Edgy MD

Curious if there'll be a presidential first pitch. With nobody there to boo him, he can pretend that everybody loved it and tuned in just to see him. Heck, he can even pre-record it and edit it to look like he zipped it in straight for a strike.

I think Johnson was in a bad personal place at the time and didn't play well with others. In the early years of his tenure, he treated the veteran players like his peers — some of whom he had played with or against in his own career. His coaches too were a peer group. (Bill Robinson, Mel Stottlemyer, Bud Harrelson, and Bobby Valentine were all on their first tenures as big league coaches. Greg Pavlick too, for that matter.) As those players moved on or retired, and the staff was shuffled, I think he grew more alienated. I think his other tenures frequently ended similarly, bonding with the players and drinking with the owners. He was as good a manager for turning a franchise around in his first two years as anybody, but he was like a character in a country song — loving deeply and fully at the start of a new relationship and bonding quickly with the family, but growing restless over the years and sabotaging the relationship down the road.

You're assuming that, given a chance fuck things up, we'd somehow not. I'm no pessimist, at least I thought I wasn't, but it seems dysfunction is baked into the cake these days.

He kinda did though. That Samuel trade was run by him and he said to go for it.

The owners have already gotten in plenty of trouble for that before. I'm sure that the union wouldn't agree to a percentage without insisting on an independent auditor.

Joe McEwing in 2000. After an astounding game back at Shea in May against Randy Johnson, with two doubles and a homer, plus a ninth-inning walk against Byung-Hyun Kim and coming around to score the game-winner, he gave himself the unfortunate blessing of always being in the lineup the rest of his career when Johnson was on the mound. Back at the BOB in August, Johnson is bearing down to show that earlier game was some sort of fluke, but McEwing doubles and hits a run-scoring sac fly against The Big Unit as the Mets chase Randy — in the middle of an unprecedented four-consecutive-season Cy Young streak — after 3 2/3 innings. The Mets seemed invincible at the time. I'm kind of remembering that Ambler was following them on this road trip or something. If not him, I think the MoFo had somebody on the road working as an inside man who was hunting Mets down at the hotel bars.

The home of the Diamondbacks opened in 1998, as Bank One Ballpark, but banks swap assets alla time, take over each other, merge, and now folks celebrate Eric Chavez, Randy Choate, and Bobby Chouinard at Chase Field, aka The Snake Pit. It is a rare baseball field that was ready for a new team's debut, and in that sense, then-Bank One foreshadowed the Diamondbacks swift move into contender status. The Mets, going back to 1969, always seem to meet new teams and new stadia early in their existence, but it took them until August of 1998 to step into the pit and get the first feel of a snake in their boots, as Rick Reed walked off with the victory. They have enjoyed a 39 and 37 record in the indoor/outdoor park, with it appearing to be a favorite of Willie Randolph, as the team won 13 in a row from 2004 to 2007, often with some monstrously huge run totals, including a dynamic explosion on the scene in 2005 for rookie firstbaseman Mike Jacobs. They also hold a 1-1 record in post-season action, owing to their 1999 playoff clash in which the most enduring memory for most Mets fans occurred back at Shea. Bank One/Chase also offers at least a few solid memories to Mets fans everywhere for hosting the 2001 World Series, in which a dynastic Yankee team went down in seven, despite the Yanks bringing Juicey McClemens and Shocksy Rivera to the mound in Game Seven, proving that . But let's leave the Yankees out of this and you can give me your best memories of the Mets at Banksy Chasey. https://www.phxfray.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/07/Chase-Field_Gannett.png>

I trust Oscar Carter because you can tell that guy is funny. Look at his eye contact. He owns that camera.

Edgy MD wrote: Garry Templeton can't touch Tony Fernandez, who got 45.3 career WAR, but only 0.2 with the Mets. So he gets nixed because his career continued after the Mets? Although, so did Alomar's.

Garry Templeton can't touch Tony Fernandez, who got 45.3 career WAR, but only 0.2 with the Mets.

That should be fixed. Thanks for the clixx.

I like Oscar's search for subtext. Today, alsoLoy Augustus has two handsome kids and a taste for turquoise.

https://metsmerizedonline.com/2020/05/reliving-the-2000-mets-bay-area-buzzsaw.html/MetsMerizedOnline is reliving the 2000 Mets season, recounting an early season disaster of a series in San Francisco, one that would be rendered almost unrecognizable come the Fall when they would dispatch the Giants with almost disturbing efficiency. https://www.fishstripes.com/2020/5/8/21251367/best-marlins-hitting-seasons-stats-highlights-the-1990sFish Stripes entertains the always-contentious question of the what the best Marlins offensive season of 1990s was. Multiple former- and future-Mets appear. http://metsminors.net/mmn-roundtable-which-player-is-primed-for-a-breakout-season/MetsMinors entertains the question of which Mets minor leaguers are poised to have a breakout season this year, a question that takes on even quantum depths as we confront the diminishing likelihood of any of them ever playing game one. https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2020/05/the-unnatural?fbclid=IwAR1GHe0rkfJ7cr_OzTR0EoydZN4-bXPRGefklOrtgAIOw-lMA32CPrGYXt8Lawyers, Guns, and Money takes something of a deep dive into the president's claims of baseball prowess.

