Benjamin Grimm

Me, I enjoy radio so much more now that I've abandoned WFAN (I've been clean for almost three years now!) and switched to NPR. NPR might not be to everyone's taste, but there are SO many radio stations out there, even without satellite. It shouldn't be hard to find something that's less frustrating, infuriating, and mind-numbing than Mike and the Mad Dog.

I'm not at all surprised by Francesa's lack of self-awareness. I'm not familiar at all with Rick Majerus. Either he's a fool, or a kiss-up.

Baseball Cube gets players mixed up sometimes. Last time I was there, they had some ancient 80-year-old catcher in the Mets farm system in place of John Gibbons at every one of Gibbons' stops.

I remember the cowboy, but a skunk? That couldn't have been a good idea, could it?

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: He's capable of insight at times too. He was also maybe not the worst GM ever. That 1999 team he put together was pretty darn good.

Fman99 wrote: They tore down MacArthur Park which had been built back in the 1930s, so they could move into a new park with luxury boxes. I thought it had melted in the dark.

Trainers should wire each player with microphones so that, if a pop occurs, they can play back the pop to help them in their evaluation. And then the pops can be available for downloading from iTunes so that the fans can weigh in as well.

Voting for the Mets' Tuesday night loss in Miami will close early Friday morning. http://cranepoolforum.qwknetllc.com/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=8572 Get your votes in! It's easier (and safer) than throwing rocks!

soupcan wrote: Phillips IS a huge bag of douche. How about that Kazmir trade - can we revisit that now that he's having elbow issues? That was a Jim Duquette trade, wasn't it?

Perez 4.5 Delgado 0.5 Church 1 Beltran 1 Pagan 1 Reyes 1 Wright 1

It's higher than usual because for the first few games of each season, we get a lot more voters than usual. Once we're deeper into the season, we're more likely to get 12 votes than we are 25, so Santana's total number of points for a game like this would be closer to 55. When we do the totaling, however, Santana is going to be awarded 4.41 points, not 110.21. The season totals aren't affected by the number of voters for each game.

VOTING FOR THIS GAME IS NOW CLOSED Totals for March 31, 2008 (25 votes) New York Mets 7, Florida Marlins 2 NameTotal PointsPoints AwardedPlayer Performance Johan Santana110.214.41(W) 7.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 8 SO.David Wright57.772.312-4, 2 2B, 3 RBI, BB.Carlos Beltran24.640.992-5, R, 2 2B, SO.Jos� Reyes17.550.702-4, R, RBI, SO.Angel Pagan12.820.511-3, R, 2B, RBI, BB.Aaron Heilman7.440.301.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO.Ryan Church6.110.241-4, R, RBI.Jorge Sosa5.680.230.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO.Luis Castillo3.930.161-3, R, 2 BB, SB.Scott Schoeneweis2.460.100.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO.Marlon Anderson0.890.041-1, R.Brian Schneider0.500.020-4.

Yeah. He'll be able to say, "At least the Crane Pool Forum hasn't turned on me yet."

How do you get from New Orleans to Miami in 15 minutes?

Well, I'm not saying that Wise should be reviled, but back-to-back (relatively) poor outings is not the way you want to start out your New York career.

Okay, so how long before he's the latest reviled whipping boy scapegoat?

="Marty Noble"]Mets awaiting word on Pedro's status 04/02/2008 12:26 PM ET By Marty Noble / MLB.com MIAMI -- Not until mid-afternoon, at the earliest, will the Mets have a greater sense of the problem they face because of the injury to Pedro Martinez. Even at 11 a.m. ET on Wednesday, the club was uncertain when Martinez's strained left hamstring would be examined by magnetic resonance imaging. And the results of the MRI probably wouldn't become immediately available. That said, the club will know by early afternoon whether it will have an alternative solution for the problem that undermined its championship aspirations before the second game of the season was complete. By 1 p.m., the Mets will know whether Brian Stokes has been claimed off waivers. If he hasn't been, he will become a possible roster replacement for Martinez, though not a likely a replacement for Martinez in the rotation. Jorge Sosa is the most logical rotation replacement at this point, a person familiar with the Mets thinking said Wednesday morning. Nelson Figueroa and Stokes are possible options. Too familiar with the worst-case scenario as it involves Martinez, the Mets weren't even speculating what the maximum time lost might be for the 36-year-old pitcher because of the injury he sustained in the fourth inning of the team's 5-4, 10-inning loss to the Marlins on Tuesday night. But, because of Martinez's age and the fickle nature of hamstring injuries, an assumption existed that the minimum time lost would be four weeks. Orlando Hernandez, assigned to the disabled list through at least April 12, is a less-than-immediate solution and not a particularly sound one either. He is to pitch in a Class A game Thursday. El Duque is still adjusting to the delivery he twice modified in Spring Training -- first to reduce the stress in the bunion on his right foot, then to restore some power to the delivery and velocity to his pitches. Sosa is ideally placed to take Martinez's spot in the rotation immediately, because he replaced the injured starter Tuesday night and pitched 2 2/3 innings. He also pitched in the Opening Day game, tossing merely six pitches. So chances are he will not pitch Wednesday in the final game of the series in Miami, and he can begin to recuperate for a start. Moreover, Sosa is the best pitcher available, a considerably stronger and more competitive pitcher than Figueroa, who is on the roster of the Mets' Triple A New Orleans affiliate, or Stokes, who was in limbo as Wednesday began. The Mets designated him for assignment and sought waivers on him last week when they made their final roster cuts. They had no idea whether Stokes would be claimed, but if he were not, they could retain him and considered assigning him to their big league bullpen to fill the vacancy created if they were to move Sosa to the rotation. The Mets developed some regard for Stokes' fastball-changeup combination and swing-and-miss pitching during Spring Training, though in-game results were not particularly impressive. He passed Rule 5 Draft selection Steve Register on the depth chart. The Mets won't need a starting pitcher until April 12, even though Martinez had been scheduled to pitch Tuesday in the opening home game. Because Oliver Perez is to pitch Wednesday night, one night before an off-day, he will have more than enough rest before the team begins its series against the Phillies.

Pedro insisted on operating it himself, which complicates things somewhat.

Yes. Even if some of the original superstructure does remain, the fact is that the current Yankee Stadium is a very different place, one that Ruth and Gehrig probably wouldn't recognize.

The page linked in my post above yours, G, includes the same photo you describe.

This page seems to support the argument that it's the same stadium: http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=58009&page=2

Are there any photos online of the "refurbishment" while it was in progress? P Photographs of the Ruthian Rubble have probably been destroyed, but maybe one or two have survived. It's worth a quick Google. (I'll see what I can find.) A better source might be for anyone with Wayback access to see what may have been printed in the newspapers in 1974, at the point between demolition and reconstruction.

You can't say that Victor didn't also make some positive contributions.

Valadius wrote: I agree with some of what soupy's saying. It will likely take longer for Pedro to come back than it would for other players because he's likely to get all whiny about rehab. I don't think he'll be reluctant to rehab. I think he's driven and motivated to return. The problem, if there is one, may be his insistence on doing it his way. Players probably do know their own bodies better than the trainers do, but that doesn't mean that their judgment is best.

He was useful in September of 2007. Although his inability to pitch more frequently led us to that ill-fated Philip Humber start against the mighty Nationals.