batmagadanleadoff

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Dickey on pace for a 7.2 season WAR, 8th best in franchise history. RankPitcher/TeamWARYEAR1Dwight Gooden11.719852Tom Seaver9.519733Tom Seaver9.219714Jon Matlack8.619745Tom Seaver7.719756Tom Seaver7.61969 7Tom Seaver7.519688Jerry Koosman6.819689Jon Matlack6.7197210Jerry Koosman6.71969 Dickey on pace for a [crossout]7.2[/crossout] 8.2 season WAR, [crossout]8th[/crossout] 5th best in franchise history. RankPitcher/TeamWARYEAR1Dwight Gooden11.719852Tom Seaver9.519733Tom Seaver9.219714Jon Matlack8.619745Tom Seaver7.719756Tom Seaver7.61969 7Tom Seaver7.519688Jerry Koosman6.819689Jon Matlack6.7197210Jerry Koosman6.71969 Listened to yesterday's Mets/O's game on Baltimore radio. Pre-game Baltimore crew, recounting Dickey's 2nd 1-hitter, described RA's stuff as being absolutely filthy. OE - Dickey the knuckleballer hasn't thrown a wild pitch all season.

Posting on the road from my smartphome ... what a pain in the ass. Dickey's game score last night -96. RA is 1st pitcher in live ball era with consecutive game scores of 95 or more.

So when's the last time before today that someone threw consecutive CG 1hitters?

Dook?

Spahn threw lefty. (Greetings from your home town).

Did youse think there'd be no parking lot? Attendance would drop. The plans call for a 2,500 car sfructure at Willets West and 20 acres of parking east of what is, for now, the Iron Triangle.

Pitching in on Willets Point Today, Mayor Bloomberg unveiled a 52-acre development surrounding Citi Field, built a a partnership of the Related Companies and Sterling Equities, which also owns the Mets. Replacing the Citi Field parking lot will be Willets West, a 1 million-square-foot retail and entertainment complex, with more than 200 stores, restaurants, a movie theater and other entertainment venues. (Don't call it a mall, the developers insist.) Once Willets West is complete, a mixed development of 5 million square feet will rise on 23 acres within Willets Point. It will include 2,500 apartments, 900,000-square-feet of community-scale retail, 500,000-square-feet of office space and two hotels. The very first step, after a long clean-up of the 23-acre site, will be a strip of retail along 126th Street, which will later be developed upwards after Willets West is completed. Currently, 126th Street is lined with auto body shops. The city controls 95 percent of the properties it needs within the site but might seek to use eminent domain if it cannot secure the final pieces. Looking south down an eventual 126th Street, with the Citi Field outfield at right. The entrance to the not-mall of Willets West. The site plan for the new Willets Point development. which also shows the five acres of public open space planned for the project. An earlier plan for a phased development of Willets Point, that would have covered only 12.5 acres, with a 7-acre buffer zone. between the industrial core.

