Edgy MD

One of the things Shea had right and Yankee Stadium had wrong that we caved on with Citi Field, is building those outfield walls in foul territory right right up to the foul/fair lines. Keith pointed out a problem with them this weekend, that outfielders, unable to judge what's fair, what's foul, and what's foul and out of play, are forced to run full bear at the walls chasing down flares off the end of the bat putting them in jeopardy over a low-stakes nothing hit. On top of that are: 2) Low drives down the line ricocheting of the fa�ade and back in front of the outfielder for a single, taking away the extra-base hit that any and everybody should enjoy the likelihood of when he drives a low liner inside the bag. 3) The ball that skips out of play after two hops, leading to a ground rule double and taking the joy of seeing a play develop away from the crowd. (Automatic anything means less baseball.) Also lost here is the possibility of scoring from first on a double down the line. These automatic doubles also occur when the fans in the part of the stands that begin sloping toward the too-close outfield wall reach down and interfere. Boo! 4) Taking away the outfield foul fly in general. It gives the corner outfielders less ground to cover and demands less of him. It also takes away those rare-but-dramatic moments when an outfielder has to judge whether or not to catch a foul fly or let it drop to prevent a tagging runner from scoring. 5) The decreasing space in the back of the infield, as the stands slope toward the outfield takes away the space in which a shorstop or secondbaseman pursue a foul pop behind third/first. And as they're looking over their shoulders, they often have a lot of trouble picking up on where the stands are.

Maybe (he probably has an innings limit of his own). But September will come soon enough. I see no reason to bail out now.

It's no like Eric Young's roster spot is locked down either.

EA came up sort of in a utility role. It wasn't until year three that he began to show his beauty. batmagadanleadoff: 2 Mets Guy: 2 (1 X) Zvon: 1 (1 X) Frayed Knot: 1 (1 X) HahnSolo: 0 (1 X) Benjamin Grimm: -1 (1 X) Centerfield: -1 (1 X) DocTee: -1 (2 X) LWFS: -2 (2 X)

So close. batmagadanleadoff: 2 Mets Guy: 2 (1 X) Zvon: 1 (1 X) Frayed Knot: 1 (1 X) HahnSolo: 0 (1 X) Centerfield: -1 (1 X) DocTee: -1 (2 X) LWFS: -2 (2 X)

Baloney. batmagadanleadoff: 2 Mets Guy: 2 (1 X) Zvon: 1 (1 X) HahnSolo: 1 Frayed Knot: 1 (1 X) Centerfield: -1 (1 X) DocTee: -1 (2 X) LWFS: -2 (2 X)

While the judges in New York state that "Since Dwight Gooden was the NL Rookie of the Year in 1984," should be clearly understood to mean post-1984, they've graciously sympathasized with the notion that you saw ambiguity there, and will not dock you a point. The world is imperfect; we can't ask language to be perfect. Point for McDowell. Two rookie Mets remain. One was almost gotten. No.YearPlayerPlacePts.First Pl. VotesShareWinner11985McDowellT6202%Coleman21986Mitchell322118%Worrell31988JefferiesT6302%Sabo41989Jefferies318015%Walton51994JonesT8302%Mondesi61995IsringhausenT4403%Nomo71996Ord��ez5715%Hollandsworth82000Payton337123%Furcal92003ReyesT8101%Willis102004MatsuiT6101%Bay112010Davis7201%Posey batmagadanleadoff: 2 Mets Guy: 2 (1 X) Zvon: 1 (1 X) HahnSolo: 1 Frayed Knot: 1 (1 X) Centerfield: -1 (1 X) LWFS: -1 (1 X) DocTee: -1 (2 X)

Good guess. Mike Jacobs may have only played 30 games in 2005, but .310 / .375 / .710 // 1.085 is a heckuva line. No votes, though. batmagadanleadoff: 2 Mets Guy: 2 (1 X) Zvon: 1 (1 X) Frayed Knot: 1 (1 X) Centerfield: -1 (1 X) LWFS: -1 (1 X) DocTee: -1 (2 X)

Baby Rey has been tagged already. Number six above. batmagadanleadoff: 2 Mets Guy: 2 (1 X) Zvon: 1 (1 X) Frayed Knot: 1 (1 X) DocTee: 0 (1 X) Centerfield: -1 (1 X) LWFS: -1 (1 X) Should have credited correct answers with two points, like I used to.

Yes to Payday, no to Mann. I generally make it a habit to say no to menn, in fact. No.YearPlayerPlacePts.First Pl. VotesShareWinner11986Mitchell322118%Worrell21988JefferiesT6302%Sabo31989Jefferies318015%Walton41994JonesT8302%Mondesi51995IsringhausenT4403%Nomo61996Ord��ez5715%Hollandsworth72000Payton337123%Furcal82003ReyesT8101%Willis92004MatsuiT6101%Bay102010Davis7201%Posey batmagadanleadoff: 2 Mets Guy: 2 (1 X) Zvon: 1 (1 X) Frayed Knot: 1 (1 X) DocTee: 0 (1 X) Centerfield: -1 (1 X) Come on.... THINK back to the scintillating Rookie of the Year races of yestertimes.

