G-Fafif

To be perfectly frank, don't be imperfectly Frank.

KraneWatch gains notice in the Times. It has become something of a ritual this season, the systemic poaching of Mets franchise records by David Wright. This year, Wright has set career club marks for runs batted in, runs, walks and, less inspiring, strikeouts. Wright already possessed the highest doubles total in team history, and he ranks near the top of most other offensive categories. Now, with some effort in the coming weeks, he could seize another mark, by passing Ed Kranepool to become the Mets� career hits leader. Kranepool, who played 1,853 games for the Mets from 1962 to 1979, collected 1,418 hits during his career. Wright, 29, entered Saturday with 1,221 games and 1,385 hits. Kranepool�s mark is 33 hits away. �When you talk about becoming a franchise�s all-time leader in anything, it�s a nice accomplishment,� Wright said. He added that passing Kranepool would have its own significance. �He was one of those original Mets,� Wright said, �and he played for this organization for so long, it�d be an honor.� Wright does not place too much stock in numbers. None of the Mets� individual batting records are particularly high, and Wright has simply outlasted many of the club�s top players of years past, who did not spend whole careers with the Mets. And besides, players like Kranepool have other honors Wright wants � chief among them, a World Series title. �I�ve always just wanted my legacy to be that I was a winning player, and I�ve never thought much about numbers or records,� he said. �You see the way that even bench players or role players are remembered from the �86 team. You see the love that the city of New York has for those guys. That would be nice.� Such concerns could perhaps play into the negotiations that will determine where Wright�s future rests. The Mets hold a $16 million option on Wright�s services for next season, but nothing beyond that, and General Manager Sandy Alderson declared, early on, his intention to discuss a possible extension over the summer. But Wright countered that he wanted to hold off talks until the off-season. Kranepool played his entire career with the Mets after starting as a 17-year-old. He was competent, but never a star, and that he holds the hits record is testament to the fact that stars like Keith Hernandez and Mike Piazza spent only parts of their careers with the Mets. Wright, who was drafted by the Mets as a teenager, would break that mold � if he stayed. He was asked how much the lengthy identification with a club, something that is a tradition on the Yankees but not the Mets, mattered to him. �That�s extremely important,� Wright said. �Obviously, there will be a number of factors. But I�d like to think � and I think other people would agree � that I�m a loyal person. From Day 1, I�ve said it, and nothing�s changed: I love this organization.� He added, �Although things haven�t gone the way that we thought they were going to go, this organization has done so much for me that I think there�s loyalty on both sides.� For the most part, though, Wright has preferred to avoid the big picture. After he charged into the All-Star break with 106 hits, a .351 average and 1.004 on-base plus slugging mark, Wright�s production has sagged. Through 15 games in August, Wright was hitting .273 in the second half with a .711 OPS. Wright�s slowdown had coincided with the Mets� breakdown, and Manager Terry Collins has linked the two. �David�s not swinging like he was, and we have not had anybody really step up and help him,� Collins said Friday. Wright acknowledged last week that second-half fatigue had set in, but he did not view that as an excuse. He said he thought he might have been trying to overcompensate for the team�s overall struggles, and his coaches agreed. �I think David�s probably trying to do a little more than he�s able to do,� said Dave Hudgens, the Mets� hitting coach. �That�s maybe caused a couple of little things, his body over-rotating, his elbow getting up too high.� Though Wright has cooled off, Hudgens said, �He�ll get hot again.� If so, Kranepool�s record could be the next mark he claims. Should it happen, Wright will enjoy the moment, knowing there are other accomplishments he covets more. �Maybe it�s different in other cities,� Wright said, �but in New York, you�re remembered for winning.�

