batmagadanleadoff

Also per Rubin: Zack Wheeler (DOB: May 30, 1990) will become the first player born in the 1990s to appear in the majors with the Mets. The Mets and Braves are poised to become the first teams to have three games completed on the same calendar date since the Cincinnati Reds on Aug. 23, 1996. On the cover of Sports Illustrated when Zack was born:

From 1998 (the first year of existence for both the Rays nee Devil Rays and Diamondbacks) through 2012, the Mets have hit three walk off home runs -- tied for next to last with the Royals, and better only than the Cubs. The Reds lead in that category/time period with 15 woHR's - five times as many as the Mets. Newy's woHR was only the 7th in franchise history coming with the Mets down by two or three runs. (It's impossible to hit a woHR down by more than three). 8-21-62 Thronebery v Pitt (Face) down 4-2 6-7-1963 Snider v StL (Olivo) down 2-0 6-26-63 Harkness v Cubs (Brewer) down 6-4 6-14-80 Henderson v SF (Ripley) down 6-4 9-5-83 Foster v Phil (Holland) down 5-3 8-30-92 Bonilla v Cinn (Dibble) down 3-1 (throwback night - Dibble rips off his throwback top as he walks off mound while Bonilla circles bases) http://www.baseballnation.com/2013/6/18/4440026/bob-costas-mets-kirk-nieuwenhuis-decline-of-western-civilization-chris-holmes-wasp-pool-mother

Swan Swan H wrote: A solo homer down five runs - the equivalent of your football example below - should be observed by running at a good pace around the bases and politely shaking hands with the third base coach and next batter. A three run homer to cap a last inning four-run comeback is a different thing. Frayed Knot wrote: At times there occurs obviously pre-planned celebrations that overrun any supposed spontaneity right out of the park (I remember one courtesy of Prince Fielder and the Brewers a few years back); but, at the same time, there's a difference between a play that ends a game--particularly when that play turns what looked like sure defeat into final victory in one brief second--and what the NFL tried to crack down on which were often ridiculous and over-the-top celebrations of a single play within a game that were mostly designed for the sole purpose of calling attention to oneself. Once the game's over, I don't have a problem with whatever they want to do. I was just afraid that Kirk was going to Kendry Morales himself. The irony here is that pitchers who bean batters who slow-pace it around the bases after a HR, without a reasonable suspicion that they've been purposely shown up, annoy me even more. I suppose that the players are free to allow customs to develop as they collectively see fit. It's their game. But I can't reconcile the Valdespin beaning of a few weeks ago, with yesterday's acceptable over-the-top end of game on-field celebration by the Mets team. Yes, it's obvious that one celebration follows a game winning hit and the other didn't even give Valdy's team a tie, but I'm not convinced that this explanation (an observation, really) justifies one over the other. I know that if I was a player on the Mets opponents in either of the two situations, neither of the two expressions of joy would offend me unless I believed that the celebrations were motivated, in part, by a desire to mock me or my team, or rub it in. If it's OK for a team miles away from contention to whoop it up on the field like yesterday's Mets, after a win, then guys like Valdy shouldn't have to expect beanings after cadillacing their HR's. There's not a whole lot of consistency in determining what goes and what doesn't. Sammy Sosa's bunny hop hop out of the batter's box following long blasts is about the most annoying, contrived thing I've ever seen, in any sport. And I'd hate it even more if I was his teammate instead of his opponent because that dance move surely cost him two or three strides. I'm not aware that Sosa was ever beaned for that hop either. MLB should follow the NFL's approach and prevent players from deciding what is and isn't offensive and then self-enforcing supposed affronts like some Old West posse. Everything goes unless the umps say otherwise.

The more I read this forum, the more I think I'm out of touch with just about everyone here. 'Cause I agree with Costas, and it's not a Mets thing. A team practically buried in last place, and one of the worst in a 30 team league -- a National laughingstock --wins one game in the longest schedule in organized team sports and celebrates like they're the 1980 US Olympic Hockey team after beating the Russians. And everyone's inured to this because it's become routine. Where's the limit to this? The NFL had choreographed ballets when some wide receiver, his team down by three TD's, caught a first down pass -- until the league put a stop to that by enforcing unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. It's not my world anymore.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Maybe we should just have one all-purpose "Batmagadanleadoff hates Mets Management" thread. I like this idea. Really. Batmags does awesome quizzes, which I love participating in. I figure it's like one of his contests - find the one thread that doesn't contain a repost of a negative article. I actually find them very helpful, because despite working in IT for thirty-four years I haven't yet mastered the search engine, and don't have the ability to find them myself should I so desire. Maybe Batmags is the Huffington Post of the Pool - an aggregator of articles. Some focus on politics, some on entertainment, Batmags fixates on the Wilpons, pere et fils, making sure we never miss a nugget whether from the big papers and web sites, or from Capital New York (motto: We ARE Schenectady). But the OP positively linked to a positive article. You should've saved this post for my next Megdal re-posting.

