metirish

Kaz rocking the Nike joints.(I think that's how it's said)

Um yeah that's true, seems like a long time though.

So what do you do if you're the Rockies between now and the 24th , if the ALCS goes the distance then game 7 gets played on Sunday the 21st, the last thing the Rockies want is to be sitting around all that time.

Yancy Street Gang wrote: I was hoping the Mets would get a shot at him. You're becoming a professional piss taker.

Rockies win 6 - 4, congrats to them. I watched the first few innings but these past few NL games start too late for me.

Blake looks like a hockey player, or Jeremiah Johnson on a good day. I shouldn't judge him on the post-season but the Sox 2nd baseman isn't all that, every time he comes to bat he's anointed the AL RotY.

Didn't Oakland under Art Howe do it?

Yeah good point edgy, and after all the raving about Henderson Omar used to do before he hired him.

Here's that bit, Henderson is out. ] DENVER - Mets brass won't finalize Willie Randolph's staff until Texas hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo's contact expires at the end of the month and he can be pursued. But the Mets' 2007 coaches are largely expected to return, with the exception of Rickey Henderson, who was viewed as an interim hire once Rick Down was fired at the All-Star break. Jaramillo was a finalist for the Mets' managerial job that went to Randolph. That would raise eyebrows considering the organization let Randolph squirm for 48 hours before confirming he'd return for a fourth season as skipper. But those who know Jaramillo believe he's content as a hitting coach and doesn't have managerial ambitions now. Jaramillo is taking his hitting-coach responsibilities with Texas seriously, too. With his contract not set to expire until Oct. 31, Jaramillo just flew to Arizona to work with Rangers minor leaguers. If Jaramillo, the Rangers' hitting coach for 13 seasons, did join the Mets, Howard Johnson - who was named hitting coach when Down was axed - would figure to return as first base coach. Jaramillo has a long-standing relationship with Mets GM Omar Minaya. When Jaramillo managed in the Single-A Gulf Coast League in 1985 and '86, Minaya was a coach on his staff.

20 wins in the last 21 games, amazing and they go for the sweep tomorrow night.

