batmagadanleadoff

Post above edited to now include one hack announcer. Hall of Famers: (4) Carter, Mays, Spahn, Snider Possible Future HOF'ers: (2) Beltran, Kent MVP's: (4) Foster, Kent, Mays, Mitchell, Runner-UP MVP's: (5) Carter, Foster, Mays, Snider, Strawberry Cy Young Award Winners: (2) Hershiser, Spahn ROY's: (3) Beltran, Mays, Strawberry Hack Announcers: (1) Lotsa lifetime HR's.

I disapprove of the use of my image to denote strikeouts. I never struck out!

Swan Swan H wrote: I can't talk about A.R. in public for 60 days. Damned restraining order. I took a chance just listing his name in the lineup. Maybe we can get Zvon to photoshop Recker's face onto Harvey's ESPN body shots. You'd like that. It's not against the law to look, right?

Swan Swan H wrote: Eric Young Jr., cf Daniel Murphy, 2b David Wright, 3b Marlon Byrd, rf Josh Satin, 1b Andrew Brown, lf Anthony Recker, c Omar Quintanilla, ss Jeremy Hefner, rhp Birthday boy John Buck sits this one out.

Mets ace pitcher Matt Harvey looks Amazin' as he bares all in ESPN The Magazine's Body Issue

All-Star Ron Hunt reminisces in the Daily News. Ron Hunt calls it �alley ball� .... Neat pictures, too. Ron Hunt was the only Met to play in the 1964 All-Star Game at Shea Stadium, becoming the first Met to start in the Midsummer Classic. Now, living on a ranch in Wentzville, Mo., the former infielder has plenty of mementos from that game, including a photo of himself in the on-deck circle. A bat from the 1964 All-Star Game (r.) is on display at Ron Hunt's Wentzville, Mo., home. Part of Ron Hunt's personal collection from the 1964 All-Star game is this picture with Yankees center fielder Mickey Mantle. An engraved silver punch bowl was a gift Ron Hunt received for playing in the All-Star Game. ________________ Not pictured or mentioned in the article: Look whose helmet Johnny Callison was wearing when he hit his game winning HR.

