Gwreck

Opening day, 2014

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Is Dillon Gee the most incompetent bunter in the history of the Mets yet? What a disgrace. Seconded. You have one job as a hitter. Fucking do it.

Just to expand on the draft pick thing...consider that Escobar and Cain were the products of the Royals trading away ANOTHER of their #1 draft picks - Zack Greinke, 2002. That's six of nine lineup spots attributable to their #1 picks: Hosmer, Escobar, Moustakas, Gordon, Cain, Butler. Plus two members of the bullpen.

I think that Graeme Lloyd photo was taken at Shea, and they changed a black Mets jersey to a black Royals jersey through photoshop.

Know your Royals The Royals are 54-51, third in the AL Central. Their misery is well known: they haven't had a winning season since 2003 (83-79); haven't won 90 games in a season since 1989; and haven't played in the postseason since winning the World Series in 1985. They currently sit a tantalizing 4.5 games out of the wild-card, having just won their last nine games in a row. This is an almost entirely homegrown team, with their #1 draft picks from 2004-2009 all on their active roster. The vast majority of these players have never played a game against the Mets before. Mets-Royals History The Mets are 3-3 all-time against Kansas City, having last faced them in June 2004. I'm not saying that it's been a long time, just that the only players from that game currently active in MLB: Zack Greinke (it was his fifth major league start) and Carlos Beltran (playing for the Royals). Pitching Matchups: Friday Wade Davis ® v. Dillon Gee Davis was acquired along with big prize James Shields in the offseason from Tampa. Kansas City gave up top prospect Wil Meyers to get these two starters, in some sort of an attempt to make their team competitive this year. Davis has been pretty bad: 5-9, 5.50 ERA, 1.748 WHIP, 13 homers in 104 innings. Shields, who we miss this series, is having another solid year. Saturday Bruce Chen (L) v. Carlos Torres Bruce Chen! Yes, the guy who was the Mets' starting pitcher in the Piazza homer game. He's in his fifth season in Kansas City, now mostly working (quite efficiently) out of the bullpen. This is his fourth start of the year. 2.09 ERA and 1.142 WHIP in 51 innings. Sunday Ervin Santana ® v. Jeremy Hefner Formerly of the Angels, Santana was traded to the Royals in the offseason. Fun Santana fact: his birth name is Johan. He changed it to avoid confusion with that other pitcher. He's active on twitter, @ErvinSantana_54 Santana is on his way to a career year. 7-6, but with a 3.06 ERA and a 1.060 WHIP. He lead the AL in homers allowed last year (39) but has done better this year, and has 115 Ks to only 31 walks. He's a free agent at the end of the year and with the Royals recent win streak, probably avoided being traded. Royal Lineup C Salvador Perez ® is 23 years old and in his third season with the Royals. He's excellent defensively but hasn't quite lived up to what he did last year, a .799 OPS. 1B - Eric Hosmer (L) is in his third full season and is 23 years old. He's not bad: (.286/.332/.430), 11 homers, 20 doubles; but isn't quite the can't-miss prospect he was expected to be (3rd overall pick in the 2008 draft). DH Billy Butler ® sometimes plays first base when the Royals [crossout]lose their DH[/crossout] play by proper rules, but Manager Ned Yost announced that Butler will be on the bench as the Mets are starting three right-handed pitchers. He is the Royals' best hitter, .278/.304/.405. 2B - Miguel Tejada ®, known perjurer is now playing here full-time with regular second baseman Chris Getz on the DL. Tejada spent 2012 out of the majors, in the Orioles' farm system. He's hitting an empty .287 (few walks, little power) in 137 ABs this year. SS - Alcides Escobar ® was the big prize when the Royals traded Zack Greinke to the Brewers. Provides lots of value with his glove, but not the bat (.571 OPS this year). 3B Mike Moustakas (L) is another top Royal prospect (2nd overall pick in 2007) that made the majors but hasn't really impressed - sense a trend here? .652 OPS this year. He hit 20 homers and had 73 RBIs last year; this year, it's 9 and 25. LF Alex Gordon (L) was the 2nd overall pick in the 2005 draft. He's been in KC for 7 seasons now and has developed into a solid major league player, with a couple of excellent years in 2011 (7.3 WAR) and 2012 (6.5 WAR). .758 OPS this year. CF Lorenzo Cain ® also came over from the Brewers in the Greinke trade. 12 for 16 in steal attempts this year. .692 OPS is middling but he's solid defensively. RF Mix-n-match since they released Jeff Francoeur in July. Justin Maxwell ®, journeyman outfielder was just acquired from Houston on Wednesday. You may remember Maxwell from hitting a walk-off grand slam against Francisco Rodriguez at the end of the miserable 2009 season. David Lough ® (.759 OPS in 210 ABs) has also had time here. Royal Bullpen Greg Holland ®, the closer. 28 saves. 1.76 ERA and 0.976 WHIP in 41 innings, with 65 Ks. Made the AL all-star team this year. Luke Hochevar ®, first overall pick in the 2006 draft. Moved to the bullpen after 5 abysmal seasons (cumulative value: -6.7 WAR) as starter. Faring much better this year, 1.67 ERA and 0.8837 WHIP in 43 innings. Aaron Crow ®, a two-fime first round pick; in 2008, he was #9 overall but didn't sign with the Nationals, reportedly because he didn't want to be part of a "losing organization". Went #12 overall the next year for the Royals. Another one of those top Royal picks that just didn't quite work out. He's been a serviceable middle-reliever for 3 years now, but don't you expect more from your top draft pick? 2.91 ERA and 1.412 WHIP in 34 innings. Kevin Herrera ®, 9 homers in 35 innings. 4.89 ERA, 1.37 WHIP. Tim Collins (L) - only lefty in the 'pen. 4.30 ERA, 1.46 WHIP in 37 innings. 20 walks to 36 strikeouts. Royal Injuries: Regular second baseman Chris Getz suffered a knee sprain when Adam Dunn slid into him last Saturday. 15-day DL. Ex-Royals: John Buck. He was one of the prospects the Royals acquired from Houston when they traded Beltran. Ex-Mets: Bruce Chen --- Edit: I reversed Moustakas' and Escobar's positions. Escobar is the shortstop, Moustakas 3B

