G-Fafif

Jim Caple turns 50 and relives a half-century of baseball life. Charming, though I guess the Mets have kind of made life difficult for him now and again. Age 9: I get up in front of my class and tell my fellow third-graders that my favorite player, Willie Mays, hit a home run for the fourth game in a row to start the San Francisco Giants' season. Thus starts my sports reporting career. Age 10: I wake up to read the Giants traded Mays. I do not understand this at the time, but 40 years later and with a quarter-century of experience covering the ins and outs of game � I still do not remotely understand it. [...] Age 24: [T]he Mets beat Boston in the World Series, and my old girlfriend, now living in New York, calls to rub it in. I hang up, wondering how we could have drifted so far apart that she doesn't realize how painful the loss was. We won't speak again for three years. [...] Age 38: I return to Seattle to become the national baseball writer and backup Mariners writer to the excellent John Hickey for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. During a company softball game, I stupidly don't back off when another outfielder calls for a fly. We collide, and I break my foot, essentially ending my softball career. My wife and I struggle to find an affordable house. My laptop is stolen at Shea Stadium.

Mota was never on a Mets Opening Day roster. Acquired in August '06, suspended after the season for the first 50 games of '07. I don't know if we're taking into account overall suckiness or just suckiness as a Met. Bell would be there on the latter despite a nice career. And Gutierrez went from the brittle early '04 Mets to the eventual world champion Red Sox, so maybe it was us more than him. Hu keeps looking better in this discussion, which is to say worse.

Gwreck wrote: Gwreck wrote: Arguably the worst player to make the opening day roster of the Mets in the last 15 years. Intriguing and depressing assertion. In a subset that includes Brad Emaus and Ricky Gutierrez, no less. I had forgotten about Ricky Gutierrez. The two that immediately came to mind when considering him for "worst ever" were Rey Sanchez and Tim Spehr. I think Hu was worse than all 4 though. Thought about those two. I had an outsized distaste for Rey Sanchez. I'd be happy to let him have the Hu Award for 2003. As for Spehr, kind of the Emaus of catchers. Two hits on Opening Day, March 31, 1998, three for all of April, gone by the first week of May. But, yeah, Hu.

Re-release of 2004 title by new publisher, which is Janet Paskin's entertaining collection of anecdotes and interviews from the Mets' first year, spurred then by the 2003 Tigers challenging the Original record for futility (and failing -- suck on it, Detroit). I'm just the With New Foreword guy here. Worthwhile read on any level you choose.

Hu Fever spread like mildfire here. Or Hu-steria, if you will.

Gwreck wrote: Arguably the worst player to make the opening day roster of the Mets in the last 15 years. Intriguing and depressing assertion. In a subset that includes Brad Emaus and Ricky Gutierrez, no less.

From the second through the fifteenth game of 2011, Blaine Boyer was the Mets' leader or co-leader in saves. Perhaps that's something Chin-lung Hu remembers (as this is a memories of Chin-lung Hu thread).

Attending his first MLB game, wondering how enthusiastic I should be in welcoming him to New York, maybe accelerating his first AB applause two notches over the norm in recognition of his top-prospect status, but not nearly as much as I would for Ike Davis in the same circumstances a year later. The kerfuffle over him not running out a pop fly, which I tried to reason was a rookie mistake but now, with hindsight and narrative, see as a Sign of Something Sinister (these kids today...). His first homer, against Milwaukee with two out and nobody on in the ninth and the Mets down by four, briefly cheering me up in the sullen summer of 2009. Then Omir Santos grounded out to end the game and I returned to moping. Looking at the scoreboard on August 10, 2010, and taking note of the following lineup: Reyes SS Martinez RF Pagan CF Wright 3B Davis 1B Carter LF Thole C Tejada 2B Pelfrey P And recognizing it (with Beltran getting the night off and Castillo out of favor) as the first all born in 1980 or later lineup the Mets had ever fielded, thinking the youth movement was on, let's play the kids day in, day out for the rest of the year and see how it goes. F-Mart wouldn't start again in 2010 after August 17.

