Gwreck

Yancy Street Gang wrote: That's nice about Gary Cohen. I won't be hearing any of it though (unless my cable goes out or something) as I'll be glued to the television throughout the Mets playoff run, however long it lasts. Why not use the radio and mute the TV?

Ramon Castro activated off the 60-day DL and called up. Kelly Stinnett DFAed to make room. They aren't roster moves, but also noted by Marty Noble: Humber and Pelfrey were sent home for the season. Bell and Bannister sent to St. Lucie to stay prepared in the event of an injury opening a spot on the postseason roster.

LoDuca .5

How many games did we win without Pedro pitching this year? Tons. I'm not worried. El Duque, Glavine, Trachsel and Maine. They'll do just fine.

TransMonk wrote: Would that game-off happen on Tuesday even though the non-wildcard NLDS series is scheduled to begin that day? Would they flip-flop the 2 NLDS series schedules? Yes and Yes.

In the event that the Astros will be out first round opponent, this is how their rotation sets up: Game 1 - Roy Oswalt Game 2 - Fuckstick Clemens Game 3 - Andy Pettite I don't like that. Note that Oswalt would be pitching the one-game playoff if that applies.

Just curious -- are there any other season/plan account holders here -- or other persons holding tickets to the postseason?

Johnny Dickshot wrote: There's a distinct possibility our first round opponent will have had to waste a few pitchers on a play-in game. Exactly. St. Louis has a potential game to make up against the Giants (which would be Monday, in St. Louis), and then could have to do a 1-game playoff against Houston (Tuesday, in Houston).

Basically impossible for that particular scenario to happen. It could only theoretically happen in the Division series, and Philly will be playing on the West Coast for games 1 and 2 -- therefore less likely to conflict with a Mets game. Plus, the way the schedule is set currently, there aren't any overlap games at this time.

"Split National" means that the game shown on FOX (ie. over the air) is shown according to "market." Example: A New York-Philadelphia NLCS game would be shown in the NY and Philadelphia markets and a Minnesota-Oakland ALCS game played at the same time would be shown in the Twin Cities and Bay Area markets. The rest of the "markets" throughout the country would show one of the two games. It's possible that the second game (whichever you weren't getting on FOX) would be on cable, presumably on F/X or (more likely) the local Fox Sports cable channel. The split-national strategy presents a problem if teams from the same market (ie. the Mets and the MFYs) play at the same time, hence the possibility of a conflict for NLCS Game 1/ALCS game 2. No LCS games would be on ESPN. ESPN only has the right to show Division Series games.

Gametime for NLCS Game #1 should probably be moved back to "TBA." The intention is to play at 8:00, but according to the Fox TV Schedule (courtesy Adam Rubin's blog), the plan is for a "split-national" broadcast with ALCS Game #2 at the same time. There's one potential situation that will clearly dictate a time change, for TV and likely security reasons as well.

Our first round opponent will (probably) be the Cardinals. Their closer is Braden Looper. Let me repeat that, because it bears repeating: Braden Looper.

Farmer Ted wrote: I was one of the lucky bastids that, after registering on the Mets site for the playoff ticket lottery, got an email back stating that I was among the lucky ones selected for the first-come, first-serve ticket purchase for the NLDS. Just 10 minutes after getting the email, then going to to the ticket site and putting in my order for "up to 4 tickets for one game"...TICKETS UNAVAILABLE. I'm assuming you got the email yesterday. That was the third round of emails sent out. They were getting rid of the last of the unsold seats and/or any seats that remained available due to people ordering over the ticket limits, credit card rejections, etc. The actual number of tickets available is a bit of a mystery. I think the Mets have a season-ticket base of about 20,000. Add the plan holders and the six-pack holders who were given ticket rights and that's probably another 10,000 seats gone. How many of those remaining ~25,000 tickets were actually available is unknown. I know the players, Mets staff, MLB, TV networks, etc. all get a healthy chunk to themselves. Also worth noting is that the number of public seats will likely go down for each consecutive round. The advantage for the NLCS sale is, of course, that there are 4 games rather than three to sell. Hopefully that should get more of us "in the door."

Glavine 2 R Hernandez 1 Green 1 Beltran .5 Williams .5

Game 5 will be Monday, October 9, in the evening (a 7:00 or 8:00 start). I also got tickets today...although I too suspect the game won't be necessary. Edit: Happy Birthday!

86-Dreamer wrote: just got tix to NLDS game 5 via the lottery. Row O of the mezzanine. does anyone know at what row the overhang starts to have a material effect on the view? Row O is the second to last row. The Mets designate rows N, O and P of the Mezzanine as the "Back Rows - Partially Obstructed" seating. Personally, I think adding Rows L and M to that category might be warranted. Don't mean to the a rain cloud on your parade. It's better to be in the building that watching at home.

It might've been different had so many starters not been injured. Having starting pitchers pitch in the 'pen seems to often be a result of having one too many starters on the roster and an expendable slot in the 'pen (hence Ishii/Zambrano in the pen last year, or Maine's outing from the 'pen this year).

