batmagadanleadoff

Frayed Knot wrote: They['re] not up on who else in the midst of a good season because they're too busy ranking the best quarterback in July and counting down the days until training camp openings. I see your point, but so what? My mother gets to vote, if she wanted to, and the only baseball player she could name is Tom Seaver. It's a popularity contest, baseball knows it, and having considered all the alternative methods of selecting an ASG roster, wants it this way. I must be getting old, because none of this matters to me any more. For all I care, Harvey and Wright could wear the embarrassing and hideous black drop-shadow unis with the even hideous-er black cap with the multi-colored logo that blends into the color purple.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/franco-classic-all-star-pitchman-article-1.1396555 ASG and NY Met Ambassador John Franco talks about growing up in Brooklyn and stumping for the Mets. Shootout at Popeye Doyle's residence, set at the Marlboro Housing Projects, Franco's boyhood home, touches off one of the wildest car chase scenes in movie history.

July 11, 2013 11:00 PM Will Mets trade Marlon Byrd? Explaining their deadline approach BY Andy Martino Marlon Byrd is the perfect candidate to be traded this month, right? A veteran on a one-year contract, distinguishing himself with dynamic play for the non-contending Mets and not a part of their future -- that�s a guy who moves to a better team before the July 31 trade deadline. Except that he probably isn�t. According to a person with direct knowledge of the Mets� thinking, the club is far more likely to duplicate its approach with Scott Hairston last year, holding onto Byrd in an effort to be respectable in the second half. This info provides a good jumping-off point to unpack what the Mets mean by �standing pat� at the deadline, which they are likely to do. For several years, it has been the team�s style to avoid shaving decent pieces from the roster mid-season, and this summer is no different, team insiders say. The Mets, as we have reported, have always been more inclined to add players this season, but have found that top targets like Giancarlo Stanton and Carlos Gonzalez are unavailable at the moment. The team was never serious about selling, so in the absence of attractive buying possibilities, they have told other teams that they will, as the saying goes, stand pat. The reluctance to hang a For Sale sign around Byrd, Daniel Murphy, Bobby Parnell and others has been met with some skepticism around the league. Said one rival scout: �I�m hearing they want to stand pat, but I can�t read whether that�s posturing to drive up prices.� Time will tell on that, but the Hairston model is an instructive one, and more appropriate for the Mets this season than last. Unlike in 2012, the 2013 Mets failed to create much hope or energy in the first few months (�we�re going to lose 100 games this year,� a player groaned to me -- in May). But in recent weeks, that has changed. Sandy Alderson�s re-arranging of the roster deck chairs a few weeks ago seemed to energize the team; Lucas Duda and Ruben Tejada gave way to Eric Young Jr. and Omar Quintanilla, making the Mets a more athletic team, and far sleeker defensively. Pitching coach Dan Warthen has helped to squeeze the most from Jeremy Hefner and Dillon Gee, and Zack Wheeler has shown improvement of late. Because of these factors, the Mets have a chance to reverse the trend of recent seasons, finishing with more energy than they began -- which could, incidentally, save the job of an excellent manager in Terry Collins. Moving Byrd and others (especially Parnell, who the Daily News reported last week is highly likely to stay), would crush any hope of that. It is debatable whether the Mets could even receive a decent piece in exchange for Byrd. Here, Hairston is once again a useful example. A few days ago, Chicago traded Hairston to Washington for Single-A pitcher Ivan Pineyro. A Cubs insider told us that Pineyro is a prospect, but �a few years away.� Is it worth it for the Mets to move Byrd for an arm that might or might not be useful in 2016? The team would rather try to win a few more games this summer. http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/baseballinsider/2013/07/will-mets-trade-marlon-byrd-explaining-their-deadline-approach-ominous-injur

All-Star Ron Hunt reminisces in the Daily News. Ron Hunt calls it �alley ball� .... Neat pictures, too. ________________ Not pictured or mentioned in the article: Look whose helmet Johnny Callison was wearing when he hit his game winning HR. Paul Lukas chronicles the history of players in mismatched batting helmets at the MLB ASG. Johnny Callison's is apparently the first known instance. http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/38106/uni-watch-all-star-helmet-mix-ups

