Gwreck

I like Ryan Madson more than Wade Davis.

Valadius wrote: I cannot emphasize enough that I am so done waiting for a championship. It's game 1. The Mets lost game 1 in '69 and '86. Plus, I am sure as fuck not conceding this game. Cespedes Duda D'Arnaud. We have runs and hits in our future.

Good thing we had a lead.

LET'S GO FAMILIA

Juan just sealed his spot in the starting lineup tomorrow.

Harvey. Dominant pitching performances in Games 1 and 5.

Other Team Alcides Escobar SS Ben Zobrist 2B Lorenzo Cain CF Eric Hosmer 1B Kendrys Morales DH Mike Moustakas 3B Salvador Perez C Alex Gordon LF Alex Rios RF Edinson Volquez P

2015 NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONS Curtis Granderson RF David Wright 3B Daniel Murphy 2B Yoenis Cespedes CF Lucas Duda 1B Travis D'Arnaud C Michael Conforto LF Wilmer Flores SS Kelly Johnson DH Matt Harvey P

Apparently Ben Zobrist's wife is pregnant as well, and Mondesi is insurance in case Zobrist has to miss a game.

The Royals dropped pinch-runner Terrance Gore from their roster and added Raul A. Mondesi (yes, his son), a 20-year old rookie who's never played above AA. He would be the first player to make his major league debut in the World Series. He's a shortstop. Was 19-for-25 stealing bases this year. http://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.cgi?id=mondes000ada

They can add Reynolds back in if anyone got hurt; so it'd just be for the balance of the game after an injury if necessary. I like the aggressive strategy.

Edit: Wanted to change my guess to Feliciano; but was beaten to it. I'll say Randy Myers

Here are the Umpires for this year: Game 1 HP Bill Welke 1B Mark Carlson 2B Mike Winters 3B Jim Wolf LF Alfonso Marquez RF Gary Cederstrom Replay Mike Everitt Reply Assistant Ron Kulpa Game 2 HP Mark Carlson 1B Mike Winters 2B Jim Wolf 3B Alfonso Marquez LF Gary Cederstrom RF Bill Welke Replay Mike Everitt Reply Assistant Ron Kulpa Game 3 HP Mike Winters 1B Jim Wolf 2B Alfonso Marquez 3B Gary Cederstrom LF Mike Everitt RF Mark Carlson Replay Bill Welke Reply Assistant Ron Kulpa Games 4-7 Follows Normal Rotation (Everitt will have plate in Game 7)

That article announcing the umpires is from 2014.

Meet your Kansas City starting pitchers: Johnny Cueto ® Cueto was a trade-deadline acquisiton from Cincinnati. The Royals gave up Brandon Finnegan, the lefty pitcher who was a big part of the KC Bullpen in the playoffs in 2014. Cueto is a free agent at the end of the season. The Mets saw Cueto on June 26 at Citi Field this year. Pitcher's duel that Syndergaard won 2-1, despite only getting 2 hits. Granderson hit a leadoff homer and a Dilson Herrera triple in the 5th inning. (After the triple, Cueto walked Granderson, walked Campbell, and then walked Duda to force in the winning run). In 2015, Cueto was pretty good in 19 starts for Cincinnati: 2.62 ERA, 0.934 WHIP. He struggled in 13 stars with Kansas City: 4.76 ERA, 1.451 WHIP; gave up 10 homers in 81 innings. Cueto started game 2 of the Divison Series against Houston. Gave up 4 runs in 6 innings: 7 hits and 3 Ks. Pitched better in game 5: 8 innings, 2 hits, 2 runs, 8 strikeouts. He then got knocked around in Game 3 of the ALCS. He failed to retire a batter in third inning before getting lifted: 8 runs, 6 hits, 4 walks, including a big three-run homer by Tulowitzki. Cueto never hit much (41 for 384 in his career). Mets v. Cueto: Wright: 6 for 25, 1 homer Murphy: 3 for 17 Duda: 3 for 15, 1 homer Granderson: 3 for 12, 2 homers Lagares: 2 for 12 Cuddyer: 1 for 6 Flores: 1 for 6 Johnson: 1 for 6 (a homer) D'Arnaud: 3 for 5, 2 doubles Plawecki: 0 for 3 Cespedes: 0 for 2 Edinson Volquez® Volquez has been around a while: he was originally signed by Texas; traded to Cincinnati in the Josh Hamilton deal; had a breakout season with the Reds in 2008; PED suspension in 2010; traded to San Diego and then LA in 2013, Pittsburgh in 2014 and KC in 2015. Volquez faced the Mets twice in 2014 with Pittsburgh: 6 shutout innings in Pittsburgh in June (Colon got hit hard by the Pirates) and a no-decision in May (both he and Niese were nothing special; Mets won it against Pirates bullpen). 3.55 ERA and 1.308 WHIP in 33 starts this year. Volquez's postseason history includes being the losing pitcher opposite Halladay's no-hitter in 2010 (Volquez gave up 4 runs in the the first 2 innings); and being the losing pticher opposite Bumgarner's shutout in the 2014 Wild Card game for Pittsburgh (Volquez did give up 5 runs in 5 innings, including a Brandon Crawford grand slam). Volquez started game 3 of the Division Series against Houston, giving up 3 runs on 5 hits and 4 walks; was pulled in the 6th inning. He then started Game 1 of the ALCS and shut out Toronto for 6 innings (2 hits, 4 walks). In Game 5, he gave up a homer in the 2nd inning but then pitched well until the 6th, which went: Walk-HBP-Walk-Walk before getting pulled. Two batters later Tulowutzki hits a bases-clearing double and Volquez gets the loss. Volquez doesn't hit: 23 for 277 career. Mets v. Volquez: Murphy: 6 for 15, 3 walks Johnson: 4 for 14 Wright: 2 for 13 Cuddyer: 4 for 11, 3 walks Duda: 2 for 11, 3 walks Granderson: 0 for 9, 4Ks Lagares: 3 for 8 d'Arnaud: 0 for 4 Flores: 1 for 3 Cespedes: 1 for 3 Yordano Ventura ® Ventura is 24 years old and a product of the Kansas City system (signed as an amateur free agent from the Domincan Republic). 2015 was his second full season with the team. He was the opening day starter but pitched poorly and was going to be sent to the minors until Jason Vargas had an elbow injury. Finished strong (ERA under 2 in the final 2 months of the season). Final numbers: 4.08 ERA and 1.298 WHIP in 28 regular season starts. In the postseason, he got pulled after 2 innings in the first game of the Division Series against Houston, giving up 3 runs on 4 hits and one walk. Only threw 42 pitches. The Royals brought him back in Game 4 where he lasted 5 innings, giving up 3 runs on 4 hits (2 of which were homers) and 3 walks. He fared better in the ALCS: Started Game 2: gave up 3 runs on 8 hits and 2 walks. Started Game 6: 1 run on 4 hits and 2 walks. Pulled in the middle of the 6th inning. He did pitch extremely well in the 2014 World Series against the Giants in games 2 and 6 (7 shutout innings in game 6). Cespedes is 1 for 7 against him; no other Met has ever faced him. He is 1-10 batting with 8 strikeouts. Ventura was involved in several incidents earlier in this season: -He got ejected after intentionially hitting Brett Lawrie on April 18 (and was fined) -He got into a tiffle with Adam Eaton of the White Sox initiating a brawl (7 game suspension) Chris Young ® Young is the only ex-Met on the Royals. He's the former Princeton-basketball player, 6' 10" Chris Young, not the outfielder. You may recall he had 4 good starts for the Mets in 2011 (including the Bin Laden game on Sunday Night Baseball against the Phillies) before getting hurt; and then coming back the next year and not piching as well in 20 starts before getting hurt again. He had a good year with the Mariners in 2014 and signed with Kansas City for 2015 as a reliever, but wound up making 18 starts. A good 3.06 ERA and 1.086 WHIP for the year. He pitched out of the bullpen in the division series (backing up Ventura in game 1 after he got pulled early) and started Game 4 of the ALCS. Got pulled with 2 outs in the 5th inning after giving up 3 hits and 2 walks (2 runs scored). He had that game with the Mets where he had 3 hits but overall is nothing special with the bat: 31 for 206 in his career, but hasn't played in the NL since 2012. He was 2 for 4 this year with Kansas City. Hasn't pitched against the Mets since 2008. Mets against him: Cespedes: 1-11 Wright: 1-9 Johnson: 2-11 Cuddyer: 2-5 (both doubles) Murphy: 0-1, 2 walks Granderson: 0-2

