G-Fafif

Baxter 0.5

I remember it first coming up during one of Gooden's non-drug injury rehabs, either '89 or '91, Howie Rose using the phrase, presumably because somebody in the organization used it.

From Newsday, R.A. thinking through beat writers' jobs better than most of them do. The professor walked into the classroom with a pair of stylish white sunglasses resting on a mop of brown hair. He wore jeans and a Star Wars stormtrooper T-shirt. But that's what you get when school is in session with R.A. Dickey . The Mets knuckleballer -- and serious Cy Young contender -- turned the press conference room at Citi Field into a classroom, leading a question-and-answer session with 10 sports journalism students from NYU and Rutgers. Funny, humble and at times strikingly honest, Dickey talked about a life with as many turns as his knuckleball, while also offering practical advice for the aspiring reporters. "When I get interviewed by a sports writer after a game -- in spring training, doing a feature, whatever it is -- I always pay attention to the question," he said. "A lot of people will not. The people that you interview that will be your better interviews will challenge you in that they will pay attention to what you ask. If someone gives me a question that doesn't have much heart to it, then they're going to get an answer that doesn't have much heart to it. "Eighty percent of the time you're going to get the person that doesn't really care. And he's going to say 'How does it feel to be in the big leagues?' 'It's a dream come true.' I mean that's what you're going to get, when the real answer is much deeper than that. And that's what connects with the reader." Dickey speaks from plenty of experience, on both sides of the spectrum. He's a popular interview subject in the Mets clubhouse given his success and his thoughtful quotes. And he's also written an autobiography, Wherever I Wind Up. "When I have something that I want to share, I will find the guy that I trust the most in the clubhouse," Dickey said. "And the way that I gauge that is how the person has asked questions. How he has been curious. What has he been curious about? What has he done with some of my teammates? How has he presented an argument? The smarter players, the players you're going to want the stories from mostly, will pay attention to that kind of stuff." Jennifer Woo, a junior at NYU who wants to be a broadcast journalist, took the lessons to heart; even if she didn't know much about the teacher until recently. "I honestly didn't know who R.A. Dickey was or what a knuckleball pitcher was before I read his book," she said. "He was as eloquent in person as he was in his book. He has such a huge heart for what he does and he owns up to everything he has done. He's not ashamed of anything." The event was organized by Joe Lapointe, a sports journalism professor at NYU and Rutgers who's covered Dickey with the Mets. "I've seen R.A. around for three years and I always thought he was an interesting person and an intellectual person," he said. "Now that I'm teaching a sports reporting class, I thought this would be the perfect athlete for some of my students to meet early in the semester. It would give them encouragement about the possibilities of interviewing athletes and what you can draw out of them. Obviously R.A. Dickey is an extraordinary interview. He's a very good speaker, he's a very good thinker and he combines the two well." Just what you look for in a professor. Even the ones who show up for class in a Star Wars T-shirt.

G-Fafif wrote: That clever Terry Collins could figure out a way to get him an extra start with a little of that three days' rest action they talked up constantly (he's gotta be reasonably well rested considering this stupid six-man rotation) -- and they can get him an extra home start (against the Pirates, against whom he's excelled). 9/21 vs MIA (against whom he's also excelled) 9/25 vs PIT 9/29 @ ATL (where he hasn't been so hot) 10/3 @ MIA They're not getting him an extra start but they are giving him two at home -- Saturday 9/22 (a day earlier than planned) and Thursday 9/27 (home closer) before his last start at Miami. Will not pitch at Atlanta.

Box Harvey 4.5 Wright 2.0 Tejada 1.5 Murphy 1.0 Davis 0.5 Hairston 0.5

I won't throw back a sudden burst of base hits, but I would love the record to be broken on Sunday, September 23 -- the 50th anniversary of Ed Kranepool's very first base hit.

This actually happened: Picked out Ed Kranepool at Citi Field Wednesday night. He had gotten up from his seat and headed toward the Delta Romney 360 Club as David Wright was coming to bat in the sixth. David swung and hit a home run just after the Krane had flown out of sight. Can he not bear to watch? (If so, that would make him like every Mets fan without a record on the line.)

METS ALL-TIME HIT LEADERS Through Games of 9/19/2012 1. Ed Kranepool 1,418 2. DAVID WRIGHT 1,413 COUNTDOWN: Krane Minus 5 2012 GAMES REMAINING: 14

Molehill grows. In response to an ESPNNewYork.com report about potentially being traded this offseason, Ike Davis disputed allegations from a baseball source that he is resistant to coaching and out too late. "I don't really have an answer for that because it's never been an issue," Davis said. "I've never done anything wrong. I show up to the field ready to play every day. I really don't even know where it's coming from, and it's not really true. It is what it is. People can say whatever they want. It's not going to bother us. "I don't know what 'late' is, because when you leave the ballpark at 12 [midnight] and you get back to your place at 12:30, if you watch a movie it's 2:30. Is that late? It's up to everyone to decide what late is. If I had a job where I had to wake up at 6 in the morning, it would probably be late. But it's not. Our lifestyle is a little different. "I've never had a meeting. Nothing," Davis continued, when asked about whether the issues had been raised with him. "It's just out of the blue. It's hard to answer questions when no one can say who it was or why they even said it. I don't know if it's a cheap shot. It's falsely accused, I guess. It comes out of nowhere. It happens to athletes like this -- a rumor or something is said and it's blown out of proportion." As for the resistance-to-coaching suggestion, Davis added: "If you've seen my stances this year, we've tried a lot of things. I don't know about the 'uncoachable' thing. I don't know who would ever say that. I've done everything the coaches have asked me. It's really just a bunch of unknown statements. I talked to the coaches, and none of them said they said it. You can talk to teammates, coaches and everybody says the opposite. I don't know what to tell you, because it doesn't really make sense." Said Terry Collins: "There's not a coach in that office, there's not the manager, the front office that has ever brought up a problem with Ike Davis. You cannot do in today's game what Ike Davis has done, play 141 games suffering from valley fever at the same time -- obviously he had a bad first half -- but put up the things he's done the second half and do the things he's being accused of doing. "As far as being a teammate, you guys were here when there was a question of whether he was going to be sent out. And there were 15 players waiting to find out that supported him. ... "As far as being a hard guy to coach, there's not a guy in that locker room who hasn't had a disagreement with a coach at one time about something -- be it positioning, be it where his hands need to be at the plate, or the grip on the baseball -- No. 1 for reinforcement why it's going to work. "Now, as far as the possible trade, there's not a guy in that clubhouse who can't get traded. Not a guy. I just want to make sure everybody understands, we're behind Ike Davis 100 percent. I don't want this to ever be a defamation on his character. He's a standup guy. As a matter of fact, he speaks the truth above and beyond the need for it." Takeaways: � Ike up late watching porn. � That weird blinking thing he does as he's about to bat is to clear his head from all the bad advice he's getting from Hudgens. � Whispers about Terry and his "ability to communicate" will be posted by Rubin tomorrow.