does anybody still do that anymore? sorry, i tried to find the thread, but nothing comes up. so, with that. tomorrow, i'll be celebrating fathers day in the citi. surely the mets will win, right? not sure if keith hernandez will be joining us this time. i can only assume so... Enjoy the game. And Happy Father's Day. But don't expect to run into the Glickson men. June 15, 2013, 10:13 am 6 Comments A Father�s Day Quandary: Go See the Mets or Not By GRANT GLICKSON The prospect of attending a major league baseball game for free with my two sons and my Dad on Father�s Day would normally be as good as it can get. However, the tickets are for this Sunday�s Mets-Cubs game at Citi Field, which has created a debate among three generations of Glickson men, all loyal Mets fans. �As much as I�d like to spend the day with you and the boys,� said Larry Glickson, the man who started the tradition of rooting for a team that usually loses more than it wins, �I�d consider it my Father�s Day gift if you allowed me to pass on this game.� By my estimate, I have gone with my Dad to 35 of the last 40 Mets� home openers. But after all this time, and despite the lure of free tickets, he just doesn�t feel like going. The recent run of really bad baseball by the Mets has gotten to him, as have ownership�s financial issues, which for some time have kept the Mets from spending like the big-market team that they are. There are other issues to consider here, too. The Cubs aren�t any better than the Mets these days. And if we all stay home, then we don�t have to fight through any traffic on the way from New Jersey to Queens, and back. Besides, we do have a swimming pool. Still, to my two sons, ages 13 and 16, the notion of passing on the game is unacceptable. After all, their grandfather is responsible for the fact that we all ended up Mets fans in the first place � rooting for the Yankees would be so much easier � and, to boot, that we have all endured years of aggravation cheering on the Jets, Knicks and Rangers. Kyle, 16, pointed out that we all dutifully went to last season�s Jets-Patriots game in solidarity with my Dad even though we all knew that the Jets were going to get blown out and that it would be freezing. By that measurement, Kyle said, my Dad should now go with us. Still, their grandfather is a skilled negotiator by trade � a union vice president � and as the family�s patriarch has asserted seniority rights in his refusal to go. �Look, you know that there is nothing I�d rather do than spend time with you guys at a baseball game,� he said. But just not now, with the Mets headed toward a fifth straight losing season and any real rebound off in the distance somewhere. When the Mets start spending again, he said, �I�ll be back.�� But not until then. I pointed out that the tickets and parking were free � I am a union chairman at The New York Times but the Sunday offer was not connected to the newspaper � knowing that my father would counter that the hot dogs, ice cream and soda were not. So here we stand, in a Father�s Day standoff. Over the years, I have gone the extra mile for the Mets, keeping my sons from becoming Yankees fans in 2004, hanging in there when the Mets managed to ingloriously collapse in September 2007 and do it all over again in September 2008. And my reward is that my sons want to go to the game on Father�s Day � �I really miss Citi Field,� Ryan said. �We didn�t go opening day.� � and my father doesn�t. And I�m not sure what to do. Welcome to Mets fandom, 2013. http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/15/a-fathers-day-quandary-go-see-the-mets-or-not/

Yawn. Raise your hands if you're bored by this article. What about you, Swannie? Mets GM Sandy Alderson preaches patience in Q&A with season-ticket holders The Mets are 24-38 entering their afternoon game against Chicago and 12.5 games out of first place. They are 2-8 this month and have the third-worst home winning percentage in the majors at .371. By Anthony Mccarron / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Saturday, June 15, 2013, 1:44 PM Mets GM Sandy Alderson lets the fans know that the team is making progress toward sustained success. Mets GM Sandy Alderson commiserated with a group of season-ticket holders Saturday morning, assuring them that the Mets themselves feel the same pain fans do over the club's awful start. At the same time, Alderson explained, the Mets have reason to hope. But fans need to be patient, too, before the sustained success Alderson says he's shooting for is a reality. "We're working at it," Alderson told a group of what the Mets said was 350 people who sat in the stands near third-base a few hours before the Mets faced the Cubs. "The problem is, at some point, the best thing you can do is have a little patience and unfortunately I've been preaching that for two-and-a-half years and it's wearing thin. "But we're almost there." It's hard to see it on the field, where the Mets were 24-38 entering their afternoon game against Chicago and 12.5 games out of first place. They are 2-8 this month and have the third-worst home winning percentage in the majors at .371. But what else do you tell a bunch of your most loyal supporters? Alderson also reminded fans of the glee they felt last month when the Mets swept the Yankees in the Subway Series. "It was a fleeting moment, but I know you felt good," Alderson said. "What we're trying to do is make sure you have a lot of those moments every week of every month of every season." That, of course, won't be easy, especially with the Mets needing so badly to upgrade their talent base. But Alderson assured the fans the club was poring over its own system searching for players who can help, as well as keeping an eye on what outside talent might become available. While plenty of losing teams are sellers at the trade deadline, Alderson said the Mets could be active then, looking to add players who would make them better now and next year. He's said it before, but the season-ticket holders liked hearing it again, though there were some skeptics in the group, too. "What I'd like to be able to do is maybe acquire a player or two who will not only be with us this year but into the future," Alderson said. "That makes sense and is consistent with what we've been trying to do longer term. We're going to keep working at it and I'm sure you'll see some different faces between now and say the end of July or the All-Star break." At one point, Alderson was asked by a youngster if he had considered trading top prospects for "a big hitter like Giancarlo Stanton." "That opportunity has never arisen," Alderson said. "When it does, we'll address it. That's always a question, though, trading your best prospects for a more established player. That's a tough choice to have to make, particularly when you're trying to build your supply of talent. "But we're at the point where we'll start to consider those possibilities, so we'll see what happens." Alderson sat on a panel with Terry Collins, Matt Harvey, John Buck, Bobby Parnell and Dillon Gee. Radio voice Howie Rose acted as emcee. Most of the questions that weren't for Alderson were for Harvey, who revealed that Washington's Ryan Zimmerman might be the toughest hitter for him to face and that he enjoyed beating his boyhood favorite team, the Yankees, earlier this season. And there was plenty of love during the panel for uber-prospect Zack Wheeler, who is slated to pitch in Atlanta on Tuesday. Alderson brought his name up twice as an example of Mets fans about to see some of their stockpiled talent. For the fans' sake � and Alderson's, too � the upcoming talent better be an upgrade on some of the Mets' recent busts, like Jason Bay. The GM says he's prepared to find players to add to the Mets' base, too. "I do believe that over the next six months or so we will be in position to make some significant acquisitions, whether it's through free agency or trade," Alderson said. "We're certainly looking forward to that possibility." http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/mets-gm-preaches-patience-article-1.1373649#ixzz2WJMsG3bC

