metirish

I liked Thorne , he and Seaver had good rapport....although towards the end Tom was phoning it in, perhaps Thorne was too. I think around that time he was calling ice hockey games on FOX and between him and Seaver some Mets games it sounded like they didn't know anything about the other team. Loved Thorne calling NHL games.

How could you possibly say a man who claims to have invented the wrap comes across as a me me me type?

Yeah the Dickey comment jumped out at me too....but fuck that, worrisome to hear the pitchers hate it there....

Interesting article Las Vegas: The Mets' Minor Disaster Why Do the Mets Have a Triple-A Team in the Desert? By BRIAN COSTA LAS VEGAS�For Mets minor leaguers, the last stop before the majors is a dilapidated ballpark 2,200 miles away from Citi Field. It is nestled along a row of abandoned lots and boarded up storefronts 5 miles north of the Las Vegas Strip, just past a motel sign that reads "Elvis Slept Here." Cashman Field is the home of the Las Vegas 51s, the Mets' new Triple-A affiliate. And for a Northeast team whose rebuilding plan hinges on the development of its young pitchers, there is no worse place to be. "Basically, I can define it as the worst pitching place imaginable," reliever Greg Burke said. "It's ridiculous how dry the balls are," top pitching prospect Zack Wheeler said. "It's hard to get a good grip on it." "They got no water out here," manager Wally Backman said. The arid conditions, which in no way prepare pitchers for those they will face in New York or in most other major-league cities, not only make it hard for them to grip the ball. They make the field so dry and slick that grounders that should be easy outs routinely skip past infielders. They make the ball carry so far that pop flies become cheap home runs, even with an outfield wall that is 20 feet high all around and 433 feet from home plate in center field. They make Mets executives, minor-league coaches and players alike wonder how much of the results they're seeing are real and how much are a desert mirage. The implications are significant, both in terms of player evaluation and player development. This all begs an obvious question: What are the Mets doing here? The answer begins with the nature of the business of minor-league baseball. There are 30 Triple-A affiliates, most of which are independently owned, and 30 MLB teams. The MLB teams choose the players, manager and coaches for the affiliates, making promotions or demotions as they please. The affiliates sell tickets and sponsorships and manage the daily operations. Only a handful of team-affiliate agreements expire each year, and if one of them isn't renewed, it creates a game of musical chairs. Las Vegas is the chair no team wants. And the Mets have become the fanny no chair wants. "They're undesirable," said Dave Rosenfield, a longtime Norfolk (Va.) Tides executive. "Nobody wants them." Rosenfield was Norfolk's general manager when it became the Mets' Triple-A affiliate in 1969 (it was named Tidewater then) and was still on the job when the Mets left in late 2006. Only a one-hour flight from New York, Norfolk was perfectly suitable for the Mets. And for decades, the two got along well enough. But Rosenfield said the relationship soured after Jeff Wilpon became the Mets' chief operating officer in 2002, after which communication with team officials became "virtually nonexistent." "When he became involved in everything was when things changed," Rosenfield said. "I dealt with him on some things and somebody always had to go to him if you wanted to do anything. He had his nose and hands in everything." Through a spokesman, Wilpon declined to comment. The Mets released a statement that read: "The limited number of affiliate arrangements and options do create some challenges, all of which are surmountable. We are seeing progress in the performance of our minor-league teams and our players' development throughout our entire system." Clearly, though, having a Triple-A affiliate in such an unusual baseball environment makes player evaluation harder, not easier. "Performance out there requires a certain amount of interpretation," Mets general manager Sandy Alderson said. "It's like using metal bats in college. It can be a real test for pitchers, but the ones that survive it, we have a little more confidence in." The Mets have instructed their Triple-A pitchers not to worry about their results. But for pitchers vying for a promotion to the majors, that is easier said than done. As much as the challenges of pitching here can build mental toughness, they can also prompt pitchers to make