metirish

No way no how can I ever root for the yankees, I just can't...I remember the 2001 WS when the whole world apparently was rooting for the MFY' because of 9/11, I got such a hard time in the office because I wouldn't root for them....it was like.." how could you not shout for them"?....I csan still see Gonzo's reaction when he got that hit...

Tad Iguchi made the best play I ever saw a 2nd baseman make, I linked it here somewhere but no idea where the thread is.

] "That's the best lineup we've faced all year," Blue Jays outfielder Frank Catalanotto Beltran jumps into the Reyes dabate... ] "I always say to him, 'You have the potential to be one of the best players in the game.' He's a great defensive ballplayer. Good arm. Good speed. He's going to get power. He's a little batter, but to me he will be hitting second or third. That's the way I see Jose Reyes, because he's not a small guy - he's a big guy, and he's getting stronger every year."

Cool idea, lets hope October is a winning month...

Here is the magic of the spray. http://www.slate.com/id/2144194/?nav=fo

I would love to see the full roster of players and see what orther future majot league players played in the game.

Cool article. ] By IRA BERKOW Published: June 24, 2006 PROVIDENCE, R.I., June 23 � A few years ago, Bruce Hurst recalled Friday afternoon, he was on a golf course in Scottsdale, Ariz., when he ran into Cal Ripken Jr., the likely Hall of Fame shortstop. "I'm sure he didn't remember me, but of course I knew him," said Hurst, once a standout pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. "And then we went back to that one night, that cold, crazy night when we were in the minor leagues. It seems for any of us who were involved in that game, no matter what else we did in our baseball career, we inevitably come back to that night. We still can hardly believe it." The game between the Pawtucket Red Sox and the Rochester Red Wings, the Class AAA affiliates of the Boston Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles, began in Pawtucket, R.I., on the night of April 18, 1981, went into the early morning of April 19 (when the game was halted), and concluded June 23. It became the longest game in the history of professional baseball, lasting 33 innings, with a total of 882 pitches thrown and 156 baseballs used over 8 hours 25 minutes. It finally ended with Pawtucket scoring a run in the bottom of the 33rd. A reunion commemorating the 25th anniversary of the game's conclusion was held Friday at a downtown hotel here, with 20 former Pawtucket players and 9 former Rochester players attending a luncheon. There was another ceremony Friday night at McCoy Stadium, the Pawtucket team's home park. The 1981 game began on a Saturday night at McCoy Stadium with 1,740 fans in attendance. When it was stopped, after 32 innings, at 4:09 Easter morning, with the score tied at 2-2, 19 fans were left in the stands. "No, none of the players fell asleep," Hurst said. "We were just trying to stay warm. It was the coldest I've ever been in uniform." Marty Barrett, then the second baseman for Pawtucket, recalled that as the game went on, the temperature began to drop. "It must have been in the mid-30's, and the wind was blowing in at about 15 miles an hour � I bet the wind chill factor was 20 degrees," he said. Barrett said that Bob Ojeda, the eventual winning pitcher, found a 55-gallon trash can and lit a fire with the numerous bats that broke during the game. "I followed baseball statistics and records when I was growing up and knew that the major league record for the longest game was 26 innings," in 1920, Barrett said. "When it went past that, I knew we were involved in something special." The previous pro baseball longevity record was 29 innings, on June 14, 1966, with Miami beating St. Petersburg (managed by Sparky Anderson), 4-3, in the Class A Florida State League. "When I doubled in the tying run in the 21st inning, I didn't know if the guys wanted to hug me or slug me," said Wade Boggs, now a Hall of Famer, who played third base for Pawtucket. "But, being competitors, we did want to win the game." The game seemed ill-fated from the start. Scheduled to begin at 7 p.m., it was delayed because of a problem with the stadium lights. At one point, Sam Bowen, the Pawtucket right fielder, hit a ball that Boggs thought was out of the park. "But the wind blew it back and the left fielder made a running basket catch," Boggs said. Jim Umbarger came in to relieve for the Red Wings in the 23rd inning and threw 10 shutout innings. "I remember calling my father the next day and telling him I got four hits," Boggs said. "He said, 'That's great.' I said: 'Yeah, but I was up 12 times. We went 32 last night.' " Hurst, who pitched the last five innings April 19 � he was Pawtucket's seventh pitcher that night � said he remembered striking out Ripken (who went 2 for 13, and batted 15 times) on a 3-2 curveball. "Why I'm throwing a curveball in that situation, I don't know," he recalled, "but it turned out to be my best 4 a.m. pitch." The game was stopped after repeated calls to Harold Cooper, the president of the International League, in Columbus, Ohio. Cooper had been at a wedding and did not get home until 3 a.m. Hurst said, "I heard that he said: 'You idiot, this is absurd. Call the game.' " The game was amazing to a lot of people, including the wife of Luis Aponte. (Aponte pitched four scoreless innings in relief for Pawtucket.) She had locked the door of their home when he returned at 5 in the morning. "She didn't believe his excuse," Barrett said. Aponte, nearby, laughed in assent. The game resumed in June, when the Red Wings were back to play in Pawtucket. The major league players had gone on strike, so there was a great deal of coverage. Almost 5,800 fans were in the stands. "Before the game," said Joe Morgan, then the Pawtucket manager, "some guy from Australia came over to me and said, 'Sir, do you think this match will be resolved today?' " It was, in 18 minutes. The Red Sox loaded the bases against Steve Grilli, who was relieved by Cliff Speck. The next batter, first baseman Dave Koza, lined a hit into left field, and Barrett scored the winning run at long last. Among the estimated 360 area residents who attended the reunion was Carl Bishop, 74, the retired chief executive of a Rhode Island hospital. "I listened to that game on radio until it was tied after the ninth inning," he said. "I thought, 'This game could go on forever,' and I turned it off and went to sleep. And I was glad, because it did go on forever." http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/24/sports/baseball/24longest.html

