Benjamin Grimm

The Mets, going into tonight's game, have played 470 doubleheaders. They've swept 96 of them, and have been swept in 156. 214 of the doubleheaders ended in a conventional split, with the Mets winning the first game 98 times, and taking the nightcap in the other 116. That leaves four less conventional results, four doubleheaders in which the second game ended in a tie. In those four twinbills, the Mets won the first game once, and lost the opener three times. (These doubleheaders that included tie games were played on 6/7/64 vs. LA, 5/31,65 vs. the Cubs, 10/2/65 vs. the Phillies, and 9/2/68 against the Braves.) In the 2000's decade, the Mets had only six sweeps, the last one coming on 6/29/07 in Philadelphia. The previous sweeps were 9/6/06 at home against the Braves and 8/19/04 in Denver. The Mets swept three doubleheaders in 2000, against the Cubs on 4/22, the Expos on 7/27, and the Rockies on 8/15. The team that the Mets have swept by the most often is the Phillies, with 27 sweeps. The Cardinals are next with 17, then the Giants with 16, and then the Cubs, Expos, Pirates, and Reds with 13. On the plus side, the Mets have swept the Pirates most frequently, at 14 times. The Cubs and Phillies are next, with 11, then the Braves, Expos, and Colts/Astros with 10. As for today's opponent, the Mets have only swept the Dodgers once, on August 28, 1971.

Tomorrow will be yet another Wacky Wednesday, as three games* will be closed and tallied. They're all wins, which is fun and refreshing! If you have votes still to cast, please try to do so today. Schaefer POTG 4/23/10 - Mets 5, Braves 2 Schaefer POTG 4/24/10 - Mets 3, Braves Schaefer POTG 4/25/10 - Mets 1, Braves 0 (5 innings) *Okay, it's more like two and a half games.

Totals for April 22, 2010 (11 votes) New York Mets 5, Chicago Cubs 2 NameTotal PointsPoints AwardedPlayer PerformanceJohan Santana39.593.60(W) 6.1 IP, 8 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 5 SO.Ike Davis18.751.703-4, 2 R, 2B, SOFrancisco Rodriguez17.521.59(Sv) 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO.David Wright10.480.951-4, R, 2B, RBI, 3 SORod Barajas7.520.681-3, RBI, BB, SOJos� Reyes6.960.631-3, R, BBJeff Francoeur6.430.581-4, R, RBI, SOPedro Feliciano2.500.231.0 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO.

I may be wrong, but I have a strong hunch that Ryan Howard will be over the hill well before that contract runs out.

ESPN.com wrote: Ryan Howard will remain in a Philadelphia Phillies uniform through the 2016 season after agreeing to a five-year extension worth an average of $25 million per year. The slugging first baseman has agreed to a $125 million extension that will kick in starting with the 2012 season. If the team picks up its option for the 2017 season, Howard could earn $138 million. There are no escalators in the contract, a source familiar with the details of the contract told ESPN.com's Jayson Stark. The contract contains standard award bonuses. And Howard has the right to name a small group of teams to which the Phillies can trade him. He would become a 10-and-5 man, with full trade-veto rights, in May of 2015. The $25 million guaranteed average salary in the extension will be baseball's second-highest behind Alex Rodriguez's $27.5 million average under a 10-year contract with the Yankees running through 2017. Howard will earn $20 million in each of the 2012 and 2013 seasons and $25 million per season from 2014-16. The Phillies hold a club option for the 2017 season that is worth $23 million with a $10 million buyout. The 30-year-old Howard, who is 6-foot-4 and 255 pounds, has 225 career home runs in 750 games. This season he is hitting .275 with three homers and 16 RBIs.

That was the "My name is Michael, I've got a nickel" song, right?

G-Fafif wrote: ...the Mets have taken the field at least two of the last three games (the ones I attended) to Ms. Jarvis's recording of "Meet The Mets". They played the Jane Jarvis version at the one game I attended a couple of weeks ago. (April 12 vs. Washington.) Isn't it great when the Mets do something right? Here's hoping for more and more good decisions.

Well, a team always has the option to take a loss, don't they? Bobby Cox could have just pulled his team and headed for the airport, thereby forfeiting. (I don't know if there are any fines or other punishments for doing that, however.)

Pelfrey 3.5 Reyes 2.5 Castillo 2 Bay 0.5

Maybe there was a rules change along the way that I missed or forgot, or maybe I never had it right, but I thought that any uncompleted innings would be dropped from the "official record" meaning that the aborted sixth inning would have been erased. Guess not!

Voting for Thursday night's win over the Cubs at Citi Field will close early on Tuesday morning. If you still have a vote to cast, please try to do so today. Schaefer POTG 4/22/10 - Mets 5, Cubs 2

I was wondering the same thing. It seems like Frayed Knot has it right; the box score on MLB.com shows Valdes in the game, with one pitch thrown, but zero batters faced. That one pitch prevented Pelfrey from getting credited with a complete game/shutout. I'm not sure how to enter this into the UMDB... as a five-inning game, or a six-inning game. I'm leaning towards five.

Niese 2 Acosta 1.25 Bay 2.25 Reyes 1.5 Francoeur 1 Blanco 0.5 Rodriguez 1 Feliciano 0.5

Wow, this game is moving quickly. I'm just checking in right now, and it's already almost half over. (Innings-wise, anyway, unless it goes 20, of course.)

Please remember when voting... Last names only, no nicknames. Thanks!

Maine 1 Takahashi 2 Valdes 0.2 Reyes 2 Wright 1.5 Davis 1.5 Bay 1 Pagan 0.8

Totals for April 21, 2010 (10 votes) Chicago Cubs 9, New York Mets 3 NameTotal PointsPoints AwardedPlayer PerformanceRod Barajas19.561.961-4, R, HR, RBI, 2 SODavid Wright15.091.511-2, RBI, BB, SO, SBOliver Perez14.231.42(L) 5.0 IP, 8 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 4 SO.Luis Castillo11.081.111-4, R, 3B, RBIJos� Reyes2.750.281-5, RJason Bay2.580.261-3, BB, SOIke Davis0.950.101-4, SO

Could also be Takahashi.

Well, do pitchers throw more fastballs when a "speedster" like Reyes is on base with second base open? It seems reasonable to think that a pitcher would be less eager to throw an offspeed pitch in that situation. Problem is, even if Bay hits behind Reyes, more often than not Reyes doesn't reach base, and sometimes when he does reach base, there will also be a runner on second. So I don't know if Bay would see enough additional fastballs for it to make much of a difference at all.

He's a genius, remember?

Voting for Wednesday night's loss to the Cubs will close some time over the weekend, perhaps as early as Saturday morning. Schaefer POTG 4/21/10 - Cubs 9, Mets 3

So did the News. The reason for that is that Bay would be helped by seeing more fastballs if he was batting with Reyes on first base.

Totals for April 20, 2010 (13 votes) New York Mets 4, Chicago Cubs 0 NameTotal PointsPoints AwardedPlayer PerformanceMike Pelfrey58.834.53(W) 7.0 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 6 SO.Jos� Reyes33.472.574-5, 3B, 2 RBI, SBFernando Tatis16.761.291-1, R, HR, 2 RBILuis Castillo5.260.402-4, BBHenry Blanco5.110.391-3, BB, SOFernando Nieve3.040.230.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO.Ryota Igarashi2.420.190.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO.Francisco Rodriguez2.070.161.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO.Ike Davis0.850.070-3, R, BB, 2 SOJason Bay0.750.060-2, BB, 2 SOAngel Pagan0.490.041-3, R