Benjamin Grimm

Totals for July 30, 2010 (9 votes) Arizona Diamondbacks 9, New York Mets 6 NameTotal PointsPoints AwardedPlayer PerformanceDavid Wright45.145.023-4, 2 R, 2 HR, 5 RBI, SOJos� Reyes12.531.393-5, 2 R, 2BManny Acosta9.091.011.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 4 SO.Angel Pagan7.050.781-4, R, RBI, BB, SOPedro Feliciano3.440.381.0 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 SO.Elmer Dessens3.000.331.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO.Luis Castillo0.250.030-4, R, BB

I may have to give that thread a careful reread.

I was watching the Mets-Braves on MLB Network last night, and they'd cut away from the game whenever Alex Rodriguez came to bat. (And I'd then switch to the backup telecast, the standard definition broadcast from the Extra Innings package.) Are there that many people who care about seeing his 600th home run? I imagine Yankees fans do, but they're watching the Yankees game; they're not watching the Mets and the Braves on MLB Network. The Daily News printed a list of the top ten all-time home run hitters, and I was a little surprised to see that I had seen nine of the ten play, either live or on television (or both). All except for Babe Ruth.

Dickey 2.5 Acosta 1.5 Rodriguez 1 Francoeur 3 Castillo 1 Carter 1

Smilers never lose, and frowners never win.

Misspelled Mays' first name.

I know that I look a whole lot different than I did in 1986. More so than Wally.

If their August turns out like their June did, we'll be positioned for a September to Remember.

It's certainly possible. I know that at times in the past, I've been demoralized at work, and I don't suppose that if your work is playing baseball and your workplace is a ballpark that you'd be immune to being demoralized. I doubt that it's just July 31 inaction though. It's probably that combined with the poor play leading up to it. If they were surging as the deadline approached, a deal very well might have been made.

HahnSolo wrote: Davey looked pretty damn good and rested the other day. I'd be as happy to get Davey back as I would Bobby.

Two words: head lice.

Wally was "scrappy." (That's the adjective that was most used in describing him as a player.) He was a small-ball type of player, and he thrived under Davey Johnson, who wasn't a small-ball type of manager. But would Wally be a small-ball manager in the big leagues? I don't know that managers manage as if their team was composed of 25 clones of themselves. (Certainly, the good ones don't.) So I have no idea really what kind of approach Wally would take if he took over the Mets. My main hesitation about him is that I think he's nuts. Sure, a lot of fans like nutty managers for their entertainment value, but that's not really the kind of guy I'd like to see.

Greener Grass Syndrome, I think. I guess Wally might be better than Jerry, but he's not the one I'd choose as the next guy to sit on the Throne of Gil.

Hard to imagine that Charlie Brown's historically inept team would be on the verge of a championship, but somehow it happened. Poor Charlie Brown. Meanwhile, the recently introduced UMDB walkoff page has received some media credit, from a WFAN blogger named John Schweibacher. (Is he an on-air guy? I've never heard of him.)

All three games from this past weekend's series against Arizona will close on Wednesday morning. This will also close out the month of July, so look for the big Players of the Month announcement tomorrow as well. Anyone who hasn't voted yet, and intends to, should get their votes in today. Schaefer PotG, 7/30, Diamondbacks 9, Mets 6 Schaefer POTG 7/31/10 - Mets 5, Diamondbacks 4 Schaefer POTG 8/1/10 - Diamondbacks 14, Mets 1

Totals for July 29, 2010 (8 votes) New York Mets 4, St. Louis Cardinals 0 NameTotal PointsPoints AwardedPlayer PerformanceR. A. Dickey39.344.92(W) 8.1 IP, 4 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 SO.Ike Davis21.042.631-4, R, HR, 3 RBIAngel Pagan10.361.292-3, 2 R, 3B, BBFrancisco Rodriguez3.070.38(Sv) 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 0 BB, 1 SO.Carlos Beltran2.600.321-4, RBIJosh Thole1.560.201-2, 2 BBMike Hessman1.580.201-2, BBJos� Reyes0.450.061-5, R, 2B, SO

I think the union would have more of a grievance if you sat somebody to keep him from reaching contract-setting milestones than if you released him.

Santana 1.5 Parnell 1 Beltran 1 Reyes 1

Hey, that's my old district!

I'm a bit surprised by this. I mean, I know Wayne isn't popular, but I wasn't aware that he was so unpopular that a blog like this would be created. I have no opinion on him myself; it seems I'm rarely in the car anymore when the Mets are playing, and since I have the MLB Extra Innings package, I really don't ever have to listen to the games on WFAN while I'm at home. Is he really that bad, or is this blog over the top? I'm sure there are very few people who could speak extemporaneously for nine innings without saying something lame or awkward at least once.

If I remember correctly (and I'm not sure that I do) the Mets wore black for every postseason game they played in both 1999 and 2000.

Now for Frayed Knot's second question. From 1969 (when the save became an official stat) through the end of the 2009 season, the Mets played 3,085 regular season games in which a pitcher was credited with a save. In 561 of those games, the guy who got the save was the only pitcher for his team in the final inning and faced exactly three batters and gave up zero hits, walks, or hit batters. It's possible that in some of those games a batter reached on an error and was erased by a CS or a pickoff or a double play, so the 561 may be a little off. But the margin of error shouldn't skew the percentage by much. Number of times this has happened, by year: 1969 1 1970 5 1971 4 1972 5 1973 6 1974 2 1975 2 1976 6 1977 5 1978 6 1979 8 1980 5 1981 4 1982 3 1983 7 1984 5 1985 6 1986 6 1987 5 1988 2 1989 6 1990 10 1991 11 1992 19 1993 15 1994 17 1995 14 1996 21 1997 27 1998 19 1999 20 2000 27 2001 31 2002 27 2003 23 2004 29 2005 26 2006 24 2007 30 2008 36 2009 33 Pitchers who did this the most frequently (both games for and against the Mets are counted) Franco John 74 Benitez Armando 56 Wagner Billy 50 Looper Braden 20 Hoffman Trevor 16 Rodriguez Francisco 12 McGraw Tug 11 McDowell Roger 10 Orosco Jesse 9 Rivera Mariano 8 Myers Randy 7 Ayala Luis 7 Worrell Todd 7 Smoltz John 7 Gagne Eric 7 Smith Lee 6 Beck Rod 6 Borowski Joe 6 Lidge Brad 6 Allen Neil 5 Isringhausen Jason 5 Jones Doug 5 Cordero Chad 5

The full part of that Youngblood trivia is that he was the first (and probably still the only) player ever to get a base hit for two different teams in two different cities on the same day.

Well, I can tell you this: from the first game the Mets played in 1962, through yesterday's game, and including post-season games (a total of 7,823 games) the Mets have played a total of 140,871 half innings. In 104,233 of those innings, the team at bat failed to score. That's just a shade under 74 per cent of the time. Let me see what I can find out about the second question...