HahnSolo

Larry Jones the 19 year guy that debuted September 1993. Oe: Zoinks!

Lots of variables to think about while rewriting history during a business meeting. One thing I absolutely meant to include but forgot is that the losing pitcher of game 4 1973 was in fact George Stone, as Yogi opted to give his starters an extra day with a 2-1 series lead.

In 1966, the Mets as expected take Reggie Jackson with the first pick in the amateur draft. Picking number 2, the Athletics bypass highly regarded HS catcher Steve Chilcott and instead draft lefty pitcher Ken Brett. In 1967, three picks after the Mets draft Jon Matlack to bolster their pitching staff, the A’s decide against another lefty first-rounder, opting to draft HS catcher Ted Simmons rather than hurler Brian Bickerton. Reggie is rushed through the minors and is starting in Right Field on opening day 1968, forming a formidable outfield along with Cleon Jones and Tommie Agee. Reggie struggles at the plate with major league pitching, but forms a bond with manager Gil Hodges and goofy first base coach Yogi Berra. He plays hard and no one has a bad thing to say about him. Reggie finishes third in the NL ROY race behind Johnny Bench and teammate Jerry Koosman. By 1969 Reggie starts to become Reggie. A midsummer series at Wrigley where Reggie homers in each game marks a turnaround to the Mets season. Following the game Jack Lang tells him that he should expect a great ovation his next game at Shea. “New York loves you. They’ll probably name a candy bar after you.” The Mets now have legitimate MVP and Cy Young candidates and they push past the Cubs to win the NL East. With Jones, Agee, Clendenon (acquired from the Pirates after long-time Met Ed Kranepool was lost for the season after a clubhouse confrontation. Speculation centered on Jackson as the locker-room rabble-rouser, but Hodges kept a lid on it and once Clendenon started hitting HRs the fans forgot about it), and Reggie, the Mets had a scary offense. After sweeping through the Braves, the Mets faced the powerhouse Orioles. The Mets won in five games, including the memorable game 4. Seaver went 12 innings giving up just one run, on a Brooks Robinson single to right in the ninth that Reggie couldn’t make a play on (Dick Young was heard to have complained after that play, “Swoboda or Shamsky would have had it”, a statement that generated quite a few eyerolls from the other scribes). But Reggie got the last word, with a walk-off homer in the 12th off the auxiliary scoreboard in right. In ensuing years Reggie continued to play like an MVP and it was clear that the Mets had two potential Hall of Famers in their midst. But they could only re-capture the 1969 magic once more, with a second-half rally to win the NL East in 1973. The Mets beat the defending World Champion Reds in four games, after Pete Rose homered in extra innings to take the lead in game 4, but Reggie’s two-run shot in the bottom of the inning sent the Mets to their second World Series in five years. As the crowd stormed the field, rousing chants of “Reggie, Reggie…” echoed throughout Shea. With the NLCS ending in four games, it set the Mets up to have Seaver start World Series game 1. He topped Ken Holtzman in game 1, but Vida Blue outdueled Matlack in game 2, despite a moonshot homer from Reggie. A gem by Koosman gave the Mets a 2-1 series lead, but game four was a four-hitter for Ken Brett to bring the A’s even. Ted Simmons continued his hot hitting with two homers to pace the A’s. Seaver won game five at Shea, and the Mets clinched their second World Series championship in game six, as Matlack outdueled Blue and Reggie hit his third homer of the series in the fifth for the deciding runs. Yogi signed a long-term deal to manage the Mets, but as the losses mounted in 1975 and 1976, whispers became screams about clubhouse discontent. Led by Dick Young, the media began to betray Reggie as the villain, asking for too much money and painting him as a bad teammate. Despite the backing of Yogi and Seaver, the front office seemed insistent on moving Reggie. Then on June 15, 1977, Jackson was dealt to the Dodgers. Mets fans still grimace when they see the photo op of a beaming Reggie getting hugged by Tom Lasorda at his introductory press conference. It stung the Mets fans a bit more just a month later when Reggie was back in New York for the all-star game. Naturally he homered. Mets fans were slightly happier a few months later, when he returned to Yankee Stadium with the Dodgers for the World Series. The Dodgers, behind Reggie’s five homers, beat the Yanks in six games. They repeated the feat a year later. Reggie played six years with the Dodgers, then finished out his hall of fame career with the Angels. Meanwhile the Mets, despite the presence of Seaver, struggled. Seaver played his entire career in New York, and younger fans remember the fortuitous groin injury in the spring of 1984 that opened up a rotation spot for a kid named Gooden. Following the 1986 season, in which Tom Terrific made 15 starts while fighting through some nagging injuries and winning his third title with the Mets, he announced his retirement.

