batmagadanleadoff

Tony Gwynn's the highest ranking player on that "Games Against the Mets" list (28th) that was never on a team that played 18 games against the Mets in a season. Some higher ranking players (McCovey and Aaron, for example) never played in the Mets division, but were active before 1969, when every team played each other 18x a season.

This might be the most remarkable month in franchise history. About four weeks ago, the Mets were as lifeless and moribund as its ever been in the Citi Field era -- and had just added another fiasco to its long list of lolmets stuff. Today, we're planning the post-season rotation. And it's still not even September. And screw those Baseball Prospectus odds. If the Mets win the division, they have as good a chance as anybody to take home the crown, barring injuries.

Funny, it only took me 30 seconds to find a picture of a unicorn named Pat Mahomes. I'm all of a sudden skeptical about the supposed uniqueness of unicorns. [fimg=644:1n988mni]https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5827/20770427978_f12cee880e_o.jpg[/fimg:1n988mni]

DateMets RecordNationals RecordMets LeadMagic NumberGames RemainingNHOPAugust 356-5054-501571140.500August 457-5055-501561120.500August 558-5055-512541100.491August 658-5056-511.5541090.495August 759-5056-522.5521070.486August 859-5157-521.5521050.495August 959-5257-531.5511030.495August 1060-5258-531.5501010.495August 1161-5258-542.548990.485August 1262-5258-553.546970.474August 1363-5258-564.544950.463August 1463-5358-574.543930.462August 1563-5458-584.542910.462August 1663-5558-594.541890.461August 1763-5558-594.541890.461August 1864-5559-594.540870.460August 1964-5660-593.540850.471August 2064-5660-60439840.464August 2165-5660-61537820.451August 2266-5661-61536800.450August 2367-5662-61535780.449August 2468-5662-615.534770.442August 2569-5663-615.533750.440August 2670-5663-626.531730.425August 2771-5664-626.530710.423 Here's another amazing thing about this Mets run -- over the past almost an entire month now --- there have been only three days (August 6, 8 and 19) when the Nats gained ground on the Mets (see chart, above -- "Mets Lead" column). The Nats haven't been able to gain as much as half a game on the Mets, now, in almost a week and a half.

[fimg=644:2tf7et04]http://mets360.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/nats-cover.jpg[/fimg:2tf7et04]

We're gonna need a bigger bandwagon if this amazingness continues. Even ex-Braves star Chipper Jones is a Mets fan now PHILADELPHIA -- Protect yourself and stock up on canned goods because Chipper Jones just might be rooting for the Mets right now. How weird is that to see? The former Braves star, future Hall of Famer, and target of Mets fan ire is seemingly cheering on the team he beat up all those years. The return of David Wright seems to have won him over. At least according to his tweet Tuesday night. See for yourself. And if it's true, who would have thought such a thing could happen from the guy who named his kid Shea because he liked tormenting the Mets so much. Chipper Jones ? @RealCJ10 Good to see David Wright back off the DL. Division leading Mets getting stronger. Hope Captain America enjoys the stretch run. U deserve it! 10:19 PM - 24 Aug 2015 http://www.nj.com/mets/index.ssf/2015/08/even_ex-braves_star_chipper_jones_is_a_mets_fan_no.html

I love this stat. I don't remember it from the first time around.

seawolf17 wrote: The hat is a Cyclones hat. Why?

Good times last night in Brooklyn, despite the home team getting whomped 4-0. Last night's giveaway: What? The Mets didn't give permission to use the real logo and wordmark on Finch?

