G-Fafif

$75 at Tower Records. Well worth it just for the bonus disc of interviews, celebration footage, big NLCS moments and the ring and flag ceremony from 1987 (in which there's in-commercial chatter between Bill Webb and Tim McCarver and you don't even need MLB TV). Game action remastered and looks amazin'. Go for it.

I think somebody shoved a radio inside my TV because I hear Gary Cohen coming out of it. This will take some getting used to. Maybe five whole innings.

Such intrigue! Nah, Fire Willie was apparently teetering on the edge of extinction before all this came up, or so I learned that afternoon. Can't say I'm all that familiar with the case. Jace and I would've both shown up 'cept he was out of town when they taped. (Perhaps one of us would have wound up joining the unfortunate excess blogger who watched the proceedings from out of camera range; he was a sport.) If they continue to have these things and we're invited back, I'm sure we'll each find a way to participate.

I'm put in mind of a radio station billboard that loomed over I-275 in Tampa when I was in college: "John Landis's back." And of course it was a picture of the disc jockey's back. I actually thought it quite clever nearly 25 years ago. If you're scoring at home, the hippie blogger is one of the Mets Geeks. The bearded blogger is this board's cousin, the Eddie Kranepool Society. There was actually a fifth blogger on hand (sounds like a JFK assassination theory) in case any of us collapsed from the warmth of the close quarters but he never got in the game. (They cast a net -- or Net -- and got one more blogger than needed and he was the odd blogger out that particular taping.) Good group on both sides of the camera. Delighted to say the people putting the show together are actually Mets fans. All in all, the greatest collection of Mets minds in one room since Scarlet Knight's kid dined alone.

I can't compete with Julie Donaldson's tight shirt. Though I have to confess I've yet to see Julie Donaldson, her tight shirt, Mets Weekly, myself or anything on SNY. But you didn't miss any words of wisdom. I've already been alerted by the producers that I'm seen but not heard in this edition. A more thorough Bloggers Roundtable will be presented in two and three weeks, respectively and, theoretically, I'll be heard and seen in some depth along with three fellow blog travelers. (We taped with Siafa Lewis for like two hours which led me to expect they'll use about eight seconds.) Still, I doubt I'll be a match for the aforementioned Ms. Donaldson if JD's scouting report is accurate.

And if we can't see you on Cablevision, we'll just have to wait to decide how to respond to you. Thirty-one minutes into the new era and Channel 60 remains Snighless. http://faithandfear.blogharbor.com/blog/_archives/2006/3/16/1824739.html

For what it's worth, Channel 60 on Cablevision Long Island is a listings channel except when there's a spillover Isles or Devils hockey game, in which case the info button one presses to get a description of what's on the channel indicates "Islanders and Thrashers will be coming up tonight". Well, there's been no change in Channel 60 showing listings EXCEPT that the "Islanders and Thrashers coming up tonight" tease has been moved to Channel 14, Cablevision's other listings channel. Gives me hope that the mythical SNY spot on the dial is indeed being cleared at 60. Guess we'll know in 4-1/2 hours. Precedent: When YEECH premiered in 2003, it showed up without warning on Opening Night from Toronto, just in time for Ken Huckaby to lay the smack down on Cappy Derek's shoulder, which was definitely worth seeing live.

Sad and shameful. Too bad Detroit doesn't have a big-league baseball team anymore either.

Yancy Street Gang wrote: Ironically enough, I'm currently reading The Making of the President 1964 which has large sections devoted to Barry Goldwater. I have that sitting on my bookshelf, untouched -- except to place on said bookshelf -- for years, until like two nights ago when I had some reason to take it down and look something up. Hence, your report that you're reading it is very weird. Teddy White rules.

How about as catcher on the All-Timing Club, Clint Hurdle? A Met in '85, a Cardinal in '86, a Met in '87. And Rockies manager for what must feel like an eternity.

Now that's some fancy phantomry (and Chapman did beat Orosco into 1979 by about eight innings). Still, there ought to be some sort of statute of limitations on the concept. Or, as Mike playing first base was, a statue of limitations.

One could nudge John Franco out after 2001 given that he was on the DL for all of 2002 and didn't throw a pitch. If so, Fonzie would slot in as longest tenured Mets between him and Leiter (who preceded Piazza and would get the title for '03 and '04 under this interpretation). That's overly sticklerish, I suppose, given Franco's continued presence on the 40-man. Franco's unavailability in '02 ended the 40-year streak that allowed one to say that for the entire history of the Mets, at least one of three men was on every Mets team: Kranepool (62-79), Wilson (80-89), Franco (90-01), and none at the same time. There's symmetry or a squared circle or something in that it was halted after a milestone, but then Franco came back for two more years. If he had pitched straight through, there could have been a nice, clean handoff to Wright (fingers crossed), albeit one with a touch of overlap. In light of how long his career lasted, it's always bugged me slightly, for Meticulousness's sake, that Jesse didn't get a call in 1980. That season will be his phantom year, along with Tug's '68, Nolan's '67 and Mitchell's '85 to name three.

Jeff McKnight.