The New and Improved Blue Jays: What Went Wrong? excerpt: If there were one overriding reason why this season's Blue Jays have been such a disappointment, it would be easy to name a solution. For example, if the Jays were under .500 because aliens had abducted half their roster, their response would be to just start an interstellar war. Problem solved. Unfortunately for Toronto, it's not that simple. There appear to be as many reasons for disappointment as there are disappointments. Start with the rotation, which is next-to-last in the AL with a 4.91 ERA. Dickey, brought in to be the crowning jewel of both the Blue Jays' offseason and their rotation, has been a huge disappointment. The knuckleball is a fickle thing, and Dickey had explored new territory for knuckleball pitchers last season by throwing his knuckler harder than anyone had thrown it before. The problem for Dickey is that he's battled neck and back soreness for much of this season, not enough to keep him off the mound but enough to keep him from throwing his hard knuckleball. The pitch's average velocity has dropped from 77.2 to 75.3 since last year, and somewhere in those 2 mph is the line between "dominant" and "hittable." Dickey's ERA has nearly doubled since last season to 4.69 � he leads the majors in runs allowed � and his strikeout-to-walk ratio has dropped by more than half. The good news is that Dickey's injury woes ought to be temporary, and in fact his velocity is ticking back up � the velocity of his knuckleball has exceeded his season average in each of his last six starts, coinciding with a 3.76 ERA over that span. There's still reason to be optimistic that Dickey will regain his solidly-above-average performance of 2010 and 2011, if not his Cy Young form from 2012. http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/9472320/what-went-wrong-toronto-blue-jays-season

I would like to point out that eff, as in "eff Wilpon", is a proper noun, and not a verb. I'm eff. And I'm Jeff

Bang-up profile by Steve Wulf of the late Johnny Callison, star among stars at Shea Stadium's only All-Star Game. This historical nugget is a beaut: Callison isn't in the Hall of Fame, but the respect for him is there in Cooperstown. In the World Series display is the Spalding glove that Mets outfielder Tommie Agee used to make his legendary catches in the 1969 World Series. It's a Johnny Callison model. Great pictures, too. Game winning HR ball, '64 ASG, with dog bite marks, and Callison's ASG glove Callison's game winning swing. Shea's fair territory bricks and original bullpen in the background.

Chad Ochoseis wrote: Among NL right-fielders, only Gerardo Parra has a higher WAR than Byrd. Byrd's on pace to finish the season with 28 HR's. I can't figure how Byrd's WAR is higher than Beltran, being that WAR is a counting stat and Byrd trails Beltran by about 50 PA's and has worse across the board slash lines. This is why I don't take black box statistics like WAR too seriously. For what it's worth, BBRef has Beltran's dWAR at -0.8 and Byrd's at +0.6, which would explain the difference. Byrd a better defensive outfielder than Beltran. Who would've thunk? Yeah ... I considered this but didn't bother to look it up, figuring that there's no way Byrd makes up the apparent offensive deficit with his glove.

Among NL right-fielders, only Gerardo Parra has a higher WAR than Byrd. Byrd's on pace to finish the season with 28 HR's. I can't figure how Byrd's WAR is higher than Beltran, being that WAR is a counting stat and Byrd trails Beltran by about 50 PA's and has worse across the board slash lines.

Close, but no peace pipe. Maddux ('95) and Smoltz ('96) were back to back Cy Young Award winners for the Braves. But one team pulled off this feat after the Braves, but before the Tribe. Extra credit: Who would win in a footrace: Chief Noc-A-Homa, Chief Wahoo or Chief Wild (It is Ballooooon!) Eagle?

Another day. Another homer. Byrd's HR act has become so routine, it's boring, bordering on unwatchable.

