Edgy MD

On this day back in 2012, Matt Cain, a favorite pitcher of Keith Hernandez, threw a 10-0 perfect game against the Houston Astros. It was the first and only such game thrown by a Giant, of the New York or San Francisco persuasion. He struck out 14 batters, tying Sandy Koufax for the most whiffs in a perfecto. Cain finished with a 101 game score, then third-highest of all time. (It has since fallen to fourth, but we won't get into that right now.) It is tied with Koufax for the highest-scoring perfect game. Former Met Ángel Pagán played a mean centerfield for him, although the top plays were by leftfielder Melky Cabrera (a running catch at the wall in the sixth) and rightfielder Gregor Blanco (a diving catch in right center in the seventh, that put the perfecto momentum into overdrive). I have no idea why I happened to be watching this one but I was. Later in the season, King Felix Hernandez threw a perfect game of his own, but no other pitcher has thrown one since, making Cain the most recent perfect National Leaguer. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/6f/cf/29/6fcf292af2ae4fdde2e576f85968edc8.jpg>

More could https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2896010-mlb-letter-to-yankees-about-alleged-sign-stealing-in-2017-ordered-to-be-unsealed?utm_source=cnn.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=editorialpossibly by dropping ... possibly on the Yankees (though I'm counting no chickens). Tim Daniels wrote: U.S. District Court judge Jed Rakoff ruled Friday the New York Yankees must unseal a letter they received from MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred in 2017 about findings in a sign-stealing investigation that led to an undisclosed fine. ... The plaintiffs in the case argued Manfred's letter to the Yanks will reveal a "more serious sign-stealing scheme" than what was represented in the 2017 announcement of a fine, per Drellich. https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2896010-mlb-letter-to-yankees-about-alleged-sign-stealing-in-2017-ordered-to-be-unsealed?utm_source=cnn.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=editorialhttps://bleacherreport.com/articles/2896010-mlb-letter-to-yankees-about-alleged-sign-stealing-in-2017-ordered-to-be-unsealed?utm_source=cnn.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=editorial

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=38638 time=1592073179 user_id=68] Is there a clause in MLB's CBA for an arbitrator to issue a binding ruling on what, if any, kind of season there's gonna be in 2020? I could be wrong, but I think that the parties are on their own here, and for a binding arbitrator to step in and sort things out, with actual authority, both sides would have to agree for that to happen.

It seems like an independent arbitrator trying to make both sides equally miserable is the only way there is going to be anything like a season.

Orze's money pitch is the splitter — a pitch that has been relegated, by health concerns, to a secondary pitch by those who still throw it. And even those guys have slowed it down to use more as a change of pace, much like the traditional forkball. Orze, though, still lets it fly, Sutter-style. Watch him go, listen to some corporate rock, and enjoy your orzegasm. [YOUTUBE]eb_m1FZndfo[/YOUTUBE]

So, birth control will be involved? That's an interesting new wrinkle.

Round Five Met Pick is University of New Orleans (go, Privateers!) righthander Eric Orze. Doomed forever to be nicknamed EBN-OZN by me, Eric is a fifth-year senior, so you know ashie loves him. A different sort of risk from the first pitcher (J.T. Ginn) selected by the Mets, Eric's a https://www.wdsu.com/article/judge-sets-deadline-for-abuse-survivors-to-file-claim-against-boy-scouts/32830572two-time cancer survivor. Drops his arm in his delivery. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ETKeRcSXsAEkMdE.jpg>

Maybe Duffy has.

Yeah, it's a tough choice, and there's certainly an argument that this may be his last chance to cash his chips in, so he might be advised to jump at slot money. A fastball with running action and a "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bKG0p6Tv9Q slider" were both described as double-plus offerings before his season ended, and I get the idea that throwing them might be part of why his season ended. My super-advanced biomechanics studies at Outyerhole University tell me he loads a lot of stored energy in his elbow before exploding out to full extension. [FIMG=250]https://dbukjj6eu5tsf.cloudfront.net/sidearm.sites/msstate.sidearmsports.com/images/2019/6/21/GRN_0864.jpeg[/FIMG] [FIMG=250]https://article-file-photos.s3.amazonaws.com/l_wtlzs220202015839PM.jpg[/FIMG] [FIMG=250]https://article-file-photos.s3.amazonaws.com/l_liaoi2242020105950PM.jpg[/FIMG]

Funny to see the first round include only 29 picks and then realizing ... oh, yeah ... In the second round, the Mets rolled the dice on Mississippi State's J.T. Ginn. J.T. (who I'm going to assume is named for Justin Timberlake) was a former first rounder (Dodgers, 2018) who instead elected to go the college route. After being the SEC Frosh of the Year, he kicked off his sophomore season by getting knocked out early in the opener and then checking in for Tommy John surgery in March. As much as the pick was a gamble, taking a guy while his stock was falling, the Mets might have to match the Dodgers' first round $$ in order to see the gamble through.

Pourquoi pas?

That's a terrific memorial essay to Claudie. Not for nothing, but I think it may help Faith and Fear reach the billion-strong readership it deserves if it had a larger text size and a few illustrations to break up the text. I realize that may be taking youse off your brand, but physically dense text can intimidate the reader, and scare them into thinking the prose itself is harder to penetrate than it actually is.

Well, he's played on the national team against three different levels, so he's probably got more high-end experience than most.

I agree it was better, and I need to put up a separate thread. Still kind of disappointed though.

