Benjamin Grimm

Looking at it now, I think it's the spangly pink-outlined Mets script in the middle of the skyline that makes it tacky. I'm not a fan of neon. The thing from Shea I would most have wanted to keep would probably be the original tiles. With them irretrievably gone, I guess that leaves the apple and the hat. And I agree about the World Trade Center and the ribbon. We should never forget, but I don't think we need to constantly remember either.

Probably. I only tend to IGT during weekday day games when I'm stuck in front of the computer.

seawolf17 wrote: DO IT, OMAR. http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3623945 ]"I am working for a team that needs me and wants me as their man," Valentine replied. "I love it here, but I am an American and love great challenges. I was a in a Met uniform in the '70s, '80s, '90s, 2000, and would love to be there in the next decade."

My one memory of Burgos as a Met was him pitching to Ryan Howard in an early season game. In the IGT, I urged Willie to leave him in to face Howard, and Howard promptly hit a game-tying or tie-breaking home run. It led to a Mets loss to the Phillies. And as we know, had the Mets had one additional win against the Phillies in 2007, we'd have much different memories of that year.

I'm glad that a part of Shea will be in the new ballpark, but I don't think that tacky skyline is the part I would have kept.

I also like that Jerry tried an old trick: getting more innings from his starters. Before Wagner got hurt, the Mets had only had one complete game, from Santana on July 27. After Billy's final game on August 2, the Mets had four more: Two from Pelfrey (August 20 and 25) and two from Santana (August 17 and September 27.) I like that he decided to stretch his starters where he could. I hope to see more of that from him.

Mel Stottlemyre? Roy White? I think they both played in the losing cause in the 1964 World Series, but I don't know (I'd have to look it up) if either was ever with a World Series winner. (I guess 1962 would be most likely.)

Jerry did make a lot of pitching changes, especially in the last few weeks. I too would be more inclined to stick with a guy who's getting outs, regardless of handedness. But Jerry was dancing through raindrops with his bullpen in September. I think he might have been better served by making fewer moves, but he opted to go the other way. It didn't work, but I do understand why he felt he had to keep his hands in there.

A Phillies-Dodgers playoffs would be like, so thirty years ago. But I guess there's not much chance of seeing the Yankees vs. the Royals in the ALCS this year.

I just realized that Burgos got no surge of hits on the UMDB from this. If you rob a jewelry store (Jeff Reardon) or fly a plane into a building (Cory Lidle) your numbers go through the roof. But you kill two people in the Dominican Republic: nothing! He's had fewer lookups this week than guys like Shaun Fitzmaurice and Tito Navarro. I wonder if it's the Dominican Republic angle? If he had killed two women on the Jersey Turnpike this probably would have gotten a lot more attention.

When we want them to win, they lose, and when we want them to lose, they win.

How long was Willie's initial contract? I think it was three years, wasn't it? If a novice like Randolph merits three years, then Jerry Manuel certainly does. I hope they sign him. I hope he stays. And I'd be fine with him getting three years or four.

Our 2004 forum history is quite spotty. Anything from before May or June of 2005 is potentially a victim of the ezCrash.

="soupcan"]Hmmmmm. Um, a bullpen? Egads! You may be on to something! I hope Omar is able to figure it out too!

I wonder whose subtractions will be additions? And really, you only improve if, after getting rid of a bad player, you replace him with somebody better. The subtraction itself isn't the whole solution.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: L-O-V-E the card back. Thanks! I've done so many of these cards, and I found myself sometimes trying to picture what the flip side would look like. I finally decided to indulge myself and find out.