A Disease Without a Cure Spreads Quietly in the West Joe Klorman, a retired police officer, before treatment for a severe case of valley fever that affects his brain. By PATRICIA LEIGH BROWN Published: July 4, 2013 BAKERSFIELD, Calif. � In 36 years with the Los Angeles police, Sgt. Irwin Klorman faced many dangerous situations, including one routine call that ended with Uzi fire and a bullet-riddled body sprawled on the living room floor. But his most life-threatening encounter has been with coccidioidomycosis, or valley fever, for which he is being treated here. Coccidioidomycosis, known as �cocci,� is an insidious airborne fungal disease in which microscopic spores in the soil take flight on the wind or even a mild breeze to lodge in the moist habitat of the lungs and, in the most extreme instances, spread to the bones, the skin, the eyes or, in Mr. Klorman�s case, the brain. The infection, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has labeled �a silent epidemic,� is striking more people each year, with more than 20,000 reported cases annually throughout the Southwest, especially in California and Arizona. Although most people exposed to the fungus do not fall ill, about 160 die from it each year, with thousands more facing years of disability and surgery. About 9 percent of those infected will contract pneumonia and 1 percent will experience serious complications beyond the lungs. The disease is named for the San Joaquin Valley, a cocci hot spot, where the same soil that produces the state�s agricultural bounty can turn traitorous. The �silent epidemic� became less silent last week when a federal judge ordered the state to transfer about 2,600 vulnerable inmates � including some with H.I.V. � out of two of the valley�s eight state prisons, about 90 miles north of here. In 2011, those prisons, Avenal and Pleasant Valley, produced 535 of the 640 reported inmate cocci cases, and throughout the system, yearly costs for hospitalization for cocci exceed $23 million. The transfer, affecting about a third of the two prisons� combined population, is to be completed in 90 days, a challenge to a prison system already contending with a federal mandate to reduce overcrowding. Jose Antonio Diaz, 44, who has diabetes and was recently relocated to Avenal, is feeling �very scared of catching it,� said his wife, Suzanne Moreno. Advocates for prisoners have criticized state agencies for not moving the inmates sooner. �If this were a factory, a public university or a hotel � anything except a prison � they would shut these two places down,� said Donald Specter, the executive director of the Prison Law Office, which provides free legal assistance to inmates. The pending transfer has underscored the complexities and mysteries of a disease that continues to baffle physicians and scientists. In Arizona, a study from the Department of Health Services showed a 25 percent risk of African-Americans with newly diagnosed valley fever developing complications, compared with 6 percent of whites. �The working hypothesis has to do with genetic susceptibility, probably the interrelationships of genes involved in the immune system,� said Dr. John N. Galgiani, a professor at the University of Arizona and the director of the Valley Fever Center for Excellence, founded in 1996. �But which ones? We�re clueless.� Kandis Watson, whose son Kaden, 8, almost died, had a gut feeling that �something was not right,� she said, when Kaden began feeling sick two years ago. The pediatrician prescribed antibiotics, but Kaden�s health deteriorated, with a golf ball-size mass developing at the base of his neck. The infection enveloped Kaden�s chest, narrowing his trachea. Kaden was essentially breathing through an opening the size of a straw, said Dr. James M. McCarty, the medical director of pediatric infectious diseases at Children�s Hospital Central California in Madera, where Kaden spent six months. Today the boy is back to his mischievous self, surreptitiously placing a green plastic lizard in his mother�s hair. But how he contracted valley fever is still guesswork. �I think he got it being a boy, digging in the dirt,� Mrs. Watson said. Kern County, where Bakersfield is located, had more than 1,800 reported cases last year. At Kern Medical Center, Dr. Royce H. Johnson and his colleagues have a roster of nearly 2,000 patients. Many, like Mr. Klorman, have life-threatening cocci meningitis. �I got a bad break,� said Mr. Klorman, who is known as Joe. Until illness forced his retirement, he preferred a squad car to a desk job. Now he travels four hours round trip three times a week so Dr. Johnson can inject a powerful antifungal drug into his spinal fluid. In other patients, the disease has been known to eat away ribs and vertebrae. �It destroys lives,� said Dr. Johnson, whose daughter contracted a mild form. �Divorces, lost jobs and bankruptcy are incredibly common, not to mention psychological dislocation.