G-Fafif

I resent the implication that there is any knowledge to be derived from reading one of my KTEs. I personally feel I know less about the Pittsburgh Pirates than I did several hours ago, when I was still asleep.

I will conflate Larry McWilliams and Craig McMurtry right now.

It's September 1992. You're filing up your tank to the tune of $1.12 per gallon. You're trying to get home in time to catch the latest episode of that new drama The Heights on Fox. You're wondering whether voting for Ross Perot is akin to throwing your ballot away. And blasting from a nearby car radio is the No. 1 hit in the land, "End of the Road" by Boyz II Men. While all this is going on, the Pittsburgh Pirates are on the verge of clinching their third consecutive National League East division title, their ninth overall, emblematic of their status as one of the premier franchises in baseball over the previous quarter-century. Who knew in September 1992 that the end of the road had been reached by those very same Pittsburgh Pirates, that they were about to run out of gas, that they would never reach the heights in the next sixteen seasons, that, like Perot's ad hoc running mate Admiral James Stockdale in the upcoming vice presidential debate, by 2009 you'd be asking of them, who are they? What are they doing here? It's been a long time since any fan of any team that isn't the Pittsburgh Pirates could answer that conclusively. From 1970 to 1975, they were the powerhouse of the N.L. East. In 1979, they were world champions. Hard times befell those Buc survivors in the '80s, but they were rebuilt, retooled, reloaded and, come the early '90s, remarkable, ending the Mets' dynastic aspirations by 1990 (as did age, overrating of prospects and cocaine) and making themselves at home every postseason. Now they just go home when the year is over. The Pittsburgh Pirates may be the saddest franchise in baseball dating back to 1993 and the departure of Barry Bonds. Since he's been gone, they've had zero winning seasons. They've contended for a playoff spot exactly one time, a dozen years ago, hanging close to the Houston Astros with a sub-.500 record in a season when their division was known as the National League Comedy Central. Yet that 79-83 edition of the Pirates was clearly the most competitive Buc crew since the days of Bonds, Bonilla, Van Slyke and Jim Leyland making you feel bad he couldn't win just one more game and get to a World Series. These days, it's a miracle they get to May. Having framed the Pirates as baseball's ultimate sad sacks comes with a price, because as every Mets fan knows or at least imagines, the Pirates always find a way to take at least one game from us they have no business winning, thus providing (along with every other game we have no business losing) the margin of defeat when the bill comes due at September's end. Last season was particularly galling on this account, as on August 11 at Shea, Pedro Martinez handed his bullpen a 5-1 lead in the seventh and it became a 7-5 loss. One week later, at PNC, John Maine's carefully crafted 2-0 lead after five became a 5-2 loss. It always sucks to lose a game in which you were ahead. It really sucks to lose a game like that to a team that seems to have no use for wins. So is anybody on the Pirates? I mean there's always somebody emerging from the point where the Allegheny meets the Monongahela to form the Mighty Ohio who you've never heard of getting a key hit in the ninth or tenth off Braden Looper. Last year, it was Steve Pearce driving home the winning runs in that August 11 makeup debacle. I checked and found Steve Pearce is down in Indianapolis. Figures. So who's the new Steve Pearce or Tike Redman or Humberto Cota? I'd say Nyjer Morgan, off to a pretty good start (.298 BA, 7 SB), except I've heard of him, so I need someone more obscure. I'm thinking it might be Jason Jaramillo, a 26-year-old rookie catcher filling in for the injured Ryan Doumit. He's got an .850 OPS in 14 games and when his name first crossed my radar, I thought he was that batting coach from Texas Omar allegedly wanted as manager instead of Willie Randolph a few years ago. But that was Rudy Jaramillo. The Pirates are also good for a couple of retreads you had no idea were Pirates. Craig Monroe is a Pirate this year. As is Eric Hinske. They were both impact players in the American League earlier in this decade, which is to say I knew what teams they were on some time ago but lost track of them completely. Monroe's batting .235; Hinske's at .229. Not sure when Jeromy Burnitz will be returning to Pittsburgh. A couple of good players form the nucleus for the team that will never properly fuse. Freddie Sanchez, Nate McLouth and at least one LaRoche are to be taken seriously. Jack Wilson has also been a headache in the past. if we were having this discussion a few years ago, we'd have marveled at Jason Bay, but he's gone. Funny how that happens. Pitching matchups: Friday: Jeff Karstens (RHP), ex-MFY vs. Jon Niese. I thought we faced Karstens in some Interleague clusterfuck but, no, I must be thinking of Brandon Claussen or Darrell Rasner or Tyler Clippard or Tyler Futterman. This was supposed to be Ken Takahashi's first start. Omar called him "Takashi" the other day. Jerry was at a total loss to remember his name. Let's hope Niese isn't at a loss at all. Saturday: Paul Maholm (LHP) vs. John Maine. Weren't we being told what a shame it was we weren't seeing lefties? But don't we eventually succumb to a steady diet of lefties? Maholm, with Duke and Snell and Gorzelanny, should be a great rotation by now, based on what little Pirate hype I've managed to retain since 2005. He has a pretty good record (3-0, 2.97) on a pretty bad team (12-16). Tatis should get some whacks, which will be good. But I never trust lefties, not since Brian Barnes and Chris Nabholz, speaking of the early '90s. Sunday: Ian Snell (RHP) vs. Livan Hernandez. Did you know entering "pirateball.com" will lead you to the Pirates official Web site but "metball.com" doesn't do a damn thing for you? The Pirates have no record at Citi Field. They were part of some Amazin' games at Shea, from the very first one on April 17, 1964 to that dreadful Monday afternoon last August. But we'll always have the Melvin Mora and Ron Hodges games along with a sweet two-game sweep in September '90, just before we fell apart, just as they were getting it into gear to lose to Cincinnati in the NLCS. Then they lost two more NLCSes to the surging Braves. The Braves kept winning. The Pirates just stopped. Everybody's had a good season since they last did. The Expos had some good seasons. The Nationals had a .500 season. The Royals, who are back in business, were a contender as recently as 2003. The Pirates just exist to recall the old days and to serve as a point of discussion regarding woe be the small-market teams/screw you, you luxury tax-hoarding cheapskates. I mean seriously, who would have guessed actual pirates would be a bigger deal before the Pittsburgh Pirates would have another winning season? Nice things to say? They have a beautiful park we will not see in this series. They sort of gave us Ralph Kiner. We have taken good care of him, I believe, and he has done fine things for us. Onetime Pirate part-owner Bing Crosby once crooned nothing could be finer than Ralph Kiner in the morning. With the construction of Citi Field, I no longer harbor my doomsday fear that the Mets will leave New York, but I've always had the Pirates in mind as my doomsday new team if it ever came to that, assuming I could bear to watch baseball ever again. Obviously winning isn't a dealbreaker for me. I'll be at the game Saturday with bmfc and Mrs. Fafif Sunday, making no more sense then than I am now. [OE: Crosby didn't sing. Crosby crooned.]

