batmagadanleadoff

2 1 Mags appeared in the '88 playoffs against the Dodgers.

3 2 1

4 3 2 1 You with Doug Flynn again.

Michael Baumann, writing for Grantland, thinks the slide was dirty (plus a great football quote): Well, in a just world, we�d be talking about Jacob deGrom�s comprehensive dominance or Noah Syndergaard redrawing the boundaries of what we can expect in terms of velocity from a starting pitcher. We�d be talking about Zack Greinke being the best no. 2 starter in baseball, or how watching Bartolo Colon jog in from the bullpen in all his moonlike glory is a sight to warm the hearts of nations. But because baseball is a sport for people who like to suffer, we�re instead going to talk about Chase Utley�s takeout slide in Game 2. It was one of the most brutal and unnecessary acts of violence I�ve ever seen during the run of play in a baseball game. He came in late, off the base, and straight into Ruben Tejada�s extended plant leg, breaking his fibula. The slide was so vicious that it divided the ranks of former pro ballplayers, a group of people who apparently unanimously support choking out one�s coworker on television. If a play is borderline for them, it�s beyond the pale for normal people. This isn�t football, which is a shame, because in football, they give you a 15-yard penalty for clipping or roughing the whoever instead of giving you second base. Utley has been suspended for two games, and public opinion is divided between people who support the suspension or want harsher discipline and people who think either (1) that MLB moved the goalposts by deciding all at once to punish hard takeout slides after not having done so for 150 years, or (2) that suspending Utley is an attempt to quiet public criticism rather than to make the game safer. While I�m in favor of suspending Utley, who is appealing the ruling, I�m also sympathetic to the counterarguments. Certainly we don�t want arbitrary post hoc justice, such as it is in matters of on-field rule-breaking. And, further, we�d prefer the league to protect players out of a sense of right and wrong rather than the desire to avoid criticism. To the second point, I�d say that if someone does the right thing, I don�t really care what his motives are. Neither is it a bad thing that MLB is responding immediately to criticism that its game is not as safe as it could be � certainly being responsive to such things is good. And it looks like after this and a rash of other recent incidents, dating back to Jung-Ho Kang�s season-ending injury last month, that MLB will not only suspend Utley but change the rules governing slides. To the first point, that suspending Utley goes against rules and/or precedent, I guess my response is that I don�t really give a shit? If rules and precedent are the last fallback of people who defend such an obviously violent and un-baseball-like action, then maybe we ought to rethink the rules and precedent now, instead of waiting for the next broken leg. Established institutions are not intrinsically good � they are only as good or bad as the ends they service. http://grantland.com/the-triangle/2015-mlb-playoffs-dodgers-mets-cubs-cardinals-blue-jays-rangers-astros-royals-chase-utley/

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Jim Hickman I read those Get Smart books one coupl'a months stretch when I was younger.

Edgy MD wrote: I bet he's got more hits than Lance Johnson. Ike Davis too, I would guess. That wouldn't be a bad or unreasonable guess. But it would be a wrong guess.

MFS62 wrote: Even if he doesn't play, LA has won. The pitchers on both teams will be warned before the game, and this will take the inside of the plate away from Mets pitchers. Later Of course LA won. They already won. They won no matter what happens to Utley. They won Game 2. That was the prize. The Dodgers were less than three innings away from being down 2 games to none and having to face a well rested elite pitcher in Harvey in at least the first of three elimination games for them --- before the slide happened. Utley's NLDS suspension, if it holds, is about the best the Mets are gonna get from this, but it'll probably be just a tiny tiny reward for the events that unfolded --grossly insufficient compensation for the screwing the Mets got.

I got a question: What's a "dirty play"? Is every illegal play necessarily dirty?

Edgy MD wrote: Ty Wiggum-ton. Wiggy's too far down on this list for me to bother with his ranking.

5 4 3 2 1 Stearns, with 695 Mets hits, tops this list.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Ike Davis? Ike is 17th on this list.

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

El Segundo Escupidor wrote: Lance johnson Lance ranks 23rd on this list.

http://m.mlb.com/video/v34382155/atlnym-gonzalez-ejected-in-the-9th-inning Remember this one?

Actually, this is an anti or Bizarro Post Season themed quiz. We ran this same quiz about two years ago, but the last few days especially, have resulted in changes to the answer list. Edgy's rules are in effect. One guess per post. No two-in-a-rowing. That means that after submitting a player's name, you have to wait for at least one other contestant to submit a player's name before jumping in again. Here's the quiz: We're looking for the top 10 players who have the most career hits as a Met -- among Mets who never appeared in a post-season game for the Mets. Good luck.