� Once athletic, Deandre Zillendor, 38, dropped to 145 pounds from 220 in two weeks, and lesions erupted on his face and body. �You keep it forever, like luggage,� he said of the disease. Todd Schaefer, 48, who produces award-winning pinot noirs in Paso Robles, was told by his doctors that he had 10 years to live. That was 10 years ago. But valley fever has disseminated into his spinal column and brain, and his conversation is interrupted by grimaces of pain. Ruggedly handsome, he still outwardly resembles the archetype of the California good life. But Mr. Schaefer has had a stroke, a hole in his lung, two serious heart episodes and relapses that �put me on the edge of life,� he said. He believes he got infected with valley fever atop a tractor during the construction of Pacific Coast Vineyards, which he runs with his wife, Tammy. One doctor initially suggested bed rest, chicken soup and cranberry juice. Today Mr. Schaefer can no longer can drink wine, and he begins every morning retching. �I told her to leave me,� he said at one low point, of his wife, who is 37. �She�s too young, too beautiful.� Dr. Benjamin Park, a medical officer with the C.D.C., said that the numbers of cases are �under-estimates� because some states do not require public reporting. They include Texas, where valley fever is endemic along the Rio Grande. In New Mexico, a 2010 survey of doctors and clinics by the state�s public health department revealed that 69 percent of clinicians did not consider it in patients with respiratory problems. Numbers spike when rainfall is followed by dry spells. Many scientists believe that the uptick in infections is related to changing climate patterns. Kenneth K. Komatsu, the state epidemiologist for Arizona, where 13,000 cases were reported last year, said that another factor may be urban sprawl: �digging up rural areas where valley fever is growing in the soil,� he said. In Avenal, citizens have become activists, looking into possible environmental factors, including a regional landfill that accepts construction waste. Three of the four children of James McGee, a teacher, have contracted the disease, including Marivi, 17, who was found convulsing in the ladies� room at school. Dr. McCarty of Children�s Hospital is seeing an increasing number of children from Avenal. Valley fever was a familiar presence during the Dust Bowl, and in Japanese internment camps throughout the arid West. Yet there is still no cure, and research on a fungicide and a potential vaccine have been stalled by financing issues. One company, Nielsen Biosciences Inc., has developed a skin test to identify cocci but has not yet been able to make it financially viable. Part of the difficulty is that cocci is �a hundred different diseases,� Dr. Johnson said, depending on where in the body it nests. His patients include farm workers, oil field workers and construction workers. One of his patients, Barbara Ludy, 61, had a job that involved taking care of a man who is quadriplegic. She was strong enough to lift his 175-pound frame, plus his wheelchair, into a van. Cocci meningitis affected her ability to think, to remember, to walk, to live independently. When her weight dropped to 71 pounds, her distraught daughters went to Goodwill to buy their mother size zero clothes. One daughter, Jennifer Gillet, now takes care of her mother full time. Ms. Ludy is recuperating, slowly. And things are looking up: She is now a size 10. Barbara Ludy can no longer work because of the disease The disease puts Todd Schaefer in pain every day. Mr. Schaefer, 48, has had serious heart problems, and can no longer drink the wine he and his wife, Tammy, produce. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/05/health/a-disease-without-a-cure-spreads-quietly-in-the-west.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Everyone's favorite writer is back from vacation. Summary: (Davis to return; The Mets still suck). _____________________________________ Ike Davis Returns! 05 July 2013, 12:07 pm by Howard Megdal So the Mets, less than a month after dispatching Ike Davis to Las Vegas, have recalled him. He hit seven home runs in 92 at-bats there, but really, it is impossible to evaluate hitters and pitchers on numbers alone in Las Vegas, given the huge pro-hitting advantage of the ballpark, and the Pacific Coast League in general. Two possible reasons for Davis getting promoted: 1. The Mets see something that has [them] convinced he�s fixed. 2. The Mets know they have to find out what Davis can [do] as they plan for 2014, so here goes nothing! Reason one doesn�t guarantee success. Reason two doesn�t guarantee failure. But Josh Satin, even in the eyes of his most ardent supporters, doesn�t look like the future at first base, not at 28, with that lack of power. And there isn�t an obvious first baseman elsewhere in the organization until you get to the just-drafted Dominic Smith, who is a good distance away. (Think 2017.) So sure, bring Davis up, and figure out if the Mets need a first baseman, shortstop, three outfielders and possibly a catcher this offseason, or, you know, just all those other things, but not a first baseman. http://mets.lohudblogs.com/2013/07/05/ike-davis-returns/

