batmagadanleadoff

Gwreck wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: And there won't be any artificial floor on Stubhub either. Stubhub charges a minimum $5 service charge + $5.20 delivery fee per order, so even if a ticket is listed there for $0.01, there's still an artificial price floor. I don't like that analogy. That's like saying that there isn't an artificial floor because Stubhub will charge at least one penny for each ticket. Besides, Ticket.com will also charge fees. When you can buy $200 tickets for $50.00 on Stubhub, you'll see my point.

Ceetar wrote: While I appreciate the opportunity to ask him anything, the one question format allows him to gloss over parts of the question and gives no opportunity to follow up. I agree. I think he answered just about every question like a seasoned politician:he had predetermined talking points and managed to hit them no matter what the question. I'm skeptical about the choice seating behind home plate being sold out. Those sections are too damn empty to my eyes, and the idea that most of those ticket holders are in attendance but indoors, in the luxury lounge directly behind their seats is a crock of shit.

One can still go to StubHub then, if choosing your specific seat matters (it does, to me). And there won't be any artificial floor on Stubhub either. What remains to be seen is whether Ticket .com will have a significantly better selection than Stubhub. The more full season tickets the Mets sell, the unlikier this is. I'm also wondering if the Mets artificial floor will affect the Stubhub market. This being the Mets though, what'll likely happen is that even though the team will fizzle once again in 2012, the Mets will nevertheless be locked in to selling their unsold full season ticket section tickets at no less than face value even though comparable tickets on Stubhub will be selling for a third or a quarter of face value. Of course, the more tickets the Mets sell out in their full season ticket sections, the less number of tickets they'll be stuck with for resale on Tickets.com.

Does this mean that Mets tickets won't be available on StubHub?

Buckner ball in play, up for auction this month NEW YORK (AP) � The Bill Buckner ball is back in play. The prize souvenir from the 1986 World Series will go on eBay this month with a $1 million price tag, put up for auction by the Grammy-nominated songwriter who once bought it from actor Charlie Sheen. Seth Swirsky owns the ball, along with a bevy of bats, gloves and other mementos tied to the likes of Shoeless Joe Jackson, Johnny Vander Meer and Eddie Gaedel. He celebrates the game's lore, and has written three books based on his letters to and from ballplayers. "I love my collection. I don't think I've ever sold anything from it," Swirsky told The Associated Press from his home in Los Angeles. "But that ball, it's time to pass it along, to let someone else enjoy it." Swirsky plans to begin the online auction on Oct. 15, and it won't last long. He intends to close the bidding late on the night of Oct. 25 � at the exact minute of the 25th anniversary of Buckner's famous error. Swirsky said he decided to part with a favorite piece while driving around last week, a day after watching Boston collapse on the final night of the regular season. "The myth of Buckner continues. There he was on 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' last month. Everybody knows where they were when that play happened," he said. "I wasn't in a gloating mood. This isn't about, 'ha, ha, the Red Sox lost.' I'm not a Red Sox hater, I'm a baseball history lover. "If anything, I want people to know how good Buckner was. You really wanted Billy Buck on your team. He got 2,715 hits � almost as many as Lou Gehrig," Swirsky said. Buckner, however, is more noted for what happened in Game 6 of the '86 Series. Playing first base for Boston, he let Mookie Wilson's grounder roll through his legs, allowing the New York Mets to cap an incredible rally in the 10th inning. The Mets went on to win the title. The ball was picked up by right field umpire Ed Montague, who put a tiny "x'' near a seam to mark the real thing. Montague gave it to Mets executive Arthur Richman, who in turn presented it to Wilson. Then Wilson signed it to Richman � "The ball won it for us," he wrote � and the souvenir made its way around the clubhouse. Someone left a tobacco stain where he kissed it. Sheen bought the ball for more than $93,000 in 1992 and Swirsky purchased it for nearly $64,000 in 2000. Auction houses handled those transactions, but Swirsky said he's going online because the anniversary date is fast approaching. To Swirsky, the Buckner ball captures the heart of the sport. "People ask, 'Why would you have a ball about sorrow?' To me, it's encompasses the two emotions of the game. The highs and lows, all encapsulated in one ball." Raised in Long Island, the 51-year-old Swirsky gave the ball to the Mets Hall of Fame last year for display. He's also shown it to both Wilson and Buckner at different times. Buckner thought it was "cool" and Wilson's eyes "got real big," Swirsky said. Swirsky's extensive collection is a combination of historical and hysterical. He's got a ticket stub from Gehrig's last game, the ball Reggie Jackson hit for his third straight home run in the 1977 World Series and a letter Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis wrote to Shoeless Joe after getting banned in the Black Sox scandal. Swirsky also owns the cap that Jose Canseco was wearing when a ball bounced off his head for a home run, a bottle of champagne the Red Sox had in their clubhouse in anticipation of winning the '86 Series and a rare autograph from Gaedel, the dwarf who batted in a 1951 publicity stunt. Baseball memorabilia is only a part of Swirsky's life. He co-wrote the hit "Tell It To My Heart" by Taylor Dayne, and has multiple hits with Celine Dion, Olivia Newton-John and Al Green. Swirsky also performs with The Red Button, his Beatles-oriented retro band that recently released a new album. Swirsky thinks $1 million is a good starting point, based on previous ball sales. Mark McGwire's 70th homer went for over $3 million and Babe Ruth's homer from the 1933 All-Star game went for $850,000, as did Hank Aaron's last home run. Swirsky plans to donate part of the proceeds to the Baseball Assistance Team, which helps those in the baseball family having financial hardship. He previously donated from his book sales to B.A.T. "We should share this with the people who created these memories for us," he said. Swirsky would sell the Buckner ball for a certain person in an instant. Outspoken political commentator Keith Olbermann � an excellent baseball storyteller, too � came in second to Sheen when the ball initially went to auction. Olbermann then was second to Swirsky. "If I got a call from Keith and he wanted it for a million, I'd do it. He deserves it," Swirsky said. "I'd rather have someone who really wants it to have it, y'know?" Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Buckner-ball-in-play-up-for-auction-this-month-2202108.php#ixzz1ZqW8PqhY

