 1983 kind of year. Instead it's smelling more like 1979. I'm coming to believe 2013 is on the verge of establishing its own discernible, meaningful precedent, as in "oy, it's another 2013 this year!"

Calm before the storm.

Each year is it's own year. Fun to compare in the offseason drudgery, but really unrelated to any other in any meaningful way.

[batmagadanleadoff]

G-Fafif wrote: Benjamin Grimm wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: Being a Met fan this year must be something like rooting for Wes Westrum's Mets in '67. One pitcher and 24 dwarfs. And even Seaver, in '67, wasn't as good as Harvey is right now. Coming into this season I was hoping it would be a 1983 kind of year. Instead it's smelling more like 1979. I'm coming to believe 2013 is on the verge of establishing its own discernible, meaningful precedent, as in "oy, it's another 2013 this year!"

You mean we'll be in for more of this?

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

If this is the calm before the storm, then the worse our actual record is-- as opposed to how the team plays, on the whole-- the better, right? (All the better to stoke the lower-reaches of the system, no?)

Let's go, all Mets except the bullpen!

[Ceetar]

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: If this is the calm before the storm, then the worse our actual record is-- as opposed to how the team plays, on the whole-- the better, right? (All the better to stoke the lower-reaches of the system, no?) Let's go, all Mets except the bullpen!

yes, we know all weather forecasters are always wrong. The storm may be tentatively expected next year, but it could also show up tomorrow or miss us entirely. Or end up just a drizzle instead of the hurricane that's predicted.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

Oh, I'm not being sarcastic, and I'm only half-kidding.

If this team's going to be bad, I'd rather have them be a 60-win team with an 81-81 Pythagorean record than the other way. (Ideally, with season sweeps of the Phils, Braves, and Fish.)

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Am I being too optimistic? This has been a crappy few weeks but it's all pretty understandable. Our cleanup hitter sucks and Hefner is our second best starting pitcher.

[ashie62]

Hefner has pitched reasonably well...hope is allowed..

[duan]

this without doubt the strangest pre-game IGT experience i've had in a while.
FWIW. I don't mind giving him a whirl, I think he's probably better then Brown and is only costing the same money and it isn't like Byrd, Valdy and Lagares have done enough to nail down a roster spot, so why not go through a bit of a waiver wire shuffle.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Muffy has a hit already, that's a good sign.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

Buck whiffs with the bases loaded to end the 1st.

[Guest Swan Swan H]

Well, they're running up his pitch count, anyway. New guy leads off the second.

Buck has hit a wall. A big, thick, cinder block wall.

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

The Hef is giving up the hits. 1-zip already, and nobody out.

[Zvon]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Being a Met fan this year must be something like rooting for Wes Westrum's Mets in '67. One pitcher and 24 dwarfs. And even Seaver, in '67, wasn't as good as Harvey is right now.

I'm very curious as to how many no decisions Seaver had in 67 & 68.