Benjamin Grimm

="John Cougar Lunchbucket":2oko6c3x]How does Pedro beat Reyes? OMG. [/quote:2oko6c3x] Pedro actually didn't have a bad month; an ERA under 4 in seven starts. So it's not surprising that he amassed a good number of points, but yeah, it is strange that he got more than Reyes. ="John Cougar Lunchbucket":2oko6c3x]Love the ridiculous photoshop of the Mets hat onto Stokes, but to be truly authentic I think we need it painted.[/quote:2oko6c3x] Thanks! (I guess.) I didn't try too hard to get the cap looking right, because I did want to capture the schlocky look of those painted cards. But you're right, I probably should have made it look more painty. AG/DC Sep 04 2008 10:15 AM Did something vile just fall out of Stokes' ear? Benjamin Grimm Sep 04 2008 10:17 AM I think that's one of the giant moths that infest the Tropicana Dome. EDIT: I'm glad to see that it wasn't a screwup on my part: the black thing, whatever it is, is on the original photo: http://www.patchristin.com/StokesCA.jpg metsguyinmichigan Sep 04 2008 12:51 PM Those "imagined" cards of my youth are just spectacular! Centerfield Sep 04 2008 12:52 PM Why does it say TRADED over Santana's face? Benjamin Grimm Sep 04 2008 12:58 PM ="metsguyinmichigan":7z222jrr]Those "imagined" cards of my youth are just spectacular![/quote:7z222jrr] Thanks. I was just now (after I read your post) imagining in my head what the reverse sides of those cards would look like, and it actually caused me to smell bubble gum!

VOTING FOR THIS GAME IS NOW CLOSED Totals for September 1, 2008 (11 votes) New York Mets 4, Milwaukee Brewers 2 NameTotal PointsPoints AwardedPlayer PerformanceJohan Santana32.172.926.0 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 10 SO.Carlos Delgado27.842.532-4, R, HR, 2 RBI.Carlos Beltran11.041.002-4, 2 R, 2B.Daniel Murphy7.740.702-4, R, 2B, BB.Luis Ayala7.600.69(Sv) 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO.Nelson Figueroa6.460.59(W) 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO.Ryan Church6.240.571-4, 2B, RBI.Joe Smith6.220.570.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO.Pedro Feliciano2.470.220.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO.Jos� Reyes1.490.142-4, 2B, BB.Fernando Tatis0.430.040-0, BB.

SCHAEFER METS PLAYER AND PITCHERS OF THE MONTH, AUGUST 2008 The Schaefer Mets Player and Pitcher of the Month for August 2008 is JOHAN SANTANA. This is the Santana's first time as Player of the Month and third time as Pitcher of the Month. (He previously won in April and June of this year.) In August, Santana was 3-0 in 6 starts, with a team-leading ERA of 1.91. His 34 strikeouts tied for the team lead with Oliver Perez. He also had the team's only shutout so far this season. Mike Pelfrey finished a close second to Santana, with a 4-1 record, 2 complete games, and a 2.93 ERA in 6 starts. Among non-pitchers, Carlos Beltran tallied the most Schaefer points in August, finishing third overall. Beltran finished just barely ahead of David Wright and Carlos Delgado. Only 0.4 Schaefer points separated all three Mets sluggers. Delgado and Wright led the Mets with 7 home runs in August. Wright led in runs with 22, doubles with 9, and batted .310, slugged .575, and had an OBP of .370. Delgado let the club in runs batted in with 24 and walks with 14. Beltran had 6 home runs, 21 runs batted in, and 21 runs scored. He batted .303/.541/.365. And the Schaefer Mets Relief Pitcher of the Month is BRIAN STOKES. Stokes is the fifth different Mets reliever to win the award in the five months of this season. (Previous winners were Billy Wagner, Scott Schoeneweis, Duaner Sanchez, and Aaron Heilman.) Stokes appeard in 10 games and had a 2.75 ERA in 19.2 innings. He was 1-0 with 1 save. Month-to-date totals for August 2008 Through game of August 31, 2008 RankNamePoints1Johan Santana23.002Mike Pelfrey21.973Carlos Beltran21.164David Wright20.815Carlos Delgado20.766Pedro Martinez17.117Jos� Reyes15.088Oliver Perez14.669Daniel Murphy13.4910Fernando Tatis10.6111Brian Schneider9.1612Damion Easley8.3913Brian Stokes8.0514Aaron Heilman7.7315Joe Smith5.8216Nick Evans5.6917John Maine5.1218Luis Ayala4.5419Pedro Feliciano4.0620Scott Schoeneweis3.0021Ramon Castro2.3822Duaner Sanchez2.2523Ryan Church2.2124Argenis Reyes2.1125Luis Castillo1.4926Robinson Cancel1.2127Endy Chavez0.8528Eddie Kunz0.3829Carlos Muniz0.09