Got it covered

Interesting game, here

I would imagine that despite the lengthier suspension, Braun gets classified as a first-time offender rather than a second-time offender.

This game seems to be quite interesting.

Ryan Braun suspended for balance of 2013 season by MLB. Source: Rubin twitter.

dgwphotography wrote: I think this is one thing the Mets get right. Enshrine players of the Koosman, Harrelson, Franco level in the Mets Hall of Fame. Only those enshrined in Cooperstown as a Met get their number retired. Exactly, exactly. At the risk of sounding heartless, it's time to put #8 back in circulation.

dinosaur jesus wrote: Gwreck wrote: Apparently there was enough booing that Fox turned off the crowd microphones. Is that true? I really hope it is. I guess there were some people there who didn't realize that the game was being played in honor of Mariano Rivera. The booing was for Sweet Caroline, not Rivera.

Ceetar wrote: And it's one of the few things that anger me about how other people are fans. We gave Mike Piazza a curtain call for his SECOND home run of the day against us with the Padres in his return. Carlos Beltran should've gotten at least that honor at the freaking All-Star Game. Just remember - those who turned up to honor Beltran upon his return to New York got a no-hitter as a bonus.

Vic Sage wrote: Beltran had 3 great years for the Mets, and 1 crappy one, and 3 partial seasons (2 interrupted by injury, 1 by trade). By that standard lets retire Olerud's number too. He had 3 great years, too. Olerud did have 3 good seasons. Beltran had three outstanding seasons. Comparing those three years, Beltran was more than 3 WAR better. How about McReynolds? Cliff Floyd? Robin Ventura? Rusty Staub? There have been many good players who passed thru NY and put up 3,4,5 good-to-excellent seasons. None of those players could hold a candle to Beltran. Seriously? That he's probably the best CFer we ever had says more about the history of Met CFers than it does about Beltran. Rubbish. Total and complete rubbish. Beltran is one of the best centerfielders to ever play baseball. Mays, Cobb, Griffey, Speaker, Mantle, Dimaggio...and then Beltran, probably. Yes, maybe he's a HOFer... i hope that for him -- but he holds absolutely no place in my heart, except as the avatar of a team that didn't make it over the hump. He played with that easy effortlessness that smacks of disinterest and a lack of passion. I don't even know how to respond to this other than to say it's total nonsense.

Apparently there was enough booing that Fox turned off the crowd microphones.

metirish wrote: Gwreck wrote: Inexcusable managerial malpractice by Boxhy, allowing Brown to face the lefty and not pinch-hitting. ah ha, see, have you heard Joe and Tim mention once tonight that Bochy is here to win, unlike Leyland who is managing this like game 7. Yeah, 'cause Prince Fielder is the defensive replacement you use in late innings.

Inexcusable managerial malpractice by Boxhy, allowing Brown to face the lefty and not pinch-hitting.

There's always the glorious possibility of the blown save. That happened when they had the Mariano-fellatio-fest when the MFYs visited in May...

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: 17? Holy Christ. Correct me if I'm wrong-- nobody here's EVER seen one hit off the third deck... not even in BP, right? Exactly. I counted 5 by Cespedes up there.

Outstanding.

Mick Jagger? Says Jay Horwitz on Twitter: Long time Mets fan Mick Jagger,who is in concert next to Citizens Bank Park, will stop by and watch BP before his first Stones set.

It's the quality of the sound system, not the acoustics. A free post-game concert with a hastily-assembled stage and PA system is unlikely to sound good. McCartney in 2009 sounded good, mostly because they were using a world-class system and had four days to set up for the show.

Paging The Second Spitter... http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/sydney-cricket-ground-to-host-13-million-us-baseball-curtain-raiser/story-fni0cx12-1226662783768

Edgy MD wrote: Puig hit in the face last night, but somehow managed to stay in the game. Dodgers retaliated by hitting Greinke, triggering a massive brawl that included the roidy coaches. Greinke is on the Dodgers. After Puig was hit, Greinke hit Diamondbacks pitcher Ian Kennedy in the back. Kennedy then hits Greinke with a pitch -- in the head -- and that's when the brawl was on.

I recall Graves' tenure in Cincinnati ended on an ugly note when he responded to bigoted/racist taunts when walking off the field after a poor outing.