G-Fafif

Wright 1.5 Barajas 1.5

Per "Love, Actually," I hate Uncle Jamie! Moyer, that is, as long as he's pitching for the Philths and against us. But as the last man standing as an active major leaguer who can call me kid (by 43 days), I kind of hope he hangs on for a few more decades (sucks, but hangs on). Anyway, Mark Simon of ESPN New York explores how the Mets have done against pitchers in their forties here. Moyer's start will mark the 337th time that a 40-plus-year-old pitcher has faced them, either as a starter, or in relief. The combined totals: In 1,019 innings, they've managed a very respectable 3.65 ERA, and the Mets have hit just .257 against them. Thirty different pitchers have beaten the Mets after turning 40 years old, and it's a pretty good club: One that includes Nolan Ryan, Gaylord Perry, Greg Maddux, and Tom Glavine. But Moyer is one step away from the top rung. Since turning 40, he's beaten the Mets six times, the same number as Hall of Famer Phil Niekro. The only 40-plus pitcher to beat the Mets more -- Warren Spahn, with seven wins. There's a flip side to that as well, likely of greater significance to Mets fans. The Mets have beaten 30 different 40-year-old pitchers, a list whose names include Roger Clemens, Don Sutton and Niekro. Moyer's one step away from the top there as well. Since turning 40, Moyer has lost to the Mets four times, the same number as Niekro and Spahn. The only 40-plus pitcher to lose to the Mets more -- Randy Johnson, five times.

Deutchbag.

Bay 0.5

It was Still Early when we were winning, it's Still Early today.

From The Onion, though I'm surprised it's not True. True Yankees, Regular Yankees To Now Wear Different Uniforms NEW YORK�The New York Yankees unveiled a new, lesser uniform at a press conference Tuesday in an effort to distinguish ordinary, run-of-the-mill Yankees from the "true Yankee legends who walk among us." "To have Javier Vazquez don the same pinstripes as Mariano Rivera or Jorge Posada is�well, it's unthinkable," Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said as Curtis Granderson modeled the sterile, black-and-white uniform with a large, boxy, non-interlocking "NY" stitched across the front of the chest. "The untrue Yankees will wear a blank, unfitted ball cap until they have their big Yankee moment. They'll wear their last names on the backs of their lesser uniforms as a badge of shame." When asked which uniform he was assigned, Alex Rodriguez cried for 10 minutes.

Subtract Gary Matthews from the Mets Whose Met Tenures Ended in April list. Darn it.

Let's start getting it back!

