G-Fafif

Newsday published obits of 13 who died as a result of Sandy. One woman among the storm victims led an admittedly unusual life, but she tried to do right by her sons in at least one facet of their upbringing. ANNE MARIE DOLAN, 55, COMMACK When superstorm Sandy struck on Oct. 29 -- and for several years before that -- Anne Marie Dolan, a former schoolteacher in Levittown, was living in a tent in a wooded Commack area. She walked everywhere. To Sports Authority and Target, where employees let her wash up in their bathrooms. To the library to browse books and use the Internet. Some days, however, her friend Karen Metcalf would drive her to Sunken Meadow beach so she could feel the sand and ocean on her feet. "It wasn't an easy life, but it was what she preferred," Metcalf, 28, said of Dolan's homelessness. "And she had the strength to pursue the life that made her happy." Jesse Emery, 55, who once lived across the street from Dolan in Smithtown, said she had started living in the woods near Veteran's Memorial Highway after a falling out with her family. "She was a free spirit," Emery said. "She loved politics. She loved art. She loved music. I don't know why she left her home and her family to go out there, but she lived on her own terms." Dolan, 55, died when a tree fell on her tent. Metcalf found her body Nov. 5. "I saw her backpack sitting there and I just knew," a tearful Metcalf said. "I don't think she suffered, because it looked like she went to sleep that night . . . and never woke up." Metcalf and Dolan, her mentor and "very best friend," were formerly neighbors in Levittown. They lost touch for several years and when they reconnected, Dolan was without work, family or home. Metcalf said she had long pleaded with Dolan to come live at her Lindenhurst home, begging more profusely as Sandy approached. Red Cross workers, too, urged her to seek shelter that night. She refused, wanting to stay with her belongings. "I made her promise to call me the next day," Metcalf said, "but she didn't call." Dolan's life before her homelessness revolved around her two sons and teaching career, Metcalf and Dolan's estranged son, Brendan Spano, 28, said. She was a single mother who performed all the handiwork around the house and took her boys camping, to museums and to Mets games. She taught history and Spanish at Levittown public schools, the district confirmed. She then worked at churches in Smithtown. Dolan graduated with a bachelor's degree from Hofstra University in 1979, the school said, and was a Delta Chi Delta sorority member. Spano and his older brother, Sean Spano, 30, of Hurst, Texas, said they hadn't spoken to their mother since 2001. They did not detail their estrangement. Brendan Spano said that in their childhood, "Mom was really good about shielding us from anything going on in her life that she didn't want us to know about." He has been contacting Dolan's friends to learn more about her, "putting together a puzzle," he said. Metcalf and Spano said they are planning Dolan's memorial services. She will be cremated. Some of Dolan's ashes will be spread at the Sunken Meadow beach she loved to walk on, Metcalf said. -- EMILY NGO AND KEVIN DEUTSCH

Everything nobody wanted to know about Ed Kranepool but I asked anyway, answered. Major props to the four contestants who pushed their Krane knowledge beyond old limits.

Official launch of my new Mets book today. The initial volume of The Happiest Recap � First Base (1962-1973) � is available on Amazon right now in paperback; it covers 127 Mets wins, runs 224 pages and sells for $16.95. We�ll have information regarding Kindle and other eBook availability shortly. The three succeeding volumes � Second Base (1974-1986); Third Base (1987-1999) and Home (2000 & Beyond) � are planned to follow in 2013. FYI, book signing/schmoozing event set for Foley's on 33rd (between 5th and 6th) on Sat. 12/15, 1-4 PM. H/T themetfairy for applying her organizing ethos to the occasion and even sneaking my birthday, which comes 16 days later, onto the program.

Gail Harris, who on September 21, 1957, at Forbes Field hit the last two New York Giants home runs, passed away Wednesday, November 14, in Gainesville, Va., at the age of 81. He spent most of 1955, some of 1956 and all of 1957 with the Giants before being traded to Detroit for Ozzie "Call Your Sister" Virgil ahead of the 1958 season.

Tom Seaver was born on this day in 1944, arguably the greatest day in New York Mets history without knowing it. Happy birthday, Franchise. Easy on the vino.