[fimg=333]http://frontrow.espn.go.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/FINAL-538-logo.jpg[/fimg] The Mets� Hot Streak Should Carry Into September 10:49 AM By Neil Paine The New York Mets are on some kind of tear right now. With a 9-4 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday night, the Mets have won 21 of their last 29 games � a run that dates to July 25 and the handful of player acquisitions the team made before MLB�s trade deadline. The biggest catalyst for New York�s sudden success has been a vastly improved offense. Over that red-hot 29-game stretch, they�re averaging 6.2 runs per contest, or 46 percent more than the National League average.1 By contrast, the Mets were scoring just 3.4 runs per game before their hot streak began, or 11 percent below the NL average. New York�s shift from ranking 26th in park-adjusted runs per game2 through July 24 to No. 1 in the month-plus since is by far the biggest offensive turnaround any team enjoyed over that span: [fimg=544]https://espnfivethirtyeight.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/paine-datalab-mets-table.png?w=773&h=1151[/fimg] But how much of this improvement should we expect the Mets to retain going forward? To get a general sense of how much regression to the mean tugs on scorching August performances like those of the 2015 Mets, I gathered Retrosheet data on all MLB teams in the expansion era3 and measured how much of a team�s August scoring-index boost (relative to its scoring index through July) carried over into September and October.4 The effect was slight, but significant: About 21 percent of a team�s August hike in scoring rate is �real,� in the sense that it can be expected to continue into subsequent months. And the Mets have reason to believe they can hang on to more than 21 percent of their offensive gains. One of their trade-deadline pickups, outfielder Yoenis Cespedes, leads the team in offensive runs above average over the past 30 days. So at least part of New York�s scoring surge is due to talent they�ve added since July (as opposed to existing players simply hitting better, which is less sustainable). And, as our friend Jonah Keri pointed out Monday, the Mets also have the easiest schedule in baseball over the remainder of the season. Combine it with New York�s 86 percent probability of making the playoffs, and the Mets are looking like a far more credible World Series threat than they were earlier in the season. Footnotes 1 After adjusting for park effects. ^ 2 Indexed relative to the league. ^ 3 Since 1961. ^ 4 Including regular-season games only. ^ http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/the-mets-hot-streak-should-carry-into-september/

d'Kong76 wrote: Guess I didn't focus on 'gimme triple', which are rare in a bandbox. I focused on no different, and purposely making an out versus not making (or risk making) an out. Gimme triple? It was an inside the parker. Reyes the Met would've gotten five bases on that play. He would've scored and then ran to first for another single.

Edgy MD wrote: Batters, of course, take pitches. And while running backs don't intentionally fall down in the open field, teams with big leads in football call interior run plays that have little chance of scoring or even advancing very far downfield, even as the defense is playing for the run. Of course they call "interior" plays. But thats' hardly what I was getting at. If a back finds a hole that you can drive an aircraft carrier through, he should take what's given. And batters take many pitches. For many reasons. They shouldn't purposely take a 2-2 pitch that they know they can crush. But you're making this exchange so hyper-literal that it's obfuscating my real point.

d'Kong76 wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: To me, if the batter doesn't take third on a gimme triple, it's no different than if he were to purposely swing and miss at pitches. Swinging and missing pitches results in an out. Stopping at second results in no out, and doesn't risk making an out at third. If it's a gimme triple, then there's no risk of an out. That was my whole point. The only risk was that he might trip over infield dirt on the way to third.

The play bothered me only because I believed that Murphy would have had an easy stand-up triple. To me, if the batter doesn't take third on a gimme triple, it's no different than if he were to purposely swing and miss at pitches. I don't get that attitude when it's baseball at its highest level and on top of that, when it concerns a team that now has realistic sights on the post-season. It's not exactly like a football team running triple reverse flea flickers when it's up by 28 with four minutes left in the game. If no one's gonna tackle the running back because he found broad daylight, he's not supposed to fall down on purpose.

I thought Murphy could've crawled to third base for a triple. With both of his shoelaces tied together.

Nymr83 wrote: At this point there is a pretty serious inverse correlation among anyone who the Mets between the quality of their writing and the frequency with which they mention Madoff. Clearly, the mature thing to do now is to shitcan any writer who dares to write Madoff and the Mets in the same sentence; to ignore that the Madoff scam ever affected the Mets finances; and to pretend that either money doesn't matter, or if it did, that Alderson has at his disposal, unfettered access to a $130M payroll budget that every NY MLB team should always have. Doesn't the Madoff scam make this Mets story that's unfolding even more compelling?

I don't know if this was discussed here, but two games ago when the Mets banged eight HR's, Murphy came to bat in the last inning and hit a ball in front of the centerfielder that was sort of misplayed, or played very aggressively. Either way, the ball got behind the centerfielder. I thought Murphy should have ended on third base easily -- a fast runner would've likely had an inside the parker on that play. But Murphy coasted -- practically walked -- into second base, apparently content to "just" double. I thought that Murphy coasted on purpose instead of running hard all the way and that he did so to obey one of those stupid baseball codes because the game was a blowout by then. The announcers essentially shrugged the play off, not making the comments I expected them to make. Maybe I misinterpreted what I saw.

