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This subject line was inevitable. To the DL with a hamstring injury; Swarzak to 60 day DL; will be replaced by Metsoraco.

Harvey...Harvey...oh yeah, the guy who...

"He can't be any worse than what we've got," says a source who just learned about the trade.

Oswalt's up, Conlon's down.

Every time I see that 1972 cover, I see it in the second-from-bottom drawer of the wooden chest of drawers my mother put in my room around the time that yearbook came out. She insisted on covering it in various shades of contact paper, but I eventually peeled it off. Every season, when I got a new yearbook, I'd slip it in the same drawer, under that one. Every time I decided I needed to look something up, I'd open that drawer and see the 1972 cover. One of the knobs on one of the drawers on that chest was perpetually loose. It always bugged me. I also remember how dark the cover seemed because I usually only had a lamp on, over on the other side of the room. Maybe I couldn't or didn't want to sleep, so instead I decided I needed to stare at the Old Timer's Day spread in which Tom Seaver learned a little something from Carl Hubbell or Satchel Paige. Todd Hundley could literally leap off the page and it wouldn't beat my most Proustian yearbook memories.

"Excuse me, Mr. Devine?" "Yes, Finch, what is it?" "I know you said you wanted me to send the yearbook to the printer, but I think there may be something wrong with it." "What?" "Well, on the steps where Mr. Mullin has drawn our record from every year, there's kind of a negative message." "Negative message?" "Here, look, the 1965 step. It's cracked." "So it is. Ha, good one, Willard. I think that was intentional, Finch." "Yes, Mr. Devine, but shouldn't we be selling the Mets as an ever upward and onward proposition?" "Finch, where did you come here from?" "I was with the World Wide Wicket Company." "I don't know how they did things at World Wide Wicket, but here with the New York Mets, we respect our customers -- our fans." "Respect your customers? That's novel." "Listen, Finch, maybe get your head out of the books and tune into one of our games sometimes. Our announcers have it right: Mets fans are the most knowledgeable in baseball. You can't fool them. They know we're not a strictly onward and upward kind of team. Oh, we're improving. I think we're on our way. But not every step up is a clean one. That's Willard Mullin's message here. Sure we're gonna give New York a winner someday, maybe someday soon, but we haven't, not yet. 1965 was a bit of a step back. And Finch..." "Yes, Mr. Devine?" "It's not like going from 53-109 to 50-112 was exactly a fall from grace." "I suppose not, sir." "You tell them to go ahead and print up the first edition. We'll probably need to revise it a few times before the season is out. Wes and I are looking at a pretty supple personnel chart for '67." "Yes, Mr. Devine. Gosh, it would sure be easier if we had a world champion to sell." "Finch, a world champion sells itself. That kind of yearbook wouldn't take much creativity. But to get folks excited about a team that just finished in ninth place, well, son, that's something."

Edgy MD wrote: Hah! Copy and paste is bullshit. You got me. Didn't mean to step on your post. Just wanted to leave a record. The more, the Metsier.

Player: Corey Oswalt Number: 60 Date: 5/7/2018 in Cincinnati Result: 2 shutout innings thus far, giving up 0 hits and 1 walk, striking out 1 / 0-1 at the plate. [fimg=300]https://kronozio.blob.core.windows.net/images/card/520e2b31a6a7467b9bfc478f3b9cb4cb_front.jpg[/fimg] The name is Conlon...P.J. Conlon.

1,050. P.J. Conlon

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Could this speculation have originated... here? There are also rumblings that Mets fans are as unhappy with the 2018 yearbook cover as they are with the players pictured on it, not to mention those whose pictures appear within the pages that follow. "Put up against 1962, when they lost 120 games, nobody chose it -- nobody," says a source familiar with Mets fan thinking. "Even that off-brand bilingual edition with Bonilla on it had more support." Harvey wasn't on the cover of the 2018 yearbook, but those on which he was pictured were hardly more popular. "It's a fact," one Mets fan said. "If Harvey had something to do with it, it didn't advance."

Yes to Ces... CF Conforto LF Cespedes RF Bruce 2B Cabrera 3B Frazier 1B Gonzalez C Lobaton P Conlon SS Rosario Frazier to get a video salute on this, his first trip back to GABP since he left for the White Sox.

Hockey writer Larry Brooks is occasionally assigned baseball columns by the Post. And, as noted in this very thread, he occasionally makes mistakes that even a codpiece can't cover up. On Steven Matz and his lack of progress: ...he made his big league debut on June 18, 2013, a year ahead of deGrom's arrival and two ahead of Syndergaard's... Matz made his big league debut on June 28, 2015, which means Brooks's premise -- that he should be at the level of his less experienced teammates given the head start he had on them -- is wholly inoperative. Zack Wheeler made his big league debut on June 18, 2013. Brooks copied the wrong date out of the media guide and applied it to Matz. No editor caught it.

The other MetIrish will wear No. 60.

