Benjamin Grimm

[quote name=Robert Samuelson in yesterday's Washington Post]Almost two-fifths of millennials have tattoos, up from a third among Gen Xers and from a seventh among boomers.

I remember him!

Yes, it's not so much a recovery as it is that we're seeing the benefits of a bunch of guys getting a year older and a year closer to being ready for the big leagues.

Here, from his autobiography, Willie Mays, My Life In and Out of Baseball as told to Charles Einstein:

Let this be a reminder to us all (and to all those not reading these words!) of how quickly a farm system can be replenished. It was just a few months ago that the conventional "wisdom" was that the Mets had depleted their system because of the Santana trade and lost draft picks due to free agent signings. I remember one writer somewhere saying that the Mets were so low on prospects that it would take seven years (!) before they could recover. And now, suddenly, we have guys like Mejia, Davis, Niese, Martinez, and Tejada who all may be able to step into a full-time role within the next year or two. I can see Martinez replacing Beltran in 2012, Tejada replacing Castillo the same year. Davis replacing Delgado (indirectly) in 2011 or perhaps even 2010. Mejia may be able to replace Perez in 2012 (or 2011?). Niese may get his chance to enter the rotation as early as next month.

The official scoring rules seem to be silent on this matter. Rule 10.03( seems to be the place where this should have been addressed. ( The official scorer shall identify in the official score report any player who enters the game as a substitute batter or substitute runner, whether or not such player continues in the game thereafter, in the batting order by a special symbol that shall refer to a separate record of substitute batters and runners. The record of substitute batters shall describe what the substitute batter did. The record of substitute batters and runners shall include the name of any such substitute whose name is announced, but who is removed for another substitute before he actually gets into the game. Any such second substitute shall be recorded as batting or running for the first announced substitute. Rule 10.03( Comment: Lower case letters are recommended as symbols for substitute batters and numerals are recommended as symbols for substitute runners. For example, an official score report may note as follows: �a-Singled for Abel in third inning; b-Flied out for Baker in sixth inning; c-Hit into force for Charles in seventh inning; d-Grounded out for Daniel in ninth inning; 1-Ran for Edward in ninth inning.� If a substitute�s name is announced but the substitute is removed for another substitute before he actually gets into the game, the official scorer report shall record the substitute, for example, as follows: �e-Announced as substitute for Frank in seventh inning.�

I'm with Edgy on this one. I've always understood it to count as two pinch-hitting appearances.

Has anyone run a similarity score on Jerry Manuel and Joe Biden?

I don't know how many chits Davey would have had in 1984. He had never managed a major league game at that point, but he did have a long-standing association with Frank Cashen. General manager Omar Minaya said Monday that the plan going into camp was for Mejia, 20, to begin the season as a starter at Double-A Binghamton. And despite Manuel's comments, that plan has not changed. I don't want that plan to change. (Other than, perhaps, changing "Binghamton" to "Buffalo") I think the Mets have enough guys in camp to cobble together a decent bullpen. I want Mejia, long term, to be a starter and there's a risk he'll get pigeonholed as a reliever if he has early success there.

Send him to Germany anyway. If he can't play until next week, who needs him? Why should we be forced to suffer so?

Oh... it's five strikeouts instead of five walks. That's very different.

I wonder if they can find a guy named "Niete" who can fit alphabetically between the two guys.

Five walks by Niese tilts the balance to Nieve.

Yeah! Robot skeletons!

Really? It's worth waiting a few days for a blood test result in order to have one of the best offensive players in the club's history?

UPDATE II: Reyes said he's had no symptoms and feels fine. He said doctors believe it's an overactive thyroid. The test will be Monday, and result not available for 48 hours after that. Reyes will not be permitted to do physical activity until then. Day... to day... to day... to day. It's like d�j� vu all over again. My elderly cat had thyroid problems. We treated it, and kept her alive for another couple of years, but putting little pills inside her cat treats. Maybe the Mets should consider the same for Jose. I can give them the phone number of my vet. I figure he can't be any worse than the doctors they already have.* *I wanted to be the first to brush off (and mock) that cliche in 2010.

Wasn't that something? A few more of those and he may force himself onto the team.

Wow... Ike Davis just SMASHED a grand slam. It landed among the picnic tables behind the "grassy knoll."

Gary Jr. smashes a homer to right field.

Breaking news: Signed by the Mets to a minor league contract.