metirish

Tick-tock Tommy..the longer this goes on the more I think he'll go back to the Braves,read an article in an Atlanta paper where the guy was saying it's the right time for him to come back,the readers response was typicaly split.

Are you saying that Miller's reporting on WMD's didn't help sell this war....shit it was her false reporting that got her fired.....and I never drink koolaid...and I am not a lib...I'm a free thinker and make up my own mind on issues...

] because the Times is one of the most biased and slanted papers in existence, to the point that their anti-war views led them to omit any mention of a soldier from NY being post-humously awarded the congressional medal of honor for jumping on a live grenade to protect his fellow soldiers? but hey, its nice to know the sports section ain't conflicted, because thats whats really important yet the NYT help sell this war to the nation with the reporting of Judith Miller,she's gone now though.

KC wrote: 20 game winner? Oy. I agree he's probably coming, but I doubt he'll make us happy. I'm an optimist to be sure..i remember posting that Pedro would win 20 when he came here...

cleonjones11 wrote: Zito will do well in the National League...He will be a Met... I agree,and with this offence behind him he could win 20 games.....

Wally is something else.... ] They passed on Alfonso Soriano, who would have owned leftfield until Jeff Wilpon was old enough to shave, and if they make a big expenditure this winter, it is likely to be on Barry Zito, who at his best will merely be one more slop merchant in a rotation of junkmen.

Wally ain't in a giving mood. ] Mets making turkeys of fans November 22, 2006, 7:47 PM EST On the joyous occasion of Thanksgiving Day, let us take a moment to thank the New York Mets. For nothing. Last week, the club gleefully announced its sweetheart stadium deal that will hand over to them, rent-free, tax-free and finance-charge free, a virtually limitless source of income for the next several generations of Wilpons. And in return, they give us Moises Alou. And Jose Valentin. And Orlando Hernandez. And let us not forget Damion Easley. These four gentlemen have one important thing in common. They are all old, verging on ancient. The youngest is Easley; he turned 37 on Nov. 11, a month after Valentin. The oldest, of course, is El Duque, whose official age is also 37, but whose actual age can only be verified through carbon dating. Then there is Julio Franco, the only active Met who can get into Shea on a seniors pass. Somewhere in the middle sits Alou, 40 years old and more importantly, healthy enough in 2006 to appear in just 98 games. That is one more than the man he is expected to replace, Cliff Floyd, who was let go because, well, he gets hurt too often and misses too many games. What this means is that the Mets have done the near impossible. They have managed to find themselves an outfielder not only older than Floyd, but equally infirm. If there is logic in this sort of thinking, it must exist on an intellectual level I am incapable of comprehending. In my simple way of thinking, in baseball, older generally does not mean better. It means more likely to break down late in the season, at precisely the moment when a team will be least able to afford it. Kind of like what happened at the end of last season, when, in rapid succession, the Mets lost Floyd, El Duque and Pedro Martinez to a malady no doctor can cure: old age. Yes, we know Pedro is a mere 35, but his arm is 150. Clearly, the Mets learned nothing last year about the fragility and unreliability of old bodies on a baseball field. They claim to be "building" off their near-miss/collapse (your choice) of 2006, but the only thing they are building is a nursing home. Right now, it is a toss up which will be retired first, Shea Stadium or half the Mets roster. And have I mentioned that the Mets are still pursuing 41-year-old Tom Glavine for not one, but two more years? Last year, it looked as if GM Omar Minaya had a master plan to keep the Mets in perpetual contention and the Wilpons in perpetual cable subscriptions and season-ticket renewals. Now, the plan appears to be Jose Reyes, David Wright, Carlos Beltran and an annually-changing cast of aging mercenaries. They passed on Alfonso Soriano, who would have owned leftfield until Jeff Wilpon was old enough to shave, and if they make a big expenditure this winter, it is likely to be on Barry Zito, who at his best will merely be one more slop merchant in a rotation of junkmen. And that is another lesson seemingly lost on the Mets. You sign a comparatively-young outfielder -- Soriano is 30 -- for seven years, you can bank on seven years of high-level production. You sign a pitcher for seven years, you can bank on many trips to Birmingham, Alabama and the office of Frank Andrews, orthopedic surgeon. Take your pick from the laundry list of potential disasters: rotator-cuff blowout, Tommy John surgery, torn elbow tendons, dead arm syndrome, etc. Just look at the recent history of long-term deals for free-agent pitchers: Randy Johnson. Carl Pavano. Kevin Brown. Mark Mulder. Kevin Millwood. They worked out well, didn't they? And, oh yeah, there's Pedro, who may well have thrown his last pitch as a Met but has two more years of paychecks coming. As bad as the Mets season ended, so far their off-season has been worse. The best deal they have made was to trade away poor old Bill Shea for 20 years worth of $20 million checks. When they announced the stadium deal last week, plenty of Mets fans swallowed the Wilpon spin, that even though their would be 10,000 fewer seats, higher ticket prices and, possibly, personal seat licenses, it would all work out for the best because now the team would be able to spend money in Yankee-like excess. So far, they have spent like the Florida Marlins and signed like the Kansas City Royals. They take and take and take from the good people and bad politicians of this city, and they give you back Moises Alou. Even on Thanksgiving Day, being a Mets fan remains a thankless task.

