Frayed Knot

I noticed this flick on a surprising number of year-end TOP TEN lists. Not that I thought it was terrible, but the critical reviews seemed better in most cases than did ordinary person reviews (like what we've got here for instance) and while that's certainly not all that uncommon it does seem so for this type of movie.

I've been meaning to check out THE CANDIDATE again one of these days seeing as how I saw it once like a million years ago and remember little. At times in this one it seemed like Clooney/Morris campaign speeches were included for the purpose not of advancing the plot but so George could capture the unofficial title of leading ersatz political hero of the left since the cancelation of WEST WING took Martin Sheen's President Bartlet out of the running.

Written and directed by George Clooney, he also casts himself as Democratic Governor (from PA) Mike Morris in the midst of a run for president. Philip Seymour Hoffman runs his campaign Paul Giamatti runs the camp for the opposing Democrat hopeful And Marisa Tomei is the NYTimes political reporter aggressively digging for the next scoop So with all that fire power the movie centers around Ryan Gosling as the young calculating brains to PSH's more passionate guts on Senator Morris's campaign committee. The hi-jinx ensues when a back-stabbing power struggle emerges for control of the campaign just as the Ohio primary appears to hold the key to the nomination and eventually the presidency (the unseen Republican challenger is dismissed as a turkey). So all this intrigue and double-crossing adds up to ... ... not all that much I'm afraid. I found the stories of how the campaign pros go about screwing each other only mildly interesting and sometimes not all that well explained. And I suppose the overall moral of the story is that politics can be a dirty business, killing idealism as it goes. -- gee, thanks George! -- but even aside from not telling us much we didn't already know it lacked both the intrigue and the complex characters of, say, Clooney's vastly superior 'Michael Clayton'

Edgy DC wrote: What's the FBI doing operating in Ireland? Setting up a black/white, American/Irish crime caper ... DUH!!

bmfc1 wrote: Liked it a lot until the ending and then I didn't like it as much. I had trouble at first identifying which young male corresponded with the older version. The ending seemed contrived and unrealistic. Exactamundo!! Started a bit slow ... built into something really good ... then failed at the payoff.

Hated the first one, have ignored the series since. Maybe I'll catch it when it comes to cable and I happened to be strapped to a chair unable to move or change the channel, but other than that ...

Mossad agents, an unrepentant ex-Nazi doctor, love triangles, botched operations, flashbacks, and long-buried dark secrets. Intrigue, but not much hilarity, ensues.

TransMonk wrote: It confused us too, and seemed to bounce back and forth. But the trooper was definitely Sconnie. All of the opening city scenes are Milwaukee, too. The wedding and party's and junk were set mostly in Chitown, though. I think the "new" best friend lived in Chicago but the rest of the peeps lived in Milwaukee. Yeah, they obviously meant to use the Milwaukee/Chicago split as a way to emphasize the gap between the poor-er Wiig against the more upscale (and up-marrying) Rudolph & her newer friends. There was even a line where someone said to Wiig; 'oh, you're still living in Milwaukee' as if she didn't feel badly enough about herself than to be reminded that she wasn't good enough to make the 100+ mile move down to Chi-town. So while the scenes with Wiig and the cop were in Milwaukee, the rest were the Chicago area.

Minor mistake alert. When looking at Nick Evans I checked for points he may have received in 2010 and in 2009 and, when I didn’t find any, I created a new spot for him on the database. But it turns out he did get a few morsels for his work back in 2008!!! So the bottom line is I initially wound up entering him twice. Now that that’s been corrected, instead of two Nick Evans’s in the upper 400s somewhere there’s one who’s in 431st place (isn’t that exciting?) It also means that there are only 616 guys overall so everyone behind Nick moves up one space including Dwight Bernard who moves from spot 501 to 500 and is saved from being cut for another year. HE, rather than Jaime Cerda, will serve as the lead-off man for the next season.

