Benjamin Grimm

The competition for the September awards could be interesting. Wright and Beltran are expected to return, so it might be tougher for guys like Francoeur, Castillo, and Pagan to keep up. (Pagan did well to capitalize on his August opportunity.) September's Pitcher of the Month? Pelfrey's the only previous winner who seems to have a shot. Figueroa, Redding, Parnell, and Misch will try to force me to put one of them on a Topps Retrocard.

To prepare for the future, I'm trying this with no HTML code... SCHAEFER METS PLAYER AND PITCHERS OF THE MONTH, AUGUST 2009 The Schaefer Mets Player of the Month for August 2009 is a first-time winner, ANGEL PAGAN. Pagan led the Mets in August with 6 home runs (SIX HOME RUNS! IN A SINGLE MONTH!) 19 runs, 19 runs batted in, 5 stolen bases, and a .563 slugging percentage. Angel's .301 batting average was only the fourth best on the Mets for August. (Luis Castillo hit .352, Jeff Francoeur came in second with .318 followed by Fernando Tatis' .310. Angel had an OBP of .348, trailing Castillo, .412, and Tatis, .352. Pagan's 9 walks tied for the team lead with Castillo. The Schaefer Mets Pitcher of the Month for August is JOHAN SANTANA. This is the third time this year that Santana has been Pitcher of the Month, and the seventh time overall. Santana, whose season ended on August 20, led the Mets in August with a 3.94 ERA. He had a won-lost record of 1-1 in 4 starts. And the Schaefer Mets Relief Pitcher of the Month is, once again, BRIAN STOKES. Stokes had a 3.07 ERA in August in 16 games, pitching 14.2 innings. He had no wins, 1 loss, and no saves. This is Brian's third win this season (he also won in April and July) and fifth since he joined the Mets late in the 2008 season. Month-to-date totals for August 2009 Through game of August 30, 2009 Rank Name Points 1 Angel Pagan 21.84 2 Jeff Francoeur 17.66 3 Luis Castillo 15.68 4 Daniel Murphy 14.01 5 Fernando Tatis 13.50 6 Johan Santana 13.08 7 Nelson Figueroa 11.97 8 Tim Redding 11.02 9 Cory Sullivan 9.12 10 Brian Stokes 8.58 11 Mike Pelfrey 7.82 12 Anderson Hernandez 7.80 13 Oliver Perez 7.53 14 Omir Santos 7.19 15 Bobby Parnell 7.09 16 David Wright 6.93 17 Gary Sheffield 6.82 18 Pat Misch 6.68 19 Alex Cora 6.32 20 Elmer Dessens 6.18 21 Francisco Rodriguez 5.49 22 Sean Green 4.19 23 Pedro Feliciano 3.51 24 Brian Schneider 2.95 25 Billy Wagner 1.66 26 Ken Takahashi 1.46 27 Wilson Valdez 1.43 28 Jeremy Reed 0.60 29 Andy Green 0.32 30 Angel Berroa 0.31 31 Jon Niese 0.22 32 Lance Broadway 0.19

Paramount: 'Thor,' 'Iron Man 2' still coming despite Marvel sale by Alynda Wheat Paramount Pictures issued a statement today in the wake of Marvel Studios� sale to Disney, reported earlier. The $4 billion deal won�t affect Paramount�s distribution arrangement for five upcoming films, the studio announced, including the highly anticipated Iron Man 2 and Thor. �Paramount Pictures has enjoyed a productive and fruitful relationship with Marvel Studios from the start of our distribution agreement in 2005,� the statement began. �So much so, we announced a five-picture slate distribution deal last year which includes worldwide distribution rights for upcoming films: Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America, Avengers, and Iron Man 3. This distribution deal will be unaffected by today�s transaction. We look forward to continuing to work with Marvel and, with today�s announcement, to working with Disney to replicate the incredible success of Iron Man on all our future collaborative projects.�

VOTING FOR THIS GAME IS NOW CLOSED Totals for August 30, 2009 (6 votes) New York Mets 4, Chicago Cubs 1 NameTotal PointsPoints AwardedPlayer PerformanceNelson Figueroa26.464.41(W) 7.0 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 10 SO.Angel Pagan6.941.163-5, R, SB.Anderson Hernandez5.330.891-4, R, 3B, RBI, SO.Francisco Rodriguez4.500.75(Sv) 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO.Brian Stokes3.930.661.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO.Daniel Murphy3.700.621-4, RBI.Luis Castillo3.630.602-5, R, 2 SO.Jeff Francoeur3.450.571-4, RBI, SO.Brian Schneider0.550.091-4, R, SO.

VOTING FOR THIS GAME IS NOW CLOSED Totals for August 29, 2009 (7 votes) Chicago Cubs 11, New York Mets 4 NameTotal PointsPoints AwardedPlayer PerformanceJeff Francoeur14.182.032-4, R, 2B, 2 RBI.Brian Schneider12.161.742-4, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 SO.Anderson Hernandez5.240.752-4.Fernando Tatis4.500.642-4, SO.Daniel Murphy3.660.521-4, R.Lance Broadway1.310.193.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO.Luis Castillo0.250.040-3, R, BB, 2 SO.Cory Sullivan0.250.040-3, R, BB, SO.