Russ Hodges call might be my sacond fave ever...I love it...when I first heard it at it was when the HOF did a traveling exhibit at the Met IIRC..I stood and listened to that call for an hour....it gives me chills.

Wham... A question,how do they determine who votes, I read Klapisch today and he said he was one of two area writers that had a vote ,the other was at the Bergen Record....Klap voted for Jeter and the other guy voted for the winner....how does it work?

Didn't know that FK,thanks...Howie is a great announcer in hockey and baseball....as a Rangers fan I would take him over Sam Rosen...and yeah maybe he came accross more as a fan in that call but it had been so long coming for the rangers that it would be hard to fault him on that.....

Probably my fave call in all of sports......

Shinjo....Joe Mc....Glendon Rusch...

I love youtube....here it is

Game seven of the Eastern Conference Finals against the New Jersey Devils in 1994......at 4:24 of the second overtime at Madison Square Garden, Matteau scored on a wraparound on the left side of New Jersey's goaltender leading then rangers announcer Howie Rose to scream into the mic....."Matteau, Matteau, Matteau,Stephane Matteau...and there's one more hill to climb baby and it's Mount Vancouver"....one of the most famous goals in playoff history and a call that still gives me chills.......

Not quite as bad as this....

This is the big bat Morano has promised fans to protect Vlad?.....I remember his very brieh time as a Met...

