Benjamin Grimm

Well, the loss of Strawberry DID hurt them. But keeping him probably wouldn't have helped either. While it was a mistake to let him go, it wasn't a mistake that they had any cause to regret. The Mets had him for his best years.

Hmmm. Mays started and ended his career in New York, but with two different teams. Aaron did the same with Milwaukee, and Ruth with Boston. And Zwilling played for three different Chicago teams. It feels like the answer is somewhere in there, but I bet it isn't.

One thing I get a kick out of is when old minor leaguers show up posting memories of their teammates. A bunch of such memories have been posted recently: http://www.leaptoad.com/mets/memrecent.php?tabno=3

Maine 5.8 Pagan 0.7 Anderson 1.2 Casanova 1.1 Castillo 0.5 Church 0.7

Voting for Tuesday night's 5-4 loss in Los Angeles will close on Friday morning.

I read it back when it was published in 1993. It didn't tell me anything I didn't know, and spent, if I recall, a lot of time looking back to the winning teams of the 1980's. Reading it now would be a different experience from reading it then. Perhaps it would be more interesting with 15 more years of perspective. In any event, it's light and breezy; you can probably polish it off in a few days. But if you never read it, your life won't be lacking anything.

Let's try this again... SCHAEFER METS PLAYER AND PITCHERS OF THE MONTH, APRIL 2008 The Schaefer Mets Player of the Month for April 2008 is DAVID WRIGHT. This is the sixth time that David has been Player of the Month. (He won three times in 2007, and once each in 2005 and 2006. He's also won the Player of the Year award in each of the past three seasons.) David's productive first half of April allowed him to withstand a challenge from Ryan Church, who also had a strong month. Wright led the Mets in April with 4 home runs, 20 rbi, 47 total bases, a slugging percentage of .511 and an OBP of .409. His 8 doubles in April tied for the club lead with Carlos Beltran, as did his 22 walks. Church led the Mets with a .319 batting average and had 3 home runs and 18 rbi. The Schaefer Mets Pitcher of the Month for April 2008 is JOHAN SANTANA. This is, obviously, Johan's first win. He narrowly missed outpolling David Wright as Player of the Month. (The fact that his first game of the season was played on March 31 was a factor.) Santana was 2-2 with a team-best 3.24 ERA in five April starts. He led the Mets with 31 strikeouts and only walked 6. He also led the club in innings pitched with 33.1. And inaugurating a new category, the Schaefer Mets Relief Pitcher of the Month for April is BILLY WAGNER. Billy had a 0.00 ERA in April in 11 games. In 12 innings, he had allowed 3 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 12. He saved 6 games. Month-to-date totals for April 2008 Through game of April 30, 2008 RankNamePoints1David Wright18.782Ryan Church17.593Johan Santana17.314Carlos Beltran12.905Jos� Reyes12.216Angel Pagan11.737John Maine11.098Nelson Figueroa10.759Carlos Delgado9.9410Oliver Perez9.7711Mike Pelfrey7.6912Billy Wagner7.6313Aaron Heilman6.4514Jorge Sosa6.4215Luis Castillo6.0316Brian Schneider6.0117Joe Smith5.4218Damion Easley4.6319Raul Casanova4.4420Duaner Sanchez4.0221Pedro Feliciano3.7922Scott Schoeneweis3.5623Endy Chavez1.8623Carlos Muniz1.8625Marlon Anderson1.1326Brady Clark0.7027Pedro Martinez0.0428Gustavo Molina0.02 Season-to-date totals for 2008 Through game of April 30, 2008 RankNamePoints1Johan Santana21.722David Wright21.093Ryan Church17.834Carlos Beltran13.895Jos� Reyes12.916Angel Pagan12.247John Maine11.098Nelson Figueroa10.759Carlos Delgado9.9410Oliver Perez9.7711Mike Pelfrey7.6912Billy Wagner7.6313Aaron Heilman6.7514Jorge Sosa6.6515Luis Castillo6.1916Brian Schneider6.0317Joe Smith5.4218Damion Easley4.6319Raul Casanova4.4420Duaner Sanchez4.0221Pedro Feliciano3.7922Scott Schoeneweis3.6623Endy Chavez1.8623Carlos Muniz1.8625Marlon Anderson1.1726Brady Clark0.7027Pedro Martinez0.0428Gustavo Molina0.02

That's so September 2007.

Oh, and if this lopsided score holds, the bulk of my Schaefer points for the offense will go to those who helped create the first five runs.

My main rooting interest now is to see if Maine can get the CG/ShO.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: That leaves it up to Mr. Hot. ]D. Wright ground rule double to deep left, J. Reyes and J. Maine scored, L. Castillo to third

I don't necessarily object to a pitch count, but I think the "magic number" could possibly be upped from 100 to about 120. Dyar Miller is a pitching coach somewhere and he's doing something like that.