Well, I wanna tell ya we got this kid leading off who's playing short and he's kinda short but he goes inta the hole like nobody's business and he's all business and he's Ruben Tejada - SS Our second batter's a fella who's been back some time and he went back t'the wall and he made a splendid catch and saved the franchise's first no-hitter and ya need t'have one'a those unless ya wanna give up hits all yer life and he's Mike Baxter - RF We got a fella who's in the third hole and that's the base he plays and the corner could get mighty hot when I was in the employ of the organization and we tried all kindsa fellas but this one's a clean liver and ya might even say he's got a clean liver and when he gets a few more hits he's gonna have more hits than anybody the organization ever had from any corner and he's David Wright - 3B My cleanup hitter's been known to clean up a few messes on the bases though sometimes he does his best cleaning when nobody's on like that night in the desert when it was hot but it was a dry heat and this fella dried off the bases three times though nobody was on and he scored three times all around the bases though we lost ya couldn't blame him and he's Ike Davis - 1B This next fella's Irish and I played with some of their finest people and go back to Cornelius McGillicuddy before he was either a stadium or an institution which is a good thing to be if ya want job security and McGillicuddy had it because he owned a piece of the Ath-a-letics until he owned the whole pie and when ya got the pie they can't tell ya yer services are no longer required as I was told my previous employer in this here city despite my having some sort of success with them but this feller's had some success too and he plays deep but he makes the plays and there isn't a finer Irish lad you'd rather have with a man on base who you want'a be driven home and he's Daniel Murphy - 2B Well, this next feller we're playing him in left though we could put him in center or sometimes in right and we've seen him all over the infield yet we think his future might be in left field but not left out because he never fails to inject himself into the action though sometimes he waits until it gets late and yer not expecting it and when you have a man come off the bench and deliver you a blow yer gonna find yerself in the starting lineup more often than not and you need a man who can give the ball a spin and he's Jordany Valdespin - LF My center fielder is a fellow who sometimes don't concentrate too good which is easy to do is this business of baseball, the greatest business there ever been in sports and I speak only as a baseball man and not representin' any other sports business at the present time and you can make a good living in baseball and you can put a little something away as annuity for a rainy day and in my time we had plenty of rain and we usually had a rainout because they had yet to invent the tarpaulin and you'd find yourself back on the train and headed out west to St. Louie and there'd be a doubleheader later in September and they'd charge two separate admissions if they could but ya couldn't get away with that the way you can now because people don't concentrate so good for a full nine innings and maybe nine more and you'd clear the place out and I oughta know because I been cleared out from some fine establishments in my day and maybe this will be the day for Andres Torres - CF Behind the plate I'm playin' my man who played most of the year even though his catching comes up a little short of what ya want it to be and his hitting ain't so long either but he comes out early and he puts on his shinguards and he puts on his special mask and he puts on his special bird cage that keeps him from getting socked in the jaw every time a runner comes at him which is frequently in the late stages of our games because my bullpen is full'a men who can't seem to keep the ball in the infield and there's always a play at the plate and my man stands in there and sometime he gets runned over and sometimes he drops the ball but he's back there the next day with the shinguards and the mask and he protects his chest which is a good thing if you want'a have a career in this here game and he's Josh Thole - C My number nine batter is one of my number one pitchers though we have at least three number one pitchers and I like to say every man has to pitch like a number one when he has the ball and he has to keep the strikes ahead of the balls and this feller does that most of the time and this one time we use him to pinch-hit when we got nobody else and he comes up with a triple and we lose the game anyway but ya can't blame him because he's a pitcher and sometimes he loses the game that way which is something my coaches and me need to correct because if we don't we don't got much of a future and I'm not sure anyone does at my advanced age but he's young and he has a disposition that's nice and that's his name, Jonathon Niese - LHP

METS ALL-TIME HIT LEADERS Through Games of 8/17/2012 1. Ed Kranepool 1,418 2. DAVID WRIGHT 1,385 COUNTDOWN: Krane Minus 33 2012 GAMES REMAINING: 43

Shoppach 2.0 Hairston 1.5 Acosta 1.0 RRamirez 1.0 Murphy 1.0 Tejada 0.5 Wright 0.5

