Gwreck

TransMonk wrote: I think his numbers will improve slightly this year. Delgado's production is not in my top 5 lists of concerns for 2008. (Although, it's probably number 6) What *are* your top 5 concerns? Mine: 1. Delgado - can he produce offensively? 2. Sanchez - can we get 75, 85 percent of what he gave us in '06? 3. Pedro - how many starts will he get? 4. Alou - will he stay healthy enough for 400 ABs? 5. El Duque - will be be healthy enough for 25 starts?

="Benjamin Grimm"]I read somewhere recently (not sure where... Marty Noble maybe?) that Delgado may very well return to the Mets in 2009. If he has a great season, his contract will automatically vest for $16 million. (It would have to be a really great season for that to happen, and it's not likely.) For Delgado's contract to become guaranteed in 2009, he will need to be the World Series MVP and either the NLCS MVP or finish no lower than 6th in the league MVP voting.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: If the above 25-man roster turns out to be accurate, there will only be four players making their Mets debut on the Opening Day roster: Santana, Church, Schneider, and Wise. In recent years, the Opening Day debut count has been much higher, more like 10 or 12. Last year's count was pretty low as well -- only 7 (Alou, Easley, Newhan, Schoeneweis, Smith, Burgos, Sele). 2005 and 2006 were the two big years of turnover.

Sounds like your car radio/antenna is subpar. I've had no problem getting WFAN in the general Providence-Albany-Reading-Atlantic City radius around NYC. That being said, AM radio is subject to lots of interference (high voltage electric lines, for example), and has a much stronger signal at night.

AG/DC wrote: Isn't clear channel a mafia? Two different terms. "Clear-channel" is an adjective as to how the AM frequency is broadcast. Basically it means that nobody else can broadcast on that particular frequency within 10,000 miles, or something like that. "Clear Channel" is a private monopolistic evil company.

There are 5 clear-channel stations in the NY Area: 660 WFAN 710 WOR 770 WABC 880 WCBS 1130 WBBR

AG/DC wrote: I think that's the esteemed (esteemed by Farmer Ted and myself, at any rate) Guy Conti. Others, too (including myself). Was watching the SportsCentury: Pedro Martinez this weekend. Did you know that Guy Conti was the pitching coach for the Great Falls (MT) Dodger Rookie League Team that Pedro pitched for? Conti and his wife were good friends to Pedro and helped him learn English by teaching him one new word a day. Pedro referred to Conti as "my white Daddy."

I vaguely remember Ced Landrum. But Tito Navarro? I was as surprised as you are when he pinch-hit. And yes, my apologies to FMan99 for not equally crediting him. I'll try to dig up that James article tonight. I think it was in The Baseball Book 1991 or 1992.

It's a pure chance thing. That and they had Nolan Ryan....oh, wait...we did too. In all seriousness, Bill James did a study about 15 years ago I think that determined that a disproportional number of no-hitters took place in September games. --- Final stats from the trivia question: Medium: Fill in the blanks in the starting lineup for your New York Mets that day: [Ryan Thompson] CF - DocTee [Jeff McKnight] SS - Edgy Murray 1B [Joe Orsulak] LF - Fman99 Burnitz RF Kent 2B [Butch Huskey] 3B (Major League Debut) - SteveJ Hundley C [Frank Tanana]P Hard: How did the Mets get their only run that game? McKnight was walked. He advanced to second and then to third on a wild pitch, which really hit Orsulak on the foot -- he jumped away from the plate limping. Bagwell retrieved the ball from the backstop and made an errant throw to third, which allowed McKnight to score. Credit to Edgy. Extremely Hard: Who were the three pinch-hitters (not defensive replacements) the Mets used in the game? Hint: 2 of them were the last 2 batters of the game, and they both struck out. Ced Landrum pinch-hit for the pitcher in the 6th. - FMan99 Chico Walker struck out to end the game. DocTee Tito Navarro struck out in the Mets' pennultimate at-bat. Using the traditional 3-2-1,-1 scoring system, DocTee is our winner with 5. Nicely done.

If his role is like Nieto's was, he will be with the big club, stationed in the bullpen.

Correct.

