Edgy MD

I think we may be setting ourselves up for disappointment if we're committed to the notion that the compensation is going to be better than any player the team drafts. I mean, he'll likely be further along, and better in that sense. But so is Jose Valverde.

The terrible Bambi-era Mets had played a month of really good ball going into that 1982 series, closing the gap from something typical like 17 games out to four games out. Four games out! Single digits! It was almost unthinkable for a Met team during the Seaver interregnum. And to add to that, they were 35-33. A Mets team above .500! The tabloids were declaring a sweeping epidemic of ".500 Fever" gripping New York. That's how low our standards were. But I didn't care. I woke up Friday morning to standings that looked like this. TmWLW-L%GBRSRApythW-L%MON3828.576--282230.592STL4030.571--308294.521PHI3532.5223.5295277.529NYM3533.5154.0272290.471PIT3034.4697.0298309.483CHC2644.37114.0288341.423 To be a young Met fan, it was like being on hard drugs. The team just ahead of us was the usual class of the division --- the Schmidt-era Phillies --- on whose behalf "Ya Gotta Believe" Tug McGraw invited New York fans to ""take this championship and shove it" after their 1980 parade. (Really, Tug? Who quotes Johnny Paycheck?) But hard drugs lead to harder crashes. Fast and brutal crashes. Because of prior rainouts, the team headed to Philadelphia for what was originally scheduled to be a three-game series, now bloated to five. But there were no gap days. The series was to include two consecutive double headers. A twi-nighter on Friday, an afternoon pair on Saturday, and a Sunday matinee. Five games in 48 hours. They weren't crushed, just outclassed. But you could feel the demoralization creep into the team's clubhouse as each game of the five-game sweep was cashed in. The tight, hard fought matches grew less tight: 1-0, 5-3, 4-3, 7-4, 8-3. It was Pete Falcone and Dick Ruthven in game one, both going the distance, shutting down the opposing offense. In the ninth, one out, Rose singled, Matthews singled, Schmidt flew out and then he came up --- Bo F. Diaz. Diaz tapped a ball down the third base line. Hubie was a solid thirdbaseman. At least, the tools were there. Good arm. But he couldn't charge a ball like Schmidt could even on the rug. And what could have been a big out was an infield hit by the catcher. It was a good time to lift Falcone. Bases loaded, winning run on third, bottom of the ninth, two out. But Neil Allen was down with a bacterial infection --- he would never be the same again --- and Bambi certainly didn't trust anybody else. Falcone walked Bill Robinson, Rose came home with the winning run, and the sweep was on. Bye, bye, BambiMets. The season ended right there. And I was as blue as a boy could be. Game time was 2:03. The 1983 Bo Diaz granny is a big part of "The Night Neil Allen Got Bad Advice."

Absolutely, Mattingly fetishised his drawn-out routine into every plate appearance. And he has spawned two generations of imitators. Just ask "Mattingly Beast of the Month" Spencer Sarel from Brighton, Michigan: As I spoke with Spencer we talked about what it takes to become a good hitter and he mentioned two keys. One was to take as many swings as possible and to simply have repetition after repetition at the plate or practice tee. The other key he mentioned was routine. He said that it was very important that a hitter keeps a good rhythm and routine. Spencer told me that every time he has an at bat he does the same routine. When Spencer gets up to bat he undoes his batting gloves then re-tightens them, then he adjusts his uniform so he is comfortable, then he takes a few swings with a doughnut on. Then when it comes time to get into the batters box he wipes away all the other cleat marks, and finally he wipes down the barrel of his bat. This may all seem like a lengthy process, but it is something that Spencer thinks is very important in maintaining routine.

Well, I just wondered if we were trending toward a team record.

Las Vegas closes out a 13-7 win over El Paso. Nieuwenhuis, clearly pissed that den Dekker got a callup over him, slugs a single, double, and two homers, driving in four. One-man-wrecking-crew-type stuff from Kirk. Ryan Reid gets a weird three-inning save, giving up five hits but striking out seven. Jeff Francoeur threw a scoreless eighth inning for El Paso.

