Benjamin Grimm

Excellent stuff. In what medium did you do the Willie Mays and Ted Williams pictures? My guess is acrylics?

What happens if Perez refuses demotion? Does he just stay on the big league roster? Or does he become a free agent? Buffalo is clearly the place for him. As said above, there's really no role for him in the pen. I understand that the Mets would be reluctant to release him with so much money still owed, but I don't think he'll be able to get his act together as a mop-up guy. It would be in Perez's own best interest to join the Buffalo rotation and, possibly, work his way back to the big leagues.

No, you weren't: Thyroid Suspicions

Mets appear ready to yank Oliver Perez from starting rotation By Brian Costa/The Star-Ledger May 15, 2010, 8:00AM MIAMI -- Jerry Manuel wasn�t ready to say anything definitive, not so soon after Friday�s loss. But it seems all but certain that Oliver Perez will be bumped from the Mets� rotation after his latest debacle of an outing. �I�ll have to sit down with the people involved and make a decision,� Manuel said. �I won�t do anything until I talk to the player and discuss it.� That will probably happen Saturday. The only questions remaining are what the Mets will do with Perez and who will replace him in the rotation. In all likelihood, they�ll move Perez to the bullpen, since they can�t send him to the minors without his consent. Perez said after Friday�s game that he is fully healthy and not in any kind of pain, so a trip to the disabled list seems unlikely. But then, arm or shoulder �weakness� has a funny way of cropping up when a pitcher is getting clobbered the way Perez is. Hisanori Takahashi (2.74 ERA in 14 appearances) is the presumptive favorite to replace Perez in the rotation. The lefty was a starter in Japan, he was a candidate for the fifth spot in the rotation this spring and he has pitched well over multiple innings this season. Takahashi has shown good command, with only 10 walks, three of which were intentional. And he has a deep enough arsenal of pitches to be effective as a starter. The only argument against Takahashi is the valuable role he has played in the bullpen, which would be weakened considerably by removing him and inserting Perez. But that should be a secondary concern to the state of the rotation. Three pitchers at Triple-A Buffalo -- R.A. Dickey, Pat Misch and Dillon Gee -- could warrant some consideration. Dickey has the best numbers of the three (4-2, 2.23 ERA, 1.04 WHIP). But Takahashi seems like the obvious choice.

Jokes about babies abandoned in dumpsters? What's the opposite of bullet of cool?

I recall that some of us are ONE HUNDRED PERCENT CERTAIN that he's not.

What did Ron say?

Box score Valdes 1.3 Acosta 0.3 Mejia 0.3 Pagan 0.8 Davis 0.5 Barajas 0.5

Yeah, Spidey 3 is a prime example of that.

"He's dead to me."

The other day I received a surprise review copy of 100 Things Mets Fans Should Know and Do -- or else they MUST DIE the other day. I noticed that this forum got a shout-out in section 81. (As did that other web site I'm involved in.) Silverman (has he ever visited us here, by the way?) made particular mention of the Schaefer awards. I thought it kinda neat that this rinky-dink little exercise, which only about ten or twelve people, at most, participate in, has been immortalized, so to speak, in a published volume.

I think The Sasser Situation was a Robert Ludlum novel.

before it develops into something like the Mackey Sasser situation I would think that good writing would require a bit of an explanation about the "Mackey Sasser" situation. I'm sure a lot of today's fans don't have any clue about the problems of an obscure player from two decades ago.

A manager has a number of roles. One of them is in-game strategy, but that's not the only thing. It is, however, the thing that's most apparent to us. And I think that most of us agree that it's a weakness for Jerry, not a strength. But the Mets are going to judge him on all facets of the job. If they like the other stuff, then they're less likely to fire him because of in-game strategy. (He bunts too much, he doesn't know how to handle a relief staff...) If the losses pile up, he'll eventually get canned, of course. And then his in-game moves, his schmoozing, his player relations, etc. won't save him. But the losses haven't piled up quite yet. The Mets actually are still above .500. I think that 8-game winning streak bought Jerry a bit of time. I don't see a firing before June 1, at the earliest. And it's possible that the Mets may make the playoffs in spite of Jerry's moves. (Not likely, but possible, if the talent that they have finds a way to gel.) And if that happens, we'll still be kvetching about Jerry in 2011.

Now that we've welcomed him with an onslaught of penis comments, I hope we haven't seen the last of Joe the Artist.

I suspect that having five penises is something of a talent.

Welcome!

Only six voters so far (themetfairy, Ashie62, LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr, G-Fafif, Benjamin Grimm, and Edgy DC) for Wednesday afternoon's loss to the Nationals. I'll be closing the voting over the weekend, perhaps on Saturday morning, so please try to get your votes in today. Schaefer POTG 5/12/10 - Nationals 6, Mets 4

Totals for May 11, 2010 (9 votes) New York Mets 8, Washington Nationals 6 NameTotal PointsPoints AwardedPlayer PerformanceDavid Wright12.591.403-4, 2 R, 2 2B, BB, SOJason Bay12.581.403-4, 2 R, RBI, BB, SBRod Barajas11.641.292-4, R, 2B, 2 RBIHisanori Takahashi10.151.132.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO.Chris Carter9.501.061-1, 2B, RBIJeff Francoeur7.320.811-3, 2 RBI, 2 SO, SBAngel Pagan7.300.812-5, R, RBIFrancisco Rodriguez4.820.54(Sv) 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO.Alex Cora3.500.391-1, R, BBRaul Valdes3.500.39(W) 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO.Ike Davis2.350.260-5, R, RBI, SOLuis Castillo0.500.061-4Gary Matthews0.570.061-1Manny Acosta0.280.030.2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO.

When exactly does Howard Johnson's seat start to heat up? Is he immune because he's a 1986 hero? (He actually sucked in 1986, but that's beside the point.) Or because he's David Wright's baseball step-daddy? I suspect that if he was some import from another organization, someone who didn't have deep Mets roots, he'd be gone by now. It's okay to hire heroes from the team's past, but you have to realize that at some point you may have to fire them.

Santana 4.5 Barajas 1 Bay 1

When will the Mets next be on the West Coast? It would make it easier to do one of those 3 a.m. firings. Remember, when you fire your manager at 3 a.m., nobody ever finds out!

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: No need to bust on Bill Gallo, the man fought in WWII for god sakes. I agree.

Edgy DC wrote: I think they're certainly working to grow his replacement. Who are the center fielders in the pipeline?