The Mets are Still Broke. Financially Broke. Operatively Broken. Spiritually Broken. The State of the Mets by Ben Berkon, for Yahoo! Quotes from Greg Prince, Howie Megdal, and other familiar Mets bloggers. The New York Mets Fan: A Dying Breed Yahoo! Contributor Network By Ben Berkon | Yahoo! Contributor Network � 1 hour 45 minutes ago COMMENTARY | About 66 million years ago, dinosaurs roamed the Earth. These magnificent creatures came in all different shapes and sizes, were mostly carnivores or herbivores, and as suggested by the film "Jurassic Park" would probably not have meshed well with modern-day humans. But due to a dramatic shift in their environmental surroundings, these native animals went extinct. In 2013, the world potentially faces its next significant phase of extinction: the New York Mets fan. After achieving a franchise-best attendance record of 4,042,045 during the 2008 season, attendance has dramatically fallen over 29 percent since 2009 (when the team broke ground at Citi Field). And while the front office has promised to field a competitive, farm-built team in the near future, it's conceivable that if the rebuilding efforts in 2013 and 2014 prove to be unsuccessful by 2015, the Mets could enter an "Ice Age" of new fandom. But the Mets have been bad before. In fact, they've been far worse. Besides the inaugural 1960s, from 1977 to 1980, the Mets lost 382 ballgames -- and if not for the strike in 1981, the team might have averaged 90+ losses through 1983. From a pure loss-column perspective, it was arguably the team's bleakest years. This depressed period in Mets history is due in part to the team's decision to trade homegrown ace Tom Seaver to the Cincinnati Reds on June 15, 1977. Then-chairman and minority owner M. Donald Grant had poor foresight about the future of free agency, which was still in its infancy. Grant's inability to understand the value of players -- especially one like Seaver -- resulted in the Mets parting with not only a beloved player but also a quite valuable one, too. As infuriatingly conservative and thick as the Mets' front office and ownership was, their ineptitude was at least earnest. As Whitney Herzog once stated, "[M. Donald Grant] didn't know beans about baseball but thought he did." The current Wilpon regime, however, is a horse of a different color. "Most fans don't believe in the Wilpons' repeated public assertions that the Madoff mess isn't impacting the team's operations," said Greg Hanlon, a writer and beat reporter for Capital New York. "The common perception is that ownership is struggling to stay solvent, and that fielding a winning team is a distant secondary priority." The Wilpons' insistence on being financially sound, despite their involvement with "the biggest Ponzi scheme in United States history," as Toby Hyde, founder of Mets Minor League Blog asserted, is perplexing and unanimously dishonest. Like the Seaver trade, the current Mets organization witnessed Jose Reyes, a player of similar fan and production appeal, slip away. Supposedly concerned about Reyes' injury history, the Mets stood idle while one of their cornerstone players signed a six-year, $106 million deal with the division rival Miami Marlins. This "non-prohibitive dollar amount," as Hanlon put it, left a bad taste in most fans' mouths. Without a suitable Plan B at shortstop in Ruben Tejada, the Mets had a difficult time selling fringe fans on a Reyes-less product. And their first Reyes-less season, marred by 88 losses, was a bad one. As Jeffrey Paternostro, a writer for SB Nation's Amazin' Avenue, astutely said: "The only worse sin in New York City than losing is losing cheap." Perhaps the most bewildering decision wasn't necessarily not re-signing Reyes, but rather not acquiring prime young talent in exchange for him -- like the team did with Carlos Beltran and R.A. Dickey. If the Mets knew they couldn't afford Reyes after the season -- or just didn't want him -- why hold on to such a valuable trade commodity and belittle fans into thinking there would be an extension on the table? And even if Kevin Plawecki, whom the Mets selected with their Reyes draft compensation, pans out, fans would be right to wonder if Alderson could have acquired another Zack Wheeler-type, pulling St. Louis Cardinals top outfield prospect Oscar Taveras, for instance. Unfortunately, fans will never know. As a result of the Wilpons' dwindling finances, the Mets brand has suffered tremendously. "You will always have the diehards but the casual fan won't come and you won't attract the next generation," said radio personality Mike Silva. Simply put, a continuously losing team doesn't attract the bandwagon fans needed to keep the stadium packed. Fingering the country's bad economy might be a weak argument, too, thinks Howard Megdal, author of "Wilpon's Folly" and writer for Capital New York. "The Mets have been giving tickets away, and still not drawing right now," Megdal said. "The Phillies have been selling out right into the teeth of the Great Recession. [The poor attendance] isn't a product of the economy." The Mets' status as a perennially losing franchise is only a recent stigma. As agonizing as the infamous Carlos Beltran-looking strikeout in 2006 as well as the late-season demises in 2007 and 2008 were, the team isn't that far removed from being a competitive franchise. Other organizations like the Toronto Blue Jays, Kansas City Royals, Pittsburgh Pirates, and -- until last season -- Baltimore Orioles, haven't made the playoffs in decades. Some of those franchises have gone long stretches without even winning seasons. But as close as the Mets were to becoming a consistent playoff contender, they fell short -- and into a rut. "Stars left the team and nobody replaced them," said Greg Prince, author of the book and blog "Faith and Fear in Flushing." "The Mets brought their fans to the precipice in 2006 [�], 2007 and 2008 [�] but there isn't quite that link [now] to the less-invested New Yorker." The Mets are no longer just one or two players away from competing like they might have been five seasons ago, but their inability to spend money could be seen as a blessing in disguise. Considering even the better Mets teams from 2006 to 2008 were mostly built from free agency, their current "small market" approach has forced the organization to build from within -- a strategy that is universally successful, and yet has been absent from Flushing since the 1980s. But fans can sometimes have selective memories, opines Matthew Meyers, a senior editor at ESPN. "Fans seem to be angry because the Madoff mess is preventing the Wilpons from spending money on free agents like they used to. However, they conveniently forget that spending on free agents has never been the Mets' problem," Meyers