Gaffner on Jeter... ] Jeter don't care 'bout stinkin' metal November 22, 2006 Maybe this is Derek Jeter's destiny: to be the best baseball player of his generation to never win an MVP award. The way it seems to be Mariano Rivera's peculiar lot in life to be the best reliever in the game's history but not have an official piece of hardware to ever prove it. Jeter got beaten in a squeaker for the AL MVP yesterday, losing out to Twins first baseman Justin Morneau by 14 points and three first-place votes. And while this wasn't remotely the major-league snub that Willie Randolph suffered last week in the manager-of-the-year voting, Yankees fans will still cry foul, spewing venom all over the airwaves, outraged that their beloved shortstop and captain was cruelly robbed because of some wicked combination of anti-New York, anti-Yankee, and anti-Jeter bias. Which, in fact, might be true. It's simply that the fans here wanted so much to embrace a Jeter MVP year this winter, as much as they refused to ever wrap their arms around Alex Rodriguez's MVP in 2005, after another of his postseason no-shows. It will always be the difference between the two Yankees superstars � Jeter, the insider, forever loved and cheered no matter what he does, no matter what his transgressions or achievements; A-Rod, the outsider, booed for the slightest of reasons, eyed with nothing but suspicion at every turn, MVP winner or not. The reason is no more complicated than Jeter always finding a way to show up when it counts, while A-Rod keeps disappearing, one big moment after the other, coming up so much smaller than the sum of his supremely talented parts. And because, rightly or wrongly, the fans sense that in the end A-Rod is all about A-Rod, a guy who cares more about MVPs and hitting titles and accumulated homers than about World Series rings. To Jeter, it's clear personal things have never meant a thing to him. Never will. So you will not hear any bitter words from Jeter today or tomorrow, or in the days after that, about not being named the MVP or about being better than Morneau or about being cheated out of the only thing he doesn't own yet. Not only is that not Jeter's style. It's not the way he views the game or his career. He has never defined himself by chunks of metal on a pedestal, has never measured his worth by the numbers. "The numbers," he has reminded me so many times, "don't often tell the whole story." And he's right, of course. I mean, how do you possibly measure with a mere stat his Famous Flip in Game 3 of the 2001 AL division series, his Famous Dive into the Stands in 2004, his Famous November 10th-Inning Game-Winning Homer in the 2001 World Series? How do you capture fully Jeter's amazing consistency for 12 seasons? And how does something like what Tim McCarver once told me, that "Jeter is the best baserunner in the game, especially going from first to third," get truly reflected anywhere? What's interesting this time around is that for once, after all these years, the numbers came close to matching the totality of the player. He hit .343 and almost copped the AL batting title. He had a .417 on-base percentage. He scored 118 runs and knocked in another 97. He stole a career-high 34 bases and won the Gold Glove at short. And with men in scoring position, he batted an outrageous .381, nearly a 100 points higher than Big Papi and 60 points higher than Morneau. All of which means a lot more to Yankees fans than to Jeter himself. He'll leave the outcry to them, as he just keeps doing what he does so well, the small and the large and everything in between to win games, not awards. Unlike A-Rod, Jeter knows who and what he is, secure in his own skin, doesn't need any pat on the back from the fans or the media or an awards committee or anyone else to tell him what kind of job he's doing. He doesn't need the MVP stamp of approval the way A-Rod does so desperately. Everything Jeter is about is on the fingers of one hand. The four that are crowned with Yankees championship rings. That's his lasting legacy � even if his destiny, strangely, doesn't include anything else. Michael P. Geffner's column appears regularly. Derek Jeter/Case File Age: 32 Years in the bigs: 12 Greatest achievements: 1996 AL rookie of the year, 2000 World Series MVP, 2000 All-Star Game MVP, seven-time AL All-Star, three-time AL Gold Glove, four World Championships, five seasons with 200 or more hits (more than any shortstop in major-league history), Yankees team captain from June 2003 to present. Career highlights The Famous Flip: Seventh inning of Game 3 of the 2001 ALDS against the A's, when in one motion he retrieved outfielder Shane Spencer's errant relay throw in foul territory and shovel-passed it to catcher Jorge Posada, who tagged out Jeremy Giambi at the plate. The Famous Dive: On July 1, 2004, with the score tied against the Red Sox in the 12th inning, Jeter sprinted for a popup and made a running one-handed catch that forced him to smack into the left-field wall and topple headfirst into the stands. Jeter emerged � ball still safely in glove � bruised and bloodied, with lacerations on his chin and cheek. The Famous Homer: His game-winning, 10th-inning shot in Game 4 of the 2001 World Series against the Diamondbacks that came four minutes after midnight on Nov. 1, briefly earning him the nickname of "Mr. November." Greatest career dis by his peers: Voted the most overrated player in the game by a Sports Illustrated poll of 470 players this past September. Carlos Beltran was second and Alex Rodriguez third. Said a smiling Jeter about the dubious distinction: "I don't care. I guess anything I do now is a plus." Greatest career dis by a teammate: Outfielder Chad Curtis, who in August of 1999 got in Jeter's face for playfully sparring with then-Seattle shortstop Alex Rodriguez on the fringes of a nasty brawl between the Yankees and Mariners. In the clubhouse afterward, Curtis loudly accused Jeter of, in essence, being a bad teammate. Jeter never said a word to Curtis again and Curtis was dealt to the Rangers before the end of the year. The Yankees' message: Mess with Jeter and you're as good as gone. To this day, the normally unflappable Jeter gets visibly heated at the mere mention of Curtis' name. Loves: Being on the baseball field, talking about his teammates, women who appear on the cover of Maxim or FHM, eating ordered-in Chinese food while watching a flick on his DVD player. Hates: Questions about his private life, talking about himself, selfish players, being mentioned in gossip columns, losing at anything ("If you're going to play at all, you're out to win," he once said. "Baseball, board games, playing Jeopardy, I hate to lose."). Main squeeze: Actress Jessica Biel, voted the "sexiest woman alive" by Esquire in 2005. Past main squeezes: Mariah Carey, actresses Jordana Brewster, Scarlett Johansson and Jessica Alba, MTV personality Vanessa Minnillo (currently dating Jessica Simpson's ex hubby, Nick Lachey), and Indian actress and former Miss Universe Lara Dutta. Major strength: Utterly cool under pressure. Major weakness: Guarded to a ridiculous degree, to where he trusts virtually no one (Even Jeter admits that he wishes he could get rid of this trait). "When people come at me, my first reaction is to wonder what their motive is," he once said. Pet peeve: Teammates who talk too much to the media, or the media talking too long to one of his teammates. "What are you doing, writing a book about this guy?" is Jeter's favorite line, which is code for both parties to end the interview ASAP. Telling comment: After Joe DiMaggio died, Jeter said of him: "He was the type of guy that kept to himself. Even if you hear his old teammates talk, he just showed up and played; he didn't really say too much. He kept his private life private. I think when people don't know a lot about you, there is this certain mystique, and I think people had that sense about him." Nicknames: Jete, DJ Idol growing up: Dave Winfield. Made Jeter want to be a Yankee. Had Winfield's poster on his bedroom wall. Best friend on the Yankees: Jorge Posada. The two are inseparable. Biggest career controversy: Nearly four years ago, Steinbrenner ripped Jeter in spring training, claiming that his shortstop was more interested in staying out late club-hopping than working out early. Jeter was, understandably, irked by the criticism and totally disputed it publicly. The two later made up and parodied the feud with a Visa Card commercial. Trivial facts: His junior high school yearbook in Kalamazoo, Mich. dubbed him "most likely to play shortstop for the New York Yankees" ... was interviewed for a 2005 segment of 60 Minutes by the recently deceased Ed Bradley ... is reportedly Bob Dylan's favorite baseball player ... hosted Saturday Night Live in 2001 and in one skit dressed as a woman, playing Alfonso Soriano's wife, Candice ... went 155 plate appearances with the bases loaded before he finally hit his first grand slam on June 18, 2005 ... nearly drafted by the Reds in 1992 ... in 2002, his mitt was stolen from his locker by then-teammate Ruben Rivera and sold for $2,500 on the black market. Family: Father Charles, a drug counselor, is African-American; mother Dorothy, an accountant, is Irish-American. Has one sibling, a sister named Sharlee. Typical of what people say about Jeter: "He doesn't go up there thinking negatively. Failing doesn't scare him." - Joe Torre. Bottom line: Jeter shows up when it matters most, doing the little, the big, and everything in between to win games. It's the critical reason why Yankee fans love him to no end and loathe A-Rod with a passion. "The tougher the situation, the more fire Derek gets in his eyes. You can't teach that," Torre once said. Reader Reaction