Good article on which system is better and can both work together. ] By MURRAY CHASS Published: October 14, 2007 When general managers hold their annual meeting in three weeks in Orlando, Fla., they will have to wear name tags to identify themselves and the clubs they work for. It has been that kind of crazy period for general managers. They have been falling all over, although in some instances they have moved up to become club presidents. That is what happened with John Schuerholz in Atlanta and Larry Beinfest in Florida. Terry Ryan walked away from his job in Minnesota, but he did not go upstairs. Walt Jocketty is out in St. Louis, and Dave Littlefield in Pittsburgh, following Tim Purpura�s involuntary departure seven weeks ago in Houston. Jim Duquette did not have the title but acted the part in Baltimore and left rather than accept a reduced role. Who�s new? Assistant general managers have replaced the three general managers who willingly relinquished their roles: Frank Wren for Schuerholz in Atlanta, Michael Hill for Beinfest in Florida and Bill Smith for Ryan in Minnesota. Ed Wade has been hired to replace Purpura in Houston, and Neal Huntington is the new general manager in Pittsburgh. The Cardinals are looking for Jocketty�s replacement, and the Orioles are expected to make a move that could also end Mike Flanagan�s role as executive vice president for baseball operations. It would be no surprise if Jocketty became the Orioles� general manager. Jocketty�s ouster is the most surprising departure, and the hiring of Wade and Huntington the most surprising arrivals. In 13 years under Jocketty, the Cardinals reached the playoffs seven times and won the World Series once. That Series conquest made his departure all the more curious because it came only a year later. Jocketty, 56, said he wasn�t the victim of a power struggle, but was caught in a difference in strategic approach to building the team. Bill DeWitt Jr., the managing partner, sided with the vice president for player development and amateur scouting, Jeff Luhnow. �It was probably more philosophical differences over the direction they wanted to take the club that I wasn�t necessarily comfortable with,� Jocketty said. �He wanted to do things that were different from my philosophy. We felt the best way to resolve it was to go our separate ways.� The schism between Jocketty and DeWitt epitomizes the debate in baseball that has raged with increasing passion and disagreement: the traditional method of building a club (scouting) versus the newer method of statistical analysis, the player procurement method popularized in the book �Moneyball.� In his book published last year, Schuerholz, who had been the longest-running general manager, wrote critically of the �Moneyball� concept. �I was critical of the notion,� Schuerholz said Friday, the day the Braves� changes were announced, �that someone writes that entirely in place of traditional, instinctive, experienced, intuitive scouting, there could be some metric model that could be as good as that.� On the other hand, Schuerholz said, �I have always suggested that if someone were to create the proper balance of those two elements, that would be a good way to go.� Jocketty agreed that merging the two methods was probably the best idea. �Blend together the traditional way of scouting and the analytical side of it,� he said. �We tried to do that. It�s important to do both. You kind of need both to support each other�s theory.� In general, teams that hire younger general managers � and many younger ones have been hired � are looking to the statistical analysis method to the exclusion of the traditional method. The result has been a flood of graduates from the Ivy League and similar universities entering baseball front offices. Four general managers are Ivy League graduates � Theo Epstein (Red Sox), Yale; Mark Shapiro (Indians), Princeton; Jon Daniels (Rangers), Cornell; and Hill (Marlins), Harvard. At least a dozen other Ivy graduates hold front-office positions, mostly assistant general managers and department directors. Some veteran baseball men, mostly traditionalists, are critical of the appointment of proponents of statistical analysis. They feel that in many cases the proponents lack the experience needed to be a general manager. That experience, they say, should include running baseball operations departments (amateur, professional and international scouting and player development, for example). People who are hired without solid experience, they say, tend to hire friends they know from college. In turn, they add, people in the field are reluctant to talk to these newcomers. It is possible that traditional scouts find they have little to talk about with statistical analysts. The hirings of Wade in Houston and Huntington in Pittsburgh have drawn criticism: Huntington because of his inexperience and Wade because he is a recycled general manager who had a poor record in Philadelphia. He is viewed as having been hired because he was once an associate of Tal Smith, the Astros� president. The word in baseball circles is that Drayton McLane Jr., the Astros� owner, favored hiring Ruben Amaro Jr., the Phillies� assistant general manager, but that Smith persuaded him to go with Wade. Frank Coonelly, the Pirates� new president, said that Huntington, 37, wasn�t a leading candidate when he began his search, but he subsequently found him to be an ideal candidate, especially because of his work in the Indians� front office. �Cleveland is a club I�ve respected from the commissioner�s office for a long time in the way they analyze issues and systematically put together major league and minor league clubs and think through problems in putting a team together,� said Coonelly, formerly baseball�s general counsel for labor. �Neal has been in the office and then back out in the field being a talent evaluator. He had a nice blend, somewhat unconventional in that he wasn�t sitting in an assistant general manager�s seat. �He was someone who understood the value of statistical analysis but also somebody who appreciated the job scouts do and the subjective judgment of people who look at amateur and professional players.� Huntington, an Amherst graduate, is the latest of the new breed of young general managers. Speaking of them generally, Schuerholz, who is 67 and had been a general manager for 26 years, said he didn�t think some of them had the necessary experience, �but they have the energy and the physicality for the job.� Worth a Second Look Although clubs are often criticized when they recycle general managers, as Houston was with Ed Wade, some former general managers are worth recycling in the view of veteran baseball men. Two who fit that category are Allard Baird, a former general manager for the Royals now working for the Red Sox, and Dan Evans, a former general manager for the Dodgers now working for the Mariners. Among other club officials considered worthy of serious consideration for becoming general managers are Jack Zduriencik, a special assistant to the Brewers� general manager, and Craig Shipley, the head of international scouting for the Red Sox. Ruben Amaro Jr. is expected to replace Pat Gillick as the Phillies� general manager in a year when Gillick retires, as expected, for the fourth time. Nurtured in Cleveland Three of the four teams remaining in the playoffs have general managers who worked for the Indians under John Hart, the general manager who built Cleveland�s successful teams of the 1990s. Mark Shapiro succeeded Hart in Cleveland after succeeding Dan O�Dowd as Hart�s assistant when O�Dowd became the Rockies� general manager. Josh Byrnes (Diamondbacks) worked in the Indians� front office. �I would expose them as much as I could to the baseball side of it,� Hart said of his front-office operation. �These guys were contributors and they were utilized. I had an open-door policy and I was an encourager. They were going to be involved in making decisions. �I look at what they�ve done, and it doesn�t surprise me. With men of character who are bright, passionate and have a strong work ethic, good things are going to happen. �I think all of us are about young players, player development, building an organization from the ground up. That�s how we did it in Cleveland and that�s how these guys have done it in their shops.� Hart more recently was the Rangers� general manager and now serves as a special assistant to his successor, Jon Daniels. Baseball people have heard that Hart will take a more active role to help Daniels because of his inexperience. G. M. Moves.

I remember Baker for his toothpicks more than the seeds.

Not a coach I would want anywhere near a team I support, IIRC Bobby V outmanaged him badly in the 2000 NLDS.

Beltran - NY Mets 7, San Diego 6 08/21/07 Beltran - 5rbi Beltran - 5 RBI, Castillo wins it in the ninth

August 31 - Mets 7 -Braves - 1 RBI: Delgado 3 (77), Reyes (49), Anderson 3 (23). 2-out RBI: Delgado 3; Reyes; Anderson 3.