Please read this NOW......... http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2006/04/12/sports-mgjeter11-04-12.html ] Jeter could be 0-for-60 and it wouldn't mean a thing in a clutch situation. He'd be the most dangerous 0-for-60 guy in the history of the game.

read the puff piece of Jeter, a perfect way to end the work week...

I've been reading this guys previous columns for the last half hour or so....it's a laugh. http://www.recordonline.com/sports/geffner.html

Found this kinda harsh article in a local Hudson Valley paper... ] Major-league talent Minor-League attitude New York We've now gotten a nice three-week window of watching Lastings Milledge in a major-league uniform, and if we've learned anything about the 21-year-old phenom it's this: The kid has dazzling all-around talent. And the kid is trouble - a controversy waiting to happen, a problem child needing weekly reprimands. In the tiny space of 21 days, Milledge has managed to produce an impressive body of red flags, showing up late to the ballpark one day, loafing around the basepaths (and getting thrown out at the plate) another day, and one night having the uniquely bad sense - and timing - of high-fiving a long line of fans down the right-field line after hitting nothing more than a game-tying homer. Of course, none of this will really matter very soon, as this sideshow that has been Milledge's debut in the bigs will likely end before the week is out, when Cliff Floyd is added back from the DL. That's when Kid Trouble is the odd man out and gets booted back to Triple-A. Where he rightly belongs right now. Where he can hopefully work on growing out of the kinks in his inner game and possibly lose a chunk of that sizeable chip on his shoulder. Where he can't be around to do something weird or stupid or downright unprofessional that might derail, even for one moment, this wonderful Mets season. In fact, not only should the Mets bust this kid in rank, but do it with a firm, eyeball-to-eyeball warning. One final reprimand for good measure - if for no other reason than to break this kid's ego a bit. Tell him in no uncertain terms that he'd better learn to play and act like a major-leaguer in the future or be prepared to go back to the minors again and again. Maybe that'll wake him up. Maybe that'll humble him. Maybe. Because as of Tuesday, when I spoke to Milledge alone by his locker before the Reds game, he was utterly unapologetic about a single thing, saying without a hiccup that if he had to do these last three weeks all over again, "I wouldn't do anything differently." Which means he still doesn't get it. "Everything matters up here," he said with that sleepy-eyed look of his and while munching ever-so-slowly on a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup. "Small, big, it all matters. The biggest adjustment for me here hasn't been the game - that's been the easiest - but the off-the-field stuff." The other day, he was quoted as saying: "I never had to deal with any teaching because I played the game pretty much well enough for people to have left me alone." Which tells you where this kid's head is at. He's used to being the big star. With big-star treatment. With playing the game within his own bubble - and without interference. Just look at the uniform number he asked for when he got here: 44. That's not any number. That's a superstar's number. That's Reggie Jackson's number and Hank Aaron's number. That's the way Milledge sees himself. In his head, he merely thinks this superstardom is just around the corner, that if the Mets would only be patient and give him a little more time that he and his talent could burst free any day now. "You never know what could happen (these next few days)," he said. "I could go crazy and put pressure on them to keep me." It's the desperate last words of a dead player walking. The kid's barely hitting over .250. If he were hitting .350, the Mets' decision to send him down would be infinitely more difficult. They want to believe in the deep-down goodness in this kid, as much as they believe in the hugeness of his potential as a player. Willie Randolph keeps saying, despite all of Milledge's bush-league indiscretions, how much he likes the kid. And Omar Minaya says the same. Which is why we haven't seen anything in the way of disciplinary actions or fines. The Mets aren't at the point of tough-loving this kid yet. They're too invested in what Milledge could mean to their future. And Milledge isn't at the point yet of seeing anything so terribly wrong in what he's done here. "What you see is what you get," he said. Which is what I'm afraid of. Michael P. Geffner's column appears regularly in the Times Herald-Record. http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2006/06/22/sports-geffnercolumnmilledge-06-22.html

It happened because when they showed the replay Gary mentioned that Wright stopped at 1st because he was going to catch Beltran.