This is the most compelling second-round matchup to date, both presenting Shea as Shea wishes to be seen. Shea of 1964, beckoning with possibility and informed by whimsy; Shea of 1991, an explosive good time awaits. Not pictured in a central way: any baseball. 1964 gives us Casey and his mischievous sidekick pulling out the rug from beneath the National League. Clear if wishful messaging. 1991 gives us five players who were important keys to 1990: Doc, Coney, Franco, McReynolds, Jefferies, Magadan. No Strawberry, not surprisingly, since Straw bolted town. No HoJo, since HoJo was rarely cast in a lead role (and did better in odd years). And no Viola, which is surprising, considering he just won 20 games and was returning. He's a swell guy all these years later, but I seem to recall Frankie V rubbing people the wrong way at his Met peak. The cartoon Mets are integrated into the story. The real Mets are off to the side, a story unto themselves. Dave Magadan made a yearbook cover. That's something to chew on. Shea never quite looked like what was portrayed on the 1964 cover. Unless you left to beat traffic or purposely set up camp to make a photograph, you never saw Shea from that angle under the rockets' red glare. Both are illusions in their way. It's a lot to think about, but honestly, I'm not going to vote against Willard Mullin here. 1991 is attractive and would have been more attractive without the vertical panel of players, but I love the window into brand new Shea's soul too much to cast it aside for fireworks.

It takes a lot of Mets to beat a single Tom Seaver, but the 2000 yearbook has done it. If only we could have seen Tom throw one of those baseballs, he probably would have prevailed.

"Oh, he's totally out." "You would say that, John, catcher that you are." "And I suppose you think he's safe, Mookie?" "Tie goes to the runner, I always say." "Don't get the ump riled up, boys. I'm gonna need a generous strike zone today." "Sorry, Tom. You came a long way to join us." "Quite the trip from Cincy, as George can tell us." "Indeed. I thought I'd be crossing the plate a lot more here, and that I wouldn't have to slide like I'm some kinda Manny Mota. Hey, you guys feel a breeze?" "Sorry, fellas. Just me striking out again." "Dave, man, you gotta make a little contact if you ever wanna get on base again and avoid a collision like in that '71 cover game. Grote doesn't fool around." "Ah, I get the feeling I'll be hanging out on the bench not making much of anything by June. Except my paycheck. Whaddaya think, Neil?" "June...June...I can't think that far ahead. I can't even think to the ninth inning. Too much pressure to get saves now that Tom's here." "Seriously, Allen. Don't screw with my W's." "No, sir, I'll do my best. Um, I'm going in back to see if there's anything in the fridge to, uh, calm me down. Anybody want anything?" "Maybe a cover not as weird as the one we're on?"

"Can somebody hand me a drop cloth? I'm putting the finishing touches on my Hodges cover." "Here ya go, Mr. Mullin." "Hey, this is the 1986 cover. I can't use this to spill paint on. It's nice." "Sorry about that, Mr. Mullin. You're right. It is nice. It's just that compared to the '68 cover, everything looks like a drop cloth."

Matz told his teammates, "Don't worry about tonight, boys. I got this one. You don't have to lift a finger." So they didn't.

The 1988 revised edition is still grumbling over the decision in Stockholm to keep it out of the tournament. "We had Shea on the cover, we acknowledged an otherwise unnoticed anniversary and we paid homage to Tom Seaver, yet we were not invited to participate, while the clearly unofficial 1992 bilingual 'yearbook' was given a berth. Something's fishy in Sweden, and it's not just Swedish Fish."

"It's a base hit into the gap! Leo Foster will score from third, Leon Brown motors in from second and putting on a burst of speed, trying to come all the way around from first, is Mr. Bicentennial Met. The relay reaches catcher John Stearns. Stearns, still a little peeved at not placing the tag on Mick Kelleher of the Cubs in that famous play gracing the cover of the 1978 yearbook, stands his ground as we're gonna have a collision and...oh, Mr. Bicentennial is out at the plate! He's out! Stearns tagged him forcefully, sending Mr. Bicentennial Met's tri-corner hat flying past the '76 Mets' on-deck circle and ever so slightly diminishing the happy-go-lucky mascot's smile. Stearns, nicknamed by his teammates 'The Bad Bude,' but really a very friendly guy, stands up, brushes the dirt off his chest protector and tosses the ball to the mound. In the inning, there were two runs, but the all-important potential third run was gunned down at the plate. If you're scoring at home, it was 7-6-2 on the final out, with John Stearns making the tag, keeping 1978 in the lead by a hair. We'll be back after this important word on the New York Mets Radio Network."

Mr. Met showed up in 1963. The No. 1 showed up in 1989. Mr. Mets would endure into eternity. The Mets finished second after brandishing their No. 1. Mr. Met from 1963 gives his version of "We're No. 1" to his comparatively leaden animated competition.

Nimmo CF Céspedes LF Cabrera 2B Bruce RF Frazier 3B González 1B Nido C Matz LHP Rosario SS

I blame Matz for the current four-game skid. His tight back pushed everybody up a day and every game has been lost since his turn was skipped. So make it up to us, Steven. I always thought you rode everybody else's coattails into the alleged dream rotation. Chad Bettis pitches for the Rockies. Clearly, fuck Chad Bettis.

Bruce is a first baseman tonight.

The whole band is apathetic.