G-Fafif

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: who would lend these guys money anymore? Somehow reminded of the modestly amusing 1997 film Kiss Me Guido wherein the title character answers an apartment-sharing ad placed by a "GWM," which the "Guido" in question assumed meant Guy With Money. And if banks assume you're a guy with money, apparently they'll lend you more of it.

Edgy DC wrote: You know, if you're going to pick a Billy Joel song, picking "You're Only Human" or "I Go to Extremes" may get you farther with me than "Piano Man" or "Scenes from an Italian Restaurant." Damn. So much for... Throwing some strikes Like Cornejo can Throwing some strikes tonight Bruce Boisclair just pinch-hit for Mike Bruhert And Tom Hausman's shoulder feels tight

Last time around, each poll was up for two business days (48 hours, give or take weekend overlap) from the time the second of the two parodies was posted. Does that still hold?

Fman99 wrote: This is someone's job, to watch MLB players arc whizz into cups all day. Hilarious.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Benjamin Grimm wrote: I think the award goes to Suzette Charles. Hilarious 27 years ago. Still funny now. Perhaps because Grimm, Suzette and I are all the same age. I saw her open for Bob Newhart at Westbury in 1991 on the night the Mets' illusory winning streak reached ten. I'm glad somebody got the reference! (And yes, I figured it was a longshot.) And... OMG! I was at that same show! I don't know if it was a one-night only performance; we may or may not have been there on the same night. Saturday night, July 13, 1991. Bob did contemporary material on woman drivers and those darn Mexicans.

Edgy DC wrote: Not for nothing, but seeing as how is reputation is in a thousand little pieces, he'd do well to make a huge conciliatory gesture and personally turn that trophy over to Kemp. He might want to go through the appeal process first if, in fact, he was wrongly identified.

Joaquin Arias, best known as the player traded for Jeff Francoeur, tearing it up in the Dominican. And Miguel Batista remains eternally youthful in winter ball. Details here.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I think the award goes to Suzette Charles. Hilarious 27 years ago. Still funny now. Perhaps because Grimm, Suzette and I are all the same age. I saw her open for Bob Newhart at Westbury in 1991 on the night the Mets' illusory winning streak reached ten.

Bob Costas makes excellent use of his Studio 42 show on MLB Network this Monday at 9 when he hosts Tom Seaver for an hour. Taped during HOF weekend, judging by the promos. But Tom is timeless anyway.

bmfc1 wrote: Mets pass. New York abstains...courteously.

Other Tweets have already shot this down but one supposes anything/everything is conceptually on the table. Which is fine.

Edgy DC wrote: I'm wondering if any pitcher can lay a worser Met legacy than appearing in 11 games and them all being losses. Maybe some Roadblock-type character from the early years. I have researched this previously, and Thayer matched Joe Grzenda and Jerry Hinsley at 0-11. But they all trail Jerry Cram, who showed up to pitch in 14 Mets losses while forgetting to request a win.

Are you going to recall Dale Thayer? Pitched here for a very short time Remember him for stuff that was fair And a dreadful won and lost line

Earned this in the '80s. Congratulations to the Timmy of sainted memory.

Always felt a little bad I didn't like him more, based primarily on a) his Original Cyclones pedigree; my having been at Citi Field when he hit what became the last Met grand slam for nearly two years; c) the ball thrown to D-Dad story referenced above; and d) Gary Cohen's description of Angel as the Met who more than any other reached out to the wounded veterans during the infamous Walter Reed visit of September 2010 -- he found the guy who'd been hurt worst and sat and talked with him a long time. (Although obviously he was doing that to make Beltran look bad.) Witnessed quite a few of his high points, including the homer he whacked toward GKR to beat the Cardinals last July and his 4-for-4 finale in '09, same day Figueroa shut out the Astros. Liked the short-lived "Angel wings" phenomenon that sprouted at Shea in early '08. Too bad it disappeared when he came back in '09. Recall being surprised he was a Cub when he was a Cub. Saw him homer for them in what appeared to be a dreary Met loss in '07 before it became a stirring Met win when the Mets scored five in the ninth. Wanted to join Beltran in strangling him at Dodger Stadium in '09 when he got in the way of Carlos catching a fly ball in the same game Church didn't touch third and Jeremy Reed flung a potential forceout to the backstop (good times). Angel did not experience Dodger Stadium happily -- it's where his season ended in '08 making a catch on a side wall and it's where I decided after a particularly at-bat where he looked particularly mopey and unshaven that he and Emmett Kelly, Jr., were separated at birth. Hated whenever he was the leadoff hitter because it meant Jose wasn't. So there's one less thing to worry about. Oh, and as mentioned by another, was a total dope when it came to baseball.

