MFY @ NYM 5/28/13

[Zvon]

MFS62 wrote: I just KNOW the VYF in my office is going to blame it on the fact Rivera had to pitch twice tonight (once before the game). Y'know what? Fuck him. I got out of work, turned on the radio in my car just in time to hear Terry get tossed and the score 1-0 MFYs. Then I turned it off. Did Terry have a legit complaint? What was the play? Later

Not with the ump. Tejeda had his head up his ass. Clearly picked off second, no mistake. Collins just had to get thrown out there...or Im afraid he would have ripped up the dugout or something. One a those maybe this will fire em up things, I think.

[Frayed Knot]

Edgy MD wrote: Speaking of sloppy, this Sunday catcher the Yanks are running out there has had a lot of balls just go through his mitt. He should be on the next train to King of Prussia or wherever the Yankees send their AAA players.

And on the Wright single, they gave the error to Gardner on the play at the plate (they always give them to the thrower on those plays) but that was absolutely the catcher's bad on that one. At first I thought he lost it in Muffy's slide but that didn't hit Daniel until it went right through Stewart's wickets and Dabid getting down to 2B on that play was HUGE.

[Ceetar]

Edgy MD wrote: MFS62 wrote: Speaking of sloppy, this Sunday catcher the Yanks are running out there has had a lot of balls just go through his mitt. He should be on the next train to King of Prussia or wherever the Yankees send their AAA players.

Just returned from a groin injury, probably still bothering him. Somehow the Yankees decided they didn't really need a catcher this year, sticking with Francisco Cervelli who got hurt. A guy they thought so much of LAST year they sent him to Triple-A to keep some scrub on the roster.

[Frayed Knot]

Austine Romine is their best defensive catching prospect. They called him up when Cervelli got hurt but he can't hit so he sits most of the time so they can get Stewart's bat in the game. They paid for it both nights so far.

[MFS62]

Thanks for the explanations.

Tejada better clear up his vision by pulling his head out of his ass.
Omar Quintanilla is hitting .323 at Las Vegas.

Lter

[Edgy MD]

Maybe Girardi needs to activate himself.


"Hey, Yankees, how about a one-inning
ballgame. You pitch Rivera and we'll go with,
um... Rice. What's that? Doesn't sound fair?
OK, we'll spot you a run."

[Frayed Knot]

Duda doing an actual interview with Harold Reynolds & co on MLBN
Even cracked a couple of jokes.

[metsmarathon]

Dura was just on MLB tonight. Was asked, facing Mariano, did you like your chances?

Said duda, "honestly, no."

[Zvon]

MFS62 wrote: Thanks for the explanations. Tejada better clear up his vision by pulling his head out of his ass. Omar Quintanilla is hitting .323 at Las Vegas. Lter

Didn't Mr Q eat up the Skanks once upon a time?

Great game.
> Another nice pitching performance from the Mattman.
> Murphy robbed twice by Gardner twice gets a form of revenge.
> Mariano the great does not even get an out. 1st blown save this season. Last time at Citi. We walk off.
> Duda acting alive during post interview.

[Edgy MD]

[Edgy MD]

[Guest John Cougar Lunchbucket]

[Centerfield]

Awesome.

Rivera may be a great closer and all, but I tell you, he has a tendency to blow it in big situations.

[metirish]

They showed some numbers last night as he came in to pitch, his ERA against the Mets is second highest all time for him next to the Angels....over 3....

[batmagadanleadoff]