Grantland's Michael Weinreb with the Bucs fans who've grown up without. Will almost make you forget the lingering bad taste from September 1990. In September, when (and if, always if) the Pirates win their 82nd game of the season, a couple of things might happen. The first is that my friend JB, who has been flipping the bird to the Port Matilda highway exit as a spiritual release anytime he drives back through central Pennsylvania, may finally let his anger go. The second is that a man named Tim Crouse may engage in a solitary prayer ritual in Columbus, Ohio. Crouse grew up sitting in the cheap seats at Three Rivers; on that night in 1992, he sat by himself in the dark, in an armchair situated about two feet from the television because the rest of his family had gone to bed. He was 16 years old, and the next morning in the hallway at school, nobody really spoke. He has never gone back and watched the ninth inning since. Crouse lives in Columbus now. He, like Pat Lackey, is a member of the Lost Generation, one of those Pirates fans scattered across America who has spent the past 19 years feeling lonely and disconnected. A few years ago, his brother-in-law, as a taunt, gave him a baseball card, an Upper Deck commemorative shot of Bream's foot touching home plate while the Pirates' catcher, Mike LaValliere, lunges at Bream's thigh. He keeps it in his wallet as a reminder. "I'm just a really optimistic guy by nature," he tells me. "I don't think I ever really got close to giving up on them." Since he left town, Crouse's city has evolved, even as his baseball team has struggled to keep up. The transformation that Midwest cities like Cleveland and Detroit are trying to muddle through has already taken place in Pittsburgh. This is largely because of the fortune that industrialists like Carnegie and others endowed to local institutions; Pittsburgh is no longer one of the largest cities in the country, but it is a pioneer of Rust Belt urban renewal. If the Steelers represent the city's ties to what it used to be, it is not hard to imagine that the Pirates can become the embodiment of the new Pittsburgh, an extension of the aspirational ethos that led Barney Dreyfuss to build Forbes Field. There is no reason to endure history anymore, which is why, when (and if) the Pirates win their 82nd game, Crouse plans to remove the baseball card from his wallet, whisper some sort of invocation, and then set the damned thing on fire.

The fine print tilts a little unfavorably, but after complaining that everyone in the bullpen sucks and that the catching sucks, I'm happy to have a new catcher and not at all unhappy to be down one of those relievers. And if Shoppach is some kind of great influence on Harvey, even for a few August and September starts that point his career in the right direction, it may be a decent investment.

On the surface, from a distance, the Nats are an alluring story; and the '05-'12 rise chronologically at least mirrors the '62-'69 rise toward The Greatest Story Ever Told. Yet based on reliable briefings I've received (this series of informed and passionate KTEs among them), I totally buy the unworthy fans angle. Only reason I can't fully root against them in a non-Mets context is that it would benefit the Braves. FWIW, I can't fully root against the Braves in a non-Mets context because it would benefit the Nats. In theory, I'd like the N.L. East to look good come October but I guess divisional unity is an oxymoron.

Former Orioles great Eddie Murray called out by SEC for insider trading -- but former surly Met Eddie Murray who was great mostly when on a salary drive not mentioned.

ANYWAY...Saturday night/Sunday afternoon with Howie and Josh unless the corporate pissing match is instantly solved. Truly not a bad alternative.

i2XTuc6i1Uo What time is it? It's time...it's time...ah! It's time to hate the Nats! Quite clearly bmfc1 has convinced me of that with a thorough thrashing of those capital clods. (I'll get back to ya on rooting for the Braves, however.)

Fman99 wrote: Welcome to my world. I prefer all be welcome to a better world.

WSJ's Brian Costa asks Sandy if progress is being made. Sandy is like, "Sorta..." How close are the Mets to competing for a championship? "It's a very difficult question to answer," general manager Sandy Alderson said. Alderson views the benefit of this season largely in terms of collecting information. Some of it has been good. Some of it hasn't. Ruben Tejada, for example, has established himself as a solid everyday player at shortstop. Zack Wheeler has emerged as one of the best pitching prospects in baseball. But the struggles of Lucas Duda and Kirk Nieuwenhuis and the continued deterioration of Jason Bay leave the Mets devoid of everyday outfielders going into 2013. And Ike Davis hasn't come close to resembling the All-Star he likely would have been before an injury wrecked his 2011 season. "I think we have a much better sense now of who our players are, who we think are going to develop into those championship-caliber players, who may not, and are in a position to act on that," Alderson said. "The last couple of years, we've done a lot of experimenting. Some things have worked out. Some haven't. But I feel a lot more confident about where we're going than I did a couple of years ago." That is partly a function of time. The Mets owe a combined $50.5 million to Bay and Johan Santana next year, including buyouts of their 2014 options. But by 2014, their top pitching prospects will have all reached the majors�or so they hope�and those contracts will finally be off the books. Meanwhile, though, Alderson is conscious of how the Mets are perceived. The rest of this season will have an effect on whether fans view the Mets as a mediocre team getting better or something more depressing. Through Wednesday, they had lost 22 of 31 games since the All-Star break. If that winning percentage (.290) held through the end of the regular season, it would be their worst after the break since 1965. And the Mets would finish 68-94. To convince their fans to bear with them�and maybe to convince Wright to stay long-term�they will have to do better.

