G-Fafif

Wright 3.5 Glavine 2 Milledge 1.5 Reyes 0.5 Schoeneweis 0.5 Castillo 0.5 Delgado 0.5 Lo Duca 0.5 Castro 0.5

Box: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=270811121 AP Recap: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=270811121

Beltran 3 Lawrence 3 Sosa 2 Castillo 0.5

Box: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=270810121 AP Recap: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=270810121

metsguyinmichigan wrote: Traditionally, we don't do well against kid pitchers making their debut. Makes one wonder why every team doesn't simply bring up 162 different pitchers in the course of a season.

I once saw Mr. Met's disembodied head. The original fellow, Dan Reilly, showed up at the press luncheon that was promoting the 25th anniversary video. In his day (1964-1967) he was a regular body, a paper mache head. I think he took it off to make a phone call or get into a cab. It was a little spooky.

I hope Amy Winehouse kicks Spiezio's ass.

Rationally for "importance" purposes (though I like them, too)... Pratt Game 4 NLDS Dykstra Game 3 NLCS Piazza to cap off the 10-run inning Personally (liking these every bit as much as those above even if no one outside of Mets land knows about them)... Carl Everett's grand slam (0-6 to 6-6 in the ninth, 1997) Steve Henderson against the Giants (2-6 to 7-6 in the ninth, 1980) Marlon Anderson's inside-the-parker (pinch-hit, ninth inning, tied game, off K-Rod, 2005)

Wright 3 Reyes 3 Delgado 1.5 Alou 1.5 Gotay 0.5 Castillo 0.5

OHernandez 2.0 Alou 2.0 Castillo 2.0 Wagner 1.0 Heilman 1.0 Reyes 1.0 Green 1.0

Newhan 1.5 Feliciano 1 Milledge 0.5

Box: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=270807121 Recap: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/recap?gameId=270807121

They think they're so great that they don't need Julio Franco! (Last I read, he accepted an assingment to single-A where he can influence child Braves until Sept. 1.)

Clarification alert: I want Carlos Delgado to be the "Outta Here! Guy" as in I hope Gary Cohen has 15 or 20 occasions to use his signature line on his behalf between now and season's end.

Edgy DC wrote: I don't think you oft hear exchanges like: "Do you think Cohen does a good job?" "The 'it's outa here' guy?" I sure wish Carlos Delgado would be referred to in this manner.

metsmarathon wrote: therein, perhaps, may lie the difference between "signature" and "catch" That's a wonderful way of putting it.

Howie used to force the catchphrases when he started doing TV PBP. Lots of "put a circle around it!"and "we've got a brand new shiny one!". Even put it in the books sounded concocted. He lets the game come to him now. I like the self-awareness of "put it in the history books" for Glavine or "put THAT in your books!" for Wright's walkoff hit last year against the MFYs. Nothing wrong with a catchphrase if it sounds natural enough. "It's OUTTA here" fits that description like a glove.

soupcan wrote: After the last out last night Howie said "Put It In The History Books!" I vote catch phrase for both of 'em. Shut off the ESPN idiots to hear Howie's call. It was worth it.

Too Shea. And fixed.

="soupcan"]SINGLETON�S YES NO-NO By PHIL MUSHNICK [...] Horrifying Sportcaster Cliche of the Week goes to Gary Cohen. Wednesday on SNY, Cohen said he could see how the Brewers� Manny Parra has enough good stuff �to have authored a perfect game in the minors.� Yeesh. While we�re on the subject, reader Jim Mulloy of Massapequa asks: �Considering that a wheelhouse is typically an enclosed area on a boat deck, how, exactly, do pitchers keep throwing baseballs there?� Listening to the Brewers blowing it in extra innings yesterday, the Phillies broadcaster noted the names of two runners on based and the potential winning run stepping up to the plate... "He's going to say 'in the person of,'" I thought. ..."in the person of Johnny Estrada." Is "in the person of" used in any other context in the world of English?

Nymr83 wrote: ]Joe Morgan remains relentless in providing expertly stated nonsense. Last night, during Mets-Cubs on ESPN, Luis Castillo stuck with a windblown popup, making a nice catch. But Morgan explained the play as the result of Castillo being unfamiliar with the winds in Wrigley Field because, �Castillo has played his entire career in the American League.� But Castillo played 10 years in the NL, all with the Marlins. In fact, it was Castillo who hit the infamous fly that spectator Steve Bartman caught - before Moises Alou could - in the 2003 NLCS at Wrigley. Last season, with the Twins, was his first in the AL. In the top of the fifth, Morgan�s partner, Jon Miller, noted that Castillo has played before in Wrigley. Morgan said nothing. this is completely typical of a Clueless Joe broadcast. I heard that and winced, too. Also, in handicapping the N.L. Central race, did Jon Miller say something to the effect of the Brewers had improved this year thanks in part to the signing of Carlos Lee? I assumed he meant something like they got better despite (or maybe because of) letting Carlos Lee go, but I could swear he made it sound as if the Brewers had brought him in for 2007, not let him go in 2006.