VOTING FOR THIS GAME IS NOW CLOSED Totals for August 28, 2009 (7 votes) Chicago Cubs 5, New York Mets 2 NameTotal PointsPoints AwardedPlayer PerformancePat Misch30.194.317.0 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO.Fernando Tatis11.131.592-3, 2B, RBI, BB.Angel Pagan8.451.212-4, R, 2B.Omir Santos4.840.691-3, RBI, BB.Elmer Dessens3.390.480.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO.Jeff Francoeur2.250.321-4, R, 2B, SO.

VOTING FOR THIS GAME IS NOW CLOSED Totals for August 27, 2009 (6 votes) New York Mets 10, Florida Marlins 3 NameTotal PointsPoints AwardedPlayer PerformanceTim Redding13.832.31(W) 6.2 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO.Angel Pagan9.981.662-4, 3 R, HR, RBI, 2 BB, SO.Daniel Murphy7.991.332-5, R, 2 2B, 3 RBI, 2 SO.Anderson Hernandez7.911.323-4, 2 R, 2B, RBI, BB.Jeff Francoeur5.530.922-5, 2 RBI, SO.Fernando Tatis5.050.842-5, 2 R, HR, RBI, SO.Wilson Valdez2.750.462-5, 2 R, RBI, BB.Omir Santos2.250.382-5, 2 2B.Sean Green1.920.321.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO.Brian Stokes1.420.241.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO.Elmer Dessens0.610.100.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO.Cory Sullivan0.250.042-5, SO, SB.

VOTING FOR THIS GAME IS NOW CLOSED Totals for August 26, 2009 (6 votes) Florida Marlins 5, New York Mets 3 NameTotal PointsPoints AwardedPlayer PerformanceFernando Tatis12.522.093-4, R, 2B, RBI.Cory Sullivan6.911.151-3, R, RBI, SO.Daniel Murphy5.860.982-4, R, 2B, SO.Anderson Hernandez5.430.902-4, RBI, SO.Brian Stokes4.790.801.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO.Ken Takahashi4.110.681.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO.Elmer Dessens3.370.560.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO.

VOTING FOR THIS GAME IS NOW CLOSED Totals for August 25, 2009 (5 votes) Florida Marlins 2, New York Mets 1 NameTotal PointsPoints AwardedPlayer PerformanceNelson Figueroa14.492.90(L) 5.0 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO.Sean Green6.821.362.0 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO.Jeff Francoeur5.951.192-4, R, 2 2B.Francisco Rodriguez5.471.091.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO.Fernando Tatis4.000.801-4, RBI, 3 SO.Omir Santos0.750.151-4.Luis Castillo0.550.110-2, 2 BB.Gary Sheffield0.470.090-2, 2 BB.

Weren't Iron Man and Incredible Hulk made by Marvel Studios. Either way, if Paramount or Fox have licenses with Marvel, then they now have licenses with Disney. Marvel still exists, it's just become yet another subsidiary of Disney.

I'm even further removed from baseball cards than I am from comic books. Much further removed. Maybe Disney should buy Topps.

Wouldn't Disney have ownership of any rights that Marvel had ownership of? If Marvel can make Thor or Iron Man 2, and now Disney owns Marvel, then I don't see why Disney wouldn't have the rights to make the movies. I suspect that this will make it easier for the Marvel characters to come to the movies or TV. I'm not saying that Disney will do a better job, but if they produce more, then there will be more quality stuff (as well as more poor stuff). If I was still reading the comics, I'd probably be concerned about their future, but I don't, so I'm not.

Box score Figueroa 4.5 Stokes 0.5 Rodriguez 0.5 Pagan 1.4 Castillo 1 Murphy 0.7 Francoeur 0.7 AHernandez 0.7

Don't forget to vote the Marlins series. (August 25, 26, 27.) The voting will be closed for those games on Tuesday. The Mets one win in that series, August 27, has the fewest votes of all three, which is kind of strange.

Francoeur 2 Schneider 2 Tatis 1 AHernandez 1 Murphy 1 Broadway 0.3

If they win one third of their remaining games (which is a pretty bad pace) they'll end up 69-93. I think your 71-91 seems pretty reasonable at this point.

="seawolf17"]="Benjamin Grimm"]My rooting interest for this team has been reduced to hoping they avoid 90 losses. 90? We should be rooting to avoid 100. This team is honestly that bad right now. The Mets need to go 5-28 to avoid 100 losses. (I think they should be able to do THAT!) They have to go 15-18 to avoid 90. That will be tough. (These numbers include today's loss to the Cubs, by the way.)

Box score Misch 4.5 Dessens 0.75 Tatis 2 Pagan 2 Santos 0.75

No Schaefer for Stokes today.

Tatis comes through! A double off Soriano's glove, into the ivy. Drives home one, but the trailing runner is out at the plate, ending the innning.

But Francoeur strikes out. It's up to Tatis.

We're in the bottom of the inning now. Misch has gotten the first out, and Lilly is due up.

Oops, not actually dropped. Mixup between infielder and outfielder causes the ball to drop in between.