metirish

http://www.qcbaseball.com/index.html

Great read, I especially enjoyed the second article Just a Little Patience , the part dealing with Gerald Williams promotion had just the right amount of wit, thanks for the link, don't think I've ever read from that site before.

Mr. Powell from Newsday has some tired old clich�s for us,I do think about Kaz when Vic is pitching though...]Kazmir hurts both NY teamsKazmir hurts both NY teamsJun 23, 2005PHILADELPHIA -- In a sense, they remain separated at birth, which in this case was last July 30, when one was traded for the other.That's because no Mets fan can look at Victor Zambrano without seeing Scott Kazmir. And seeing red.Almost a year after the Mets made a deal with the Devil (Rays), it's still being blamed for everything that's wrong with the Mets: their spotty track record with major trades, their current blas� state and their inability right now to find somebody not named Pedro who can get batters out.Judging by the decibel level of discontent coming from Metville, the trade for Zambrano is also being faulted for everything wrong with the city. If New York doesn't get the Olympics in 2012, well, you know why.By coincidence, the twins found themselves pitching on the same day, Kazmir against the Yankees in the afternoon and Zambrano against the Phillies at night, making it possible for skeptics to watch and compare notes. Again.And wouldn't you know: Kazmir delivered one of his strongest efforts since the Mets declared he wasn't ready to produce right away and gave up on him. Less than 24 hours after the Yankees made a stirring comeback to beat Tampa Bay, Kazmir shut Yankee Stadium up real quick. He overcame a 2-0 deficit, showed plenty of poise for a 21-year-old and managed to frustrate two baseball boroughs: the Bronx and Queens.So even before his first pitch at Citizens Bank Park, Zambrano was already behind on the count.But typical of his night, he escaped serious trouble and once again delivered a respectable performance. Zambrano brought in a June ERA of 2.49, fourth-lowest in the National League, and it didn't rise against the Phillies. He emerged nick-free after loading the bases with no outs in the first inning, and again in his final inning when Cliff Floyd squeezed the third out before crashing into the wall in the sixth. Zambrano gave up only two runs and gave the Mets a chance to take two straight from the Phillies until the bullpen did him no favors in an 8-4 loss.The worst thing about his night was his luck, which still hasn't changed for the better. Imagine: He finally overcomes early-season control problems and puts together several decent starts, then suffers from a lack of run support, gets a bullpen meltdown against the Phillies and has a 3-6 record to show for it. The Mets have given Zambrano 12 runs in his last seven starts."I've been feeling better every game," Zambrano said. "I'm trying to make myself stronger. When you get good results, you get a lot of confidence in yourself."Boosted by his decent stretch, the Mets were still trying to justify the decision to surrender their best pitching prospect for a 29-year-old with a history of command problems. It has been 11 months since pitching coach Rick Peterson famously convinced his bosses that he could fix Zambrano's flaws "in 10 minutes." And while we're on the subject, Peterson wants to clarify: He didn't actually make the trade."A big misconception," he said. "Silly."True, the call was made by the Wilpons and former GM Jim Duquette, although they weighed Peterson's opinion heavily, which made sense. After all, Peterson did put Mark Mulder, Tim Hudson and Barry Zito on the right path in Oakland. Given his history with young pitchers, you assume he knows what makes them work and what makes them crumble.He was just a little off on the timetable for Zambrano. That's all."I never met Victor before the trade," Peterson said. "I just looked at film and saw he had issues with his delivery, which could be solved. There were also issues with his physical condition, and you can't take somebody and turn them into a Navy SEAL overnight. You knew it was going to be an evolving progress, as it always is with young pitchers. Things aren't done overnight."Will Zambrano ever show the stuff needed to become a front-line starter? "This is what we expect from him," Peterson said. "Because he can do it. I tell him that all the time."He'd better if the Mets plan to squash all lingering doubts about the trade. Because even if Kazmir ultimately is nothing special, he was a precious bargaining chip for the Mets. They could've used him to solve a few other problems with the right deal.Instead, they're three games under .500, sitting on the bottom of the division and desperate to end this 2-6 road trip from hell.But here's what's so strange about the toughest stretch of the season: None of this is Zambrano's fault. Hard to believe, isn't it?

I love this oneOn June 23, 1963, New York Mets� outfielder Jimmy Piersall celebrates his 100th career home run by running the bases backward. Piersall�s stunt angers Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Dallas Green and Commissioner Ford Frick� fan memories explain why he ran backwards....http://www.leaptoad.com/mets/profile.php?PlayerCode=0052&tabno=7

It was that game last year that we got to see David Wright play 3rd, Petit also played IIRC.

Zambrano - 4Floyd - 3Piazza - 1Woodie - 1Wright - 1

And I'm not shitting here but when Piazza had his second to last AB Bill Webb cut to Wagner in the Philly bullpen and I swear I saw him mouth to the guy next to him...fuck PiazzaCooy I thought of your lament when Thome homered.

