G-Fafif

Syndergaard 2.0

Not just happy birthday, Yogi Berra, but happy birthday to the first Met player to reach a 90th birthday.

Duda 2.0 Flores 1.5 Plawecki 1.0 Cuddyer 0.5 Robles 0.5 Goeddel 0.5

Who's the guy between Ken Henderson and '81 Kingman? Appears to be an infielder of recent vintage, but name is obscured by COMC watermark.

Off-brand card manufacturer spelled Schulze wrong.

The glove on the head when he does interviews after wins: almost endearing. Contributing to wins: very endearing.

Nieuwenhuis 2.0 Colon 1.5 Granderson 1.5 Flores 1.5 Monell 1.5 Familia 0.5 CTorres 0.5 Recker 0.5 Murphy 0.5

Got a copy of the script for that Niese On Nissan spot they're gonna be running incessantly.

Niese 4.0 Lagares 3.5 Tejada 1.0 Herrera 0.5 Carlyle 0.5 Familia 0.5

Howie's daughter Chelsea was indeed graduating from college. Wayne Randazzo is the designated Howie-Josh fill-in guy this year. No local cable announcer is doing his team's hockey games at this stage of the playoffs as it's all NBC/NBCSN.

Win, damn youse! Curtis Granderson - RF Juan Lagares - CF Lucas Duda - 1B Michael Cuddyer - LF Daniel Murphy - 3B Kevin Plawecki - C Dilson Herrera - 2B Ruben Tejada - SS Jonathon Niese - LHP

Harvey 2.0 Plawecki 1.0 Robles 0.5 Herrera 0.5 Cuddyer 0.5

Regarding recent Met releases... GIL HODGES You know what’s coming at the end of Gil’s story. You want a different ending. You want something else to happen on April 2, 1972, yet you can’t have it. It can’t help but cast a pall over your reading. On the other hand, there’s the life Gil Hodges lived, and that’s something that’s wonderful to visit. Zachter is an able tour guide who commits to his self-appointed duty. More here. GAME OF MY LIFE The book hits every era of plenty in Mets history and several of the eras of less-so. Each of the 25 players profiled (most of whom sat and talked to Garry, though a handful of chapters had to be cobbled from outside accounts) is given a respectful hearing and adds something to the overall theme. Our narrator presents himself as a lifelong Mets fan and gives the proceedings a light, loving touch. More here. BASEBALL MAVERICK Is there, then, a straight line to be drawn from the 2015 standings back to what Kettmann wrote? Do we leave his book’s final, post-2014 ruminations convinced Alderson transformed the Mets into something permanently better than they were — something they couldn’t possibly have been without the Maverick’s visionary leadership? It’s hard to say that every time I watch something go right of late that I think I saw it coming because of a tidbit I read in Baseball Maverick. The book seems to take place in an adjacent if not exactly alternate universe to the one we’re used to seeing the Mets in. More here.

Granderson RF Lagares CF Mayberry LF Cuddyer 1B Murphy 3B Flores SS Plawecki C Herrera 2B Harvey P

Steve Guttenberg has been a Mets fan since 1962, according to a Facebook clip posted by the club. "Not a turkey in the bunch," he says of the current roster.

Seems appropriately embarrassed to be a) a Phillie; not a Met.

"I'm tellin' you guys, he threw like 150 miles per hour, wore only one boot on the mound, played a French horn or something...dude was crazy! My hand still hurts from catching him."

Feel that, Jeff Francoeur? That's Curtis Granderson breathing down your neck to take your spot in the Top 10 Citi Field HRs by a Met derby. Good ol' Grandy hit No. 8 last night, tying Travis d'Arnaud and Kirk Nieuwenhuis (remember him?) for eleventh place. Also, Dilson Herrera got on the board as the 58th Met to homer at Citi Field and the 18th Met with exactly one homer at Citi Field.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: G-Fafif wrote: There is also something about how much good-guyness he projects that is vaguely offputting, even if it's far preferable to the jerk store calling to say they ran out of him. Yeah, I don't get this at all. For all the good-guyness, I haven't ever gotten a faint whiff of phony or holier-than-thou or anything like any kind of off-smell. I agree there's nothing necessarily nefarious about him. Sometimes I take after TMF's grandfather, too, and can't particularly warm up to a given player. Would probably help if he hadn't been an MFY and the Mets hadn't positioned him as Wright's co-star headed into 2014, like "this is what we need -- a Yankee!"

deGrom 3.5 Granderson 2.5 Herrera 2.5 Murphy 0.5 Lagares 0.5 Familia 0.5

Mike Jacobs, Ron Swoboda, Jim Hickman, Gregg Jefferies. Only Mets with more HRs in 1st 23 career games than Dilson Herrera.

themetfairy wrote: Centerfield wrote: I am all about grumbling and pointing fingers. Every so often I give myself license to ... complain just because I don't like a player. This, too, is what fandom is sometimes about in small to moderate doses. I give Granderson a little more of a berth than I'm inclined to because I realize he truly sucked last April and then sucked less (occasionally much less) as the year went on, though not enough to justify the contract. There is also something about how much good-guyness he projects that is vaguely offputting, even if it's far preferable to the jerk store calling to say they ran out of him. Cuddyer and Lagares need to tape a stripe between a little bit of left and all of left-center like Felix and Oscar or Greg and Marcia so Cuddyer knows where he's not supposed to stray.

Colon 4.0 Lagares 1.5 Plawecki 1.5 Murphy 1.0 Flores 1.0 Duda 1.0

Duda and Colon really fill a card. Surprised Mejia never had himself a Month. Nice going as always, Grimm.

The curse of Brian Stokes hovers over Familia.