[fimg=444:381lv3k3]https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7697/17198882587_83cd958ee5_o.jpg[/fimg:381lv3k3]

Farmer Ted wrote: They're all hacking out there. All of 'em. Freaking Terry's a genius. I've come around to really like Terry Collins. He's not the best tactician out there, or even among the best Mets managers tactics-wise. His bullpen usage drives me crazy -- but you know what? -- so would the bullpen usage of just about every other manager out there. But I dig Collins's feistiness. And I root for him because he's an underdog, dealt a terrible hand --- playing out his entire tenure under the foregone conclusion that he'd be gone as soon as the Mets turned the corner. You think he likes that? What major league manager wants to be a placeholder? But the Mets poverty might've been the silver lining in Collins's cloud: he's probably still here only because of the Mets embarrassing financial situation. But he's survived the whole Madoff lolMets era, the low point, perhaps on that fiasco of a recent evening when he was left in the dark and kept Flores in the game even though the Mets had "traded" Flores. And when he's in a good mood, he's got one of the best smiles on the team. Really. [fimg=433]https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/collins.jpg[/fimg] [fimg=355]https://thenypost.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/13-1s077-kernan1-300x300.jpg[/fimg]

The Mets are the lead story in this week's Grantland's 30. [fimg=273]https://s0.wp.com/wp-content/themes/vip/espn-grantland/img/grantland-logo@2x.png[/fimg] The 30: Who Did the Mets Sacrifice to the Schedule-Making Gods? We�re eight days away from September, and so in keeping with a now-annual tradition, we�re about to get an onslaught of games between division rivals. Not a fan? Thank the dramatically unbalanced schedules meant to foster division rivalries. But for better or worse, the deluge of divisional games means that plenty of teams, both good and bad, are especially well-positioned to have an outsize effect on the shape of the standings over the final month. [***] Downright Offensive Already equipped with one of the best staffs in the game, the Mets� hitters have started to cook. 15. Tampa Bay Rays (62-62, minus-14, LW: 15) 14. Washington Nationals (62-61, plus-21, LW: 13) 13. Los Angeles Angels (63-61, minus-2, LW: 12) 12. Baltimore Orioles (62-61, plus-54, LW: 11) 11. Texas Rangers (64-59, minus-23, LW: 14) 10. San Francisco Giants (66-58, plus-62, LW: 10) 9. Los Angeles Dodgers (67-56, plus-51, LW: 6) 8. New York Mets (67-56, plus-37, LW: 9) We knew they would pitch. With Matt Harvey returning from Tommy John surgery, Jacob deGrom following up his rookie of the year season, flame-throwing righty Noah Syndergaard joining the parade, and veteran help from Jon Niese and Bartolo Colon, the Mets figured to field one of the league�s most impressive starting rotations in 2015. What we didn�t know is if they would hit. For the first three and a half months of the season, they mostly didn�t. David Wright�s injury, underachieving results from several of his teammates, and a core of hitters that just wasn�t all that good left the Mets only one game over .500 on July 24 and three games out of first place. Oh, how times have changed. In the past 30 days, the Mets lead the National League in doubles, runs scored, and slugging; they�re also second in home runs and third in park-adjusted offense. With the bats matching the strength of the arms, everything�s trending in the right direction: The Mets now sit a season-high 11 games over .500 and lead the East by five games. That turnaround starts with Yoenis Cespedes. Acquired in a deal with the Tigers right before the trade deadline during one of the wildest weeks in franchise history, Cespedes has hit a ton as a Met, batting .307/.344/.545 in 20 games. Compare those numbers to Carlos Gomez�s .188/.226/.250 line so far as an Astro, and the Mets might have caught a colossal break. By the time Cespedes crushed three homers Friday night at Coors Field, the complaints of fans and media over GM Sandy Alderson�s supposed lack of action were a distant memory. Beyond Cespedes and summer call-up Michael Conforto (.271/.371/.508 over those past 30 days), the same players that made up that moribund offense from early April to late July have woken up. During the past month, Daniel Murphy�s hitting over .300 and slugging better than .500. Curtis Granderson�s clubbed eight homers. Lucas Duda�s slugging a ludicrous .720. And Wilmer Flores has carried on his newfound folk-hero status, batting .324/.361/.500. Wright returns today, and although his loss once seemed like it�d be the end of the team�s playoff hopes, he instead rejoins a club that went 62-53 without him. But even with their captain back, the Mets still have some roster uncertainty on their hands. First, Duda hit the disabled list over the weekend. The Mets� best full-season hitter this year, Duda�s absence leaves them short a big left-handed bat and forces Murphy to another position he�s ill-suited to play. Over at Mets blog Amazin� Avenue, Kevin Palermo suggests that the best option for the Mets is to deploy platoons all over the diamond, and he�s probably right. Second, the rotation is going through some flux. The Mets skipped Harvey�s turn in the rotation Sunday. That was just the first salvo in what will be an interesting innings-saving experiment for the rest of the season, as the team tries to manage the workloads of Harvey and Syndergaard (and possibly deGrom, too) while not dropping out of first. Those efforts will be aided by Steven Matz hopefully rejoining the rotation on September 5, and the Mets subsequently going to a six-man rotation again, but this time with the intention of sticking with it for a few weeks. Despite those concerns, the Mets still have that cushy five-game lead, and the Nationals have shown few signs of playing the way most of us expected this year. Plus, New York owns the easiest remaining schedule in baseball, as its rest-of-season opponents sport an aggregate winning percentage of just .440.5 And as we saw yesterday, maybe this really just is the Mets� year: After the first two games of the weekend series ended with identical 14-9 scorelines, rookie Logan Verrett made his first major league start � at Coors Field. He threw eight innings, giving up just one run on four hits and striking out eight.