Had a clutch sac fly at Washington in April to help rally the Mets after they'd been screwed by a terrible call at third (Jose has 99 triples in the records, he should have a hundred). Sandy [crossout]Dennis[/crossout] Alderson the out-of-towner being fooled by the "Huuuuuu" greetings in St. Lucie into thinking Cl-H would be a "fan favorite," thus we better keep him. (Said words very much to this effect in a blogger conference call -- also gave it as a bonus reason for keeping Murphy...'cause fans liked to call him "Murph".) Me trying to be patient, thinking, "He must be good or he wouldn't be on the roster," then deciding this burst of maturity on my part was misplaced.

Larkin was one of the greats at his position in his time and as long as I've been watching baseball, but damned if I can remember anything truly signature about him, whether it's episodic or characteristic. Consistently excellent but unless you're a Reds fan, maybe not "memorable". Without the close 1995 MVP vote going his way (Dante Bichette's traditional powerhouse numbers for a surprise playoff team discounted by Coors Field being Coors Field and Greg Maddux having the silly judgment to be a pitcher), I wonder if he would have made it so relatively soon. Was the first SS to win NL MVP since Ernie Banks in 1959, and the last one until Jimmy Rollins in 2007.

Trying to ferret out some upbeat developments. As of last week, he still intends to host the dinner this Sunday at his golf tournament, according to the Palm Beach Post. By JOE CAPOZZI Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Hall of Famer Gary Carter doesn't intend to let his battle with brain cancer interfere with plans to host his foundation's 27th annual charity golf tournament. Carter has had good days and bad days since his diagnosis in May. But he has been letting friends know that he will be involved in the Gary Carter Annual Hall of Fame Golf Classic at Ironhorse Country Club in West Palm Beach. The event will be Sunday and Monday, Jan. 15-16. "I think it will be a special tournament. I think Gary will be there for the dinner, at least, on Sunday night,' said Marlins TV analyst Tommy Hutton, Carter's close friend and Palm Beach Gardens neighbor. The event has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for Palm Beach County children with autism and to improve reading at local schools. "He will attend as long as he is feeling OK,' said Jessica Wertz, treasurer of the Gary Carter Foundation. "This is his event, but it really depends on how he feels.' In November, Carter attended the kickoff dinner for a Hobe Sound golf tournament for children with cancer. He gave what many called an uplifting speech about his personal battle. Carter, 57, continues to undergo aggressive treatment. "He's doing fine. He's doing as well as can be expected,' said Hutton, who has lunch with Carter every week or so. Celebrities at his tournament are expected to include many of Carter's former teammates and opponents, such as Mike Schmidt, Jim Palmer, Jeff Reardon, Andre Dawson, Bill Gullickson, Dennis Eckersley, Rusty Staub, Gary Sheffield, Lou Piniella and Darryl Strawberry. The event will begin Jan. 15 with a practice round, reception dinner and silent auction. The tournament will start at 12:30 p.m. Jan. 16. Tickets to compete are $550 for individual and $2,100 for a foursome. For information, call (561) 686-3088. Hutton, who is helping with the tournament, said South Florida's major sports teams made contributions for the silent auction. The Marlins donated a weekend package that includes tickets to two games, field passes for batting practice and two nights at a hotel. The Panthers donated a suite for a game in February and an autographed stick. The Heat donated four tickets to an April game, and the Dolphins chipped in four tickets. "We're trying to decide if we should put all of those in one huge (auction) package or do them separately,' Hutton said.

The latest, via Rubin: Gary Carter plans to participate in Palm Beach Atlantic University�s first baseball practice of the season today as the Hall of Fame catcher, who serves as head coach of the Division II team, continues to battle brain cancer. Carter plans to undergo an MRI on Friday so doctors can get the latest information on their battle with the malignant tumors. �Dad was such a trooper during the holidays,� daughter Kimmy Bloemers wrote in an online journal. �He tried to involve himself in as many family activities as possible even though each day is and continues to definitely be exhausting for him. For most of the days, he has rested and slept, which is good and bad. The doctors have told my dad to listen to his body and rest but have also encouraged exercise. My dad did go in the pool a handful of times over the holiday break; however, his body needs much more. �Today is the first day of practice for the PBA baseball team and dad is determined to go! Now that baseball has begun, his spirits have lifted a bit and I believe he is excited to see his team. His weak body limits his physical involvement, but the fact he wants to go and still teach his players is beyond amazing.� Carter has been battling other ailments that have developed as a result of the cancer treatments, including sores in his mouth. �Unfortunately, parts of his gums are down to the bone, caused by the medications,� Bloemers wrote. �This is very painful and there is not much they can do. It is uncomfortable to drink and eat. �Dad's appetite has changed dramatically. Although he is still on the steroids, he actually has been losing some weight due to the lack of eating. He just doesn't feel hungry most days. We are encouraging dad to drink a lot of water and eat nutritious foods, even if he doesn't feel like eating much. It's is important as we all know.�

