Benjamin Grimm

I think Rusty pretty much had to hit the ball over the fence in order to score a run. Virtually every time he got on base he'd come out for a pinch runner. Which means he was really burning roster space: when he'd get a hit or a walk Davey would have to go to his bench yet again.

I think what Ira is saying is that if you carry a guy solely for his bat it ought to be a good one. Franco isn't only a bat, though. For better or worse, he's been Delgado's primary backup. I think that may change this year: Green can play first and Milledge can play right.

I had forgotten about that. I hope he does hit a homer. It was pretty cool how he extended his streak to three years with an inside-the-parker.

The Mets didn't miss the playoffs by much in Rusty Staub's last season. I don't recall contemplating this at the time, but I wonder if having a more versatile player on the bench instead of Staub might have made a key difference. Four additional wins (or just two against the Cardinals) would have given the Mets the division title.

="Centerfield"]In the 4th, Atlanta leads the Phillies 2-0. I am rooting for both teams to lose this game.It is hard to know who to root against in that game.

Any boos for Jeter?

Nope, no piss involved. If I was a decision maker, I would have pushed for the big Chinese baseball stadium. I think it would have been terrific, and unique.

I'm hoping that if it becomes apparent that he really is wasting a roster spot (and I suspect that will happen unless the Mets jump to another 10 game lead) that the Mets will do whatever they need to do to replace him. Making him a coach would be nice, but aren't they at their limit for coaches? I know the Red Sox just had an issue where they had to get Johnny Pesky out of uniform and off the bench during games because of that limit. I don't know what the number is. Maybe the Mets have room to expand the coaching staff, but maybe they don't. Anyone know the answer?

It doesn't compare to a spot that you could walk to from downtown. And unlike Shea, there's only one public transportation option, the Broad Street subway. (The SEPTA lines don't run there.) If they had built it at 30th Street it would have been convenient to all SEPTA lines, plus the Market Street subway and Amtrak, and it would also have been right near I-76. The skyline would have been visible over the outfield fence. It would have been a great spot. What bugged me was that the reason against it was a two-year delay. I think a much better location is worth that wait. Veterans Stadium wasn't about to fall down or anything. The other site that the Phillies and the city wanted was a few blocks north of Market Street, on the border of Chinatown and right behind the Philadelphia Inquirer's building. The NIMBY crowd killed that plan; they said that having a baseball stadium would compromise the distinctive architectural flavor of the Chinatown neighborhood. Nobody asked me, but my response to that would have been to build a Chinese style ballpark, with pagodas and dragons and whatever else would fit it into the neighborhood. How unique and distinctive would THAT have been? It could have been called Citizen's Bank Park at Chinatown and it would have been unlike any other ballpark in the country.

KTE 2007 was discussed here: http://www.getalifealready.com/cpf/archives/f1_t5699.shtml

Yeah, they botched the location. I thought the perfect place would be near 30th Street Station, but that land wouldn't have become available until 2006 or something like that. So rather than delay the new stadium by a couple of years in order to get a better spot, they were hasty and built it in the same complex where Veterans Stadium was. I've seen Philadelphia screw up so many different ways it doesn't surprise me that they screwed up this one too. It is a nice ballpark, though. It's just in a bad spot.

Retrosheet has the shorter version. The one on UMDB matches the one in The Sporting News Baseball Register. We'll have to invite him here to discuss his middle name.

Glavine and Hernandez show their age, and Pelfrey, Maine, and Perez show their inexperience. Perez may turn out to really suck this year. I know they think he's "figured it out" but in the past on any given day he was more likely to be bad than good.

Maybe they only had room for 47 prospects.

attgig wrote: i couldn't stand kaboom. I was convinced it gave me green poop.That sounds like a bonus to me! It's like the asparagus effect, only with number 2 and with breakfast cereal.

Johnny takes a page from Steve Rogers and kicks off an IGT with a Billy Joel song. I hope he's not now planning to stay up until 3 a.m. writing a history of Guam.

His mustache crawls away?? That sounds even weirder than the TV head guy.

Edgy DC wrote: Anybody remember John Stearns getting mad at Chief Nok-a-homa, chasing him down and tackling him? I remember it! I even mentioned it in my ill-fated first round losing song in this year's parody challenge. (Losing sucked, but I was consoled by getting the first crack at the shrimp buffet in the loser's lounge.)

Wow, he looks like Mr. Met's deranged inbred cousin. I bet when he orders ginger ale he calls it a "ginger ale coke."

Maybe we can play a new game: Find a likeable black hideous ex-Yankee. I can't think of any offhand, but there must be one or two out there.

I think he meant "good" as in "talented."

Carlos Zambrano wrote: If I play in New York, it's going to be with the Mets. First of all, because I get to hit. And I love hitting. I can't say … that I would never play for the Yankees. Hopefully no, but you never know. Now that's the right kind of attitude for a player to have! Maybe things really are starting to change! He hopes to never play for the Yankees! What a terrific guy!

Pelfrey and Milledge. I'd love to see them establish themselves as important contributors this season. I'd include Humber but I think he's more likely a 2008 guy. Some are saying that Reyes is ready to make the leap to superstardom this season. I'm not so sure about that, but if it does happen it'll be fun to watch. I'm also eager to see what kinds of seasons we get out of Wright, Beltran, and Delgado. Yes, it's all Mets related, but they're the only team I pay any attention to.

If you were to go to a movie theater in Teheran you'd probably be able to see a few.

I don't expect to see him back. If the Nationals are as awful as everyone seems to expect (something like 155 losses, I hear) they'll be able to afford to carry him on their roster for the entire season. They just have to hope he doesn't get too demoralized playing for a team that loses 161 games.