Benjamin Grimm

Voting for Wednesday's game is due to close over the weekend, but since there are only six votes so far, I'll hold it open until Monday morning. If you want to vote for this game, please try to do so over the weekend. So far, we've heard from Benjamin Grimm, Ashie62, G-Fafif, The Second Spitter, themetfairy, and Frayed Knot. Schaefer POTG 08/11/2010 Colorado 6, Mets 2

Ho many of the other 68 are currently on the Mets? One immediately comes to mind: Johan Santana.

Totals for August 10, 2010 (11 votes) New York Mets 1, Colorado Rockies 0 NameTotal PointsPoints AwardedPlayer PerformanceMike Pelfrey56.345.12(W) 7.0 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 1 BB, 4 SO.Francisco Rodriguez11.311.03(Sv) 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO.Josh Thole9.050.821-3, 2B, SOHisanori Takahashi8.610.781.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO.Fernando Martinez7.710.701-2, BB, SOJos� Reyes7.250.660-3, RBIChris Carter5.630.511-2, BBCarlos Beltran0.600.050-0, BBIke Davis0.250.020-3, BB, 3 SO

Maybe he wants to get sent home early, with pay. I mean, why not?

There have been many instances of ballplayers behaving badly, but I don't think there's ever been any precedent in which a team gets out of paying a big money contract because of it. Maybe if a player had to serve a one-year prison term during his contract, for example, the team might have a case, because the bad behavior led to his unavailability. But I don't see that happening here.

Is that Mr. Tide?

attgig wrote: so, everyone's eager to get rid of frankie, but the question remains...who's our closer without frankie? I would love for the answer to be... nobody! Break the mold! Failing that, I'd also be happy with a lefty-righty combo, like Orosco-McDowell or McGraw-Frisella.

Or they trade him for someone else's high-salaried headache. (Or does that fit into the bag-of-balls scenario?) Rodriguez is probably more talented than the other team's headache, but if trading him gets the Mets to change the structure of their bullpen, that might turn out to be a good thing in the long run. (Meaning, after Jerry's gone.)

This is what you're predicting, not what you're hoping. This poll expires after one day, because at that point the question may have been answered.

What was the story behind the Red Sox "bullpen by committee" from a few years ago? I don't recall the details, but as I remember it, they tried to break this nonsensical designated closer pattern and were widely ridiculed for it. It didn't meet with immediate success and was abandoned fairly quickly. I do remember that I was really rooting for it to work in the hope that it would usher us into a new era of bullpen strategy. (Or, perhaps, back to the old era.) The fact that it "failed", however, seems to have been a major setback to anyone else looking to "innovate" in a similar manner. I often think of the early days of Hollywood movies, when the studios tried to prevent the actors from becoming stars in an effort to keep their salaries down. They didn't put their names in the credits, which is why Clara Bow got nicknamed "The It Girl" (because nobody at the time knew her name). Modern MLB executives and managers, on the other hand, are doing the exact opposite when it comes to ninth-inning pitchers. They create this artificial need, hype the players who get put in this role, and pay them tens of millions of dollars. I guess teams are all looking for the next Mariano Rivera, thinking that that would get them four World Series wins in five years. But he's an anomaly, very very few pitchers have consistent success as a closer for 15 years. And I think Rivera might very well have had an even more productive career if he had been starting 34 games per season.

Oh, by the way, the Schaefer Mets Player of the Week, for the week ending August 7, was Johan Santana with 6.41 points.

Fman99 wrote: I continue to blame LaRussa and Eckersley for the 9th inning, three out "closer." Me too.

Voting for Tuesday night's win over the Rockies will close on Friday afternoon, after 3 p.m. Schaefer POTG 08/10/10 Mets 1, Colorado 0

Is he still alive?

Santana 6 Beltran 1.5 Reyes 1.5 Pagan 0.5 Davis 0.5

Double play ends it!

Soft bloop to Reyes is the first out of the ninth.

Jeez, but Tejada looks like a little boy.

Immediately following the strains of Vanis Takee, Beltran doubles into the left field corner! Vanis Takee! That's mojo, 2006-style!

Frankie, just 15 to 20 minutes ago, was taken from the holding cell and off to court. He gets credit for a Citi Field first: First Mets player to be imprisoned in the new ballpark!

Nobody throwing in the pen.

Chipper Jones tore a something-or-other in his leg, and his season, and perhaps his career, may be over.

I think Jeff Francoeur's father-in-law should steer clear for a while.

It's now 4-0 and the lead is beyond "save situation."