metirish

double post...

Tug was going to stay in the game to pitch the 10th?...very cool inning....

IIRC the Mets were victims of the hidden ball trick as recently as last season or the season before....

Klapisch on who hits where in the Mets lineup. ]By BOB KLAPISCH RECORD COLUMNIST PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. � This was a few minutes before noon in Willie Randolph's office, long before his Mets would take the field on a perfectly sunny, perfectly nondescript spring training day. But the Mets' lineup against the Indians was anything but ordinary, which tells you Randolph already is thinking (or maybe over-thinking) about ways to score more runs. Call it experimental or genius or, as Randolph insisted, utterly harmless. But there's no mistaking the manager's sudden fondness for batting David Wright behind Jose Reyes. It was the second time in a week that Wright, who totaled 116 RBI last season, has been transformed from a run producer to a table setter. Randolph was quick to say "There's nothing to it" and explained that Wright's spot in the order was designed to maximize his at-bats against Cleveland, especially since he's not playing against the Astros today. Randolph's answer made sense, but it's nevertheless true that any tweaking of the lineup, no matter how benign, becomes organizational news in 2007. That's because after finishing third in the National League in runs last year, the Mets will have to do even better this summer -- at least until they know whether Pedro Martinez is coming back, and if John Maine and Oliver Perez can be trusted. WELCOME SPRING! Pete Caldera and Steve Popper are in Florida with the Yankees and Mets for spring training. Visit the blog * * * Shuffling the lineup cards Mets manager Willie Randolph has several options to consider when making out the batting order for opening day, including who will be his No. 2 hitter. Here are three possibilities: Wright option SS Jose Reyes 3B David Wright CF Carlos Beltran 1B Carlos Delgado LF Moises Alou RF Shawn Green C Paul Lo Duca 2B Jose Valentin Last year's model SS Jose Reyes C Paul Lo Duca CF Carlos Beltran 1B Carlos Delgado 3B David Wright LF Moises Alou RF Shawn Green 2B Jose Valentin Valentin's day SS Jose Reyes 2B Jose Valentin CF Carlos Beltran 1B Carlos Delgado 3B David Wright LF Moises Alou RF Shawn Green C Paul Lo Duca In other words, the once pitching-rich Mets are starving for runs, which begs the obvious question about Wright hitting second: Why deprive one of the team's finest run producers of the chance to inflict damage from his customary No. 5 spot? The manager has a simple, persuasive answer: After Reyes, the next five hitters in the Mets' lineup are practically interchangeable. To Randolph, Wright can be as effective in the No. 2 spot as he is at No. 5. He's as patient as he is powerful, which is a rare combination of blessings. Indeed, with the exception of Carlos Beltran, no Met hitter lengthens at-bats the way Wright does; he averaged 3.94 pitches per plate appearance last year, second only to Beltran's 4.20. Wright says he's "comfortable hitting with two strikes, comfortable hitting behind in the count," which makes him fearless enough to wait until Reyes is standing on second base to begin working the pitcher. The flip side to that argument is that Reyes can steal second with anyone batting behind him. And he doesn't need a gap hitter like Wright to drive him in. With his speed, Reyes can score from second on any hit, bolstering Paul Lo Duca's credentials as the No. 2 hitter. But Ramon Castro could start as often as three times a week, in which case the Mets would need someone to bat second. And that brought Randolph to Monday's experiment against Cleveland, batting Wright second with the possibility of doing so again in the future. "I'm not sure where I'm going to hit David this year," Randolph said cautiously. "I'll make my decision based on a number of things: who's pitching against us, whether we need more speed at the top of the lineup, whether we need that left-right look, which is actually overrated. And sometimes it's just on my feeling, my instinct." Wright is far too easygoing to have a strong opinion on this issue. He said, "It doesn't matter to me where I hit," and clearly meant it. For one day, the experiment seemed to work, even as the Mets' offense sputtered in a 2-1 loss. Reyes was 2-for-4, stealing a base in the third inning as � you guessed it � Wright worked a long at-bat against Paul Byrd. The third baseman finished the day 0-for-2, but drew a walk, thanks to that characteristic patience, and drove home the Mets' only run with a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning. The Mets obviously have bigger plans for their run-scoring machinery this summer. They're assuming Moises Alou, who's hitless in 10 at-bats this spring, hasn't aged beyond his 40 years. And general manager Omar Minaya keeps telling people that Shawn Green is headed for a monster summer. That's probably a stretch, but even if it's not, the Mets' universe will revolve around Reyes and Wright, regardless of how they're aligned in the order, and Beltran and Carlos Delgado. More than anyone, it's Wright who'll eventually carry this team. So maybe there's a second layer of genius in Randolph's calculus. The manager obviously knows what happened to Wright in the second half of the season (he stopped hitting home runs) and in the NL Championship Series against the Cardinals (he stopped hitting, period). Randolph appears to be drawing on the education he got from Joe Torre, who taught him that a good manager insulates his players from self-doubt. By batting Wright second, Randolph is telling the kid not to worry about last year's home run drought during this season, because No. 2 hitters don't carry that burden. Of course, Randolph would never admit to playing Dr. Phil. It's not in his nature to be so nurturing. But confidence boosting comes in many forms. A change in the lineup is as good as a pat on the back from a manager as stern as Randolph. It's his way of telling Wright, "relax" without ever having to say a word. Genius, indeed. E-mail: klapisch@northjersey.com

smg58 wrote: How is Milledge doing? I would hope that Green's starting role is guaranteed. guaranteed?....you mean not guaranteed,right?,I'm sure Willie will give Green every chance as the incumbent.

