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Just in terms of time elapsed, this is the chronological equivalent of the Mets announcing in November of 1980 that by 1984 they'd leave Shea Stadium after 20 years. In real time, Shea got its first meaningful if cosmetic facelift over the previous 12 months -- in its 17th season -- and wasn't seriously (or at least publicly) put under the replacement microscope until Camden Yards made every facility look itself in the mirror in the early '90s. I went to one game at Turner Field early in its second season. Thought it was a terrific place to watch baseball, which is never the thing these announcements touch on when they use phrases like "experience" and "world class". Though it might be a stretch, perhaps the freshness of Turner Field circa 1998 was as bound to wear off as that of Shea Stadium from 1965, thus it might be pointless for me to say I had a great time there when I went, so how can they be getting rid of it? I take it the Braves have figured they can make more money in their newly chosen location than they can where they've been since 1966. Nevertheless, declaring the abandonment of a not obviously aged ballpark within two decades of its ballyhooed opening is mind-boggling.

Lee Mazzilli chats with Ron Darling on MLB Network. Neither Walt Terrell nor Howard Johnson joins them.

Interesting that the future defending World Champion Mets will choose their flag-raising Opener as an opportunity also throwback to 2013 when they hosted the All-Star Game at Citi Field for the first time.

Go To Hell, Mike Piazza, a Ben Stiller (and Mike Piazza) vehicle has existed in script form since 2001. Premise: Ben Stiller believed his life had been ruined by Mike Piazza. Stiller's character, Remy "Slider" Thompson, the naked man on the field, then explains how he got to that point and what he has against Mike Piazza. Remy and Piazza were classmates growing up in Pennsylvania. Piazza was great at everything and well-liked, overshadowing Remy. Since they were born on the same day, Thompson's birthday parties were always empty because everyone was at the wildly popular Piazza's parties. Piazza stole Thompson's girlfriend, and worst of all, when they were 12, Piazza's team beat Thompson's team at the Pennsylvania Little League Championship, putting an end to Thompson's promising career as a pitcher. Having given up on baseball, Remy is now a 30-something sausage vendor who's elated to open up his own hot dog restaurant at Dodger Stadium, only to have Mike Piazza transferred there and his restaurant shut down as a result of the team spending so much money to get Piazza. Remy then moves and spends several years opening a restaurant at The Mets' Shea Stadium, only to have the same thing happen. "At that moment," he explains, "I decided to dedicate the rest of my existence to ruining the life of Mike Piazza." [...] Go to Hell, Mike Piazza was a spec script (a non-commissioned, unsolicited screenplay) by David Rotman and Ryan Oxford, who wrote it under the pen names J.J. Kanutsen and Milton Manoon for some reason. Rotman and Oxford sold the script to Universal and Ben Stiller was attached to star and produce in the spring of 2001. "We wrote it expressly for Ben," Oxford said at the time, "He has this great ability to play characters who feel slighted by the world � when they really are not � and who become obsessed by that." The movie was set to be Stiller's first starring role after Zoolander and The Royal Tenenbaums, with the studio eyeing Jon Turteltaub (National Treasure) to direct. Directors Jay Roach (Meet the Parents), Tom Shadyac (Bruce Almighty), and Todd Phillips (The Hangover) were also considered for the job, but no director was ever attached. Mike Piazza was never formally signed on for the project, but he's the biggest character in the movie besides Stiller and figures prominently into the story. Piazza seemed interested when talking to Sports Illustrated at the time, saying, "It's flattering to have your name out there. It's kind of like Being John Malkovich." He did have an issue with the title though, explaining, "My mom's kind of upset with the title. If they were to approach me, I'd have to ask for something a little more subtle. I'm a Catholic boy." Casting a Major League Baseball player with no acting experience in a big part in a comedy seems risky, but Piazza would have been playing himself and the script didn't call for him to do much more than sit there and say the occasional line while Stiller and the rest of the cast act.

Ashie62 wrote: Article I read said the innards of the dome are pretty dang rank.. Keith has mentioned this on numerous occasions.

It may be a symptom of how relatively competent the bullpen was for the balance of 2013 that I really came to get a very Sisk/Rojas vibe off this guy every time he showed his face shuttling in from LaGuardia in the second half; perhaps I instinctively needed someone to dread. Gave up three home runs all year. Felt like more. Will probably strike out Wright in a bases-loaded situation next year just to tell my selective memory to shut up.

