Centerfield

Mets Guy in Michigan wrote: There's a lot of good stuff in there! This is very true. But to be honest, I had visions of seeing pics of really hot twins like in the old DoubleMint commercials. Oh well. Win some. Lose some. Back to Pat Mahomes.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: That reminds me; I still haven't bought any 2015 Mets N.L. Championship merchandise. I was planning on buying a t-shirt but never got around to it. I don't know if they're still available. And I'm also hoping that they win an even better title in 2016. NEW YORK METS 2016 SECOND WILD CARD QUALIFIERS

Frayed Knot wrote: Also not insignificant is that the Dodgers lost last night to Arizona. So not only are they just 4 games up on the Giants but those two teams have Six head-to-head games remaining [Mon thru Wed, and again the final series of the season] which could put us in a situation similar to the current one where we automatically gain on one team or the other with each game we win. We'll still need a couple more stumbles from the ex-Brooklynites, but they're not out of reach for either us or the Giants. At the very least, it makes them motivated to go all out for the 6 games remaining with the Giants. Kershaw in a 1 game playoff scares the hell out of me. I guess Bumgarner is not much better.

TransMonk wrote: The Cubs clinched via the STL loss, though, as they lost to the Brewers, too. It sounds like they are holding off on the celebration until they win again. Yeah, that is a shitty way to clinch. 3 hours after your loss. I would hold off too. Speaking of celebrations, what is the protocol on Wild Card celebrations? All sorts of strange scenarios. Do you elebrate when you clinch at least the second wild card? I'm guessing the answer is yes if you, like the Mets, are out of the division race. It's probably no if you, like the Cubs are division leaders. Also, I'm guessing you don't celebrate again if you clinch then go on to clinch the first wild card. Imagine a bunch of guys pouring champagne with signs reading "HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE FOR THE ONE GAME PLAY IN" I'm imagining a tight division race that comes down to the last game between the two teams. The winner goes back to the lockerroom and celebrates with signs that say "DIVISION CHAMPIONS". In the other locker room, there is a celebration with signs that say "WILD CARD WINNER".

Edgy MD wrote: But the real issue now is that Flores has been out with a mystery injury... I'm going to put out there that the mystery injury is that he banged his head really hard when he dove headfirst into a man's shinguards.

The Flores injury makes it even dumber that Terry Collins hasn't tried Jay Bruce at 1B. What are we scared of? Throwing off his rhythm?

TransMonk wrote: Now that the Giants took the first game, I'm rooting for them for the rest of the weekend against the Cards (with the Mets taking care of business against the Twinkies being the primary objective, of course). The Giants still have 6 with LA (and they are within striking distance in the NL West) which makes their remaining schedule tougher than the Cards'. St. Louis will still have three more with the Cubs, but with the Chicago having clinched, I'm not relying on them being at full force the remainder of the way as they rest and set up their team for October. As of now, I kind of want to the Cards as many games back as possible going into next week. Yup. This is exactly how we should be thinking. Still, there is not one bone in my body that feels right rooting for the Giants.

As of today, our lead for the second wild card is no longer a fraction. Let the celebration begin! (No really, I find I am actually pretty happy about this.)

Amazing that there is a chance that this could be fun this year. I loved the Tabloid Cover Derby 2015. I sat there at times thinking how depressing the covers would be this year. If the Mets have a good homestand, might we see the return of NHOP?

Also, I was thinking, how sweet would it be to beat Washington this year. You have to be at least a little nervous if you're a Washington fan right? deGrom and Matz are hurt, but if they come back, along with Duda, suddenly this is a pretty good team. Noah, Jake, Matz and Colon. Lugo and Gsellman go to the pen. Lineup has speed at the top, a good tablesetter in Asdrubal, then followed by Cespedes, Duda, Bruce and Granderson. (Assuming Bruce ever arrives)

For me, if the Mets are pouring champagne on each other even once in a season, it's a pretty good season. I know expectations were high coming in, but the injuries just killed them. If their post-season is only 1 game, so be it. Besides, the Mets tend to do well once they get in. By my count, only once have they lost to their first opponent (88 Dodgers). And even that went 7 games. 1969: WS Champions 1973: NL Champs 1986: WS Champions 1988: Lost NLCS 1999: Won WC tiebreaker, beat Arizona in NLDS 2000: NL Champs 2006: Won NLDS vs. LA 2015: NL Champs

It's hard to believe that Cespedes hasn't been the player of the month more than once. He has as many honors as Mike Cameron. And yes, amazing work as always.

HahnSolo wrote: I've been tinkering with a little Pittsburgh road trip with little Solo for a few years now, but the Mets visit to the Steel city has never worked with our schedule. Next year maybe we can swing something for that Memorial Day weekend visit. I have dreams of taking a road trip to Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and then Detroit. Would probably have to rent a car and fly back from Detroit. I'll be checking the schedule to see if there is any window where all three are home consecutively.