Faint Praise and Madoff Free Megdal

The night Lucas Duda beat Mariano Rivera

By Howard Megdal
10:53 am May. 29, 2013


Lucas Duda hits Mariano Rivera's cutter. MLB.com

Though manager Terry Collins said all the right things about building on Tuesday night's 2-1 victory over the Yankees at Citi Field, team, fans (and owners, naturally) realize there probably won't be too many bright spots this season. This may well top the list. In a ninth-inning rally as surprising as it was inspiring to those fans who stuck through a 91-minute rain delay, consecutive hits from Daniel Murphy, David Wright and Lucas Duda ended Mariano Rivera's night with a blown save, and no recorded outs. That's the first time in Rivera's career that ever happened, by the way. And it took his opponents 1,072 tries to get there. The Mets didn't exactly crush Rivera's pitches. Murphy's double was of the bloop variety, settling just on the fair side of the left field line. Wright's line drive was the hardest-hit ball of the inning, scoring Murphy. But Wright only got to second base on the throw when center fielder Brett Gardner threw over the cutoff man, putting the winning run in scoring position for Duda. As Duda put it, "I took a swing and shattered my bat into 50 pieces. Luckily, it just went over the second baseman�s head." Duda hit a cutter, Rivera's trademark pitch. And he hit it, as he said, "just enough." Terry Collins, whose flirtation with laissez-faire management has apparently given way to doing things like batting Ike Davis eighth, he explained the Mets' strategy this way: "You can't figure it out. There's no words to explain it." The game over, Yankee fans took to Twitter to explain to Mets fans how terrible their team is, as if anyone is more aware of that than Mets fans themselves. But the Mets have won three in a row, not thanks to an offense that has scored five runs or fewer in 22 straight games, but because of three solid-or-better pitching performances, the best of them Tuesday night from Matt Harvey. It's hard to know precisely how to illustrate Harvey's greatness in a single moment. Is it the eight innings without a walk, but ten strikeouts? Is it reaching 98 miles per hour with his fastball on his 106th pitch? Is it the slider he threw to Robinson Cano with two on in the third that dropped a foot? It's all of this. And the one run he gave up came thanks to an outfield misplay by Marlon Byrd that allowed Brett Gardner to take second after a single. Harvey's greatness, then, is clear to everyone. As for the meaning of the win itself, Mets fans have no illusions. This Mets' offense proved it's too potent for Mariano Rivera just like Matt Franco proved, back in 1999, that no pitcher could get him out when it mattered, or Omir Santos proved in 2009 that he was the heir apparent to Mike Piazza. David Robertson gave up the lead Monday night, proving the best setup man in baseball can have a bad night. And Rivera, on a night he was honored by the Mets for an iconic career, proved even the best closer there's ever been can occasionally give up the game. The gloating Yankee fans are missing the point. The Mets and their fans, especially through this dark half-decade, are well aware that there will be no meaningful baseball in Flushing for a while. The Yankees are better, sure, and Rivera's the very best. For once, though, Lucas Duda was too much for them to handle.

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/sports/2013/05/8530473/night-lucas-duda-beat-mariano-rivera

[Frayed Knot]

Centerfield wrote: Rivera may be a great closer and all, but I tell you, he has a tendency to blow it in big situations.

Trying to start trouble again, aren't you?

[Frayed Knot]

I heard some brief talk about it concerning Murph's GW single on Monday but I didn't listen to any talk radio since then or read any papers today so I'm not sure about last night's game and therefore need info on what seems to be paramount on the minds of Yanx fans whenever they lose a close one to the Mets:
* Did the blue & orange celebrate too much?

This always seems to be a major complaint among YLDBs and even occasionally from the MFY front office types going back to the Matt Franco single (Best. Inter. League. Game. Ever.) and several since then; that the players act as if they just won Game of the WS instead of a game in May or June and that they're not a good enough squad to do so.
So I think we need to hear from the YLDBs on whether or not the boys behaved properly for MFY standards or if Duda's "c'mon" gesture after his hit broke some unwritten rule about how to act when you've slain the king. At least he didn't do it on hallowed Bronx ground, who knows what the penalty for that would be for that!

[Edgy MD]

Yankees invented the post-game on-field pieface, right?

[G-Fafif]

MFYs pass a "Happy Walkoff" card around the clubhouse, sign their names and leave it on the chair in front of the locker of whoever got the big hit. Just like in an office.

[Zvon]

Grrrr. DeJaVuey a lil bit. Lets hope this does not become a routine I would not fancy. But it was a great catch, again off Muffy.


I'm looking for a .gif or a clip that shows Duda waving out his teammates to come and pay tribute to Rivera with him after the big hit. To me, that was the highlight of any celebrations. I don't think the Mets overdid it at all. What they did there last night was a pretty big deal.

[Zvon]

K, I'm done. Bring on the night!