Through three innings, Maine has thrown 32 pitches. Nice and economical. My dream for this season is to see a Met pitcher throw (or "twirl") a nine-inning complete game shutout.

Frayed Knot wrote: Chavez has now replaced Pagan in LF ]NEW YORK LEFT FIELDER ANGEL PAGAN LEFT THE GAME IN THE BOTTOM OF THE THIRD INNING WITH AN APPARENT SHOULDER INJURY.

Go with THRONEBERRY 2 . It would be more of a conversation piece. And Marv deserves some respect.

If you were governor, I'd get myself a job in a bank. John Maine is one of two Mets pitchers I feel comfortable handing a four-run lead to. Our gay dame may be a happy one.

Welcome, Big Junk. Casanova single drives in two more.

Yes, they do! A ground-rule double scores Church and sends Pagan to third!

Two one-out singles in the second. Do the Mets have something going?

We've got the teamwork, to make the dream work...

This might be the last hurrah (for a while) for Casanova. I hear Castro's return may come pretty soon.

What, you wouldn't enjoy sitting through 150 hours (!) of people talking about their first visit to Shea Stadium? It will take HBO three weeks to air this one in its entirety!

Received this in an e-mail today: ] "The Directors of Mathematically Alive: A Story of Fandom have just announced that they will be working on a tribute video to Shea Stadium called Heckuva Day: Stories from Shea Stadium. The best part of this video is that everyone makes the cut! According to the filmmakers, there will be no time constraints for this project so everyone who is interviewed will be included in the video. The directors said that they shot over 150 hours of video for Mathematically Alive and the worst part about it was making the cuts. They said they plan to use some of that extra video, but want Mets fans to meet up with them to talk about their best memories of Shea. Again, any fan who would like to be a part of this video should email the filmmakers to find out where and when they will be conducting the interviews. They plan to unveil the video at a �Mets Everything� event that they will host in September 2008. This event will be filled with Mets fans, bloggers, authors, etc. The event is set to happen before the last game at Shea and will be a celebration of the wonderful memories that Shea has given to so many people. " Hope you're all in and please feel free to pass this on to every Mets fan in the world. Check out the trailer on youtube http://youtube.com/watch?v=t1qaKb42pxI

I meant to give this notice this morning, but didn't. So, in the interest of 24-hour notice, I'll wait until afternoon to close the voting, instead of the usual morning deadline. Voting for Monday night's series-opening loss in Los Angeles will close some time after 1 p.m. on Thursday afternoon.

