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"BOOT HILL" is such a Newsday headline. You stare at it, you think, oh, right, "boot" is an error and the error killed them and Boot Hill is a reference to cemeteries that's clever if little used...Mets lost, got it.

This was from the Post story from the introductory press conference: “We are going to care more about the players than anyone ever has before,” Callaway said. “And we’re going to know they are human beings and individuals, and this is going to be a group that feels that every day we come to the clubhouse, and that is going to be our main concern. “We know they are human beings and their numbers or stats are going to be a byproduct of how durable, prepared and aggressive they are, and that’s it. We’re not going to have expectations on numbers.” Right now, nothing he says is wrong. A clean slate is a wondrous thing.

The phrase our new manager uses repeatedly that I find curious, and I haven't heard any of his interviewers ask him to expand on it, is how the players will know they're "cared for". What does that mean exactly? Is that something that's been missing across baseball? Is that something that's been a Met problem? An extension of the general ideal of communication being key? He always pairs it with how the players will be asked to do more than ever before and be held accountable, perhaps so we know he's not a pushover. We should all feel cared for. I'm just surprised a baseball manager keeps invoking it as an explicit professional necessity.

I can see Beltran as a capless throwback. Mel Ott played an entire HOF career as a New York Giant, yet went capless, and at his peak, Beltran had better hair.

A truly innovative approach would be to have starters face the opposing lineup the second and third times through the lineup, but not the first.

My inference from this round is nobody was more important to the fortunes of the 2017 Mets than Zack Wheeler.

Based on these headlines, I don't think Harvey is gonna have a very good 2017.

Halladay comes up next year, January 2019 announcement.

Impossible to despise as a Phillie when the Phillies were still the Phillies we despised at MFY levels, and that's the highest praise that can be directed toward a Phillie.

Opening Jay and Club Amed have a little tabloid zest to them during a mostly newsless period. The "We're All In" from the Post features an irresistible photo. Man, 2017 is gonna be great!

Earl Weaver (presumably in consultation with Brian Cashman and Charlie Finley) has made his decisions. The Mets Opponents Fall Fantasy Classic roster is intriguing, to say the least. AMERICAN LEAGUE FALL FANTASY CLASSIC ROSTER PITCHERS Cuellar, Mike (LHP) – 1969 BAL Cueto, Johnny (RHP) – 2015 KCR Fingers, Rollie (RHP) – 1973 OAK Hunter, Catfish (RHP) – 1973 OAK Hurst, Bruce (LHP) – 1986 BOS Knowles, Darold (LHP) – 1973 OAK Pettitte, Andy (LHP) – 2000 NYY Rivera, Mariano (RHP) – 2000 NYY Stanton, Mike (LHP) – 2000 NYY Young, Chris (RHP) – 2015 NYY CATCHERS Dalrymple, Clay (L) – 1969 BAL Perez, Salvador (R) – 2015 KCR INFIELDERS Barrett, Marty (R) – 1986 BOS Boggs, Wade (L) – 1986 BOS Buckner, Bill (L) – 1986 BOS Campaneris, Bert (R) – 1973 OAK Martinez, Tino (L) – 2000 NYY Robinson, Brooks (R) – 1969 BAL Zobrist, Ben (S) – 2015 KCR OUTFIELDERS Buford, Don (S) – 1969 BAL Cain, Lorenzo (R) – 2015 KCR Jackson, Reggie (L) – 1973 OAK Rice, Jim (R) – 1986 BOS Robinson, Frank (R) – 1969 BAL Williams, Bernie (S) – 2000 NYY MANAGER: Earl Weaver COACHES: John McNamara (Pitching), Joe Torre (Third Base), Dick Williams (First Base), Ned Yost (Bullpen) NOTE: Fall Fantasy Classic roster must consist of five players apiece from each New York Mets World Series opponent roster. If a player is injured during the Classic, he may be replaced, but only by a member of his year’s World Series roster.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I didn't realize that The Lockhorns were still extant. And they haven't aged a bit.

Ashie62 wrote: I am one of those people who lost most of their respect for Mike when he let Clemens off the hook. The one game suspension of Mike might have boosted the Mets morale. All in all Piazza couldn't wear Grote's jock. And how do you feel about this F.A.F.I.F.? I feel jock sizes weren't in listed in contemporary media guides and I can't find them on Baseball Reference.

In the Lockhorns comic strip of Sunday, October 29, 2017, as Leroy leans back and watches a baseball player in a blue cap with a bat on a large flat-screen television, Loretta comments to a friend, "If it were up to Leroy, our song would be 'Meet The Mets.'"