Just to finish the thoughts upthread... Mets' best 10+ game stretches, no more than one loss, prior to 1989: � 13-1 from September 8 to September 22, 1988, encompassing a 9-1 homestand. � 11-1 from September 14 to September 26, 1988, encompassing 8 consecutive home wins. (All overlapping considered, the Mets went 16-2 from September 8 to September 26, 1988, encompassing a home record of 9-1.) � 10-1 from April 26 to May 8, 1988, concompassing 5 consecutive home wins. � 10-1 from July 28 to August 7, 1987, encompassing 5 consecutive home wins. � 9-1 from September 25 to October 5, 1986, encompassing 3 consecutive home wins. � 11-1 from August 17 to August 30, 1986, encompassing 3 home wins. � 9-1 from June 25 to July 6, 1986, encompassing 4 home wins. � 9-1 from June 6 to June 16, 1986, encompassing a 6-1 homestand. � 18-1 from April 18 to May 10, 1986, encompassing 10 home wins. � 12-1 from July 29 to August 13, 1985, encompassing 8 home wins. � 13-1 from July 2 to July 18, 1985, encompassing 3 home wins. � 12-1 from July 1 to July 14, 1984, encompassing 9 home wins. � 9-1 from June 23 to July 4, 1976, encompassing 6 consecutive home wins. � 9-1 from April 24 to May 4, 1976, encompassing a home record of 7-1. � 10-1 from August 25 to September 4, 1974, encompassing a 6-1 homestand. � 14-1 from May 7 to May 21, 1972, encompassing a home record of 10-1. � 9-1 from September 21 to October 1, 1969, encompassing 5 consecutive home wins. � 13-1 from September 6 to September 18, 1969, encompassing 7 consecutive home wins. � 12-1 from August 16 to August 27, 1969, encompassing a 9-1 homestand. � 11-0 from May 28 to June 10, 1969, encompassing 7 consecutive wins. Therefore, the Mets have played a stretch of 10 or more games with no more than 1 loss at least once in 18 seasons prior to 2010: � 1969: Won N.L. East (and World Series). � 1972: Finished third in N.L. East, 13� games out. � 1974: Finished fifth in N.L. East, 17 games out. � 1976: Finished third in N.L. East, 15 games out. � 1984: Finished second in N.L. East, 6� games out. � 1985: Finished second in N.L. East, 3 games out. � 1986: Won N.L. East (and World Series). � 1987: Finished second in N.L. East, 3 games out. � 1988: Won N.L. East. � 1990: Finished second in N.L. East, 4 games out. � 1991: Finished fifth in N.L. East, 20� games out. � 1998: Finished third in the Wild Card race, 1� games out. � 1999: Won Wild Card. � 2000: Won Wild Card. � 2001: Finished third in N.L. East, 6 games out. � 2006: Won N.L. East. � 2007: Finished second in N.L. East, 1 game out. � 2008: Finished second in Wild Card race, 1 game out. � 2010: TBD 6 times the Mets made the playoffs. 8 times the Mets were legitimate contenders into September. 2 times the Mets fell out of contention before September but finished with a winning record. Only in 1974 (a complete mess from the word go) and 1991 (a sharp falloff in midseason) did the Mets post a losing record in a season when they enjoyed at one 9-1 stretch. What does it indicate for 2010? Who knows? But as the multiple 9-1 or better stretches from 1969 and 1986 tell us, it pays to keep doing that.

I hate Victorino, though I don't need a Mets-Phillies game to maintain that thought.

HahnSolo wrote: G-Fafif wrote: � 9-1 from August 31 to September 10, 2007, encompassing 4 consecutive home wins. I clearly remember the sweep in Philly in late August and the collapse later on, but I have no recollection of this stretch. Mets left Philly and appeared to right themselves by sweeping the Braves at Turner Field (including Pelfrey's first truly good start), taking two of three in Cincy (including Pedro's return to rotation) and then coming home to sweep the Astros. That's what made the Collapse so jarring. The sweep at Philly seemed to be proved an aberration. Instead, the great stretch that followed turned out to be the false positive.

Looking at the standings data in the UMDB, here are the 113 times when the Mets could say, at the end of the game, that they'd won 9 of their last 10 Thanks for this. I glossed over August 2008 and added it above. Purposefully omitting overlapping instances of 9-1 (e.g. Mets win 10 in a row, then lose two in a row).

batmagadanleadoff wrote: On the other hand, the odds are pretty slim for a non-playoff contender winning nine out of ten. As evidenced in the above posts on best 10-game stretches since the previous 9-1 homestand (1988), the Mets have won at least 9 of 10 once in: � 1990: Finished second in N.L. East, 4 games out. � 1991: Finished fifth in N.L. East, 20� games out. � 1998: Finished third in the Wild Card race, 1� games out. � 1999: Won Wild Card. � 2000: Won Wild Card. � 2001: Finished third in N.L. East, 6 games out. � 2006: Won N.L. East. � 2007: Finished second in N.L. East, 1 game out. � 2008: Finished second in Wild Card race, 1 game out. Nine seasons of at least one stretch that included nine wins in ten games, and the Mets won playoff spots three times and were legitimate contenders five other times, staying plausibly alive at least until the penultimate weekend of the season. Only in 1991, a season that went haywire on the other side of midstream (53-38 start, 24-46 finish), did a 9-1 stretch not foretell reasonably good things.

Mets' best 10+ game stretches, no more than one loss, 1989-1999: � 9-1 from June 15 to June 25, 1999, encompassing a 3-0 homestand. � 11-1 from May 19 to May 31, 1998, encompassing a 6-1 homestand. � 10-0 from July 1 to July 13, 1991, encompassing 3 consecutive home wins. � 16-1 from June 17 to July 6, 1990, encompassing homestands of 5-0 and 5-1. � 15-1 from June 12 to June 29, 1990, encompassing 7 non-consecutive home wins, including a 5-0 homestand. (All overlapping considered, the Mets went 20-2 from June 12 to July 6, 1990, encompassing a home record of 11-1.)