VOTING FOR THIS GAME IS NOW CLOSED Totals for August 31, 2008 (11 votes) New York Mets 6, Florida Marlins 2 NameTotal PointsPoints AwardedPlayer PerformancePedro Martinez29.852.71(W) 6.0 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO.David Wright17.311.573-5, R, HR, RBI.Carlos Beltran14.291.301-4, R, HR, 2 RBI.Nick Evans13.371.222-3, R, HR, RBI.Jos� Reyes11.131.012-5, R, RBI, SO, SB.Ryan Church8.550.781-2, RBI, SO.Damion Easley6.990.642-4, R, SO.Brian Stokes2.320.211.0 IP, 2 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO.Joe Smith1.760.160.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO.Scott Schoeneweis1.520.140.2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 0 SO.Aaron Heilman1.170.110.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO.Pedro Feliciano0.890.080.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO.Daniel Murphy0.250.020-0, R, BB.Endy Chavez0.100.011-1.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I'm beginning to see some sunshine for the Mets, is what I'm trying to say. Yeah, me too. We're looking pretty good for the main prize, the division title*, but the Wild Card is become a more viable fallback option. *We'll have a much clearer view of the division situation on Monday morning, barring rainouts.

VOTING FOR THIS GAME IS NOW CLOSED Totals for August 30, 2008 (10 votes) Florida Marlins 4, New York Mets 3 NameTotal PointsPoints AwardedPlayer PerformanceMike Pelfrey29.542.956.2 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 SO.David Wright18.841.881-4, R, HR, 2 RBI, SO.Luis Castillo10.491.052-4, R, RBI, 2 SO.Jos� Reyes9.140.911-4, R, 3B, BB, SB.Brian Stokes7.100.710.2 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO.Daniel Murphy3.250.322-4, SO.Brian Schneider1.640.161-3, 2B.Duaner Sanchez0.500.050.2 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 2 SO.

VOTING FOR THIS GAME IS NOW CLOSED Totals for August 29, 2008 (12 votes) New York Mets 5, Florida Marlins 4 NameTotal PointsPoints AwardedPlayer PerformanceCarlos Beltran58.434.872-4, R, HR, 5 RBI.Oliver Perez32.252.696.0 IP, 3 H, 1 ER, 5 BB, 4 SO.Brian Stokes7.560.631.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO.Joe Smith7.350.61(W) 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO.Luis Castillo5.320.442-5, R, SB.David Wright3.650.302-5, R, 2 SO.Carlos Delgado2.650.220-3, R, BB, SO.Daniel Murphy1.370.111-4, SO.Damion Easley0.720.060-0, BB.Jos� Reyes0.600.051-4, R, BB, SO, SB.

Yeah, really. The "hard way" would definitely involve getting gored, at least a little.

In America, there's no difference. The animal that's native to North America is a bison, but we call them buffalo. The true buffalo are the European variety, the animals we call water buffalo.

Farmer Ted wrote: There was buzz in Buffalo about an expansion team at one time. I think it was Florida and Colorado that won out that go-round. The stadium there, apparently, can expand to about 35,000 if need be. I think there was also talk, many years ago, about the Expos relocating there.

I would think that the Blue Jays would rather be in Ottawa than in Buffalo, but the Ottawa franchise folded a year ago and was replaced in the International League by Lehigh Valley. Could Ottawa be resurrected? And if it is, would that mean the end of Buffalo?