Fred Lewis and Jeremy Hefner can come inside now. Rainout. Makeup Thursday night.

They can all blow away, too. Rollins SS Pierre LF Utley 2B Howard 1B Mayberry CF Brown RF Frandsen 3B Kratz C Cloyd P

Mets also don't care if Fred Lewis blows away. Lewis-RF Murphy-2B Wright-3B Davis-1B Duda-LF Turner-SS Valdespin-CF Shoppach-C Hefner-RHP

Mets decide Harvey too valuable to mess around with in iffy weather, will throw Hefner to the wind tonight, if there is a tonight.

"I am not a late-night carouser," insists player implied to be late-night carouser. Ike Davis was surpised and confused Tuesday morning to read that the Mets were concerned about his nightlife habits. ESPN, citing a "baseball source," reported that the team was open to trading the first baseman, in part because "he is out too late after games." "I have never missed games or not been ready to work because of anything to do with staying up too late," Davis told the Daily News Tuesday morning. "I show up every day. I play hard. It is unfair to me, and it doesn't make sense." While the 25-year-old said that, since he does not often leave the ballpark until midnight, he is sometimes out a few hours after that - the norm among many in baseball - he does not do so in excess. "I just don't understand it, because I have always been able to play, except for one freak ankle injury," Davis said, referring to the 2011 on-field collision that ended his season. According to team insiders, the Mets are debating whether to make Davis or Lucas Duda the first baseman of the future. The team "won't shop either aggressively this winter, but will be open to the right deal for either," according to one club source. In a possibly related story, members of the Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates admit they were out very late last night.

Cashman Field was once Major League, literally. In 1996, the Oakland A's called Cashman Field home for the first six games of the regular season due to construction delays in their home stadium. The games marked the first time ever that a Major League Baseball season opener was held at a minor league park.

It's too late. Justin Turner has already organized another theme road trip in which the players all dress up and enlisted Josh Thole to lend support.

That clever Terry Collins could figure out a way to get him an extra start with a little of that three days' rest action they talked up constantly (he's gotta be reasonably well rested considering this stupid six-man rotation) -- and they can get him an extra home start (against the Pirates, against whom he's excelled). 9/21 vs MIA (against whom he's also excelled) 9/25 vs PIT 9/29 @ ATL (where he hasn't been so hot) 10/3 @ MIA

Rubin reports the Mets may be mulling a choice, and it could be the unpopular one per the poll results here and, one would guess, sentiment everywhere. The Mets will consider trading Ike Davis this offseason as a way to upgrade other areas of the team and open a spot for Lucas Duda at his natural position, a baseball source told ESPNNewYork.com. While that does not guarantee Davis will be moved, it at least is a very plausible option. Davis should be marketable despite a slow start because he is a 30-homer threat with the potential for above-average fielding at first base. The Mets are disappointed with Davis' unwillingness to make changes based on coaching advice. Although he is personable and by no means a troublemaker, they also worry about his impact on other young players in social settings away from the ballpark. The danger in trading Davis would be that there are few doubts about his ability to perform as a starter at the major league level. There is no guarantee Duda would perform at that level. And certainly he could not perform at the same level in the field. So being comfortable trading Davis would mean trusting the evaluation skills of the front office that Duda would thrive at his natural position. The Mets recently have been using Duda at first base against left-handers over Davis. Personally, trade 'em all.

METS ALL-TIME HIT LEADERS Through Games of 9/17/2012 1. Ed Kranepool 1,418 2. DAVID WRIGHT 1,412 COUNTDOWN: Krane Minus 6 2012 GAMES REMAINING: 15 Can the Mets gets six more hits this season? Can Wright get all of them?

This fucking team.

Dickey 2.5 Murphy 0.5 Nickeas 0.5

Wait, let me get this straight: Derek Jeter has an edge? Huh...learn something new every day!

Robin Ventura manages a team that leads its division by three games with sixteen to play.

Charles Pierce explores MFYS III for the first time on Grantland and gets it immediately. ...George Steinbrenner, who glowers in from a billboard in center field that makes him look for all the world like a movie that's coming out this Christmas.

In the dugout where he belongs, before the last game in New York last week, Johnson repeated a question: "What do I see when I look in the mirror? First of all, I'm shocked. Some part of me still thinks I'm 19. How did I get to be so old? But I see a happy man. Not happy like when we won the World Series in 1966 -- that was all about me. Happy like I was in '86, when we brought joy to a city. It's much better when you share it."