Doesn't appear I'll be desktop at 9, so if I may toss out these quickies... --Jay Horwitz: Players seem to swear by him, media been known to swear at him. Man's had the job a long time. Your experience with him? --Mike Piazza: You mentioned his isolation earlier. Was there ever a chance he'd come back for '06? If not, why couldn't the two parties let it go and give the fans a chance to say a more definitive farewell? --Adam Rubin: Any players who have come and gone without particular on-field distinction in your time on the beat who we might not realize were very special people? Thanks in advance for these and thanks for your earlier answers. Will be lined up at a B&N later this week. Keep up the great work.

Two more for Adam after reading an excerpt of your book (which only made me want to buy it more): 1) Talk radio hysteria aside, how, if at all, has the ethnic composition of the Mets' clubhouse affected your job? Do you feel you get the quotes/insights from Pedro, the Carloses and other Latin players that you need? Is there a language or cultural barrier between the beat writers (presumably mostly American-born and obviously English-speaking) and the Latino Mets? Do you find yourself leaning more heavily on the likes of Wright, Glavine, Floyd and other non-Latinos as your go-to guys as a result? Have you felt the need to brush up on or learn some Spanish given that baseball (not just the Mets) has so many Latin stars? It seemed to me we read a lot of quotes from Doug Mientkiewicz last year, a quotable fellow to be sure, but hardly the obvious team spokesman. I got the feeling that the writers, as a rule, were more comfortable going to an English-speaking semi-regular than to a Jose Reyes, who, while reasonably conversant in English, is probably limited in how much he can express himself in a second language at this point in his career/young life. 2) Is the concept of the "clubhouse leader" overrated? And has the absence of a definitive one in recent years hurt the Mets at all? I've noticed that the player tabbed as the leader of the Mets in any given year by the beat guys always seems to be a new player. Ventura in '99, Zeile in 2000, Vaughn (at least in theory) in 2002. This phenomenon dates back to John Franco in 1990 and Rick Cerone in 1991. Is there something about the Mets that creates a leadership vacuum? Is this all just one big coincidence? And bringing it back to my first question, is there a danger that a team on which more than half of the roster speaks Spanish as a first language (and almost half doesn't) will be prone to fatal fissures and cliques? Or is that where a strong manager comes in? Thanks again.

Adam, Two questions: 1) Does it bother you that the Daily News is so slanted to the Yankees? Even given the relative success rates of the two New York teams, the front pages, back pages and inside pages given to the Yankees overwhelm those devoted to the Mets, to say nothing of the existence of a recurring column about "Bleacher Creatures" that is sickeningly pro-Yankee and anti-Met. Even if one takes Filip Bondy's effort as all in good fun, there is no equal time given to any other writer. It would be one thing if that was Bondy's shtick, period, but he's one of your paper's leading sports columnists and several times a year, he drops the pretense of objectivity altogether and tells us he thinks the Mets and their fans are a joke. We don't see Lupica or Olson or Ziegel do any such thing. Do you think your good work gets enough play in this environment? Have you ever discussed this with your editors? Or do you disagree with this read of your newspaper? (I buy the News, Newsday and the Times every day and check the Post online and I find nobody leans so obviously and heavily to the Yankees as the News.) 2) Why does almost every beat writer in spring training file virtually the same story, at least on the same topic, every day? Why is one day Victor Diaz Day and the next day Julio Franco Day and so forth? Is it a matter of player availability? A worry that if five other writers have a Tom Glavine profile on Thursday that you, theoretically the sixth, will look bad if you don't? These are two things I've always wondered. I appreciate your consideration of these questions, truly enjoy your reporting and can't wait to read your book. Thank you.

ScarletKnight41 wrote:Happy Anniversary to Greg and Jace (um, er, I mean Happy Anniversary to FAFIF )!Muchas gracias. Year Two is off and running.

ScarletKnight41 wrote:Happy Anniversary to Greg and Jace (um, er, I mean Happy Anniversary to FAFIF )!Muchas gracias. Year Two is off and running.

MFS62 wrote: Has anyone else seen any predictions yet in other publications or websites? The Sporting News Yearbook and Street & Smith both picked the Mets a little behind the Braves. Consensus pick for the Wild Card at least.

metirish wrote: ]Coupled with analyst Keith Hernandez (who "has Tourette's where the truth is concerned," according to Prince) I think that's supposed to be a compliment, not sure how though. Keith can't help but blurt out what he's really thinking. No filter for BS. Yes, definitely a compliment.

SI.com on SNY today. I'm posting a link to the second page of the article because I am not without a penchant for self-interest. http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/alex_belth/02/01/sny.mets/1.html

Thanks Scarlet.As I just posted on our blog, if any of you have a link or bookmark to us from before December 2005, we'd greatly appreciate it if you'd change it to what Scarlet said.http://faithandfear.blogharbor.comOur host compelled us to make the change two months ago and gave us an unspecified transition period in which the old one would seamlessly bring up the new one. That transition period ended today without warning.Much appreciation for your inconvenience.

And told his players to skip the practice in Fenway before Game Three.

Because he told Frank Cashen to take the bill from United Airlines and stick it in his bowtie.

Preston Wilson grew up in the home clubhouse.