Seaver's former team Is behind and is ahead La la la la la

Otherworldly Pitch Meets Its Jedi Master By TYLER KEPNER Published: June 16, 2012 In the far corner of the Mets� clubhouse at Citi Field, propped against the wall near the showers, is a fan�s painting of R. A. Dickey as an alien. On the shelf in Dickey�s locker, next to his usual passel of hardbacks, is a stuffed Yoda, from �Star Wars,� knitted for him by a fan. Leave it to Dickey to revel in the supernatural. He has been, perhaps, the most dependable starter in the National League this season, doing it almost exclusively with the game�s most capricious pitch. As Dickey prepares to throw his knuckleball, he imagines two portals between him and the catcher. Both are vertical rectangles, the first for his body, the second for his pitch. Moving so reliably through them has transported Dickey to a place even baseball�s greatest knuckleballer, Phil Niekro, never knew. �I had a few streaks, but nothing like he�s going through,� said Niekro, a Hall of Famer with 318 victories. �I don�t know if any other knuckleballer has ever been on a hot streak like he has been. He is just dynamite right now.� In his last start, a one-hitter Wednesday at Tampa Bay, Dickey broke Jerry Koosman�s club record for consecutive scoreless innings. An unearned run in the ninth snapped the streak at 322/3 innings, but Dickey has still allowed no earned runs since May 22. He is 10-1 for the season, with a 2.20 earned run average. Before Dickey started throwing the knuckleball, in 2005, he knew that if his mechanics were sound, his pitches would obey. As a knuckleballer, he said, he does not know precisely where they will go. But he knows he can throw them for strikes. �Imagine a vertical shoe box,� Dickey said Friday. �Well, if I start at the top of the vertical shoe box, it may drop to the right corner or it may drop to the left corner, or it may go anywhere in between inside that shoe box. It�s still a strike; I just don�t know where it�s going to be a strike. �And it�s also visual for me. That shoe box is a miniature version of what I try to go through mechanically, in a door frame. So I�m going from a door frame to a shoe box, but they�re both similar. It�s almost like they�re just kind of coming together.� For many years, Dickey struggled for the same kind of order in his life. Jagged pieces never seemed to come together. He exposed it all recently in his gripping memoir, �Wherever I Wind Up: My Quest for Truth, Authenticity and the Perfect Knuckleball,� a searingly personal book that describes his sexual abuse as a child; his failings as a husband; his thoughts of suicide; and his religious faith. It also describes his career, and his evolution as a pitcher. The Texas Rangers suggested Dickey try the knuckleball, and Orel Hershiser, their pitching coach at the time, said his recent success was no fluke. �I believe it will continue,� Hershiser said, �because I know the person.� To know Dickey is to root for him. He is polite, engaging and open-minded, with no pretense or airs. Steve Sparks, a knuckleballer for five teams from 1995 to 2004, said Dickey fits in with the knuckleballing family. Most who throw it, Sparks said, are easygoing people with the inner calm to trust a slow pitch under pressure. �You can�t go out there with too much adrenaline,� Sparks said. �It�s kind of like an exaggerated game of catch in the backyard, and some guys are not wired that way.� Dickey�s wiring may run hotter than the rest. When Hershiser and the Rangers converted him, the plan was for Dickey to imitate Tim Wakefield of the Boston Red Sox. Initially, Dickey said, that sounded fine; he had never approached Wakefield�s success. But the more he practiced the pitch � sometimes 500 throws at a time, he said � Dickey realized he was not suited to throw a knuckleball 65 miles an hour like Wakefield�s. In a period of deep personal growth off the field, Dickey said, he had to be true to himself. �I had to risk something,� Dickey said. �I had to say, �O.K., the Rangers want me to throw it slow, and they�re the ones giving me the opportunity, so I better do that� � and then finally getting to the place where you just don�t care. You just want it to be you. And a lot of that paralleled my growth as a human being.� Dickey called his pitch an angry knuckleball, not a butterfly, and its speed may separate him from every practitioner who came before. Dickey�s knuckler has averaged 77 m.p.h. this season, according to the Inside Edge Scouting Service, and he has thrown it from 54 m.p.h. to 83 m.p.h. Such a wide range of speeds has been a long time coming. Dickey said it was not until late in the 2010 season � his sixth year throwing the knuckleball � that he could confidently leave his baseline velocity. Now, he is throwing 17 percent of his knuckleballs outside the range of 70 m.p.h. to 79 m.p.h., while moving his vertical shoe box up and down, in and out. �He�s got both dimensions now, a hard one and a soft one,� Hershiser said, adding that such diversity helps Dickey escape big innings. �He�s not backed into a corner like a conventional knuckleballer.� Hitters have no idea what kind of knuckleball � or occasional low-80s fastball � to expect from Dickey, and they never face another pitcher quite like him. But if the knuckleball is so baffling, shouldn�t more pitchers throw it? Dickey is the only knuckleballer in the majors, and the game has rarely seen more than a small handful at one time. Scouts will always be drawn to hard throwers, Niekro said, but Hershiser made a different point: the pitch is deceptively difficult to learn. �Everybody who�s ever held a baseball has tried to throw a knuckleball, but they�re doing it on flat ground,� said Hershiser, an analyst for ESPN. �Your feet are level, and you can push the ball because your base is stable. �You can take the left fielder for the Tampa Bay Rays and play catch with him, and he�ll make it move and take the spin off it. You can take the shortstop for the Boston Red Sox and tell him to throw some knuckleballs, and he�ll do it. But when you get on a mound and put a hitter up there with a strike zone, that�s the hardest part.� Dickey learned by throwing thousands of knuckleballs against a cinder block wall in his uncle�s gym in Nashville. When he drove, he kept his left hand on the steering wheel and gripped a baseball with his right. He sought advice from masters like Niekro, Wakefield and Charlie Hough. He wandered through four organizations � Texas, Milwaukee, Seattle and Minnesota � before the Mets, who made him the first cut of spring training in 2010. The perfect knuckleball still eludes him, Dickey said. He doubts he will ever perfect anything in his life, much less his signature pitch. �I don�t think we ever learn the whole deal about the knuckleball,� Niekro said. �In my last year, I was still trying to figure it out.� Niekro retired at 48. Dickey is 37, and has pitched his whole career without an ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow. There is no telling how long he can last, how many more years he can make the unpredictable trustworthy. The process is the fun part, Dickey said, and he means it. He has slain personal demons and scaled Mount Kilimanjaro, but the quest for knuckleball mastery never ends. The tools of the pursuit are nothing more otherworldly than effort, curiosity and drive. �As mystic as the pitch seems, there�s no mysticism in how to make it controllable,� Dickey said. �It�s just putting in the time.� http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/17/sports/baseball/r-a-dickey-master-of-the-knuckler.html?pagewanted=all

