A Boy Named Seo

Run Diff: WASH +11 ATL +24 NYM =#FF0000]-18 MIA +1 PHI =#FF0000]-9 They still give up too many runs, but it seems that when they lose, they're just really getting their asses kicked by alot. Of the 13 losses, 9 of those have been by 4 runs or more (we got beat two times each by margins of 4, 5, 6, and 8 freaking runs, and have one 7-run ass kicking, too). In games decided by 3 runs or less, though, the Mets are good. Record in 1-run games: 7-3 Record in 2-run games: 4-0 Record in 3-run games: 3-1 That's what good baseball teams do, right? Right??

I can't wait to buy dope swag from my favorite Mets mall stores Tanana Republic, Build-A-Bearnarth Workshop, Shane Spencer Giftfs, Hawk Taylor Loft, Lane Brian Bohanon, Abercrombie & Twitchell, Barnes & Kobel (that one's a reach), and Elmer Dessenscrafters.

pencil me in.

He's throwing the meatballs to the fat part of the hitters' bats much harder, though.

4 K's thru 2 for Pelfrey. PitchFX showing him hitting 95 and 96 in the first and routinely at 94. This his fancy new windup? He always had it in him.

It sounds really cool. Was looking for an auction w/ people I knew this year, but none wanted to try. Kicking myself for not seeing this. #woeisme

I'll take the Pads.

Left field is a rag-tag collection of unspectacular players Mark DeRosa, old friend Xavier Nady, and Brett Carroll (old Florida Marlin). Those guys all hit and throw right-handed and in no way distinguish themselves from one another in my eyes. The Nats official website also throws the names "S. Lombardozzi" and "C. Tracy" in the left field mix to which I responded, "ZZZzzzzzzzz......" We have Jason Bay. Advantage: PUSH

So this league is run by fangraphs? how do you like it so far compared to the Yahoo's and ESPN's?

Trying to do this without saying "if" even once. -The defense is gonna be pretty entertaining this year (i.e.- induce fits of swearing and binge drinking) -There's a decent chance the offense could make up for it, though. Feel like if Ronny Cedeno gets more than 200 AB's this year, something pretty bad happened and the team probably sucked in the end. -A 'good' David Wright makes a shit ton of difference. -The youngin's remind me a lot of the Indians from 2011. Too dumb or stubborn to know they're not supposed to compete/be as good as the other teams in the division. Nobody tell them. -Very good, but not necessarily surprising starting pitching so far (outside of maybe Johan, cause who knew what to expect w/ him). No offense to Pelf and Gee who have done nothing right or wrong yet, but still feel overall SP depth and talent at the back end is gonna ultimately sink this team. -Bullpens and their members are particularly mercurial. If these guys don't suck, this team probably won't either. -Citi Field sounded nice & noisy on the radio What's real and what's not? How fun it's been so far anyway. And to the Mets in their blues and their whites and their oranges. You look effin good, bb's.

Did Baxter get used today? Wondering why TC left Duda out to roam right in the 9th w/ a 2-run lead? Seemed a pretty risky play given the events of the day and all.

Looks like a free Extra Innings preview is happening for those w/out SNY.

the thing sounds really cool, wish i could pop over for it. good luck to all yall. anyone ever hear of/see the Thurs night movie, "Mathematically Alive: A Story of Fandom"?? Sounds way interesting. There's a good dozen things on there not CPF-related that I would love to listen to. Plus, the elusive Ben Baumer makes an appearance. Neat thing happening.

Votto is kinda crazy, I guess, but I'd rather have him than Prince or Braun at similar $$. Cain's contract is kinda nuts, though. Largest contract for a RH pitcher and he's not even the best RH pitcher on his team. 'Cha-ching, bitches' - Tim Lincecum, today.

Hairston back. Is den Dekker dun?

