G-Fafif

Just occurred to me that we had a non-K-Rod closer for a month and a half last season, Hisanori Takahashi. He had no track record in that role (15 saves in Japan in 2006, otherwise a starter there) and he was perfectly fine. So will be somebody else.

PiggiesTomatoes wrote: If all the MFY's were at the game, I'm sure the AL would be up by 5 runs and Rivera would shut down the NL in the 9th. Imagine if Reyes were healthy. N.L. would have probably won by nine or ten runs. And Jeter would have claimed physical and mental exhaustion just from watching him.

The big cheer that went up among those who stuck around for the ninth inning during the first Mets-Red Sox exhibition at Citi Field as the new closer's song played and the new closer entered. It never felt that exciting again. The weirdness of hearing that song herald his one post-arrest appearance on a Saturday night last August, before it was revealed he injured himself in his fit of rage. Seems you get arrested, you shouldn't get your song. The night in Colorado this year when I got myself all worked up in that instinctive "here we go again" Met closer mode and realized he was doing OK, I should really just relax. jwq8Gorl6nk

Ha-ha! The league we're not in sucks!

Would love if two or three slots per team per year were reserved for the best specialists in the game: best pinch-hitter in each league, best defensive replacement, best LOOGY, that sort of thing. Give the Kranepools, the Jorgensens, the Felicianos their moment to shine. What the hell, there are already a zillion All-Stars anyway.

Looking at recent ASG box scores on baseball-reference and see this is the first time DH is in the NL park. It's been used in AL parks since 1989. It always used to be said this is the one game a year where a DH makes sense (if you go for that sort of thing). Carlos is the first Met to get the starting DH assignment.

Richard Sandomir, vaguely backhanded in his appreciation of the recently deceased. They are not great songs (were you expecting Sondheim to write an ode to Hot Rod Kanehl?), but they put listeners in a cheerful mood as if they were following the bouncing baseball with Mitch Miller. Howie Rose, however, totally gets it: The song struck 9-year-old Howie Rose, a future Mets play-by-play announcer, as a �peppy, happy, optimistic song that gave you the feeling that there were better days ahead.� Six years later, he was at Shea for Game 3 of the first National League Championship Series against the Braves. The Mets were leading Atlanta, 2-0, in the best-of-five series. And Jane Jarvis, the stadium organist, was playing �Meet the Mets.� Rose said: �I�d always heard it as background music because it signaled that the game was about to begin. But that day, when she started playing it, I got an undeniable rush, you know, goose bumps. And all of a sudden, it sounded serious, and the realization hit: all those days when a day like this was a far-fetched dream led up to this moment. Oh my God, they�re coming out of the dugout to win a pennant today.� Today, Rose views the Roberts-Katz composition as nothing less than the Mets� defining anthem, not bad for a team that has not always delivered fans the �the time of your life,� as the song guarantees. �I literally feel and see 50 years of baseball,� Rose said. He said he had a personal affinity for one line � � �Cause we�ve got ourselves a ball club � � from one of the rarely sung middle verses. �That�s where you separate the men from the boys,� he said.

Doin' better, says the family. Hall of Fame catcher Gary Carter is no longer suffering from walking pneumonia, coughing and cramping hands, and has been sleeping easier, his daughter, Kimmy Bloemers, reported on a private family website late Monday night. According to Bloemers, Carter, who is currently battling Stage 4 brain cancer, has six more radiation treatments remaining. "I am happy to report that my dad has had a great week! Aside from some fatigue, dad is doing very well!!!" Bloemers wrote on the private family website, which ESPN NewYork.com has been granted access to. "We are thankful that his hair loss is the only side effect right now. His mind has been sharp and everything else is functioning as it should. It has been refreshing to have "dad be dad" this week. We focus on the praises and the prayers that have already been answered..." According to Bloemers, Carter plans to return for a third season as head baseball coach at Palm Beach Atlantic University. "A committee has met at school and interviewed different candidates for the new position that is now open...the associate head baseball coach," Bloemers wrote. "We are praying for the perfect fit and so far we have some highly qualified coaches who want to be a big part of dad's program. Dad has been involved in the hiring process and each interview. We should have someone hired very soon." Carter is slated to have an MRI on his brain on Aug. 9 at Duke University.

Mets blogging's deepest, most relentless twice-weekly history feature doesn't take the All-Star break off. It just gets deeper and more relentless. 085 -- 1995: Bret Saberhagen showcases his skills for the scouts 086 -- 2007: Carlos Beltran shows he's one of the Hill people 087 -- 1978: Jerry Koosman shows up ahead of Tom Seaver Also... 085 -- 1986: Champion Mets never gear down 086 -- 1985: Ronn Reynolds fills in while Gary Carter's knee gets examined 087 -- 1979: Lousy current Mets perhaps inspired by their ten-year predecessors

MFS62 wrote: OK, I'll be the first to say it, "Jeter staying away made Cano better". To be fair, Jeter staying away makes the entire All-Star Game better.

