batmagadanleadoff

If it's good to be chuffed, then chuffed is what I was about this thoroughly compelling season. Right up until the moment when the Wilpons successfully maneuvered their Madoff lawsuit out of Bankruptcy Court and into the US District Court. I'm thinking long term here.

Edgy DC wrote: Weaver went for platoons --- most notably Lowenstein/Roeneke but --- he typically went for defense first behind the plate. Like he had a choice. It was the seventies.

I would cast Wallace Shawn as Jose Reyes, Woody Allen as Terry Collins and Tony Roberts as Jeff Wilpon

Most triples for the same team, post 1961 stats only, as of 5/30/11 1. George Brett - Royals - 137 2. Willie Wilson - Royals - 133 3. Robin Yount - Brewers - 126 4. Lou Brock - Cards - 121 5. Pete Rose - Reds - 115 6. Roberto Clemente - Pirates - 108 7. Carl Crawford - Devil Rays/Rays - 105 8. Willie Davis - Dodgers - 103 9. Jimmy Rollins - Phillies - 99 10. Jose Reyes - Mets - 91 11. Rod Carew - Twins - 90 Most triples for the same team, post 1961 stats only, as of right now 1. George Brett - Royals - 137 2. Willie Wilson - Royals - 133 3. Robin Yount - Brewers - 126 4. Lou Brock - Cards - 121 5. Pete Rose - Reds - 115 6. Roberto Clemente - Pirates - 108 7. Carl Crawford - Devil Rays/Rays - 105 8. Willie Davis - Dodgers - 103 9. Jimmy Rollins - Phillies - 99 10. Jose Reyes - Mets - 98 11. Rod Carew - Twins - 90

Nice touch by Terry to bat Paulino cleanup. It was the logical move, really. Paulino's batting .396 against lefties this season. Granted -- in only 48 AB's, but Paulino's total destruction of LHP's this season is consistent with what Paulino has been doing throughout his career. Against lefties, Paulino hits like an all-star. Earl Weaver would regularly win 90+ games a season with half a lineup of half players ... players like Paulino. The players with extreme splits, in the right hands, are more valuable then their contemporaries who put up similar numbers, but without the extreme lefty-righty splits. Because with the split guys, the manager can predict with greater accuracy, when that player is likely or unlikely to have a productive game, and use those indicators to his advantage. I'm also noticing that Collins is now making some use of Pagan's extreme splits as well, batting Angel at the bottom of the order -- usually 7th -- when Pagan starts against a LHP.

DATEMETS GAMES PLAYEDGAMES K-ROD FINISHEDON PACE TO FINISH...*4/1/111 (0-1)004/3/113 (2-1)004/6/115 (3-2)1324/8/117 (3-4)1234/14/1113 (4-9)3374/17/1116 (5-11)4404/24/1122 (9-13)6444/26/1123 (10-13)7494/27/1124 (11-13)8545/1/1128 (12-16)8465/3/1129 (12-17)8455/6/1132 (14-18)10505/7/1133 (15-18)11545/9/1135 (15-20)11505/10/1136 (16-20)12545/12/1137 (17-20)13=#000000]565/13/1138 (18-20)14595/19/1143 (21-22)17645/20/1144 (22-22)18665/26/1149 (23-26)19626/26/1178 (39-39)2858 *Remainders are always lopped off and never rounded up to the nearest whole number.