G-Fafif wrote: I can't believe it's been 35 years since Hubie Green Grabbed The Open. Hubie probably hated the Seaver trade even more than you did: it cost him the SI cover.

MFS62 wrote: The Bay injury reminds me of the old definition about mixed emotions - like watching your mother-in-law go over a cliff in your new car. I feel bad for Bay and hope he's ok. What a terrible thing. For Jason Bay.

At least we won't be seeing the REO Speedwagon commercial anymore.

(plus another 15)

Cy Young Award? Between R.A's incredible pitching, mountain climbing exploits and the release of his book, Dickey's on pace for one of these:

.A. Dickey's last five starts: W-L 5-0 (2 CG Shutouts) ERA 0.23 IP 39.2 IP/Start 7.9 H 20 BB 3 K 50 ER 1 WHIP 0.58 K/9 11.34 H/9 4.54 BB/9 0.68 K/BB 16.67 OE --->BAA .149

Willets Point land a shameful steal of a deal for Mets City is on the way to paying $500 million for tract and gifts 23 acres to Wilpons and partners for retail, entertainment and hotel complex by Citi Field ONLY in Michael Bloomberg�s New York are we asked to believe that giving away huge swaths of city-owned land to millionaires is a wonderful deal. The mayor announced Wednesday that the city had selected the Wilpons, of the Mets and Sterling Equities, and Steve Ross of The Related Companies, to develop 23 acres of land in the Willets Point redevelopment area in Queens. The Wilpon-Ross partnership, Queens Development Group, will be handed this land completely free of charge, so it can build its own new retail, entertainment and hotel complex adjacent to the Mets� Citi Field. Yes, free land, even though the city is on track to spend nearly $500 million buying that very land from scores of industries and auto repair firms that operated there for decades, putting in new sewer lines, and erecting new Long Island Expressway ramps. Free land, even though Queens Development has committed to developing only one-third of the entire 60-acre Willet Points project City Council approved back in 2008. Queens Development won�t even have to begin construction on a single unit of residential housing � part of the original lure of the project � until 2025. �How do you give away 23 acres of land for nothing?� Jerry Antonacci wants to know. He has run Crown Container, a waste hauling and recycling plant in Willets Point for nearly 40 years and has been battling the city�s efforts to move him out. �This is like the biggest heist ever,� Antonacci said, �We all knew the Wilpons wanted our land for themselves all along, and now they got it.� But when City Hall originally got Council�s approval for Willets Point, there was no mention of giveaways or of the Wilpons as a possible developer. Just the opposite. Back then, Bloomberg�s aides assured the Council that any taxpayer money spent on Willets Point would be recouped when the city sold the land to a developer that would be chosen later. Council was understandably skeptical. For one thing, all previous development projects always had a developer�s name attached to them when they came up for vote. This one didn�t. Then there was the big city money upfront for acquiring private land. On Oct. 17, 2008, for instance, then-Deputy Mayor Robert Lieber was grilled by former City Councilman Hiram Monserrate about the land sales. �Our goal would be to get the city taxpayer money back out of this,� Lieber said �In the sale of the properties?� Monserrate asked. �That�s correct,� Lieber said. Lieber conceded that if potential developers claimed the cost of cleaning up the polluted land was too high, the city might agree to �get less for land.