Mets in 5.

TransMonk wrote: Pending the knowledge on actual match ups based on announced starting pitching, I would think we would see Conforto in left with Johnson DHing in Game 1. Exactly what I would do.

Bring it on, Royals

Buster Olney reporting it will be: deGrom, Syndergaard, Harvey, Matz (in that order)

Centerfield wrote: Sandy Alderson Big heaping pile of crow for me on this one. I was ecstatic when they hired Sandy. I was so frustrated that we had Minaya, a really nice guy and an excellent scout, but a guy who seemed not all that bright. It felt like we were being run by a C student. When Sandy came, I was thrilled that we finally had the smartest guy in the room. But last winter left me disappointed. We had built to that point and had a chance to go for it, and Alderson played it like Safe Sandy Small Balls. The offense sucked and I had little faith Sandy could fix it. But then in July, Sandy went big. He turned into Spectacular Sandy Big Balls. Plus that story about Jeff Wilpon saying "Go for it". Wow. There isn't enough crow to be eaten here. Very well said. I am happy to take a serving of this crow as well.

El Segundo Escupidor wrote: His goodwill from Game 7 was erased the following inning by grounding out with the bases loaded in one horrific AB. Chavez hit a fly ball to center to end the 6th. It was Valentin that struck out with the bases loaded and only one out. Chavez also singled in the 9th to put the tying run on base.

Mark Saxon (ESPN's Dodger beat) says that Bob Geren is a possibility for the LA job.

Whoops

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Mets clinched the division in Cincinnati. Won the NLDS in Los Angeles. Won the NLCS in Chicago. All of these road celebrations are unprecedented for the Mets. Unless the Mets win the World Series in four or five games, 2015 will be the first postseason year in which the Mets had no home celebrations. Could it be something about Citi Field? In 1969, all celebrations happened at Shea. 1973: NLCS was won at Shea. 1986: NLCS won in Houston, but division and World Series at Shea. 1988: Clinched NL East at Shea. 1999: Clinched Wild Card in Cincinnati, but won NLDS at Shea. 2000: Clinched Wild Card and won NLDS at Shea. 2006: Clinched NL East at Shea, won NLDS in Los Angeles Two additions: The 1973 Division title was clinched at Shea. The 2000 NLCS was clinched at Shea as well.

I don't get the Niuewenhuis love. He's not a good hitter. You don't lose Kelly Johnson's flexibility by putting him at DH. At worst, you risk potentially putting the pitcher back in the lineup if -- in an emergency -- he has to play another position. It's not as if the Mets are going to be taking Duda, Murphy or Wright out of the game except in an emergency.