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Benjamin Grimm wrote: Does Darryl Strawberry still call him "Little Redneck"? Does anybody Wally knows get sick 25 times a year?

Defended the Las Vegas affiliation, saying being out there gave him a better look at teams and games out west, noted two red eye direct flights to NY get players to Mets just as soon as they would from a smaller city closer. Since he has nothing to gain from boosting Vegas unless he's angling to be a greeter at Caesars, I thought that was interesting.

Loves Terry. Less enthusiastic about "the organization".

A Boy Named Seo wrote: "This James Loney guy, you gotta check him out." Thanks for the scoop, G. Post had the same stuff about not hitting Nimmo leadoff and sitting Conforto. Did they ask him about that crap? Says he hit Nimmo first or second almost all the time, couldn't understand why Conforto didn't get same benefit of doubt at MLB level as Granderson. "He's the future...it's a sophomore slump."

Wally says he can't look at matzoh anymore because of how many times Mets passed him over. I added the matzoh part.

He asked to be the bench coach. They declined and didn't give him a reason before hiring Dicky Scott.

Says he passed the word up on Loney (Vegas played against him as his out-window was developing), R. Rivera (liked him as a "catch and throw catcher" before they acquired him), Reyes (two-hour talk when he was with Rox AAA team serving his suspension).

"Lack of respect...the respect wasn't there." Wally's not bitter.

Wally joining Francesa at 2:05 PM today to tell his side of da stawry.

Given how name-brand Mets have given way to effective generic equivalents, I wouldn't make a point of leaning on Syndergaard in Game 162. If Lugo has gotten us that far, he can get us a little farther -- or far enough so we don't have to go all the way to San Francisco/St. Louis. Odd to think of the Cardinals as less of a threat to run than the Giants. Thor would be the man to go to in the WC game, but the holding-runners-on piece is worrisome. You'd have to start Rivera behind the plate, though (sadly) the way d'Arnaud has hit, that's not necessarily a comedown...subject to change with three weeks to go, I suppose.

The second Wild Card-holding Mets travel to the nation's capital to send a message to those first-place pointyheaded bureaucrats. Rafael Montero and Mat Latos are your starters, as unlikely as that sounds when stripped of context. Let's Go Mets, of course.

1,026. Gavin Cecchini

Diamondbacks are selectively useless. Nevertheless, keep winning series, things will take care of themselves.

Inciarte CF Garcia 3B Freeman 1B Kemp LF Markakis RF Recker (!) C Swanson SS Beckham 2B Perez P

Let's leave the Ted as we found it on July 10, 1997, with a win. Reyes 3B Cabrera SS Cespedes LF Granderson RF Johnson 2B De Aza CF Loney 1B Rivera C Lugo P

May we add to the 65 lifetime Met wins accumulated at Turner Field, the 20 (22, actually) best of which are ranked here.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: But it should go without saying that he won't play for them in 2016. There are only 22 games left. He can't possibly be ready to play before the season ends. Sounds like the setup for the trailer to the new feelgood comedy, No Time To Wait, in which Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson portrays an aging pro football washout with a tremendous personal following who wants just one more chance to make it on the field...any field...and it has to be now. The baseball team he signs with, one that's been beset by injuries, find itself in the midst of a pennant race and desperately needs help, and doesn't care where they find it. Featuring John Slattery as the GM with just the right blend of crazy and guts to sign him and Modern Family's Sarah Hyland as the love interest who's cheering him on every step around the bases. No Time To Wait It's so crazy, it just might work.

Mike Glavine was a far more ridiculous signing.

The Metropolitans are cosmopolitan when it comes to their musical tastes, reports Wagner of the Times. Wilmer Flores, who is from Venezuela, loves the Backstreet Boys, the popular American boy band that burst onto the music scene in the 1990s. Listening to them while growing up, he said, helped him learn English, his second language. Noah Syndergaard, a Texas native, now has Latin music on his cellphone. But in the crossover of musical tastes in the Mets’ locker room, which is a testament to the melting pot that baseball can be, nothing can probably match the fact that Yoenis Cespedes, who defected from Cuba, is now obsessed with country music. Ask Cespedes about it and he can show you his long playlists of artists like Tim McGraw (son of the former Met Tug McGraw) and Stoney LaRue. Country music is his soundtrack when he works out, when he hits in the batting cage before a game or even before he goes to sleep. “I like the rhythm of the songs,” he said during an interview in Spanish. “The songs that I listen to aren’t the typical country songs. I don’t listen to the loud country songs. My songs are more of the romantic ones, slower and softer.” And don't think the Backstreet Boys don't appreciate Wilmer's loyalty. Hey Wilmer, we hear you want it that way!! Love being reminded of what music can do. Flores is also deeply familiar with all the hit (singular) of the Rembrandts by way of the TV show that helped teach him English, according to enterprising Carig of Newsday. The story begins in Savannah, Georgia, where a teenage Wilmer Flores, playing minor-league ball for the Mets, found comfort in tracking the lives of a bunch of 20-somethings living in Manhattan. That he had nothing in common with the people on the screen meant little to Flores, who was fighting homesickness after leaving his native Venezuela. Years later, Flores still feels a connection to the show. During Sunday’s nationally televised game, he debuted new walk-up music: “I’ll Be There for You” by the Rembrandts, the theme song to “Friends.” “It’s one of my favorite shows,” said Flores, who, like many, became a fan of Rachel Green, portrayed by Jennifer Aniston. “I watch it every day before I go to sleep. It’s on Netflix. It’s on Nick at Nite every night.” Flores, 25, has seen all 236 episodes, so his homage Sunday was no surprise. It’s the show that wound up becoming his gateway into learning a whole new culture.

With one homestand to go in this record-breaking season for Met home runs hit at home... NEW YORK METS HOME RUNS AT CITI FIELD 2009 - Present (Regular Season, As Mets) 1. Duda 60 2. Wright 50 + 1 POSTSEASON 3. Davis 30 4. Granderson 28 + 2 POSTSEASON 5. Murphy 27 + 3 POSTSEASON 6. Flores 24 7. Cespedes 19 + 1 POSTSEASON 8. Reyes 17 9. d’Arnaud 16 + 2 POSTSEASON 10. Pagan 15 11. Cabrera 14 11. Beltran 14 13. Hairston 13 14. Nieuwenhuis 11 15. Walker 10 15. Conforto 10 + 2 POSTSEASON 15. Bay 10 18. Francoeur 9 19. Lagares 7 19. Recker 7 19. Byrd 7 19. Valdespin 7 23. K. Johnson 6 23. C. Young 6 23. Buck 6 23. Tatis 6 Other 2016 Mets (lifetime Citi Field regular-season totals as Mets) R. Rivera 3 Bruce 2 De Aza 2 Reynolds 2 Loney 2 Campbell 2 Nimmo 1 Harvey 1 Syndergaard 1 Plawecki 1

1025. Fernando Salas

Salas gets 59, Smoker notches back to 58.

Charlie Neal

Jerry Martin

Edgy MD wrote: That's a great catch, no pun intended. Now, if you can find me Mike Barwis' DoB, I might have to give you a lifetime membership to Shake Shack. It would be a deliciously truncated lifetime.