[youtube:3rio1qq3]PDJ_Mz8ftqI[/youtube:3rio1qq3] Did plenty over nine years, but what I liked most was the anticipation of what he was going to do next.

HahnSolo wrote: 2006 game vs. Dodgers at Shea. Jose sparks the win with an inside the park home run. The division lead was wide, and nothing but good things lay ahead. My favorite Reyes moment right there. I swear he could have gotten up and run to first and had a five-base hit. Of all the "Memories of..." threads, this is the one whose existence is toughest to take to date.

METS ALL-TIME HIT LEADERS Through 2011 Season 1. Ed Kranepool 1,418 2. Jose Reyes 1,300 3. DAVID WRIGHT 1,248 CAPS denote currently active with Mets. Sigh.

Madden in the Sunday Snooze joined FK in declining to drink the alleged Gil-Aid. Gil Hodges will not be elected to the Hall of Fame. Much as his many local supporters continue to decry his omission from the Hall, the fact is Hodges was no better than the fifth best player on his own team, had less than 2,000 hits in 17-plus years in the big leagues and never led the league in any offensive category even once. Plus, it�s highly unlikely the committee will elect two former Dodgers ? and the late longtime Dodger GM, Buzzie Bavasi, whose teams won eight pennants and four World Series in Brooklyn and L.A., may be the most worthy of any of the candidates on the ballot.

Between Los Mets and the BP jerseys, Jose wore blue tops in a game exactly three times, yet those pictures keep popping up in coverage of this. Very photogenic.

In the free agent megastar scheme of things, neither crazy money nor insane years. Certainly pushing it, though. If Mets were capable of going there, I'd be upset they didn't. Instead I'm upset they are incapable of going there for one of their own. Five for 80 sounded quite reasonable and generous, whether the Mets ever offered it or not. But once a player's on the open market, anything can happen. It happened big for Jose.

The Florida Marlins are now the Miami Marlins. The New York Mets are now the Florida Marlins.

Rey O needed one more year to qualify for consideration, so we have to let that one go, but the rest is clearly the same insidious anti-Mets bias that failed to acknowledge Ron Hodges's dozen seasons of yeoman backuppery. And what is it the Hall of Fame has against Hodgeses anyway?

Gil regularly finished in the upper tier of BBWAA voting and usually ahead (sometimes by miles) of a passel of players who eventually got in. Almost a historical anomaly in terms of voting trends that he never rode that momentum into the Hall. Kind of got stampeded by first-ballot types after a while (back when it was unusual to have first-ballot inductees) and got lost in the shuffle. Tough to be top of mind when you've been gone 40 years, but let's hope he is with those on the committee.

I never got the love for Fonzie Re: "the love" -- Fonzie being the best 2B the Mets ever had (and one of the better 3B they ever had pre-Ventura and -Wright ) coincided with the Mets' ascension from mediocrities to contenders. I don't think it was a coincidence that once Alfonzo became an everyday player, the Mets improved steadily. Throw in that he was a dream in that "does all the little things" way, shuttled between positions as asked and went out in style (buying up ad space atop the caps to thank his fans after signing with San Fran once Phillips didn't bother trying to keep him) -- plus he was thoughtful enough to not come back to haunt us by being better after he left than he was when he was here -- and you have a Met whose halo is pretty sturdy. My particular treasured memory: In June 1997, the Mets were playing the Pirates on Fox, having just recently proven themselves a capable ballclub (over .500, in the Wild Card hunt, days after Mlicki beat the MFYs) and McCarver, still part of the family, was telling Joe Buck that we may be looking at the best all-around third baseman in the National League right now. Buck was snottily dismissive until Fonzie hit the go-ahead homer in the bottom of the eighth, at which point he was all "ah, I see what you mean" to Tim. Aside from the home run and winning that game, just that sense of a Met sneaking up on people and showing we had somebody underrated for a change...stuff like that, that's where the love comes from. Then again, Fonzie's not alone in Left Off The Ballot company from that Met era. On the 2009 ballot (the one that included Rickey Henderson) there was no mention of first-time eligibles Todd Hundley or Rick Reed, each a two-time Met All-Star, the former a franchise power-hitting record-holder, the other a mainstay on two postseason clubs who pitched well in each postseason. Mike Bordick left off the same ballot, but screw him.