2011 Rankings results There are now 617 ranked players going from, as has been the case since we started, Tom Seaver to Gus Bell From the 2011 roster: Debuts -- Ryota Igarashi at #605 Miguel Batista - #590 Chris Young - #572 Jason Pridie - #549 Ronnie Paulino - #519 Scott Hairston - #498 ... and just barely onto the status level list, so that if we ever actually do get any new members they will be rewarded with the posting level of ‘Scott Hairston’ just three spots after being ‘Jim, the Monsterously Huge Bat Boy’ Nick Evans - #473... he had played prior to this year but earned his first rankings points this season Willie Harris - #455 Pedro Beato - #438 Tim Byrdak - #404 Justin Turner - #287 Chris Capuano - #201 - highest “rookie” Returnees: - Manny Acosta - Up 103 spots from 393rd place to 290th - Bobby Parnell - Up 65 spots from 316 to 251 - Ruben Tejada - Up 186 spots from 430 to 244 - Dillon Gee - Up 230 spots from 446 to 216 - Josh Thole - Up 68 spots from 275 to 207 - Jason Isringhausen - Up 44 spots from 240 to 196 - Lucas Duda - Up 322 spots from 509 to 187 (and from off our parade of names to on) - Ike Davis - Up 21 spots from 177 to 156 - Jason Bay - Up 102 spots from 237 to 135 - Jonathon Niese - Up 80 spots from 214 to 134 - Francisco Rodriguez - Up 19 spots from 139 to 120 - R. A. Dickey - Up 78 spots from 168 to 90 - Daniel Murphy - Up 49 spots from 130 to 81 - Angel Pagan - Up 24 spots from 98 to 74 - Mike Pelfrey - Up 11 spots from 78 to 67 - Carlos Beltran - Up 6 spots from 20 to 14 - Passing Darling, Grote, McGraw, Mookie, Leiter, and (just barely*) Keith - Jose Reyes - Up 5 spots from 17 to 12 - Passing McGraw, Mookie, Leiter, Keith, and Kranepool ... and no one else ever!! - David Wright - Up 2 spots from 7th to 5th - Passing Franco & Piazza Johan Santana obviously received no points for this year but was also un-passed and so remains at slot #50 * and we mean ‘just barely’. The final score (assuming Carlos nver plays here again) was 43,278 to 42,276. So not only would one better/worse placement in any vote in any year have switched the two but even one fewer or more team WIN in the right place would have done the same. New to the Top 100: Dickey & Murphy Out of the Top 100: Doug Flynn & Ken Boswell Izzy’s journey -- Special note needs to be made about Izzy who, after earning points in 1995 & 1996, sat out for 14 years (shirley a record in CPF Rankings history) before logging back in this season. Of course there were no actual CPF rankings during Izzy’s first stint as a Met seeing as how we didn’t concoct this thing until ten years ago when we ranked the ‘01 season and then retroactively did the same for all previous ones. But we can judge via points awarded through his rookie campaign in ‘95, that he would have sat in 167th place at that point and then move up to 161st with his abbreviated season in ‘96. His wandering years in between saw him fall to 240th as the list expanded and he was passed by nearly 100 players. So now, even with his 44 slot jump this season, he’d still have to hang around another few years to back to his high point of 16 years ago, but he’s also ahead of more players as well. End of ‘95 -- 167th place 96 -- 161st 10 -- 240th 11 -- 196th Dropped from the Top-500 Dwight Bernard Phil Linz Allen Watson Wilson Delgado Andy Tomberlin Roy Lee Jackson Jeff Duncan Greg Harris #100 - Bob Apodaca #200 - Ellis Valentine #250 - (midpoint of our Top 500) Dale Murray #300 - Dick Schofield #309 - (midpoint of all players) - Marlon Anderson #400 - Mike Bruhert #500 (first player to greet newbies following their JtMHBB status) - Jamie Cerda

Final Results RANKPLAYER30J. REYES29R.A. DICKEY28C. BELTRAN27D. MURPHY26D. WRIGHT25L. DUDA24C. CAPUANO23J. BAY22D. GEE21J. NIESE20A. PAGAN19R. TEJADA18J. TURNER17F. RODRIGUEZ16M. PELFREY15J. THOLE14M. ACOSTA13B. PARNELL12J. ISRINGHAUSEN11T. BYRDAK10I. DAVIS9P. BEATO8W. HARRIS7N. EVANS6S. HAIRSTON5R. PAULINO4J. PRIDIE3C. YOUNG2M. BATISTA1R. IGARASHI

Schwinden also threw all of 21 innings; Thayer 10, and Herrera 8 Speculating that those extremely small samples would translate to better than what Gee actually did if only someone had been wise enough to give them 30 starts and 160+ IPs over most of a full season is a bit of a stretch, no? And not only over Gee & Izzy but you also shut out Beato from your list entirely as well as Acosta who went the final three months of the season with a 2.00 ERA over nearly 40 innings. On the hitting side, Baxter and his 34 ABs begs a similar question.

