G-Fafif

Chad ochoseis wrote: =G-Fafif post_id=10897 time=1558622151 user_id=55] First time Davis has started in left field for the Mets since September 30, 1967, though I imagine Tommy didn't have any Uber tales to tell at the time. Neither does JD Davis, who is the Davis starting in left this afternoon.

=dgwphotography post_id=10902 time=1558623059 user_id=78] I wish I could write in a point for Jason the Uber driver.

With all that has defined the Mets' past week, it can almost be overlooked that they have added five players to the injured list, all of them significant elements of the team. That can't be good.

Only nine of the Mets who constituted the 25-man roster on Opening Day have remained on the 25-man roster without interruption since: Ramos Alonso Rosario J.D. Davis Lagares Syndergaard Wheeler Diaz Gsellman

First time Davis has started in left field for the Mets since September 30, 1967, though I imagine Tommy didn't have any Uber tales to tell at the time. OE: I totally forgot J.D. Davis from 2019 despite instantly recalling Tommy Davis from 1967.

Lefty Specialist wrote: He may pass through waivers and get outrighted to Syracuse. So he may yet extend his winlessness. I guess that was also my way of saying may he get picked up by some team somewhere and leave 0-13 behind. I mean, yeah, it would be fine if somehow he returned and vultured a schneid-departing win in September, but tyranny of decisions aside, I'm not brimming with anticipation to see Sewald again.

There is no hypothetical contemporary parallel for Mays returning to New York in 1972. If the Angels announced they were leaving Southern California in 2020; if hundreds of thousands if not millions of Angels fans were left with an inescapable void; if Trout built on his legend for the let's say San Antonio Angels for at least another decade and was universally considered one of the handful of best not to mention most beloved players ever; and then, in the early 2030s, if an American League team in Southern California that eventually replaced the Angels came along and arranged to have legendary Mike Trout come back to fill the void that had remained for so long...then maybe you'd have something sort of close. But not that close. Willie Mays was a cultural icon beyond Trout or any player who plays today. His significance was established in the 1950s, in New York, when New York had three ballclubs, a lost era by 1972, when all you had were yellowing newspaper and magazine clippings and some black and white footage that couldn't be called up on a whim. The symbolism of New York recouping him -- Mrs. Payson making it her mission since 1962 to have him back -- was irresistible to anybody who remembered pre-1958 New York or anybody who was raised on those stories. Baseball was a far bigger deal in 1957 than it was in 1972 and this was a welcome reminder of what it all meant. Baseball was a far bigger deal in 1972 than it is now. Parochialism held more sway, because to not have your favorite player locally meant barely seeing him at all. There was no MLB TV, et al. Willie maintained a high profile because he was Willie, but other than All-Star Games, occasional Game of the Week appearances and, between 1962 and 1971, series against the Mets, you simply weren't seeing him outside of commercials and magazine covers. To have him again, in New York, on the National League team that wore the same NY on its cap was mindblowing, especially in the pre-free agent age. The way he returned -- with the home run to beat the Giants in New York -- made the whole thing transcendent. And Willie remained a lot of people's favorite player. There are people who stayed Giants fans because of Willie, at least until May of 1972 and they became Mets fans to stay. This was also in the era when the absolute greats were applauded when they showed up as visitors. You wanted the Mets to beat the Giants when Willie was a Giant, but Willie drew applause even if he did something that might have wound up helping the Giants beat the Mets. Maybe especially if he did something great because the appreciation for what Willie did never fully faded. It was a different time, for sure, with a backstory all its own. In the great sweep of franchise history, perhaps it can only be viewed as sui generis, though I don't believe you had to be there. You just have to be willing to understand that there was a world before you were a part of it and follow its trail toward the world you know. The magazine cover with the old man scratching his head captures that one-of-a-kind moment. What it lacks in artistry it makes up for in evocation, just as Casey Stengel on the cover of Sports Illustrated evokes the beginning of a wild ride we are still on today, not just some washed-up manager who is about to steer a wretched collection of castoffs to the worst record of modern times. One didn't have to be around in March of 1962 to appreciate today what that club, that manager and that cover communicate still. As for the 1986 cover, a better picture would probably make this segment of the competition moot.

This is the second consecutive season during which the Mets have added a player born on October 19, 1980, same day the Phillies defeated the Royals in Game Five of the World Series (winning pitcher, Tug McGraw): Jose Bautista in 2018, Rajai Davis in 2019. Sadly for this thread, Jamie Quirk did not play in that World Series.

“I've been inspired ever since Spring Training by that guy who approved of my raking,” Davis told reporters. “What an incisive comment.”

1079. Rajai Davis

R. Davis wearing 18, and my first thought was neither Darryl Strawberry nor Travis d'Arnaud, but Art Howe. Must be the pollen or something.

Paul Sewald of 0-13 infamy DFA'd to create space for Rajai Davis. May he own the ohfer record forever.

Nimmo to IL with that stiff neck of his. Rajai Davis up. Sewald DFA'd.

Keon got the game-winning hit on the Saturday of the first homestand, vs the Nats, acting on the sound advice of mentor-to-all Robinson Cano, who urged him to relax, we only need a single here. I miss those days.

How many magazine covers you think Harry Craft, first manager of the Houston Colt .45s, was garnering? Just a reminder what a force of nature Casey Stengel was in establishing the Mets as a presence in this here market and league.

Casey overseeing PFP. That's a good manager.

The view from way the bleep out beyond center http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/2019/05/22/pause-and-effect/here.

Current membership of the three-timers club: J. Davis 3 McNeil 3 Reynolds 3 Uribe 3 Tejada 3 Satin 3 Cedeño 3 Thole 3 Pridie 3 Schneider 3 Delgado 3

With Conforto on the IL and Nimmo sidelined by a stiff neck, it could be said very loosely that as of last night, the active Mets Citi Field HR leader is...Pete Alonso, with 8. Actually Alonso, Rosario, Smith and Lagares each have eight, a rare instance of active Mets tied with a relatively significant total and no company from any predecessors (though it feels like Lagares is from an other era at this point). Together they have forged a four-way tie for 23rd place. Unlike Rosario, Smith and Lagares, Alonso just got here. Conforto's holding steady at 43, in third place, seven behind Wright; Nimmo is still tied for 16th with 13. D'Arnaud left us in eleventh place, with 22. OE: Ah cripes, I forgot Todd Frazier is alive and well. He has 12, putting him in 18th place, so never mind the elevation of Alonso to active leader status among healthy players. We might have to wait another homestand or two for that.

16th HR: Hundley: 61st game of 1996 Beltran: 60th game of 2006 Alonso: 47th game of 2019 Dave Kingman hit his 16th home run of 1976 in his 41st game.

Nationals reportedly signing Kevin McGowan to a minor league deal.

Debuting tonight, out in the heretofore untrod upon territory known as Citi Pavilion (a junket of some sort), the seats in the foreground of Shea Bridge.

"Yogi, ya ain't gonna get us any votes dressed in that pathetic get-up."

When he won Comeback Player of the Year in 2020.

15th HR: Hundley: 61st game of 1996 Beltran: 59th game of 2006 Alonso: 46th game of 2019