I think a lot about what this non-starter of a season is going to do to baseball long-term. I've got to think a lot of things about baseball will be impacted long term. How many minor league teams will never return? How many players were in their last year before minor league free agency, and will get lost in the market because of the flooding? Will scouting channels contract with the lower demand and thinned-out resource chains? How many nascent careers will end prematurely as players pursue another life in baseball's absence. How many talented pitchers will actually flourish long term because of a year away? Bill James used to claim (perhaps he still does) that the high number or long-term pitching careers to come out of the sixties was due in part to minor leaguers missing a summer for military service or non-arm injury rehabilitation. I don't know when or if true ballpark culture will return. I imagine some cities will be comfortable congregating closely faster than others, and New York, ironically, may be slower than some others, despite the ever-present density of the NYC lifestyle. How boring will the games be with initially empty stands only gradually filling out? Will there be one exciting Friday night matchup in July 2023 where suddenly everybody is in their seats at once in a packed house in a tight game and suddenly everyone will realize this was how it used to be? Clubhouses, buses, airplanes, media scrums. All will return to normal at different paces, but some or perhaps much of it, arguably, never should. It would be a wonderful time for a generation of visionaries to appear in the game, but like in government, I really don't see who or where these folks might be, and I think the system is rigged to always frustrate such folks and keep them away from positions of authority.

Oh, dear God. Jerry getting position players on the mound to bat against and sending actual hitters up to lay down a bunt against them. I wanted to fire him before his head hit the pillow, even though the Mets had won.

Opening in 2006, BS3 (also known as BS2) is a rare ballpark to win a World Series in its debut year, thanks to some strange witchery. A good ballpark for salvaging Sunday wins after taking it on the chin on Friday and Saturday, BS3 has held the Mets to a 17-27 record against an impressively consistent Cardinal squad over that time. Their record drops to 18-29 if you count hot, sexy playoff action. But what's the memory from the Birdhouse that locks in you in and won't let you out? Surely one of those 47 games left an impression. Hey, I've got an idea! Let's paint every bloody seat red! That won't be too annoying! https://www.ballparksofbaseball.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/busch17951.jpg>

https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2020/05/met-life.jpg>

What really stings at different levels, in different cases, for teams and players and owners is all the guys who aren't playing out the last year of their contracts. Personally, I think it's fine if guys who are pre-free-agency get some or all of a season of service time added to their ledgers, but I'd be happy to see every player who has reached the free-agency portion of his career get a one-year extension at AAV rates.

Jericho Turnpike is rather ugly, isn't it? It's a stressful place to walk, shop, park, or drive. Probably was a state-of-the-art suburban gem at one point. Or, at least, folks convinced themselves it was.

Gosh, that's three. I'm disappointed that I couldn't have come up with the Randolph/Manuel transition.

I was reviewing the "active" MLB parks, and I realized that I have no memory of anything that's ever happened in a Mets game at Angel Stadium, aka Angel Stadium at Anaheim, aka The Big A, aka Anaheim Stadium. It's the fourth oldest park in baseball, because nothing rots in Southern California, the Mets have played nine official games there, and I'm having trouble summoning any of them. They even have a winning record (5-4), but damned if I knew that without looking it up. What Mets memories do you have of Angel Stadium?

If nothing else, this gives MLB a blueprint on how to phase baseball back in. Relying on a functioning government, apparently, is not remotely an option.

=LWFS post_id=36412 time=1588702949 user_id=84]Among the American KBO-gnoscenti, the LG Twins appear to be the consensus most Metly: second-place in their own town/stadium to the reigning champion/current league power Doosan Bears in Seoul; last championship in 1994, but oh-so-close a few times; mostly disappointing... but with a rabid fanbase that travels well. They're also loaded with arms, apparently, including Americans Casey Kelley and Trevor Wilson. I think I like the idea of going alternate-universe with this, and picking a team that ain't nearly so neat a Korean correlate for our guys.

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: I'm a Doosan 🐻 Doosanbags are the worst! Seriously, though, I like the idea of picking one as a forum.

I love everything about this thread.