� He never said anything about free land. Back then, the city�s skin in the game was $400 million. That has now gone up by another $80 million to build the LIE ramps for the project. Back then, the project�s timeline was five to 10 years. It included a convention center, a new school, twice as much housing. Now, you won�t see any housing open for maybe 15 years. No convention center. No school. And two-thirds of the Willets Point site will remain undeveloped and polluted possibly for decades. �We are thrilled to have been selected by the City to . . . rejuvenate Willets Points into a stunning, new, mixed-use neighborhood,� Jeff Wilpon said as he stood next to Bloomberg. Sure, they�re thrilled. You�d be, too, if you had just been handed 23 acres of land paid for by taxpayers, right next door to your own new baseball stadium. Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/willets-point-land-a-shameful-steal-a-deal-mets-article-1.1096174#ixzz1xs1Jnj6R

How impressive was R.A. Dickey's 1-hitter? By ESPN Stats & Information | ESPN.com On June 1, Johan Santana pitched the first no-hitter in Mets franchise history. But was R.A. Dickey�s performance against the Tampa Bay Rays even more impressive? It took 50 years before Santana threw the Mets� first no-hitter. But side-by-side, Dickey�s performance may be closer to flawlessness. Keep in mind that Santana�s no-hitter included a foul ball that replays showed may have been a hit and Dickey�s outing included a hit that could have been scored an error. Then, consider that Santana struck out eight batters and walked five, while Dickey struck out 12 and didn�t walk a single batter. Only two pitchers in Mets history have struck out more than 12 batters in a 1-hitter. Those pitchers are both in the Hall of Fame: Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan. Most Strikeouts In 1-Hitter Mets History Strikeouts 1970 Nolan Ryan 15 1970 Tom Seaver 15 2012 R.A Dickey 12 In the win, Dickey ended a streak of 32 ? scoreless innings. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that�s the longest streak in Mets history, surpassing Jerry Koosman�s 31 ? consecutive scoreless innings in 1973. Most Consecutive Scoreless IP Mets All-Time 2012 R.A. Dickey 32 ? 1973 Jerry Koosman 31 ? 1985 Dwight Gooden 31 1971 Tom Seaver 31 2003-04 Al Leiter 29 ? Dickey has now had four straight starts with no earned runs and at least eight strikeouts. According to Elias, no pitcher has had more than four straight such starts in MLB history. The other three pitchers to do so were Pedro Martinez (2002), Ray Culp (1968) and Gaylord Perry (1967). So how did Dickey dominate the Rays? � Of his 106 pitches, 100 were knuckleballs. That�s Dickey�s highest knuckleball percentage (94.3) in his Mets career. � Of his 100 knuckleballs, 55 of them were above the belt, gaining 16 outs (six strikeouts), the most in his Mets career. � The Rays missed 22 of the 63 knuckleballs they swung at (34.9 percent). The 22 missed knuckleballs are also the most in Dickey�s Mets career. � Eleven of the 12 strikeouts were swinging. With the victory, Dickey is now one of two 10-game winners in baseball this season. That�s rather impressive considering that Dickey has never had more than 11 wins in a season, he was 8-13 last season, he�s 37 years old, and he was in the Minors just two seasons ago. At 10-1 with a 2.20 ERA and 90 strikeouts, Dickey has cemented himself into the early Cy Young Award conversation. If Dickey were to win it, he�d be the oldest first-time Cy Young Award winner as a starter since Early Wynn, who was 39 years old when he won it in 1959. When Wynn won it, it was just the fourth year of the Cy Young Award, so it�s possible Wynn could have won one earlier in his career if the award had existed. A Cy Young Award for a Met? It hasn�t happened since 1985, when Doc Gooden went 24-4 with a 1.53 ERA and 268 strikeouts. http://espn.go.com/blog/statsinfo/post/_/id/45130/how-impressive-was-r-a-dickeys-1-hitter ***************** R.A. Dickey's last five starts: W-L 5-0 (2 CG Shutouts) ERA 0.23 IP 39.2 IP/Start 7.9 H 20 BB 3 K 50 ER 1 WHIP 0.58 K/9 11.34 H/9 4.54 BB/9 0.68 K/BB 16.67

