Benjamin Grimm

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I'm all for the Brewers losing again today, I don't know how a win or a loss necessarily affects how they handle Philly so we may as well open up some daylight. having them behind us also makes them our ally if it comes to WildCardness, so lose lose lose I say. I agree with that. If the Brewers lose today and then turn on a dime and sweep the Phillies, then everything is perfect. So I have mixed feelings. I'm glad they're losing, but I hope they start winning!

Applause? Or applesauce? (Wait, that's a different thread.)

Hairston homers in the fifth against Sabathia. Reds lead 3-1. Are the Brewers reeling? They need to get it together by TOMORROW or the Phillies will destroy them. Phils-Marlins (Myers vs. Nolasco) will get underway in a little over a half hour.

Well, I know what Mariano Rivera would do: He'd turn water into wine and bring your pet goldfish back to life.

I wonder if Valadius is embarrassed that a toddler outdoes him when it comes to nicknames with staying power.

metirish wrote: Daybidrye - am I the only one who didn't know that this was D-Wright's nickname , does Val know? I think it was Johnny Lunchbucket's son who came up with that one.

True. Playoff opponents aren't supposed to be easy. (And the easy ones can be surprisingly tough, as with the 2006 Cardinals.) I've been glad to see the Brewers losing. With the Mets only a half game behind them the Wild Card is becoming a viable safety net. But it's a double-edged sword; if the Brewers continue to slump, the Phillies will roll right over them. I'm hoping that CC does the "stopper" thing today, snaps the Brewers out of their funk, and positions them for a big weekend in Philadelphia.

Both of those guys, incidentally, currently have the exact same number of career total bases.

Well, maybe. But if the Brewers go down to the final couple of games of the season before they clinch the playoff berth, they may not be positioned to have Sabathia start Game 1.

Average wins by position in NL East: 91.5 88.1 81.7 71.0 63.0 91.5 NL East W L Pct3 Avg W Avg L Champions Wild Card Playoffs 1D Change 7D Change Mets 81 63 .544 91.2 70.8 82.82520 3.92908 86.75428 8.48640 10.01004 Phillies 79 66 .521 88.3 73.7 17.09625 9.62643 26.72268 -7.94178 -0.48245 Marlins 73 72 .482 81.7 80.3 .07855 .00687 .08542 .02258 -0.15681 Braves 63 82 .489 71.0 91.0 .00000 .00000 .00000 .00000 .00000 Nationals 56 89 .402 63.0 99.0 .00000 .00000 .00000 .00000 .00000 Yesterday's action gains the Mets 8.48 points, mostly, but not entirely, at the expense of the Phillies. Philadelphia's wild card chances continue to inch upward as the Brewers continue to slide. Brewers currently have playoff odds of 73.20480, with 63.58383 of that coming from the Wild Card column. Their upcoming four-game series with the Phillies has the potential to dramatically shift the odds for both teams. Same four teams as before (Tampa Bay, Boston, the Cubs, and the Angels) have percentages over 98. For those teams, only a collapse (there's that word again) would keep them from the post-season. In the NL West, the Dodgers are now at 86%, while the Diamondbacks have dropped to 13%. Mets first-round playoff opponent is still projected to be Milwaukee, while the Cubs would play the Dodgers. First round in the AL would be Rays vs. White Sox, and Angels vs. the wild-card Red Sox. The yet-to-be-eliminated team with the slimmest playoff hopes is the Texas Rangers, at .00005. (Tigers are at ..01192 and the Giants at .01192.)

Actually, that's within the rules! Check it: http://cranepoolforum.net/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=6278

They should get Mott's to sponsor the applesauce volcano.

These games actually should have closed today, but I neglected (forgot) to post a reminder yesterday. So one more day of voting remains for the past weekend's series against the Phillies at Shea. Voting will close on Thursday morning some time. Sunday afternoon's loss looks like it could use another few votes. Schaefer POTG 9/5/08 - Phillies 3, Mets 0 Schaefer POTG 09/07/08 Philadelphia 6, Mets 2 Schaefer POTG 09/07/08 Mets 6, Philadelphia 3

I remember stretches where Darryl Strawberry was locked in, probably in 1987 and 1988. Don't have the dates though.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: And I'm tellin ya, I like the applesauce idea. Maybe we can start a grassroots campaign. We'll need a website called www.applesaucevolcano.com.

Mets are now 81-63, Phillies are 79-66, 2.5 games behind. Mets have 18 to go, Phillies have 17. If the Mets go 10-8 (.556) the rest of the way, which seems quite doable, the Phillies have to go 12-5 (.706) to tie, 13-4 (.765) to win the division. If the Mets go 11-7 (.611) the Phillies need 13-4 to tie, 14-3 (.824) to win the division.

Any day that the magic number drops by two is an excellent day. I'm looking forward to seeing the new odds on Baseball Prospectus tomorrow morning!

I do think we've stepped gingerly over the shark with avatars. If it were up to me, I'd impose a maximum height (to go with the maximum width). This is about as big as an avatar should be:

Yikes. There's an example of the slippery slope you're on once you allow graphics and fonts in signature lines. I'm so glad we don't do that here.

Overhead at Shea on Sunday afternoon, from a kid a box over. "I heard that the home run apple at Citi Field is going to shoot real apples!" An interesting concept. Imagine fans in the outfield seats getting suddenly pelted by flying apples. My daughter suggested it spray a fountain of apple juice instead. I countered with a volcano of applesauce. There's a lot you can do if you use your imagination!

AG/DC wrote: "a baseball organization promoting its closer as a thing from Hell singularly bent on destroying the hopes of quivering mortals" Is that what the Sandman thing is about? I never got that, by the way. And if fact, I had never even seen/heard the Sandman to-do until this July, when I attended a Billy Wagner save opportunity against Colorado at Shea. My seven-year-old daughter, watching the DiamondVision spectacle, said, "What's the big deal about Billy Wagner?"

AG/DC wrote: Is there a place between a superstar and a washout? Is anything less than a Hall of Fame career a washout once you've been ranked number-one in the Mets system? Well, you don't have to be a Hall of Famer to avoid being a washout. (I don't think!) Was Edgardo Alfonzo ever considered a Number One? Or was he more of a pleasant surprise? (I seem to remember the latter.) Gregg Jefferies, who had a nice career: Washout. Darryl Strawberry and Dwight Gooden: not Hall-of-Famers, but not washouts. But when you look at how many fans wanted to give up on Jose Reyes when he was only 23 or 24, I do have to question the rationality of many of the fans who rush to judgment. I really do think that Fernando Martinez, if he comes up with the Mets, will face some undeserved heat from the fans.

Phillies, by winning last night while the Mets were idle, gain 6.86164 points. Most of those come at the expense of the Brewers, who lost. The Mets only drop by 1.84834.

I also think that the expectations for Martinez are very high. Remember, he was said to have been "untouchable" when the Twins wanted him for Johan Santana. If he's too good to trade for a two-time Cy Young winner who's still in his prime, you have to figure that people are going to be expecting a lot from him.

Is THAT what I'm doing? I don't think so. I'm just being skeptical.