Hah, back then I was a DD man.....only the doughnuts though.

I dan't care for DD coffee either and I used to hate when they would ask if you wanted sugar and then put way to many spoons in....hated it.

It's Westchester County. http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage

It's fact that Valentin is born again, clearly Willie is handling Jose just right with enough off days to keep him fresh for the long haul,it will be interesting to see what Omar does, will he now see to need to trade for a Lugo or Vidro, the next 3 to 4 weeks should tell, but for now lets root for Valentin to keep playing great.

Guys I asked Kevin the Mets beat writer about Delgado not running hard and got this reply......Kevin seems like a really cool guy... ] Conor, It took me a while to know what you were talking about, but I think you're referring to Wright's double off the wall. I know it might not have looked Delgado was clueless on t.v., but that ball was absolutely scolded. He was asked about it after the game and if I remember correctly, he said he didn't pick up where it was until it was too late... whether that means he A) didn't know how many outs there were, or actually thought it was going to be caught is unsure. Remember, though, that there were two outs at the time and the Mets were trailing 4-2. I don't think that, given Delgado's mediocre speed, they would have sent him and potentially run themselves out of the inning. Milton was just starting to come undone and Valentin was on deck (he was intentionally walked) and Xavier Nady was to follow (he had a big night on Tuesday). Unfortunately, Nady struck out. That's just me speculating. These are all very good questions. Unfortunately after games we don't really have too much time with Randolph and the players to fully analyze plays. I am, however, taking note of the types of things you guys are discussing and will try to align my thinking with that when I go into the locker room after games. Thanks again, - Kevin When I last emailed him I asked if it was ok to post his response here and gave him the link to the CPF..I invited him to visit.

HAHAHA..yeah we had a few Kazmir threads but I didn't want to do the leg work and find one.

] Kazmir sharp as Rays send D-Backs below .500 Tampa Bay's 22-year-old left-hander took a two-hitter into the eighth inning and beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-1 Thursday, becoming the youngest pitcher to win nine games this early in the season since Tom Gordon and John Smoltz in 1989. Kazmir (9-4) won 10 games as a rookie last year and has emerged as the leader of a young pitching staff. "My goal was to come in here this season and work and continue to get better," Kazmir said. So far, so good. Only Detroit's Kenny Rogers and the New York Mets' Tom Glavine have more victories (10) among major league pitchers, and Kazmir's .568 career winning percentage (21-16) is the best in Devil Rays history for a pitcher with a minimum of 25 decisions. Kazmir limited the Diamondbacks to Conor Jackson's second-inning double and Chad Tracy's seventh-inning single before Johnny Estrada led off the eighth with his sixth homer of the season.

Wright - 4 Martinez - 3 Reyes - 1 Beltran - 1 Bradford - .5 Nady - .5

Edgy I will ask him but please refresh my memory as to when Delgado didn't run hard.

This IGT is from the 21st..

Elster asked... ] I wonder if any of the mediots asked them about it after the game. I'll look around. I looked and couldn't find anything in the papers about Beltran not attempting to steal so I wrote the Mets beat writer for the Journal News and got this response.... ] Conor, Thanks for the email. You raise a great point about Beltran not stealing. It never came up in the postgame press conference, mainly because Wagner blowing the game and Jose Reyes' cycle were the main topics of discussion. We all also know the way Willie works. He manages those ninth inning situations very conservatively and would never want to run himself out of the inning by getting a guy caught stealing with two power hitters at the plate. Don't forget, too, that Javier Valentin was catching for the Reds in the ninth. He's got a decent arm (he's thrown out 6 of 14 runners, which isn't awful) and the Mets didn't really try to run on him on Tuesday, which is rare for them. Personally, I think when you have Delgado and Wright up, you have two chances at a walk-off homer and shouldn't risk stealing unless it's with Reyes. But you're right, they probably should have tried running Beltran, especially once Delgado was retired. Wright's game-ending double play wouldn't have looked so bad then! Again, thanks for the email. Kevin

]The Mets steal three bases but score no runs in the first. Umm lets hope it's not one of those days..

That's classic Steve...