Now that FK mentions it, I'm kind of interested in what's to become of Yasmani Grandal. If Barnes is their guy moving forward, I certainly wouldn't object to Sandy kicking the tires to see if Grandal is available.

I thought I read that they were related? She was pissed at him because she wanted to throw it herself. Doubtful charges get filed. Looks like a complete tool though. I mean: Texas. Crazy eyes. Guy probably spends all his days longing for his Friday Night Lights days. edit: Annnd, they're already insufferable

Valadius wrote: And as I mention my strong preference for an expansion team to wind up in Austin, I find out that as of October 17, the owners of MLS' Columbus Crew are trying to initiate a move to the Texas state capital. Unless they are successful in extorting public money from Columbus for a new facility to replace the perfectly good one they have now. https://deadspin.com/columbus-crew-welcome-to-the-stadium-extortion-racket-1819608903

Nine straight games watching this supposedly great Houston offense, I fall asleep at 3-3, and then they decide to start hitting.

MFS62 wrote: HahnSolo wrote: A hire so fine it blows my mind. Why are you so in favor of it? Later I didn't think I'd get a Toni Basil joke past anybody here.

A hire so fine it blows my mind. Can't understand the hire? What a pity

Ceetar wrote: The reports are they did talk to other people on the phone prior to having first rounds. I don't know what/who that entailed but like if it was a call between just Sandy and someone we don't know, hard to leak. Unless it was the interviewee doing the leaking. Not unheard of.

No matter who they hire, I kind of hoped that they might have spread a wider net for candidates. Maybe they have spoken to more people and we don't know about it, but you would think if that were the case it would have slipped to someone in the media.

My one enduring memory of Manny Acta with the Mets was a macabre one: he rented an apartment in the building that Cory Lidle crashed his plane into.

Basing it on nothing more than "I just know"...I just know he'll either stink or get hurt if the Mets sign him. I'm in full "negative Nelly" Mets fan mode today.

Centerfield wrote: This crap I'm seeing about the Yankees likeable overachieving underdogs makes me hurl. How the fuck is the #2 payroll team in all of baseball an underdog? Fuckers. The "Baby Bombers" drives me nuts. Sabathia, Robertson, Chapman, Tanaka, Gardner, Ellsbury, Headley, Holliday, Frazier, Gregorius, Castro. These guys aren't exactly wet behind the ears.

The last two teams to hire Acta both got good after those teams fired him.

I'd move Beltran up to the fifth spot in the lineup. Why not? Nothing's working.

Thinking Hinch has to shake up the lineup. Move Reddick down for one. Or bench him if you have any faith in Cameron Maybin. I'd go top heavy (such as it is with this team right now). Springer Altuve Correa Gurriel.

All I heard before the series was that they were just like the 2015 Royals because "they don't strike out." The scout who determined that is lost.

Watching them bat reminds me of the Campbell/Mayberry Jr. Mets lineups.

Oh well this ones over. I can catch all of Double Jeopardy now

I have no confidence in them winning a game in this ballpark.

They're gonna friggin win it all aren't they?

The tarmac interviews with Ray Knight and Kevin Mitchell are amazing. Like how did they pull that off to be right at the bottom of the ramp? And all I can think of is how that plane will be totally trashed within an hour or so. Bonus points for a young and fetching Lynn White.

Mets Willets Point wrote: MLBS at Citi Field in '17 No backwards caps, Dylan O'Brien, whoever you are.

bmfc1 wrote: Lots of rain in the forecast. A rainout would allow WSH to skip Roark and then go Scherzer, Gonzalez. Strasburg would potentially start game 4 on three days rest. Rainout or not, if this series goes five he's getting another start.