Hard to top that quote.....good one Ralph.

How the hell do you get your ERA down to respectability from inf?

I'd rather have Wright protecting Delgado than Alou.

Tickets available here..... http://www.stubhub.com/new-york-mets-tickets/?event_id=350116

A-Rod is flattered..... ] When told of Wright's comments by Record beat writer Pete Caldera, Rodriguez seemed stunned. "Did he really say that?" A-Rod said of Wright. "Wow, tell him I'm flattered."

Wright would move for A-Rod is the hot story in every local paper today..... Yeah I'll move Yeah I'll still move

I suppose 35 was old back then,there can't be many old Brooklyn Dodgers left.

Labine had a fine career,why only 4 innings for the Mets? http://www.baseball-reference.com/l/labincl01.shtml

All the best for Nady....

The beat writer from the Post says Burgos was throwing in the mid ninties...Burgos himself says he'll be throwing harder soon enough....I found this quote from him funny. ] "I feel like I just got called up to the big leagues," he said when asked what his reaction was about getting dealt to New York. "I feel in Kansas City that I was in Triple-A."

Yep it is Suzyn....was she a WFAN talkie back then?...

Yes she is with another team...I was surprised to find so few Seaver vids on youtube.

Yeah I was waiting for the big heat,maybe Peterson had him working on other stuff.....although he not tell him to throw the fast ball slower.....would he?..although Gary did mention him throwing really hard one pitch...didn't get the mph on it.

Insert Armando jokes here.................Burgos is an exciting pitcher to watch....Feliciano looked good getting his last guy looking and yapping at the ump.

Ruben Go-TIE wearing # 6....Jose A Reyes middle name is Aureole.

None of the above....