Reyes Has No Reason to Apologize for Batting Title Rob Kirkpatrick I'm amazed by the flack New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes is getting. I'm especially astounded by the comments from those who should know their baseball history better. Reyes went into game number 162 last Wednesday afternoon leading Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League batting race, .336 to .335. In his first at-bat, Reyes led off with a bunt single against the Cincinnati Reds' Edison Volquez to raise his average to .337. Mets manager Terry Collins promptly pulled Reyes for a pinch-runner, as he and his star player had agreed in the event Reyes got a hit in his first at-bat. Reyes hadn't exactly clinched the batting title with his single, but he'd taken a commanding lead: Braun would have to go 3 for 3 or 3 for 4 that night in Milwaukee's game with Pittsburgh, a possible-but-improbable occurrence, to overtake Reyes. Since the odds are statistically against a hitter getting a hit in any given at-bat -- Ty Cobb, owner of the highest career batting average, got a hit in less than 37% of his at-bats -- the chances were significantly greater Reyes would have lowered his average by stepping into the batter's box again than the chances Braun would go 3-4. In short, the shortstop was shrewdly playing the odds, something he put himself in the position to do by carrying the league's highest batting average into the final game. After Braun went 0 for 4 that night and saw his average drop to .332, Reyes claimed the NL batting crown. Yet as soon as he trotted off the field on Wednesday, criticism of the Mets shortstop shot across cyberspace. Comparisons were made to Ted Williams, who carried a .400 average into the final day of the 1941 season but played in both games of a season-closing doubleheader. (Technically, his average was .39955 but officially would have been rounded up.) The famously confident hitter, arguably the best ever, got six hits in eight at-bats in the twinbill to finish at .406; no Major Leaguer has broken the .400 mark for a full season since. Ironically, Williams often was criticized in his day for being overly concerned about his batting average. "Critics noted that if there were a man on second and a hit needed, the great Williams would rather take a walk than try for a hit on a pitch off the plate that would drive in a run," noted "Out of Left Field" columnist Stan Isaacs. "Joe DiMaggio, Stan Musial, Jackie Robinson, and the notoriously-bad-ball hitting Yogi Berra would be logical choices over Williams to hit in such a clutch situation." I've rooted for Reyes over the years but have also been critical of him at times. For such an outstanding player, he can make his share of mental mistakes, which (to be fair) often stem from the aggression that comes with playing the game at a higher speed than everyone else. Speaking of bunts, he seems to approach sacrifice situations as if he was bunting for a hit by dragging it down the line -- a lower-percentage play that can roll foul -- rather than simply squaring around and meeting the ball with his bat to put it in play. But in the case of Reyes's early exit on Wednesday, Williams himself would be the only person who would have the right to criticize Reyes. Everyone else is off base. First off, if Braun had gone for 3 for 4 to climb over Reyes in the batting race... are we really to believe Braun would have stayed in the game for a fifth at-bat to needlessly risk yielding the batting crown back to Reyes? (If you think so, you might want to file for tax-exempt status for your Church of Braun.) As anyone who knows baseball history could point out -- David Schoenfield, for one, pointed this out in a piece for ESPN.com -- there is a long-standing precedent of players sitting out at-bats or entire games to preserve batting titles, including Terry Pendleton in 1991, when he won the NL batting race, the NL MVP, and led the Atlanta Braves to the World Series. Still, that didn't stop plenty of people whose job is to know sports from spouting off on Reyes's character. ESPN's Steve Levy, for one, tweeted after an eventful evening that decided postseason berths: "On a night in which we saw everything that is right and great about baseball,we got the oppositte [sic] from jose reyes. Don't want him on my team." I supposed Levy also wouldn't have wanted a winner like Pendleton on his team. Or Bernie Williams, the former Yankees centerfielder who owns four World Series rings. Manager Joe Torre, who's lionized in New York, removed Williams from the final game of the 1998 season to preserve his lead over Boston Red Sox slugger Mo Vaughan. (While managing the Mets in 1977, Torre also substituted for a young Lee Mazzilli when the rookie led off the team's final game with a double, thus raising his average to .250 -- hardly a number to boldface on the back of a baseball card, but one that tells someone you at least had one hit every four at-bats.) Talk show host Jim Rome also ranted against Reyes in tweets that night: "Jose