="Edgy DC"]="Wally"]In reality, Glavine is as much a part of Mets history as Warren Spahn, who posted his 360th victory as a Met in 1965. But, like Glavine, the bulk of his wins - 356 of them, to be precise - came as a Brave. First Boston, then Milwaukee. It must be awesome to be Wally Matthews and get paid to write the first 800 nonsensical words that come into your head. 1) The statistics...as Edgy helpfully outlined them. 2) The postseason...you make three postseasons starts (and pitch very well in two of them) for a team that's been in the postseason seven times, you are a reasonably significant part of that team's history. 3) Two All-Star berths, neither of the "crap, we need to name a Royal" variety, indicate you were one of the better players on your team twice. 4) Though it made me cringe circa 2003, the Mets have made Tom Glavine one of the faces of their franchise. He may not be true blue and all that, but who is? 5) What a fucking idiot. He's actually made me rush to the defense of Tom Glavine. And quit kicking around Warren Spahn, you numbskull. His half-season as a Met pitcher and pitching coach wasn't a raging success but it gave us this crucial episode in the development of Frank Edwin McGraw as captured in this passage from Screwball reflecting on what happened when Tug forgot to bring his "baseball hat" on his first road trip and his baseball shoes on his next: ]Spahn was so different from me, it was unbelievable. He was terfficially organized. I was scattered around. He was strict. I was loose as a goose. He was calm and poised. I was coming apart at my mental seams half the time. He was right. I was wrong. He even said, "Look, I'm not going to narrow it down to items of clothing. The next time you forget anything, you're fined" And that kind of cured me.

If one can use the monolithic term "the media" for the purpose of this conversation, it's then accurate to say the media have been played like suckers by Steinbrenner for 35 years. They decided long ago that every burp this man manufactured was news, and if he didn't burp, that that was bigger news. This went way beyond covering a baseball team or the transactions the general manager might make. The media were the ones who stalked Steinbrenner coming into and going out of Yankee Stadium. They're the ones who raised his profile and the profile of his previously dormant franchise, that kept his and the Yankees' profile insanely high during what should have been their non-descript middling or worse years between dynasties. Steinbrenner indulged them and led them in their chase every step of the way. I believe this, as much as any on-field success, is why they are the financial juggernaut they are. George Steinbrenner understood there was no such thing as bad publicity. Then the media (staying monolithic for a moment longer) write or say things like "can you believe how much attention this guy gets? It's crazy!" It's a variation on the media saying/writing, "New York is a tough place to play what with the way the media covers sports," as if it were an organic phenomenon that had no willing practitioners. I don't remember sports in New York being treated in nearly as circuslike or zooish a fashion before Steinbrenner implicitly or explicitly invited the media to pump up the importance of every little utterance he made. He has attracted more attention to himself since 1973 than the ownerships of every other professional sports team in New York combined. So it's no wonder that it's come to this, the need for a writer to wheedle a way in to see if George is really still George, to make a big deal that an old man reportedly in a declining state is indeed an old man in a declining state. He created them as much as they perpetuated him. Regarding McEwen, I remember him well from my college days in Tampa. He was a laughable columnist in that way that the main guy in a small market can be, puffing up everybody or everything that ever happened there beyond reason, but a legitimate champion of promoting the Bay Area sporting scene (banged the drums hard to get an NFL expansion franchise, for example) and by all counts an honorable sort.

Glavine 3.00 Castillo 2.5 Milledge 1.5 Delgado 1.5 Reyes 1 Heilman 0.5

="Edgy DC"]"He was like a brother to me," Randolph said. "He meant a lot to me. He took me under his wing." Randolph made his big-league debut with the Pirates in 1975, the first of Robinson's eight seasons with the team. That's a touching story, but it seems like the third or fourth time somebody's name has come up in the last couple of years in which there's a Willie Randolph-Pittsburgh connection, majors or minors. Happens a lot considering he was a Buc for 30 games. Then again, I suppose a lot of paths cross in baseball. ETA: Eight 1975 Pirates have Met links. Bill Robinson, Willie Randolph, Duffy Dyer, John Candelaria, Dock Ellis, Art Howe, Frank Taveras and the immortal Richie Hebner.