G-Fafif

Yancy Street Gang wrote: They're playing like a team on the verge of a historic collapse. They have played like a team on the verge of a historic collapse intermittently all year. Then they play like a team on the verge of a remarkable hot streak. We're either due for the latter or the historical collapse. Though the latter would be quite the unhappy event, I can't say the downs part of the ups and downs of 2007 hasn't steeled me for it.

Without trying, I seem to be at the Sterling (nee Doubleday) Awards presentation game annually. Yesterday I got deja vu chills watching Anderson Hernandez take home another trophy. I saw him get one in 2005. And not for work in the low minors, but at Binghamton.

The things we take for granted as fans...I explained to my wife the ol' "anything close, he better swing" unwritten rule, that a vindictive umpire can act as lord of the feudal manor and declare any ball a strike if he so chooses out of pique and the players are utterly subject to such whims. She was aghast. As I continue to be. Complaining about umpiring is as old as Julio Franco, but 2007 seems worse than ever in this respect. And this crew was begging for projectiles aimed their way.

Beltran 4 Alou 2 Chavez 1 Wright 1 Feliciano 0.5 Heilman 0.5

Zvon wrote: ="G-Fafif"]Be sure to send a residual check to the estate of Willard Mullin. I agree I should do this G-Fafif. Send me 10 cents so I can claim I made a dime. METaphorically, of course. Willard Mullin's work and name should be known to all who believe a sports cartoonist equals Bill Gallo. Just wish Big Met Man had handled the Phillies better in non-illustrated life.

Johnny Dickshot wrote: Kirby Puckett maintained that illusion deep into his career before it came out he was a complete creep all along. It's a slump -- not a potentially lethal character flaw.

Be sure to send a residual check to the estate of Willard Mullin.

We do seem to run a lot. Not always brilliantly, as another thread has noted. We miss Delgado.

Martinez 5 Castillo 1 Alou 1 Beltran 1

Box: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=270915121 Recap: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=270915121

Wright 2.5 Glavine 2.5 Alou 1.5 Castillo 1 Feliciano 1 Wagner 1

Beltran 2.5 Green 2 Anderson 1.5 Reyes 1.5 Maine 1 Sosa 0.5 Wagner 0.5 Milledge 0.5

]"I've run out of things to say. We're not as good as them. They've won every game against us they had to win. That's why they're where they are. We have to find a way to win these close games, and I am talking about next year as well as the next couple of weeks."

Should the Mets finish with one of the two-best first place records in the N.L., they will for the first time close their regular season (RS) and open their postseason (PS) at home. 1969: RS in Chicago, PS in Atlanta 1973: RS in Chicago, PS in Cincinnati 1986: RS @ Shea, PS in Houston 1988: RS @ Shea, PS in Los Angeles 1999: RS in Cincinnati, PS in Arizona 2000: RS @ Shea, PS in San Francisco 2006: RS in Washington, PS @ Shea 1986 and 2000 were the only years in which the regular season and postseason ended at Shea, albeit only one of them well.

It's been a while. Last time, to tend to my ailing spouse, was the Victor Diaz game before it became the Craig Brazell game. It was almost better that way because I was the guest of a longtime Cubs fan who was practically in tears as he saw his playoff dreams nearly shattered in the ninth. I was both enjoying the hell out of it and felt really bad for the guy. To have sat with him through the conclusion would have been almost cruel. Almost. Picking up the result coming off the train as I did somehow suited my needs just perfectly. I left that second-game of the Diamondbacks DH, too, around the sixth. It was long, hot and 2002. The only one I ever ducked out on plainly because I could not stand to watch any more was the 2000 division-clincher the Braves were about to celebrate on the Mets. It was a thrill I could do without.

metsguyinmichigan wrote: Hmmm, or take a stairway to heaven....then I read that these guys are coming back..... I didn't think the O'Jays had ever disbanded.

We may not indulge in solipsistic "he's not a true Met" debates, but we certainly quibble around the edges, don't we? No artist appears on my personal Top 500 more than Billy Joel. He's at Nos. 466, 363, 351, 335, 269, 146, 103, 31 and 11 -- the nine separate entries edging out the Spinners by one and Grand Funk ("Bad Time," No. 70) by eight. I'd probably leap at the chance to see him at Shea in the same way I leapt at the chance to see the Mets at Camden Yards. I find having one's favorites juxtaposed so closely an irresistible force. I don't know that it's necessary or appropriate to have a concert as the stadium's final event. But I don't think Billy Joel, MFY leanings and all, will desecrate Billy Shea's memory. If you can't reunite the Beatles or fly in the Baha Men, he would be as well suited as anyone. Top 500 Songs of All-Time, as I humbly refer to them: http://faithandfear.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2006/12/31/2608790.html

Reyes 2.5 Alou 1.5 Lo Duca 1.5 Wright 1 Beltran 1 Conine 0.5 Humber 0.5

Box: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=270911121 Recap: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=270911121

SteveJRogers wrote: While Joel has a ton of Yankee links (Played at YS, grew up a Yankee fan, lyrics such as "Rose knows he's such a credit to the game/but the Yankees steal the headlines every time", he is wearing Yankee gear in the Stranger album, ect) but it still does seem odd for the Joel hate amongst a fan base that one would imagine would see a lot of cross pollination. Well maybe its just the Long Island thing that would make people feel that way. Joel sang the anthem for Game 2 of the '86 WS and was playing the Garden when Game 6 of the NLCS was in progress, giving updates all the way. Brought Carter and Ojeda on stage between series. Gave an interview asking "why don't people believe you can like both NY teams?" "NY State of Mind" has been a goodnight Shea staple since 2001. I'm willing to give him a celebrity dispensation given the locality of his roots. Also, he attempted to balance the Mantle reference in "We Didn't Start the Fire" with "Brooklyn's got a winning team". In the final verse, I always substitute "Amazin' Mets" for "Bernie Goetz". ]Grand Funk? Greg, You do realize they are universally named as one of the worst groups in the history of rock & roll. Yeah thats akin to the amount of "pundits" that put Sgt. Pepper as the greatest album of all time despite the Beatles themselves putting Rubber Soul & Revolver above it, but considering the amount of Grand Funk hate that doesn't sound like a real good reason to dislike an artist. As for who's universally named what by critics...Steve, I don't care, not even a little.

When Billy Joel played YS, he said something to the effect of he thought it would be great to play Shea because the Beatles did, but when he remembered Grand Funk did, too, it didn't seem that great. That remark and his decision to take his business elsewhere drove a bit of a wedge between us.

Perez 4 Wright 2 Reyes 1.5 Beltran 1.5 Heilman 0.5 Wagner 0.5

Johnny Dickshot wrote: Greg W. Fear came by, and just in time to rescue a conversation between my brother and me that had ground to a halt over our inability to remember what Gin Blossoms song was written by Marshall Crenshaw. We'd recalled all their hits except... Greg came up with it. Though I think he called it: "Till You Hear it from Me." We knew what he meant. Good job. I'll take half a Schaefer point for that.

Martinez 3 Beltran 3 Alou 2.5 Wagner 0.5 Heilman 0.5 Feliciano 05

Glavine 4 Wagner 1.5 Heilman 1.5 Wright 1 Lo Duca 0.5 Green 0.5 Castillo 0.5 Milledge 0.5