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Nymr83 wrote: i changed my Simmons vote to Carter, as I forgot his MON years are also a part of the criteria here, giving him a clear edge. I was sort of heartened to see somebody, anybody else get a vote just on principle. Simmons was a fine, fine hitter. But yeah, Gary from '74 to '89, '92 was N.L. East gold, Jerry...gold!

Kong76 wrote: Saw that afterward and was also a little confused forgetting the years thing about east and no east and west in my rain delayed haste to vote and I know Banks played a lot less SS than 1B but he's like in the top ten SS in The Baseball Abstract and I was thinking and not thinking at same time. (how's that for a run on) It's outstanding!

If this were the Cub Pool Forum, it might be an issue, but just for the record, apologies to Glenn Beckert for his inadvertent omission from the 2B ballot. I'd add him in, but I think it would render all previous votes vanished.

Kong76 wrote: Ozzie and a write in for Ernie Banks. Banks listed among the 1B in deference to that being the position he played while the Cubs were an N.L. East team ('69 to '93).

Schmidt happens, as do other N.L. East third basemen. Choose two for their hot corner work over the past 41+ seasons in the division. (Note: Keeping individual players confined to one position ballot, thus Hubie Brooks is listed at shorstop, just as Todd Zeile is listed at third base, Edgardo Alfonzo is listed at second, et al.)

You don't necessarily have to be a Wizard to pick two National League East shortstops...

Tarp over the field, thunder over the South Shore of L.I.

The National League East requires strength up the middle. Who are your two second basemen, Metsian or otherwise? We are considering strictly the N.L. East tenures of the players in question, so the jury is instructed to disregard anything it saw from second basemen who hit World Series-winning home runs prior to 1969, for example.

Who's your National League East first baseman? Choose two in case one is out on the town with his mustache that remains mysteriously bereft of gray.

He didn't specify.

Per the best division in baseball thread, can we put together an all-time National League East team? It would be based on players who played for teams in the division while those teams were in the division. Bucs, Cubs and Cards eligible from 1969 to 1993. Braves eligible from 1994 to present. Expos eligible from 1969 to 2004. Nationals eligible from 2005 to present. Marlins eligible from 1993 to present. Mets and Phillies, natch, eligible from 1969 to the present. To get the ball rolling, let's consider catchers. Pick two, so Mike can have the day after a night game off.

Swan Swan H wrote: No mere blonde bunny, that was Louisa Moritz, who seemingly was on just about every show on TV for a while and, according to IMDB, is now an attorney in California. Wow, she sure got around. That's what Joe said.

ESPN Classic periodically airs eps of The Joe Namath Show, wherein the defending Super Bowl MVP would sit with Dick Schaap, go over game films, welcome guests and, I'm guessing, generally make viewers cringe. Last night the network showed the October 27, 1969 installment, which featured footage from the previous weekend's Jet win over the Boston Patriots, a visit from "the Namath Girl" (a blonde bunny/Carol Wayne type who delivered fan letters and double-entendre), Broadway producer David Merrick and recently crowned World Series MVP Donn Clendenon. No, this wasn't weird at all. Observed 40+ years later: Donn disliked the cold weather in Montreal; Donn figured, as a Pirate, that the Mets would get better with their pitching once their defense improved; Donn could see the Mets' defense coming together during his brief tenure as an Expo; Donn thought Al Weis should have been MVP; David liked the designated pinch hitter rule that had been tested the previous spring, as "PLAH-tooning" was working so well in football; Donn noted Gil Hodges liked platooning; David had five shows on Broadway at the same time; David said he had no problem keeping track of his five different shows, and why should he since no doubt Joe could keep track of the five women he was dating at one time?; Joe couldn't relate to "striking out"; Donn's restaurant in Atlanta was "in the red"; Joe suggested Donn get unsavory characters to visit his restaurant if he wanted to make his place hot, winking at Pete Rozelle's suspicions regarding his own joint; David once tried to buy the Jets; Joe idolized Donn's ex-teammate Roberto Clemente as "the only hero I ever had"; Joe believed if Clemente and Aaron had played in New York, they would have been the greatest baseball players ever; Donn said Clemente was a fun guy in the clubhouse; Dick's microphone worked better than Donn's; Dick no doubt enjoyed depositing checks from this; LeRoy Nieman no doubt enjoyed drawing Joe Namath (his paintings were the set decorations); The Namath Girl came out toward the end as if she were the time keeper to announce the clock was running down; The Namath Girl was identified in the credits as "the Namath Girl" played by an actual person with an actual name; and surely the studio audience was happy to get out of the rain for half-an-hour, because they didn't seem amused or enthralled by any of the banter otherwise. This was brutal television despite the presence of New York sports icons fresh from their defining glories. And it was still about a hundred times more watchable than Centerstage with Michael Kay.

