MFS62

The best part was el Capitan had two brain farts that prolonged an inning and led to three Toronto runs. If he hadn't been making the players around him better, who knows how many runs it might have been? Later

Frayed Knot wrote: Closer Sean Doolittle's numbers are ridiculous (most notably his 50-1 K/BB ratio) I wonder if he had Angel Hernandez, who has been known to miss more than a few pitches, behind the plate in any of those games. Nice KTE. I like how they have built a lineup of players (we don't get to hear much about) that has power top to bottom. No great sluggers, but it seems almost all of them can jack one out. Later

seawolf17 wrote: Yes, BUT. If there's a team out there who thinks they can use him, it might make them give Sandy a call and offer a warm body for him, and then maybe you don't eat as much of the salary as you would if you just cut him. Why should another team give up anything for him if he is released? They can wait and pay just the pro-rated major league minimum and the Mets have to pick up the balance of his contract. If multiple teams want him, they bid against each other. The Mets would pay the difference between what he signs for and his contract with them. Later

I think I've posted this before, but Edgy jogged the memory. Enjoy, Later **************************************************************** I was thinking of the old days, before Monday Night Football, when the NBA and NHL had far fewer teams, and there was no need to schedule games on Monday nights. To fill the void in the Tuesday sports pages, baseball trades were always announced on Monday. I became so nostalgic for those simpler times that I felt a song coming on. Here it is, with sincerest apologies to the Mamas and the Papas. Monday Monday, my favorite day we would just know that the guy we need would come our way. On Monday Monday, our GMs worked to prove to us he was no bust or just a jerk. On Tuesday morning, Tuesday morning it was guaranteed our latest trade would be printed there for all to read. Every other day , every other day of the week went by as news of other sports just made us sigh - all of the time. (Crescendo) Monday Monday has changed today the news of sports is just the same as any day. But Tuesday mornings, Tuesday mornings I still look to see If we got that one key player like in my reverie.

Zvon wrote: The Mets hitting like a real MLB team frightens and confuses me. Think how confused the Fish must be, seeing Tejada batting three spots in the order higher than EYJ. Sometimes, messing with your opponent's head can work. Later

At least we won't have to see Rafael Fecal. Ever since he came up as a highly touted Braves' prospect, I haven't liked him one bit. Of course, the guy replacing him will have a big day. Later

Better question: Is Wright driving us crazy? Later

Edgy MD wrote: John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Yexion Ruiz, INF You're totally making guys up now. Edgy, I didn't intentionally make up Edioglis Villasmil when I adopted him. But I haven't read anything about where he is in the organization this year. So I may have been hallucinating. Later

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: By the way Conforto has signed a deal. We're going to the Cyclones game next Wednesday -- may see him there! Is there a link to that? I read that Conforto has Boras as an agent, so I won't be sure until I see a picture of the kid in a farm team uniform. Holding my breath. Later

The best hitter I saw since the days of Williams and Musial. He hit over .350 seven times and was hitting over .390 in a shortened year. Yesterday, one of the radio guys noted that, over a three year stretch, Tony never went more than eight at bats without getting a hit. RIP. Later

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I looked it up. Had no idea Mystery Pitcher had such a long and distinguished career. Me, too. Crimey! Who woulda' thunk it? Later