Edgy MD wrote: Worth noting that James Loney hasn't hit much at all this whole run. It seems like six weeks without him. And I don't think he'll see another lefty all year except maybe by accident. To that end, I don't know why we haven't tried Jay Bruce at 1B and Conforto at RF. Conforto, I feel, has a better shot of getting hot than Loney, and as for Bruce, we should be trying everything including sacrificing a chicken.

What a terrific run this has been. I'm using this off-day to take a look back at how improbable it is that we are in this thing at all. Following the Mets loss to the Giants on August 19, the Mets were 2 games under .500. Our season was basically over. Check out the link to the standings on that date. http://www.baseball-reference.com/games/standings.cgi?year=2016&month=8&day=19&submit=Submit+Date We were 12.5 games behind Washington. St. Louis was in position for the second wild card, comfortably ahead of us by 5.5 games. Also ahead of us were Pittsburgh and Miami. Even Miami, the closest team, was 3 games ahead. San Francisco wasn't even in the picture, a distant 8 games ahead of us. Then, Ryan and Stella visited the Baseball Hall of Fame. Who needs Peru? Since then, the Mets have gone 17-7. The best in all of baseball. Even better than the fucking Cubs. Meanwhile, our competition has basically imploded. SF, Miami and Pittsburgh have been 3 of the 4 worst teams in the league (Along with Philadelphia). They have gone 26-45 collectively for .366 winning percentage. Only St. Louis has kept it together, but even they have a losing record (11-13). Our competition has been outperformed by teams like Atlanta (12-12) and Milwaukee (13-12). They've done this despite Cabrera and Cespedes continuing to be hobbled by their nagging injuries. We lost Walker (our best hitter not named Cespedes) to season ending surgery. deGrom and Matz went on the DL and have not yet returned. Flores was one of our best hitters last month but decided to ram his head into Pierzynski's shin guards. We even lost Justin Ruggiano. Jay Bruce, as noted elsewhere, sucks. Jon Niese sucked, and now is hurt. And of course, we are still missing Wright, and Duda, and Harvey, and Lagares. And shockingly Mejia's appeal has not yet been successful so his suspension remains in place. And despite all of this falling our way, we are still only a half game up and in a dogfight that will probably come down to the last day of the season. But still, we are right in the thick of a pennant race in mid-September. Good stuff right? Ten game homestand against the Twins, Braves and Phillies. Let's make some noise.

Uncle Bartolo takes the hill. The Twins counter with Jose Berrios and his ERA over 9. Either the Giants or Cardinals will lose. TAKE SEPTEMBER!

It occurs to me that I have no idea who to root for in that game. Or for the whole series for that matter. I guess at the end of it all, the Mets just have to beat the Twins. Oh and trading water to get through this series, mission accomplished I guess.

Meanwhile, Gurriel has put up an .860 OPS in 20 games for Houston.

Edgy MD wrote: His name is Dilson. Also, T.J. Rivera has already knocked in 52 runs in 60 games, mostly playing third. Edgy advocates for TJ Rivera on June 16.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: The team that had the worst day yesterday was the Giants. The Mets and Cardinals, at least, crossed one game against a first-place team off their schedule without losing any ground. The Giants lost one of the "soft" games that they should have won. I'm going to put out there that the team with the worst day was, again, the Giants. I would love for the Giants to go away and to take Madison Bumgarner with them. For our lefty-laden lineup, he might be the toughest matchup not named "Kershaw".

Edgy MD wrote: So who was for pinch-hitting for him in the top of the second. I wasn't paying attention at the time, but that would have been cool, decisiveness-wise. Washington getting some pitcher attrition of their own. I was definitely for pinch-hitting for him. That's kind of the advantage of expanded rosters you know? But then again, I think I tend to be quick with the hook. I was all over Terry to pull him in the first. I think it's a miracle we got with only 2 runs. Inexcusable, though, to leave him in to give up four runs in the second. He have up a HR to the pitcher, then gave up a laser beam to Turner that found the bat of Reyes. After the double to Murphy, he should have been gone. Instead Terry left him in to face Rendon. This is not Jacob deGrom we are talking about here. If the kid has nothing, go and get him. It's September.

I wonder if any other AAA manager got as much press as Wally. Not sure why the draw. I get that he's an 86 Met, but no one writes about Teufel. As for Wally himself, he never seemed that bright to me. And all things considered, I'd like to have a bright guy at the helm. But that being said, from their announcing gigs, Lou Pinella and Dusty Baker seemed pretty dumb to me, and it's hard to argue against their record as managers. So what the fuck do I know.

Status quo never felt so good. Let's start winning and not have to rely on the kindness of strangers tonight.

Yes, or Matz. Serious question, what happened to Logan Verrett? I know I was down on him, but maybe he has some magic left for a start or two. Montero is puzzling. On one hand, I feel like he could still work it out. He seems to have good stuff. Low 90's fastball, a good sinker, and his slider moves. And we've all heard that he has, or at least used to have, good control. His problem seems to be mental. His fastball is 94 with movement. I don't know why he's so afraid to throw it. If he could ever get straight in the head, I think he could still be pretty good. The problem is, if history tells you anything, that guys who have this mental block have just as hard a time getting over it as someone with physical limitations.

He'll have more than Jay Bruce.