adjustments that can hinder their development. "It changes your mind-set," Burke said. "You get in situations where you're like, 'I'm not looking for a double play here. I need to strike this guy out because I'm afraid of him putting it in play.'" A watered-down playing surface would help allay those concerns, but with only two groundskeepers, there isn't much the 51s can do. Marty Brown, who managed the Toronto Blue Jays' Triple-A team in Las Vegas the last two years, said he would often have to water the field himself. During the ninth inning of one game, he said the sprinklers went off and groundskeepers were nowhere to be found. With puddles forming around his pitcher, he picked up a rake and started to repair the mound. "Those things happen there," Brown said. Don Logan, executive vice president of the 51s, said staffing is dictated by the team's landlord, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. "I don't complain, because it doesn't do you any good," Logan said. "But any baseball guy knows that this place has some real holes in it." Las Vegas may be a paradise for hitters, and for those in need of a confidence boost, playing here isn't such a bad thing. But even for them, there is a downside. Gaudy as their numbers may be, Mets officials are more prone to discount them. "You just look at the batting averages and cut 15 to 20 points off," Mets manager Terry Collins said. Another problem for hitters: Unlike most ballparks, the 30-year-old Cashman Field, the fourth-oldest of 30 Triple-A stadiums, doesn't have an indoor batting cage. Hitters who want extra practice must leave the stadium and hit in an outdoor cage alongside the parking lot, where the afternoon temperature is often over 100 degrees. "There are two types of amenities: player-development amenities and fan amenities," Logan said. "And we're lacking in both." Lastly, there is the inconvenience of having to shuttle players back and forth across the country, which can delay the availability of a player by an extra day. Since 1963, only one other organization has had Triple-A affiliates farther from home (the Miami Marlins briefly had theirs in Edmonton and Calgary). Two of the Mets' division rivals, the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies, have their Triple-A teams within 70 miles of their home stadiums. In the Norfolk Tides, the Mets had a close affiliate for decades. When Norfolk spurned the Mets' offer to renew their contract in 2006, the Mets moved their Triple-A team to New Orleans�which, like Las Vegas, plays in the Pacific Coast League. Norfolk signed with the Baltimore Orioles. Two years later, the Mets jumped at the chance to move to Buffalo�which, like Norfolk, plays in the East Coast-based International League. But the Mets had issues in Buffalo from the outset. Injuries at the major-league level coupled with a lack of minor-league depth left Buffalo with a barren roster in 2009. The Bisons finished with the worst record in the league (56-87). In an attempt to salvage the relationship, the Mets loaded up on minor-league free agents the following winter�which, incidentally, is how they came to sign R.A. Dickey, the 2012 National League Cy Young Award winner who is now with the Toronto Blue Jays. Buffalo reupped for another two years in July 2010 and, according to a person familiar with the matter, likely would have done so again in early 2012, when the Bisons were off to a winning start. But the Mets waited and the Bisons imploded, finishing in last place. "Basically, they wanted a winner in Buffalo," Alderson said. Buffalo dumped the Mets for the Blue Jays. Meanwhile, the Rochester Red Wings, who the Mets viewed as a possible fallback option, renewed their contract with the Minnesota Twins. The Mets had no choice but to move to the one place they had hoped to avoid: Sin City. A new ownership group plans to move the 51s to a new stadium in a nearby suburb, but that plan is contingent on gaining approval for some degree of public financing. The earliest a new park could open is 2015, the year after the Mets' deal is up. Alderson said it is conceivable the Mets could stay in Vegas for more than two years. But players would no doubt welcome a return to the friendlier confines of the International League. After several years in the PCL, Burke, who is now in the Mets' major-league bullpen, recalled the feeling of pitching in Norfolk when he was in the Orioles organization last year. "It was awesome," he said. "It was different. It felt like real baseball again." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324423904578523620011106116.html?mod=wsj_share_tweet

