Gwreck

Interesting choices. With that set of pitchers, you have to hope that nobody gets shelled or hurt, because there's no Maine or Oliver as a long man.

Neyer's formula doesn't account for blown saves. I think that's a flaw right there, especially given that blown saves can sometimes turn into victories. Regardless of that -- Saves seem to be overvalued in his "predictor". In the last 25 years -- 50 Cy Young Awards awarded -- only 6 relievers have won: Eric Gagne, LA 2003 Dennis Eckersley, OAK 1992 Mark Davis, SD 1989 Steve Bedrosian MIN 1987 Willie Hernandez DET 1984 Rollie Fingers MIL 1981

="ScarletKnight41"]only to lose the game 6-5 in the bottom of the inning. On a walk-off wild pitch.

It's real easy to vote for 8 or 9 but much harder to pick the pitchers. To cooby (who said 9) and the voter for 8 -- who would you pick?

Rotblatt wrote: I went with 11. At this point, I'd start Maine before Trachsel, although I'd still carry Trachs in case we needed an emergency start (say, we ended up using El Duque in an extra inning game, etc.). S: Petey, Glavine, Hernandez, Maine R: Wagner, Heilman, Bradford, Feliciano, Robo, Mota, Oliver, Trachsel This list has 12, not 11. I think they take 11 in every round, simply because the starters can't be expected to go more than 5-7 innings each game. My pick would be to take Maine as a starter. Trachsel would be left off the roster. Sad but necessary. If I wasn't allowed to remove Trachsel, I'd put Maine in the 'pen and leave off R. Hernandez.

It was a fun night at the House of Evil. It was my fourth (?) game there in as many years and I thought for the first time I would actually see Rivera, the Sandman entrance and the whole deal. Just to compare it, y'know? Save situation...no Rivera...Craig Monroe 3-run Homer. Much goodness.

Wright 3 Trachsel 2 Reyes 2 Beltran 1 Green 1 Delgado 1

Maine 3 Delgado 1.5 LoDuca 1.5 Chavez 1 Green 1 Reyes 1 Wright 1

Mets Reyes SS LoDuca C Beltran CF Delgado 1B Wright 3B Green RF Valentin 2B Chavez LF Trachsel P Rockies Kazuo Matsui 2B Todd Helton 1B Garrett Atkins 3B Matt Holliday LF Brad Hawpe RF Yorvit Torrealba C Cory Sullivan CF Clint Barmes SS Byung-Hyun Kim

Change for the Houston series -- we miss Pettitte too. at Houston Fri:Tom Glavine vs. Wandy Rodriguez Sat: Oliver Perez/El Duque vs. Jason Hirsh Sun: John Maine vs. Roy Oswalt

metirish wrote: A-Rod just struck out in his first AB today,that's eight strikes outs in this series so far,four friday night and three yesterday. Fixed it for you.

Delgado 2.5 Beltran 2 Green 2 Chavez 1 Woodward 1 Oliver .5 Feliciano .5 Mota .5

vs. Philadelphia Sunday (tomorrow): John Maine vs. new Phillie Jamie Moyer at Colorado Tue: Steve Trachsel vs. Byung-Hyung Kim Wed: Dave Williams vs. Josh Fogg Thu: El Duque/Oliver Perez vs. Jeff Francis at Houston Fri:Tom Glavine vs. Andy Pettite Sat: Oliver Perez/El Duque vs. Jason Hirsh Sun: John Maine vs. Roy Oswalt

20 for the Mets to win the division. 16 for the Braves to be eliminated from potentially winning the division.

Edit: redundant.

="Edgy DC"]If this lead holds up, Pedro Felicano --- the world's only three-time Met --- will go to 6-2, 1.92. Can I get a wow? I do believe Mr. Feliciano has been quietly putting himself into the running for "Most Pleasant Surprise of 2006" along with Mssrs. Valentin, Oliver and Chavez.

Badump for the 4-4 with 2 RBI.

Philadelphia Phillies Jimmy Rollins SS Shane Victorino CF Chase Utley 2B Ryan Howard 1B Pat Burrell LF Jose Hernandez RF Chris Coste C Abraham Nunez 3B Jon Lieber P New York Mets Reyes SS LoDuca C Beltran CF Delgado 1B Wright 3B Green RF Valentin 2B Chavez LF Oliver Perez P

797.

The Bannister/Perez flip happens, still leaving us with 13 pitchers on the roster.

Update, from the Notes colum on Mets.com: ]The manager expects Castro back by the end of September.

Johnny Dickshot wrote: Yup (c). It's gotta be looked at in the context of the game: Bannister had an awful first inning, gave up a HR to Howard, which certainly isnt a crime, but importantly pitched cleanly for 3 innings after that and left his mates with every chance to win it. I'm tempted to agree, except that perhaps lets him off the hook a little too much. A hiccup here or there isn't going to render him beerless -- ie. the bad first inning followed by a solid 4-5 wouldn't be a problem. Nor would a big homer to otherwise mar a good outing. It felt like a little too much to be beer-worthy. ]I think most voters are too lazy with point distribution anyhow, particularly in losses-- just watch as guys like Woodward go beerless tonight despite having reached base twice and made a nice defensive play: In a one-run game where the team managed only 11 baserunners, shouldn't that deserve something? It's an interesting philosophical question. I don't know if everybody's lazy because it's a loss, although I know there are times when I don't feel like awarding points. That being said, if there's a 10 point maximum on wins, it often lowers the scores of worthy contributors. Last Tuesday's game versus the Cardinals, Beltran deserved more than he got for that walk-off HR, but Delgado had a big night, plus LoDuca had 3 hits -- plus there were four worthy relievers. So how do we combat this? By not awarding as many points in the losses. Sure, Woodward's 1-3 was OK, but we can't overlook the fact that he couldn't get a ball out of the infield when it mattered, either. The catch was great, but it saved a single when there was nobody on. Nice game, but in a loss it's tough to award beer. I worry sometimes that point totals can be inflated based on doing well in losses. Call it the Darren Oliver effect.

Frayed Knot wrote: Of course Willie was quoted as saying that it hardly matters since he's likely to go everyday with the main guy anyway during the playoffs. Still rather have Ramon off the bench to swing a bat in a pinch even if that's all he does. Willie is showing some serious ineptitude again with bench management. If he's going everyday with LoDuca, it'd be nice to have a backup who can pinch-hit.

It was Hispanic Heritage Night at Shea, so they played some nice video tributes to Julio Franco (set to Bob Dylan, Forever Young), Carlos Delgado, Pedro. Endy was also featured on "The Team, The Time, The Profile." Sweet Caroline was back in the 8th inning. I'm going to have to write my complaint letter. "Rally Time!" was featured before the bottom of the 9th with the Curly Shuffle again.

Beltran 4 Feliciano 1.33 LoDuca 1 Bradford .67 Heilman 1 Two (?) points (see above) for Bannister when he didn't even turn in a quality start?