Bobby Valentine is Hot...from the Sports Illustrated "Who's Hot, Who's Not" section.. Skipper's Chiba Lotte Marines are leading the Japan League,behind ex-Mets Benny Agbayani and Matt Franco.And the Chief is being hailed-the marching band from Valentines alma mater, USC, was to play at Chiba Marine Stadium this week.Meantime the Mets who played .534 ball in Valentines seven seasons have been at .434 since he was let go in 2002. Go Bobby..

On June 22, 1987, future Hall of Famer Tom Seaver announces his retirement after a brief comeback attempt with the New York Mets. Known as �Tom Terrific,� Seaver leaves the game with a career record of 311-205, a 2.86 ERA, and 3,640 K�s.

Try telling Tino Martinez that St. Louis fans are the greatest fans in baseball , they were so vicious towards him in recent IL play that LaRussa apologized for them..

Sorry, I should have put my Cyclone thread in here, I looked last night but didn't see this...glad you had fun.

Mookie wants them to be very aggressive, 6 for 9 SB.

OK here goes...VaughnMatsui (SS)Piazza(1B)Hundley(LF)Cedano(CF/RF)AlomarBonillaMark JohnsonBubba TrammellToca..UMM..I thought this would be easier

It's a product of the times soup, it sucks but that's the way it is.

Well then that's even better, what sucks of course is that these teams only play to series a season, of course that is why some hate interleague play.

I wish I were a Mets fan back then,I understand there was no love lost between the Mets and Cardinals back then,was the anomosity as bad between the teams as some say it was?

The Cyclones won the home opener tonight 10-7,they beat the Staten Island Yankees. Mookie is the coach and that is reason enough to have good feelings about this team.You can listen to the games live here..http://brooklyncyclones.com/Ted Robinson mentioned during the game tonight about a USA Today article on the Cyclones..here it is and it's a great read...]Class A Cyclones a bridge to Brooklyn baseball lore By Scott Clipp, USA TODAYThe beginning of a minor league season usually doesn't garner much attention outside of local fans, but that's not the case tonight with the Brooklyn Cyclones. Since baseball returned to Brooklyn, N.Y., in 2001 � 44 years after the Dodgers moved to Los Angeles � the Class A affiliate of the New York Mets has established a devout, far-flung following.Fans from as far as Colorado, Minnesota and Italy will make the pilgrimage to Coney Island's KeySpan Park this summer. Some return to rekindle a passion that was lost when the Dodgers left Ebbets Field in 1957. Others simply are attracted by the lure of baseball in the borough."It feels great to go back and see baseball in Brooklyn," says Allyn Keller, an Aurora, Colo., resident who was 5 when the Dodgers moved."The Cyclones allow for the people of Brooklyn to fill that old dream. For them, it's a new existence." Luca Rossi of Bologna, Italy, has followed the Cyclones through the Internet since their first season. "I don't really have an attachment to Brooklyn or the Cyclones, but I know the history of the Dodgers," Rossi says. "The idea of bringing baseball to Brooklyn was wonderful."Rossi, who named Brooklyn first-year manager Mookie Wilson as his all-time favorite baseball player, will make his first trip to KeySpan Park in August. Wilson, who spent 10 years with the Mets, can already tell there is a different buzz around baseball in Brooklyn."There's no other place in the minor leagues that has this," Wilson says. "That's AA and AAA, too. We have big-league excitement in a minor league ballpark."Cyclones general manager Steve Cohen says the team has been a major factor in the increase of tourism to Coney Island."When we came (to Coney Island), we brought people back who haven't been here for years," Cohen says. "Suddenly, the Cyclones were a good reason for them to come back."Pete Piscitello of Clive, Iowa, and his dad have nearly completed their journey to all 30 major league ballparks. In their final summer of a three-year tour of big-league stadiums, they are taking a detour to KeySpan to see a Cyclones game. It will be Piscitello's first trip to Brooklyn."I've read a lot about the history of Brooklyn baseball and I was really interested to see a game in Brooklyn," Piscitello says. "It's like baseball is a cultural event there. "Baseball is just different in Brooklyn."

