Chad ochoseis

Not Davis.

Lefty Specialist wrote: Snider and Hodges, certainly. Yep, the two gimmes. Another future Met had 19 on the year.

Wally Moon, 87, now mainly remembered as the left-handed hitter who led the Dodgers in home runs in 1959 by figuring out how to hit opposite field home runs over the left field fence at the LA Coliseum, 251 feet from home plate. Just imagine what he could have done had he played at YS III! OE - I thought he led the team in home runs, but apparently he tied for third with 19. The other three '59 Dodgers who hit nineteen or more home runs had Metly futures.

Centerfield wrote: smg58 wrote: It's true that our pitching was much worse than our offense (28th in ERA), but our offense was pretty bad too (19th in runs scored). 19th isn't bad considering that every significant offensive piece we had was traded or injured by August. If the pitching were better, we would have held on to the hitting. I'd be curious where the offense stood on August 1, but a quick interweb search isn't yielding a monthly breakdown. Frazier was the best player available to fill a key need, and he's sufficiently cheap that he can be moved easily if the Mets want to make a 2019 run at Manny Machado. What's not to like? Pitching is a high standard deviation endeavor. A healthy DeGrom and Syndergaard and decent comebacks from Matz and Harvey aren't unimaginable. Of course, another complete meltdown is also not unimaginable. It's not a great team, but it's a team that can contend with a little bit of help from the baseball gods.

Off the ballot, with fewer votes than Billy Wagner. Go figure.

That's not really a scary looking lineup on the Cardinals' side, either.

I like the idea of a cheap lottery ticket, and I hope Adrian Gonzalez proves that he's over his back injury and still has another productive year or two in him. But that's not the way I'm betting or voting. Smith is still the 1B of the future, and Jay Bruce is still the most likely Plan B. ohio voting2.jpg[/attachment:17ky8lqt]

Great. I gotta believe that the 1948 Indian with the statue is Lou Boudreau.

Cleveland Indians (Non player. Did wear a uniform and mentioned in this thread) Is Frank Robinson getting a statue to go with his HoF induction?

St Louis Cardinals (Hint, became quite annoying starting in the 1990s) Vince Coleman?

I really should know the Indians answers, given that I live about five minutes from the statues. But I've been ignoring Cleveland news lately, and I haven't been to the ballpark except for quick drivebys. I'll guess Bill Veeck for the nonplayer statue.

MFS62 wrote: The "he pitched to the score" argument for Morris is BS. It means he didn't feel he had to do his best all the time. What kind of message is that? Later Dick Young made the argument for Catfish Hunter based on "pitching to the score", too. It seems to work well for the "winners" who were lucky enough to be on good clubs. That being said, pitching to the score is certainly a thing. With a big lead, the strategy is generally to throw fastballs for strikes, make 'em hit the ball, and let BABIP work it's magic. You'll give up more runs on average, but you'll have less of a chance of a big inning than you would if you throw breaking stuff or try to hit corners and walk more batters. Accepting a higher mean in exchange for a lower standard deviation. It's a common practice in all sorts of transactions and a pretty standard concept in risk theory. What's never been established is that any one pitcher was better at doing it than any other pitcher. Without looking at stats, my guess is that Morris wasn't even the best pitcher on the ballot; Luis Tiant was. While I'm here, I'll put forward my opinion that the whole idea of a "modern era" ballot is ridiculous. There was a Veterans' Committee because there were players who never got a look because they were active before there was a HoF. There was a Negro Leagues committee because Negro Leaguers had gotten the shaft from society in general and the HoF in particular. I can see a case for a continuing Veterans' Committee because views of players can change with some historical perspective and new analytical methods. But taking a second look at players who just had 10-15 chances and didn't get in cheapens both the BBWAA ballot and the HoF itself. I was in favor of Trammell when he was on the BBWAA ballot. But he was definitely a borderline call. I never thought it was some great injustice that he was omitted. Marvin Miller definitely belongs. But I think he's still eligible to get in through the front door on the BBWAA ballot, no? There's no limit on ballot time for executives, I don't think. All in all, I'm a small Hall guy. I think HoFers should be the guys who make you say, "Holy crap, I'm glad I got to see him play." Real rarities. If a player doesn't get in after 15 ballots, I wouldn't open another door for him right away. OE - Tiant was better than Morris, and it isn't even close.

Ceetar wrote: Where are the stories of the guys at the airport for the Muslim ban that were sneaking people out the back door into the country Underground Railroad style? More to the point, why aren't there stories of that? I want to think it's because they were really, really good at it rather than that they didn't exist. But I'm not optimistic.

Edgy MD wrote: I'm not sure what games Carig is reporting that the Mets officials saw. The Mets gave up 131 runs in the first inning, their highest number for any inning. This sounds like some real pseudo-science. - Not clear who is responsible for that. Without looking, I suspect it may have been driven by pitchers who don't figure into the Mets' 2018 plans. - I think most runs are scored in the first inning in general, since the first inning is the one inning where the top of the order always bats. So it's not clear if the Mets' percentage of 1st inning runs allowed is high relative to the league.