[batmagadanleadoff]

Wright hopes Mets' walk-off win over Yankees can propel season

Yes, Virginia .... (/rolls eyes)

[Ceetar]

The Duda bit was on the broadcast. I should just shell out the money for MLB.TV. that gives me access to the archives right? What's another..whatever it costs next to the nearly 400k I'm spending this month right?

[Guest Swan Swan H]

Wright hopes Mets' walk-off win over Yankees can propel season Yes, Virginia .... (/rolls eyes)

Batmags approved version:

Reporter: Big hit there, David.
Wright: Yeah, but who cares? I know it doesn't matter. Cynical Mets fans insist that I feel no optimism or sense of achievement. I suck, my team sucks, and any expression other than than is to be met with derision and mocking. Doooooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

[Zvon]

Zvon wrote: Zvon wrote: What amazed me, in the original pic, was that it showed that fans have been nickled and dimed through-out history. I've seen set-ups like this before in old photos, but always thought they were just outdoor boards that were there to view for free. But they were free, weren't they? I mean, there's the display right downtown for everyone to see. And the full details in the Evening Telegram was stuff you couldn't put on a board anyway--the game write-up, the sportswriters ragging on McGraw for playing Beals Becker instead of Josh Devore, etc. That's what I thought, and always thought. But reading that article and seeing the admission prices in the photo makes me think they somehow made it so only payees could be in front of that board. That does appear to be outdoors.

Went over that article again (really a very good read) after the game and it looks like they did have free versions of these. I guess the papers figured they would draw a crowd.

Two years later, newspapers, themselves, got into the act, starting with Joseph Pulitzer�s The World in New York. They erected a ball-field diagram with holes for colored, numbered pins representing the players. It quickly attracted a crowd estimated at about 6,000 people (the pic above), blocking traffic on the nearby Brooklyn Bridge.

[Fman99]

Just watched it in real time on the SNY encore. Good stuff.

[batmagadanleadoff]

What amazed me, in the original pic, was that it showed that fans have been nickled and dimed through-out history. I've seen set-ups like this before in old photos, but always thought they were just outdoor boards that were there to view for free. But they were free, weren't they? I mean, there's the display right downtown for everyone to see. And the full details in the Evening Telegram was stuff you couldn't put on a board anyway--the game write-up, the sportswriters ragging on McGraw for playing Beals Becker instead of Josh Devore, etc. That's what I thought, and always thought. But reading that article and seeing the admission prices in the photo makes me think they somehow made it so only payees could be in front of that board. That does appear to be outdoors. Went over that article again (really a very good read) after the game and it looks like they did have free versions of these. I guess the papers figured they would draw a crowd. Two years later, newspapers, themselves, got into the act, starting with Joseph Pulitzer�s The World in New York. They erected a ball-field diagram with holes for colored, numbered pins representing the players. It quickly attracted a crowd estimated at about 6,000 people (the pic above), blocking traffic on the nearby Brooklyn Bridge.

Scroll down a bit for the case of Shaw's Jewelry Shop, Inc. v. New York Herald Co.

http://books.google.com/books?id=IYE7AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA651#v=onepage&q&f=false

[Zvon]

Amazin'. That's a total, right? Not 40,000 at one time, I would think.

[metirish]

David Lengel(Mets fan) in the Guardian wonders why the fuss over Rivera

Why did Mets give Mariano Rivera red carpet before showing him the door?
Why did the New York Mets organisation make such a fuss of Mariano Rivera before he was unceremoniously ousted with a blown save?


Too close for comfort? Yankees relief pitcher Mariano Rivera laughs with former Mets closer John Franco after Franco caught Rivera's ceremonial first pitch. Photograph: Kathy Willens/AP

