Gwreck

I always do these things with my heart and not my head. 91-69 1st place Defeat Colorado in NLCS Defeat Tampa in WS.

For Doc and anyone else: if you are ever wrongly accused of DUI, insist on a blood test (no matter what field sobriety/breathalyzer/etc. test they give you). Doc isn't the first person to blame it on Ambien. I seem to recall Peter Buck's "air-rage" incident was also blamed on the same drug.

I think that Orioles series is on my list (along with 4th of July weekend in Washington) of "road games that I'll probably go to if the Mets are good." -- I don't think I've mentioned it here but this year's schedule worked out nicely and I was able to plan a road trip in July in which I'll be taking in 2 Mets games each at SF, ARZ and LA.

Noble is indeed still a beat writer. I prefer Lennon over Noble generally in terms of depth of analysis, and -- before the Newsday online stupidity -- breadth of interesting info provided to fans (ie. above and beyond the usual game stories).

Doc Gooden, unable to stay on the right side of the law, apparently. Deadspin (I know, I hate linking to them too) reporting Doc charged with DUI (with a child passenger!!), among other things as a result of a traffic accident.

Intentionally? Really? I'm totally on board with the incompetence/we can't be bothered thing but I'm not sure I was ready to attribute their failings to a deliberate plan.

Ceetar wrote: I'm gonna take credit for it btw, but your album (and this thread) has now been pimped out to Mets Police, The Real Dirty Mets Blog, Metsblog, and Lennon's Newsday blog, to name a few. (Credit given to at least cranepoolforum all around) "Pimped out?" The photos at the top of the thread came from a different discussion board and did not originate here. Such is the problem with "crediting" things elsewhere. Howsabout people come here if they want to read what's written here.

Ceetar wrote: There was a lot of "Oh, I put down all this money for tickets without even having a thought about how the view would be! I don't like it! Waaah". right away too. So much of the complaining was of a nit-picky difference of opinion type thing. A lot of it still is. Of course it's all opinion. I never understood the comments that the outfield walls should be blue but I certainly read about that gripe a lot. Your characterization of things as "nit-picky" is incorrect, particularly when you cite paying customers' complaints re: tickets. (The difference of course being that one is paying to watch the game, and the ticket prices guarantees that, whereas it doesn't grant any special right to have pictures of Mets players in the concourse). Also, I don't know if this is anyone's fault, but they were racing the clock to get the building functional in terms of #1, playing baseball. Sure, but a failure to incorporate team history into the ballpark was a failure of planning and not due to time constraints. Take the HOF space as an example. They didn't plan for it and then announce that it was "coming soon;" but unfinished due to construction delay; they simply didn't plan for it at all. Also, regardless of the team's record, the August 1st game better sell out. (still cheap seats available) For all the clamoring about history, it's be insulting if the fans don't sell out the game honoring it. How many tickets are sold to that game is not an accurate measure of how fans feel about the team's history.

My recollection is that as soon as fans started pointing out things to improve or stuff the Mets forgot, the team's public face (specifically, Dave Howard) immediately took the position that the stadium was fantastic and such comments were completely wrong. From the CPF alone, I look at the home-opener IGT and find a comment from the next day: "G-Fafif Apr 14 2009 03:16 PM Dave Howard on 'FAN all but scolding those who don't adore everything at Citi Field right now." My further recollection is that it took many months before the team even started acknowledging that things could be improved or changes could be made.

...when the wall of complaints started hitting last year, it became pretty obvious that ownership and those surrounding it never considered doing much to hi-light NYM history and, as a result, were totally blind-sided by it all. If it's fair to ask, what specifically made this so obvious? I think it's a combination of: 1. The near-constant reminders in marketing and promotional materials that the stadium would be "world-class" and amazing; paired with 2. The visceral reaction of management (specifically, the public face of same -- Dave Howard) when confronted with perfectly legitimate complaints about the stadium; 3. That things like a Mets Hall of Fame are being built in what was space for the team store (no sign of removing the "Verizon Studio" from center field, however).

I didn't realize the caveat was necessary that I obviously know that Reyes and Beltran would rank a lot higher than Cora or Pagan but given that they're out for unknown periods of time I found it pointless to consider them. Catcher is most certainly not a tie; Baker and Ruiz are unquestionably better than Rodriguez or Barajas. Heyward is the only one I really struggled with where to place, and I suppose that when we revisit these at the end of the season, he could be in any of the 5 slots but I didn't think his ranking was unfair to anyone. On the subject of right field, I will note that Ross has had 2 full MLB seasons, not 1, and I'd take his 2008 and 2009 OPS+ (107 and 104) over Francoeur's (72 and 93) in a heartbeat.

While coming to the revelation that Daniel Murphy is probably the second-worst starting first baseman in the National League I found it useful to re-consider where we stand vis-a-vis our division rivals for starting lineups. I think this was someone else's idea used to measure up off-season needs. The results aren't pretty. C McCann Baker Ruiz Pudge Barajas 1B Howard Dunn Cantu Glaus Murphy 2B Utley Uggla Prado Castillo Kennedy 3B Wright Zimmerman Jones Polanco Sanchez SS Ramirez Rollins Escobar Guzman Cora LF Bay Ibanez Coghlan Willingham Cabrera/Diaz CF Victorino McLouth Maybin Morgan Pagan RF Werth Ross Heyward (?) Francoeur Harris/Maxwell

Colorado, Apr 13-15. Padres, May 31-June 2. Giants, July 15-18.

I think that suspension was for steroids, not a "drug of abuse." (Link) This appears to be a comprehensive list dating back to 2005 and there are no major league suspensions for "Drug of Abuse".

With all of the attention on performance-enhancing drugs, I don't think I can recall the last player suspended for recreational drug use. Doc and Darryl's most recent suspensions were both in 1995, but I'm sure there's been someone else since.

What about on-field personnel?

Hamilton.