George Vecsey comes to praise R.A. Dickey and to bury the idea of the Mets not keeping their Cy Young winner. Now the Mets� Sandy Alderson is throwing around coy hints that he might trade R.A. Dickey for some younger talent. Let me drop a few names, before Alderson's time, to be sure: Joe Foy. Jim Fregosi. Mo Vaughn. The Mets don�t have much � won�t have much for a long time � but the last time I looked they were using the golden images of David Wright and R.A. Dickey every half inning on television to thank the fans for their support. Not only that, but whenever anything was happening around the Mets � good or bad � the visual of the dugout showed the 38-year-old knuckleballer right in the middle of it, the adult in the room, always positive, always there. A guy who played every fifth day is the heart and soul of this team. Did I mention that Dickey won 20 games and the Cy Young Award with a pitch that he could conceivably still be floating toward home plate for three-four-five years? And when he cannot pitch, and is doing all the family-religious-charity-academic-travel-writer things he wants to do, Dickey should be given a permanent position � chaplain, dugout coach, honorary uncle, spring-training guru, whatever he wants. I understand the general manager�s tropism for negotiating contracts. It�s what they do. Feint a trade and save the House of Wilpon a few million. Fine. They need it. But the process is so undignifid that the Mets could actually botch their relationship with a very good pitcher who knows he will never have a better gig than in Queens.

Jerry got two mentions in R.A.'s book, one of them for cutting him immediately. He did say nice things about Omar right off the bat last night.

R.A. says T.Y., or thank you in the Daily News. And how could I not feel anything but gratitude for the New York Mets, who took a chance on me when nobody in baseball would, and allowed me to pitch for two great men like Terry Collins and Dan Warthen � and the best fans a player could ever dream of playing for? It�s not always easy being a loyal supporter when a team is going through a rough stretch, but to all of you Met fans, to be a recipient of your support and passion has been one of the greatest thrills of my baseball life. Not thanked: His teammates; the first manager to put him and his knuckler in a starting rotation and leave him be, in 2010; JCL.

Ed referred at Hofstra to "Jerry Orosco," so, no, I'm not counting on him swooping in and winning the big prize.

FYI, two ungraded papers have been submitted to date.

Great story becomes greater pitcher, hence an even better story. Hope he at least thanks JCL for Riding Ass on him these last two seasons.

Kong76 wrote: Excited for Dickey tonight ... don't tell my wife. Approx an hour and a half to go ... If excitement doesn't wear off after four hours, contact your physician.

Puts me in mind of sailor suits.

Except for a couple of postseasons, I've never had much use for the Marlins, but on some level I wanted them to succeed as a going concern because I thought it spoke badly for baseball that it couldn't take root in Miami. But fuck that now. Move the franchise to somewhere somebody will care and let it be run by something less than a bloodless megalomaniac.

Rob Johnson pitched a scoreless inning in Toronto but never should've been given No. 16. He was the first post-Doc Met given the number at random, as opposed to having some equity in it (Bell and Cone wore it for Doc; Nomo, Mientkiewicz, Lo Duca and Pagan had worn it elsewhere). He wanted pitchers to pitch to the batters' weaknesses versus the Mets' general preference that their pitchers pitch to their own strengths (which sounds a little coddlesome). Anyway, he was Matt Harvey's personal catcher for a spell. That didn't take, I guess.

New contest on Faith and Fear: win the Mets 50th Anniversary DVD set by answering a few dozen Kraniac questions here.

David Cone, guest-bartending at Foley's NYC to raise funds for Sandy relief this Thursday evening, 11/15.

Spotted by Mrs. Fafif as she was getting random recordings watched from the DVR: In Moscow On The Hudson (1984), Soviet defector Robin Williams runs into the former KGB agent who had also defected in New York who is now a Mets cap-wearing hot dog vendor.

Duda needs a defensive replacement in life.

One brief interlude of unsuck: June 28, 2011 -- breaks the Mets' grand slam drought that dated back to August 1, 2009, by walloping a four-run four-bagger off Daniel Schlereth at Comerica Park; Carlos Beltran hits the next grand slam one inning later, Mets win, 14-2. July 3, 2011:-- works two-out, three-two walk versus Mariano Rivera with Mets down a run in the bottom of the ninth, setting the stage to prevent MFY sweep. After Ronny Paulino singles him home for the tie, Bay drives in winner in the tenth off Hector Noesi. Mets win, 3-2. Met him once, at Mets 2010 kids holiday party, spent five-ten minutes in conversation with a couple of other bloggers. Very affable, made me laugh when one of my blolleagues used the term "media" in an all-encompassing fashion. "You're media?" he asked. I spent the rest of his tenure feeling kind of bad about not being able to stand his presence. But it was intolerable by 2012.