Zvon wrote: A quick colorization for Mr Chance and a remake of his rather blah 71t card. Didn't even run into a picture (of him as a Met) worth colorizing until David Rothenberg posted this on fb earlier tonight. He shares a lot of Mets pictures. Nice job. I downloaded your Chance card, and took the liberty of re-coloring the Chance pic in black, white and gray. Then I swapped your autograph, which was how Chance signed things in the American League, for his Mets stint autograph. I then colored my Chance autograph a shade of Mets blue so I'd have at least a little bit of color. Below is the result. Whaddya think? [fimg=444]https://farm1.staticflickr.com/593/22115331981_d725271359_o.jpg[/fimg]

Utley was just suspended 2 games for his illegal slide. Which will probably ensure that utley'sconcussion lifespan exceeds 2 more days. Say, if the slide was illegal... How the ever living fuck was he safe!? CORRECTION: How wasn't it a double play, then? Again, what should be a balm, feeling like a backhanded slap in the figurative balls. Centerfield wrote: Now suspend the umpire and the replay crew for not having the balls to make the right call. Fuck them. No, just award the DP, and retroactively give the Mets the win. That's the way it would have played out, had you made the right call, no, blue? I know whatcha mean. For that win, the Dodgers'll gladly pay the price of Utley's two game suspenspion every single time. You'll never get the Dodgers to say this publicly but inside their private world, they're probably treating Utley as if he'd hit five grand slam homers in this NLDS.

Frayed Knot wrote: Well Chance won it at age 23 so obviously Gooden was younger when he won - although that was 21 years later. oe: oh and Saberhagen the same year. And probably Vida Blue as well. If there were others in between I can't think of any. You got it with your OE. Vida broke Chance's record in '71. I think that Gooden is still the all-time youngest winner. Sabes set the AL record that same season, breaking Vida's. Don't know if Sabe still has the AL record. Vida's the only one of these never to play for the Mets.

Chance was the youngest Cy Young award winner when he won the award. Granted, there weren't too many past winners when Chance won because the award was relatively new in '64. Who was the first, of several pitchers that followed, to break Chance's record for youngest CYA winner?

[fimg=400]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-R_GaMjSzJU0/Uj0xk4rYBqI/AAAAAAAAEgo/4q8w1BsDAKQ/s498-Ic42/2-64ASG-Aces2.jpg[/fimg] Did you put the color in that card pic? No. I consider that photo a rare internet find. Found it at bbfever or OOTP or one of those awesome sites. I didn't run into it until after the first release of the 64 ASG cards. At that time I had to go with this: [fimg=300]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-L3H-7HiQBUw/UiUkKwJw00I/AAAAAAAADkQ/fBt5dgGcen0/s682-Ic42/2-64ASG-Aces.jpg[/fimg] Found it. It's a Dodgers regional issue. [fimg=444]http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51X2Uv1bK8L._SX466_.jpg[/fimg] The Dodgers get good regionals. On regionals, Kahn's Meats produces nice Reds sets. I wonder why they stopped making Mets sets 20 years ago? Those Kahn's sets are typically large and include players who'd otherwise never get a card. It was probably Wilpon's fault. [fimg=544]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WmE5lXtlqqU/UzHQ93CJAiI/AAAAAAAABpk/b0PZ8hcXuag/s1600/1993Kahns2.jpeg[/fimg] [fimg=544]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-g7mLu7yntPw/U1Az6-oSYzI/AAAAAAAAB6E/8pSLyOaT2H8/s1600/2008Kahns3.jpeg[/fimg] I want to do a series of cards, Players At Shea. Anyone can be on a card, as long as Shea is in the background. I made this Mangual card two months ago, mainly 'cause of the Shea background. I was gonna put it in a Nats/Expos card thread that I never ended up posting. [fimg=444]https://farm1.staticflickr.com/629/21912421259_d66c1b5e97_o.jpg[/fimg]

Edgy MD wrote: Scouted in an an amateur league by a 21-year-old Bud Harrelson, who had only 19 games in the bigs himself, but was professionally secure enough to recommend his team sign the fellow shortstop. Heise stuck around the majors for 11 seasons without ever rising to regular everyday player status. So I don't think that he took anyone's job away. At least not a regular, anyway.

Zvon wrote: [fimg=400]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-R_GaMjSzJU0/Uj0xk4rYBqI/AAAAAAAAEgo/4q8w1BsDAKQ/s498-Ic42/2-64ASG-Aces2.jpg[/fimg] Did you put the color in that card pic?

I could care less what kind of suspension or fine, if any, Utley gets -- unless he's suspended from the NLDs and the Dodgers are not allowed to fill his spot. 'Cause then, the Mets would gain a tactical advantage from all of this. Otherwise, why the hell would I care if Utley's fined some sum of money that he could pay as easily as most other people could pay for a slice of pizza? And the more I think of the play, I'm not even angry with Utley. He did what most players in his position would've done and I believe him when he says he didn't intend to inflict the kind of harm that actually resulted. I think the call was lousy because Utley's slide was illegal, but my gripe is with the umpires, who should've called interference, but didn't.

I was baffled by his baseball card when I was a kid.... [H]ere was this guy on a current Mets baseball card, and I had never heard of him! Same here. Chance to the rescue: [fimg=1055]https://farm1.staticflickr.com/700/21909811689_98cf6d7af0_o.jpg[/fimg]