Image googling Brandon Lyon brings up these pics: Moira by brandon lyon (nsfw) Moira by brandon lyon (nsfw) Moira by brandon lyon (nsfw)

Sorry I'm late. Who's on first?

Can't duplicate the chemistry of the originals: [youtube:8yj0qvsn]kTcRRaXV-fg[/youtube:8yj0qvsn]

Rain Delay Theater featuring your host, Harvey the K: [youtube:20m2yy01]OGJzrpdcKCg[/youtube:20m2yy01]

Satin Overcomes Quirks at the Plate and Walks a Long Path to the Majors Josh Satin, center, was picked by the Mets in the sixth round (No. 194th) of the 2008 draft. By ZACH SCHONBRUN Published: July 2, 2013 At every minor league stop � and there have been quite a few of them for Josh Satin � a coach or instructor needled him about changing his unorthodox batting mechanics, quieting his aggressive leg lift or circular hand motion. It became a ritual of spring. �Every year,� said infielder Zach Lutz, who has played with Satin since 2008, �we�d have coaches say something to him.� One of them was Manager Terry Collins, who as the Mets� field coordinator in 2010 also approached Satin about toning down his wavy swing, the cartoonish way he timed every pitch, as if he were hitting in a slow-pitch softball home run derby. At the time, Collins watched Satin with a skeptic�s eye, nodding along with the growing chorus of doubting talent evaluators who failed to envision Satin as anything but too old, too slow, too unconventional to be part of the Mets� future. �Not many people thought Josh Satin was going to do much at the major league level,� Collins said. �All he did was continue to hit at every level.� Indeed, Satin is hitting .390 since his call-up from Class AAA Las Vegas on June 11, while reaching base in 13 consecutive games, with a .400 average with runners in scoring position. He doubled in the go-ahead run in the seventh inning Tuesday � before a 101-minute rain delay � in the Mets� eventual 9-1 win over Arizona. �Seven was pretty good,� Collins said of the seven runs the Mets scored in the seventh, a season-high for an inning. �It just took an hour and a half to get them.� In a short time, Satin has effectively cushioned the blow from losing Lucas Duda (to a rib injury) and Ike Davis, who swapped places with Satin in Las Vegas, where Davis remains. The June switch � Satin up, Davis down � was a quirky twist in Satin�s long path to the big leagues, starting when he was picked by the Mets in the sixth round (194th over all) of the 2008 draft, 176 selections after the Mets chose Davis. Both were four-year college players from the Pacific-12 Conference (Davis from Arizona State; Satin from California), both played multiple positions and both were among the game�s small contingent of Jewish ballplayers. But in the minors, their trails diverged. Davis ascended through the Mets� system as the first baseman of the future, reaching the Mets� lineup in mid-April 2010, while Satin was still at Class A Port St. Lucie. Satin hit .311 with a .399 on-base percentage and 74 runs batted in that season, in Class A and Class AA, but he remained deep in the Mets� system. He hit .323 with a .411 on-base percentage in 2011 in Class AA and Class AAA, but a late-September call-up with the Mets was all he had to prove himself. In 2012, it was back to Class AAA. �There were a lot of times you see guys in other organizations get called up,� Satin said, �and you�re like, I played against this guy a lot, I personally think I�m better than this guy.� At 26, with a degree in political science from Cal, Satin acknowledged that dropping his pursuit crossed his mind. He looked at David Wright, Daniel Murphy and Davis and wondered if there would be a spot for him. Satin was drafted as a shortstop, played second base extensively in the minors and liked to fashion himself as a Mark DeRosa or Ben Zobrist type, versatile and valuable at multiple positions. He needed to prove, however, that he could consistently hit. The Mets had their doubts. �You see his stance in A-ball,� Collins said, �and you think to yourself: all that hand movement is not going to work in the big leagues. It�s too much movement.� Satin�s mechanical idiosyncrasy was similar to the hitch that Davis is trying to iron out in the minors. Like Satin, Davis would drop his hands low and lift his leg high, but his rhythm and timing went awry early this season, and his performance plummeted. Satin had been using his batting motion since high school, and he was stubborn about altering it. Why change? He scoffed. He was hitting about .320 in the minors. But in September 2011, during his big-league cameo, Satin said he finally recognized why Collins and others had been warning him: his timing needed to be faster. �He was right,� Satin said of Collins. Satin�s second awakening came after his second Mets call-up, in June 2012, in which he played one game, got one at-bat and struck out. After the game, he was designated for assignment. After clearing waivers and returning to Class AAA, Satin spent the remainder of the season and the off-season working on a calmer, more compact path to the ball, which Collins noticed in spring training and appreciated. �I think he just got back in the batter�s box with that confidence that he has,� Collins said. One problem still remained: there was no spot for him on the Mets� roster. But when Davis struggled, Satin�s .305 average and .420 on-base percentage were difficult to ignore. When the Mets called him to New York, Las Vegas Manager Wally Backman jokingly said, �I hope I never see you again.� After so many years in the minors, Satin hopes he has finally shown the Mets what they needed to see. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/03/sports/baseball/satin-overcomes-quirks-at-the-plate-and-walks-a-long-path-to-the-majors.html?_r=0

Neat thread title.

TC offers no hint of decreasing Buck role By Adam Rubin | ESPNNewYork.com NEW YORK -- With John Buck's torrid early April performance now very far in the rear-view mirror, does Terry Collins have to start thinking about more playing time for Anthony Recker? Collins offered no indication Monday that he was thinking about diminishing Buck's playing time. Buck's average dipped to .205 after he went 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in Monday's 5-4 walk-off win against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Buck also had three walks, although two were intentional late in the game when the pitcher's slot ended up directly behind him. Buck has started 65 games and Recker has started 14 games behind the plate this season. Of course, Recker is only hitting .157. Collins did say Recker will catch Tuesday, after Buck handled all 13 innings Monday. "Is he going to start to be the everyday guy? No," Collins said about Recker. Asked about Recker maybe playing more frequently, with Buck still handling the majority of the duty, Collins said: "I haven't decided." One name to watch at some point: Francisco Pena, who has reemerged as a prospect this season, although his average has sagged to .239 with six homers and 23 RBIs in 109 Triple-A at-bats. Top catching prospect Travis d'Arnaud now may be relegated to a September call-up at best. After breaking his left foot in April, d'Arnaud has started running in Port St. Lucie, but recently experienced some non-alarming discomfort. http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/mets/post/_/id/71255/tc-offers-no-indication-of-decreasing-buck-role

This is the sorriest set of ex-Mets-in-the-uni-of-their-current-opponent cards I ever posted.