The Mets who were on World Series rosters but didn't see action... 1969: DiLauro, Koonce, McAndrew, McGraw 1973: Capra, Dyer, McAndrew 1986: Hearn, Niemann 2015: Plawecki McGraw was a big part of the 1973 Series and Dyer got an AB in 1969. Jim McAndrew was a spectator both times he was named. Bobby V used all 25 of his men in 2000.

Edgy MD wrote: Man, this week is just not breaking well for Ray Knight. Yeah, judging by the reaction he gave in the story, he was pissed.

Just read the wire service story on the Mets' all-time World Series roster in advance of the Fall Fantasy Classic versus their American League opponents. I know Hodges was sort of constrained, having to pick five guys each from the 1969, 1973, 1986, 2000 and 2015 teams, but he wound up leaving off a lot of good players. Still a pretty talented bunch. NEW YORK METS FALL FANTASY CLASSIC ROSTER PITCHERS Koosman, Jerry (LHP) – 1969 Leiter, Al (LHP) – 2000 McGraw, Tug (LHP) – 1973 Ojeda, Bobby (LHP) – 1986 Reed, Rick (RHP) – 2000 Ryan, Nolan (RHP) – 1969 Seaver, Tom (RHP) –1973 Stone, George (LHP) – 1973 Syndergaard, Noah (RHP) – 2015 Wendell, Turk (RHP) – 2000 CATCHERS Carter, Gary (R) – 1986 Piazza, Mike (R) – 2000 INFIELDERS Alfonzo, Edgardo (R) – 2000 Backman, Wally (S) – 1986 Clendenon, Donn (R) – 1969 Harrelson, Bud (R) – 1973 Hernandez, Keith (L) – 1986 Uribe, Juan (R) – 2015 Weis, Al (S) – 1969 Wright, David (R) – 2015 OUTFIELDERS Agee, Tommie (R) – 1969 Cespedes, Yoenis (R) – 2015 Granderson, Curtis (L) – 2015 Staub, Rusty (L) – 1973 Strawberry, Darryl (L) – 1986 MANAGER: Gil Hodges COACHES: Yogi Berra (Pitching), Terry Collins (Bullpen), Davey Johnson (First Base), Bobby Valentine (Third Base) NOTE: Fall Fantasy Classic roster must consist of five players apiece from each New York Mets World Series roster. If a player is injured during the Classic, he may be replaced, but only by a member of his year’s World Series roster.

Who wouldn't be excited after hiring a new Mets manager? • Joe Frazier “has shown us over the years he can handle men,” according to Joe McDonald in 1975. “He has shown us he can win.” • George Bamberger “has a deep, abiding knowledge about baseball,” per Frank Cashen in 1981 “and he can communicate it simply and directly. He has an easy but firm manner. He knows what he’s doing.” • Among myriad qualities considered critical to managing the Mets, Jeff Torborg “knew how to win,” Al Harazin testified in 1991. • “I truly believe he is exactly the type of person and personality to lead this organization right now” was Steve Phillps’s 2002 assessment of Art Howe. (Add Fred Wilpon’s incandescent “lit up a room” reference to taste.)

I'm stoked that the choice was Callaway. I would have been stoked had it been any of the other finalists. To go stokeless would be needlessly cynical considering most of the others hadn't proven they couldn't manage at the major league level and the one guy who had some experience hadn't definitively disqualified himself from another chance. Bring the man on and let him do his thing. We'll figure out whether it was a great choice in a couple of hundred games.

All the way with Callaway!

Jimmy Kimmel did his show from Brooklyn this week. On October 18, he and sidekick Guillermo were playing stickball in the street and broke somebody's apartment window. It was revealed to belong to Mike Piazza, who stuck his head out the window to scold them clad in a Mets bathrobe.

The Meyerowitz Stories (2017) reportedly includes references to Asdrubal Cabrera hitting into a double play and Terry Collins moving Bartolo Colon to the bullpen. The Mets talk is described as a substitute for the characters expressing how they really feel.

"I saw the New York Mets play five times last year. That’s far out enough for me." "Well, I guess the Mets will probably lose today, too." —Bert Monker, deli man who had been swooning for Sally Rogers, "Roses, Romance and Rye Bread," The Dick Van Dyke Show, Season Four, Episode Six, October 28, 1964

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Vince Coleman was doing that while Jose Reyes was still wearing diapers. And Lou Brock and Maury Wills were doing that when Vince Coleman was wearing diapers. I don't know who would have been doing that before diapers were invented, but since diapers are older than baseball, it's a moot point. Alliteration helps.

A Reyes run is Jose getting on by any means possible and manufacturing a run mostly by his speed: he steals, he moves up on a sacrifice, he goes first to third, first to home, what have you.