said. "Rather, it was the inability to produce even average major leaguers [from within] to support the core of Wright, Reyes and Carlos Beltran that led to disappointing [years]." The hope is that, once the Mets can afford a good free agent, they'll actually spend their money wisely. The list of poor free agent signings is comically long, and the last thing the organization and its fans needs is another Jason Bay or Oliver Perez fiasco. Yet not all fans are gung-ho about rebuilding. Even though Forbes contributor Tom Watson feels the fan base "has seen too many 'big ticket' arms [like Jason Isringhausen, Bill Pulsipher and Paul Wilson] fail in New York [before]," to Sandy Alderson's credit, the organization has retooled its farm with high shelf-pitching talent like Zack Wheeler, Noah Syndergaard, Rafael Montero, and Michael Fulmer in a very short period of time. It's conceivable that by mid-2014, the Mets could sport a completely homegrown -- and low-cost -- rotation of Matt Harvey, Jonathon Niese, Wheeler, Syndergaard, and Montero. The Mets' young pitcher depth is typified by how Fulmer could eventually make Niese, who will earn a combined $16 million from 2015 to 2016, expendable by 2015. As exciting as the above rotation could be, the Mets obviously aren't the only major-league franchise building a farm system. "The one thing which can get easily forgotten in the Mets' plan for long-term success is other teams have their own plans as well," said Michael Baron, a contributor to MetsBlog. Aside from the Atlanta Braves, who always find a way to stay atop the National League East, the Washington Nationals are also a giant step ahead of the Mets in terms of developing their own players. "The Mets' farm system has made large improvements under Alderson, but most of the names you hear are still prospects," said Paternostro. "[The Nationals] have [already] turned their prospects into above-average major leaguers. They have a young core comparable to the mid-'90s [New York] Yankees." To Paternostro's point, the Nationals' boast homegrown starters like Ryan Zimmerman, Bryce Harper, Stephen Strasburg, Ian Desmond, Jordan Zimmermann, and Drew Storen -- all of which have excelled at the major-league level. The Nats' knack for quickly developing top-tier players has also enabled them to fill holes with quality veterans, like Gio Gonzalez, Rafael Soriano, Jayson Werth, Denard Span, Dan Haren, and Adam LaRoche. The Mets' major-league roster pales in comparison. Pitching depth aside, the biggest issue with the Mets' farm system is offense. Alderson has begun to address this void, most notably by acquiring Travis d'Arnaud, who will likely be the team's catcher by midseason -- but the rest of the team's hitting prospects are too young or raw to genuinely be penciled in for the future. With first-round picks Brandon Nimmo, Gavin Cecchini, and, most recently, Dominic Smith all years away from making a difference, the Mets will have to hope Lucas Duda, Ike Davis, Ruben Tejada, and even Wilmer Flores can at least be league-average producers in the interim. Regardless, if you're a patient Mets fan, it's hard to argue with the front office's pitching-heavy focus. Ted Berg, a sportswriter for USA Today, agrees. "I think the Mets' plan is to stockpile enough young talent that they're prepared for some guys to disappoint," Berg said. Considering major league teams spent over $750 million collectively this past offseason on free-agent pitchers, perhaps the Mets' plan is a prudent one. With their pitching depth, the Mets could look to adopt the 2010 World Series champion San Francisco Giants' winning formula of leveraging top-tier pitching to compensate for league-average hitting. In 2010, Giants hitters ranked 17th in OPS (.729), 17th in runs (697), and 10th in home runs (162) -- but, luckily, the pitchers dominated. Behind dynamite performances from Matt Cain, Tim Lincecum, Jonathan Sanchez, Madison Bumgarner, Brian Wilson, and Sergio Romo -- all homegrown talent -- Giants pitchers combined for a 3.36 ERA (1st), 1331 strikeouts (1st), a .236 batting-average against (1st), and a 1.27 WHIP (tied for 4th). The 2012 World Series champion Giants, too, while not built as extreme in its disparities, depended on consistently above average pitching. Apparently, pitching does win. Even if the likes of Duda, Davis, Tejada, and Flores contribute, the Mets still cannot continue to place the sole run production duties on the shoulders of David Wright. Especially as Wright creeps into his early-30s, he'll need some outside-the-organization help. But some writers have faith. "[One has to think that] at some point, the financials should allow [the Mets] to supplement with free agents," said Eno Sarris, a writer for FanGraphs. Sarris' conviction actually received a little support from Sandy Alderson himself in a recent interview with New York Post columnist Joel Sherman. Alderson claimed that, with all the contracts coming off the books at season's end, the Mets could have between $35-45 million to spend in the offseason. To-be free agent Shin-Soo Choo, who will likely command between $15-18 million per season, would instantly kill two birds with one stone, as the slugger is also a bona fide outfielder to boot. The 30-year-old Choo plays all three outfield positions competently, with the corners being his defensive strength. Signing Choo is a necessity for the Mets. In addition to him becoming a second offensive weapon to Wright, Choo would also provide a new-found sense of momentum for fans -- perhaps the same kind the Mets gained by acquiring Gary Carter prior to the 1985 season. "The thing [Gary] Carter brought was momentum," said Prince. "The Mets had improved in 1984 and Carter's acquisition told New York that it wasn't a fluke, that ownership was serious." Granted, the 1984 Mets did win 90 games -- but with the recent, increasing trend of teams extending their top players, the Mets' fate might rest in the hands of a single, big-name acquisition. Adding Choo or trading for another player of similar caliber doesn't guarantee the Mets will be a winning ballclub in 2014, but at the very least it might help win back some of the disenchanted fans that the Wilpons alienated along the way. "Fans want to see a winning team," said die-hard Mets fan Matt Kaufman. "Or at least a team they think can win." Ben Berkon is a freelance sports, humor, and tech writer/blogger from New York City. Berkon's work has been featured on The Huffington Post, The Onion, Contently, Medium, and Rising Apple, and he also manages The Beanball and Blah Blah Berkon, his personal stat-heavy baseball and humor blogs, respectively. He's [unfortunately] been a Mets follower his entire life. http://sports.yahoo.com/news/york-mets-fan-dying-breed-153300689.html