Lawsuit alleges John Franco threw ball at wall to intimidate his real estate agent By David Brown | Big League Stew Lawsuits are for closers, too. New York Mets all-time saves leader John Franco and his wife, Rose, have been hit with a doozy that alleges all sorts of nasty stuff about them, the Staten Island Advance reports. The Francos are accused of bullying 60-something realtor Wendy King at an estate sale for their property in Staten Island in 2012. The charges include unlawful imprisonment, assault and slander. King alleges that a raging John Franco threw an autographed baseball at a wall in order to intimidate her, and more: Franco, the career saves leader for left-handed pitchers, refused to let Ms. King leave, shoving her away from the front door and standing there for 15 minutes while glaring menacingly at her, court filings allege. Meanwhile, his wife berated her and called her a thief, contends the Westchester County resident. That sounds more like a hold than a save. The Francos, conversely, dispute King's version of events. They claim they're owed $30,000 and that King did an "unprofessional" job with the estate sale, which grossed more than $70,000 from items such as "a custom motorcycle, 18th-century neoclassical sconces, video-arcade machines and Mets memorabilia, according to Advance reports." The Mets memorabilia included a custom Harley-Davidson roadster motorcycle that teammates presented to Franco upon his 400th career save. That went for $7,000. Sounds kind of jerky of Franco to do that but, now that he's living in Manhattan, there was just no room for the bike. Just remember that the next time teammates give a famous ballplayer some fancy retirement gift. The Francos listed the six-bedroom house for $8.3 million in 2005 and sold it for $3.4 million in September. Ouch, bubble! It's OK, though, or should be; Franco grossed $47 million playing ball. As for who wins the lawsuit: It all depends on who makes the best depositions. http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mlb-big-league-stew/lawsuit-alleges-john-franco-threw-ball-wall-intimidate-135958312.html

Nobody knew how to put asses in the seats better than Bill Veeck. I'd take a page out of the Veeck playbook and install an exploding scoreboard. With real explosives. You know why.

What exactly is Fanfest? I'm not into autographs. What is there to do and see? And buy, besides food and the same stuff I could probably buy at Citi Field? What might I see that I haven't already seen?