In honor of the Mets playing Philadelphia and then flying to Milwaukee, let's find out who was a Met, a Phillie and a Brewer... Eleven players, none of whom you could truly call "all-time" for any of the franchises in question: Gary Bennett, Dan Boitano, Ricky Bottalico, Jose Cardenal, Kane Davis, Tom Edens, Julio Franco, Dick Selma and Kelly Stinnett... PLUS Wayne Twitchell who wandered over from the Met-Phillie-Expo group (brings regards from Bruce Chen)... AND our featured active performer, Nelson "Nobody Appreciates Me" Figueroa. Let's win tonight and make it a happy journey to the Midwest.

Any division that includes the Mets is baseball's best, according to my inner 12-year-old.

Takahashi 4.0 Barajas 3.0 Reyes 2.0 Pagan 1.0

In vague recognition of the return of the unlamented Brian Schneider, today's triptych consists of each player who was a Met, a Phillie and an Expo. Most distinguished from a Met standpoint: Pedro Martinez, Endy Chavez, Todd Zeile. Not all that distinguished, but not completely forgotten by those predisposed to remembering: Don Hahn, Del Unser, Willie Montanez. The rest: Schneider, Bill Almon, Tom Gorman, Greg Harris, Barry Jones, Mike Maddux, Dan Schatzeder, Wayne Twitchell. AND, visiting from the Mets-O's-Reds grouping: the peripatetic Bruce Chen!

Jose Reyes - SS Luis Castillo � 2B Jason Bay � LF Ike Davis � 1B David Wright � 3B Angel Pagan � CF Rod Barajas � C Jeff Francoeur � RF Hisanori Takahashi - LHP vs Victorino CF Polanco 3B, Utley 2B, Howard 1B, Werth RF, Francisco LF Valdez SS Schneider C Blanton P.