Zvon wrote: Some pages are cute but some are out there~~~. Mr Met throwin' bottles at fans in the stands strikes me as insane. Its mostly the captions that are just wack. I'm gonna look for that one with the standings and see if there are more. I'm not trying to debate this. Im just sayin thats one crazy coloring book. It's out there, I agree. But that was from a time when it was perfectly acceptable for cartoon characters to shoot each other in the face with semi-automatic pistols, or drop anvils on each other from 100 feet above. BTW, my second favorite cartoon from that coloring book, also not included in the Flickr set, has Mr. Met at a peace rally just outside the stadium, yelling into a megaphone "Hey, Hey, LBJ. How many times have you been to Shea"?

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/mets/drunk-mets-fan-tumbles-rows-seats-article-1.1372355?localLinksEnabled=false Scroll down page to see video of drunken Mets fan falling over two rows during today's afternoon game.

Carlos Beltran's former NY home for sale. Carlos Beltran's House Now an Affordable $5 Million After Price Slash By Gabe Zaldivar (Pop Culture Lead Writer) on June 13, 2013 St. Louis Cardinals fans moving to the New York area are in luck, because I hear Carlos Beltran's house is on sale for the rock-bottom price of $5 million. Busted Coverage spotted the recent listing over at Zillow that has some amazing photos of Beltran's former home in Sands Point, N.Y. Zillow has a bunch of information that should have a great deal of you house hunters breaking your piggy banks this weekend. It was originally listed for sale back in February of 2012 for $5,800,000, but was recently reduced in price to $4,995,000, giving Beltran two steals on the season. Here is a brief breakdown of some of the images. Mets fans will either rejoice or run at the sight of Beltran back in a Mets uniform. Either way, we are assuming the house comes with the painting. At least, that's how we might roll if we are negotiating. I am just happy with my regular couch and TV, so what do I know? Zillow provides more on the seven-bedroom house that also features eight bathrooms: This One Of A Kind South Hampton Colonial Style Home Consists Of The Finest Quality Craftsmanship And Design.Gourmet Eik With Custom Cabinetry,Bright And Spacious Great Room,Formal Lr/Dr,Study/Office,Pool,Privategated Courtyard,Huge Property. Beltran is off to a great start to the season, so he is feeling generous. Get in while the getting is good with a great price on a massive property. Well, just make sure he throws in that painting. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1672594-carlos-beltrans-house-now-an-affordable-5-million-after-price-slash

I could see your point.

Drivel? And all along, I was congratulating myself for the clever way I segued from a childrens' Mad Men era coloring book into another dig at eff n jeff. Howie Megdal would be proud. Because the Wilpons are broke.

Absurd media reaction to Willie Randolph firing:

I got no beef with Les Rohr By Rob Neyer on Jun 13 2013, 5:15p ? @robneyer + Back in the1980s when David Letterman and Jay Leno were still pals, Leno was a regular on Letterman's show. And part of his schtick was that he's complain about some silly little something. Dave would ask him about it, and Jay would say, "What's my beef, Dave?" And then there would be much laughter and rejoicing throughout the land. Today and most days, my beef is Americans who think they deserve something beyond the most basic human needs (food, shelter, education, decent health care, Jon Miller). Which is almost all people, of every age and creed and political persuasion. Makes me nuts, especially when the sense of entitlement is paired with rank hypocrisy. As it so often is. But enough about me. It's just so refreshing when you find someone who seems to take the opposite tack. Les Rohr, for instance. In 1965, the Mets chose Rohr with the second pick in the very first amateur draft. That didn't work out so well for them, as Rohr won exactly three games in the majors. His last action with Mets (or anyone else) came in 1969, when he got into one game, briefly. A few years ago, the Mets invited him to New York to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their first World Championship. He didn't go. For whatever reason, Rohr never got a World Series ring. About which he seemed unconcerned. From an article in the Billings Gazette: He was with New York during a portion of its amazing run to a National League pennant and World Series championship 40 years ago. "But I don't consider myself a Miracle Met, because I really did nothing," he said. "I was just lucky to be there." That's why he said he won't be attending the team's '69 Anniversary Celebration, which is scheduled for Aug. 22 at New York's new Citi Field. "They wanted me to come back," Rohr said. "I just told them there isn't any reason I should be back there with all those ballplayers that actually won the World Series. They're the ones that deserve it." --snip-- He said the Mets offered to "pay for everything" to get him to attend the reunion. And some would suggest that he is being unassuming and humble to a fault. "Yeah, I know," Rohr said. "But this is just how I feel." --snip-- And, to this day, it seems a bit unusual that Rohr doesn't have a World Series ring. He just shrugs that off and says he has no hard feelings. "It's only a material thing, just a hunk of metal," he said. "It doesn't bother me at all. If it does show up in my mailbox one day, I'll be surprised. Somebody's got it." Rohr laughed when he said that, but later added: "I was measured for a ring. I'm sure there's a ring out there with my name on it. I don't know where it is." Yes, this article is four years old but I just found it. Maybe the Mets can send Les Rohr a World Series ring, finally? I'm sure the money can't be an issue. Oh. Right. Dang it. http://www.baseballnation.com/hot-corner/2013/6/13/4427850/les-rohr-mets-world-series-ring

I came across this Mr Met coloring book. I've seen pages of this online. I was never sure if it was for real or a joke by someone. Because if this is real it might be the worst coloring book ever. This is the entire thing: .... This is one horrendous wacky coloring book. This complete book is on Flickr and I believe it is an actual thing from the past (I didn't doctor any of these images). How did this ever see the light of day? I checked out the set on Flickr and the Flickr set is incomplete. I know because I own a copy of that coloring book. It exists. The coloring book is refreshingly innocent and wonderful in that it also depicts an ownership group that can laugh at the Mets' struggles on the field. My favorite page (not included in Flickr) is an illustration of Mr. Met upside down standing on his big baseball head and reading the standings. The caption reads "First place, Mets style". (I'm paraphrasing, going by memory) Contrast this self-deprecation with the current uptight and humorless owners, including Jeff Wilpon and his perpetual sourpuss, as if someone just farted in his face. The Wilpons once controlled one of baseball's most coveted players, Jose Reyes, in his walk year and, knowing that they couldn't re-sign him, let him go for nothing, squandering a big opportunity to help the team, because it was more important for the Mets owners to massage their public images by pretending that they could afford him all along. Those megalomaniacs would never license such a coloring book.