Joe Posnanski with one of the best lines of the year: Tommy John surgery is a bigger part of baseball than Cracker Jacks. You almost never see people at the ballpark eating Cracker Jacks. You almost always see a pitcher who had Tommy John surgery. Wonderful story. Some good comments in there, too. If the surgery is one of the arguments in favor of Tommy John, shouldn't the iargument be for the innovative surgeon, Dr. Jobe? Done!

Joe Posnanski with one of the best lines of the year: Tommy John surgery is a bigger part of baseball than Cracker Jacks. You almost never see people at the ballpark eating Cracker Jacks. You almost always see a pitcher who had Tommy John surgery.

Texas voters not so much in awe of erstwhile Eighth Wonder of the World.

Verducci with interesting trend piece regarding who gets hired and why.

Goddamn these are depressing hypotheticals.

A voice made for radio?

The first team to truly put bubby to good use? Your 1969 Mets, according to KO. [youtube:p752g5kv]lcmLGQfltO4[/youtube:p752g5kv]

Vance Wilson will manage Royals' Double-A affiliate in Northwest Arkansas, per the only beat reporter who would be on top of such a fact.

[youtube:1dpxp1sr]TW7T63Etot0[/youtube:1dpxp1sr] Dillon Gee gets a shoutout around 1:46.

Roger, sixth game. The Red Sox have taken their third World Championship in ten years, and the first clinched at Fenway Park since 1918. No trace remains of the Curse of the Bambino and accompanying New England paranoias that filled up our paragraphs and night thoughts for so many years. Winning almost all the time has a lot to be said for it, but not quite winning, barely missing again and again, keeps you whining and breathing, and might even be more fun in the end.

A post-postseason appreciation of Vin Scully, dovetailing with an awareness of how loving baseball flattens out demographic differences agewise. (From a site I'm writing for that celebrates getting older without necessarily getting old...or something like that.)

You guys realize the artist included an answer key, unless you're just guessing for fun.

Congrats to the Willets Family. Sorry about Beltran. Now on to The Spot. Jerry G.'s ready to go... Somebody get a pitcher over and let's get going. Opening Day's in five months!

Mike Torrez is at the head of the rear of the 2013 non-championship parade on behalf of the St. Louis Cardinals, the last of 29 units to march here with us this year. Mike's Cardinals were eliminated from championship consideration in the sixth game of the World Series on October 30. Sending his regrets is Mike Torrez of the Boston Red Sox, who refused multiple invitations to take part.

Holy Buck, that thing is great.