iol0B-clFFM Don't build Zack Wheeler up so quickly is, apparently, the topic of today. Two more variations on the theme: Brian Costa: Wheeler Shows Rarity of Harvey Zack Wheeler hasn't been fantastic so far�but not everybody can be Matt Harvey, and even Harvey faced some adversity in his first few starts. You can tell yourself to be logical, to be realistic about Zack Wheeler. But then you watch Matt Harvey dominate the Washington Nationals on Friday night, one more step in his quantum leap from rookie to Cy Young contender. You arrive at Citi Field on the last day of June and see shirts that say "Wheelz Up," highlighting the arrival of another top pitching prospect. For once, the place is packed. And at that moment, tempering expectations seems awfully boring. Realism becomes futile. "There's such a buildup," Mets manager Terry Collins said, "that it's hard to fight the hype." And so the reaction in some corners, on a day when Wheeler is knocked around for five runs in just 4 2/3 innings, becomes equally over the top: Fire the pitching coach. Change his mechanics. Do something, anything, to remedy this crisis before all hope is lost. Mind you, this was Wheleer's third major-league start. He is 23 years old. If anything, Sunday was a reminder of what a rare and unique gift Harvey has become for the Mets. It is almost unfathomable that just one year ago, he was still in Triple-A, as the Mets debated whether he was ready for the majors. Someone who scouts baseball players for a living actually told ESPN New York�anonymously, lucky for him�that Harvey was "Pelfrey without the split or breaking ball." Today he's Clemens without the age or downfall. Harvey leads all qualified National League starting pitchers in earned-run average (2.00), strikeouts (132) and general nastiness. He is allowing just 0.85 walks and hits per inning, the lowest rate among NL starters. He deserves to start for the NL in the All-Star Game at Citi Field in a couple of weeks. The good part of this, for Wheeler, is it takes some attention and scrutiny away from him. The unfair part is it raises the expectations for him to a point that borders on unrealistic. People hear Collins say, as he did again Sunday, that he believes the two will compete against each other, feed off each other, and they imagine some kind of Starsky and Hutch act playing out in Flushing this summer. Dueling aces! The savior and his understudy! What gets lost in all this is that Harvey is the exception, not the rule. Take a glance at the statistical leaderboards this year and you'll find that even at the top, most pitchers went through some degree of early growing pains. Cliff Lee had a 5.43 ERA the year before he first received Cy Young votes. Clayton Kershaw finished his rookie season with an ERA of 4.26. Even Justin Verlander, whose ascent to stardom was almost instantaneous, had a 6.86 ERA after his first four starts. He went on to win the AL Rookie of the Year award in 2006. For Wheeler to have a 5.06 ERA, some fastball command issues and a mechanical glitch or two after three major-league starts doesn't mean he'll follow the same path. But it's not an indictment of him, either. It just means, as pitching prospects go, he's pretty normal. This is what development looks like. A promotion to the majors does not mean someone is a finished product. Of course, no one wants to hear this now. Not when so many other aspects of the Mets' season require some combination of patience, Advil, Tums or tequila to endure. The Mets, understandably, have done little to quell the excitement for Wheeler's first few games. SNY cameramen have documented such memorable moments as "Wheeler comes off field after batting practice." Wheeler is the tonic people have been waiting for. But there is a reason the Mets have tried to stockpile pitching prospects over the past few years. And there's a reason they'll have to think long and hard about which ones and how many, if any, to trade for a position player. Many don't pan out, be it because of injury or underperformance. And among those that do, very few do so as quickly and as brilliantly as Harvey. On a day when it was easy to lose perspective, it's worth remembering this: The last time a Mets pitcher allowed five earned runs in one of his first three major-league starts, they were playing in San Diego. The year was 2012. The pitcher who was so clearly doomed by this outing? Matt Harvey. Wheeler may have more days like Sunday ahead. And it may still work out all right. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323297504578578110290716022.html _______________ And G-Fafif's blog piece Once Upon Citi Field, which includes a reference and citation to one of my favorite Mets books of all time, Leonard Schecter's Once Upon the Polo Grounds. Shecter covered the Polo Grounds Mets for the New York Post and is widely credited with cultivating, if not inventing, the team's early image as lovable losers.