This was posted on Tuesday: ="WGRZ, Buffalo"] Indians Sever Ties With Buffalo Bisons In a move about as shocking as a sacrifice bunt with a runner at first and nobody out in the late innings of a tie game, the Cleveland Indians officially severed their ties with the Buffalo Bisons, which almost certainly means the Indians AAA operations will soon be located in nearby Columbus. No surprise at all here, as the Cleveland Indians officially notify Major League Baseball of their intention to sever ties with the Buffalo Bisons after 14 seasons, all but certainly to move their AAA affiliation to nearby Columbus, Ohio. Ironically, the Bisons stumbled through their worst season as Cleveland's Triple-A affiliate in 2008, finishing 11 games below .500 and over 20 games out of first place in their division. Although Cleveland must officially wait until September 15th, when MLB officially informs all parties of teams and locations available. Not only is Columbus moving into a new downtown ballpark in 2009, its also expected that SportsTime Ohio, the tv home of the Tribe, will broadcast Triple-A games from Columbus as well. Where does this leave Buffalo? Toronto and Syracuse are splitting, but that doesn't necessarily mean the Blue Jays are headed for Buffalo. A Bisons source tells me the team is concerned about some anti-Toronto sentiment regarding the Bills games there, which might actually result in the Bisons going with the NY Mets. We probably won't know until September 18th, when clubs can officially begin negotiating. Quiet negotiations, rest assured, are already underway.

I remember the episode when Felix and Oscar were in Buffalo and one of them looked out the window of the hotel and commented on how many bowling alleys there were.

This is from the website of a Syracuse TV station: ="WSYR, Channel 9"]Schumer: Syracuse, Buffalo battling over Mets AAA team Syracuse, New York (WSYR-TV) - It's very likely we will see the Mets� AAA team in upstate New York next season -- but there's no guarantee that means Syracuse. Senator Chuck Schumer spoke with Mets owner Jeff Wilpon Tuesday night about the team�s plans for its minor league team, and while Schumer says there�s a 90 percent chance the Mets will relocate upstate, Syracuse is in a close fight with Buffalo for the Mets. Come April 9 next year -- Opening Day -- the Chiefs would love to start the season with the Mets as their affiliate, but they can't officially do anything about that quite yet. "I got the feeling he thought both were very desirable, and that they hadn't come close to making up their minds yet -- hopefully something good can happen," Schumer says. For people in central New York, that would mean the Mets landing in Alliance Bank Stadium. On Tuesday, the Chiefs officially informed Major League Baseball it would be shopping for other affiliations, likely bringing an end to a three-decades long partnership with the Blue Jays. That relationship has produced very few winning teams on the field, which is why many people here are eager to latch on to the Mets. New York's senior senator says he's been making a pitch to the Mets to come to Syracuse since late spring. "I represent both [syracuse and Buffalo]; originally Syracuse was the first to contact me -- I made a strong pitch for Syracuse," Schumer says. According to Schumer, it's very close between Syracuse and Buffalo. Major League rules prevent the Chiefs, and any other minor league team, from officially talking to the Mets until September 18.

John Harper wrote: The bottom line is performance, and this is a team that suddenly seems to have big plans for October. Eleven weeks later, it's hard to imagine the Mets playing at this level if they hadn't changed managers. I do agree with this.

Both Syracuse and Buffalo are former Mets AAA affiliates. They were in Syracuse in 1962 (sharing their affiliation with the Washington Senators) and the Buffalo Bisons were a Mets farm club from 1963 through 1965. I just checked on MiLB's web site, and it seems that the Syracuse team is still called the Chiefs. I thought I had read that they changed the name to "SkyChiefs." Either I'm remembering wrong or they recently changed it back. (I much prefer Chiefs to SkyChiefs.)

Syracuse, only because it's closer to Queens. But as long as they're in the International League I'll be happy, because it will allow me to see them play in Allentown.

Well, first it's going to come down to this weekend's head-to-head matchup. Once those three games are out of the way we'll have an idea of how nerve-wracking the following couple of weeks might be.

Hopefully they cool down by Tuesday when they come into Shea for two games. Mets then play a four-game set in Washington the following week.

I don't care about the division either. The Yankees being forced to settle for the Wild Card last year brought me no satisfaction. They win again today against the Rays, but Boston's win this afternoon reduces the tragic number to 17.

And Werth fans for the final out! Final score: Nationals 9, Phillies 7. A VERY good day. A very good week so far too. The Mets playing the Brewers while the Phils played the Nationals was very favorable to Philadelphia, but the Mets gained two games in the standings and dropped the magic number by four. Excellent! EDIT: They dropped the magic number by FIVE over the last three days.

Utley gets a meaningless sac fly. Two out, nobody on. 9-7 Washington.

Now the Nationals may have it. One out, one in, runner on third. Utley, Werth, Howard due up. 9-6 Nationals.

I just peeked at the score and that 4-spot in the 8th was the second nice baseball surprise of the day. (Last time I had checked, the Phillies had regained the lead, 5-4.)

Check the home page tomorrow.