Benjamin Grimm

I suppose he was humble and loyal to his home town in the old country. Also, he probably figured that Americans wouldn't know how to spell "Bezaillion." (After all, we can't even spell "Francoeur.")

I was already an ancient fan by then, but the 90's was a miserable decade for the Mets, and 1999 brought back the fun for the first time in a long time. Their playoff run, even though it ended poorly, made me feel like a kid again. The Todd Pratt homer has been my most enduring memory of that season.

Dessens 1 Murphy 1 Sullivan 1 Sheffield 1

Pelfrey 4.5 Rodriguez 1 Castillo 2.5 Murphy 1.5 Francoeur 0.5

Duke Snider is alive at the present time.

Any word on when he'll be able to resume hitchhiking?

They capitalized on his eventual recovery, but certainly not on his injury.

He is. But it's the Brooklyn Dodgers doctors he's using, and they're all in their 90's and haven't been keeping up with medical developments.

I agree with them being cautious, and since they're not in a pennant race, the DL thing makes sense. (It prevents Jerry from trying to leverage Wright's "toughness.") I do expect that David will resume playing shortly after his DL time runs out.

Mike Piazza was beaned by Roger Clemens, and suffered his concussion, on July 8, 2000. He was back in the Mets starting lineup, and behind the plate, on July 13. He missed four days, and three of them were taken up by the All-Star break. I don't know how Piazza's concussion compares to Wright's (or to Church's) but this talk of David maybe being out for the season does seem a little extreme.

Oh, geez, I hadn't realized that until now. Two Greens means more potential Schaefer-tallying confusion.

I'm not going to pretend that this is anything other than extremely trivial, in light of David Wright's injury, but since I noticed this I'm going to point it out anyway: When Wright got beaned the other day, the HBP turned out to be his 498th Plate Appearance of the season. (PA = AB + BB + HBP + SF) That leaves him 4 short of the 502 he'd need to qualify for a batting title. (3.1 times number of games played by team) While David had fallen well behind in the NL batting race, he was leading in the race for the team batting title. (He was the Mets batting champ in 2005, 2007, and 2008. He was also the Mets slugging and OBP champ in each of those seasons.) If David doesn't play again, it looks like it will be a race between Luis Castillo and Daniel Murphy to see who gets the required number of PA's and gets high enough batting/slugging/OBP numbers. See, I told you this was trivial! Of course, if the Mets end up with two unmade-up rainouts this year, then David's 498 will be sufficient. And hopefully David will play again this year and get much more than those 4 missing plate appearances.

VOTING FOR THIS GAME IS NOW CLOSED Totals for August 12, 2009 (8 votes) New York Mets 6, Arizona Diamondbacks 4 NameTotal PointsPoints AwardedPlayer PerformanceOliver Perez16.442.065.1 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 6 BB, 7 SO.Cory Sullivan13.911.742-4, 2 3B, RBI, BB.David Wright11.621.453-5, 2 R, SO.Fernando Tatis10.241.283-4, R, RBI, BB, SO.Gary Sheffield7.930.992-3, R.Luis Castillo6.660.831-1, R, RBI, SB.Brian Stokes5.930.741.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO.Omir Santos1.050.130-4.Sean Green0.900.111.0 IP, 1 H, 2 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO.Francisco Rodriguez0.450.06(Sv) 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO.Jeff Francoeur0.250.030-3, R, 2 BB.Jeremy Reed0.110.010-0.

VOTING FOR THIS GAME IS NOW CLOSED Totals for August 11, 2009 (9 votes) Arizona Diamondbacks 6, New York Mets 2 NameTotal PointsPoints AwardedPlayer PerformanceJeff Francoeur20.362.262-4, R, 3B, HR, RBI, SO.Tim Redding12.521.392.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO.Cory Sullivan11.251.252-4, 2B.Brian Stokes5.860.651.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO.Alex Cora5.250.581-4, RBI.Fernando Tatis1.750.191-4, R, SO.Pedro Feliciano0.500.061.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO.

That was a terrific team, and it was the most fun that the Mets had been since 1986. And since then, only the 2006 team can make a case for being as much fun as the 1999 team. (I'm not sure that it was, but a case can be made.)

These guys very much want to play again, rather than go into the offseason with an element of doubt. I don't mind indulging them in this.