Oh, sorry, I missed a "next to.' Dave Magadan had a heckuva half season in 1987, punchless as it was, but came up empty. Jeff Kent split his rookie season between the AL and the NL... and got no RoY votes in either. My scoring system has turned this into a war of attrition. Mets Guy: 2 (1 X) Zvon: 1 (1 X) Frayed Knot: 1 (1 X) batmagadanleadoff: 1 DocTee: 0 (1 X) Centerfield: -1 (1 X)

Kevin Mitchell? Good call. No.YearPlayerPlacePts.First Pl. VotesShareWinner11986Mitchell322118%Worrell21988JefferiesT6302%Sabo31989Jefferies318015%Walton41994JonesT8302%Mondesi51995IsringhausenT4403%Nomo61996Ord��ez5715%Hollandsworth72003ReyesT8101%Willis82004MatsuiT6101%Bay92010Davis7201%Posey Mets Guy: 2 (1 X) Zvon: 1 (1 X) Frayed Knot: 1 (1 X) batmagadanleadoff: 1 DocTee: 1 Four more Mets rookies to go.

Because too much of a good thing is even better, here's a list of every team's next to next to last ROY winner:... ...1972 Mets Jon Matlack Darryl Strawberry ain't stone soup.

Who can forget Cal Koonce? Dude has a championship ring.

The difference, as noted above, is that nobody's gonna barrel into a thirdbaseman, because after reaching third base, unlike home, you have to maintain possession of it. Somebody comes barreling into third, you step out of the way and get him after he flies into the coach's box. Maybe they can achieve what they want if they just make that the rule. You have to establish possession of home plate. Come to a rest on it. They'll slide like boy scouts, then.

No.YearPlayerPlacePts.First Pl. VotesShareWinner11988JefferiesT6302%Sabo21989Jefferies318015%Walton31994JonesT8302%Mondesi41995IsringhausenT4403%Nomo51996Ord��ez5715%Hollandsworth62003ReyesT8101%Willis82010Davis7201%Posey Mets Guy: 2 (1 X) Zvon: 1 (1 X) Frayed Knot: 1 (1 X) batmagadanleadoff: 1 Five more rookie sensations out there.

Murph Is Dead

Sorry, Zvon. Force to unallow that answer and flag you for technically posting twice in a row. X OH!! No.YearPlayerPlacePts.First Pl. VotesShareWinner11988JefferiesT6302%Sabo21989Jefferies318015%Walton31995IsringhausenT4403%Nomo41996Ord��ez5715%Hollandsworth52003ReyesT8101%Willis62004MatsuiT6101%Bay72010Davis7201%Posey Mets Guy: 2 (1 X) Zvon: 1 (1 X) Frayed Knot: 1 (1 X)

You don't get RotY for potential, but performance, and Ike exhibited performance. No.YearPlayerPlacePts.First Pl. VotesShareWinner11988JefferiesT6302%Sabo21989Jefferies318015%Walton31996Ord��ez5715%Hollandsworth42003ReyesT8101%Willis52004MatsuiT6101%Bay62010Davis7201%Posey Zvon: 2 Frayed Knot: 1 (1 X) Mets Guy: 1 (1 X)

Neither David Wight nor David Wright managed to finish in the money, putting up a rookie year that was only a third of a year. Matt Harvey (10 starts) similarly watched the RotY action from the sidelines. No.YearPlayerPlacePts.First Pl. VotesShareWinner11988JefferiesT6302%Sabo21989Jefferies318015%Walton32003ReyesT8101%Willis42004MatsuiT6101%Bay Frayed Knot: 1 (1 X) Zvon: 1 Mets Guy: 0 (1 X)

him = Bumgarner? Eveland? That guy who just hit his second homer?

I'm going to give FK two points for your one guess there. No.YearPlayerPlacePts.First Pl. VotesShareWinner11988JefferiesT6302%Sabo21989Jefferies318015%Walton32004MatsuiT6101%Bay Frayed Knot: 2 Mets Guy: 1

Quiz Rules: One guess per post, and NO CONSECUTIVE POSTS. If you guess, you wait until somebubby else posts, then you come in. One point per correct guess. Minus one point per incorrect guess. Three incorrect guesses and you're done. Oh, and no peeking. Honor system. Question: Since Dwight Gooden was the NL Rookie of the Year in 1984, the Mets have had 13 players garner ROY votes for them. Name those 13.

Well, Eveland got it done, anywheeze.

Gwreck wrote: Jose Santiago? or Juan Padilla? I must be thinking of Santiago. Looking back, though, he was in a different season than Parra.