Lance Johnson holds the Mets record for base hits in a season, with 227 in 1996. Let's track Jose Reyes's challenge. METS HITS IN A SEASON Through 78 NYM Games REYES 2011: 113 Johnson 1996: 105 That's not the only One Dog Mets record Reyes is threatening. BASEBALL;Johnson Just Hits Like No One Else By JASON DIAMOS Published: June 25, 1996 He is bidding to become the first player in major league history to lead both the National League and American League in hits. He will almost certainly become the third player to lead both leagues in triples. Yet Lance Johnson, the 32-year-old Mets center fielder, has never been selected to an All-Star Game. Nor does the man dubbed the "one-dog" because of his resemblance, while running the bases, to a greyhound nearest the rail, figure to be selected to this year's gala in Philadelphia, despite some hefty credentials. Which is shameful. After last night's 2-1 victory by the Mets over Colorado, Johnson was second in the National League in hits with 102, three behind Montreal shortstop Mark Grudzielanek. He was looking more and more like Wee Willie Keeler, the turn-of-the-century slap hitter whose ability to hit 'em where they ain't made him the National League leader in hits in 1900 and made him runner-up in the American League four years later, perhaps the closest any player has come to being the hits leader in each league. And Johnson has other things going for him this season. He is second in the league in stolen bases with 23 and he has already broken the Mets record with 11 triples, six more than anybody else in the league. Johnson is also on pace to break Mets records in four more categories: at-bats, runs, hits and total bases. That would usually be more than enough to gain a certain amount of recognition, especially when you consider that Johnson led the American League in hits last year and in triples the four years before that, all with the Chicago White Sox. He even achieved the rare feat of having more triples than doubles, while having double figures in both (14 to 11 in 1994), something he has a chance to do again this season. But Johnson now plays for the Mets, who are struggling as usual. Bernard Gilkey, Todd Hundley, even the rookie shortstop Rey Ordonez, get much more publicity. And Johnson, as the saying goes, speaks a lot more with his actions than with his words. "I'm not shy," said Johnson, who is indeed a very confident person. "I like to be what you call silently dangerous." Not to mention silently productive. "He scores runs, he steals bases, he gets his base hits, he plays an above-average outfield," said Tom McCraw, the Mets hitting coach. "The guy does it all. It's been amazing to me that the media has really dwelt on the fact that he doesn't walk. He's got a chance to lead both leagues in base hits. Not walks." But that is precisely the biggest knock on Johnson the leadoff hitter: He does not walk very much. His on-base percentage (.342) is not much higher than his batting average (.317). He rarely takes many pitches. "The only knock on him is that he doesn't get enough walks as a leadoff hitter," Mets General Manager Joe McIlvaine said. "It's not a knock, it's just a fact. But if you're leading the league in hits, you're getting on a lot. From an offensive standpoint, that's really the only thing he could do better in. But we knew that when we got him." A No. 7 or a No. 2 hitter most of his career, Johnson never needed to look for walks as much. But now he is being paid to be a leadoff hitter. And that, he said, pointing to semantics, is exactly what he is doing. "I can walk," Johnson said. "You know anybody in this game getting paid to walk? I'm not getting paid to walk. I'm getting paid to hit. They want a leadoff hitter. They got a leadoff hitter. They didn't get a leadoff walker. "When we really need to get a walk, I somehow manage -- if you're paying attention to my game -- sometimes I get the walk. I don't go up looking for a walk. I'm not going to, for anybody. But I can walk." Manager Dallas Green said it has taken Johnson, who signed a two-year, $5.7 million free-agent deal last December, a little time to learn the National League after spending the last eight seasons with the White Sox. Johnson is 25 for 73 leading off a game (.342). And, after a slow start, his stolen-base total is rising (15 in little over a month). "I know one thing," Green said. "He's been very valuable to us. He's a name I write down every night without even thinking about it. That's a pretty nice thing to have. We haven't had very many guys like that." Not bad for a player whose size -- listed at 5 feet 11 inches and 160 pounds -- has always been held against him. "Nobody likes a short outfielder," said Johnson, who grew up in Cincinnati as a fan of Joe Morgan and Pete Rose, neither of whose size diminished his desire or ability. "I guess I took my genes from my mom." Johnson said he gets his speed from his father, a retired policeman whom Johnson said he was afraid to challenge to a race until a couple of years ago. Johnson is hoping that kind of athletic longevity can give him at least seven more seasons, until he hits 40. As for the recognition, Johnson is still waiting. "I'll probably get it after I get my 10 years in," he said. "People will realize some of the things I've done. I figured it would be 8 to 10 years before they started taking notice. And that's exactly what has happened." A lot of people will take notice if he leads the National League in hits. When Johnson was told earlier this year that he could join Sam Crawford and Brett Butler as the only batters ever to lead both leagues in triples, he asked if anybody had accomplished the feat in hits. "Baseball's been around, what, a hundred years or so," he said. "Being the only person in the whole game to do something like that would be pretty special." http://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/25/sports/baseball-johnson-just-hits-like-no-one-else.html?scp=1&sq=lance+johnson+triples&st=nyt