Medium: Fill in the blanks in the starting lineup for your New York Mets that day: [Ryan Thompson] CF - DocTee [Jeff McKnight] SS - Edgy Murray 1B [Joe Orsulak] LF - Fman99 Burnitz RF Kent 2B [Butch Huskey] 3B (Major League Debut) - SteveJ Hundley C [ ]P Hard: How did the Mets get their only run that game? McKnight was walked. He advanced to second and then to third on a wild pitch, which really hit Orsulak on the foot -- he jumped away from the plate limping. Bagwell retrieved the ball from the backstop and made an errant throw to third, which allowed McKnight to score. Credit to Edgy. Extremely Hard: Who were the three pinch-hitters (not defensive replacements) the Mets used in the game? Hint: 2 of them were the last 2 batters of the game, and they both struck out. Ced Landrum pinch-hit for the pitcher in the 6th. - FMan99 Chico Walker struck out to end the game. DocTee

Medium: Fill in the blanks in the starting lineup for your New York Mets that day: [ ]CF [Jeff McKnight]SS - Edgy Murray 1B [Joe Orsulak]LF - Fman99 Burnitz RF Kent 2B [Butch Huskey]3B (Major League Debut) - SteveJ Hundley C [ ]P Hard: How did the Mets get their only run that game? McKnight was walked. He advanced to second and then to third on a wild pitch, which really hit Orsulak on the foot -- he jumped away from the plate limping. Bagwell retrieved the ball from the backstop and made an errant throw to third. Credit to Edgy. Extremely Hard: Who were the three pinch-hitters (not defensive replacements) the Mets used in the game? Hint: 2 of them were the last 2 batters of the game, and they both struck out. Chico Walker struck out to end the game. DocTee

Medium: Fill in the blanks in the starting lineup for your New York Mets that day: [ ]CF [ ]SS Murray 1B [Joe Orsulak]LF - Fman99 Burnitz RF Kent 2B [Butch Huskey]3B (Major League Debut) - SteveJ Hundley C [ ]P Hard: How did the Mets get their only run that game? McKnight was walked. He advanced to second and then to third on a wild pitch, which really hit Orsulak on the foot -- he jumped away from the plate limping. Bagwell retrieved the ball from the backstop and made an errant throw to third. Credit to Edgy. Extremely Hard: Who were the three pinch-hitters (not defensive replacements) the Mets used in the game? Hint: 2 of them were the last 2 batters of the game, and they both struck out.

This Tuesday (2/19) a new "Mets Classic" on SNY: The Mets/Cubs from 2000 in Tokyo. --- On today on ESPN Classic was a 1-hour version of the Darryl Kile No-Hitter from September '93. Trivia time! Medium: Fill in the blanks in the starting lineup for your New York Mets that day: [ ]CF [ ]SS Murray 1B [ ]LF Burnitz RF Kent 2B [ ]3B (Major League Debut) Hundley C [ ]P Hard: How did the Mets get their only run that game? Extremely Hard: Who were the three pinch-hitters (not defensive replacements) the Mets used in the game? Hint: 2 of them were the last 2 batters of the game, and they both struck out.

Oops.

Very cool quiz. New York (A) Boston Anaheim Atlanta Minnesota Chicago (A) St. Louis San Francisco Los Angeles San Diego Arizona Cleveland Detroit Chicago (N) Houston Philadelphia Oakland Seattle New York (N) Toronto Milwaukee Florida Colorado Texas Cincinnati Baltimore Pittsburgh Montreal/Washington Tampa Bay Kansas City

I think these are the two best options: Saturday, May 31 vs. Los Angeles. 3:55 Gametime. Saturday, June 14 vs. Texas. 7:10 Gametime. I think once we get further into the summer it'll be tougher to get everyone together. Plus, these are at least the "Silver" games and somewhat less expensive (upper deck = $20/seat). I would also be in for the preseason lunch. Sunday March 16 game vs. Detroit (good matchup!) will be on SNY. We want to avoid the following weekend 'cause that's Easter weekend...and the prior Sunday is when single-game tickets go on sale.

="John Cougar Lunchbucket"]I mean, I was just devastated by Game 1. Tortured. When they blew it this September I was fine by comparison. I could adopt this statement as my own. I still haven't fully recovered from that loss.

Jeter's leadoff homer in Game 4 was the 4th thing. Remember how we felt when Reyes did the same thing in NLCS Game 6 in 2006? Same deal.

I doubt it. He's not gonna displace Easley or Anderson. I guess he could grab that 25th man spot that's between Gotay, Pagan and whomever.

Apparently the building where he was to testify was evacuated this morning due to an unclaimed bag.

Or Dallas Green. I thought the "Save the Apple" campaign was a contrived bunch of bullshit. Am totally indifferent as to the Apple.

="Vic Sage"]nor did any of them have any particular historical importance for the Mets, beyond playing on winning teams. Are there any Met players of "historical importance" who didn't play on the winningest Met teams? What percentage of "important historical" Met events would you say took place outside '69, '73, '86, '88, '99, '00 and '06? 5 percent? 3 percent?

According to Ben Shipgel, Aaron Heilman's seniority finally paid off as he got his own reserved parking place in Port St. Lucie. (I seem to recall he was miffed that he didn't get one last year).