Dickey's book out this week, $18 American dollars. I'm in. Also, this piece on RA was in the Star-Ledger today. Eminently likable guy. Mets' R.A. Dickey finally can appreciate his years of toil Published: Sunday, March 25, 2012, 5:15 AM Updated: Sunday, March 25, 2012, 7:04 AM By Andy McCullough/The Star-Ledger Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey's life's work has finally been rewarded: fame, fortune and security for his family. PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. � Anne Dickey dreaded late March. Baseball teams shed the excess from spring training rosters around then, and too often her husband was swept up with the debris. Life as the wife of a baseball player can be a logistical nightmare. At this time of year, it can just be cruel. In 2008, his third full year as a knuckleballer, R.A. Dickey appeared to have sewn up a spot in Seattle�s bullpen. Anne booked a flight from Nashville, Tenn., to be with him when the season began. �Sure enough,� she said, two days before Opening Day, the hurler learned his spot with the club didn�t exist. His wife flew to Seattle anyway. Then they drove 35 miles south and searched for a place to rent near the Mariners� Triple-A affiliate in Tacoma, Wash. �It was just so hard, and emotional,� Anne Dickey said. She punctuated stories like this with rueful laughter as she drove her two sons home from a park in Nashville. Her eldest son Eli�s light saber poked out of her Toyota Sienna. A �Star Wars� aficionado, R.A. Dickey calls the minivan their Millennium Falcon. His wife calls it �our big splurge� after he inked his $7.8 million contract with the Mets last winter. The contract represented the first concrete foothold of fortune for a family that had chased a decade-old dream. The Greeks used a word that could well describe the last year of R.A. Dickey�s life: kairos, when long-desired opportunities become apparent and a man must take advantage. At dinner last week, R.A. Dickey, 37, referenced this �kairotic moment.� In January, he scaled Mount Kilimanjaro. On Thursday, his memoir hits bookshelves. Next month, a documentary featuring him debuts at the Tribeca Film Festival. The fanfare occurs as his family settles into a life of hard-earned comfort. No longer does a car in need of repair or a felled tree branch set off stress. No longer does his wife book plane tickets for herself and her four children with the worry that her husband might be shipped elsewhere. �The practical side of it was just relief,� Anne Dickey said. �You could just take a deep breath. Even still, now, I�ve just been pinching myself. Like, �Oh, yeah, isn�t it great?�?� STAYING HUMBLE One day last week, R.A. Dickey offered a hand and slid into a restaurant booth. �What can I get you to drink?� a waitress asked. �Sweet tea?� R.A. Dickey said. �Sweet tea? It�s raspberry.� �Can I taste it?� he asked. His tone was pleasant, almost sheepish. �And if not, I�ll just swap it out for lemonade or something.� The tea came a few minutes later. He took a sip. Lemonade it is, he decided. This is R.A. Dickey�s time, the moment of his entrance into the national sporting consciousness. He arrived at the Palm City Grill on St. Lucie West Boulevard after an off day filled with interviews. He spent the morning speaking to ESPN cameras, then flinging knuckleballs at Jeremy Schaap. His publisher, Penguin, has sold an excerpt of his book, �Wherever I Wind Up,� to Sports Illustrated. R.A. Dickey understands the reason he has gained prominence as a writer is his competence as a pitcher. He led the Mets� starting rotation with a 3.08 ERA the past two seasons. Manager Terry Collins considers him ballast for the rotation. �It settles the whole staff,� Collins said after R.A. Dickey threw one-hit ball over six innings Thursday, �knowing that even nights when you�ve had to burn your bullpen a couple nights in a row, he�s going to go out there and take the baseball.� R.A. Dickey achieved that status after five years harnessing the knuckleball. In turn, he established a modicum of consistency. That, he says, is what has changed most for him. His lifestyle as a major-league millionaire resembles his lifestyle as minor-league striver. After he ordered a 6-ounce filet � with a baked potato, extra butter � Dickey drifted back, briefly, to his childhood. �My family of origin is such that. ...� His words hung for five seconds. �I�ll say things were humble for us.� �So I come from a place where I know I can eat peanut butter and jelly for a month straight and be fine,� he said. That sensibility transferred to his adult life. The first baseball cruelty he suffered is well-told: After the Texas Rangers selected him 18th overall in the 1996 draft, a physical showed his right elbow contained no ulnar collateral ligament. His bonus plummeted from $850,000 to $75,000 � or less than what R.A. Dickey believes he would have received had he signed out of high school as a 10th-round pick with Detroit. He and his wife learned to strike a balance. She joked that if she were fully in charge of the finances, the family would be broke now; if her husband ran the show, their money would �be buried in a can in the backyard.� Some winters, he worked odd jobs � painting, assisting in a physical therapy lab, anything for a little extra cash. After he became a father, R.A. Dickey traveled to Venezuela and Puerto Rico for winter ball, earning money �in case some emergency happened,� he said. Baseball does not pay its players like paupers. In 2004, when 28-year-old Dickey earned his first full season of service time, his salary was $337,500. But the expenses can still pile up. If a family wants to stick together during the season, his wife said, it needs to find a place near the team, in addition to the permanent home in Nashville. So they kept a tight budget and tried to avoid debt, ever mindful that his career could end at any time. An opportunity came their way in 2007. R.A. Dickey came close to walking away that year before he latched on with Milwaukee, which housed its Triple A affiliate in his hometown of Nashville. Each year thereafter presented enough progress to continue. After 2010, when R.A. Dickey finally established himself as a bona fide big-league pitcher, he opted for stability over future earning potential. He struck his deal with the Mets, which features a $5 million club option for 2013, in January to avoid arbitration. Then he flew to New York for his physical and some meetings with publishing houses. He learned he�d passed his physical while inside his literary agent�s office. �It was all I could do not to weep in front of her,� he said. With his coffers suddenly flush, he bought the minivan. He snagged a pair of iPhones. He paid some debts. He bolstered his children�s college funds. And he felt a long-awaited sense of relief. So after many years of turmoil, his life has settled. That�s why he reaped the opportunities before him. He had been writing his book for years � now he could find a publisher. An Ernest Hemingway story about Kilimanjaro captured his imagination as a boy � now he could summit the mountain and raise money for charity. The obvious question: What comes next? Anne mentioned taking their two girls to India this year. R.A. Dickey intends to pen short stories. He does not know if he�ll have the time. Better yet, he isn�t worried if he has the time. �I don�t feel like I have anything pressing that I really need to do, or have to do, or even want to do,� he said. �I just want to be a good baseball player.� He grinned. �Which is hard enough.� SWEET REWARD The other day, Anne Dickey ran into an old acquaintance, and they got to talking about her husband because most everyone asks about him these days. She mentioned the book, the most obvious emblem of his success. �I�ve always been so proud of him,� the acquaintance said. �He never gave up.� �It was just so nice to hear,� Anne Dickey said as she wheeled the Millennium Falcon toward home. �And nice for me, as his wife, to say, �Yeah, I really am, too.� I don�t want that to ever get old.� Andy McCullough: amccullough@starledger.com; twitter.com/McCulloughSL

