G-Fafif

Opposite-field three-run homer by Ramon Hernandez pulls it out for the Reds vs. the Brewers. Somewhere Braden Looper cringes.

In the broad sense, because being a Mets fan is more fun when there's something to be a fan of -- an actual team playing actual games instead of it all being theoretical. In the 2011 sense, because they are bound to be playing with a ton more passion out of the gate than they were when they were watching the 2010 clock wind down. And in the CPF sense, because we'll have real stuff to dissect to death as opposed to merely guessing what will happen next.

metirish wrote: I just took it for granted that it was true and that Greg was probably on the board or something. I came thisclose to pulling out my all-time roster Word document and changing Fonzie's birthdate to reflect this new "reality" even as I also wondered how on earth he was 25 when he made his debut in 1995. Everything about this is fantastic, right down to it being reported under a real AP reporter's byline via a San Francisco paper, the sleight-of-hand facilitated by the International Date Line, and, of course, that it was aimed at the only group of people in this world who would rend their garments over such a development. Hitting instructor in the Houston Astros organization...brilliant touch. Bra-fucking-vo.

Heyman: What a kcumhcs.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: But I also wonder if Carrasco would rock that look if everyone else did. Can they be worn or do they have to be rocked? The older players are a little concerned.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: At least there isn't a readymade ten-second loop of Madoff-related video for them to beat into the ground during commercial bumpers, game intros, and in-game storytelling. "Joe, as we watch this footage of Derek Jeter diving into the stands and making that flip to cut down Jeremy Giambi, we're reminded that Bernard Madoff performed some financial acrobatics that clearly weren't as admirable. But the losses sustained by the New York Mets are almost as legendary as Jeter's defensive wizardry."

I would keep this thread title on ice for the first Fox Mets game of the year.

"The monthly awards" sounds like a euphemism for what nice girls get.

Either every other team is a dope or we're a little overwhelmed by our own guy. I remember Vance Wilson having to be put through waivers when he was considered a stud prospect. Gary Cohen described with much sorrow how obviously the Mets were going to lose this talented young catcher and...nothing. Nobody took him and he lived to back up Piazza for several season to come.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Boof requires a better number than 27 anyway. I see him rocking something like 33 or 13 or something. Alliterative players merit alliterative numbers.

Looking forward to Honoree of the Month Grimm Cards.

Luis Ayala and Gustavo Molina fill the temporary ex-Met gap on MFY roster.

sharpie wrote: Went to lunch with a guy I know professionally around the time Kunz came up. Found out over lunch that he's a Mets fan. Talked about our hopes and dreams for Kunz, that they should turn the closer job over to him NOW. Went to a game that weekend, Mets got clobbered by Marlins, and Kunz was one of the clobberees. That's all I got. Undependable Eddie had had it already By the summer of Two Thousand Eight From closer-to-be to obscurity He wasn't that great He couldn't go back to the Bisons The best we could do Was get Allan Dykstra No relation to Lenny Which isn't a terrible fate Oh...that's all I heard 'bout undependable Eddie Can't tell you more, Sharpie told you already And here we are waving undependable Eddie goodbye

I'll take June 17-19 vs. the LA Angels of Wherever. I'll also do the April 22-24 Diamondbacks @ Citi series.

Too bad Zim was such a prick as an MFY cog.

Best idea since the Pentagon tested the rank of corporal-captain at that officer's club at Kimpo.

I think I can make it now, the pain is gone.

One of my favorite bloggers from 2009, on hiatus most of 2010, has returned. Reintroduce yourself to Section 528. I'm not normally a fan of "gee, I haven't blogged in a long time" posts, but this one tells a helluva story about life and baseball. And I have more than enough to count myself as a lucky bastard. Despite the terribly foggy nights I�ve lived through recently, I�ve got a clean bill of health. Moved to a gorgeous new apartment in my still-amazing neighborhood, and have a home office to boot. Work has settled, and indeed I have more and new opportunities to do good things. While we don�t talk often, my ex-wife and I exchange occasional messages and, when I�m in her neck of the woods�she�s still out-of-state�we�ll have a meal. Other aspects of moving on proceed delightfully apace. I don�t know that I could have done all this, or become who I am at present, without the 2010 Mets being as lousy as they were. I mean that. If they�d�ve been better, chances are good that I would�ve missed it, or hitched my wagon too closely to their star. As September turned to October, if the Mets were in the postseason, I�d�ve tacked several more years onto my liver. If the Mets achieved the playoffs only to lose, I�d�ve hit a tailspin. Instead, while baseball is an important part of my life, I now believe I can do without it. Don�t get me wrong. I�d be the poorer for not having it. Baseball is a remarkable part of our society; a great diversion most of the time and great to get lost in whenever it won�t just cause you more harm. There is nothing wrong with getting heated about things in a space where the consequences aren�t thermonuclear war or a theological schism or the separation, for good, of all dogs and all cats. But if I didn�t exactly know where I end and baseball begins, I certainly do now. And I�m grateful for that. I now know what the hell I�m doing. I have to thank the Mets for making sure I missed very little last season. In a way, their mediocrity saved me from myself. I hope your experiences differ greatly: that in 2010, you lived an interesting and satisfying life, and the Mets made you want to tear your hair out or throw something at the TV, or check in on NASCAR and soccer instead. (Maybe not NASCAR.) (Maybe not soccer.) I had to go for awhile. Now I�m back. And oh, buddy, do I wanna have some fun. (The Ollie post has plenty of fiber to it, too.)

Just scroll down to the Pro vs Con section.

On ESPN New York, Adam Rubin offers perfectly logical reasons this Opening Day will be Jose Reyes's last as a Met and I offer little more than hope that it won't.

Beltran and Bay in the same starting lineup only nine times in 2010. So if ten was your over/under, hope you bet under. Mets went 1-8 in those games. Therefore, neither Bay nor Beltran, according to the Times, is a winner.

The real-life disappearance/murder of Schwerner and two of his fellow civil rights workers occurred on June 21, same days as Jim Bunning's perfect game.

8. 1986 ALCS Game 5: Red Sox pull it out vs. Angels. So let's get some more 1986 action going.

After six months in Mississippi, Mickey Schwerner already was considered a veteran of the movement. A native of Brooklyn and graduate of Cornell University, Schwerner had started out as a social worker on New York's Lower East Side. Drawn to the civil rights movement, he had joined CORE in Mississippi, where he impressed CORE leaders as a superb organizer, able to persuade poor blacks like those in Longdale to stand up and fight for their rights. With his prominent nose, well-trimmed goatee, New York Mets baseball cap, and standard movement uniform of T-shirt and blue overalls, Schwerner had become much noticed in Meridian and the surrounding countryside. --from Judgment Days: Lyndon Baines Johnson, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Laws That Changed America by Nick Kotz, 2005

I've never been sure what we have in Evans (which I guess is the point) but I do get a bit of a Danny Woodhead vibe should he be cut loose. Maybe not fatal, but I could see a couple of annoying base hits in the wrong-colored jersey. Murphy's not so much on scholarship, as the GKRism goes, but he does seem to be a legacy. And a lefty.