Have the HRD on in the background. Every now and then I look up and notice a home run. Can't beat the simplicity of this thing.

Not planning on watching the Home Run Derby, but for those who are, here's one to get the ball rolling: Ooh, that looks like a home run.

metirish wrote: I agree with what's being said , nice team but not making the playoffs....still, what does a GM do here, I think most Mets fan at the least find that this is a team worth going to see, Alderson trades away the guts of it and the new look team loses ten in a row or ten of twelve the place will be very dead. Are those things factors for him or not? There's a damned-if-you-do/don't quality to whatever Alderson does by July 31, assuming moving Reyes is a don't. If he can legitimately sell a trade of Beltran or Rodriguez as forward-looking, and the Mets are not exactly breathing down the Braves' necks by then, it will be tough to argue with -- though it will probably be framed as "there go the Mets screwing their fans again" for a couple of days. Short of an enormous move in the standings, as in "how could you trade Beltran when we're only three out?" a la the White Sox' surrender of 1997 when they were still contending, I don't sense attendance the final two months will hinge on what Sandy does (a trade of Jose excepted, and that seems less and less likely). OTOH, if they announce "Carlos and Frankie are too important to this clubhouse and we owe the fans a full season's effort," et al, and the Mets don't get/stay hot, they'll be assailed for not looking at the long term. So he's gotta do what he's gotta do. If anyone can sell it, the Sandy man can. And if anyone can sell it internally, the Terry man can.

I'm in a "hands off" mode when they start talking about Carlos, as in "get your grubby hands off our All-Star right fielder," so no. But it's an intriguing thought. It was in Pittsburgh that Beltran, having an All-Star year in 2009, first had to start sitting out games en route to missing significant time. Also in Pittsburgh where he slugged in an All-Star Game. They have my N.L. Central support and all, but still. Mets fans pulling for the Bucs...what's this post-realignment world coming to?

My overall impression of this club is it's a shame they're not better, because then they'd be really good. It's a depleted team that has given its all and wins half the time as a result. Engaging to watch when they're competing, deadly at other times though only through the fault of their lack of active talent, not for lack of effort. They almost never give the impression they're dead in a given game. Even in the 6-0 loss to Kershaw I kept expecting them to come back, something I wouldn't have much expected a year ago even when they were going well. It's impossible to say if the same dynamic that has made them embraceable would have happened with David and Ike healthy these last two months -- I sense there was almost an adrenaline rush at play from being so up against it injurywise -- but their potential imminent returns (and Jose's) would be a fantastic shot in the arm in the coming weeks. I don't expect a huge surge past Atlanta, but I can see them hanging in there, and that would my maintain my moderate chuffage a while longer.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Considering they're doing it all with less talent than almost any opponent on any night, they aren;t half bad. On the other hand, they're half bad. This morning I realized what they have to do is trade Beltran to the Pirates and have us align with them spiritually. Go Bucs! Our demi-miracle comeback over the Bucs in early June is the difference between the would-be first-place Pirates standing out as the story of the first half and them being just another Wild Card contender at the moment. Or any one Buc loss, I suppose, but losing 9-8 after leading 7-0 tends to stand out. (Of course that win is the difference in our being an over-.500 club at the moment, so I'm not endorsing giving it back.) I do hope they overtake St. Louis and Milwaukee so I can root for them with non-Met implications.

Choices revised to reflect respective states of chuffage.

The Mets have just completed 56.17% of their schedule, also known as the first half. Taking into account record, standings, injuries, ownership, whatever you care to name, how did it go by your reckoning?

Turner 3.0 Pelfrey 2.0 Evans 1.5 Murphy 1.0

themetfairy wrote: I did nothing - Roger is the one who climbed a friggin' mountain! Long climb. Every little step helps.

Channel 2 in New York had two Mets fans on their CBS Sunday morning show today. One, David, is literally fighting cancer; the other, Roger -- David's lifelong friend -- recently climbed the tallest mountain in North America to bring attention to his battle, raising to date nearly $10K for the Tug McGraw Foundation on David's behalf. Watch David and Roger tell their story here (video included). H/T to bmfc1 and themetfairy for their hand in making something worthwhile from a terrible situation, and to the Mets for stepping up to acknowledge what what David and Roger are doing. (Roger's climbing/fundraising page here; FAFIF piece here.)

Capuano 3.0 Murphy 1.0 Beltran 1.0 Tejada 0.5

Hairston beats guy with ton of hairs.

Hairston 2.5 Dickey 1.5 Pagan 1.5 Beltran 1.5 Murphy 0.5 Tejada 0.5 Beato 0.5 Duda 0.5 Rodriguez 0.5 Evans 0.5