Metstradamus figures out what's going on. It's like Christmas... ... only in that it comes but once a year. But really, it's the exact opposite of Christmas. It's the day all hopes and dreams are taken away, by a man who by no means do you want coming down your chimney, or on your television sets. Yes, it's the day that Jeff Wilpon emerges from his hole and sees his shadow, which means one more year of mediocrity. On Tuesday, Jeff Kardashipon was at the Boys and Girls Club in Garfield for "Sandy Service Day". He was there "with other Mets personnel", which should excite any child if Jeff Wilpon is the most notable member of "Mets personnel" to show up at your event. "WOW! SAUL KATZ MADE A BALLOON INTO A POODLE AND GAVE IT TO ME ... at least it's supposed to be a poodle." Seriously ... is everybody in Chile hunting doves? But we all know why Lil' Jeffy was there ... because he of golden spoon can't help himself be the center of attention and have a media session about the state of the team. I mean, come on ... do you think the man who is addicted to photo ops was really there to paint a wall? Go to the link and look at the picture of Jeffy taken by Adam Rubin. He's painting a wall in a fleece, khakis, and loafers, with a look on his face which screams: "I need a minion for this". Nobody I know wears that to paint a wall. And what the kids will soon find out is that if Jeffy painted that wall with the same competence with which he performs other tasks, then kids who breathe near that wall will contract MRSA within a week! But I digress. Let's hear what Skippy says about the state of the team ... specifically first base: "There's probably a glut of first basemen. You can count five, if you wanted to. Something has got to happen there with the logjam. There's been some interest already. Where that interest goes and what that brings back, that you've to let play out a little bit. And it probably won't be until the GM Meetings [in mid-November] or maybe even the winter meetings [in December]." On not pursuing Abreu, Wilpon added: "We've got five first basemen that could play it, and that didn't really seem like the point of need. If he played left or right field, I think we probably would have offered the guy a contract." Chris Rock says that you could drive with your feet if you want to ... doesn't make it a good idea. You could also count five first basemen on the roster if you wanted to also. Doesn't mean it's a good idea to go into the season with the same mediocrity you've had forever. Hey, they're so good that you're trying to trade the top two for ten cents on the dollar! Hence the notion that this season is already over. Because Jeff Wilpon thinks "we're good". Oh, and I'll believe that you would have offered Abreu a contract if he played the outfield when I see a Mets offer on the table for Shin Soo Choo, who also plays the outfield. Or any other outfielder for 11 million a year. Can't wait for your next excuse at your next photo op when that doesn't happen. Maybe you can plant a hibiscus in your silk prince's robe. What else, pray tell? Wilpon indicated the Mets are only fully pleased with four of the 25 spots on the roster: third base and three spots in the starting rotation. "I think three of the starting pitchers we're very pleased with -- [Jonathon] Niese, [Dillon] Gee and [Zack] Wheeler," Wilpon said. "That, along with David [Wright], I think would be the three or four we're solidified on." I loved that this line was scrutinized as "OMG HE DIDN'T MENTION DANIEL MURPHY!!! TRADE COMING!!! WORLD ENDING!!!" Why do we fall for this every ... single ... year? First off, and I can't stress this enough: As much as Jeff Kardashipon wants to be the general manager of the team, he's not! And while he is the GM's direct supervisor, it doesn't make him qualified to have an informed opinion on personnel. That's why he hired a general manager. Because believe me, if Jeff Wilpon was at all qualified to make baseball decisions, then he would have an official title other than "Wannabe GM". But he's not, so he doesn't. (He's barely qualified to paint a wall.) That doesn't mean he hasn't made baseball decisions in the past. Though I'm sure any decision he's made behind the scenes and made his general manager take the fall for (cough, Kazmir, cough) was the wrong one. For all we know, Jeff Wilpon omitted Daniel Murphy's name because he's forgotten Daniel Murphy is on the team! The rest of Jeff Wilpon's quotes can die in a fire. I'm not going over them simply because I believe nothing this attention whore says. He's a main reason why this team is in the shape that it is in, and he needs to stop doing interviews. He probably needs to stop painting walls too. I don't generally like to step out of character but I want to tell you an absolutely true story. I approached the CEO of a sports franchise to interview him. This person was there with another high ranking official, and it was at a legitimate sports event, not a staged photo op. Wanted to ask this person about the night's events. The very polite response: "This is his night and I don't want to steal his thunder." Somebody could learn a little something.

And even if it was all SABR's doing, the guy on the paper upstate should know that it's cspelled sabermetrics. I've been a member of SABR for only a few years, but never once have I been given the impression that what "we" do is solely or mostly about statistics.

You can buy yourself some Astrodome for relatively non-extortionist prices. Astrodome seats, turf, turnstiles, and other memorabilia are being pulled out of the iconic building Monday for a sale and auction to be held at Reliant Center Saturday. Larger items are headed for auction, while smaller items will be sold at a fixed price. Registration for the auction begins at 7 a.m. The sale begins at 8 a.m. Highlights of the sale include roughly 500 pairs of seats to be sold for $200 per pair. A 12 inch by 12 inch piece of turf will go for $20. There's a limit of four pairs of seats (eight seats total) per person and a limit of four squares of turf per person. An auction for the higher-end items, like turnstiles, dugout benches, football benches, and on-deck circles from visiting National League teams will open at 9:30 am. "There will be free parking until 10 a.m. and gates will open at 6 a.m.," said Leah Mastaglio, Reliant Park's director of events services. Officials hope to close the event by 6 p.m. depending on how the sale goes and what is left. Proceeds from the event go to the Astrodome renovation project. On Nov. 5, Harris County voters will decide whether to approve a referendum authorizing up to $217 million in bonds to turn the stadium into a giant convention center and exhibition space. "We are not sure how that money will be allotted," Mastaglio said of the proceeds of Saturday's event. Crews on Monday were moving items out of the Astrodome and into Reliant Center's Hall E, where the event will be held. Anything you purchase must leave the day of the sale and there will be no online sales. Mastaglio said Major League Baseball and the Baseball Hall of Fame has been made aware of the auction and sale. One particularly large item -- the batting cage backstop -- may not fit in the back of your pickup truck. Reliant is waiting to see if the MLB wants that for themselves. Reliant also found a few of the space helmets that the grounds crew wore when the Dome opened nearly 50 years ago. Those will be in the auction as well. Only the helmets though, the suits are long gone. Old staff uniforms will be up for grabs on Saturday, too. "We have six or seven different types, ranging from different eras. Some have the old Dome logo," Mastaglio said. The seats that will be sold this weekend are the upper deck "rainbow gut" seats. Some of the seats still have peanut shells stuck on the sides from fans. It hasn't been decided if and when the rest of the Dome seats will be sold. The consensus among staff was that those will be for a possible later sale. Mastaglio said this could be just one of several sales of Dome memorabilia, but other sales have not been scheduled. Pieces of furniture from the business suites will also be available Saturday. Some of this stuff ranges from funky thrift chic to staid gray cloth. Mastaglio hinted that the sand from the pitching mound could also appear on Saturday morning. There is also the possibility of a public preview at Reliant Center on Friday, but that depends on how much crews get moved out of the Dome this week. "It would run noon until four depending on how much gets done," said Mastaglio. If you are holding out for Houston Oilers items, you'll be out of luck. Most of that left with the team when they moved to Nashville in the '90s. The football turf has been water-damaged and Reliant is opting to not sell it. The auction will be run by Reliant Park officials and the Harris County Sports and Convention Corp., which manages the county-owned Reliant Park.