Kris Benson given custody of kids On the same day Anna Benson publicly defended herself for allegedly breaking into estranged husband Kris Benson's house brandishing a gun, the former MLB pitcher was issued an emergency restraining order against the former model. On Wednesday, a Forsyth County judge also granted Kris Benson full custody and revoked Anna Benson's visitation rights of their three children. The former major league pitcher called 911 from the basement of his home when his estranged wife Anna Benson broke into the house brandishing a gun and wearing a bullet-proof vest on Monday. The Smyrna, Ga., police released a recording of the call on Wednesday. Anna Benson was arrested and is being held without bond on four counts, including aggravated assault with a gun, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years if found guilty. "I'm a good girl, a nice girl,'' Anna told the New York Post, which sent a reporter to interview her in jail. "I would never hurt [Kris]. I am still in love with him." Judge Jeffrey S. Bagley's order also requires Anna to undergo psychological evaluation, and the judge decreed that both Kris and Anna will be subject to random-drug testing. Kris Benson's request to seal the records was denied by Bagley, as was a request to hold Anna Benson in contempt of court. The next hearing is scheduled for Aug. 22. Kris Benson filed for divorce in 2012 and previously was awarded primary custody of their three children. The Smyrna arrest report in the matter references a June order for Anna to vacate what was once the family home. In the 911 call, a hushed Kris Benson said she was carrying a gun with shotgun shells. Asked by the dispatcher what Anna said when she pulled the gun out, Kris said he wasn't sure. "I've got it on tape recorder," Benson said. "Everything was happening pretty quick but I had set my voice recorder out." Benson, 38, was able to evade his wife by saying he would go find a lighter so she could have a cigarette. He called the police from the basement and during the call left from a back door and waited for police to arrive. Anna Benson was found to have in her possession the gun and vest, hatchet, red knife, ammo belt, expandable baton and taser. A bag of syringes was also found during a house search. Anna Benson, 37, explained to police that she was wearing the vest in order to test it for a company. "My plan is to drive around the Southeast to the different gun shows and see what is out there and what is cool," Anna told the Post. "The problem is that I don't have any money to start my business, and a lot of the stuff I can't tell the investors about because it is top-secret military and Department of Defense stuff." She also alleged that Kris had been unfaithful. She continued: "We have been married for 15 years, and he can't keep it in his pants. He can't stop fucking my friends, in my house. But that doesn't mean that I don't love him." The couple was once in the public eye. In 2005, Kris Benson pitched for the New York Mets while Anna was declared to be one of the hottest wives in baseball. She posed topless for Penthouse and showed up to a Mets family holiday party in a low-cut Mrs. Claus outfit, reportedly rankling some in the organization. Kris was soon traded to the Baltimore Orioles and last pitched in the majors for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2010. http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/9467659/judge-grants-kris-benson-restraining-order-anna-benson

