TransMonk

It was a decent interview conducted live from Citi. They even got in a couple of phone calls from listeners. Much more about the upcoming Knucleball movie than about Dickey's book.

He will be on NPR's Talk of the Nation later this hour.

The fact that someone in the Mets org said any of these things regarding Davis is embarrassing. Jeez.

The loser list is getting bigger. Add Colorado, Boston, Cleveland and Minnesota. Amazingly, the Mets are still alive for the second WC spot. That will end soon.

Uhhh...I was three rows behind front-row Amy. She had her picture taken with about 300 different drunken fans. Great seats. Shitty game.

It was a nice game last night. After about the third inning, I never really had a doubt that the Mets wouldn't pull it out, which is rare. The paid attendance was 38,000ish, but there were probably only half that actually in the stands. We had nice seats in the first row of the club level, literally right above the broadcast booth and just to the left of the cameras that catch the fielders on flyballs. It was a very wonderful view of the game. For Saturday and Sunday, my mom-in-law got me seats about 4 rows behind the plate, so I'm looking forward to those as well.

I am going to all three games in Milwaukee this weekend. On Saturday, I'll be tailgating with my wife's sister, my wife's cousin and his son and then a childhood friend of my wife's. This friend is bringing her husband (boyfirend?), who is another Wisconsin Mets fan. I've never met him, but I'm looking forward to it just because I know so few Mets fans in person. If we hit it off, I'll try to get him in the Pool.

The Mets and the Brewers have had very opposite seasons in 2012. In the first half of the year when the Mets were over .500 and playing relatively well, the Brewers looked like they were dead and gone. Milwaukee had a 47-56 record at the end of July and traded their stud pitcher Zach Greinke to the Angels for prospects. It looked like despite still having the reigning NL MVP*, Milwaukee did not have the pieces in 2012 after seeing Prince Fielder walk away during the offseason. But, while the Mets fell into their recent 2nd half swoon, the Brewers started to get hot, hot, hot. They went 16-12 in August and an incredible 9-3 so far in September. They have won 18 of their last 23 games and if the Mets are looking to break this recent crappy streak, Milwaukee may be the wrong team to be playing this weekend. The Brewers are coming off of a sweep of Atlanta (those Braves that swept the Mets last weekend) and find themselves tied with Philly (another team left for dead by some) just 3 games back of the second wild card. Friday, September 14, 8:05 EST Niese (L) 10-9, 3.47 ERA vs. Fiers ® 9-7, 3.05 ERA Mike Fiers is a 2009 draftee of the Brewers who is having a very nice rookie season. He has an amazing 111 Ks to 30 BB ratio in 109.1 IP and has a 2.65 ERA at home. He is a very promising sign for Milwaukee�s rotation in the absence of Greinke. Saturday, September 15, 7:05 EST Mejia ® 0-0, 4.50 ERA vs. Marcum ® 5-4, 3.71 ERA Marcum has been a very consistent pitcher over the past few years. He missed some time during the middle of this season, but otherwise has been busy putting up steady numbers in the Brewer rotation. Mejia will be making his first start in 2012. Sunday, September 16, 2:05 EST Young ® 4-7, 4.39 ERA vs. Peralta ® 1-0, 3.47 ERA Wily Peralta is making his third start for Milwaukee this season. His Nashville numbers were not jaw-dropping, but he strikes out nearly one batter per inning. RA Dickey was scheduled to make this start for the Mets, but Young will give him an extra day�s rest instead. The bullpen is full of ex-Mets and had been an problem for them earlier in the season, but they have straightened out many of their late season worries. John Axford 28 SV, 4.62 ERA, 60.1 IP, 53 H, 31 ER, 7 HR, 35 BB, 76K Francisco Rodriguez 3 SV, 4.86 ERA, 63 IP, 61 H, 34 ER, 7 HR, 30 BB, 63K Kameron Loe 2 SV, 3.88 ERA, 62.2 IP, 67 H, 27 ER, 7 HR, 18 BB, 53K Jose Veras 1 SV, 4.03 ERA, 60.1 IP, 58 H, 27 ER, 5 HR, 37 BB, 74K Manny Parra 0 SV, 4.45 ERA, 54.2 IP, 53 H, 27 ER, 2 HR, 29 BB, 59K Livan Hernandez 0 SV, 5.40 ERA, 33.1 IP, 34 H, 20 ER, 5 HR, 7 BB, 28K Jim Henderson 3 SV, 3.92 ERA, 20.2 IP, 22 H, 9 ER, 1 HR, 10 BB, 28K Tyler Thornburg 0 SV, 5.79 ERA, 14 IP, 17 H, 9 ER, 7 HR, 7 BB, 12K Brandon Kintzler 0 SV, 2.84 ERA, 6.1 IP, 6 H, 2 ER, 0 HR, 2 BB, 2K Josh Stinson 0 SV, 0 ERA, 0.1 IP, 1 H, 0 ER, 0 HR, 0 BB, 0K Starters: C Jonathan Lucroy - .322/.377/.512/.888, 9 HR, 50 RBI, 3 SB Lucroy was the bright spot in the Brewers� darkness during the beginning of the season. He is having a breakout year and has been a consistent contributor to Milwaukee�s lineup all season. 1B Corey Hart - .278/.340/.514/.855, 27 HR, 77 RBI, 5 SB I consider Hart a Met-killer. He has delivered game changing home runs more than a couple times. He is a steady slugger who has moved in from RF to cover first this season. 2B Rickie Weeks - .230/.332/.406/.738, 19 HR, 56 RBI, 13 SB Weeks had a horrible start to the season (think Ike Davis). But like Ike, he has plowed his way back to barely respectible via the long ball. SS Cesar Izturis - .235/.248/.333/.582, 2 HR, 11 RBI, 1 SB Izturis was brought in to provide veteran defense at short. He hits like most dependable defensive veteran shortstops. 3B Aramis Ramirez - .296/.361/.529/.890, 23 HR, 91 RBI, 7 SB Ramirez is not Prince Fielder, but his numbers have been very good this season. Many Milwaukee fans scoffed at this signing when it was announced, but ultimately, I don�t see how they could be disappointed with his stat line. Sunday is Aramis Ramirez bobblehead day at Miller Park. LF Ryan Braun - .310/.385/.593/.978, 38 HR, 100 RBI, 23 SB Braun is having another strong season in response to his somewhat tainted 2011 MVP season. He leads the NL in home runs and is second in RBIs. CF Carlos Gomez - .249/.296/.452/.748, 16 HR, 47 RBI, 32 SB Remember Carlos? He�s never been known for his bat, but rather his speed. However, his 16 home runs this season are as many as he had in 2009-2011 combined. RF Norichika Aoki - .287/.355/.427/.781, 8 HR, 41 RBI, 24 SB Aoki is Milwaukee�s Japanese import and his success this season has made him a fan favorite. He has been impressive during the recent Milwaukee hot streak. The Bench is left-heavy (to combat their mostly righty lineup). Morgan is available to platoon with Gomez. OF Nyjer Morgan - 310 PA, 3 HR, 11 RBI, 11 SB, .240/.300/.305/.605 C Martin Maldonado - 235 PA, 7 HR, 1 RBI, 1 SB, .280/.333/.421/.754 1B Travis Ishikawa - 140 PA, 4 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB, .270/.338/.443/.781 IF Taylor Green - 104 PA, 2 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB, .198/.279/.341/.620 SS Jean Segura - 94 PA, 0 HR, 4 RBI, 4 SB, .241/.287/.276/.563 SS Jeff Bianchi - 59 PA, 3 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB, .185/.228/.370/.598 OF Logan Schafer - 7 PA, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB, .167/.286/.167/.452 2B Eric Farris - 3 PA, 0 HR, 1 RBI, 1 SB, .000/.000/.000/.000 I will be attending all three of these tilts. I was hoping for a chance to see Wright break the hits record, but it looks like that will happen at home next week. I was hoping for a chance to see Dickey win his 20th, but now I won�t see him win at all. I�m looking forward to seeing Mejia, but I�m disappointed that I will not see Harvey or McHugh. Still, I�ll root hard for the visitors this weekend while getting full on beer and sausage.