APRMAYJUNJULAUGSEP THE SCHAEFER METS PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2008 For the first time in the four-year history of the revived Schaefer Mets Player of the Year award, we have a winner whose name is not David Wright. Our winner is first-year Met JOHAN SANTANA. Santana led the Mets in many pitching categories: Innings (234.1), wins (16), ERA (2.53), strikeouts (206), complete games (3) and shutouts (2). He tied for the team lead in starts (with Oliver Perez) with 34. His ERA and innings were enough to also lead the National League in both categories. Santana's final appearance, a shutout against the Marlins, clinched the Schaefer award for the pitcher who, entering the game, was only about 2 points ahead of David Wright and 3 ahead of Carlos Beltran. (Unfortunately, the performace wasn't enough to clinch a more important distinction: an NL playoff berth.) The Schaefer Mets Pitcher of the Year, needless to say, is also JOHAN SANTANA. Santana finished more than 30 points ahead of Mike Pelfrey and more than 47 points ahead of Oliver Perez. In 2008 we also started awarding Schaefer to top relief pitchers. Or, perhaps more accurately, to the relief pitcher who was least bad the most often. This year's initial winner of the Schaefer Relief Pitcher of the Year is AARON HEILMAN. Aaron pitched more innings (76) than any other Mets reliever in 2008, although he finished third in games behind Pedro Feliciano (86) and Joe Smith (82). He was 3-8 with a 5.21 ERA and 3 saves. Season-to-date totals for 2008 Through game of September 28, 2008 RankNamePoints1Johan Santana121.372David Wright113.523Carlos Beltran112.444Carlos Delgado106.025José Reyes92.796Mike Pelfrey90.017Oliver Perez74.278John Maine52.029Ryan Church45.9210Damion Easley39.5711Fernando Tatis39.2212Aaron Heilman34.5013Pedro Martinez32.6114Brian Schneider32.0115Luis Castillo27.0416Duaner Sanchez26.7717Joe Smith26.4118Billy Wagner26.0619Scott Schoeneweis25.8320Daniel Murphy22.7021Ramon Castro19.8922Pedro Feliciano19.3723Endy Chavez18.7224Claudio Vargas13.9825Nelson Figueroa13.7226Angel Pagan13.4427Brian Stokes12.9028Nick Evans11.5729Jorge Sosa9.0630Moises Alou8.6931Luis Ayala8.3932Marlon Anderson7.7633Carlos Muniz7.1234Robinson Cancel6.0335Raul Casanova5.8836Jon Niese5.3137Argenis Reyes4.2238Ramon Martinez3.7739Matt Wise2.2540Trot Nixon1.9741Tony Armas1.8842Bobby Parnell1.8643Ricardo Rincon1.6444Brandon Knight1.5145Brady Clark0.7046Andy Phillips0.4447Eddie Kunz0.3848Gustavo Molina0.02

SCHAEFER METS PLAYER AND PITCHERS OF THE MONTH, SEPTEMBER 2008 The Schaefer Mets Player and Pitcher of the Month for September 2008 is JOHAN SANTANA. This is the second consecutive month that Santana won both awards, and it's his fourth time overall as Pitcher of the Month. (He also won in April and June of this year.) In September, Santana went 4-0 with a 1.83 ERA in six starts, including one complete game shutout. He also led the club in strikeouts with 47 and in innings with 44.1. No other pitcher came close to Santana in September Schaefer points. His 25.83 points more than doubled those of his nearest competitors, Mike Pelfrey (12.65) and Oliver Perez (10.27). Among non-pitchers, Carlos Delgado earned the most Schaefer points in September, finishing second overall, 1.72 points behind Santana. Delgado led the Mets in home runs (8), runs batted in (22), and his 33 hits tied David Wright for the club lead, one ahead of Carlos Beltran. Delgado and Wright had the same number of hits in the same number of at bats, both going 33 for 97 and hitting .340. (Carlos Beltran had the team's best batting average for the month at .344.) Delgado also led the team in slugging with a .649 to Beltran's .645, while Beltran had the best on base percentage, .440. And the Schaefer Mets Relief Pitcher of the Month is BRIAN STOKES. Stokes is also a repeat winner from August and is the only Mets pitcher to be Reliever of the Month twice in 2008. Stokes' victory shows that Schaefer can be particularly unfair to relief pitchers. Stokes did pitch more innings (13.2) than any other Mets reliever in September and tied for the club lead (with Pedro Feliciano and Joe Smith) in games with 14. But Stokes was 0-0 with a 4.61 ERA while Smith went 4-0 with a 1.80 ERA in 3.2 fewer innings. Smith finished a mere 0.04 points behind Stokes, who took the clinched the title with his scoreless inning in the season's final game. Month-to-date totals for September 2008 Through game of September 28, 2008 RankNamePoints1Johan Santana25.832Carlos Delgado24.113Carlos Beltran22.804David Wright19.635Jos� Reyes13.086Mike Pelfrey12.657Oliver Perez10.278Ryan Church9.349Daniel Murphy9.2110Jon Niese5.3111Brian Schneider5.1912Brian Stokes4.8513Joe Smith4.8114Luis Ayala3.8515Ramon Martinez3.7716Pedro Martinez3.5417Damion Easley3.3518Fernando Tatis3.2619Scott Schoeneweis3.0620Duaner Sanchez2.8421Nelson Figueroa2.7722Nick Evans2.3823Robinson Cancel2.1824Bobby Parnell1.8625Ricardo Rincon1.6426Pedro Feliciano1.6027Brandon Knight1.2928Endy Chavez1.0929Aaron Heilman0.7930Luis Castillo0.7231Ramon Castro0.1632Marlon Anderson0.0733Argenis Reyes0.06 Coming up tomorrow: The long-awaited announcement of the Schaefer Mets Player of the Year!

