MFS62

In an interview with Ed Coleman before the game, Mike Francessa noticed that Lastings would be starting in left field and wondered why he wasn't out there learning to "play the wall". How prophetic. Gotta' give Mike some props on this one. Later

Interesting. I wish him well. I saw him on ESPN earlier that day and noticed that he semed to be hesitating/stammering more than usual and wondered if something was wrong with him. No, I'm not a Doctor, but I have stayed at a Holiday Inn Express. Later

Yancy, 6 IP with 3 or fewer runs is what I've seen as the accepted definition for a quality start. Given a 5 man rotation, that works out to about 32 starts each. I'd want the nos. 1 and 2 to produce 25 or more, a decent number 3 to earn 20+ and would want 15 or more from the others. And I'd want more than just 6 innings from the 1 and 2. Later

Sigourney Weaver as the boss in Working Girl. She had been carrying on an affair with Harrison Ford. Any woman would probably tell you that you can't get more erotic than that. Later

I believe Gehrig38 was the screen name of Curt Schilling when he participated in a strat league on the Dickie Thon Fan Club site (the one that spun off the SOSH) last year. That could be him. Later

Beltran 2 Bell 2 Delgado 1 Marrero 1 Later

Jae Seo moving on again. This time to Tampa. http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060627&content_id=1525661&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb Later

I asked a friend of mine, a longtime Red Sox fan (he posted on FASTBALL as "Still Cursing Bucky") what he would do. Here is his reply as he said he posted on SOSH. Later ]I just can't imagine booing Pedro. I know some will, but when the hamster comes off the wheel inside some folks heads, what can you do? Those six no-hit innings in Cleveland in '99 meant I got to go to one last game with my Dad, for that I'm eternally grateful. And seven shutout innings in St. Louis in 2004 mean my son never has to be sad that his old man never saw them win one. And the 17K game in Yankee stadium is the best game any of us will ever see pitched. Five K's in 2 IP in the '99 All-Star Game, with all five victims at least borderline HOF candidates. And on and on it goes - the brightest peak any pitcher ever had happened while Pedro Martinez pitched for the Sox - anything less than the biggest ovation a visiting player at Fenway has ever received would be bush league, IMO. If I wasn't so goddam broke right now - I'd happily shell out the several hundred bucks it'd take to get an obstructed view ticket for this on e-bay. [/unapologetically slobbering fanboy]

Thanks. Boston fans usually stand up and salute when Ryan speaks. It will be interesting to see (hear?) what happens. Later

metirish wrote: I like Kruk, it took me a while to like him but IMO he's honest and straight forward. Come to think of it, he's far better/ more interesting than Harold Reynolds, Rick Sutcliffe and Joe Morgan - just to name some other ESPN-ers. Later

Maybe not an exact quote, but a pretty close paraphrase. On Baseball Tonight they were talking about that minor league manager's meltdown. Steve said he should be fired and that it's his responsibility to lead by example and develop; that they should learn to be professional. John Kruk said something like "Please, and with dummies like you giving them $2 million?" Imagine, John Kruk calling someone else a dummy. Later

I was in Boston on buisness a few years ago. It was the year the Celtics moved from the Boston Garden to the Fleet Center. I called WEEI to say how much the "Grand Old Lady" would be missed and to talk about some memories of games I'd seen televised from that place.. The host listened appreciatively. But when I mentioned that I was from New York, he treated me like I had leprosy and quickly cut me off. They are very parochial about their sports on that station. I think the Boston fans I've met were usually more willing to discuss sports in general with you (beyond their local teams). Later

Frayed Knot wrote: Plus there are unconfirmed reports that many of the paper ballots tested positive for 'Iron City Beer' And both Wilson and Bay have been spotted wearing their motorcycle helmets in the on-deck circle. Later

SteveJRogers wrote: By the way, speaking of 86, apparantly they are honoring the 20th anniversary of the 1986 American League Champions. No idea if Bill Buckner is on the invite list I heard that Bill Buckner will not be in attendance. Don't know if he was invited. Later

Willets Point wrote: Where's Jimmy the Greek when you need him to explain the eugenics behind this. He'd probably say that the Canadian kids can't swim because the water up there is always frozen. Later

Here's a "reverse". A try at a KTE found on the Sons of Sam Horn site about the Mets: http://sonsofsamhorn.net/index.php?showtopic=6453 Willets, yours was better. Much better. Later

Did it win the Trophy for you? Later

Fun KTE. Good Job. The most un-fun of fact of all is about Trot Nixon. If he: judges Captain Clutch's fly ball properly, then takes the correct route to it, rather than spinning like a top; and then catches it, then: The Yanks don't score Pedro smokes the victory cigar after leaving the game with a 5-2 lead the Sox knock the Yanks out of the playoffs The Sox don't change managers yadda yadda yadda (the proper usage - three yaddas). And with that, the SOSH agreed after that fateful series. They didn't blame "The Curse" They didn't blame Pedro They didn't blame the manager They didn't blame the relievers. Many of them blamed Trot for turning BoSox victory into Yankee victory. And for that reason, he must be the one Sox player Mets fans must revile. Forever. Later

Think you've got a "keeper" there, Doc. You did well. Nice stories. Later

Bingo! The man who had more of his words printed in the Sporting News than any other writer. He worte the first dozen or so weekly articles about the Mets before their first season. Later

Johnny Dickshot wrote: If I know, may I still guess? B.K. -- A decent chronicaler for the "paper of record" but not much of an investigator. Nope. Right paper (I think) wrong person. EDIT: He wrote for another NY paper or two (that don't exist any more). Later

Furman Bisher, Gordon Cobledick, Shirley Povich - some really historic baseball writers in those days. Anyone remember who the first writer was to cover the Mets for TSN? Hint: He had been a longtime Yankee writer. Guesses? Later

Willets Point wrote: Boston in this sense is a collective noun - a team of 25 men or a city of 600,000. It's not a single thing, hence the plural verb. I understood your usage. It just struck me how different that is compared to the way we usually see that written in the papers. We usually see Red Sox (for some reason considered a plural, although the name of a single team) associated with a plural verb. To follow up on Elster's examples, I've almost exclusively seen: The Red Sox have only won one championship or Boston has only won one championship. Your usage jumped off the page as being different. Doesn't mean I said it was wrong. Later

Some of Randy Johnson's career numbers against Atlanta: 10.40 K/gm, 1.15 WHIP, 5.03 ERA (68.0 IP) You'd think that with a WHIP like that, his ERA would be much lower. Sounds like he has either had a case of gopheritis against them or a few really bad outings. Later

Willets Point wrote: Do you have contrary evidence that the Red Sox have won the AL East championship anytime in the last decade? It seems to me its been Yankees every year but 1997 when it was the Orioles. Perhaps you've forgotten about the wild card. I want the Red Sox to win the division. I want the Yankees to go home. Wasn't commenting on your baseball knowledge. I just found it funny that you used the plural "haven't" with the singular "Boston" like they do when describing soccer sides. That's all. Later