Dickey wins Rickey! Congrats, Rickey Awardian.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I'm calling 4th of July weekend blowout at Transmonk's joint. Anyone who can make it is welcome. I've never been to the new stadium in Minnesota, but will be happy to go for the (possibly chilly) weekend of April 12-14.

I'm still in contention this season but not it's pretty much up to how the players perform these last 3 weeks. A lot of fun though. Mark Reynolds has mostly been rotting on my bench for the last month. He has finally taken over for Freddie Freeman at my utility spot. I put him on the block and he got hot, hot, hot. But alas, no takers.

Uh, they did already do a sequel of sorts as a TV movie in the late '80s. Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss According to the wiki article, PBS did a series of movies based on the Parker family. Needless to say, this is a terribly bad idea. OE: this will be a straight to DVD release.

Ceetar wrote: Are they? Yes. Rather than miles I would say at least 3 or 4 players away. The offense is not good. Do some of the players have the potential to someday be better than they are now? Maybe. But mostly, I think we are seeing what we've got to give. The starting pitching was good in the beginning of the year, but even when the team was over .500, the bullpen was one of the worst in the MLB. Now that the bullpen has evened out, the starters are falling back to mediocre. There is maybe a small amount of fan and media influence that is causing them to press at home, but I think it is mostly coincidence.

The Cubs players are shining up their golf clubs and join the Astros as officially eliminated from the post-season.

I believe David's pace has pushed the theoretical record breaking hit into the last home series vs. Pittsburgh.

Houston has lost 90 games and the calendar hasn't even flipped to September yet. Another NL Central team is next worst. The Cubs have 80 losses...but should hold on another week or so before being officially ineligible for postseason play.

Cloyd's been money in the minors this season.

Zvon wrote: Sounds like a very likeable guy. I sent him a Facebook friend request months ago that he hasn't responded to yet. I tried.

Got mine today. 10 DVDs...24 hours..."the most comprhensive Mets celebration available." A steal at $12.99. Thanks again bmfc1!

Just ask Sandy.

I have not been up to the new Twins ballpark yet...but it looks like the Mets visiting will give me a great reason to go.

Agreed. I've seen Colin Hay a couple times. It is always a treat. Great word play, Greg!

McHugh referrences Morrisey? I like this kid. I'm not sure he can pitch...but his social media sits just right with me.

I'm not a zither guy, but live music of any sort is appealing and reasons to go to Citifield are running thin. Live at Citi Field:

Four seems about right...with losing streaks on either side.