G-Fafif

At least get a "no comment" from Gooden or someone representing him. Otherwise this story is less than circumspect.

The Post story has no quote from Doc or anybody representing him nor even a disclaimer like "efforts to contact him were unsuccessful". This doesn't absolve Dwight Gooden but it doesn't convict him either. The whole story is one person's claim versus nothing from the person she's claiming it about.

Pelfrey 2.0 Valdes 1.5 Parnell 1.5 Barajas 0.5 Reyes 0.5

It's perilously close to 1991 out there. Mets left town in July in pretty good shape -- 53-38, 4 games out -- and came back from Cali with a 2-7 road trip in their back pocket. Lost their next five at home, managed two wins against first-place Pittsburgh and then endured another nightmare road trip to the middle East teams. One more loss followed and, bam, 57-61, 12-1/2 back, season essentially over. That's a 4-23 stretch. You can find all kinds of precedent like that in Mets history without looking very hard, sadly. They looked lethargic then, they strive for lethargy now.

JCL = The Source. Makes me happy when such is recognized.

Edgy DC wrote: I could talk about Whitey Herzog all day. Whitey would be into that.

A very fine book, actually.

Santana 3.5 Bay 3.5 Pagan 1.5 Davis 1.5

Top-notch columnist Vic Ziegel passes away at 72. Covered the Mets in their early years and always gave them a fair shake from his later perch at the Daily News. One of the torch-bearers for the New York Giants. On more than one occasion I wrote to him and he always wrote back graciously and helpfully. Met him at Bob Murphy's memorial and he was a true mensch. Later came to our NY Giants meetings like a regular person. Character and talent that will be missed.

Oppo: Furcal SS Ethier RF Kemp CF Blake 3B Loney 1B Martin C DeWitt 2B Carroll LF Padilla P Hatefulness Factor = High

Easy to confuse lousy years, I suppose, but Piazza missed the gargantuan chunk of time in 2003, not 2004. He was a healthy first baseman in 2004...which may have been a sickly idea, but he didn't miss extended periods of time. Not having access to the medical reports (as apparently the Mets didn't), I was for the trade. I just assumed Kazmir would turn into Pulsipher, Leary, Hank Webb, you name him. One hindsight thing that pissed me off at the time, after Kazmir made his debut, was that some Post (I think) columnist bemoaned how awful this was for the Mets, that by all rights, had the trade not occurred, Kazmir would be making his first start "in front of 50,000 screaming Mets fans" at Shea. Kazmir could have been followed to the mound by John Lennon and they wouldn't have drawn 50,000 to Shea in September 2004. Cast doubt and express cynicism, but don't stretch idiotically to prove your points.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Nice Waldstein color piece from a few days back about Wright's special Amazin' friend here. (I'm just amazed the word "anointing" didn't come up once.) David Wright, dressed in his Mets uniform, was weaving his way quickly, and somewhat nervously, through the crowd, adjusting his cap along the way. Some of the fans pointed and told companions who it was. One woman gasped, surprised at the sight of a real player, a star no less, walking by her. Most of the fans just stared, trying to make sense of a player seemingly on his way to buy a hot dog so close to game time. But minutes later, Wright was the one who was somewhat speechless, honored to be in the presence of one of the greatest players in baseball history, Willie Mays. The get-together before a game between the Giants and the Mets reinforced a growing relationship between the two men, who are separated by background and age (Mays is 79, Wright is 27), but not in their admiration for each other. This article gave me ridiculous chills I have not felt since Willie threw the first ball of the 2007 ASG in San Fran to Jose. Thanks for sharing.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Add Clint Hartung, 87, to the list of recent baseball passings. He was, as you probably know, the runner on third base when Bobby Thomson hit his pennant-winning homer. Legend has it Durocher inserted Hartung to run for the injured Don Mueller because if there was going to be any kind of trouble with the Dodgers, Leo -- who coached third base as well as managed -- wanted the biggest SOB possible at his side.

Houk will be commemorated by a black armband. I'm guessing he's receiving the revered-MFY treatment because it would seem weird if they didn't give it to him on the heels of Sheppard and Steinbrenner. Had he passed without company, I'm guessing a moment of silence would have sufficed for someone who, war heroism and two world championships notwithstanding, had been absent from the organization for 37 years and wasn't a denizen of Monument Park. Meanwhile, it's getting pretty mournful amid the pinstripes.

Box Takahashi 4.0 Francoeur 0.5

You'll note Steve Albert awards Manufacturers Hanover Trust Player of the Game points -- 6 to Henderson, 2 to Taveras, 2 to Flynn.

Jose Reyes � SS Angel Pagan � CF David Wright � 3B Ike Davis � 1B Jeff Francoeur � RF Chris Carter � LF Josh Thole � C Luis Castillo � 2B Hisanori Takahashi � P

If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?

Magical link here. Game action picks up at the 1:00 mark but watch the whole thing. Well worth it.

Box Valdes 2.0 Pagan 2.0 Beltran 1.0 Barajas 1.0 Perez 0.5 Feliciano 0.5 Dessens 0.5 Parnell 0.5

...are better than none. Three catchers, I mean.

Houk was just so...constant when I was a kid. He had been the MFY mgr forever and it was hard to believe he wouldn't always be. Then came Steinbrenner.