When Niese (here goes) Leads by his nose Deep in the Heart of Texas. And Reyes races 'Round the bases Deep in the Heart of Texas. I'll bear the brunt of Collins' bunt Deep in the Heart of Texas. I won't turn over in my grave If K-Rod blows another save Deep in the Heart of Texas. But Jason Bay, Oy Vey! Oy Bay! I wish he were under Flushing Bay. Deep in the Heart of Texas. .

you probably think that frankie's been pretty good this year, and you might be right. but even so, fangraphs has him at 0.6 WAR to this point in the season, whereas baseballreference has him at 0.9. if we traded him away and did not thereby improve the on-field roster, we'd cost ourselves at most one single solitary win. the single [worst] thing the mets could do at this point ... is to bring back frankie rodriguez at 17 million dollars. he is simply not worth it. no closer is. K-Rod is having a good season -- for a relief pitcher. His low WAR results from, as you pointed out, the relative worth of pitchers who pitch less than 80 innings a season. A reliever's impact is exaggerated: they're not worth the mega money contracts that some of them command. I looked up some relievers before I wrote this post. Check out JJ Putz. He's back.

[youtube:2ubc1t14]Dsw9jYU_rJI[/youtube:2ubc1t14]

batmagadanleadoff wrote: TransMonk wrote: I don't have the ill will towards Frankie that most have. He's an idiot off the field, but pretty good on the field. That being said, I don't want anything to do with his option for next season. You just summed up my own K-Rod POV pretty darn good. Wait a second. I forgot. I think I'm rooting for K-Rod's option to vest.

TransMonk wrote: I don't have the ill will towards Frankie that most have. He's an idiot off the field, but pretty good on the field. That being said, I don't want anything to do with his option for next season. You just summed up my own K-Rod POV pretty darn good.

The best viewing angle is at about the 1:36 mark.

This dork got bumped into on the field and is crippled. WTF I took a look at the play in question. It seemed to me that the collision between Ike and Wright wasn't the direct cause of Ike's injury. At about the moment when the two fielders collided, Davis took a nasty misstep on the way to the ball. Ike misstepped with his left foot and instead of landing on the bottom, or sole, of his left foot, landed mostly on the side of his left foot. I found a diagram on the web that I think best approximates Ike's misstep: but Ike's ankle twist was worse than what is depicted in the diagram above, in that more of the outside of Ike's left foot landed on the ground than what is shown above -- maybe even Ike's outside ankle touched the ground on his misstep. And then putting all of Ike's weight on that step had to have been the deal breaker. Ouch. Ike then limped back to first base and finished the rest of the inning, taking another throw and recording a putout before eventually being removed from the lineup.

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Am I being superselective with the memory, or does Collins' decision-making seem to get iffier (albeit sometimes in traditional, baseball-guy ways) in close-and-late situations? I was just thinking the same thing. Collins is relatively OK, but only until it's crunch time. That's the vibe I'm getting.

I enjoyed this game thoroughly for eight innings. Then K-Rod coughs up the save. Then Paulino comes up in the 9th with nobody out and the winning run on first. Paulino just murders lefties, and is the most lethal bat that will get an AB in the Mets 9th. So naturally, Collins orders Paulino to make an out on purpose. What a ****bunter he is.