Channel 11 WPIX off Cablevision at the moment for one of those usual battles between corporate behemoths designed to fuck over the viewer. In the meantime, Saturday night and Sunday afternoon games aired by 'PIX in danger of being blacked out if you're one of their subscribers...which I happen to be.

]METS ALL-TIME HIT LEADERS Through Games of 8/16/2012 1. Ed Kranepool 1,418 2. DAVID WRIGHT 1,383 COUNTDOWN: Krane Minus 35 2012 GAMES REMAINING: 44

Harvey 4.0 Davis 2.0 Bay 2.0 Rauch 0.5 Parnell 0.5 Tejada 0.5 Shoppach 0.5

Pitched three scoreless innings at Citizens Bank Park the night Will McAvoy and others reported President Obama was about to announce the killing of Osama Bin Laden. New York Mets pitcher Pedro Beato watched from the roof of his Brooklyn high school as the World Trade Center collapsed on Sept. 11, 2001. The world learned Sunday night that Osama bin Laden, the terrorist mastermind behind those attacks, had been killed by U.S. forces. They learned from TV, radio, Internet and smart phones. Beato learned from word of mouth. He heard thousands of Phillies and Mets fans chant, "USA! USA! USA!" in the top of the ninth inning at Citizens Bank Park. "Mission accomplished," he said following New York's 2-1 victory in 14 innings.

Box Baxter 1.5 Tejada 1.0

Let's hope this lineup REALLY takes Leake! What?

New leadoff hitter: Baxter-RF Tejada-SS Murphy-2B Wright-3B Davis-1B Valdespin-LF Torres-CF The Awesome Josh Thole Whose Value Should Never Be Joked About - C Dickey-P

Someday the Mets' array of backup catchers (Thole perhaps among them) can back up Cam Maron, profiled today by Adam Rubin.

Giants fans also vote for a suspension of Pablo Sandoval. Habit.

The next Mike Piazza! He'd like to be, at any rate. From Adam Rubin: Cam Maron grew up in Hicksville on Long Island, rooting for the Mets and naturally having a particular affinity for Mike Piazza. “Mets -- the whole way,” Maron said. “Piazza was my guy. I used to love watching him. I liked watching Jose [Reyes], too, when I was younger. When he was coming up, he was always exciting. David [Wright] came up around the same time as well. I remember ’99 and 2000 a lot. It was something they hadn’t done in a while, and it was exciting to watch.” Now, the 21-year-old Maron is on a path toward becoming a major league catcher in Flushing, too. Maron, a 34th-round pick in 2009 out of Hicksville High School, is hitting .305 with four homers, 38 RBIs and a .393 on-base percentage in 80 games with low-A Savannah. His batting average cracks the top 10 in the South Atlantic League. Given the lack of catching prospects in the organization, the lefty-hitting Maron has a solid opportunity to rise through the minor league ranks. The other top catching prospects are 2012 supplemental first-round pick Kevin Plawecki out of Purdue, 2010 third-round pick Blake Forsythe from Tennessee, and 17-year-old switch-hitter Jose Garcia out of Venezuela. Maron was named the Mets’ Sterling Award recipient as the top performer with Kingsport last season, which earned him a visit to Citi Field for a pregame ceremony. He has been a lifelong catcher. “I caught from a young age. Since I was eight I’ve been catching,” Maron said. “It all started, I guess, when I was bored doing the outfield or whatever we were doing back in Little League. I guess I wanted to be involved in a lot more action. My dad decided to throw me back there one day, and the rest is history. I’ve loved it ever since. You’re involved in every play. You’re touching the ball every time it’s in play. “I take a lot of pride in my mental ability behind the plate -- knowing hitters, knowing situations, pitch calling and things like that,” he continued. “Having a good memory of those things really helps. It’s something that not a lot of people can see physically. Only people who are attentive to the game or on the inside are the ones that can see it, which is sometimes tough. I really take a lot of pride in that. It really helps out the pitchers, and they appreciate that.”

Young 2.5 Rauch 1.5 RRamirez 1.0 Hairston 0.5

Somehow you'd figure Thole would be the one whose last name is similar to a brand of vacuum.