(Gotta complain about something, even on the day after a Mets win) Free ice cream upsets Mets fans after the big game You would think that everyone would love free ice cream. On June 12, USA Today reported that that Mets fans are upset that they were given free ice cream after the game. Why would someone be mad about this great deal? Related topics After a huge promotion, fans were given a free ice cream bar as they left the big game. Instead of being excited about it they went to social networks and complained about the free treat. A few tweets complained that the ice cream was given out after the game instead of before it. If they had given it out before, someone would have complained that they spoiled their kids dinner. The other complaint was that the ice cream was given out so late at night. If they didn't want to eat it at that time, they were not forced to take the free ice cream. There is no reason that they couldn't have turned it down and just went home without the free treat. Are you shocked that people are upset about free ice cream? Sound off in the comments. http://www.examiner.com/article/free-ice-cream-upsets-mets-fans-after-the-big-game ___________________ Mets fans are angry about receiving free ice cream Disgruntled fans just spraying cynicism haphazardly now. By Ted Berg � June 12, 2013 at 7:08pm EDT This is what an ice cream cookie sandwich looks like. Look: Mets fans have a heck of a lot to complain about these days. Their team is sitting 13 games below .500 with the second-worst record in the National League, following six straight seasons that finished somewhere between disappointing and downright miserable. The revamped, high-profile front office the club brought in before the 2011 season has yet to produce tangible results. Team ownership�s murky financial situation means no fan can really be sure when the Mets will again shell out a payroll befitting a huge-market club. It�s bad. But you know what�s not bad? Free ice cream. Thanks to a promotional giveaway, fans leaving the Mets� 9-2 loss to the Cardinals on Tuesday night received free ice cream treats. That�s something even the angriest Mets fan should love, right? It�s ice cream, and it�s free. Free ice cream. Hard to see how that could go wrong. OH BUT WAIT. Some subsection of Mets fans on the Internet are actually complaining about the way the Mets distributed free ice cream. This is a thing that is happening. There are a few others unfit for a family website. Extraordinarily attractive people enjoy ice-cream bars. (PHOTO: Casey Rogers/AP Images for MAGNUM Ice Cream) I�m trying as patiently as I can to understand this, but� no. There is no way following that a sports team could ever be so awful as to reduce its fans to complaining about free ice cream, no matter the terms of its distribution. This is on cynicism. This is on humanity. We do this for fun. Baseball is for fun. Fun, fun, fun. Ice cream is also fun. Baseball and ice cream in rapid succession might be the most fun. Peak fun. If you are a human person complaining about the way someone gave you free ice cream then I�m sorry to say � and I really wish there were some less harsh way to put it, but I can�t think of one � you are an ingrate. If you are somehow, for whatever reason, bothered by the very presence of ice cream at ballpark exits, do not take the ice cream. If you don�t want your kids to have the ice cream, tell them it�s for adults, or it�s bad ice cream, or that you don�t think they should be eating sweets so late, or whatever excuse you want to make for the way you�re just kind of being a scrooge and denying your child ice cream after he or she sat through nine innings of brutal Mets baseball in which the lone highlight was the time 31-year-old Quad-A lifer Omar Quintanilla hit a home run. President Barack Obama eats ice cream. (PHOTO: Charles Dharapak/AP Photo) http://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/06/mets-fans-are-angry-about-receiving-free-ice-cream/