I'll take the first 10 years: 1962: 5 different pitchers earning saves. 1963: 6 1964: 8 1965: 10 1966: 8 1967: 6 1968: 7 1969: 6 1970: 9 1971: 3 Good luck finding an opener casting call for closer than 1965: [list:1iwqajse]Ribant: 3 Richardson: 2 Eilers: 2 Fisher: 1 Jackson: 1 McGraw: 1 Parsons: 1 Bearnarth: 1 Kroll: 1 Lary: 1[/list:u:1iwqajse]

YAY! Only one batting coach is undefeated in 2014. Thoughts on the game: [list:x0yikvxu][*:x0yikvxu]That shot Rubin hit off his knee --- that looked like the type of blunt injury that's worse tomorrow than today. I'm suddenly wondering if Campbell is any kind of notion of a back-up shortstop. I'm also thinking Quintanilla-Seratelli-Muno-Tovar-Sandoval-type thoughts. [/*:m:x0yikvxu] [*:x0yikvxu]Speaking of Campbell: any notion that he's good enough to sub in regularly for Duda for late-inning defense? [/*:m:x0yikvxu] [*:x0yikvxu]Puts the Mets a half game ahead of the Phils (with Philly playing tonight) going into their head-to-head battle.[/*:m:x0yikvxu][/list:u:x0yikvxu]

Getting a hit in only his second career at-bat: Jeurys Familia.

Lamar GENIUS!

Not that these things are ever clear, but wasn't $900 million the total cost of the park, not the public share?

My kind of rally. One that involves almost no bat-to-ball contact.

Maybe it's some sort of master class in stranding dudes, and Chris Young is visiting professor. Anytuckles, Shumcas Duda opens the second with a walk. And it's Ruben Tejada, promoted to the seventh spot in the order.

Mets get two ducks on in the first, but Chris Young whiffs.

Yes, but this was an angry text. An angry meeting. So... I don't know what's going on. But if Sandy the marine, with more standing in the game and security in his future than Jeff Wilpon can dream of, got hauled to an arbitrarily called meeting and bullied into making a decision that he was directly opposed to, and then went and executed the decision begrudgingly, with a half a year on his contract, I'd certainly be disappointed in Alderson.

Yeah, and I added Hudgens. I read the article. I'm not sure on the matter. But I'm reserving judgment on how cowed Alderson is by his boss. Megdal is massively wrong often enough.

Well, I certainly care about a culture of hypocrisy. And if Howard whips up another frenzy of populist zeal against the Mets for doing.... exactly what those same irate fans actually wanted them to do, then that's what we have. What did/do you want? Valverde or not Valverde? Hudgens or no Hudgens?

Nick Evans, terrifying PCL pitchers to the tune of .335 / .393 / .641 // 1.034, called back up to the majors. Had been part of a devastating ex-Met firstbaseman 1-2 punch for the Reno Aces, alongside, Mike Jacobs (.353 / .424 / .605 // 1.029).

If Centeno is in the lineup, it suggests d'Arnaud won't be active for the game in any capacity.

Howard's got computers, and he's tapping phone lines. The fact that 94 % of fans would have supported the Hudgens move and 138% of fans would have supported the Valverde release, had they been polled after the game, is that mentioned?

Chris Young escapes the bench, but not den Dekker. [*:3fzfejng]Lagares, cf[/*:m:3fzfejng] [*:3fzfejng]Murphy, 2b[/*:m:3fzfejng] [*:3fzfejng]Wright, 3b[/*:m:3fzfejng] [*:3fzfejng]Granderson, rf'[/*:m:3fzfejng] [*:3fzfejng]C. Young, lf[/*:m:3fzfejng] [*:3fzfejng]Duda, 1b[/*:m:3fzfejng] [*:3fzfejng]Tejada, ss[/*:m:3fzfejng] [*:3fzfejng]Centeno, c[/*:m:3fzfejng] [*:3fzfejng]Colon, sp[/*:m:3fzfejng][/list:o:3fzfejng]

I was thinking the photo was that exact point. Anyhow, excellent game to follow up on yesterday's trademark APC ("Annual Pittsburgh Crotchpunch.") Lot's of guys picking teammates up. And Tejada and Granderson picked up the team despite being thrown over in this thread. DON'T READ THE CRANE POOL, METS!

In the posted reactions, if not necessarily the voting, there was a lot of folks down on Wall-E here.

Those spikes followed by dives in his previous tenures are notable, though, aren't they? They could mean nothing, and likely do. But they could point to the notion that new blood and shakeup can be helpful for it's own sake --- change the voice, change the narrative, re-contextualize the task --- even if the new guy projects no different in the long term than the old guy. Or it could mean, if you're a hitting coach, try and arrive at the same time an outfield of Beltran, Dye, and Damon is blossoming.

Ceetar wrote: Edgy MD wrote: He will, I'm sure. Once the team starts getting some hits to drop in. He can help keep the other guys' hits from dropping in. Good bet we see den Dekker tomorrow in the DGaaNG against the righty. Whether that's for Lagares or not could go either way. #fanrevolt #standingby

Wow, what an ending! Good thing Ruben went to the mound and learned the signs!