Benjamin Grimm

This is all very confusing. Some of the game descriptions have mentions of things like sick dogs... Oh, and I meant that number 49 here is number 24 from the first group. (Mets win 2000 NLCS)

Another duplicate: Number 49 here is also number 29 from the first group.

You have the same game listed twice! (Numbers 15 and 23.)

I'd have no problem with that.

How refreshing to see that none of them are Mets.

What they do not need is a long-term investment in Bay if he doesn't want to play for them; the last thing the Mets can afford now is to have a reluctant $16 million player. If they don't get an answer soon, they should move on and take advantage of the fact they're one of the few teams with a nice chunk of change to spend. It's hard to argue with this. They should give Bay a deadline (like... tomorrow!) and if he declines, they should tell him to fuck off.

Wow, I didn't even know that the Pirates had had a decade!

I enjoyed reading Ludlum when I was a twenty-something. I didn't know they were aimed at seniors! (I guess I was a bit of a fuddy-duddy.) I saw a new Ludlum novel on display at the supermarket this past weekend. Knowing that the author is dead at the present time, I took a closer look. It's actually written by "Robert LudlumTM" and the indicia describes how the Ludlum family has personally approved an anonymous author to keep churning out Robert Ludlum thrillers in order to keep the gravy train on its tracks. (They didn't word it quite that way.) I think that's just awful. It wouldn't be so bad if it was titled "Robert Ludlum's the Something-or-Other Something or Other" by New Author Guy. But to have it look like Ludlum actually wrote the thing is unfair to his legacy, whatever you may think of him. What's next? Is some descendant of Charles Dickens, or John Steinbeck, or some other famous literary dead guy, going to commission a family-approved author to crank out "Greater Expectations" or "Of Mice and Men: Lennie's Revenge!"

I think it's as much a reflection on Delgado as it is on Murphy. The Mets seem to be putting a lot of weight on how well Murphy played in September. Maybe it's a sign of things to come, but maybe they should remember how mediocre he was from April to August.

I've also been rooting for Delgado to be the guy. But he does kind of have to be able to play for that plan to work.

This is further proof that the Mets medical staff is incompetent. They just signed a pitcher with no elbow!

Any reports yet on how this is affecting the Citi Field tour groups?

I wonder if I have a ulnar collateral ligament in my right elbow?

Frayed Knot wrote: This actor appeared in just five feature films in his career but all five were nominated for Best Picture Oscars (three won) - name the actor, and the pictures while you're at it. The first name that I thought of was James Dean, but I knew right away that that was wrong because I know he only made three films. And I'm not sure that any of them were nominated for best picture. (Maybe Giant was?)

metirish wrote: Got to say I couldn't sit through The Incredibles Really? That's how I felt about Wall-E. It seemed like three hours of watching a little troll shoving garbage around.