Reyes goes Wig Wam Bam! (This is no time to screw with a suddenly powerful tradition...)

A very Sweet inning, indeed.

Wright Goes Wig Wam Bam!

Beltran Goes Wig Wam Bam!

="Benjamin Grimm":2rks6vvy]I'm sure it will be blacked out in Philadelphia too.[/quote:2rks6vvy] I suppose. It was hard enough to acknowledge there was a world outside of New York to remember another city might be involved. bmfc1 May 06 2009 05:07 PM Billy Ripken does a good job on MLBN, just as he does on XM Baseball. He is also a great teacher of the game at the Ripken Baseball Camp. Swan Swan H Jun 27 2009 10:48 AM Game 5 of the 1968 NLCS on NOW! It's the bottom of the 1st, and it's scheduled to run until 4:30, if you want to check in for the big finish.

Francesa, interviewing Joe Girardi yesterday on Teixeira's poor start and the MFY fans' booing of him: "They're testing him." Ergo, MFY fans boo, and it's an honorable gauntlet to be negotiated. Mets fans boo, and they're run-of-the-mill malcontents.

If you're outside the NYC area, you can watch Thursday night's game on MLBN, Bob Costas and Al Leiter at the mics. Blacked out here.

Delgy had an oopsie like that early in Game Two of the '06 NLCS. Foreshadowed an awful evening.

Took me a while...heart...Hartman. The only baseball connection I could make was his recurring reporting on Weekend Update that unfortunately George Steinbrenner was still alive. Heart...Hartman -- now I get it. And yes, word.

I encounter Omar's quotes and I can hear Don Rickles responding. "Omar, just smile and help K-Rod hold up the uniform shirt for the cameras. They don't pay you to talk, dummy."

There is also the option of tuning him out as he makes the rounds. Ignoring somebody instead of calling him names is a lost art.

Cora > Cairo

Great to see these cards again. The '74 photo is probably too high-quality, but the action shot works perfectly for its set. And I'm still madly in love with that Stokes card, even if Santana should get the relief award too since the mere sight of him gives us so much of it.

I don't know if you're going to be able to get old Brooklyn Dodgers fans to talk about what it was like to root for the Brooklyn Dodgers. They're a pretty reticent lot by nature. I know of one who works on Roosevelt Avenue in Flushing, however, and he has constructed a very nice memorial to his childhood team. Seriously, though, I'd suggest getting in touch with occasional 'Pooler Dana Brand who is descended from that side of the Met family and wrote about it a bit in Mets Fan. I'd also suggest contacting NYC/baseball historian Peter Laskowich who has some first-hand experience in this realm (and knows a ton besides). Best of luck. Sounds like a great idea.

Do sportswriters down there get fired for displaying too much professinalism?