Sandy Alderson's spending plans don't add up By Howard Megdal 3:23 pm Jun. 12, 2013 Sandy Alderson. SNY It's June, so naturally, Mets fans are focused on the offseason. Sandy Alderson understands. He's taken to the airwaves, and talked to the columnists, to lower your expectations and sell some hope derived from an odd way of looking at the numbers. With a caveat about the reliability of Alderson's specifics in the past, which have regularly been rendered inoperable by sharp declines in the state of ownership's finances, let's take a closer look at the budget, as Alderson laid it out. From Joel Sherman's Tuesday column: "It was Alderson�s best guesstimate that the Mets are committed to roughly $55 million next year with raises on long-term deals for David Wright and Jonathon Niese, and increases for arbitration eligible players likely to be retained including Daniel Murphy and Bobby Parnell and � depending how you calculate it � the buyout on Santana and deferrals to Bay." OK, let's stop you right there. Bay and Santana? Really? It has been an article of faith that the reason the Mets couldn't spend on players like, say, starting outfielders that wouldn't draw the derision of the team's own general manager, because payroll was right up against a self-described ceiling of $90-100 million. But the payroll was only remotely close to that high in 2013 because we were apparently counting all of Santana's $25.5 million 2013 salary, his $5.5 million buyout, Bay's $6 million to be paid in 2013, and the $15 million in deferred money to be paid to Bay in 2014-15. Take away the non-2013 portion of that money, and the Mets have a 2013 payroll right around $80 million. (It's less than that, really: $3 million of David Wright's $11 million 2013 salary is also deferred.) Alderson is double-counting. Even so, $55 million would mean counting all of the Santana buyouts, Bay's deferred money (collectively, $20.5 million), Wright's $20 million 2014 salary, Jonathon Niese's $5 million, and $9.5 million for arbitration salaries paid to Daniel Murphy, Bobby Parnell, Dillon Gee, Justin Turner, and if they are kept, Ruben Tejada and Ike Davis. That sounds reasonable. Let's estimate roughly another ten players at the league minimum through pre-arbitration contracts, including the best bargain in baseball, Matt Harvey, costs another $5 million. It also leaves $40 million for seven players if the Mets check in at $100 million, $30 million if they reach $90 million. That's the range Alderson put payroll at the moment. Where that money has magically come from (a zimmo real estate market?) is anything but clear. But let's play along for a bit longer. The math gets even trickier. If they need to stretch that $30-40 million to sign three outfielders, a first baseman, a shortstop, and depending on the health and development of Travis d'Arnaud, a catcher, that money will disappear fast. One coveted free-agent target, Shin-Soo Choo, is a good bet to earn an annual salary of $15-20 million just by himself. And an overheated free agent market, between fewer players hitting free agency and 29 other teams with more money to spend thanks to television revenue, promises to force prices up. And if the Mets enter 2014 counting on, say, Lucas Duda in left field, Tejada at shortstop and Davis at first, they have fewer holes to fill via free agency. But they also have an untenable defender in left field, a badly regressing shortstop, and a first baseman who hit .161 and got sent to the minor leagues. So these aren't so much holes filled as placeholders retained. Alderson himself acknowledged much of this, pointing out to Mike Francesa that neither Duda nor Tejada were part of what he saw as the core of the team. (A vaguely infuriating game is going back and forth between the 2013 quotes from Alderson and other leaked comments from team officials on Tejada this season, and how everyone spoke about him right after the Mets let Jose Reyes get away.) Alderson also said that he plans to be active in the trade market, the solution he touted last August before ... not making any major trades. This isn't just a failure of Alderson: You need to trade excess assets, and while the Mets have a number of starting pitching prospects, they don't clearly have many more of them than rotation spots, unless Gee, Jeremy Hefner and the free agent to be Shaun Marcum (who would also eat into that newfound salary bounty) are all being counted on in 2014 as well. And if you can't add players via trade with significant contracts, you are adding younger, pre-arbitration hitters ... who cost much more in talent than the Mets can likely give up without decimating their pitching prospect stash, certainly more than once. Even this scenario relies on ownership either coming up with $320 million, or convincing J.P. Morgan Chase to push back the due date on the $320 million debt due in June 2014 without increasing the interest rate and simultaneously allowing a ton of new spending ("We can't pay you now, but is it okay if we give Shin-Soo Choo $80 million before we do?"). But even by Alderson's own calculations, even if that windfall is somehow available, it will be virtually impossible to fix the Mets this winter. And even his new projections of $90-100 million are a walking back of the leaked figure to the Daily News back in March of $125 million. That was for "the right players," though. This is the same game Alderson played last year. He told Francesa that the reason he hasn't added players this season is due to the dearth of quality available in April, May and June. That would make more sense without the context of knowing Alderson described the need for major changes this way, last August: "So we need an infusion of players, productive players, players who are going to hit for power." He joked about the outfield in November. This position player problem isn't some recent discovery, even to him. How the Mets get the right players with even their own newly altered figures, to improve a team on a 63-99 pace: that's the mystery. http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/sports/2013/06/8530882/sandy-aldersons-spending-plans-dont-add?--bucket-headline ___________ I'm on Sandy's side. My guess is that he doesn't have anywhere near the autonomy he insisted on having in order to take the GM position. Sandy's in a high stakes poker game against formidable card pros and he's not even holding a pair of deuces.

Connecting the dots .... My friend who went to the game with me, who knows and cares about the Mets as well and as much as anyone could possibly care to, put it well: "Why waste a nice evening dwelling on things nobody seems able to change?" http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/50407266/