I wouldn't be shocked if privately, Wright is livid over Reyes' departure. David is expert at keeping his livid to himself, but HoJo -- his baseball father, I believe he called him more than once -- is under no such constraints and probably channels him on some level. Plus David not so subtly has moved away from "whatever's best for the team" type statements and was nothing but stubbornly publicly hopeful Reyes would come back. As much as it can't possibly suck to be David Wright overall, it must kind of suck, at least in context, to be David Wright right now. It's Pete Flynn for fucks sake. "And you should see the subpar grade of Soilmaster they force us to buy now. We might as well be the old Marlins."

batmagadanleadoff wrote: G-Fafif wrote: No current player has the juice to be making these remarks. I think that Wright has the clout to be heard, even though the actual comments point to many others as likelier, ahem, deepthroaters. No doubt, though the third-person Wright stuff eliminated him for this particular feature...unless he's Amazin'ly diabolical.

In 139 games against the Mets, reasonably close to a full season's worth (especially the full season of his MVP year of strike-shortened 1995), Larkin produced at a .279/.346/.393 clip. Scored 70 runs, stole 33 bases, 7 HR, 59 RBI. � 0-for-3 with a walk in the game that mattered most between the Mets and Reds during his career, Game 163 from October 4, 1999. � 2-for-4 with a walk in one of the worst games ever, May 6, 1995, when the Mets held an 11-4 lead (featuring Edgardo Alfonzo's first MLB HR, an inside-the-park job) and lost 13-11. Singled to lead off the decisive ninth, in which the Reds scored three times off Doug Henry. � Made the error that led to the run on April 30, 1988 that nearly caused a riot at Riverfront (Mets won 6-5, Rose, out to argue the call at first on Mookie's grounder, shoved umpire Dave Pallone). � Doubled and scored twice to help build a 3-1 Reds lead that Bobby Bonilla erased on his last-swing homer off Rob Dibble on August 30, 1992, the Sunday night when that creep Dibble tore his turn-back-the-clock vest off his massive body and left it on the Shea grass.