Can we please send the Wilpons to Montreal and keep the Mets here? Later

Next in a continuing series of Historic KTEs is the 1964 St. Louis Cardinals. (There was none last year because I could not bring myself to so honor the team that won the World Series in 1963.) This team brings a tear to the eye because they beat the MFYs for the title. Here�s a link to the story of that World Series: http://www.baseball-almanac.com/ws/yr1964ws.shtml The team was managed by Johnny Keane, and finished 93-69. I don�t recall why, but GM Bing Devine resigned on August 17th and was replaced by Bob Howsam. The team played home games in Sportsmans Park until 1966. Like many of the baseball parks of its era, it had a limited capacity (under 35,000), and was not equidistant to right (shorter) and left (deeper) fields. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sportsman%27s_Park Here were your 1964 St. Louis Cardinals: c Tim McCarver We all know Tim as an announcer, but he was an excellent offensive and defensive catcher. Lefty hitter, oblique thinker. Almost as good as he thought he was. 1b Bill White He had been forced to move to left field by some of the best hitting first basemen in the game (McCovey, Cepeda and Musial). But he finally was playing his best position and had an excellent career. He later became a Pioneer as a broadcaster and then American League President. Trivia - he became the first African-American to broadcast a hockey game (Philadelphia) and to do baseball play-by-play (MFYs). 2b Julian Javier When strength up the middle meant good defense, the double play combinations were key. And Javier gave his teams both good defense and decent (pre -steroid era) offense. 3b Ken Boyer The best of the baseball-playing Boyer clan to reach the majors. Almost as good a fielder as his brother Clete, he hit for both power and average. ss Dick Groat The ex-Duke basketball All American guard had the pleasure of beating the MFYs while playing for two different teams, four years apart. The best part of his game was at bat. In the field, he was starting to show his age and his limited range became more obvious. But he was smart, played position well, and handled most of what he could reach. Think almost as slow as Jeter. lf Lou Brock The Cards traded pitcher Ernie Broglio to the Cubs at the June 15th trading deadline for outfielder Lou Brock. A lefty hitter, he was known for his baserunning, but was one of three players to hit a home run into the centerfield bleachers at the Polo Grounds. cf Curt Flood One of the best fielding center fielders in the game. Later started the landmark lawsuit against major league baseball that challenged the reserve clause and ultimately led to free agency. A good hitter, he may be what Juan Lagares can one day become. rf Mike Shannon He was nicknamed �The Cannon� because of his strong arm. Always seemed to get a back breaking hit against the Mets. He had excellent power. Later in his career, he moved to third base, which pissed me off even more because of how long it took the Mets franchise to finally find a competent third baseman. of Reserve outfielders of note were Bob Skinner, who had been a teammate of Groat on the 1960 World series winning team and Johnny Lewis, who later played for the Mets. Skinner was a pinch hitter supreme and Lewis was the first widower we knew of to play major league baseball. Lewis was a good defender. inf Reserve infielders of note were Phil Gaglano, who later became a semi-regular second baseman, Dal Maxvill, who later became a good field no hit regular shortstop, Ed Spezio who became a good hit, bad field, corner infielder, and even Joe Morgan for a few games. The Cardinals had a well rounded and balanced pitching staff. SP Bob Gibson The Hall of Fame righty threw hard and pitched with a mean streak. He treated opposing batters like they were a wild animal attacking his kids. He didn�t like to be taken out of games. According to Joe Garagiola, Bob was in trouble late in a game. McCarver started walking to the mound. Gibson looked at him and said,�The only thing you know about pitching is that you can�t hit it. Now get back behind the plate.� He struck out the next batter to get out of the inning. One of the few about whom it is said, �If I had to win one game, I�d want him pitching for me�. Curt Simmons Started out his career as a hard throwing lefty. Developed into more of a pitcher as he matured. Solid #2 starter who could have been #1 for many other teams. Ray Sadecki Yeah, him. Ray Sadrecki. Later a Met. The UMDB can fill in the blanks. Ernie Broglio Curve ball throwing righty pitcher. As mentioned before, Broglio was traded to the Cubs for Lou Brock. MP When Broglio was traded, several pitchers took up the slack, including original Met righty Roger Craig, lefty screw-ball pitcher Mike Cuellar (later a 20 game winner with the Orioles), 19 year old first year righty Nelson Briles and Ron Taylor (later a reliever on the Mets in the late 60s and after that a Medical Doctor in his native Canada). RP The relief staff was very ecclectic. It was led by knuckleballer Barney Schultz. Let me repeat that. The closer threw a knuckleball. Hoyt Wilhelm had been used in that role with good success only a few years earlier in Baltimore. It was a tribute to the defensive skills of Tim McCarver that he was entrusted to catch the unpredictable pitch without using one of the oversized mitts that had been developed by Paul Richards for catching Wilhelm. The lefty in the pen was Gordon (Gordie) Richardson. He was later traded to the Mets, along with Johnny Lewis for infielder Elio Chacon and righty pitcher Tracy Stallard. Sharing bullpen chores were righty Ray Washburn, who would later go on to become a good starter and Bobby Shantz, at the end of his career as a good lefty starter. Trivia: The Cards had three first year players. In those days, you could only keep two first year players. One had to stay with the major league team and one could be optioned to the minors. I mentioned Briles. Who were the other two? The one they optioned was Steve Carlton. Who else did they chose to keep? The immortal, pitcher, Dave Bakenhaster. When it comes to pitching ability, this may be the only way Dave will be mentioned in the same breath as the other two. I think it was the last time the Cardinals made a mistake about a player. Here are the statistics: http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/STL/1964.shtml Later

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Is it uncommon for a pitcher to leave the game after the seventh inning? Sorry. I meant after seven pitches! Now you see my concern. Still no word. Later

Pitching for Las Vegas tonight, Montero left the game after throwing seven pitches. No reason available yet. TDA hit his 4th home run since being sent down, and is hitting .417. Later

Back at Las Vegas, he pitched seven innings tonight and left the game. No word on why. Later

metsmarathon wrote: oh, c'mon. his 16.6 yankee WAR is more than lenny dykstra's 16.5 metly WAR. that's the stuff of legends right there. Close. Were they on the same dosage? Later

Saw all of the pre- Court Jester movies. The only later efforts I remember seeing and liking were Me and the Colonel and Pinocchio. He was quite a talent. They don't make 'em like that any more. Later

There is nothing better than a bad made-for-tv Sci-Fi channel movie*. And the original Sharknado was one of the most painfully best. I can hardly wait. Later *= I think all of them star Michael Madsen.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: The people who were around during Bill Skowron's generation could have given him a plaque, but didn't. Plaques and monuments were reserved for the truly greats in the history of the team. But now that a player like Tino is getting one, it is cheapening the honor. I just used Moose for comparison purposes. He shouldn't get one, either. Later

The Yanks are going to hold a Tino Martinez Day, and put up a plaque in his honor. Here are his stats: http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/martiti02.shtml Do they have one for Bill Skowron? http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/s/skowrbi01.shtml I doubt it. Yet he played on lots of World Championships, too, played more years, and had a higher OBS+. Its the ESPN mentality. Unless something happened while they were in business, it didn't happen. How soon they forget. Later

NEW YORK -- Zach Lutz is headed to Japan to play for the Rakuten Eagles, a sources told ESPNNewYork.com. The 28-year-old third baseman was hitting .291 with seven homers and 37 RBIs in 227 at-bats with Triple-A Las Vegas this season. He appeared in 22 games for the Mets in 2012 and '13, producing a combined .226 average and two RBIs in 31 at-bats. Have fun kid. You'll always be welcome to stop in for dinner next time you're in town. Best of luck. Later

My main memory was how proud I was when my kid made it to the majors. I wish him the best of everything over there. Zach, don't forget to write. We still love you. This opens up a roster spot for the anticipated PTBNL from the Ike deal. Later

Not getting too giddy, they only got five hits. But it was nice to get them when they counted. I'll take it. Good game. LAter

Rice started to wave good bye and his arm dropped off. Later