VOTING FOR THIS GAME IS NOW CLOSED Totals for September 28, 2008 (9 votes) Florida Marlins 4, New York Mets 2 NameTotal PointsPoints AwardedPlayer PerformanceCarlos Beltran25.992.891-3, R, HR, 2 RBI, BB.Oliver Perez20.712.305.1 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 SO.Brian Stokes5.380.601.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO.Robinson Cancel3.900.430-0, R, BB.Jos� Reyes1.800.201-4, 2B, SO.Endy Chavez1.500.170-2.Bobby Parnell1.190.130.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO.Pedro Feliciano0.990.110.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO.Joe Smith0.800.090.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO.Ramon Castro0.690.081-2.Damion Easley0.250.030-0, BB.Carlos Delgado0.300.031-4, SO.

VOTING FOR THIS GAME IS NOW CLOSED Totals for September 27, 2008 (13 votes) New York Mets 2, Florida Marlins 0 NameTotal PointsPoints AwardedPlayer PerformanceJohan Santana77.785.98(W) 9.0 IP, 3 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 9 SO.Ramon Martinez13.781.061-3, 2B, RBI, SO.David Wright9.500.732-3, BB, SO.Jos� Reyes8.570.661-4, R, SO, SB.Carlos Beltran8.320.642-4, SO.Carlos Delgado5.550.430-3, RBI, SO.Daniel Murphy2.500.190-3, R, SO.

VOTING FOR THIS GAME IS NOW CLOSED Totals for September 26, 2008 (8 votes) Florida Marlins 6, New York Mets 1 NameTotal PointsPoints AwardedPlayer PerformanceMike Pelfrey14.681.84(L) 6.0 IP, 8 H, 3 ER, 0 BB, 3 SO.Ramon Martinez7.770.971-3, 2B, BB.David Wright4.610.582-3.Carlos Beltran3.160.401-3, BB.Nelson Figueroa2.860.361.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO.Ryan Church2.440.300-2, R, 2 BB.Brian Schneider1.500.191-4, RBI.Scott Schoeneweis1.260.160.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO.Joe Smith0.970.120.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO.

Yeah. Davey planned to have Aguilera start Game 4, but once the Mets dropped the first two at Shea, he scrapped that plan and went to a three-man rotation. He did go with four in the NLCS that year, as Gooden, Darling, Ojeda, and Fernandez all got starts.

I wonder if Valadius is still outraged that the Mets gave up Kevin Mulvey to get him.

Adam Rubin's initial report has been expanded a little: Adam Rubin wrote: The Mets acknowledged that Johan Santana had arthroscopic surgery today to repair a torn meniscus. He injured it before his final start, when he tossed a shutout while pitching on sshort rest. That�s why Jerry Manuel had been so adamant that week that Santana wouldn�t be unable to go on short rest and Jon Niese would be required to start Saturday unless Santana demanded the ball. And here's today's anatomy lesson: ="Wikipedia"]In anatomy, a meniscus is a moon-shaped figure.[1] It usually refers to either of two specific parts of cartilage of the knee. The knee contains a lateral meniscus and a medial meniscus. Both are cartilaginous tissues that provide structural integrity to the knee when it undergoes tension and torsion. The menisci are also known as 'semi-lunar' cartilages - referring to their half-moon "C" shape - a term which has been largely dropped by the medical profession, but which led to the menisci being called knee 'cartilages' by the lay public.

If he needs it, he can have MY meniscus! (I'll have to look up what a "meniscus" is.)