WOW, agree with Mr. Willets.....

I bought the Daily News(America's paper) today for the first time in yonks...... as an aside, during the series I would flip to YES during key moments, big strikeouts etc. the booth was effusive in it's praise for the Mets, especially the young pitching, while also pointing out the glaring holes in the MFY team.....

David Lengel(Mets fan) in the Guardian wonders why the fuss over Rivera Why did Mets give Mariano Rivera red carpet before showing him the door? Why did the New York Mets organisation make such a fuss of Mariano Rivera before he was unceremoniously ousted with a blown save? Too close for comfort? Yankees relief pitcher Mariano Rivera laughs with former Mets closer John Franco after Franco caught Rivera's ceremonial first pitch. Photograph: Kathy Willens/AP Mo-town I don't know why Mariano Rivera was asked by the Mets to throw out the first pitch before the Yankees final game in Queens this season. I mean I know why but I am not sure I understand it. I mean I understand it but I really don't get it. Rivera is the best modern closer of all-time, that we all know for sure - a classy player who dominated the sport at his position, no doubt. Now in his final season he is enjoying a goodbye tour across baseball, meeting fans from other teams, challenged children, groundskeepers, things like that. It's good stuff, and he has earned the right to do it - I don't have to tell you. There's a limit of course, and that is throwing out the ceremonial first pitch in the Queens ballpark, which he was asked to do by Mets management - naturally he obliged. It's not on Rivera that he took them up on it, who would turn down such a gesture, one from a team he helped bury in the 2000 World Series, picking up two saves, while playing for a franchise that Mets fans were forced to sit and watch as they dominated, won titles, pennants, made playoff appearances, season after season. Mets fans don't like the Yankees, at all, not a little bit, but Mets management seemed to forget that. Gifts are fine, maybe a few videos on the scoreboard, something like that. They did it for Chipper Jones who tortured the Mets so much he named one of his kids Shea, so why not do it for Mo? That makes sense, but they couldn't help themselves, rolling out the welcome wagon, going one step further than many Mets fans want to see, bestowing a first pitch honor onto him. The problem with the Mets ownership is that they seem to do the details very well. For their opponents that is. Why it was just a few years ago that their brand new stadium opened up with a rotunda that looked like the former home of the Brooklyn Dodgers and it barely had a stitch of Mets stuff inside it. The ushers even wore Phillies-esque colors: a nice touch, especially if you're from Philadelphia. It's hard to build a stadium, it takes a long time to design, and there's a lot to consider - a challenge for sure. You know what's easy? Putting some Mets stuff in it. They didn't do that until forced by their own fans. Here's another thing, the Mets have retired exactly one Mets players' number in 50 years of existence, Tom Seaver's 41 (Gil Hodges did play for the Mets but his number is retired for his managing, as is Casey Stengals'). You want to have an ultra strict policy on retiring numbers and limit it to home grown Hall-of-Fame players, which seems to be the case? That's a decision a fan can respect. Here's what you don't have to do - take three of the franchise's most cherished player numbers, the 16 Dwight Gooden wore, the 17 of Keith Hernandez, the 18 of Daryl Strawberry, and routinely throw it onto the backs of nobodies, the latest being Rick Ankiel, who is donning Doc's digits. Fans notice, and it leaves a bad taste. It's easy just to not issue the number at all, and fans will respect you for it. One more easy thing to do, or in this case, not to do. Jeff Wilpon, son of owner Fred Wilpon, doesn't need to stand up next to Mariano Rivera during a press conference and say "Wish we could see you in the World Series but I'm not sure if that's going to happen.'' It took Rivera, the Yankee, to try and save Wilpon saying "You never know.'' Unfortunately for Mets fans, it's not the first time ownership has spoken up in a negative way about its players, which can sometimes make them wonder whether they actually like the Mets or they like owning the Mets? Fortunately for Mets fans, the above and beyond kindness the organization showed Rivera did not filter down to the players. On the night that Mo threw out that first pitch, he returned to get hammered in the ninth inning, blowing a save while failing to retire a batter for the first time in his career, as the Mets swept the Queens portion of their home and home four game series. Ownership will have one more chance to honor Rivera, when he returns to Flushing for his final All-Star Game appearance in July. http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013/may/30/mariano-rivera-yankees-mets-wilpon I agree , plus, the Jeffy comment while no doubt true is just annoying....fuck off you twat.

I love it too, met some very quite MFY fans here at work this morning......obviously winning helps but I like this four game format during the week.

Congrats to Hefner, hugh finally popped your cherry.

WOW, cohen loves chiding the MFY's.

I had the same thought Zvon.

Zvon wrote: Broyles from Fringe gets the ball. you mean the guy from The Wire?

Zvon wrote: TEJEDA! WTF!? U hv a fuckin huge lead bro! fucking clueless

OMFG, Byrd with a fly ball that actually went out for a HR......Gary " this right field porch is an absolute joke"

Beautiful out pitch from Hefner to Stewart.......

The Players Association are looking into it? Fuck off why don't ye.....this is the kind of nonsense that will linger around the Mets.....utter bullshit.

Swan Swan H wrote: When Davis came up for his last AB last night he was blinking his eyes to the point where it was making me nervous. Blinking and opening them up wide in that 'who, me, I'm not tired' move. Makes me wonder if there's not something there that's bothering him. You sure did .....

Have you guys noticed how he squints and blinks a lot after flailing hopelessly at a pitch? I've seen this a few times now , like he has bad eye allergies or something.

You don't want Quintanilla but would take Cedeno? , for a short spell what's the difference?

He's gotten lazy or something, gotten shit? I wold rather see Quintanilla playing right now, he's not letting that ball pass by him for sure.

They showed some numbers last night as he came in to pitch, his ERA against the Mets is second highest all time for him next to the Angels....over 3....

Ceetar wrote: Frayed Knot wrote: As somebody said on the broadcast last night (and you can do it now with these 'Pitch F/X' charts) if you were to see a graph of all the pitches Ike's seen lately and the results you'll probably see most of his swings-and-misses are at stuff out of the zone and many of the ones he takes wind up as called strikes. well, someone run one! (I don't have the time to figure it out at work. bleh, jobs.) Yeah, Ron was telling Keith.......he concurred .....from what I have see they rarely even throw him strikes now...why would they, he swings at shit. Ike has got to go.

Wow, what a win, fuck you you fucking langer.

Fuck yeah

Exactly, ruin this langers night.