Gwreck

With off days this and next Monday, the Mets have some options as to how to structure the rotation. Following this weekend's series with the Brewers, the rotation sets up like this: Mon 5/15 OFF Tue 5/16 Glavine at STL Wed 5/17 Trachsel at STL Thu 5/18 at STL Fri 5/19 vs NYY Sat 5/20 vs NYY Sun 5/21 Glavine vs NYY Mon 5/22 OFF Pedro could pitch on either Friday (4 days rest) or Saturday (5 days). The Yankees have no off-days between now and that series, so we can determine that they'll be starting Johnson/Mussina/Chacon. I'm not sure what the Mets are going to do, but I'm not exactly thrilled by the idea of Lima pitching against the Cardinals and Gonzalez against the Yankees.

C'mon Kaz!!

Reyes walks to start the 9th. RALLY TIME!

soupcan wrote: All-Star Game - The ONLY time the DH makes sense to use and they DON'T use it. Its crap. I'm a bit of an all-star-game apologist, but this comment I found strange. I would think the pinch-hitters would allow more players to be used, therefore allowing more of the starters/best players out on the field longer.

metirish wrote: ]Am I missing the SC here? Of course you are not missing it, I hate the guy. Oh well, a good Friday afternoon rant is always relaxing.

metirish wrote: Best part about the All-Star weekend is Chris Berman doinf his thing during the home run derby, he's such a pro, the way he can make up names for the players on the fly is just amazing, the rest is bullshit. Am I missing the SC here? Berman has devolved in to a terrible announcer and a cariacture. The names were funny 15 years ago, not so much anymore. Berman's home run call is terrible, particularly considering that he's on TV. Attention Chris: yelling "Back, back, back" when the ball's flight is well past the top of its arc and on the way down into the seats is both pointless and annoying. Multiply that times 200 for the homerun derby and I want to puncture my own eardrums.

="metsmarathon"]see, if i choose to award ten points for each and every game, i think that's my right as a schaeffer voter. the total of my points that i give out should not be subject to scrutiny, however i agree that the distribution of those points should be subject to debate and question. Didn't mean to suggest that wasn't your right. I thought discussion of how many points to award though was as important as who got them. ="TransMonk"]I think we're all fairly intelligent baseball fans...Schaefer could be more fun, if posters didn't feel they had to justify their votes. Didn't mean to try to take away people's fun. I did think the whole point of the board was to discuss stuff. I think that includes having some sort of basis for opinions/voting/etc.

Castro .75 (and that's it). I think the switch to "as many or as few" points as you want is a good one. This game had basically nobody worthy of points. Giving out 3 or 4 or 5 points when nobody did crap devalues the times when players actually do help the team win.

Wow, there's a whole lot of beer being thrown around after the rain-shortened loss to the Phillies. Way, way too many points being awarded, considering that we lost, Trachsel pitched OK but not well (2 runs in 4 innings) and we had 2 hits in 5 innings! I don't see how that could be worth anything more than 2 points for the whole team (at the VERY most generous).

Diamond Dad wrote: What's the best catch you've ever seen with your own eyes? Milt Cuyler of the Detroit Tigers against the Twins in July '91. It was the top of the 1st. Back then the Tigers were pretty good and Cecil was putting up MVP-type numbers. Jack Morris was pitching for the Twins. Can't remember the Tiger starter. Cuyler was a real speedster who couldn't hit much but covered as much ground (and in Tiger Stadium -- that was a lot) as fast as I've seen anyone on that sort of play, then dove with full extension to make a spectacular catch. To add injury to insult, Cuyler lined a ball off Morris' shin the next inning for a single, knocking Morris out of the game.