="Willets Point":2psv2sa2]I think the whole "coming in at the top of the 9th to get three outs and a save" thing is something that doesn't deserve a lot of reward much of the time. [/quote:2psv2sa2] That's how I see it too. Sure, if he retires Rollins, Utley, and Howard in a one-run game, then I'd give him a full point, or more. But if it's the 7th and 8th-place hitters, followed by some no-name pinch hitter in a game when the Mets have a three-run lead, that's a whole nother story. AG/DC May 07 2008 11:13 AM Well, it's worth noting that, just as managers save their best pitcher for the ninth no matter what the score, they oft save their best hitters for the ninth, and they almost never face a bad one. Frayed Knot May 07 2008 12:38 PM ="Willets Point":30rr8469]I think the whole "coming in at the top of the 9th to get three outs and a save" thing is something that doesn't deserve a lot of reward much of the time. [/quote:30rr8469] And that's fine, except that at times the guys getting three outs by coming in at the top of the 7th of 8th ARE being rewarded for the same thing we seem to think is routine in the 9th - and I think it's because the expectations factor comes in to play. It would be a bit like rewarding - oh let's say Schneider - more for a 2 HR game than Delgado on the same day (all other things being equal) based on the logic that 'it's what we pay Delgado for' while from Schneider it's unexpected. metsmarathon May 07 2008 03:30 PM wagner is screwed by the fact that he usually only performs in wins. his performances are always normalized and derated due to the increased performances by his peers. in wins, there simply isnt enough schaeffer to go around. in losses, which wagner does not participate in often unless they are by his own hand, a lesser performance is often rewarded by greater beering. for nearly every other player, this effect should balance out. for wagner, it cannot. i think, too, that for teh same reason that we would give wagner more points for a one run save than a two run save - that there is less of a safety net - we should award more points for pitching hte ninth inning than the eighth. if, in his next start, nelson figueroa goes out, pitches a perfect first inning, and leaves the game due to an extended rain delay, the game gets to the eighth inning tied 0-0, wherein duaner sanchez throws a perfect inning, followed by the mets plating a run in the bottom of the eighth, and wagner ices it with a perfect ninth, which of the three pitchers would get the most schaeffer? i'll tell you right now, it wouldn't be nelson. take the same game, and switch it up. lets say it gets to the eigth, and sanchez gives up a run - a perfect inning aside from one measley home run over the center field fence. but the mets score two runs in the bottom of the eighth, and in comes wagner. he, too, pitches a perfect inning, save, of course, for a home run over the center field fence. did one home run affect the outcome of the game more than the other? if we were giving out negative schaeffer points, would more go to sanchez, or to wagner? Frayed Knot May 07 2008 05:11 PM ="Triple Dee":3bof42r3]I recall somebody (I can't remember who -- not that I wish to name name's in any case) gave Heilman "4" for the two outs he recorded against Phillies earlier in the season, which struck me as a bit excessive.[/quote:3bof42r3] It's possible that was m.e.t.b.o.t. - he occasionally dips a bit heavy into the 40 weight oil. metsmarathon May 07 2008 06:54 PM nah... the little guy gave a 1.81 in that game. it was someone else. seawolf17 May 07 2008 07:19 PM It was me. I thought Heilman saved that game. *62 May 07 2008 07:55 PM When awarding points to relievers I favor inherited runners stranded - Feliciano K'ing one hitter with the bases loaded full of Ollie's walks is worth half a point every time, minimum ..... if Wagner pitches a clean ninth, I want to see who he faced first and whether or not it was a save situation ..... if everyone has their own preferences, which we obviously do, it should even out. themetfairy May 07 2008 08:01 PM Like *62, I feel that Inherited Runners Stranded is an important consideration. Benjamin Grimm May 07 2008 09:24 PM Let's try this again... SCHAEFER METS PLAYER AND PITCHERS OF THE MONTH, APRIL 2008 The Schaefer Mets Player of the Month for April 2008 is DAVID WRIGHT. This is the sixth time that David has been Player of the Month. (He won three times in 2007, and once each in 2005 and 2006. He's also won the Player of the Year award in each of the past three seasons.) David's productive first half of April allowed him to withstand a challenge from Ryan Church, who also had a strong month. Wright led the Mets in April with 4 home runs, 20 rbi, 47 total bases, a slugging percentage of .511 and an OBP of .409. His 8 doubles in April tied for the club lead with Carlos Beltran, as did his 22 walks. Church led the Mets with a .319 batting average and had 3 home runs and 18 rbi. The Schaefer Mets Pitcher of the Month for April 2008 is JOHAN SANTANA. This is, obviously, Johan's first win. He narrowly missed outpolling David Wright as Player of the Month. (The fact that his first game of the season was played on March 31 was a factor.) Santana was 2-2 with a team-best 3.24 ERA in five April starts. He led the Mets with 31 strikeouts and only walked 6. He also led the club in innings pitched with 33.1. And inaugurating a new category, the Schaefer Mets Relief Pitcher of the Month for April is BILLY WAGNER. Billy had a 0.00 ERA in April in 11 games. In 12 innings, he had allowed 3 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 12. He saved 6 games. Month-to-date totals for April 2008 Through game of April 30, 2008 RankNamePoints1David Wright18.782Ryan Church17.593Johan Santana17.314Carlos Beltran12.905Jos� Reyes12.216Angel Pagan11.737John Maine11.098Nelson Figueroa10.759Carlos Delgado9.9410Oliver Perez9.7711Mike Pelfrey7.6912Billy Wagner7.6313Aaron Heilman6.4514Jorge Sosa6.4215Luis Castillo6.0316Brian Schneider6.0117Joe Smith5.4218Damion Easley4.6319Raul Casanova4.4420Duaner Sanchez4.0221Pedro Feliciano3.7922Scott Schoeneweis3.5623Endy Chavez1.8623Carlos Muniz1.8625Marlon Anderson1.1326Brady Clark0.7027Pedro Martinez0.0428Gustavo Molina0.02 Season-to-date totals for 2008 Through game of April 30, 2008 RankNamePoints1Johan Santana21.722David Wright21.093Ryan Church17.834Carlos Beltran13.895Jos� Reyes12.916Angel Pagan12.247John Maine11.098Nelson Figueroa10.759Carlos Delgado9.9410Oliver Perez9.7711Mike Pelfrey7.6912Billy Wagner7.6313Aaron Heilman6.7514Jorge Sosa6.6515Luis Castillo6.1916Brian Schneider6.0317Joe Smith5.4218Damion Easley4.6319Raul Casanova4.4420Duaner Sanchez4.0221Pedro Feliciano3.7922Scott Schoeneweis3.6623Endy Chavez1.8623Carlos Muniz1.8625Marlon Anderson1.1726Brady Clark0.7027Pedro Martinez0.0428Gustavo Molina0.02