Reyes?! Are you kidding me? I hope Ryan Braun goes 4-4. And Matt Kemp [who was third in the race] goes 15-17. Laying down a bunt single and call it a day is weak"; and later: "I don't know anyone not pulling for Ryan Braun tonight. Too bad he's 0-3 and Jose Reyes is going to back into a batting title. Bush move." Reyes "backed into" the batting title? In his last four games, he struck six singles, a double, and two home runs in 15 at-bats -- for a .600 average and 1.667 OPS over that stretch. I'm guessing Rome also would say a division winner had backed into the playoffs if it had a ten-game winning streak snapped on the last day of the season. As part of the whole controversy, haters have focused also on how Reyes got his last hit in 2011. (Note Rome's calling out the "bunt single.") For Michael Moraitis's piece on Bleacher Report, a photo caption labels it a "cheap bunt single," as if taking a 90-mph pitch off a Major League pitcher and placing it perfectly between the pitcher, catcher, third baseman, and third-base foul line is an easy task -- as if a bunt single is somehow a lesser hit than, say, a ground ball that takes a bad hop or a seeing-eye single that barely trickles past the second baseman. One wonders why leadoff hitters ever swing away if bunting for a hit is so "cheap" and "easy." This sort of macho posturing from sports commentators is nothing new. It's both hollow and unsustainable. Following the same mindset, shall we criticize the manager who has his batter lay down a sacrifice bunt to move the potential winning run into scoring position rather than (in a more manly fashion) swing away for the fences? Is a pitcher "gutless" for wasting a 0-2 curveball in the dirt rather than (in a more manly fashion) throwing a fastball right down the middle and daring the batter to hit it? When a basketball coach has a late lead, is he "cheap" for having his team run out the shot clock rather than (in a more manly fashion) challenging the other team to a reckless exchange of fast breaks? When a football team is up by three points with thirty seconds left, is the coach taking the "easy" way out by having his quarterback take a knee rather than (in a more manly fashion) dropping back to throw a pass and daring the other team to pick it off? Nevertheless, many are calling Reyes gutless and his title tainted. And in the social architecture of today's media, once writers declare something tainted, it becomes a viral meme regardless of merit. But perhaps the most foolish criticism of Reyes came not from professional "experts" but from the segment of fans at CitiField who booed when he came off the field on Wednesday. Forget the fact Reyes had just all but locked up the franchise's first batting title in its 50-year history, that Reyes was the best player in the league until the All-Star break and battled through injuries in the second half, that (hello, Steve Levy) the Mets have had a far better record with Reyes in the lineup than without him. When the contract of your most crucial player has just run out, other teams are lining up to bid obscene amounts of money for his services, and you're hoping he will give your financially strapped organization a hometown discount, I'm not sure how smart it is to send him off the field with a chorus of boos. Fans pay a lot of money at Major League Baseball games, and they want to see their favorite stars play. But teams always play their subs and prospects at the end of the year, and if you buy a ticket to game 162, you don't expect to see the "A" team unless they're involved in a contest that decides postseason berths. The Mets starting lineup on Wednesday featured Willie Harris, Mike Baxter, Nick Evans, and Jason Pridie. Reyes's longtime teammate David Wright started the game and also was pulled for a pinch-runner after singling. Managers take players off the base paths, rather than in between innings, in such situations so fans have a chance to cheer for them one last time. Instead, Reyes heard boos. When asked about this later, he said, "It's kind of tough. I wanted to stay in the game. But [fans] have to understand, too, what's going on. They have to feel happy about it if I win the batting title. I do that for the team, and the fans, too." Fans usually don't like players telling them what they need to understand, but in this case Reyes is right. This wasn't just his batting title but the team's and the fans'. The Mets had their third losing season in a row and the team has never had a pitcher throw a no-hitter, but fans no longer have to hear a Met has never won a batting title. Unfortunately, there's a chance they also might no longer be able to cheer for Reyes in a Mets uniform. I hope the Mets front office finds a way to re-sign him. If not, he would leave a void that would take years to fill. But no matter whom he plays for the rest of his career, he earned the 2011 National League batting title, fair and square. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rob-kirkpatrick/jose-reyes-batting-title_b_990677.html