The consensus on the internets is that general aviation is significantly more dangerous than driving on a per-mile basis. It's tough to measure because aviation fatalities are counted per hour and automobile fatalities are counted per mile. It's unquestionably much more dangerous than commercial aviation. This got me wondering if the Clemente Rule for HoF ballots still existed. Either way, I think Halladay is eligible for the 2018 ballot. And, needless to say, this sucks.

Without using too much googling energy, I suspect you'd find similar rants published by Mets fans two years ago.

I wouldn't know. I was watching a replay of a Yankees-Red Sox game, and I went to sleep after it ended.

Baseball Reference has the pitching and hitting stats, though not the actual rosters.

Somewhere, it's 1973 and Jon Matlack and his 0.900 WHIP in 16+ innings are pissed that George Stone was picked over him. A first pass at Earl Weaver's picks for the opposition: Pitchers: Dave McNally (1969) Mike Cuellar (1969) Bruce Hurst (1986) Roger F. Clemens (2000) Johnny Cueto (2015) Andy Pettitte (2000) Darold Knowles (1973) Rollie Fingers (1973) Infielders: Bert Campaneris (1973) Eric Hosmer (2015) Ben Zobrist (2015) Mike Moustakas (2015) Wade Boggs (1986) Marty Barrett (1986) Boog Powell (1969) Mark Belanger (1969) THIRD BASEMAN Derek F. Jeter (2000) Outfielders: Reggie Jackson (1973) Joe Rudi (1973) Paul O'Neill (2000) Jim Rice (1986) Dwight Evans (1986) Frank Robinson (1969) Catchers: Salvador Perez (2015) Jorge Posada (2000) If you think I need another pitcher, add Jim Palmer (who had a crappy Series) and cut Mark Belanger. Mets sweep, of course. The Steinbrenners fire Weaver at the end of the WS.

Centerfield wrote: Does anyone use "Steve Sax Syndrome" anymore? I remember hearing it when Chuck Knoblauch forgot to throw. Also "Pulling a Mariano" for when you murder neighborhood puppies and children. And "that guy's a real Jeter", when he's become a drag on the lineup but still plays every day because HE'S THE FACE OF THE FRANCHISE!!! I was trying to think of the guy who was Chuck Knoblauch before Chuck Knoblauch became Chuck Knoblauch, and it didn't come to me. I think we're using a really broad definition of "eponymous" - I wouldn't think of it as something that's simply named for someone, like Kiner's Korner, but of something that became so closely associated with a player that it took on his name naturally, like Tommy John surgery or Steve Blass disease. But if we're using the broader definition, then the Cy Young Award, the Hank Aaron Award, and the Roberto Clemente Award.

I'd preserve the AL and NL because of tradition and DH non-proliferation. The argument that realigning everyone is OK because two teams in the 100+ year history of the two leagues have done it is ridiculous. But, if we had to do it: NE: BOS, NYY, NYM, TOR, PIT, CLE, DET, MON SE: PHI, WAS, BAL, ATL, MIA, TBR, CIN, STL Cow Country: CHC, CHW, KCR, MIN, MIL, TEX, HOU, DEN West (we're all in agreement here): POR, SEA, ANA, LAD, SDP, SFG, OAK, ARI Although Montreal is much further from Detroit than it is from Philadelphia, Baltimore, or DC, preserving time zones to the greatest degree possible is a worthwhile goal. And this would get me 6 Met games a year at the Jake, another worthwhile goal. The only time zone oddballs you get here are St. Louis in the southeast division and Denver - the only MLB team on mountain time* - in Cow Country. *Arizona is also technically on mountain time, but doesn't observe daylight savings time, so they're effectively Pacific during the baseball season.

From Terry Pluto's column: http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/index.ssf/2017/10/cleveland_indians_season_ends.html But the main culprit was this: The bats went silent. Francisco Lindor? The All-Star shortstop was 2-for-18 ... six strikeouts. Jason Kipnis? He was 4-for-22 ... eight strikeouts. Jose Ramirez? He was 2-for-20 ... seven strikeouts. Edwin Encarnacion? He was 0-for-7 ... and missed three games with an ankle injury. Michael Brantley? Coming back from an ankle injury, he was 1-for-11. Tribe designated hitters were designated outs ... a combined 1-for-18, Brantley's single was the only hit. The weight of great expectations combined with a fear of a postseason flop seemed to infect nearly ever Cleveland player swinging a bat. The Indians batted .171 for the five games. Everything was a problem. But Lindor was a few inches away from a Game 3 home run; I'd take 3-18 if two of the three hits were home runs. And the Indians scored more earned runs than the Yankees in Game 4. The 7 total errors in Games 4 and 5 - ick. So if I wanted to pin the blame on anything, I'd start with the defense. I'll be happy for the Murph if he wins it all. Likewise for Granderson. But still, go Astros!

Well, that sucked.

Hell of an at bat. Awful throw from Bruce.

I love this move. Heading over to the local bar so I can actually watch the comeback.