Klap takes a break from singing in the soft rain to finger Frenchy and Bay as the Mets who didn't care for Straw stirring things up. Then he resuscitates all his favorite anecdotes and images, like Keith Hernandez "pulling hard on a cigarette," from when he covered the Mets. It was late in the summer of 2009 when Daniel Murphy confronted Ron Darling about the tenor of his on-air comments. Murphy said he�d heard from his parents, who�d been watching the SNY broadcasts at home, that Darling had been heaping too much praise on the opposing team. Darling, whose Mets� roots trace back to the Eighties, calmly asked Murphy which option sounded better: either he concentrated on the opponents, or else he could remind viewers how the Mets were on the way to an appalling 92-loss season. Realizing he was no match for the Yale-educated Darling, Murphy wisely chose to back off. But the episode illustrated the generation gap between today�s Mets and those of the last golden era, where speaking one�s mind wasn�t the exception, but an iron rule. And that�s the reason Darryl Strawberry ran into trouble in the Mets� clubhouse last weekend, when his pep talk apparently offended Jason Bay and Jeff Francoeur. Both players now deny having any problem with the Strawberry, but they were first in line to complain to the team�s PR director, Jay Horwitz, about Darryl�s aggressive tone. When reached by phone Tuesday, Strawberry declined comment, but he�s let the Mets know he�ll never set foot in the clubhouse again. Darryl was wounded, but was nevertheless able to understand that his message � and the in-your-face delivery of yesteryear � no longer resonate in the new millennium clubhouse. Today�s major-leaguers are athletic specimens, not to mention brighter, better educated and more socially enlightened than their predecessors. But that�s not to say they�re tougher or more competitive. Bay and Francoeur are two of the nicest guys around, but they would�ve never survived in the Strawberry-Keith Hernandez-Lenny Dykstra clubhouse 25 years ago. That�s a point worth remembering when the Mets go hunting for a new manager this winter. Among the many candidates they�ll consider is Wally ackman, who, like Strawberry, is as old school and un-nuanced as they come. While that�s made him a terrific manager at the minor league level, the decidedly un-PC mentality has cost him job after job. Jeff Wilpon is taking a gamble by installing Backman at Class-A Brooklyn, but it�s worth a shot. Wilpon, in fact, told Backman over the winter that he�ll someday manage the Mets � if he can stay out of trouble. Backman swears he�s conquered his demons, including alcohol, but it�s his temper that�ll be really be the deciding factor. The real question is whether Backman can speak the language of today�s ballplayer: can he motivate the Bays and Francoeurs of the world without trampling on their egos? Backman comes from an era when clubhouse humor wasn�t just unfiltered, it could be cruel. Strawberry once said Dave Magadan, whom he considered too soft as Hernandez�s heir apparent at first base, had, �too much sugar in his blood.� And Dykstra once taunted Kevin Elster for taking too long to recover from a minor injury by opening and closing his fist, as if he was working a cow�s udders. �Milk it, baby, milk it,� Dykstra said loudly, making sure everyone in the clubhouse heard him. This was a team that viewed non-drinkers with suspicion. Darling himself once said he didn�t trust any player who didn�t drink beer. And after every game, Hernandez would sit at his locker, pulling hard on a cigarette, finishing off the Budweisers that�d been placed in an iced bucket, the long necks sticking out like baby chicks emerging from their shell. Who talks and acts like this anymore in a major league clubhouse? Certainly not Francoeur or Bay. To his credit, David Wright appreciated the intent behind Strawberry�s pep talk, which by the Eighties� standard was fairly mild. All Darryl did was remind the Mets they�re better than a last-place team. He roots intensely for his former team, having severed his ties with the Yankees once and for all. And, most significantly, Strawberry believed he was operating with the blessing of ownership, which hired Darryl to be a ull-time adviser and ambassador. Strawberry believed it was part of his job description to interact with the current, the same way Reggie Jackson works the clubhouse in the Bronx. There isn�t a single Yankee player who resents Mr. October, including Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez. No one has ever run to Jason Zillo, the Yankees� media relations director, and asked that Reggie be kept away. It may be too late to repair the damage at Citi Field, however. Francoeur told reporters before Tuesday�s game, �I can take criticism� and denied he lodged a protest with Mets� officials over Strawberry�s conduct. But Darryl has already moved on. Maybe the point will be moot in a few weeks. The Mets took apart the Phillies with such ease Tuesday, it was possible to imagine the end of tailspin. If R.A. Dickey can effectively replace Oliver Perez, the rotation might have a chance to build a winning streak. At that point, the Mets might acquire some of the swagger they�re so obviously lacking. That harder edge might come in handy, too, later this summer when it�s really time to stand up to the Phillies � who, by the way, consider the Mets nothing but a bunch of softies. At that point, the Mets might actually get into touch with their cowboy past. For that, they might end up thanking Darryl, after all.

KTE? Tuesday night the E sucked. That's all I need to K.

Dickey 3.5 Reyes 2.0 Bay 1.5 Francoeur 1.5 Valdes 1.5

Beautiful night. Beautiful game. Beautiful win. Beautiful setting. Beautiful Blue Point Toasted Lager. Beautiful wife (whose work outing I tagged along on) who volunteered to get me the beautiful Blue Point Toasted Lager, available only at Catch of the Day, which we were sitting diametrically opposed from on Promenade. Beautiful Dickey, of course. Beautiful lack of violence instigated by no-show Phillies fans since they had as much fight in them as their alleged Fightin's. Beautiful. Just beautiful.

This thread title could have been borrowed from a 1930s radio comedy series in which the foibles of Murphy the immigrant barkeep are fodder for laughter for the good American folk listening at home while sublimating their mistrust of "ethnics". "What Do You Do With Murphy?" is brought to you by the manufacturers of Maxwell House Coffee -- it would even sober up an Irishman!

Double-obsessive FYI: Other Mets besides Jack Hamilton (1967) and Todd Hundley (1995) to have hit grand slams in Met losses: Frank Thomas (1962) Eddie Bressoud (1966) Tommie Agee (1971) Rusty Staub (1973) Gary Carter (1985) Joe Orsulak (1994) Cliff Floyd (2005) Carlos Delgado (2008) Fernando Tatis (2009)