I say no. The beauty behind the 2 out run is that you can't get one on an out.

Gwreck wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: But he didn't pitch a complete game. Neither did any of those people in Seattle last week. That's why it's a combined no-hitter. Jesus H F Nixon Christ Already. I know what a combined no-hitter is. I thought that Shore, and Shore alone, was credited with the same kind of no-hitter that Santana pitched, or that Ryan and Koufax threw all those times, because Shore was on the mound for all 27 outs.

RealityChuck wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: that goes into the 'combined' no-hitter category now. I love that one as a caricature of Babe Ruth. makes me laugh every time. Obviously. But my issue was that the reliever, as opposed to the team, was once credited with a no-hitter. well, he got all 27 outs right? *looks up the reliever* Ernie Shore. Actually, that was the first combined no-hitter. But he didn't pitch a complete game.Neither did the six pitchers who pitched a no-hitter last week. The game is now officially credited as a combined no-hitter. Actually, it was always credited as a no-hitter because that's what it was -- a game with no hits. Until Steve Barber and Stu Miller did the same thing (and lost the game), it was sui generis, and there was no consistent way to credit Shore. By the 60s, lists of no-hitters had supplementary lists for multi-pitcher no hitters, no hitters of less than nine innings, and games which were no-hit for nine innings, but with a hit in extra innings. The last was a much more fair way to designate them; why should Harvey Haddix be denied a no-hitter just because of the hobgoblins of small minds? But my issue was that the reliever, as opposed to the team, was once credited with a no-hitter.

Dickey on pace for a 7.2 season WAR, 8th best in franchise history. RankPitcher/TeamWARYEAR1Dwight Gooden11.719852Tom Seaver9.519733Tom Seaver9.219714Jon Matlack8.619745Tom Seaver7.719756Tom Seaver7.61969 7Tom Seaver7.519688Jerry Koosman6.819689Jon Matlack6.7197210Jerry Koosman6.71969

Shades of Ray Knight.

- games where a road pitcher had a no-hitter but also gave up run(s) while his team was getting shut-out so he never pitched the bottom of the 9th Andy Hawkins, anybody? No hits but 4 runs thanks to a crappy MFY defense (3 errors in the 8th). http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1990/B07010CHA1990.htm Also, in looking at the Wright replay, that's a hit. If they called that an error Keith and Gary would have been all over the official scorer. I doubt that the Rays lone hit will be reversed. But just to play Devil's Advocate: how can you be so sure that it was a hit without seeing video of the batter running down the basepath? Are you basing your opinion on what you believe was the level of difficulty in fielding that grounder cleanly, or that the batter is not as slow as, say, Ike Davis? Just askin'.

Ceetar wrote: Ceetar wrote: that goes into the 'combined' no-hitter category now. I love that one as a caricature of Babe Ruth. makes me laugh every time. Obviously. But my issue was that the reliever, as opposed to the team, was once credited with a no-hitter. well, he got all 27 outs right? *looks up the reliever* Ernie Shore. Actually, that was the first combined no-hitter. But he didn't pitch a complete game.