Mo-town I don't know why Mariano Rivera was asked by the Mets to throw out the first pitch before the Yankees final game in Queens this season. I mean I know why but I am not sure I understand it. I mean I understand it but I really don't get it. Rivera is the best modern closer of all-time, that we all know for sure - a classy player who dominated the sport at his position, no doubt. Now in his final season he is enjoying a goodbye tour across baseball, meeting fans from other teams, challenged children, groundskeepers, things like that. It's good stuff, and he has earned the right to do it - I don't have to tell you. There's a limit of course, and that is throwing out the ceremonial first pitch in the Queens ballpark, which he was asked to do by Mets management - naturally he obliged. It's not on Rivera that he took them up on it, who would turn down such a gesture, one from a team he helped bury in the 2000 World Series, picking up two saves, while playing for a franchise that Mets fans were forced to sit and watch as they dominated, won titles, pennants, made playoff appearances, season after season. Mets fans don't like the Yankees, at all, not a little bit, but Mets management seemed to forget that. Gifts are fine, maybe a few videos on the scoreboard, something like that. They did it for Chipper Jones who tortured the Mets so much he named one of his kids Shea, so why not do it for Mo? That makes sense, but they couldn't help themselves, rolling out the welcome wagon, going one step further than many Mets fans want to see, bestowing a first pitch honor onto him. The problem with the Mets ownership is that they seem to do the details very well. For their opponents that is. Why it was just a few years ago that their brand new stadium opened up with a rotunda that looked like the former home of the Brooklyn Dodgers and it barely had a stitch of Mets stuff inside it. The ushers even wore Phillies-esque colors: a nice touch, especially if you're from Philadelphia. It's hard to build a stadium, it takes a long time to design, and there's a lot to consider - a challenge for sure. You know what's easy? Putting some Mets stuff in it. They didn't do that until forced by their own fans. Here's another thing, the Mets have retired exactly one Mets players' number in 50 years of existence, Tom Seaver's 41 (Gil Hodges did play for the Mets but his number is retired for his managing, as is Casey Stengals'). You want to have an ultra strict policy on retiring numbers and limit it to home grown Hall-of-Fame players, which seems to be the case? That's a decision a fan can respect. Here's what you don't have to do - take three of the franchise's most cherished player numbers, the 16 Dwight Gooden wore, the 17 of Keith Hernandez, the 18 of Daryl Strawberry, and routinely throw it onto the backs of nobodies, the latest being Rick Ankiel, who is donning Doc's digits. Fans notice, and it leaves a bad taste. It's easy just to not issue the number at all, and fans will respect you for it. One more easy thing to do, or in this case, not to do. Jeff Wilpon, son of owner Fred Wilpon, doesn't need to stand up next to Mariano Rivera during a press conference and say "Wish we could see you in the World Series but I'm not sure if that's going to happen.'' It took Rivera, the Yankee, to try and save Wilpon saying "You never know.'' Unfortunately for Mets fans, it's not the first time ownership has spoken up in a negative way about its players, which can sometimes make them wonder whether they actually like the Mets or they like owning the Mets? Fortunately for Mets fans, the above and beyond kindness the organization showed Rivera did not filter down to the players. On the night that Mo threw out that first pitch, he returned to get hammered in the ninth inning, blowing a save while failing to retire a batter for the first time in his career, as the Mets swept the Queens portion of their home and home four game series. Ownership will have one more chance to honor Rivera, when he returns to Flushing for his final All-Star Game appearance in July.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013/may/30/mariano-rivera-yankees-mets-wilpon

I agree , plus, the Jeffy comment while no doubt true is just annoying....fuck off you twat.

[Edgy MD]

I think I disagree. The team went too far? Boo-hoo. We get to be kids and be miserly, but somebody's got to be the grownups and remind us that we just look petty. I wanted none of it, but it cost us little to put aside the petulance for a minute, and we ended up taking the game from him. Win-win, as far as I can see it.

And to pour in the "retired number" bit? Mercy. Why care? They'll retire a number when they've had a player give the team a career that makes an incontrovertible case for it. Which is what they really need to be working on. Retiring 17 or 36 or 8 won't make those players' careers better than they were or our memories richer. Not retiring them won't diminish them.

The Mets play good ball, all these ancillary PR issues likely take care of themselves. They play bad ball (as they have most of the season), all these non-issues get inflated. And there are no satisfactory choices.

It's always passing strange when a media outlet declares that something isn't really bad, but the PR arm of the organization makes it look bad. You're the media. The filter. If that disconnect is there, if something is actually better than (or worse than) it looks, you're responsible for clearing it up.