Rickey's Met OPS ranks 11th all-time at 100 min. PA's. Lowering the min PA's requirement to 100 PA's for this category allows for the inlcusion of two unlikely Mets to the franchise top 10 OPS leaders: the all-time leader, and one other Met. These two Mets are so unimaginable that I'd be surprised if anybody got any of 'em. Mets all-time OPS leaders (min. 100 PA's) 1. Mike Jacobs (2005, 2010) (140 PA's) 1.005 2. John Olerud (2,018 PA's) .926 3. Mike Piazza (3,941 PA's) .915 4. Moises Alou (414 PA's) .898 5. David Wright (4,507 PA's) .893 6. Darryl Strawberry (4,549 PA's) .878 7. Carlos Beltran (3,514 PA's) .864 8. Carlos Delgado (2,023 PA's) .857 9. Bobby Bonilla (2,040 PA's) .851 10. Bob W. Johnson (1967) (246 PA's) .851 11. Rickey Henderson (650 PA's) .839 . . . 33. Kevin McReynolds (3,218 PA's) .790

seawolf17 wrote: Because I grew up in Commack. Without peeking, d'ya know where Cammack grew up? (Hint: Cammack's not from Commack).

I'm submitting my voice of doom prediction post to this thread and guessing that Ike's 2011 is over and done. If that ankle hasn't healed at all since Ike sustained his injury, I'm guessing that nothing's gonna happen in the next few weeks, either. It's in management's interest to underplay the severity of Ike's injury so that no fans are further discouraged from purchasing Summer tickets in advance.

seawolf17 wrote: There goes my guess of Kevin McReynolds. Mets all-time OPS leaders (min. 100 PA's) 1. 2. John Olerud (2,018 PA's) .926 3. Mike Piazza (3,941 PA's) .915 4. Moises Alou (414 PA's) .898 5. David Wright (4,507 PA's) .893 6. Darryl Strawberry (4,549 PA's) .878 7. Carlos Beltran (3,514 PA's) .864 8. Carlos Delgado (2,023 PA's) .857 9. Bobby Bonilla (2,040 PA's) .851 10. 11. Rickey Henderson (650 PA's) .839 . . . 33. Kevin McReynolds (3,218 PA's) .790

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: Rickey? Rickey's Met OPS ranks 11th all-time at 100 min. PA's. Lowering the min PA's requirement to 100 PA's for this category allows for the inlcusion of two unlikely Mets to the franchise top 10 OPS leaders: the all-time leader, and one other Met. These two Mets are so unimaginable that I'd be surprised if anybody got any of 'em. The top 10 Mets OPS all-time leaders at 100 min. PA's: 1. 2. John Olerud (2,018 PA's) .926 3. Mike Piazza (3,941 PA's) .915 4. Moises Alou (414 PA's) .898 5. David Wright (4,507 PA's) .893 6. Darryl Strawberry (4,549 PA's) .878 7. Carlos Beltran (3,514 PA's) .864 8. Carlos Delgado (2,023 PA's) .857 9. Bobby Bonilla (2,040 PA's) .851 10. 11. Rickey Henderson (650 PA's) .839

seawolf17 wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: Who is the only player to get an extra-base hit in his only NY Met plate appearance? Eric Cammack, with a triple. How'd you know that?

http://online.wsj.com/video/a-mets-pitcher-fun-house/5889ACD8-F78D-4F53-9C2F-DB21ABCA7C4E.html?mod=WSJ_Article_Videocarousel_1

Chad Ochoseis wrote: Speaking of hurt, Moises Alou? No, but good guess. By lowering the min. PA to 100, Alou (414 Mets PA's) ranks 4th all-time Mets OPS. This guy knew how to hit.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: "Iron" Ike Davis Nope. But here's a hint: the 100 min PA leader is a 21st century guy, or an 'oughts guy. A 2000's guy. What's your beef with Ike, speaking of? He's hurt ferchrissakes. I know that the play in question didn't look like much on TV, but hurt's hurt, no?