Updating this again. The Mets have clinched Home-field Advantage for the first two rounds. NLDS Series 1- if the Phillies win the Wild Card and the Mets play a division winner Game 1 Tuesday, October 3, 4:00 if Central; 8:00 PM if West Game 2 Thursday, October 5, 8:00 PM Game 3 Saturday October 7 Game 4 Sunday, October 8 (if necessary) Game 5 Monday, October 9 (if necessary) Series 2 - if a team outside the East is the Wild Card winner, and therefore the Mets opponent Game 1 Wednesday, October 4, 7:00 PM Game 2 Thursday, October 5, 8:00 PM Game 3 Saturday October 7 Game 4 Sunday, October 8 (if necessary) Game 5 Monday, October 9 (if necessary) NLCS Game 1 Wednesday, October 11, 8:00 PM Game 2 Thursday, October 12, 8:00 PM Game 3 Saturday, October 14, 4:00 PM Game 4 Sunday, October 15, 7:30 PM Game 5 Monday, October 16, 8:00 PM (if necessary) Game 6 Wednesday, October 18, 4:00 PM/8:00 PM* (if necessary) Game 7 Thursday, October 19, 8:00 PM (if necessary) * 4:00 only if ALCS Game 7 is necessary. World Series Game 1 Saturday October 21, 7:30 PM Game 2 Sunday October 22, 7:30 PM Game 3 Tuesday, October 24, 8:00 PM Game 4 Wednesday, October 25, 8:00 PM Game 5 Thursday, October 26, 8:00 PM (if necessary) Game 6 Saturday, October 28, 7:30 PM (if necessary) Game 7 Sunday, October 29, 7:30 PM (if necessary)

Willets Point wrote: I like Mets v. Cards in the first round and Mets v. Phils in the NLCS. Means no late nights. Well, no late late nights. The road games against West Coast teams would probably be day games (and certainly not later than 8:00 EDT starts) as they're on Saturday and Sunday.

Out of all the baseball records -- 56, 2,632, 130, 110, etc. -- 511 is still the least likely to ever be broken. I think comparing Zito to Wood/Prior is a mistake however. Different pitching styles, different career paths, different ages.

Bumping this one back up now that it's not exactly premature. LOCKS Starting Pitchers 1. Pedro Martinez 2. Tom Glavine 3. Orlando Hernandez Relief Pitchers 4. Billy Wagner 5. Aaron Heilman 6. Guillermo Mota 7. Chad Bradford 8. Pedro Feliciano 9. Darren Oliver Catchers 10. Paul LoDuca Infielders 11. Carlos Delgado 12. Jose Valentin 13. David Wright 14. Jose Reyes 15. Julio Franco 16. Chris Woodward Outfielders 17. Carlos Beltran 18. Shawn Green 19. Endy Chavez SPOTS TO BE FILLED Backup Catcher 20. Ramon Castro, if healthy Mike DeFelice's .080 (2 for 25), with 10 Ks and 5 walks speaks for itself. He's 1-for-9 in throwing runners out and has 2 Errors in 75 Chances. Kelly Stinnett has been equally awful with the Mets (1 for 12), but he's 3-for-6 throwing runners out, 1 error in 41 chances. Stinnett's stats as the Yankee backup weren't quite so horrible (.228 in 79 ABs, 5 for 25 throwing runners out, 2 errors in 181 chances). He figures to have the slight edge in the event Castro can't go. Fourth Outfielder 21. Cliff Floyd Even despite the crappy numbers Floyd has posted in September, there doesn't appear to be a situation in which Floyd won't be on the roster. Among the remaining options (Milledge, Tucker, Ledee) he's at worst #2 defensively and still the best power threat. Chris Woodward can also play left and right without embarassing himself, hence fifth+ outfielders being moved to later discussion. Fourth Starter 22. ??? I think Trachsel's got the edge, based on seniority and what an inability (and/or unwillingness) to pitch relief innings. Trying to get through the first round of the playoffs without a fourth starter would require the starter of the second game to pitch the fifth game on three days rest. Given the age of the pitching staff, there's no pitcher who should be doing that. FILLING OUT THE ROSTER 23. Roberto Hernandez Roberto Hernandez' spot would've been a lock if not for the emergence of Mota. (Fun Mota fact: he's allowed exactly two runs as a Met this year. Solo homers by Alfonso Soriano and Ryan Howard.) That being said, Hernandez still looks to get a spot given the need for relief pitching created by starters only going 5-6 innings per game. John Maine could theoretically be considered for this spot, as a "second long man." 24. Lastings Milledge 25. Michael Tucker At least one more hitter is needed for the bench. Michael Tucker, Lastings Milledge (and Ricky Ledee) are in contention for at least one spot on the roster. Ledee (3 for 29 with the Mets) is clearly the #3 choice. Milledge provides a power threat and is the fastest of the three players. He's been hitting more too, raising his average and has been striking out less. He looks to be in over Tucker. Spot #25 brings back the 11 -or - 12 pitchers question. Given the short series, it seems to make more sense to have the extra bat. That spot may go to John Maine for a 12th pitcher in the LCS, assuming of course the Mets are playing in that round.

SteveJRogers wrote: Looks like Milledge has a shot at the postseason roster next week! That shouldn't come as a surprise. Wait, we might have had a thread about this already...

Wright 3 Chavez 1 Green 1 Milledge 1 Reyes 1 Woodward 1 Heilman 1 Ring 1

Bradford 1 Feliciano 1 Humber 1 Ring 1 Valentin 1

Yancy Street Gang wrote: They'll schedule the games when they think they'll get the most viewers/revenue. They won't care about the fans in the park. Right. But some things take precedence over that. The NYPD won't allow a playoff game starting at 10 PM.