That Reyes card is supposed to look like that, I think. In the early '70s, if Topps wanted to portray a player on his current team in the same season that he was traded, isn't that what the resulting card might look like? [fimg=376]https://shlabotnikreport.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/1974-topps-bob-miller.jpg[/fimg] [fimg=333]https://farm1.staticflickr.com/504/19812530354_70578db357_o.jpg[/fimg]

Ceetar wrote: Benjamin Grimm wrote: Well, the magic number has to be seen in the context of how many games remain. A magic number of 20 is great when there are 35 games remaining, but not so great when there are 22 games remaining. Nats still control their own destiny, when they don't is when it gets real. That's a wash. If the Nats control their own destiny, then so do the Mets. If both teams win all of their remaining games, the Mets finish ahead of the Nats. Of course, both teams can't possibly win all of the rest of their games unless all six remaining games between the Mets and Nats are canceled permanently. And even then, the Mets would still control their destiny in the division.

In light of your post, one might also reason that it's fitting that baseball continues to operate as a monopoly all these years later. After all, none of this has changed much: Edgy MD wrote: ... it's important to remember, that's the way [baseball] was set up in the Gilded Age � an era defined by robber barons, the greatest monopolies the country has ever known, gross exploitation, and deep social problems. Well, maybe we're doing a better job of reigning in monopolies, so long as they're not professional sports leagues. But as to the rest of that ... it's just as bad as it ever was.

Edgy MD wrote: What kind of a misbegotten nightmare is this? That's from the Topps 2015 Retro Archive Set. Apparently, Topps went all out to recreate the 1972 baseball card vibe.

[fimg=268]https://farm1.staticflickr.com/758/20138864693_83bc162963_o.jpg[/fimg][fimg=255]https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5640/20571344140_405962a992_o.jpg[/fimg][fimg=260]https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3802/20426476772_4535304731_o.jpg[/fimg][fimg=260]https://farm1.staticflickr.com/352/19812530374_db33424673_o.jpg[/fimg][fimg=270]https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5628/20759397875_f7361c0d5f_o.jpg[/fimg][fimg=285]https://farm1.staticflickr.com/504/19812530354_70578db357_o.jpg[/fimg][fimg=255]https://farm1.staticflickr.com/330/19812530334_ebd5f16207_o.jpg[/fimg][fimg=265]https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3827/19812530304_b93bd5baf9_o.jpg[/fimg][fimg=260]https://farm1.staticflickr.com/291/19812530254_cf043f6255_o.jpg[/fimg]][fimg=255]https://farm1.staticflickr.com/388/20252698660_a9dfb84454_o.jpg[/fimg][fimg=255]https://farm1.staticflickr.com/498/20426476742_a56105e234_o.jpg[/fimg][fimg=255]https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3706/20426476732_55b47b32c5_o.jpg[/fimg][fimg=255]https://farm1.staticflickr.com/547/20426476712_b03acdfddf_o.jpg[/fimg][fimg=255]https://farm1.staticflickr.com/499/20426476652_0311cabb5d_o.jpg[/fimg][fimg=370]https://farm1.staticflickr.com/293/20271785678_99d072e76e_o.jpg[/fimg] MIA PLAYERS Manny Aybar Darren Bragg John Cangelosi Kane Davis Elmer Dessens Lenny Harris Brian Mcrae Carlos Mendoza Carlos Torres Pete Walker