Listening to one of the late-season Mets-Giants games at which Giants fans outnumbered Mets by a ratio of at least 54:1, Howie recalled the late Vic Ziegel writing about his love of the New York Giants (while missing the fact that he despised their San Francisco successors). Some platitudes ensued directly between Howie and Josh about how great it is to live in New York where the papers have columnists like George Vecsey and Steve Jacobson, while it was acknowledged both were basically retired (at least from their longtime gigs). So to sum up, the greatest columnists in town, by the announcers' reckoning, were two who are no longer plying their craft and one who is no longer with us. Oh, here's that Jon Matlack feature story you were looking for from the Saratogian. Forty years ago this month Jon Matlack helped lead the Mets all the way to Game 7 of the World Series. One of his favorite memories from that 1973 campaign was playing for manager Yogi Berra, whose verbal idiosyncracies are the stuff of baseball legend. For good reason, Matlack sometimes couldn�t understand Berra when he came out to the mound. Exasperated, he finally turned to Hall of Fame hurler and teammate Tom Seaver for help. �It�s real easy,� Seaver said. �What do you mean, it�s easy?� Matlack responded. �When Yogi comes out to the mound and says whatever he says, if he doesn�t put his hand out, just say OK. He�ll go back to the dugout. If he puts his hand out, put the ball in it and you go back to the dugout. It�s that simple.� Matlack, who lives in Johnsburg, still smiles when recalling Seaver�s advice. Other than that, he thrived under Berra�s managerial style. �Yogi was a gem,� he said. �Yogi would not over-manage. By today�s standards he would under-manage. It was, �Let�s put the right people on the field and let them play the game. Maybe we�ll make a change here or there.� He was very easy to play for and work with.� Of the many changes in baseball since Matlack hung up his spikes, the one he laments most is the �SABR-metrics� approach to handling pitching staffs, where managers rely more heavily on spreadsheets and computer data than a hurler�s talent, heart and will to win. �Today, if the computer says this pitcher is most likely to get so-and-so out with a curveball at 4 o�clock on a Tuesday, when the sun isn�t shining, that�s who you go with,� Matlack said. �There�s so much emphasis on who faces who. It�s almost like Fantasy Baseball is being played on the field instead of baseball being played on the field.� He firmly believes, to his chagrin, that this limits a young pitcher�s progress and development over the long run. �The reason is that he gets no blame, no responsibility, or credit because all the information comes from the dugout,� Matlack said. �All he does is follow the script like a machine. If he�s wrong, all the people in the dugout didn�t know what they were talking about. If he�s right, �Oh, he�s supposed to do that.� They�re supplying me with all the information, the stats.� �So instead of having that chess match at 90 mph that used to take place, I think it�s just figuring the odds and following them, which is a shame,� he said. After his playing career, Matlack spent many years as a pitching coach at both the major and minor league levels. One of his longest assignments was with the Detroit Tigers, where he mentored all minor league hurlers, including Justin Verlander, who�s now one of the game�s premier pitchers. In 2012, Matlack held a similar position with the Astros and would periodically come to Troy to work with young Tri-City Valley Cats prospects, Houston�s affiliate in the NY-Penn League. This season was his first away from organized baseball in almost 20 years and at 63, he�s uncertain about his future in the game. Despite a proven track record of success, mountains of hard-won experience and a knack for conveying such knowledge to young people, Matlack finds himself on the outside looking in. �I may be permanently retired, who knows?� he said. �It seems very strange. �Forty-somethings are more popular than 60-somethings. There�s a whole different thought process these days.� "SABR-metrics" is not only not a word, but implies advanced statistics are a product of the Society for American Baseball Research.