The forgotten all-star game: 50 years ago, baseball�s Latino legends played in Polo Grounds� last game Hall of Famers Roberto Clemente of the Pittsburgh Pirates (left) and Orlando Cepeda of the San Francisco Giants were some of the stars at the all-Latino all-star game played in 1963. It was the all-star game few baseball fans witnessed, and fewer today know it was ever played at all. Fifty years ago, on a warm and sunny autumn afternoon in New York, two teams comprised of Latino players from the Major Leagues squared off at the Polo Grounds for an exhibition game billed as a charity event to benefit a new Latin American Hall of Fame. Held on Oct. 12, 1963 - a week after the Los Angeles Dodgers swept the New York Yankees in the World Series - it would be the last baseball game ever played at the ramshackle Polo Grounds, which had housed the expansion Mets in their first two seasons while Shea Stadium was being built in Queens. It was also the first - and only - time baseball's Latino players would be squarely in the spotlight, especially in an era when a Spanish surname was still a rarity in the Major Leagues. "It was historic," says Juan Marichal, the Dominican Republic-born star pitcher for the San Francisco Giants. "There was a lot of emotion among all the players, and you could tell the fans were excited about it, too." Too bad there weren't all that many in the stands. Unlike the televised, three-day hoopla surrounding next week's All-Star game at the Mets' Citi Field, this all-star tilt was played in near anonymity. An official crowd numbering just 14,235 - the Polo Grounds fit 56,000 - saw players from the American League pitted against their counterparts from the National League. Giants teammates Felipe Alou and ace pitcher Juan Marichal. Yet despite the sparse attendance and relative lack of media attention, the players took the game seriously, says Orlando Cepeda, then the San Francisco Giants' slugging first baseman. "It didn't matter that it was for charity and that it wasn't a 'real' all-star game," Cepeda says. "When you put on your uniform, you played hard and you tried even harder to win. And that's what everybody did in that game." Just to be invited was a tremendous source of pride for the players regardless of their stature as stars or scrubs, recalls Manny Mota, a Dominican-born outfielder for the Pittsburgh Pirates who was only in his second year in the majors. It wasn't only that you were playing for league bragging rights, back when the AL-NL rivalry meant something. The lineups were filled with men from several Latin American and Caribbean nations - Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Panama, and Mexico - many of them black Latinos who faced the same bigotry African-American players had to put up with . "For us, it was a question of prestige and pride, because we were representing our countries, " says Mota, who would go on to enjoy a long career as one of the game's most clutch pinch-hitters. "It was a rare event and all the players had a grand passion for this game because they knew what it signified for us and Latino fans. Manny Mota of the Pirates, who would go on to become one of the game's best pinch-hitters ever. "We were all together for the first time, and, as it turned out, the last time." Among the participants were four future Hall of Famers in their prime - Cepeda, Marichal, rightfielder Roberto Clemente of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Baltimore Orioles shortstop Luis Aparicio. There was also a future three-time batting champion in Tony Oliva; Zoilo Versalles, the soon-to-be Most Valuable Player for the Minnesota Twins; Giants star outfielder and future manager Felipe Alou; popular veterans Vic Power and Minnie Minoso; and Hector Lopez, coming off his fourth straight World Series as a Yankees outfielder. But the overall scarcity of Latino players in 1963 meant there were also a few on each squad who hardly qualified as major leaguers, never mind all-stars. The American League's first baseman was Julio Becquer, who didn't even have an official at-bat in 1963 - he appeared in one game for the Twins as a pinch runner (though he did come around to score). And the National League must have been pretty hard-pressed to find a decent catcher. The starting backstop that day was Cuno Barragan, a Mexican-American from California who struck out in his only at-bat that year for the Chicago Cubs - which would turn out to be the last plate appearance of his brief career. It gets worse: The other catcher on the NL roster was Joe Pignatano, who would become a coach for the 1969 Miracle Mets best-known for the vegetable garden he grew in the Shea bullpen. Slick shortstop Luis Aparicio of the Baltimore Orioles in 1963. Not only had he been out of baseball since the end of the '62 season, the Brooklyn-born Pignatano, is Italian, not Hispanic. And it was a bit of a stretch having Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Al McBean, who was from the U.S. Virgin Islands, on the National League roster. "It was such a different world back then," says Amaury Pi-Gonzalez, the Spanish-language broadcaster for the Anaheim Angels and co-founder of the Hispanic Heritage Baseball Museum Hall of Fame. "You hardly had enough Latinos to fill two teams, and of those, most were from Cuba and Puerto Rico. Now you have hundreds of Latino players from all over, mostly from the Dominican Republic, and you could easily fill more than two teams with stars." For all its historical importance, the game itself was a lopsided affair, with the NL, who had won baseball's official all-star game in Cleveland that summer, taking a 5-0 lead into the ninth. Alou started the scoring in the first inning with an RBI single off losing pitcher Pedro Ramos of the Twins. The Nationals busted out for three runs in the fourth on a run-scoring single by Cardinals shortstop Julian Javier. Mota, pinch-hitting for Marichal, showed a sign of things to come by following with a two-run single that made it 4-0. Juan Marichal, a 25-game winner in 1963, winds up. The NL's final run was scored in the sixth, when Minoso got a late jump on McBean's smash to deep left, driving in centerfielder Tony Gonzalez. But McBean was nailed at home on a crisp relay from Minoso to Aparico to Indians catcher Joe Azcue, much to the delight of the crowd. Giants ace Marichal, a 25-game winner in 1963, gave a strong performance worthy of a regular season game. He hurled four innings of shutout ball, allowing just two hits, no walks and fanning six. "There was a lot of competition in those days between the National League and the American League, and each member of the team really wanted to beat those guys," Marichal says. "Everbody gave 100%." McBean, named the winning pitcher, followed Marichal with four scoreless innings of his own. But the American Leaguers ruined the combined shutout in the ninth against Mets pitcher Ed Bauta, who was probably still angry he had been traded from the second-place Cardinals to the cellar-dwelling Mets in mid-season. Bauta gave up two hits, two walks and a wild pitch, according to the Daily News' coverage that day. The final score was 5-2. The celebration of Latino athleticism wasn't limited to nine innings. Before the game, several players received awards, including Cepeda, who was given a trophy for "most popular Latin American player of the year." And according to both Cepeda and Marichal, three of Latin music's biggest all-stars - bandleaders Tito Puente and Tito Rodriguez and singer La Lupe - performed on the field prior to the game. "When you consider the legendary players involved and the legendary musicians who performed, it was just such an amazing and historic day for the Latino culture that we'll probably never see again," says Ralph Paniagua, a Latin music promoter and founder of LatinoBaseball.com. One thing we'll no doubt ever see again is the paltry $175 each player earned for participating - just a little less than the typical $50,000 bonus some modern-day players have in their contracts for making the all-star team. "We didn't make a lot of money back then," laughs Marichal. "So whatever it was, it helped." A few players, however, capped off their special day by helping themselves. Cepeda recalls the players were lined up in the crowded clubhouse after the game to collect their cash from the game's organizer. "After me, Roberto Clemente and Vic Power got paid, we got on line again," Cepeda says, laughing. "The guy never realized he ended up paying us twice." http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/forgotten-all-star-game-50-years-baseball-latino-legends-played-polo-grounds-game-article-1.1395064