That 2nd vid is unreal.

Screw it. I certainly go with him if the other dudes aren't ready. It's not long-term and like JCL sorta said elsewhere, the D is so questionable in so many other spots that having a great glove in CF with whatever kinda bat is fine for a couple weeks. Would rather use him than those 'converted' infielders or L�wenbr�u. #Team_denDekker

Also on the MLB Network. Lineups from metsblog, Dickey for us. Wanderful Wandy Rodriguez for them. New York Mets 1) Ruben Tejada SS 2) Daniel Murphy 2B 3) Jason Bay LF 4) Ike Davis 1B 5) Lucas May 3B 6) Vinny Rottino RF 7) Rob Johnson C 8) Matt den Dekker CF Houston Astros 1) J.B. Shuck CF 2) Angel Sanchez SS 3) J.D. Martinez LF 4) Carlos Lee LF 5) Travis Buck RF 6) Jimmy Paredes 3B 7) Jason Castro C 8) Jose Altuve 2B

metirish wrote: Sweet, I wonder if Edgy will buy me one. Made me LOL.

Mr. Met: happiest when pooping.

Mike Pelfrey = 2 IP, 6 H, 7 ER, 3 walks. Time to put him down like Barbaro? 7-4 Astros after 2 innings.

A Boy Named Seo wrote: Niese faces 3 in the 6th and they all go first pitch, too, but it's 1) single, 2) force out, 3) single and Niese is done, 5+ innings, 28 pitches, 27 strikes. Funny. Looking back, that line is a little too Henry Rowengartner / Steve Nebraska to be anywhere in the neighborhood of real. Me = idiot.

Really? GameDay must be effed b/c I saw lots of first pitch swings & misses. Anyway, sorry for the BS reporting on Niese's alleged magnificence.

Niese faces 3 in the 6th and they all go first pitch, too, but it's 1) single, 2) force out, 3) single and Niese is done, 5+ innings, 28 pitches, 27 strikes. Funny. Rauch on. Bases apparently have shamrocks on them>>