G-Fafif

Practically worth the wait! http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=270417122

This will be, I'm fairly certain, the first true day-night doubleheader the Mets have ever hosted. The 2000 and 2003 Subway Series monstrosities were, of course, two-stadium affairs. The Mets held a bit of a lag-in-between twinbill in 2005, a four o'clock makeup start and then an 8:05 ESPN game versus the Giants on a Sunday night. That was one admission. Ticket availability (or perhaps management greed) is worse than I'd imagined.

Reyes 3 Alou 3 Wright 1 Smith 1 Wagner 1

Chavez 2 Valentin 1.5 Wright 1 Delgado 1 Beltran 1 Green 1 Burgos 1 Schoeneweis 0.5

Howie Rose has told the story often of Grant complaining to Lang (credited with the nickname) that "Mrs. Payson and I are the franchise!"

Reyes 2 Wright 2 Franco 1.5 Delgado 1.5 Pelfrey 1 Heilman 1 Schoeneweis 0.5 Wagner 0.5

Though it is not reflected in the chart, I said I'd take the Cardinals in June.

Sele 2 Reyes 2

Johnny Dickshot wrote: Proven Fact of Love: If the weather is pleasant your baseball-game date will be too. If not, it won't.Amen brother. Explain only what's asked for. It's a date. Not a tutorial.

]When did Shea go from green to blue, though? Middle of the 1980 season. Same on-the-fly renovation that converted the seats from wood to plastic.

Delgado 3 Wright 2 Green 1 Alou 1 Valentin 1 Lo Duca 0.5 Maine 0.5 Reyes 0.5 Smith 0.5

Ohernandez 4 Green 1 Castro 1 Reyes 1 Wright 1

Dreary business this one... http://scores.espn.go.com/mlb/boxscore?gameId=270408115

Green 1.5 Lo Duca 1 Beltran 1 Delgado 1 Valentin 1 Wright 1 Reyes 0.5 Glavine 0.5 Smith 0.5

Perez 4 Reyes 4 Green 0.5 Wright 0.5 Lo Duca 0.5 Alou 0.5

Recollection on the retirement of Jackie's 42... http://faithandfear.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2007/4/6/2863459.html

If we are to assume Jackie Robinson's experiences and lessons can be applied universally, it wouldn't be out of line if a non-African-American wore 42 that day. Just sayin'. (Our pal Dave Murray makes the point eloquently from Michigan) http://metsguyinmichigan.blogspot.com/2007/04/im-glad-willie-is-wearing-no-42-i-wish.html

Maine 5 Beltran 3 Reyes 1 Lo Duca 0.5 Green 0.5

Ohernandez - 5 Heilman - 2 Beltran - 2 Reyes - 1

I'll take the Cardinals next time around.

Glavine - 2 Valentin - 2 Delgado - 2 Lo Duca - 2 Beltran - 1 Green - 1

So THAT'S how they won... http://faithandfear.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2007/4/1/2850358.html

This anonymous quote regarding Steinbrenner daughter Jennifer Swindal from a Jon Heyman story on SI.com dissecting the "Who Takes Over After George?" business caught my eye: ]"She is blond, but she is anything but ditzy.''I felt compelled to respond to the SI Mailbag. Don't know if they'll pay it any mind, but here it was: ]What kind of quote is this: "She is blond, but she is anything but ditzy"? Nice way to reinforce stereotypes. Would you use that quote if it applied to broad generalizations about other facets of appearance like skin color? Or heritage? This is journalism from another era, and not a good one. Use common sense next time. Just because some anonymous source indulges in dinosaur thinking, you're not obligated to pass it along like it's some kind of insight. (My wife happens to be blond, but she is anything but insensitive enough to communicate in this sad, retrograde manner.)I don't care if the above comes off as "PC," which I think is one of the dumbest phrases in the history of discourse. I also don't much care about Jennifer Swindal or her divorce or her soon-to-be-ex Yankee owner heir apparent husband. I am saddened that somebody would think he's doing her a favor by complimenting her on being smart DESPITE the impediment of being blond, but I am disgusted that a sportswriter would repeat it and probably think it was a very clever quote. If the point of the story was "look at the obstacles facing women in sports," OK, I'd see that. But it wasn't. It was a matter-of-fact "inside" look at the potential Yankee hierarchy and Heyman presented the quote in very matter-of-fact fashion, telling sports fans, in essence, there is a segment of the population you generally aren't expected to take seriously. I'm not a huge fan of similes, but imagine the quote as "she is black, but..." or "he is Jewish, but..." or fill in any blank you like. Just because Marilyn Monroe and Suzanne Somers and Anna Nicole Smith got rich and famous playing the ditzy blond card, it doesn't mean they represent some kind of "typical" blond woman. I'm sure I noticed this because I do happen to be married to a blond woman who would never be described as ditzy, but I'd like to think my BS detector would have gone off regardless.

Kevin Northrup, 1995, was a case like that, though that's more along the lines of paper Met never on the truly active roster. Was put on the Major League DL in April, sent out on rehab in May and was activated in June for the sole purpose of getting rid of him altogether. Though that appears to have been an innocent series of transactions leading up to a Rule V draftee simply being dismissed, it was a precursor to the Steve Phillips shenanigans of late Augusts 1999 and 2000 wherein he would purchase the contracts of minor leaguers who were never going to play for the Mets those seasons so he could put them on the DL, thus giving the Mets room to maneuver for the postseason. Those non-Mets were, in '99, Brent Huff and Scott McCrary and, in 2000, Leandro Arias. I believe a rule was added by MLB to cut that spit out as a result. Karma, perhaps, that the Mets couldn't do anything with their roster after the rainout of Game One of last year's NLCS. The baseball gods never did much care for Steve Phillips and took it out on his former assistant.

Johnny Dickshot wrote: In-season, on-active-roster guys who never played a game as Mets (aka the Jim Bibby Squad in honor of the only 2-time DNPer in Met history)P Jim Bibby, 1969 and 1971 C Jerry Moses, 1975 P Mac Suzuki, 1999 C Randy Bobb, 1970 OF Terrel Hansen, 1992 C Billy Cotton, 1972 P Anderson Garcia, 2006 Justin Speier in 2001, too, I believe. Hansen was '93. Because gosh forbid those two seasons be confused. I remember being excited about Moses because he had been an All-Star in the A.L. And being let down because he didn't get a game. Joe Hietpas laughs at Jerry Moses. Just a little Metly chuckle.