Edgy MD

Edgy MD wrote: Alonso averaging 420 feet per homer in his career. It turned out I sold him way short: It was a Kingmanian 444 feet. THAT'S the way to tag your first homer. I didn't see him enough during Spring Training to see where he likes to be pitched, but as that pitch was coming in, middle in, above the knees, with no movement, I was thinking, "If he's the player we're all hoping he'll be, he's gonna crush that pitch." I just went to check Gameday to see if I was correctly characterizing the pitch, and ... holy hell, look at this meatball. https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2019/04/screen-shot-2019-04-02-at-1.15.27-pm.png> https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2019/04/screen-shot-2019-04-02-at-1.15.39-pm.png> You throw that shit to Dom, you're askin' for a bomb. You throw that shit to Pete, he'll, knock it 'cross the street.

Yeah, I don't know why the bunt to third is dead, but it's dead.

I think after he got tagged twice for not getting out of the way of a pitch, he lost the benefit of the doubt from the umps. Sub-concsciously knowing that this guy likes to play them, they stopped giving him borderline calls. Which means he's got to flip the script, and put thwacking the ball ahead of being the cagey on-base guy for a bit.

For a crowded, busy cover, there's some good layering in that Muffy layout, and a nice action shot that captures the nut of the story. Make Mine Muffy!

Yeah, that adds up. Of course, Teufel was getting into at least https://www.nytimes.com/1986/07/20/sports/4-mets-arrested-in-fight.htmlone fight in 1986.

https://metsmerizedonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/McNeil1.jpg> I was the best thing to happen to the Mets' infield last year. Not go get all haughty. It's just true. Seriously, who gave the team more in the infield — whatever their total of trips to the plate — than I gave them. in 2018? Really, who? Think about it. Todd Frazier didn't, and he gets himself a bobble-head day. Asdrubal Cabrera didn't. And he brought the Mets back a gen-u-ine prospect when he was dealt. Amed Rosario didn't, and Dom Smith didn't, despite me having to look up at their names above mine on prospect lists all through my minor league days. I can continue! Big names like Wright and Flores! Little names like Kelly and Guillorme and Reinheimer. Adrian Gonzalez and Phil Evans and ... who'm I missing? OH YEAH, José Reyes. None of those guys deposited more in the bank, than this guy right here. What did it earn me? You'd think they'd go into the off-season thinking, "Well, at least we don't have to go out and find a secondbaseman this year! That McNelt is alright! You'd think that. And you'd be right. The Mets didn't go out and find a secondbaseman. THEY WENT OUT AND FOUND TWO! This was a high one on the bullshit meter, alright. But a pair of injuries at the top of camp vaulted me back into the lineup. Now I'm playing third, developing my confidence, and holy heck, I've appeared in each of the first four games and gone .455 / .538 / .818 // 1.357. My aim is to keep this up, so when the other guys come back, if there's no room for me, the Mick will have to MAKE room. That's it. That's all there is to it. But that's a tall order. How's it gonna play out? You know ... in real life?

Yeah, if only that pitch didn't come in some sort of context.

http://mlb.mlb.com/images/2004/08/03/CBcUU7Jx.jpg> The damn thing is over!

Everybody thank the Fish for going fishing.

Doug Sisk always has to make it interesting.

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: Edgy MD wrote: I'm lovin' Smitty's headband. Beats Alonso's hair. My gosh. (Snort.)

Alonso averaging 420 feet per homer in his career.

KAPOWIE! ZOWIE!! HOLY COWIE!! WOWIE!! HOWIE!!!

I'm lovin' Smitty's headband.

Man. I'm all for bunting a guy from second to third, but not from first to second. But managers seem to prefer to practice the opposite.

The good news is that if Nimmo was hurt, he could have healed waiting for that trip to the plate.

Maybe it's just my impression, but it seems like Mattingly never wins challenges.

That's some weird sequence.

The Orioles just pulled a starter who had a no-hitter going. AFTER SIX AND A THIRD INNINGS!

