G-Fafif

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Lenny Randle was the first one I thought of too. What about Lee Mazzilli in 1986? Had he been released before the Mets signed him? Yes. Released by Pittsburgh to make room for that fine young man Bobby Bonilla. Mets signed him a few days before George Foster made room at the Major League level for Mazz.

Picking up Gary Sheffield worked out well for a couple of months.

Lenny Randle was the most valuable player of a godawful year after Texas couldn't keep him around, what with his having clocked his manager.

We count on Jake to take us to the airport in style and lead us to the first win of the Jose Bautista Era. His mound opponent will be Dan Straily.

Nationals DFA Carlos Torres.

In the lineup tonight, No. 1,054, Jose Bautista.

seawolf17 wrote: (losing the five Vargas starts, natch) The man's ERA dropped by four runs last night, indicating it will be sub-zero before this allegedly brutal stretch is done. Viva Jace Vargas!

Since all worked out in the end, quite hilarious how "New York Groove" blared with the final out, then stopped for the review, then resumed when the call was confirmed. I suppose all teams look good when they're winning, but geez the Mets look so much better at the moment than they did not too long ago, which was when they looked a whole lot worse than they had when they looked great. One-hundred sixty-two games of this. It's as if a team is going to have multiple ups and downs before you can figure them out.

Edgy MD wrote: Is Doug Flynn the weakest, least-productive player to ever grace the cover of a year book? I don't know about that. Yuchie barely passed arithmetic.

Shea Stadium, unlike Citi Field, didn't have many outfield seats, yet wouldn't you know it, I wound up with an obstructed view out there twice, once in 1965, the other time in 1974. At least I was able to tell this kid who was counting the house to siddown already yet! once he got to 1,732,597. (He might have the OCD.) The flagpole was another matter, especially when there was a stiff breeze, which isn't an uncommon occurrence off Flushing Bay. Don't get me wrong. Good to see that flag, but I think I'd rather see the game.

All right, Gallo. The cook is over. These enthusiastic gentlemen will be escorting to your seat so you can observe your mentor in the next round. C'mon, let's Go-Go-Go!

CURRENT TOP 10 Duda 71 Wright 50 Granderson 38 Flores 34 Davis 30 Conforto 28 Cespedes 28 Murphy 27 Cabrera 26 Reyes 25 Other current Mets: d'Arnaud remains in eleventh place with 22. Bruce remains tied with Walker and Beltran for thirteenth place with 14. Lagares remains in twentieth place with 8. Nimmo and Rivera are in a six-way tie for 25th with 6. Smith and Plawecki are in a four-way tie for 34th with 4. Rosario and Frazier are in an eleven-way tie for 38th with 3. Mesoraco is in a thirteen-way tie for 49th with 2. Lugo, deGrom and Syndergaard are in a 22-way tie for 62nd with 1. Eighty-three Mets have hit at least one regular-season home run at Citi Field since 2009.

Five steps up from where we find the 1967 Mets, our tyke will run into a quartet of dependable veterans he was just getting to know when he was making his climb. I'm sure he'd be happy to know Messrs. Seaver, Jones, Harrelson and McGraw were all well into their successful careers by then. I'd bet he'd get even a bigger kick of passing them by on this particular staircase.

The 2000 National League champion Mets would come to embody the kind of character the 1964 Mets would stand ready to pull the welcome mat out from under. And here they finally get to do so.

Callaway says they want Nido to apprentice under Mesoraco, who is apparently a state of the art professional catcher in their view. They're expecting Plawecki back in 7-10 days. Also, the Lobaton galaxy of stars proved decidedly less than stellar. Mickey didn't say that. He didn't have to.

Chris Flexen and Tomas Nido have been recalled. Buddy Baumann has been optioned. Jose Lobaton has been DFA'd.

The Dodgers have claimed Erik Goeddel off waivers from the Mariners.

"Are we almost done trying on outfits?" "I've got a couple more. What do you think of this one?" "Kind of plain. A little heavy on the orange. I mean orange bill, orange outline, and makes you look...I dunno...chesty." "OK, what about this one?" "That's a very kicky hat. I like the number on the front. I know exactly when you got it. You seem ready for anything in it." "So which one?" "The second one. Definitely the second one."

Given that the artist is still at work, I think it's fair to refer to the 1968 cover as The Unfinished Portrait, foreshadowing the managerial tenure of Gil Hodges. In both cases, Mullin and Hodges got a lot done on their canvases. The play at the plate is completed, and 1971 is called out.

We're 40 games in and only 12 Mets from Opening Day have been active for all 40 games.

Not in the Schaefer points: Jay Bruce targeted a little kid with a glove in the first row of section 102, tossed it one row too far, an adult grabbed it, first showily walked away with it and then turned around and stuck it in the kid's glove. The kid spent the rest of the night pounding the ball into his glove. Good play by all concerned. DeGrom was beautiful. Thirteen strikeouts and the 10:19 at Woodside.

I had a vision. I was merely an infant, but I could see it all in front of me. I could see the next forty years of my life. I could see those who would define my life for the better. I could see those who would provide me cause to revel, to reflect, to give thanks. I could see it all. I wore almost nothing but what was essential. I struggled, but I stood and I peered off into the distance and saw my future. I can't put that vision aside. It was so clear, so perfectly arranged. Those forty years I saw all came to pass. The vision was bigger than any image of myself, even myself at my birth. And I was quite the looker, you know.

"Look at that beautiful grass." "It sure is beautiful." "Yes. Still." "What?" "I somehow think it would be more beautiful if it had more..." "More what?" "More people on it." "What do you mean more people? You can only have so many people on the grass, and by 'so many,' of course I mean few." "Maybe today, but not always." "Whatever do you mean?" "There was a time when the grass wasn't so sacred. There was a time, when circumstances dictated, that the grass was for everybody." "No! The grass is for few!" "I know we believe that now, but not always. Not for the few. For the many." "You speak in blasphemous terms." "The thing is, I don't. The many were on the grass and it was beautiful." "More beautiful than the grass as we view it at this moment?" "Far more so." "Then why is the grass now restricted to the few?" "It's complicated." "That's what they all say." "They all used to be on the grass. And I will always swear it was beautiful." "So you say." "So I say." "Do you have photographic evidence?" "It just so happens I do. Here." "Wow." "Yes. Wow." "That's beautiful." "It is. And was." "Will it be again?" "It's complicated."

If the Mets had begun the season 9-18 and then surged to their present 20-19 on an 11-1 tear, would things be universally seen as looking up or would the hypothetical recent success be viewed as an aberration because the Mets got off to the miserable start and the Mets suck and they always suck and LOLMets and all that? I really enjoyed the walking around town in Mets gear while the winning was endless. I mean in April. Obviously any time the winning is endless. Actually, I enjoy walking around town in Mets gear as a matter of course, but I like the bonus sense of "YEAH!" that generates when winning is prevalent.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: G-Fafif wrote: 1,053. Buddy Baumann That settles the ghost issue. May his ghost rest in peace.