I would love to visit this place. By JUSTIN PETERS Published: March 1, 2007 It is not clear how the face of the former Dodgers owner Walter O�Malley came to appear on a flour tortilla in Los Angeles. When on display, it is usually accompanied by a card noting that �the provenance of the tortilla is sketchy.� However, the card continues, �Radio carbon dating indicates that the tortilla is approximately forty years old.� �It�s an interesting tortilla,� said Terry Cannon, its curator. Cannon is the president, founder and general instigator of the Baseball Reliquary, a California-based traveling museum and shrine that serves as a puckish alternative to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. Based out of Cannon�s home and assorted Southern California storage units, the Reliquary celebrates baseball�s pioneers and free spirits, those individuals whose greatness could never be charted by the Elias Sports Bureau. �If Borges liked baseball, this is where he�d want to be enshrined,� said Ron Shelton, the director of films like �Bull Durham� and �Cobb.� As the O�Malley tortilla illustrates, the Reliquary exists in the gap between baseball legend and reality. �You go to the Hall of Fame, you�re surrounded by uniforms and balls and bats and that�s all great, these are great artifacts. But that�s all they are, they�re artifacts,� said Buddy Kilchesty, the Reliquary�s archivist and historian. �What if the imagination had some say in what the artifacts were?� Cannon puts it this way: �We always say that what�s important isn�t so much the artifact, it�s the story behind it.� Hence the O�Malley tortilla, which the Reliquary uses to teach the history of Chavez Ravine, the site of Dodger Stadium. Or Dock Ellis�s hair curlers, which help tell the story of race relations in baseball�s post-Jackie Robinson era. Or 12 baseballs allegedly signed by Mother Teresa (fandom), or Eddie Gaedel�s jockstrap (midgets) or a piece of skin from Abner Doubleday�s thigh (ossification?). Cannon is an enthusiastic 53-year-old with an abiding interest in experimental film, jazz, the American Basketball Association, classic cars (he once edited a magazine called Skinned Knuckles), vinyl records and, not least, baseball. He has, at one point or another, led or participated in groups pertaining to most of these interests. �When I get involved in something, I don�t get involved in a cursory way; I throw myself into it,� he admitted, somewhat ruefully. He founded the Reliquary in 1996. �Like so many of us, he�s a guy who reveres � and I mean reveres � the game of baseball, and this is his small way of honoring it,� said Peter Golenbock, a Reliquary member and the author of baseball books like �Bums� and �The Forever Boys.� It is an irreverent sort of reverence. A life-size cardboard cutout of Sparky Anderson stands next to Cannon�s bed. In his living room, there is a large display case with a triptych of Babe Ruth memorabilia � one of the Babe�s half-smoked cigars, purportedly rescued from a Philadelphia brothel in 1924, and the sacristy box with which Ruth was once administered the last rites. (He recovered.) Usually one of Ruth�s half-eaten hot dogs sits to the right of the sacristy box, but it is currently out for repairs. Strictly speaking, not all of the Reliquary�s treasures are real. But the Barnumesque quality of much of its collections is intended as a commentary on the nature of baseball artifacts and the reverent way they are often presented. �When you present a display in a professional and straight-faced manner without the appearance of irony, people believe what�s there,� Cannon said. Take the Eddie Grant monument, for example. Grant was the first baseball player to be killed in the First World War. A commemorative plaque was affixed to a stone monument in the center field of the Polo Grounds until it disappeared after the Giants� last game there in 1957. The Reliquary created a replica of the plaque and began displaying it in 2000, as a means of telling Grant�s story. Perhaps inevitably, most people mistook the replica for the real thing. �They didn�t believe that anybody would bother to replicate the plaque,� Cannon said. A group called the Eddie Grant Memorial Association hounded the Reliquary to return the plaque. Vin Scully mentioned it on a Dodgers broadcast. Finally, because nobody would believe otherwise, the Reliquary started saying that the plaque was, in fact, the original. Reliquary members are still sticking to that story � somewhat. �As far as I�m concerned, it is real,� Kilchesty said. �We found it in an ex-cop�s apartment in Ho Ho Kus, N.J.� The Reliquary broadened its scope in 1999, when Cannon founded the Shrine of the Eternals, his answer to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Each year, the Reliquary�s approximately 200 members � membership is open to anybody who pays $25 � elect three candidates from a field of 50 nominees. Nomination criteria are fairly arbitrary � alongside such giants of the game as Satchel Paige and Shoeless Joe Jackson, past nominees have included the notoriously light-hitting Mario Mendoza, the fictional character Henry Wiggen from the book �Bang the Drum Slowly,� and John Meeden, a homeless softball player known as �the hobo Roy Hobbs.� Newcomers to this year�s field of 50 nominees include Jim Brosnan, a relief pitcher and the author of �The Long Season,� the former Yankee slugger Roger Maris (returning to the ballot after an absence of several years) and the dead ball-era saloonkeeper Nuff Ced McGreevey, perhaps baseball�s first superfan. Some Reliquary members offered previews of their ballots: Shelton, the film director, plans to vote for the 1950s minor league fireballer Steve Dalkowski; Golenbock will select Maris and Brosnan, but not the one-armed outfielder Pete Gray, whose teammates �to a man, hated his guts,� he noted. Inductees are honored at a ceremony each July at the Pasadena, Calif., Central Library. Assuming they are not busy with baseball card shows (Cannon�s greatest worry), the honorees are flown to Southern California, presented with their plaques at the ceremony and invited to speak. Twenty-four individuals have been elected so far, ranging from Ellis and Minnie Minoso to the Japanese-American baseball pioneer Kenichi Zenimura and Pam Postema, the minor-league umpire. Many inductees, while pleased at the recognition, are unsure what to make of the honor. �It puzzled me a little at first,� said Marvin Miller, the longtime head of the players union, who nonetheless traveled to Pasadena to accept his plaque. The plaques are multicolored acrylic rectangles; they resemble something that might hang on the wall at a Swedish kindergarten. Bill Lee, well known by his nickname Spaceman, thought his plaque would be a nice addition to his chicken coop. Jimmy Piersall, inducted in 2001, keeps his plaque in his bathroom. The term Reliquary confuses many inductees, too. �Their friends are like, �I don�t know whether to congratulate you or to bid you farewell,� � Cannon said. Cannon, who views the Reliquary as a work of conceptual art, is happy to inspire such befuddlement. But those who know him say there is a sobriety of purpose behind the jesting. �Despite the fact that he likes to have fun, he�s a serious individual and an intelligent one, and he deserves to be taken seriously,� Miller said. The Reliquary has spearheaded several scholarly initiatives, including extensive exhibits on Mexican-American baseball and the history of baseball scouting. There has been discussion about finding a permanent home for the Reliquary. Cannon has mixed feelings about this. He enjoys the Reliquary�s itinerant nature, but sees the benefits in settling down. For one thing, it would give him something to do with the inductee�s plaques, which are housed in cardboard boxes in a cabinet in his study. �I�d like to have them all in one place and lit from behind, so that when you walk into this room, you just get this wash of color,� he said. He held a plaque up to a desk lamp. �Just a wash of color.� http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/01/sports/baseball/01reliquary.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&ref=sports http://www.baseballreliquary.org/Default.htm

Official Mets tribute to Seaver.....extra points if you can name the singer

So would it make sense then to drop RL pitchers except the closer and pick up starters?

It sure feels good to hear Gary,Keith and Ron calling Mets games again.