Watched (or fast-forwarded through) Mo' Better Blues to get a fuller taste of the Metsiana. Giant's (Spike Lee's) quote: �Pirates are playing the Mets in a doubleheader, gimme the Pirates in both games, the Mets some more black BALL-players.� Giant bets on the Mets the next day. (Doubleheader in question: September 29, 1989, at Three Rivers Stadium; Mets swept. Giant's looking at the Post as he places his bet.) Also in Mo' Better Blues, Denzel Washington�s musician character, Bleek, in a childhood flashback, is called on to play ball by four other kids, two of whom are wearing Mets stuff (one a Mets cap, the other a Mets jacket; one of them is young Giant). While his mother says he has to finish his trumpet practice first, Bleek�s dad is watching Rod Gaspar batting against Bob Moose during Moose�s no-hitter on 9/20/1969. Bob Murphy is heard referring to Moose as �just 21 years old� and having grown up �within walking distance of Forbes Field.� Later in the movie, Denzel as Bleek is wearing a New York Giants cap and a Willie Mays NEW YORK road jersey as he plays catch with his now much older dad, who�s wearing a Pittsburgh Crawfords jersey. Bleek the adult trumpeter also wears the cap on stage during a performance.

Fman99 wrote: I'd crash into that wall. And here I was, thinking nobody could make the no-hitter any better.

Saw Jon with his lady last December at the Mets' holiday party for kids. They seemed relatively married already.

Actually, this beats the wedding shot: Thank goodness he was called up in time to celebrate Shea's last T-Shirt Day.

PL Robert A, which is to say Players Love Robert Allen Dickey. In perhaps a hint at further hardware to come, Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey took home his first offseason award Monday evening when the MLB Players Association revealed its annual Players Choice Awards. Dickey took home Outstanding Pitcher honors in the National League, as voted by his peers. It's a promising sign for Dickey leading up to the Nov. 14 announcement of the NL Cy Young Award, considering that four of the NL's last five Outstanding Pitchers went on to win the Cy. Dickey submitted his best season ever in 2012, going 20-6 with a 2.73 ERA and 230 strikeouts. At age 37, he led the NL in innings, strikeouts, shutouts and complete games, ranking second in both ERA and wins. Following his final start of the season, Dickey revealed that he had been pitching since April with a torn abdominal muscle, which he had surgically repaired last month. To become the NL's Outstanding Pitcher, Dickey beat out fellow finalists Gio Gonzalez of the Nationals and Johnny Cueto of the Reds, both of whom figure to receive significant Cy Young support. The Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw and the Braves' Craig Kimbrel also should factor into the Cy Young vote, which will be revealed next Wednesday at 6 p.m. ET on MLB Network. But the odds-on Cy Young favorite for months has been Dickey, whose story includes a decadelong slog through the Minors, a rebirth with the Mets as a knuckleballer in 2010, a book deal and starring role in a documentary, a climb up Mount Kilimanjaro, a 20-win season and now this: the first of what certainly will be many awards to come. "The award would obviously be nice," Dickey said of the Cy in September. "That would be silly to say that it wouldn't be fantastic. But at the same time, you've got to be able to lay your head on your pillow, whether you've won it or not, and know that you've done your best. And I can do that. "A 20-win season is also very difficult to get, and thankfully we've been able to do that. So at the very least, to be able to say that you were a 20-game winner for the New York Mets? That's pretty significant for me." Adding to his offseason intrigue, Dickey's future with the Mets is currently in flux, with the two sides attempting to negotiate a long-term contract extension -- and bracing for the potential of a blockbuster trade if they cannot reach an agreement. But if either party needed reminder of the knuckleballer's greatness in 2012, the Players Choice Awards on Monday provided it. The MLBPA has presented an array of Players Choice Awards each year since 1992, honoring each league's outstanding player, rookie, pitcher and comeback player, in addition to Player of the Year and Man of the Year awards that span both leagues. Under the supervision of the accounting firm KPMG, players voted on the 2012 awards on Sept. 19. This year's winners in all categories will select charities to receive grants totaling $260,000 from the MLB Players Trust, which raises funds and attention and promotes community involvement for issues affecting the needy. Since 1992, the Trust has recognized the performances of Players Choice winners by contributing more than $3 million to charities around the world. After the award announcement was made on MLB Network, Dickey said he would donate his $20,000 to Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. The Players Choice Awards are unrelated to MLB's Cy Young, MVP, Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year awards, which select members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America voted on in September. The BBWAA will release the results of those ballots next week.