KNOW THY ENEMY: Milwaukee Brewers Brewers 2006: The Brewers, the fashionable pick for a sleeper playoff contender in the NL this year have struggled to keep pace in the strong NL central. They are currently 17-18, in 4th place, 6 games back of the Reds. The Brew Crew started the season hot but have been inconsistent of late. They've lost most of the time when facing good teams (1-3 vs. Cincinnati, 2-4 vs. Houston, 1-2 vs. St. Louis, 1-2 vs. Mets) They have an 11-6 record at home. Previous Matchup: The Mets took 2 of 3 from the Brewers in a mid-April series. Since the Brewers entered the National League in 1998, the Mets hold a 40-21 record against them. Past Week: Brewers return home after a tough West Coast roadtrip. They were swept by the Dodgers and dropped 2 of 3 to the Padres, their only win coming in extra innings (although they did beat Trevor Hoffman to get it). Brewers Lineup: These guys can hit. Brewers are 3rd in the league in batting average; 2nd in OPS and 1st in Home Runs. They're also 1st in strikeouts. C - Damian Miller, having a pretty good season so far (2-16-.322). 15 of his 28 hits have been for extra bases. 1B - Prince Fielder, mashing, 5-18-.313, with an .863 OPS, although he does strike out a fair clip. Still an early favorite for ROY. 2B - Rickie Weeks has a lot of potential (2nd season in majors) but isn't putting it together quite yet. Batting .275 (OBP .365) with 8 steals, but has a K:BB ratio of more than 3:1. Not so hot with the glove -- leading the team with 10 errors. 3B - Corey Koskie platoons with Bill Hall at third, but with 3 right-handed Mets starters, we'll see a lot of Koskie this weekend. 3-9-.295 isn't too bad for platoon numbers. SS - JJ Hardy has a good glove, but the hitting is still coming around in his second year in the majors. 5-14-.244 LF - Carlos Lee was great last year, playing 162 games and hitting 32-114-.265. Still, it must suck pretty badly to have your former team win the World Series the year after you were traded away for not being a part of the team's future. Carlos has responded by starting this year 15-30-.292. Defense is a little suspect. CF - Brady Clark has had a rough start to the season (.226) and has been dropped in the order as a result. RF - Geoff Jenkins, still a dangerous power hitter, still strikes out a ton. 5-16-.268 so far this year. Bench: The Brewers have a good (but small) bench. Bill Hall starts at third against lefties, and has also gotten 7 starts at shortstop and 2 in the outfield. Brewers try to get him playing time whenever they can; he's hitting 7-15-.292 (.980 OPS). Gabe Gross, backup outfielder, is the lefty bat of the bench. 4-11-.256. Jeff Cirillo, hitting .355, is primarily a pinch-hitter at this point. Chad Moeller, backup catcher who can't hit. Might start Sunday. Bullpen: Deep pen, with the Brewers carrying 13 pitchers. Sharp drop-off in quality after the primary relievers. Closer Derrick Turnbow ® has but his testing-positive-for-steroids incident behind him and developed into a very good closer last year. He's 11-for-11 Saving games this year, 1.38 ERA, 14Ks in 13 innings. Jose Capellan ® is one of the primary set-up men. 4.50 ERA is skewed by two bad outings at the beginning of the year. WHIP is 0.94. Much tougher against righties than lefties. Dan Kolb ® was the Brewers closer who went to Atlanta and couldn't cut it there as a closer. He's back in Milwaukee and has been very effective when healthy. Missed some action with elbow trouble earlier in the season. Jorge De La Rosa is the only lefty in the pen. His ERA is 8.71 with a WHIP approaching 2.00. With the exception of Chris Demaria ®, a recent call-up, the rest of the pen staff has ERAs over 7.00. Pitching Matchups: Friday: Jose Lima vs. Dave Bush ® 2-4, 4.13 ERA Bush is an innings-eater type that throws a lot of strikes. 4 pitches - 4 (93 mph) and 2 seam fastballs, curve and change. Lots of balls hit into play, not many walks. Is somewhat susceptible to the longball. Huge difference in the home/road splits: 2-1, 1.13 at home; 0-3, 7.13 on the road. Bush has never faced the Mets before and no Met batter has ever faced him. Saturday: Jeremi Gonzalez vs. Dana Eveland (L) (just called up). Eveland is taking Ben Sheets' spot in the rotation. He is only 22, and a pretty big guy - 6'1" 250 lbs. He had good numbers in AA as a starter in 2005, but got knocked around pretty good when he was promoted mid-season direct to the majors, where he was used only in relief. He began 2006 with his first try at AAA and was lights-out (3-1, 0.75 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, 33 K in 36 innings). He starts on 3 days rest (70 pitches on Tuesday). Saturday is Turnbow bobblehead night and the Brewers are expecting a sellout. Sunday: Pedro Martinez vs. Doug Davis (L) 2-2, 5.32 ERA Davis throws a fastball (85-90 range), cutter, curve, and change. The change and curveball are good out pitches for him. He struck out a lot of batters last year but isn't repeating that this year. Walks have really hurt him and he's been walking a ton of batters this year. Key for the Mets will be some plate discipline. Davis hasn't faced the Mets this year; he was pounded both times he saw the Mets last year (although it was Piazza and Cameron who did a lot of that damage, with 5 HRs.) The special bat will be out on Sunday with Brewers Bill Hall (look for him to start) and Prince Fielder swinging the pink lumber. Also on Sundays, the Brewers have taken to wearing their "retro" 1980s-style uniforms with the "MB-as-baseball-in-glove" logo on their hats. Who's Hot: Damian Miller is on a 7 game hitting streak over which he's been hitting .375. Carlos Lee is also on a 7 game hitting streak. Derrick Turnbow is 11-for-11 in save opportunities and has allowed run(s) in only 2 of his 13 outings this year. Who's Not: Prince Fielder is batting .222 with one homer and 4 RBI over his last 10 games. Who's Hurt: Ben Sheets was disabled on Wendesday with right shoulder tendinitis. 15-day DL. Tomo Ohka's out with a partial rotator cuff tear. Prince Fielder sat out a game earlier in the week with a sore groin but appears to be fine. Ex-Met Factor: Brady Clark was acquired in the deal that sent Shawn Estes to Cincinnati in 2002. Given the chance to play everyday and lead off, Clark made the Mets possibly regret losing him on waivers to the Brewers after the '02 season, having a very good 2005 season (13 HR, 56 RBI, .306). Not so much this year. He's hitting .229 and has been dropped to the #8 spot in the order. Ex-Brewer Factor: Jose Valentin played his first 8 seasons with the Brewers (1992-1999). Julio Franco played the '97 season in Milwaukee. Weather: Domed stadium, a good thing because there'll be lots of rain in Milwaukee this weekend. Miscellaneous: With the return of baseball games to Miller Park, the Polish and the Hot Dog will have an opportunity to make up ground in the standings. Inexpeicably, despite having the smallest hats (as opposed to the larger hats on the Italian and the Bratwurst) -- and therefore least wind drag on the costume -- the Polish and Hot Dog only have 3 wins combined. Miller Park Sausage Race Standings: SausageWinsGBItalian8 Wins--Bratwurst6 Wins2Hot Dog2 Wins6Polish1 Win7