I'd like to wrap this up in the next week or so, so if anyone either wants to get in that hasn't already or wants to update an existing list do so soon. At the moment we can't accept LWFS's list as a legit vote on account of having Angel Pagan listed twice. The same list also has some 'splainin to do with the contention Dale Thayer somehow contributed more to the 2011 season than did Izzy, or likewise with Schwinden over Gee

"[it's] like a cold sore I can't stop flicking with my tongue" -- Vic Sage, Crane Pool Press I can't imagine why the marketing department for this movie didn't use that quote in their newspaper ads.

metsmarathon wrote: 2011's best met will be 77 points higher than the 2nd best met, who will be 77 points higher than the 3rd best met, etc etc, until you get to the lowest ranked met, who will be have netted 77 points. therefore, the best met will be 30 times better than the 30th met, and will be 30/29 times better than the 2nd best met. the best met in a 77 win year will be worth 77*30=2130. this makes him slightly more better than the 21-point met on a 106 win team; 106*20=2120. Umm, not quite. The rank each player gets is first squared and then multiplied by that season's wins to get his point total The idea being that the difference between the 1st & 10th best player should be treated as much more meaningful than the gap between the 10th & 20th, or between Mr. 20th & Mr. 30th. And if you're wondering who came up with such a dopey suggestion ... go look in the mirror.

Didn't think much of the catching corps, huh?

So while we continue to search for the drunk who submitted a list under LWFS's name, anyone else who wants in here should do so in the near future lest this thing fall off the radar. In the meantime I'm going to tweak mine just a bit, upping Duda a couple of spots ahead of both Turner & Frankie Rod, and also giving away Carrasco's final spot to Igarashi who was at least occasionally useful. 30 - Reyes 29 - Dickey 28 - Beltran 27 - Murphy 26 - Wright 25 - Capuano 24 - Gee 23 - Niese 22 - Pagan 21 - Bay 20 - Duda 19 - Rodriguez 18 - Turner 17 - Acosta 16 - Beato 15 - Tejada 14 - Pelfrey 13 - Thole 12 - Isringhausen 11 - Harris 10 - Parnell 9 - Paulino 8 - Byrdak 7 - Davis 6 - Young 5 - Evans 4 - Hairston 3 - Pridie 2 - Batista 1 - Igarashi

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: 30 - Reyes 29 - Beltran 28 - Murphy 27 - Dickey 26 - Niese 25 - Wright 24 - Tejada 23 - Capuano 22 - Davis 21 - Thole 20 - Duda 19 - Pagan 18 - Rodriguez 17 - Pelfrey 16 - Pagan 15 - Parnell 14 - Turner 13 - Bay 12 - Evans 11 - Pridie 10 - Schwinden 9 - Paulino 8 - Byrdak 7 - Baxter 6 - Hairston 5 - Young 4 - Gee 3 - Batista 2 - Thayer 1 - Isringhausen So LWFS - Did you find the drunk guy who broke into your handle and concocted this list yet?

...

Frayed Knot wrote: Yeah, I don't get Izzy sitting down there well behind the likes of Baxter and his .235 BA over less than 3 dozen ABs, or Schwinden and his near 5.00 ERA from a grand total of 24 garbage time IPs. And Gee as the 27th best Met behind those same two and loads of others?!?!?! You also, btw, have Pagan up there twice.

Yeah, I don't get Izzy sitting down there well behind the likes of Baxter and his .235 over less than 3 dozen ABs, or Schwinden and his near 5.00 ERA over a grand total of 24 garbage time IPs. And Gee as the 27th best Met behind those same two and loads of others?!?!?!

Vic, you do realize that you're arguing with a souped-up toaster, right?

Pitchers: * Dickey - A slow start but clearly the best pitcher on the team thereafter. An ERA better by 1.2-1.5 runs over the rest of the starters while also leading in IPs & WHiP ***** The 2-3-4 starters had very similar ERAs (0.15 range) & WHiPs (.062) - I sorted them this way: * Capuano - A hairsplitting choice due to 3 & 6 more starts and around 30 more IP compared to the remaining starters * Gee - With near identical rates to Niese I’m going to reward Dillon for his superior W/L record. But, jeez, stop hitting so many batters will ya!! * Niese - Fewer walks but more hits allowed than Gee * Rodriguez - Not a good year for relievers, but Frankie’s half season and 3.16 ERA shined above the rest * Acosta - Didn’t show up until June, then went from ‘Why is he on this team?’ to the nominal closer as the summer wore on. ERA fell from near 10.00 on July 1st to its finish at 3.45 * Beato - Didn’t give up his first ER until late May and logged more innings than any other reliever. Wore down towards the end. * Pelfrey - 2nd most innings pitched but a lousy overall year. Too many base runners, too many runs, works too damn slow. * Isringhausen - Good first half as a setup man and for a brief time as closer before falling apart probably due to overwork. * Parnell - Sort of the anti-Acosta, his sub-3.00 ERA in early July rose steadily just as the team started to rely on him more following the KRod trade. * Byrdak - Another guy who was a tale of two halves. His near .300 BAA for Apr-Jun suddenly plummeted to under .200 from July on. Heavily relied upon as the only LH-reliever much of the year, but still just a specialist and also just 37 IPs * Young - The Ike Davis of the pitching staff. One great month and then sayonara * Batista - Just 9 games and 4 starts, most were pretty good but it was garbage time by then. * Carrasco - Mop-up man, and not a very good one at that. Buchholz - Another guy who started out OK then disappeared. Schwinden -- Stinson -- Thayer -- Misch -- O’Connor -- Boyer -- Herrera -- Not enough innings And the composite: 30 - Reyes 29 - Dickey 28 - Beltran 27 - Murphy 26 - Wright 25 - Capuano 24 - Gee 23 - Niese 22 - Pagan 21 - Bay 20 - Rodriguez 19 - Turner 18 - Duda 17 - Acosta 16 - Beato 15 - Tejada 14 - Pelfrey 13 - Thole 12 - Isringhausen 11 - Harris 10 - Parnell 9 - Paulino 8 - Byrdak 7 - Davis 6 - Young 5 - Evans 4 - Hairston 3 - Pridie 2 - Batista 1 - Carrasco