Iron Man The Incredibles Dark Knight

I'm not familiar with Howard Megdal, but he seems quite rational. How did he manage to get an Internet column?? All Mets want for Christmas is nothing Patience could serve club well in long term By Howard Megdal / SNY.tv So far this winter, the Mets have missed out on five years of John Lackey. They've seen Roy Halladay traded to the Phillies, with whom he will remain until at least 2013. Free agents from Chone Figgins to Randy Wolf have signed long-term deals elsewhere, and, with each passing day, there's every indication that the Mets won't stretch beyond four years for Jason Bay or two years form Bengie Molina. So far, this has been the best possible winter for the Mets. Don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that the Mets don't have holes, or that I don't want to see the club improve them as soon as possible. Rather, it is that this winter's free agent class is filled with what look to be trap contracts. And I don't want the Mets to marginally improve for 2010 while crippling the organization long-term. Long-term contracts are like marriage. Even if every indicator is good, they still require good planning and some luck to succeed. Go into either with a myriad of red flags, and you end up like Barry Zito Dennis Rodman and whoever. John Lackey at five years, $85 million, at age 31, with elbow injuries and a declining strikeout rate the past two seasons? You really want the Mets to sign up for that? Randy Wolf at three years, $30 million? Chone Figgins, to change positions, for four years, $36 million? It's as if those calling for immediate gratification don't have trap contracts in their minds when they do. Never mind that the Mets can't improve second base as long as Luis Castillo and his two years, $12 million are on the books -- or that only because Milton Bradley's ridiculous deal was equivalent to Carlos Silva's ridiculous deal in terms of toxicity were the Cubs and Mariners able to deal each of them. Some are calling on the Mets to do whatever it takes to win now. It is even reasonable to think that it is in Omar Minaya's best interest to do this. A difficult 2010 could spell the end of Minaya's tenure in New York, and what a shame that would be -- for Minaya to act in the best medium-term and long-term interest of the team at the expense of his job. So far, however, he hasn't done this, and Mets fans should be grateful. The free-agent options are largely unpalatable. Even Jason Bay at four years is problematic -- his defense, already terrible, is unlikely to get better as he ages, and the plan is for first base to be occupied by Ike Davis by 2011. And for all the hype around Matt Holliday, he is a corner outfielder with a career OPS on the road of .808. Sure doesn't sound like he's worth Carlos Beltran money to me. Fans should be grateful for this restraint, but not as grateful as they should be to the Mets for failing to take up suggestions from columnists that the team deal Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran and, yes, even Johan Santana. I suppose it is the only logical way to proceed. If you are determined to re-shuffle the team in 2010 and you've decided the free-agent and trade markets are dead ends, then dealing the stars under reasonable contracts, coming off of injuries and with trade value at an all-time low is the way to go. Of course, the 2010 Mets simply don't have the capability to control their own fortunes through player moves. Instead, they are in the not-terrible position of needing bounceback seasons from Jose Reyes, David Wright, Carlos Beltran, Johan Santana and Francisco Rodriguez. When all five of them are in what should be the prime of their careers, none has anything considered career-threatening injuries, and each of the five plays critical positions, this speaks to a potential renaissance season for New York. But that is precisely the point. Should they recover their peak form, the Mets will be a terrific team, and without saddling the future Mets with bad contracts. Should they fail to recover, the Mets could have signed Bay, Holliday and Lackey, and still finished a distant third or fourth in the National League East. And what may be the best news of all for the Mets is Bengie Molina's insistence on a three-year contract. In essence, Molina has taken the Mets' irrational fascination with bringing Molina to New York and raised it a ludicrous contractual demand. He's saying, in effect, "I'll see your statement that the earth is flat, and raise you that the moon is made of cheese." (Incidentally, I have to mention Ken Davidoff's reporting that should the Mets fail to sign Bay, Molina becomes even more important, and three years is possible. There is no baseball reason to sign Molina for one year, let alone two or three. I can only assume -- and this may seem silly-that the Mets have equated "Big Acquisition" to refer to player mass. This is not what the fans have in mind, Omar. Please don't go out and sign Molina and the late Dom DeLuise.) Ideally for the Mets, Bay and Molina are out of reach due to their demands, and the team has to settle for one-year deals to players like Jonny Gomes and Miguel Olivo, who will provide production in 2010 without saddling the team with bad contracts for years to come. For anyone who thinks the Mets will somehow be irrelevant if they fail to make a huge splash, or that fans will revolt, think again. The Mets, if their star players recover, will be relevant for years to come -- David Wright turned 27 Sunday, and Jose Reyes won't be 27 until June 2010. And fans will be far happier when the true contracts worth signing up for hit the market. Be it Carl Crawford or Felix Hernandez, or someone not even on the radar, fans will be far happier if the team can go out and compete for that star, in-prime player, instead of trying to sell fans on Year 2 of the Bengie Molina Era.

I was curious to see this movie, until I saw a clip on Letterman. It showed a couple of pretentious blue monkeys scurrying around in a tree. It looked absolutely dreadful. Now maybe it's possible to make a really good movie about pretentious blue monkeys, and I've judged Avatar unfairly, but I don't care to invest the time and money to find out. I don't think I'll watch it on HBO either.

metirish wrote: A two-year, $15 million deal from what I can gather.... Is it possible to assume that Piniero's value falls somewhere between Wolf's and Marquis'?

The Phillies are certainly a lock to win three straight division titles, since they've already done so! (Does he even know what year it is? He also has Santana signing with the Mets in 2007, not 2008.) He also says that the Carlos Beltran gamble has turned to vapor. Carlos did help lead the team to a division title; which is nothing to sneeze at.

A CPF member gets a shout-out in the headline to this New York Post article.

The Schaefer voting results: 1 David Wright 91.72 2 Johan Santana 84.61 3 Daniel Murphy 71.46 4 Luis Castillo 70.96 5 Mike Pelfrey 58.78 6 Carlos Beltran 57.53 7 Angel Pagan 54.94 8 Fernando Tatis 53.44 9 Jeff Francoeur 50.81 10 Gary Sheffield 46.94 11 Livan Hernandez 46.08 12 Omir Santos 42.66 13 Francisco Rodriguez 38.58 14 Tim Redding 37.44 15 Bobby Parnell 35.11 16 Brian Stokes 34.50 17 Pedro Feliciano 32.62 18 Sean Green 32.04 19 Ryan Church 29.47 20 John Maine 29.16 21 Nelson Figueroa 27.53 22 Alex Cora 25.69 23 Pat Misch 23.59 24 Cory Sullivan 21.72 25 Brian Schneider 21.29 26 Carlos Delgado 20.71 27 José Reyes 17.29 28 Oliver Perez 16.58 29 Elmer Dessens 16.50 30 Fernando Nieve 16.27 31 Anderson Hernandez 15.92 32 Ken Takahashi 15.41 33 Jeremy Reed 14.75 34 J. J. Putz 12.51 35 Ramon Castro 10.37 36 Wilson Valdez 10.26 37 Fernando Martinez 9.97 38 Josh Thole 9.75 39 Jon Niese 7.44 40 Nick Evans 6.78 41 Tobi Stoner 3.06 42 Lance Broadway 3.02 43 Ramon Martinez 1.73 44 Angel Berroa 1.69 45 Billy Wagner 1.66 46 Casey Fossum 1.62 47 Darren O'Day 0.69 48 Jon Switzer 0.56 49 Andy Green 0.32 50 Argenis Reyes 0.16 51 Emil Brown 0.10