My pick are in the CWS...By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published: June 22, 2005OMAHA, June 21 (AP) - Jeff Larish kept hitting the long ball, but it was small ball that helped Arizona State advance in the College World Series on Tuesday.Larish matched a College World Series record with three home runs. But it was J. J. Sferra's bloop single in the 11th inning that drove in the winning run as Arizona State rallied for an 8-7 victory and eliminated Nebraska, the hometown favorite."I'm still trying to let it set in," Larish said. "We've been responding to adversity all year, and today was no different. I'm more excited about the team's performance than my own."Larish's third homer tied the score in the bottom of the ninth, and Sferra's single in the 11th punctuated the 4-hour-7-minute game, sending the Sun Devils (41-24) against No. 7 Florida on Wednesday. Arizona State needs to beat the Gators twice to reach the championship round."We don't claim we're great; we don't know how far we can go," Arizona State Coach Pat Murphy said. "We're really elated right now. But we have to get back down to that flat line."Larish's two-out ninth-inning drive over the center-field wall off Brett Jensen made him only the third player in College World Series history to hit three homers, matching the record set by Florida State's J. D. Drew in 1995 and tied by Stanford's Edmund Muth in 2000.The homer also negated Andy Gerch's three-run blast for Nebraska (57-15) in the top of the ninth that gave the Huskers a 7-5 lead.Larish, who bats left-handed, led off the game with an opposite-field shot and homered to right in the third. He now has 23 homers."That's ridiculous," Murphy said. "It's like a trifecta - a home run to every field."But it was a blooper in the 11th that won the game for the Sun Devils."It felt like four or five games in one," Murphy said. "It's a tremendous testament to our guys. To do it against Nebraska at Nebraska with their closer on the hill down two in the ninth, a lot of people were assuming it was over."With Larish coming to the plate as the potential tying run, Nebraska Coach Mike Anderson decided not to walk him despite the big day he was having."That's a rule of baseball - a double and he scores," Anderson said. "It wasn't a bad pitch. He just did a good job of hitting it."Joey Hooft led off the 11th with a single and moved to second on Seth Dhaenens's sacrifice. Sferra, a 150-pound freshman who was the batboy when Arizona State last appeared in Omaha, in 1998, then popped a Tony Watson pitch into short right-center to score Hooft."I was trying to drive the ball somewhere, but I didn't do a good job of driving it," Sferra said. "I just got the barrel on it and slapped it over second. We caught the break, and we'll take it."Dhaenens reached base on an error to lead off the bottom of the ninth and scored on Joe Persichnia's sacrifice fly. Center fielder Daniel Bruce made a great catch on the play and was able to double off Sferra for the second out, clearing the bases.Then, Larish teed off again to tie the score. The Huskers rallied from a 5-3 deficit in the top of the ninth to take the lead. Trailing against Arizona State reliever Pat Bresnehan, Jesse Boyer singled and Joe Simokaitis walked for the fourth time. Alex Gordon made it 5-4 with a hard grounder that Persichnia could not handle at shortstop.Gerch then drove an 0-2 pitch into the left-field bleachers, barely clearing the wall for his fourth home run and Nebraska's first three-run homer since March 23."It seemed like it was over then and there," Gerch said.Instead, the season is over for a Nebraska team that reached the College World Series for the third time in five years after setting a team record with 57 victories. "Not a lot of schools in the north are playing this level of baseball," Anderson said. "We're at the World Series this year because these players gave themselves up for this team."Next Article in Sports (8 of 11) >]

The Mets are 8-2 in Benson's starts...I wonder why that is, any reasons why Kris gets all the run support?

The best pitching coach of all time couldn't make that staff any better, they have terrible pitching.

It's the Gerald Williams effect, Mint was on the post-game raving about the work he did today with Williams, I did notice during the game that Williams was chatting to guys a lot, could be he was just catching up but you never know.

I meant to post on this thread, great story and great pic.

No to anything that brings Giambalco to the Mets, from what I have seen of him he's over matched on fast balls, guys pitch to him now instead of walking him in tight spots, sure he'll get a big hit now and then but he's not half the hitter he was 4 years ago.

PROBABLE PITCHERSKris Benson, RHP (5-2, 3.67) @ Brett Myers, RHP (5-3, 2.19) Scouting Report:Kris Benson will be on the hill for the Mets as they open a three-game series in Philadelphia. The Mets have won each of Benson's last three starts, with the right-hander allowing six runs on 14 hits in 20 innings pitched -- a 2.70 ERA. Over his last five outings, Myers has an ERA of 2.78 and four quality starts (at least six innings, no more than three runs allowed). But he has a 1-1 record with three no-decisions to show for it. He gave up just one run in 6 1/3 innings in his last start in Seattle, but was long gone by the time the Phillies won, 3-2, in the 13th.Victor Zambrano, RHP (3-6, 4.06) @ Vicente Padilla, RHP (3-6, 6.23) Scouting Report:Victor Zambrano gets the starting assignment in the middle game of a three-game series in Philadelphia. The right-hander won his only start this season against the Phillies, working six innings and allowing two earned runs on eight hits in a 16-4 Mets win on April 19 at Citizens Bank Park. The 27-year-old Padilla has given up six homers in just under 16 innings over his last three starts, yet managed to lower his ERA nearly a full point in that stretch. Padilla, who is coming off a Wednesday loss in Seattle, has yet to pitch into the seventh inning in his 10 starts this year.Kazuhisa Ishii, LHP (1-6, 5.40) @ Robinson Tejeda, RHP (1-0, 2.18) Scouting Report:Ishii takes the mound in the finale of the Mets' three-game series against division rival Philadelphia. Ishii allowed five runs, three earned, over 5 2/3 innings in his last outing in Seattle. ...HE SUCKS..No report Tejeda

What did he do to Jr. and Dunn, apparently the Reds locker room is not the happiest place these days, the Vultures are circling, what can they do though, trade Dunn and whoever and get pitching prospects?