G-Fafif

I admire the inclusiveness. And the volume. It's like each Marlins fan in attendance gets his or her own Marlin to take home.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Mike Piazza? Didn't he play about a half-dozen games for the Marlins? Not even. Five games. He lives down there, I think. Must not be busy that afternoon.

The Marlins were so inspired by the Mets' Shea Goodbye ceremonies that they're planning on having oodles of ours take a bow when Crud Bucket Stadium reverts to football for good. Here's the guest list to date: Current and former players and coaches are scheduled to be on hand for the occasion. The list of guests currently includes Kurt Abbott, Antonio Alfonseca, Moises Alou, Alex Arias, Bruce Aven, Rickey Bones, Bobby Bonilla, Kevin Brown, Luis Castillo, Greg Colbrunn, Jeff Conine, Reid Cornelius, Andre Dawson, Alex Fernandez, Cliff Floyd, Chris Hammond, Lenny Harris, Bryan Harvey, Livan Hernandez, Charlie Hough, Charles Johnson, Josh Johnson, Rene Lachemann, Al Leiter, Mike Lowell, Josias Manzanillo, Jack McKeon, Robb Nen, Vladimir Nunez, Tony Perez, Mike Piazza, Scott Pose, Hanley Ramirez, Pat Rapp, Ivan Rodriguez, Cookie Rojas, Benito Santiago, Gary Sheffield, Julian Tavarez, Tony Taylor, Michael Tejera and Preston Wilson. Not bolded: Charles Johnson, a paper Met for a minute in 1998; and Ricky Bones, minor league pitching instructor in the Mets chain. I'm a little disappointed they got Josias Manzanillo to come to their stadium farewell and we didn't.

Happy 42nd anniversary to the black cat that crossed the Cubs' dugout path on this night in 1969.

Gee 3.0 Reyes 1.0 Evans 0.5 Herrera 0.5 Pascucci 0.5

Bay 3.0 Herrera 1.5 Evans 1.0 Duda 1.0 Schwinden 0.5 Byrdak 0.5 Turner 0.5 Reyes 0.5

METS ALL-TIME HIT LEADERS Through 9/8/2011 1. Ed Kranepool 1,418 2. JOSE REYES 1,277 3. DAVID WRIGHT 1,234

NATIONAL LEAGUE BATTING RACE Through 9/8/2011 REYES .335 Braun .329 Murphy has fallen out of the top five. Slacker.

BEST EAST EVER Through 140 Games 1986 METS: 93-47 2011 Phils: 92-48 We need the Brewers to start winning -- with no offensive help whatsoever from Ryan Braun.

"Hey, Schwinden -- you don't rate having the best hitter in the league in your lineup!"

Benjamin Grimm wrote: (They'll finally be called the Miami Marlins, which is what they should have been from the beginning.) Marketing-driven decision to be a so-called regional team never panned out. They sprung to life the same year the Florida Panthers did, when that sort of thing was in vogue. "South Florida" too unwieldy a place name, but that was their market: north of Miami up to Palm Beach County, with delusions of a wider following. Marlins were resented in Tampa Bay area for being chosen for expansion ahead of them, and the rest of the state could give a damn.

The freaking Braves won 106 in 1998, but lost to the Padres in the NLCS.

We hold a two-game lead with 23 to play. BEST EAST EVER Through 139 Games 1986 METS: 93-46 2011 Phils: 91-48

Reflections on a few not altogether horrible Met moments at JRS here. Opted to leave out the horrible Met moments.

Dickey 4.5 Duda 1.5 Stinson 1.0 Acosta 1.0 Nickeas 1.0 Reyes 0.5 Bay 0.5

METS ALL-TIME HIT LEADERS Through 9/7/2011 1. Ed Kranepool 1,418 2. JOSE REYES 1,275 3. DAVID WRIGHT 1,233

dinosaur jesus wrote: It's sort of sweet, actually, having an Irving Berlin tribute at every game. There are just a lot of better songs they could have picked. "Cheek to Cheek." "Puttin' on the Ritz." "Alexander's Ragtime Band." "Blue Skies." Those are songs worth taking your hat off for. If only Alex Escobar had worked out.

Ceetar wrote: I think you could argue Take Me Out to the Ballgame is patriotic too. I wasn't sure ten years ago why it had to be pre-empted as opposed to supplemented.

Ceetar wrote: Or hell, embrace the regional nature of it and play New York, New York. As was done 9/21/2001, led by Liza Minnelli herself (whose version I always liked better than Sinatra's). "Oceans white with foam" rhyming with "my home sweet home" has struck me as something Felix Unger would have come up with after taking that writing class.

Evans 2.5 Turner 1.5 Reyes 1.5 Batista 1.5 Pagan 1.0 Bay 0.5 Isringhausen 0.5 Stinson 0.5 Igarashi 0.5

METS ALL-TIME HIT LEADERS Through 9/6/2011 1. Ed Kranepool 1,418 2. JOSE REYES 1,274 3. DAVID WRIGHT 1,233

NATIONAL LEAGUE BATTING RACE Through 9/6/2011 REYES .334 Braun .333

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: To: Al Hrabosky, Take that you bitch. Signed, Lee Mazzilli I'd like to see that displayed on the Scoreboard of the '80s.

Vazquez.

Guerrero.