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There�s no honor in baseball. Baseball�s a win at all costs cutthroat competition. If there was any honor in baseball, the sport wouldn�t need any umpires. Because who in the world is in a better position to call balls and strikes than the catcher squatting behind home plate? Was J.C. Martin dishonorable when he declined to call himself out for running out of the baseline? Did anyone here expect Derek Jeter to void his own home run after Jeffrey Maier deflected the in-play ball over the outfield wall? Did anyone here, in their entire lifetime of watching major league baseball, ever see a middle infielder tell the second base umpire that he blew the stolen base call by mistakenly calling the runner out? Ryan Braun had no reasonable expectation that Jose Reyes would play the Mets� entire last game. This is what happens when Braun fell that far behind an opponent whose team was already eliminated. If Braun, or anybody else has any gripes, they should be griping at Braun for not getting two or three more hits earlier in the season: because the hits in April count just as much as the hits in September.

Oh and two to Willie Mays � Koosman checks the rubber � gets the sign from Carter �. the new breeders are on their feet � their placards held high over on the third base side � and in right field � their placards are terrific � Koosman from the stretch � here�s the pitch to Mays � there�s a long drive to deep deep center field off the bat of Mays � no one�s gonna get this one � back goes Mays � his back to the infield � Mays makes an incredible catch � turns and fires it in �. What a catch by Willie Mays to rob Willie Mays of a triple � perhaps even an inside the park Home Run.

