Benjamin Grimm

I remember in 1995 it was Cal Ripken who "saved baseball."

I guess he'd DH for the Jays? Maybe that would lessen the artificial turf issue?

It looks like anyone who voted prior to the addition of the new options will have to revote. Me, I find myself rooting for (and voting for) the BOC that I nominated, rather than the one for which I was nominated.

Well, if Pagan is the fourth outfielder, maybe Endy can be the fifth. Jeremy Reed was supposed to be the new Endy. Maybe Endy can be the new (and better) Jeremy.

He's the Mookie of the 2000's decade.

The buzz seems to be that the Mets are considering Smoltz as a starter, which kind of surprises me. (Had he been starting in Boston and St. Louis?) He may be a guy who could be in the mix, but he's not the guy to finish off the rotation.

I just finished watching Game 3, the first time I had seen that game in 23 years which, since I'm 46, was half a lifetime ago. Also, Shea Stadium was exactly middle-aged that season; it was 22 years since it had opened in 1964, and 22 years until it would close in 2008. As the Mets quickly fell behind 4-0 in the first two innings, I found myself trying to remember how I felt at the time. Did I feel doom and gloom, or was my 1986 self confident that that extraordinary team would find a way to come back? When Darryl hit that 6th-inning three-run homer off Bob Knepper, I jumped out of my seat, even though I knew it was coming. Lenny's walkoff homer game me goosebumps. I clapped my hands so hard I frightened the dog, whose great great great grandparents probably hadn't even been born in 1986. As Darling struggled through the first two innings, my 2010 self was wondering how many pitches he had thrown. The announcers (Keith Jackson and Tim McCarver) never said a thing about it until after Ronnie had completed his 6th and final inning. (Jackson said, in passing, that Darling had thrown 93 pitches.) They never gave a pitch count for Knepper. And speaking of Knepper, I found myself surprised at how many batters he faced after the Strawberry homer. That was 2010 perspective again; I've grown accustomed to the quicker hook that starting pitchers get. Seeing Hojo in the dugout congratulating Darryl after the homer seemed like an anachronism, since there have been so many times in more recent years (although not so much in 2009) that I'd see an older Howard Johnson do the same with David Wright or Carlos Delgado or Carlos Beltran. After Dykstra's homer, they showed a shot of Shea from the air, focusing on the "Baseball Like it Oughta Be" sign along the top of the stadium. (Remember that?) What struck me was the loud thumping sound coming from Shea. How well I remember that, and how nice it was to see and hear it again. Another flashback memory was a shot of a vendor selling those little puppets of a puppy in a Mets cap, and when you open and close its mouth the blower expands and you hear a squeaking sound. Remember those? I think my sister had one. Boy, that was fun. What a great way to spend a cold January afternoon. I'm TiVoing Games 5 and 6, so I'll be sure to replicate today's experience two more times this winter.

Not much. Special effects, dumb story.

I would very much like Thole to turn out to be all that, and take over the catching job in 2011, if not sooner. But wishing won't make it so, so we'll have to wait and see. I'm also curious about Fernando Martinez's future. My hopes for him aren't as high as they once were (I'm getting an Alex Escobar vibe) but if he gets healthy and productive, and doesn't get traded, I wonder where he might play, now that left field is dedicated to Jason Bay for the next four or five years. Can he play center field, replacing Beltran if Carlos leaves after 2011? Or could he be a right fielder if the Francoeur thing doesn't work out, as most people here are convinced will be the case? My hunch is that he'll be traded.

Delgado hit his first homer yesterday.

Unless I'm overlooking something, I think that Hiram Bithorn would become only the second road stadium in which the Mets have played against two different teams. One honorary Schaefer point to the first person to name the other park.

NY Mets likely to play Florida Marlins in Puerto Rico next season, report says By Brian Costa/The Star-Ledger January 08, 2010, 12:23AM The Mets and Marlins are close to announcing that they will play a three-game series in San Juan, Puerto Rico, next season, according to a report in The South Florida Sun-Sentinel. The series, which was scheduled to be played in Miami from June 28-30, would instead be held at Hiram Bithorn Stadium, which has hosted the World Baseball Classic and was the Montreal Expos' part-time home in 2003 and 2004. Marlins president David Samson told The Sun-Sentinel he expects plans to be finalized within the next week. "We have a lot of fans down there," Samson told the paper. "We were asked by Baseball if we were interested and we said absolutely yes." While the Marlins would be the home team, the Mets figure to be a major draw because of their Puerto Rican players: Carlos Beltran, Pedro Feliciano, Angel Pagan, Omir Santos, Alex Cora and -- if they re-sign him -- Carlos Delgado. The Mets played a combined seven games against the Expos in San Juan in 2003 and 2004. San Juan's Hiram Bithorn Stadium, pictured here during a Mets-Expos series in 2003. I don't think I knew that Hiram Bithorn had artificial turf.

I just watched Mets Hot Stove and Bay seems like a very likable guy, and, while I know that the clips were carefully selected, watching him hit all those homers for Boston made me quite eager to see him play for the Mets a few months from now. Also, both Kevin Burkhardt and David Lennon fully expect both Carlos Delgado and Bengie Molina to be Mets this season.

Latest buzz is that the Mets, Yankees, and Astros are OUT of the picture for Aroldis Chapman, and that the Red Sox and Angels are still in the running.

I give Jerry credit for saying "Two Thousand Ten" instead of "Twenty Ten."

I hope so. Anything less is unacceptable and will INFURIATE me.

'Thor' moves up release date while 'Spider-Man 4' stalls By Melissa Moseley, AP Hot on the heels of the news this week that production of Spider-Man 4 is delayed, Paramount and Marvel Entertainment have pushed up the release of Thor by two weeks to May 6, 2011, reports Variety. Thor, starring Chris Hemsworth and Natalie Portman, was going to open on May 20. Disney has now grabbed that date for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Spider-Man 4 was supposed to start filming in February, reports Nikki Finke, then it pushed to March. Then late March/early April. And now there's no date at all. Finke says director Sam Raimi "hated" the script.

I don't understand "INFURIATED"

Frayed Knot wrote: * In the NHL, Guy LaFleur came back as an active player after he was in the HoF in what struck a lot of people as strange if not embarrassing. I remember Jim Palmer made an attempted comeback after he was inducted. He actually went to spring training with the Orioles, I think. I remember rooting for him to make it, just to see the novelty of an active Hall of Famer.

Saying that the "first ballot is sacred" is stupid. I'm surprised Alomar didn't get in.

Catfish Hunter.