The money quote: the torture the Mets regularly provide is a feature, not a bug Will Leitch More from Will | twitter rss Darkness at the Edge of Queens The Cardinals dispatched the Mets 9-2 on Tuesday. The team has been bad before, of course, but its fans have never been so dispirited. (AP Photo) While the rest of you last night were watching: � The Spurs use the Heat to remove stray gristle from their molars; Support WFP � Seattle put together a legitimate Euro-quality atmosphere in cheering on the U.S. Men's National Soccer Team to a convincing World Cup qualifying win over Panama, or; � Our favorite players from the '90s throw each other around in the Diamondbacks-Dodgers tussle (how cool was that, by the way? Mark McGwire, Matt Williams, Don Mattingly, Alan Trammell, in a brawl, but now all old. This gets us one step closer to that Will Clark-Andres Galarraga bloodfeud I've been imagining since I was 15); I was doing none of those things. I was at Citi Field, watching my Cardinals dispatch the Mets 9-2 in sterile, almost bored fashion. Hey, the Cardinals only come to town once a year. Thanks to the express train, I got home in time to catch the end of the Spurs destruction and Eddie Johnson's USMNT goal. It was a rich, full evening. According to my MLB.com At The Ballpark app, I have been out to Flushing to watch the Mets play 39 times since the 2005 season, 20 times at Citi Field and 19 times at the old Shea. The Mets have been excellent, 26-13, when I've been in the stands. I've seen playoff games, exhibition games, doubleheaders, blowouts and near no-hitter. But I have never seen Mets fans more dispirited than they were last night. Dispirited is the perfect word, too: All spirit is gone. I wear my Cardinals gear to these games, and I've been booed and heckled and mocked, almost always with (reasonable) good cheer. But nobody even bothered last night. Citi Field was a collective, three-hour shrug. My friend who went to the game with me, who knows and cares about the Mets as well and as much as anyone could possibly care to, put it well: "Why waste a nice evening dwelling on things nobody seems able to change?" Ever since Adam Wainwright threw that impossible curveball by an apparently immobile Carlos Beltran -- two men likely to be Cardinals All-Stars at Citi Field this July, which is just mean -- Mets fans have been kicked in the face by their team in every conceivable fashion. 2007 brought the historic collapse. 2008 brought the most depressing final game for a home stadium imaginable. (The New York Times called it "immersed in gloom," which is not the Mets' current marketing slogan, but probably should be.) 2009 was an injury-filled disaster; 2010 brought Jason Bay and mass firings; 2011, 2012 and 2013 have been more traditional lousy teams, with occasional breaks to say goodbye to the team's most popular players. You couldn't be meaner to your fanbase if you took time out between innings to personally insult every paying customer over the loudspeaker. ("Tom, in Section 128, Row 16? Yeah, you. You're fat and you're stupid. Now batting, Jordany Valdespin.") Being a Mets fan has always contained an inherent sense of fatalism and self-loathing for liking such a painful franchise; the torture the Mets regularly provide is a feature, not a bug. But in my 13-plus years here, I've never seen it like this. It's not even pain anymore: It's just numb, blank stares. Many Mets fans in my section, after Allen Craig's three-run homer in the fifth inning, had their eyes glaze over, as if they were finding a place in their mind to escape. They appeared to be fantasizing about a world other than this one, a place far, far away. It was basically the last scene of Brazil. The weird thing about this is that the Mets, under the direction of Sandy Alderson, have actually been pretty smart. They've made terrific trades (turning Beltran into Zach Wheeler, who should debut this week, and R.A. Dickey into top catching prospect Travis d'Arnaud), been prudent in promoting prospects (promoting and pushing Matt Harvey at the exact correct time) and not wasting money on any more Jason Bays, not that they have any money to spend anyway. But the team has collapsed anyway. As much as you might want to scream at the Wilpon family, or Bernie Madoff, or just go punch an Amway salesman, the Mets have watched their three top hitting prospects -- Ike Davis, Ruben Tejada and Lucas Duda -- essentially fall off the face of the earth, either because of injuries or apparent post-traumatic-valley-fever-syndrome. This team has zero offense right now. In that 20-inning game against the Marlins last weekend, you got a sense the game could have gone 40 innings, and the Mets weren't scoring a run. The Mets' pitching isn't so bad, even when Harvey isn't starting -- and it's about to get fun when Wheeler gets here -- but when your team can't score, it just knocks the wind out of you. When your offense is this empty, it feels like someone has tied your arms to the chair. That's where Mets fans were last night. That's where they've been all season. You can't help but feel for David Wright, who is likely going to lead the Mets in just about every offensive category by the time his career is over. He already leads the franchise in hits, doubles, RBIs and runs, and he's third in homers and, sort of amazingly, fifth in stolen bases. And after the Mets signed him to a seven-year extension in the offseason, he's going to be on the team through 2020. It's tough to see how they're not going to be seven miserable years. His surrounding cast probably won't ever be this feeble again, but the Mets are farther away than they were two years ago. It's hard to even cheer for Wright; it feels like obligation, and it just requires too much energy. There's no energy to spare. It requires a ton of Mets fans' energy just to drag themselves out to the game. I love Mets fans, and I love this franchise. They have the best mascot, the best ballpark food and a general pluck in their fanbase's moroseness they try to hide but can't. The world of baseball is a better place when the Mets matter. This is not something that is fun to see. It's no wonder so many Mets fans are choosing not to. I'd be trying to escape to my happy place too. * * * http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/50407266/

bmfc1 wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: Vic Sage wrote: Also the failure to sign Reyes was financial, not part of a rebuild. Again, we could have traded Reyes, as we did Beltran, as a rental since we apparently knew we weren't going to keep him, but we didn't and got nothing for him. so NOT a rebuilding move. The way the Mets handled Reyes contract status during his last season as a Met is still baffling, even now - a year and a half after the fact. In the end, it became clear that the Mets never had a chance to resign Reyes, given their financial constraints. So the only logical explanation for the Mets behavior is that they didn't have the stomach to weather the negative fan reaction that they anticipated would develop after trading Reyes. So they tried instead, to contrive a scenario that was supposed to make it appear that Reyes spurned the Mets offer. It was all so wishy-washy, and typical of this ownership. So they got nothing for one of baseball's most popular players at perhaps, the peak of his career, and didn't save face either. The strategy was ineffective at every measure and almost unanimously criticized. Well said batmagadanleadoff. Thanks. It's just standard operating procedure at Flushing. They couldn't trade Dickey gracefully, either. RA wanted half of what he could've gotten on the FA market, but that wasn't good enough for eff n jeff. They had to smear him on the way out.

Vic Sage wrote: Also the failure to sign Reyes was financial, not part of a rebuild. Again, we could have traded Reyes, as we did Beltran, as a rental since we apparently knew we weren't going to keep him, but we didn't and got nothing for him. so NOT a rebuilding move. The way the Mets handled Reyes contract status during his last season as a Met is still baffling, even now - a year and a half after the fact. In the end, it became clear that the Mets never had a chance to resign Reyes, given their financial constraints. So the only logical explanation for the Mets behavior is that they didn't have the stomach to weather the negative fan reaction that they anticipated would develop after trading Reyes. So they tried instead, to contrive a scenario that was supposed to make it appear that Reyes spurned the Mets offer. It was all so wishy-washy, and typical of this ownership. So they got nothing for one of baseball's most popular players at perhaps, the peak of his career, and didn't save face either. The strategy was ineffective at every measure and almost unanimously criticized.

It's a half assed rebuild, and you only need to look to the Wright Wresigning to see this. eff n Jeff simply didn't have the stomach to weather the shitstorm that would've unfolded when Wright ended up in another team's uniform. The rebuild's also half assed and compromised because the Mets are desperate for revenues and thus, want it both ways. They want to rebuild, yet still pack 'em in like a contending team would. Jeffrey Loria is a scumbag, but a shrewd scumbag, with more baseball sense than our owners. Could you imagine how competitive the Marlins would be if they had just half of the resources that come with having your team located in NYC? The Marlins have more WS crowns during their life than the Mets have first place finishes, and that team runs laps around the Mets when it comes to drafting and developing young talent. I'm not sure what Ike's regression has to do with this? What? Is Ike all of a sudden supposed to be Lou Gehrig? I mean, where the hell are the Mets supposed to be with an acceptable 2013 from Ike?

It's all good. There'll be less revenue for eff n jeff, and if the Stems could pick up this losing pace, there might be an overall #1 draft pick next year in our future, Major League ready by the time, and here I can only hope, that the new owners are in place. See? I can be an optimistic the glass is half full kinda guy, too.