More ace matchups from the Rubin blog on ESPN: Credit where credit is due department: Adam Rubin is the featured writer on the ESPN NY Mets blog, but that article was written by ace researcher Mark Simon. He does a lot of great stuff for ESPN NY and Baseball Tonight.

Mets' best 10+ game stretches, no more than one loss, since 2000: � 10-1 from April 19 through April 30, 2010, encompassing a 9-1 homestand. � 10-1 from August 12 to August 22, encompassing 4 consecutive home wins. � 10-0 from July 5 to July 17, 2008, encompassing a 6-0 homestand. � 9-1 from August 31 to September 10, 2007, encompassing 4 consecutive home wins. � 11-1 from August 17 to August 30, 2006, encompassing an 8-1 homestand. � 9-1 from June 5 to June 15, 2006, all on the road. � 9-1 from April 6 to April 17, 2006, encompassing 6 non-consecutive home wins. � 11-1 from September 3 to September 22, 2001, encompassing 2 consecutive home wins. � 10-1 from August 29 to September 8, 2001, encompassing 4 consecutive home wins. (All overlapping considered, the Mets went 15-2 from August 29 to September 22, 2001, encompassing a home record of 6-1.) � 10-1 from July 25 to August 5, 2000, encompassing an 8-1 homestand. � 9-1 from June 22 to July 1, 2000, all wins at home (part of a 9-4 homestand) � 11-1 from April 13 to April 25, 2000, encompassing 8 consecutive home wins.

Mark Simon of ESPN New York previews the Pelfrey-Halladay matchup with a look at ace vs. ace duels through the Met years here (while acknowledging, "It's not Johan Santana vs. Roy Halladay.") Got me thinking how rare it's been in recent years to have two pitchers throw complete games against each other. Since 1997, these are the only Met examples I could uncover (not counting rain-shortened games): June 23, 1997: Reed defeats Smoltz. April 26, 2002: Estes defeats Rusch. August 14, 2005: Martinez defeated by Penny. Reed's gem was in service to a team whose bullpen was depleted the day before (when Bobby Valentine started Cory Lidle, thus using nothing but relievers in a ten-inning slugfest win over the Pirate). Estes and Pedro each flirted hard with no-hitters in their CGs; Shawn's was the only Met shutout of the small bunch.

8 o'clock tonight, unless the Fox game runs really long (but not as long as the last Fox game) and the postgame show gets in the way, SNY will [crossout:33n70kol]debut[/crossout:33n70kol] reair Mets Yearbook: 1972. That was a year that featured a great start even better than this one. Not such a great finish, though 83-73 (with six games cancelled due to strike) represented the second-best winning percentage in team history until 1984. Elevation of Yogi under sad circumstances, acquisition of Rusty, homecoming of Willie, Seaver being Seaver, Tug being an All-Star, Matlack being Rookie of the Year and -- between the shortened schedule and a rash of injuries -- nobody collecting 100 hits. Looking ahead, on Memorial Day, May 31, instead of airing a 32-inning doubleheader, SNY will show all the Yearbooks thus far produced starting at 4:30 PM, culminating in the premiere of Mets Yearbook: 1988 at 9:00 PM. Then stay tuned for Pre Game Live and the Mets at San Diego. (This is a public service announcement, though it's suspiciously commercial-like toward the end.)

Biggest game of the year is our next one because it will be the only we're playing. /channeling Bobby V

The only thing negative about Francoeur is his X-ray. Just the way we like it.

I spent half the day thinking that was Pagan in that illustration, but I'm now convinced it was Wright. That illustration, incidentally, sold the News an extra paper today. Winning might even save the print media.

Niese 3.0 Barajas 3.0 Francoeur 1.5 Wright 1.5 Pagan 1.0

F is for Francoeur Formerly the Braves' Then: Soulless bastard But now? Jeffrey Saves!

Even Venus Flytrap wouldn't play that.

D is for Dickey Who R.A. Buff pitcher And if his knucker keeps working, A rotation stitcher