It always makes a differences how old you are. When I worked for our local parks department, at around 19 or so, I guess, I had to manicure the department's only MLB regulation-sized field. The Mets were sending a group to do a clinic for our local Little Leaguers. I had been around (I was 19!) so I knew we'd get the guys at the end of the bench. But somehow, word had gotten around that Dykstra was going to be there. He wasn't, of course, but we got every 10-14 year old boy from four towns around packing the field to the point of danger, all for a clinic put on by Bill Robinson, Mel Stottlemyer, Rafael Santana and (I think) Randy Niemann. I saw a friend of my mother's who was from two towns over, and she explained to me that she had brought her 13-year-old to see Dykstra, and he was heartbroken, but still an hour into the clinic, there was this buzz going that he might still arrive. All I could think was, "That douchebag is the phoniest player in the league, — at least, now that everybody knows the truth about Pete Rose." I found it unfathomable that nobody else could see through him. But these were boys. White boys who had a super-athletic, dirty, over-hyped white centerfielder that they could identify with. He even had a boyish stature. Half of them were wearing his number, and some were wearing eye-black (to an evening clinic). I realized then that I might have fallen for him when I was younger too. I kinda, sorta, mostly fell for Lee Mazzilli. But Dykstra seemed to be working a hustle from the day he arrived. (Talk about making the easy plays look hard.) It's a shame, too. He really was that great an athlete. Despite being from Southern Cal (and being a Floridian in spirit), he was actually from a hockey family, and three of his uncles played in the NHL.

I'm generally down on shots of guys swinging weighted bats in the on-deck circle. It jacks up their muscles nicely, but their faces look so half-hearted.

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/MNowtJNCNj0il0PteYd7lpG5Q6o=/0x0:1590x2106/1200x800/filters:focal(602x695:856x949)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/58164041/usa_today_10307746.0.jpg > Mesoraco can bitch. He can bitch but he is rich. I'm poor and I want more. I'm Tomás Nido, and I'm the backup catcher on the Mets. And yeah, Devin Mesoraco can bitch. So can Travis d'Arnaud for all I care. There were a half dozen catchers in camp. Maybe more. We all went through the same workouts, and had the same chance to showcase our mad skills. At the end of the day, it was Ramos and myself that were left standing. These guys should know it's a competitive atmosphere out there, and success is measured in wins and losses. I didn't hear Mesoraco bitch when the Reds paid him $27 million over the last four years when he hasn't done dick. I haven't done dick either. The difference is I haven't been paid dick. But I've some dick in the minors. I've done a LOT of dick. Sure, I haven't done as much dick as might like since my 2016 breakthrough with St. Lucie. But this spring? Dick, dick, dick. I did a lot of it and it was glorious. And that's how a guy makes a team as backup catcher. Embrace the grind and outplay the others. I'm not going to apologize. Not to nobody. But now we up in the big leagues, gettin' our turn at bat. And no amount of minor league merit mongering or springtime skill saavy is going to allow me to keep this job if I don't prospers. d'Arnaud is only going to be eligible to rehab for so many weeks, and if I have shown my quality by then, the Mets are going to show me upstate New York. So, talk among yourselves. Where is this all going to lead? Because backup catching is totally a thing. And right now, I'm doing it.

This is a pretty good field. Notice Mona Lisa rocking Randy Randy Myers' camouflage undershirt two years after Myers has been shipped out.

A Boy Named Seo wrote: Game 2 - leaving Wilson Ramos in to run for himself. Did not bite the team in the ass, but easily could have. Gary asked him about it the next day, and per Gary, Mickey said something along the lines of most of the time those pinch running changes make no difference and that he was leery to burn Nido without a third catcher. A lot about that answer I didn't like. What does Mickey think happens more frequently: A runner on first with no outs scoring because you replace a lumbering guy with a fleet one? A team compromised because their last catcher got hurt during the game? I don't agree. Once you hit the bottom of the ninth in a tie game, it's sudden death. I'd put in the best available pitcher. And after he's all used up, I'd put in the next best available pitcher. We've gotten to the point where teams have a zillion pitchers on the roster and a miniscule bench, but still, there aren't enough pitchers to manage for an extra inning game so Justin Wilson has to pitch with the game on the line while Familia and Diaz sit and watch. How screwed up is that? I just hope that the "save" didn't affect Callaway's decision. Holding your best pitcher for a save in a tie game in the ninth inning or later is screaming madness. Any potential manager I interview in any potential alternate reality where I'm a guy who gets interview potential managers, this is the first issue I ask him about.

=Ceetar post_id=5824 time=1554129300 user_id=102]I suspect if Mes had just reported he'd get released when d'Arnaud was ready. But who knows now.