batmagadanleadoff

DATEMETS GAMES PLAYEDGAMES K-ROD FINISHEDON PACE TO FINISH...*4/1/111004/3/113004/6/1151324/8/1171234/14/11133374/17/11164404/24/1122 (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)1764 K-Rod now has a seven game cushion in his quest to vest: that is, he will remain on pace even if he doesn't finish any of the Mets next seven games. *Remainders are always lopped off and never rounded up to the nearest whole number.

.... and Darryl hits the ring of lights on the top of Olympic Stadium -- Opening day 1988 [youtube:1hn60ai1]qQHporpaZnc&feature[/youtube:1hn60ai1]

That link leads to this link (below) of Darryl Strawberry clocking the clock at Busch Stadium: [youtube:1imw8uwo]3WWQwyqBPDg&NR[/youtube:1imw8uwo]

1970 Adirondack ad featuring Santo, McCovey, Mays and Cleon Jones, photographed in 1969 at the All Star Game, RFK Stadium, home of the then Washington Senators.

Coming soon to Citi Field: (The House of Dumb) --

To honor Killebrew, the Twins will wear 1961 throwback Twins uniforms at every single home game for the rest of this season.

smg58 wrote: Look at it this way. At least we're not giving Bay the equivalent of a $1M per year lifetime pension. I think that Bay's deal is way more lucrative. Bonilla's getting $1M/year but at this rate of inflation, I'd bet that you won't be able to buy a starter house for a million bucks 35 years from now. Not in the five boroughs, anyway. 35 years from now, the major league minimum salary will probably have blown by the million dollar mark. BTW, speaking of bad deals, Ollie Perez was activated today, to the Nats AA squad.

Here are some stills of the Lee/Wright play, now rendered obsolete by the MLB video posted above. The video captures Wright's bobble head better than the pics below. But still.... (Get it? Still? But still ....)

G-Fafif wrote: I just reviewed the Wright/Lee play. If it's Wright's third inning tag-out of Carlos Lee in the top of the third on April 19th, then there was no collision, and Lee never landed on Wright. Wright dove at a sliding Lee from behind and tagged him before Lee tagged third. But on the dive, you could clearly see Wright's head snap and, without hitting the dirt, bounce up and down rather violently two or three times. http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN201104190.shtml I'm waiting to see the Zapruder film. Wright's head snapped back. And to the right. Back. And to the right. I'll try and post some stills. Although one would assume that the play in question should get aired tonight.

I just reviewed the Wright/Lee play. If it's Wright's third inning tag-out of Carlos Lee in the top of the third on April 19th, then there was no collision, and Lee never landed on Wright. Wright dove at a sliding Lee from behind and tagged him before Lee tagged third. But on the dive, you could clearly see Wright's head snap and, without hitting the dirt, bounce up and down rather violently two or three times. http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN201104190.shtml

Dickey can recite Jack Frost's Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening in the time it takes his heater to reach home plate.

metirish wrote: Never heard of him...... He's a rookie.

The answer is in the graphic below.

metirish wrote: Josh Johnson? We're looking for an American Leaguer.

Rockin' Doc wrote: Justin Verlander was on my short list, but I see that's wrong. I 'll go with the other two names that immediately came to my mind, Stephen Strasburg of the Nationals or Joel Zumaya of the Tigers. Both Strasburg and Zumaya are currently on the 60-day DL with I believe arm injuries. Upon edit: I see that Zumaya can't be correct since he is a reliever. My source says it's not Strasburg either. But maybe he'd be the answer if he was active. I'm not sure whether he was considered.

I'll put up the answers in no later than half an hour, but perhaps earlier.

metirish wrote: Brain Wilson? I have a feeling this is a trick question and we will be astounded by the answer.... No beards. And no tricks. And no relievers. We're looking for a starter. And also ... whose average fastball is the slowest?

No on Verlander and Gallardo. I don't know how helpful this hint will be, but the flamethrower in question averages 96.0 MPH on his fastballs.

No and No. Chapman's the fastest in all of baseball. But not the fastest average-wise.

Which active major league pitcher throws the fastest "average fastball"? Not necessarily the fastest fastball .... but the fastest speed on the average of all of his fastballs pitched. Example: Bobby Parnell can throw the occasional 102 or 103 MPH fastball, but Parnell doesn't average 102 or 103 MPH. Whose average fastball is the fastest?

Beltran is one of those players that makes me hate the "typical Mets fan." Here's Jason Fry in New York Magazine on that "typical Mets fan" you allude to: I can accept that Carlos Beltran is certain to be traded; he's getting old, his knees are iffy, and he's been treated horribly by the Mets' dumber fans. http://nymag.com/daily/sports/2011/05/why_the_mets_need_to_keep_jose.html The only thing that ever hindered Beltran was his health. He had the talent to win MVP's and he played like one for the Mets, body willing. He was hurt in 2005, too -- even though the Mets kept that under wraps for the most part. You can tell by the way his stolen base and attempt totals dropped precipitously that season.

DATEMETS GAMES PLAYEDGAMES K-ROD FINISHEDON PACE TO FINISH...*4/1/111004/3/113004/6/1151324/8/1171234/14/11133374/17/11164404/24/1122 (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)1459 After vulturing a win by blowing a save in his first appearance of the season, K-Rod has since succesfully converted his next 11 Save opportunities. With rivals for finish opportunities, Beato and Parnell, on the shelf, it's clear sailing for K-Rod in the immediate future. For now, K-Rod is on pace to collect that $17.5M option next season, and will remain on pace even if he doesn't finish any of the Mets next three games. Still, the next three games will only get K-Rod as far as May 17th, so there's plenty of season left for anything to happen. All this with a diminished fast ball that barely, and rarely, breaks 90 MPH. *Remainders are always lopped off and never rounded up to the nearest whole number.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: one thing the Mets were convinced about was that the Yankees were killing them at retail, especially with the hats, because people didn't like royal blue. It's gotta be the hats. Because it couldn't have been that the Yankees had overtaken the Mets in popularity by winning the World Series in '96, and by finishing no lower than second place for five straight seasons while the Mets were pelting themselves and other living things with bleach, cum, live firecrackers and golf clubs. No. That couldn't have been it. It was the hats. Typical Wilpon Mets. Why bother to fix the team when instead, they can market it by selling the fans a phony bill of goods about how black is one of the Mets official colors according to the newfound dubious revisionist history? And don't forget to remind the fan base every seven minutes that Rey Ordonez is the Babe Ruth of fielding. Did you know that Babe Ruth wore a dark cap? If Paul Lukas is reading this thread, maybe he can redial Bob Halfacre and see if Bob can recreate, from memory, the proposed design concept that would've been a complete overhaul to the Mets uniform. I'd like to see what monstrosity it was that Halfacre's sound intervention spared us from.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I hate artificial quirks. The older stadiums were quirky because they had to squeeze into a city block, or because they were playing in an arena designed for another sport. In these new stadiums the quirks are like windmills on a miniature golf course. They're just stupid. Agree. Totally. I'm already missing the cookle-cutters. Who says you can't design an architectural cutting edge symetrical donut?

Contestants: Here is your first round question. Which garment is worth more? (Not including the on the lam money stashed in the secret compartments sewn into their linings)