iol0B-clFFM Hype heaped on phenoms like NY Mets Zack Wheeler is dehumanizing. Strasburg: "They build you up just to bring you down. BY Andy Martino It is dehumanizing, what happens to phenoms like Zack Wheeler over the long arc of a professional baseball career. In the minor leagues, you are an abstraction, a blank screen onto which fans and media project hopes that have little to do with who you actually are. Then you arrive in the big city and, as any person would, reveal your normal imperfections. You are not a savior, but a human, and the public can grow bitter. Ask Mike Pelfrey, a first-round pick who became a solid pitcher, and was seen by many fans as the devil by the middle of his Mets years. Or even better, ask the guy whose debut brought more hype than perhaps any pitcher in history, Stephen Strasburg. �What happens is, that they build you up just to bring you down,� Strasburg said Saturday. �They never get it. Unfortunately, that�s people who never played the game. You really can�t control what people write or say.� As Wheeler -- young and talented, not yet great, and working earnestly to improve -- makes his Citi Field debut Sunday, it is worth questioning all this craziness, and imagining what a more humanistic process would look like. What if we understood that baseball brings mostly failure, even for its most talented players? What if we did avoided hyping minor leaguers, and just understood that athletes surprise us, in ways good and bad, once they compete at this level? A rare set of circumstances created the frenzied Wheeler buildup: He was acquired for Carlos Beltran, one of the greatest players in franchise history; he arrived at a time when the organization was marketing its future over its present, and became a symbol of that trend; he dazzled scouts in the minor leagues with raw talent, and copy-hungry writers like me relayed their quotes to the public without context; he followed Matt Harvey, who has worn the phenom crown as well as anyone could, convincing some fans that it can happen again. Because of those factors, Wheeler�s major league debut generated an absurd volume of attention --- and that buzz drowned reality. Wheeler is a high-ceiling talent with flaws in his delivery, who might not even be ready for the major leagues. But he is here, and he is working to improve, which is all we should ask of a young player. �When you go out there and give it everything you have, you can sleep well at night," Strasburg says. �And that�s everything you can do. There is not a single pitcher who is going to come up here and not have struggles at some point in his career. The sooner you can deal with the failure, the better you will be.� Despite the public�s desire to see something more, Wheeler�s initial weeks in the major leagues are more about process than results. He was tipping his breaking ball during his first two starts, and the issue contributed to overall inefficiency in a loss to the White Sox on Tuesday. As Wheeler came out of the game, pitching coach Dan Warthen pulled him aside and said, �Are you ready to get to work?� Wheeler was indeed ready, and the two focused in between starts on smoothing out a delivery that talent evaluators say has too many moving parts. Where Harvey�s motion is simple, minimizing the risk of both command issues and arm injuries, Wheeler�s is more herky-jerky. �There are two things we�re trying to do,� Terry Collins explained. �Number one, make sure his delivery is very consistent, arm slots, all of the things. So that there is any perhaps evidence of him tipping his pitches, that can be taken aside and making sure and there is no difference in where his arm angle is.� That is interesting, a young person trying to adjust to a higher degree of competition than he has ever faced, and it is all the Wheeler can worry about, if he wants to succeed. Just listen to Strasburg, the world�s foremost authority on the subject. �Do you want to go out there and help the team win, or do you think it�s your own show?� Strasburg said. �It�s going to be a little bit harder if you go out there trying to exceed expectations, because a lot of times expectations aren�t -- they aren�t real.� Well said. Hype is fiction, and it is actually cruel: Building a man up is just as wrong as tearing him down, because neither honors who he really is. Maybe we could just watch, and appreciate the complexity of Wheeler�s learning process. http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/baseballinsider/2013/06/hype-heaped-on-phenoms-like-ny-mets-zack-wheeler-is-dehumanizing-strasburg-t

New York Mets' manager Terry Collins to limit Matt Harvey's workload in second half New York Mets' right-hander Matt Harvey is on pace to throw 249 innings in 2013, which has caused manager Terry Collins to consider a plan to limit Harvey's workload through the second half of the season. "As we continue into the season with three months to go, always remember something: we are not�we are not�going to hinder this kid's health by killing him now, when the future is so bright," Collins told MLB.com's Anthony DiComo and Chris Iseman. "With (Zack) Wheeler coming, with (Rafael) Montero coming, all these young prospect pitchers coming, we're not going to jeopardize what's down the road for right now. I'm not going to do it. So we're going to monitor his workload, and hopefully he gets through the month of September." MORE: Royals DFA Jeff Francoeur | Pirates first to 50 wins Harvey threw 169 1/3 innings last season between the Mets and the organization's previous Class AAA affiliate in Buffalo. Jumping to 249 innings in 2013 would be a 47 percent leap, which is well above the standard 15-20 percent jump from year to year. Collins said he plans to speak to general manager Sandy Alderson and pitching coach Dan Warthen, among others, about Harvey's situation, as Harvey has already thrown 117 innings in 2013 in 17 starts. He is 7-1 with a National League leading 2.00 ERA. With pitching prospects Wheeler and Montero coming along in the minor leagues, the pair's emergence would allow Collins to give Harvey extended rest between starts to effectively cut his innings down. Wheeler has already made his debut with the Mets. He holds a 1-0 record with a 3.18 ERA in two starts and will make his third major league start Sunday against the Washington Nationals. Montero is still at at Class AAA Las Vegas. He will be part of the World Team in the Futures Game as part of All-Star week at Citi Field in July�a game both Harvey and Wheeler have pitched in the last two seasons. The Mets shut down Harvey at the end of the 2012 season as well to preserve his arm. http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/story/2013-06-30/matt-harvey-zack-wheeler-new-york-mets-stephen-strasburg