Marlon has had a few and going on memory here his best day might have been when he joined the team in LA and helped beat his old team, or his bases loaded double against the Braves to ice that game.

I'd pay to hear Omar talk Irish, I look at the Indians pen with envy, homegrown guys like they have . I hope Smith benefits next season from this season and hopefully Sanchez gets back.

Good article. http://www.slate.com/id/2175720

Vanover was involved in that game in Philly, he was the one doing the explaining after the game.

Just tuned in( missus watching Shallow Hal), Kaz just stayed in tough on a double play.

I don't know any Mets fans giving the team a pass, Wally must not be reading us anymore.

] Mets, not Yankees, clowns of the town Wallace Matthews 8:57 PM EDT, October 11, 2007 The failure of the Yankees is the best thing that could have happened to the Mets. Now they've got to hope all the peripheral issues involving Joe Torre's job, Alex Rodriguez's contract and Suzyn Waldman's tear ducts continue to consume the media and the public from now until Opening Day 2008. Who says you can't get a free pass in this town? Ever since the Yankees were eliminated from the ALDS Monday night, the Mets certainly have. Davidoff MLB Blog In the past three days, the Yankees have been characterized as bullies. They have been called cowards, gutless, unable to take a punch. I would have to agree with every one of those sentiments. If you apply them to the Mets, that is. On May 29, the Yankees sat at 21-29, 14 1/2 games behind the Red Sox. They were headed for the most spectacular failure in the history of sports. On the same date, the Mets were 33-17, five games ahead in first place, headed for another Secretariat's Belmont of a divisional race. But in the rest of the season, the Yankees went 73-39. The Mets went 55-57, crumbling like a sand castle in the final week of the season, at home, against three teams with a combined record of 222-264, with payrolls of $30 million, $37 million and $90 million. And you want to say the Yankees were a bust? What exactly does that make the Mets? Granted, the Yankees had a miserable October. But at least they had an October. The truth is, the Yankees have nothing to be ashamed of. They played a gutsy two-thirds of a season followed by a bad four-game stretch in October, and minus The Invasion of the Midges, might have won Game 2 in Cleveland and gone on to the ALCS. The Mets, on the other hand, have everything to be ashamed of. Operating, like the Yankees, with their league's highest payroll, they crumpled up and slunk home when faced with their first bit of resistance. Now, which team was it that can't take a punch? All the uproar over what happened this week in the Bronx and what is likely to happen in the next few days in Tampa has obscured the fact that the Mets are even more of a mess than the Yankees. They've got a manager who is a lonely man in his own clubhouse, being undermined by an assistant general manager who is way too close to many of the players and a son-of-an-owner who is way too involved in personnel decisions, both of whom are looking for the first available reason to fire him. They've got a GM who has abandoned his eye for evaluating young talent in favor of the easy way out, rebuilding-by-checkbook. Worst of all, they seem to have a roomful of players who not only don't know how to win but don't care to learn. When the pressure was on late in the season, it was the Mets, not the Yankees, who were loafing on the basepaths, forgetting how many outs there were, unraveling on the mound and arguing over stupid things. Remember the night Paul Lo Duca, a "team leader," got himself ejected for beefing over a strike two, a move that led directly to a Mets defeat? Derek Jeter may not have hit much in the postseason, but at least he didn't do anything as dumb as that, or as dumb as Jose Reyes -- remember when you thought you would take him over Jeter -- risking suspension by getting into an argument with a backup catcher that eventually led into a fist fight. Down the stretch, the Mets did everything to escape their first real fight but bite off an ear. Talk about bullies. Talk about cowards. But then you'd have to know something about bravery and guts to be able to recognize its flip side. Too many people in this town like to throw those words around despite not having the faintest understanding of what they really mean. And you want to talk about money? At least the Yankees' hired gun, Roger Clemens, gave them seven outs in his final appearance. Tom Glavine -- a cut-rate mercenary compared to Clemens but a mercenary just the same -- got what he wanted out of the Mets, his 300th win, but when it came time to give something back, he couldn't get out of the first inning. Didn't seem to be too broken up about it afterward, either. Throw the paychecks out and it is obvious that the "rich" kids showed character. The poor souls in Flushing, those $115-million working-class heroes, did not. To say the Yankees should have done better because of their payroll but absolve the Mets despite theirs is not only lazy but fraudulent, not to mention hypocritical. For years, we have listened to the Mets and their fans whine about always being overshadowed by the Yankees. We're not hearing too much of that right now, are we? Hiding behind the Yankees is working out quite nicely for the Mets these days. , Newsda