DocTee wrote: ]Matsui the MFY one is to have surgery tomorrow morning on his wrist, he fractured it in the first inning tonight Bye bye consecutive games played streak-- who's the active leader now? Miguel Tejada, and his streak started before Matui's did (unless you count Matsui's games from Japan).

Was Nady's ball going out? Howie Rose says "one of the best catches you'll see all year."

KC wrote: I'm not at the tv, but I think I heard from the other room that the tarp is still on? True. No rain falling though -- I don't understand. It's probably going to take at least 2 hours for the rain to get there, rain, and pass. No sense waiting for that.

Weather update: Looks like the game will be played but a rain delay looks likely. Strange that there'd be a night game when both teams are traveling after the game.

Perhaps the idea is that if Floyd hits #2, he'll get better pitches to hit, with Beltran, Delgado and Wright behind him? It's certainly more imagination that we've seen Randolph have in a while, I think.

Rotblatt wrote: ="Willets Point"]First game after Johnny loses I want Gwreck in there. I disagree. We need more stats--who has the best record after a loss? That's the person who should be our designated stopper. Sample size a little too small for meaningful statistics. I did notice that SteveJRogers declared a "must win series" against the Braves, started the IGT for the first game and victory followed. mlbaseballtalk also declared the start of a turnaround after a 2-game losing streak, started the IGT vs. the Giants (another victory).

Centerfield wrote: Starting IGT's, like the save rule, should take into account degree of difficulty. It's one thing to get fat on Florida/Nationals games. It's another to start a St. Louis IGT. Very true. Also, gotta consider whether it's a lot of Pedro/Glavine starts or "other pitchers" starts...

Edgy DC wrote: Gwreck is aggresive, but has the game to back it up. I was surprised that it was that many. Anyway, what with the new system (it's a good idea) I won't be posting for a while.

="abogdan"]I'm assuming that someone will, of course, be keeping track of all IGT thread starter records. That way we know who to go to in the middle of a losing streak. Wasn't before, but I'm really bored today. Currently leading our standings is KC... IGT StarterWLPCTKC301.000A Boy Named Seo101.000Edgy DC101.000Johnny Dickshot101.000OlerudOwned101.000Rotblatt101.000Gwreck81.888Elster8821.667Metirish11.500mlbaseballtalk11.500nymr8311.500SteveJRogers11.500abogdan01.000duan01.000ScarletKnight4101.000WilletsPoint02.000

Glavine - 5 Lo Duca - 1.25 Reyes - 1.25 Beltran - 1.25 Delgado - .5 Nady - .5 Wright .25

Edgy DC wrote: He can probably get enough at-bats backing up at second third and short for the Mets if they have room for him. He's certainly useful as such. You think so? I see those as Chris Woodward's at-bats.

="Nymr83"]Hernandez is too young (i'd put the cutoff around 27 but it could be higher or lower) to be sitting on the bench, he needs to play every day and if that won't be here it should be at AAA, the player and the mets are both better off in the long run if he is getting regular ABs in. If he's getting regular ABs in Norfolk, that's coming at the expense of Jeff Keppinger. Do we want that??

Mid-inning OOTS update: David Ortiz hits 2-run HR, Lowell HR, Boston up 3-0 against MFYs, T2nd. Chris Berman still has a terrible home run call. Albert Pujols hits HR #19. Wouldn't it be great what with all the Bonds nonsense this year Pujols breaks the record of 73?

Anderson Hernandez was 1-5 at St. Lucie yesterday and is playing for Norfolk tonight.