Mickey Lolich won 25 games for the 1971 Tigers -- but that rotation was a hybrid four/five man rotation. The Tigers top four starters accounted for only 124 of the team's starts, but Lolich, who started 45 games that season, started every fourth game. And then some. Take Lolich out of the equation, and the '71 Tigers remaining top three starters (Coleman, Cain and Niekro) started a combined mere 79 games. I'm going to extend the answers to include Steve Carlton, 1972. The Phils top four starters accounted for only 103 of the teams starts, and Carlton started just 36 games that year -- in line with the number of games today's aces, pitching on at least four days rest, start. It's been 21 seasons since a pitcher started more than 36 games in a season -- (Greg Maddux in 1991, 37 starts). Roger Clemens never won 25 games in a season.

Edgy DC wrote: I'll go with Seaver '69, though I don't know if folks consider that a five-man or a four-plus-man, or what. The standard's flexible and subjective. I mean, there's no rigid definition. Five Met pitchers each had at least 20 starts and accounted for 144 starts in '69.

Edgy DC wrote: Guidry had the advantage of a 163-game season. I'll go with Seaver '69, though I don't know if folks consider that a five-man or a four-plus-man, or what. Seaver '69 it is. Shame on everybody else.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: McLain, '68 (five-man?) McLain, Wilson, Lolich and Sparma were the '68 Tigers four-man rotation. Collectively, they started 137 of the Tigers' games.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Verlander just missed out, right? Clemens, '86? Verlander just missed, but came close enough to trigger the research that generated this trivia question. Nope on Rog.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Guidry, '78. (Thanks, "Your Birth Year" amusement-park novelty newspapers, for drilling it into my skull.) Correct. One left. Here's a hint: This hasn't been done since Welch did it.

Gwreck wrote: Bob Welch, Oakland, 1990 Correct. One down, two to go.

Who are the only three pitchers in MLB history to have won at least 25 games in a season while working out of a five man rotation? Give me the pitcher and the corresponding season. One pitcher per post.

TransMonk wrote: I think the Phillies have the best shot of beating the Yanks if they make it to the WS, so maybe that's where some of the Philly love is coming from. But, I voted for the Cards. If the Phillies and MFY's meet in the Series, it will be an unqualified disaster for most Mets fans, no matter who wins it all.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Later this year, I understand (ebook maybe?) Great. It'll be so anti-climactic, though. Jeff will still be here, for keeps, likely. He'll prolly sack Sandy too so he can make the decisions going forward.

Swing and a drive. It's a fucking home run. The Mets win the World Series.

Casey calls to the bullpen. He wants Nelson. I don't get it. Figueroa's been gone for more than a year. Casey must be losing his mind.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: The writer Howard Medgal told me recently that he's got some explosive stuff on how the deal with the hedge fund guy unraveled (basically he called it off when the 'pons proved to him they'd be lousy partners), that still has to play out. When.....??

Swing and a line drive off the bat of Jose Reyes ... that one's up the gap in right field ... it gets past the defense ... it's going to the wall .. Reyes rounds first ... and he .... he ... he turns his body around ... he's running backwards ... he's running backwards about as fast as he can run forwards .. he's on his way to third ... he's in safely with a stand up triple ... a triple for Jose Reyes ..... folks .... i've never seen anything like this before ... Jose Reyes turned himself around ... and with his back to the oncoming bases, he ran around the infield backwards. Oh my. That is the 100th career triple for Jose Reyes. Number 100.

G-Fafif wrote: Benjamin Grimm wrote: This is indeed sweet. Do they still do leader cards? And have they been extended into advanced stats? Sometimes. Not that I know of.

Is Big Brother citing 30,000 people as yesterday's attendance? Believe me, there weren't even 30,000 eyeballs or thumbs in attendance.