Phillies Fan Sues Mets BY LIZ GOFF A 25-year-old Philadelphia woman last week filed suit against the NY Mets, charging she suffered injuries when she was ejected from Citi Field following an argument with a group of Mets fans. Phillies fan Kaylee Gavian is seeking unspecified damages in the lawsuit, in which she charges she was ejected from Citi Field on July 4, 2012 � and that a guard escorting her out of the stadium pushed her down a flight of stairs. The Mets management refused to comment on the ongoing litigation. http://www.qgazette.com/news/2013-07-10/Front_Page/Phillies_Fan_Sues_Mets.html

The last team to have different pitchers win consecutive Cy Young Awards were the Indians of 2007 (Sabathia) and 2008 (Lee). Name the most recent team and their two pitchers to accomplish this same feat immediately before the 07-08 Tribe. Peeker's Link -- http://www.amazinavenue.com/2013/7/9/4478316/mets-matt-harvey-cy-young-ra-dickey-new-york

Dad, Chief Noc-A-Homa called. He wants tickets for the Braves series. I put him behind home plate, field level, but told him not to do his dance if the Mets hit a HR. That's what the apple's for, right?

Nymr83 wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: cooby wrote: Glad it turned out all right; this could have been a real tragedy. I'm not defending Anna, but do you think she meant to follow through on anything if she thought Kris wasn't getting her the dough? Who knows? Really???? So we should believe the bank robber who swears he would have never pulled the trigger? throw the bitch in jail for a really really long time (assuming Kris' allegations are true) I wasn't defending her, or asking anyone to believe anything. I simply wondered if she would've really harmed her husband if she thought he wasn't getting her the money she demanded.

Edgy MD wrote: Wikipedia wrote: Until prior to the 1994�1995 school year, the university's nickname was the St. John's Redmen, which referenced the red uniforms worn by its teams in competition. The name was interpreted as a Native American reference in the 1960s, and the university did have a mascot (adorned in Native American dress), which eventually led to the team's name change to the Red Storm. The change happened at a time when there was mounting pressure on colleges and universities to adopt names more sensitive to Native American culture. The Redmen name still remains popular among fans, however, as does "Johnnies". On September 18, 2009 the new mascot, which was voted on by students, was revealed; Johnny Thunderbird. Sounds like the meaning of Redmen got muddled over the years, starting out representing SJU's sports uniforms, reinterpreted by the fan base to symbolize Indians, with the University then encouraging the Indian interpretation.

Edgy MD wrote: That's the problem with gunzzz. Once you pull one out, whether you mean to follow through on your threat or not, you only have to make one tiny mistake. A person overwhelmed by rage or fear has to make dozens and dozens of bad decisions to kill someone with their hands. If they have a knife, a dozen bad decisions will do the trick. With an automatic or semi-automatic handgun, a momentary --- even passing --- lapse of judgment and you're a murderer. I totally agree. I was just wondering, though.

Edgy MD wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: I thought they ought to have just ditched the mascot and associated Indian imagery and reinvented their legend so that Redmen would stand for athletes wearing red. Wasn't that more-or-less the original connotation? Could be. I'm not sure. But I thought a Redman, as used by SJU, was an Indian with a red face, either painted, or supposedly from natural complexion.

cooby wrote: Glad it turned out all right; this could have been a real tragedy. I'm not defending Anna, but do you think she meant to follow through on anything if she thought Kris wasn't getting her the dough? Who knows?

Frayed Knot wrote: soupcan wrote: I'm not a big fan of singular names for teams like 'The Heat' or 'The Liberty', but The Atlanta Braves could just rename themselves 'The Atlanta Brave' and be done with it. And the Redskins could simply keep their name while changing the logo to a potato and suddenly the word 'redskin' takes on a new and non-insulting meaning. I always liked this idea. I hated when St. John's University changed their nickname to the Red Storm. I thought they ought to have just ditched the mascot and associated Indian imagery and reinvented their legend so that Redmen would stand for athletes wearing red. But what would the new Redskins helmet logo be? A potato? I guess they could keep the old R helmet from the early '70's, but without the feathers.

Which bridge? I don't own a real bridge at the moment, but I've got enough dough to buy any bridge out there.

"Fuck the fan base is right! If they think they're more patriotic than I am, let them try and grow an American flag from their scalp. (I mean head.)"

"What? I'm supposed to keep track of the schedule, too? Do you realize how unwatchable this team is? Shaun Marcum was our #2 starter and I Don't Know plays Centerfield. Please. I'm wearing a $180.00 pin-dot tie from Barney's".