Except this time it's not the hack parade, as led by Wally Matthews and supported by Ken Davidoff and Anthony Rieber. Instead, honest beat guy David Lennon expresses doubt and drops a little something on Billy Wagner along the way. ]Mets seem to lack heart David Lennon METS INSIDER 10:02 PM EDT, April 30, 2009 Three games separated the Mets from the Phillies at the end of the regular season last year. Was there really only that much of a difference between the second-place team in the National League East and the eventual world champions? The Mets thought so. But the first 21 games of this year suggest otherwise. Perhaps it wasn't as easy to bridge that gap as many had been led to believe. Retooling the bullpen seemed to be the solution rather than overhauling a $147-million team -- or sticking Manny Ramirez in the middle of the lineup. But the Mets, when compared to the Phillies, are missing something that is not easily bought or traded for. On the first day of May, there is a gaping hole where this team's heart should be, and Jerry Manuel -- the supposed savior after Willie Randolph's firing last June -- cannot fill that void from the manager's chair. Often, it's hard to pin down the intangibles with numbers, but not in this case. With Wednesday's loss to the Marlins, the Mets (9-12) stumbled to 1-10 when trailing after six innings. After seven, they are 0-11. As for the Phillies, they have come from behind in nine of their 11 wins and are 5-6 when down after six innings. They also were the best in the majors after the sixth inning with 56 runs, a .320 batting average and 15 homers before Wednesday's loss to the Nationals. Around the time the Mets are turning out the lights, the Phillies are just getting started, and the Mets have to find a way to reverse that trend this weekend at Citizens Bank Park. "Good teams never give up," Jose Reyes said. "That's what they do. They always believe they are able to come back. Last year, the Phillies did the same thing. That's the attitude you have to have. They're confident because they keep doing it." The only way to stop that from happening is for the bullpen to serve as a roadblock. That was the idea behind signing Francisco Rodriguez and the subsequent trade for Sean Green and J.J. Putz. Despite back-to-back losses this week that included meltdowns by Green and Putz on consecutive days, the Mets believe they are capable of shutting down the Phillies' late-inning heroics. It's the only weapon they seemingly have left -- other than Johan Santana, who won't pitch in this series. The Mets' bullpen leads the NL with a 3.22 ERA, but it also has two blown saves in six chances. K-Rod is 4-for-4, but with a struggling rotation and suddenly fallible setup crew, it's been hard to hand K-Rod the baseball. "If you can put good pitchers against good hitters, then good pitchers usually come out on top," Manuel said. "I'm not saying everybody doesn't have good pitchers. But I'm saying that what we have done is we have addressed our bullpen situation. So hopefully we get to the point where that won't be an issue if we have a lead. If it becomes an issue, then it's a huge plus for the ." One bonus for the Mets is they no longer have a closer with ties to the Phillies. It got to the point with Billy Wagner that he felt a little paranoid about his old team, believing they knew him too well and could pick up his pitches. As his velocity slipped, that became more of an issue, and the hitter's paradise of Citizens Bank Park didn't help. With Rodriguez, the Mets get a clean-slate closer, one they anticipate won't be bothered by the rabid crowds in Philly. He converted both of his save opportunities there for the Angels last season, allowing one hit in two scoreless innings, but he realizes this weekend won't compare to those visits with Los Angeles. The intensity level will be 10 times what it was then. "I love that," he said. "It's not something that affects me at all." The Mets will need K-Rod at his unflappable best for the Phils and can only hope they get to him with a lead. Otherwise, the work they did during the offseason, as well as the money they spent, won't mean much. At least the Mets no longer can be considered "choke artists," as Cole Hamels branded them last November. You can't "choke" from behind, which is where the Mets find themselves on a daily basis. "You'd like to go in there and see how you match up with the world champions," Manuel said. "I'm looking forward to seeing how we react more than what they do."

Admittedly unlikely, possibly clinically insane Met makeover proposal here. ]1) The Mets send David Wright, Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, Tim Redding and Ramon Castro to Philadelphia for Jimmy Rollins, Shane Victorino and Ryan Howard. 2) The Mets send Carlos Delgado, Brian Schneider, John Maine, Brad Holt and Ike Davis to Toronto for Roy Halladay, Rod Barajas and Kevin Millar. In concomitant moves, the Mets shift Daniel Murphy to third base, call up Fernando Martinez and have Oliver Perez and Bobby Parnell switch roles. I think this is a flight of fancy. Or am I dead serious? I'm not sure.

Do pop flies count?

="batmagadanleadoff"] If I was in charge of selecting those historical banners that hang in chronological order outside of Citi Field, I'd include that iconic image (above) of Throneberry lunging in vain for a bad infield throw that's destined to elude the first baseman. And those being the '62 Mets, Bob Gibson might've even scored on the play. That spectacular ineptitude is as integral to the franchise history as any Tom Seaver fastball. Seconded. Honesty in iconography, at least in a context where the wounds aren't fresh and deep, would be appropriate. I'd draw the line, however, at highlighting something recent and hurtful. That would be like trying to sell a book to Mets fans by placing Yadier Molina's home run follow-through on the cover. That would just be stupid.

If we were to get over the notion that "you can't ask your RBI guy to bunt," then Wright bunting was worth a shot. Sadly, he's not your RBI guy at the moment. Winning the game takes precedence over labels.

Swan Swan H wrote: I think he's still getting used to being recognized. I've been recognized by one person almost every game this year. I've been unrecognized by 39,000 people every game this year as well.