="bmfc1"]METS: Angel Pagan CF Luis Castillo 2B Gary Sheffield LF Jeff Francoeur RF Fernando Tatis 3B Daniel Murphy 1B Omir Santos C Anderson Hernandez SS Mike Pelfrey RHP (8-8, 4.88) Look at that lineup: Only two of the starting eight (Murphy and Castillo) were supposed to be regulars back when the season began, and one of them, Murphy, isn't playing in his expected position (left field).

]Mike Piazza was the greatest position player in Mets history. So far, anyway. But still not good enough (or, more importantly, for long enough) to get his number retired. I'd prefer to avoid the slippery slope; it should be a VERY exclusive honor. I'd retire Keith's number before Mike's. And Maybe even Darryl, Mookie, and Koosman. But I'm not in favor of retiring any of those numbers either. Leave it as it is until and unless David Wright or Jose Reyes gets about 2000 hits (or more) as Mets.

It's a concussion for David Wright: Mets� Wright beaned, suffers concussion Pitch by Giants� Cain hits New York third baseman squarely in helmet The Associated Press updated 6:26 p.m. ET, Sat., Aug 15, 2009 NEW YORK - Mets third baseman David Wright was taken from Citi Field in an ambulance after being hit squarely in the helmet by a 94 mph fastball from San Francisco Giants starter Matt Cain on Saturday. Wright, wearing a gray shirt and black shorts, was shown on television stepping unaided into the back of an ambulance about 50 minutes after he was hit in the fourth inning of a scoreless game. The ambulance left the ballpark with a police escort. Wright was taken to the Hospital for Special Surgery by ambulance about 50 minutes after being hit. Mets spokesman Jay Horwitz said a CT scan was negative and that Wright had a concussion. He was expected to stay in the hospital overnight for observation. Cain�s 0-2 pitch hit Wright just above the brim of the helmet, sending it flying as Wright fell to the ground in the right-handed batter�s box. Wright lay motionless on his stomach for over a minute before trainers helped turn him over onto his back. One trainer leaned in close as Wright was on his stomach, talking to the third baseman. After Wright was turned over, he sat up and a trainer shone a light in his eyes. Wright was helped to his feet and walked off the field with limited help. Fans gave him a loud ovation. Cain, who had thrown just seven balls in the first three innings, walked halfway in toward the plate and sat in a crouch as trainers attended to Wright. Giants manager Bruce Bochy visited the mound at the end of the 3-minute delay. Fernando Tatis ran for the All-Star starter and stayed in the game at third. Wright, who had a cold earlier in the week and did not start Tuesday in Arizona, has played in all but one of the Mets� 116 games this season. New York starter Johan Santana threw behind the back of San Francisco�s Pablo Sandoval, but missed him in the seventh inning. That drew a warning for both teams from home plate umpire Brian O�Nora. Sandoval responded by hitting a home run, boosting the Giants� lead to 4-1. Santana then hit the next batter, catcher Bengie Molina, but wasn�t ejected. San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy argued with O�Nora about the non-ejection, but Mets manager Jerry Manuel removed the star left-hander at that point anyway.

Box score Santana 2 Green 1 Castillo 3 Sullivan 1 Tatis 1 Murphy 1 AHernandez 1

Right, it's about his Mets years, and not enough of them came during Mike's prime.

]Wright hit in head, leaves game Mets slugger struck in left side of helmet in fourth inning By Brittany Ghiroli / Special to MLB.com 08/15/09 5:28 PM ET NEW YORK -- David Wright left Saturday afternoon's game in the bottom of the fourth inning after being hit in the helmet with a pitch by Giants starter Matt Cain. Wright was in an 0-2 count when Cain's four-seamer struck the left side of his helmet by his ear, and the infielder immediately fell down on his stomach, where he lay motionless until team trainers rushed out. After several minutes, Wright was flipped over and was able to walk off the field under his own power, albeit with some help from the trainers. Fernando Tatis was inserted as a pinch-runner and remained in the game to assume Wright's responsibilities at third base. Wright, who entered the game batting .325 with eight homers and 55 RBIs, flied out to center field in his first at-bat in the first inning. For a Mets team already missing starters Carlos Delgado, Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes, any serious injury to Wright would be catastrophic. Brittany Ghiroli is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

It's absolutely unreal. How much time did Mike Piazza miss with his 2000 concussion? I'm thinking about a week? Hopefully this isn't even a concussion at all, but if it is, I really hope the Mets have learned something (hah!) from last year's Ryan Church fiasco.

He absolutely doesn't. Period. Exclamation point! I win!