Good stuff,I like Noble,true what he says about the chavez catch....

Brian Law is pissed... ] Morneau awful choice for AL MVPposted: Tuesday, November 21, 2006 | I think all carping about the NL MVP voters getting their choice wrong must immediately cease. The AL's voters couldn't even correctly identify the most valuable Twin, never mind wrapping their heads around a whole league. The reality of baseball is that a great offensive player at an up-the-middle position is substantially more valuable than a slightly better hitter at a corner position. And when that up-the-middle player is one of the best fielders at his position in baseball, there's absolutely no comparison. Joe Mauer was more valuable than Justin Morneau this past season. If you don't understand that, you don't understand the first thing about baseball. Mauer had a 54-point edge in OBP over Morneau, which overwhelms the advantage Morneau had in slugging percentage (a 52-point edge). But Mauer won the Gold Glove for his position this past year, and he is arguably the best-fielding catcher in the game when you consider all aspects of catching. Catchers who field and hit the way Mauer does are extremely valuable, just as shortstops who hit like Derek Jeter does and play passable defense are extremely valuable. First basemen who hit like Morneau just shouldn't win MVP awards in years when there are Mauers and Jeters and other candidates to choose from. Even by the counting stats that the dinosaur voters have favored for as long as the MVP award has existed, Morneau's season wasn't all that impressive. He tied for 12th in the AL in homers. He was second in RBI -- seven behind David Ortiz -- and just nine ahead of the least clutchy player to ever be clutch, Alex Rodriguez. He was seventh in batting average, a few miles south of Mauer and Jeter, the other major MVP candidate. It's hard to fathom why any voter would put Morneau at the top of his ballot with so many obviously better candidates -- Mauer, Jeter, Ortiz, Jermaine Dye, the unanimous Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana, or the criminally neglected Carlos Guillen (the best player on the AL pennant winner) -- and in reality, more than half of the voters did just that. If you don't watch the games, fellas, don't fill out your ballots. Incidentally, the following voters should be removed from the voting process permanently: � The guy who put Jeter sixth. � The guy who put Mauer 10th ... and the five guys who left him off their ballots entirely. � The three guys who put Frank Thomas second. � The guy who put A.J. Pierzynski 10th. And while we're at it, how the heck did Thomas -- the third-best designated hitter in the American League -- end up fourth in the voting? It's just more evidence that the bulk of this year's voters don't understand what is actually valuable in baseball: Players who hit and play good defense up the middle are the most valuable position players in the game. The NL only had one such candidate this year (Carlos Beltran), so it's understandable that that award went to a corner bat. It's time for some of these voters to put their fantasy-baseball mentality -- one that assumes that RBI measure something important and that OBP is a hip-hop song from the early 1990s -- aside and to take the MVP vote seriously again.

] Fielding Runs Above Replacement. The difference between an average player and a replacement player is determined by the number of plays that position is called on to make. That makes the value at each position variable over time. In the all-time adjustments, an average catcher is set to 39 runs above replacement per 162 games, first base to 10, second to 29, third to 22, short to 33, center field to 24, left and right to 14.

WOW,but that was a pile of hot dung form Smith....

I was wondering who Pronk is......weird nickname.

I think the writer that gave Jeets the sixth place vote got it right... http://baseballwriters.org/awards/2006/2006_AL_mvp.html

Edgy DC wrote: Carew and Zoilo Versailles? Killebrew won one, but I can't remember if that was before or after Versailles. His name is so timeless, it's hard to pin him down. Rod Carew won in 1977 Zoilo Versalles won in 1965 Harmon Killebrew won in 1969 good call. edit - full name.....Zoilo Casanova (Rodriguez) Versalles

Useless trivia....name the last Twins player to win MVP?