The whole thing here: It�s really sad to see what the Mets have become: A great franchise, on the biggest stage in sports, is now a laughingstock. Ownership is trying to turn the Mets, a big-market franchise, into a small-market franchise. That�s not just sad, it�s disgusting. You know what I think when I read about the Mets nowadays? We�ve become the Oakland A�s. We�re the Pittsburgh Pirates. Our fans deserve better than that. You can�t possibly build a dynasty when you�re cutting costs left and right. The only way to turn it around is to sell the team. It hurts me to say this, because I�ve always liked Fred Wilpon. I know in his heart how much he wants the Mets to succeed. He�s always lived and died with the team. But there comes a time when it�s no longer possible to be in charge. Fred doesn�t have enough money to make it work. People ask me all the time about the Madoff controversy. How much did the Wilpons know? My heart wants to believe Fred wasn�t in on the scheme, that there�s no way he would take that big of a gamble. The part of me that likes Fred thinks he just got taken advantage of. But there�s a flip side that I can�t ignore: No one makes that much money without knowing where it�s coming from. Either way you look at it, what you have now is a team that feels like it�s bankrupt. Jose Reyes was allowed to walk without even getting an offer? If that�s your plan, you better have someone to replace him with. But the Wilpons don�t. Reyes and David Wright were the heart of that team. Those were the guys the Mets had to build around. But now that Reyes is in Miami, Wright will be traded by the All-Star break. If they�re going to run this like a small-market team, that�s the way it�s going to unfold. If I�m David Wright, I�d want to be gone. That�s because it�s going to be a long summer�you�re talking about last place. It�s a tough division all of a sudden. Who do we have that�s going to beat Stephen Strasburg or Cliff Lee? Who�s going to match up against Tim Hudson or Tommy Hanson? We won�t even be able to beat Mark Buehrle. Everyone in the division has at least one big weapon that we don�t have. I feel bad for the fans because they deserve so much better. But I also feel bad for some of the guys who�ve gotten a raw deal. That�s one thing I can say about the front office�they don�t show a lot of loyalty. Look at what happened to Mookie Wilson: He just got fired. Mookie went to the wall for the organization, but they still canned him. Look at Ken Oberkfell. Guy puts in twelve years with the organization; next thing you know, he�s been fired. No explanation. Those are the little things that tell you what direction a team is going in. People around the game hear about this stuff. They talk about it: �What�s happening to the Mets?� It depresses the hell out of me because I don�t think it�s going to improve until 2014 at the earliest. It�s going to be hard to ask the fans to sit through two brutal seasons, even though there�s some talent coming through the system. What makes it worse is being in the same market as the Yankees. Obviously they have more money, but there used to be a time when the Mets and Yankees were equals. Today, it�s totally lopsided. But that�s not to say I have a problem with the Yankees�I don�t. I�m not jealous of them. They�ve given New York a product their fans can be proud of, like it�s supposed to be. I like Derek Jeter, I think he�s a class act. I read some of the good things and the bad things that were said when he was renegotiating, but he ended up having a pretty decent year. Is he overpaid now? Sure, but he earned it when he was younger. The Yankees took care of him, the way you�re supposed to. I�m waiting for the day when the Mets get back to doing things the right way. In the meantime, it�s a disaster.

My other guess (and that's all it is) would be Darling. Talking about pitching is kind of a flag as is the "people around the game" remark. Darling gets around, particularly recently for TBS during the playoffs. Must have gotten his share of "hey, Ronnie, what's up with the Mets?" A current player probably wouldn't give too much of a damn about Oberkfell or Mookie. These are Darling's and HoJo's pals. The "Look what happened paragraph" sounds a lot like his voice. And the vague, respectful pablum about Jeter sounds about right. But the "used to be equal" thing with the MFYs sounds too tame for Darling (or Keith). They're on the air every night recalling when they ruled New York. Equal would be a comedown for them. Also, Ronnie doesn't necessarily have a personal reason to be pissed off at the Wilpons. HoJo does. No current player has the juice to be making these remarks. I thought maybe Bay, based on general MLB seniority, or even Pelfrey, as something of a free spirit, but if Pelf is saying "who's gonna match up with those other pitchers?" I don't wanna know him. And it's doubtful Bay has formed enough of an attachment to the organization or feels confident enough to throw around charges based on his crappy two years. For the current players, as long as the check clears, I'm thinking they're more or less OK.

HoJo.

Retiring from the MFYs now. Quit on the MFYs eight months ago.

Ceetar wrote: i would've turned around and stalked him, at least reported back on where he ate lunch or something. I liked when he would feast on Roger Clemens.

Former colleague of mine scooped WSJ by ten years on the Piazza-wine beat. The writer (a hardcore Orioles fan who joined me at Shea on a couple of occasions in the late 1990s) left beverages, et al to pursue baseball dreams several years ago. He's now Director, Major League Scouting/Assistant to GM for your N.L. West champion Arizona Diamondbacks. Moral to the story: It may not help to share a bottle of wine with Mike Piazza, but it couldn't hurt.

Well, there was that home run he hit off Brian Wilson, and... Oh wait, he's coming BACK? Never mind.

I'm still stumped as to "Howe...?"

If a tree falls in the forest, would the Mets have rushed right out and hired that tree, provided that tree lit up a room?

Edgy DC wrote: I heard Art Howe was going to leave baseball in order to pursue a bid to buy the Mets. Didn't Art Howe leave baseball prior to the 2003 season and stay out all the way through 2004? Or was it that all the baseball plum leaked out of Art Howe?