Starting off with the hitters: * Reyes - Clear #1 hitter for this year. League MVP candidate until the injuries hit, still led the team in PA, AB, BA, Runs, Hits, 2Bs, 3Bs, Steals. ***** * Beltran - Topped team in HRs, RBIs, Walks, OBA, SLG despite being traded barely half-way through the season. * Murphy - .320/.362/.448 over 400+ PAs while playing three positions (even if none of them within spitting distance of GG level) * Wright - 5th in ABs despite the long absence says a lot about the competition; his steady if unspectacular production ranks him above the remaining ‘full-timers’ * Pagan - Reduced production and defense. Stays ahead of Bay due to SBs and position * Bay - Virtually identical stats to Pagan but at a corner spot * Turner - Nice surprise; streaky hitter who made the most of his hits [.350/.480/.500 w/RiSP vs .206/.270/.286 w/bases empty]. Not great range at 2B, but tough as shit on the DP * Duda - ~.310/.390/.520 hitter after July 1st. Decent at 1B even while very scary in the OF * Tejada - Much improved offense [.284/.360/.335] although still little power and surprisingly erratic defense at times * Thole - Took a step backwards both offensively and defensively * Harris - Typical bench player, gets points for versatility * Paulino - eh * Davis - A great six weeks, then missed five months with a stubbed toe (or something like that) * Evans - Picked it up nicely at the end * Hairston - 16 of his 31 hits went for extra bases * Pridie - Seemed to only hit when he started but wasn’t really good enough to start Baxter - Local boy gets some ABs in September Nickeas - Can catch, can’t hit Pascucci - The man, the myth, the legend Emaus - He was worth a look but then made us all look away. Martinez - Maybe one of these days Satin & Hu - Yeah ... no.

OK you’ve judged the rest now come rank the best. We've done the top rookie thing, sorted the best starters and relievers, and voted our choice for top IFs and OFs. Now it’s time to put it all together. Most if not all of youse know the procedure by this point. Tell us (if you choose to participate) who the best 30 Mets were for 2011 either by submitting your own list or by commenting, analyzing, suggesting changes in, or just plain ridiculing the lists of others (that last part is particularly fun). As per the usual reminder, how you construct your list is up to you but the results should be something you’re willing to defend if you think you’re right or alter if convinced otherwise. Also remember that the idea is to judge the players strictly on the basis of their contributions to the 2011 season and not grade “on a curve” by including factors such as their relative salaries, preseason expectations, or anticipated future value. The final list will be a conglomerate of all the opinions submitted and will be merged into the rankings we have for the previous 49 seasons to form the CPF All-Time NYM Rankings - 50th year edition. There were 46 wearers of the uniform this year, listed below by frequency of appearance. Position players (23) by ABs Reyes -- Pagan -- Bay -- Turner -- Wright Murphy -- Beltran -- Thole -- Tejada -- Duda Harris -- Paulino -- Pridie -- Evans -- Davis Hairston -- Nickeas -- Emaus -- Baxter -- Satin Hu -- Martinez -- Pascucci Pitchers (23) by IP Dickey -- Pelfrey -- Capuano -- Gee - Niese Beato -- Parnell -- Carrasco -- Acosta -- Isringhausen Rodriguez -- Igarashi -- Byrdak -- Batista -- Buchholz Young -- Schwinden -- Stinson -- Thayer -- Misch O’Connor -- Boyer -- Herrera