Pete's mama, Ashley "Don't Call Me 'Sheryl'" Crow, shown here playing Billy Heywood's mother in the Dallas Green-era baseball family movie, Little Big League. [fimg=500]https://img.mlbstatic.com/mlb-images/image/private/t_16x9/t_w1024/mlb/syhprkksjh5rduybovtm[/fimg] Pete's paw, Matthew John Armstrong. He played Pete Pryor in the Art Howe-era TV series American Dreams. https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/supernatural/images/1/1c/600full-matthew-john-armstrong.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/340?cb=20120707225817> He's supposedly been misidentified as a former Geico caveman on more than one occasion. They met filming the Gangster Jerry-era TV show Heroes, a favorite of Vic Sage, wherever he is. If that's true, I suppose Pete had a different biological dad, because otherwise, he'd be, like, 13 or 14.

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: I believe he was the first guy Frank Cashen traded for. I could be wrong about that. Remember that 3 hr game I think this is correct, and that was the only trade of the 1980 season.

I remember Ralph telling a story in the booth about the new Mets PR guy Jay Horwitz getting a call from his mother, saying, "Hey that new guy the Mets got is pretty good!" Jay asked who she was referring to and his mom said "Claudell Irvington."

In a strange bit of draft predictions working out, which almost never happens , the Mets have selected California schoolboy outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong, who they've been reportedly in love with since last Fall. Pete is from LA's elite Harvard-Westlake High School so he's all about the hyphens. Both of his parents are Hollywood actors, one a Crow, and the other an Armstrong. https://www.mlb.com/news/pete-crow-armstrong-facts-to-knowhttps://www.mlb.com/news/pete-crow-armstrong-facts-to-know Watch him kill it at the prospect workout. [YOUTUBE]77lqBRvybiE[/YOUTUBE] He's like a young Billy Beane out there!

Added a late summer jolt of offense for a team that was starving for runs. For that reason I'll always associate him with fellow mid-season-arriving corner outfielders like Richard Hidalgo, Bobby Abreu and even Yoenis Céspedes. Veteran sluggers with great-but-sometimes-erratic arms all. Jeff Conine and Shawn Green also kind of fit in this category, but they actually made good hitting teams worse. Claudell became a free agent after his tenure with the Mets, and ended up being a high-priced consolation prize, going to the Braves at a pretty good salary after they lost the Dave Winfield sweepstakes. One GM, asked about the high price of talent in the context of the Winfield contract, answered that the real problem was the high price of mediocrity, referring implicitly to Washington.

Well, 116 regular season victories suggest they could win a game or two. Congratulations, Mets? We finally have that followup championship!

Benjamin Grimm wrote: And not all games will be played in empty stadiums. There won't be any crowds of 40,000, but I know that there are mayors and governors who said that they would allow paid spectators at sporting events. (I haven't been keeping track of which ones have said that.) If you could put 5,000 people in the park and charge them $100 per ticket (I'm totally making these numbers up) that would mitigate the $640,000 they owners will lose (using numbers that they probably totally made up) each game. I wouldn't go to a baseball game in these times if they paid me. And then fed me. I'm tempted. Paid me and fed me, you say?

Working nickname: "The Boogie Knight."

Don't get too 'cited about Camper Wrongs-Otter, though. I've got mockers that are seeing him go as high as #7 to the Pirates. Raunchiest Kind has a good chance to be off the board too. https://www.lookoutlanding.com/2020/6/9/21284125/joe-doyles-final-2020-mlb-mock-draft-marinersOne mocketeer has the Mets grabbing up another outfielder with the pornalicious name of Dillon Diggler. Scouts dig his bat control, and like Dale Murphy or Craig Biggio or Bryce Harper, he combines the disciplined ruggedness for catcher and the athleticism for centerfield, and could end up sticking at either. https://twitter.com/eccentricladdie/status/1256663119440621568 The Mets also select at #52 and #69 (compensation for losing Zack Wheelie).

In what will hopefully be the last MLB draft ever, the Mets pick 19th. And while a lot of rankings and mock drafts diverge mightily at that point, one name that keeps coming bouncing into the picture is Pennsylvania high school outfielder Austin Hendrick. He seeminlgy fits the Mets' recent profile because they've taken advanced high school bats (Jarred Kelenic and Brett Baty) in the first round the last two years. But then they turned around and flipped Kelenic, so what does that even mean? But he's a 19-year-old senior, so he fits their profile. Anyhow, he's generally listed third among high school hitters in the mockerinos, thanks to a wicked fast swing (see below). Downside is that he's in a good position to demand over-slot value (he'd be eligible to re-enter the draft after only one year of college), and the Mets may be in cost control mode with the team on the block and revenues non-existent. But look at this rip. Another name I either keep hearing a lot, or simply heard once but remembered, because it's a cool name, is another prep outfielder, Californian Pete Crow-Armstrong. He's behind Hendrick as a hitter, perhaps, but he's got a strong profile for sticking in center. Wicked fast, athletic, easy movements, and has the old projectible frame that gets the scouts all gooey. Was having a great year at Harvard-Westlake and raising his draft profile before his season got shut down with the pandemic. Need 20 minutes of talking to a dorky high school jock? You're in luck. [YOUTUBE]vGgOSzHtHwI[/YOUTUBE]

Has Jones really never told this story before? I'm crazy about Cleon, but I wouldn't have guessed he'd be the most impressive Met in retirement, and he's been pretty close to exactly that.