Edgy MD

So, MLB.tv shows this add over and over with two California Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim plugging Head and Shoulders with All-Spice. (And by the way... yuck.) I think they're both outfielders. Two questions, though: 1) Who are they? 2) In the last shot, the camera pulls back and shows the set and the boom mic, and a woman comes up and sniffs the hair of the player who supposedly had just delivered the last line of the commercial. He asks her a question after she sniffs him, but I can't figure out what it is. I crank up the volume on my laptop and turn my ear toward the speakers, but it makes no sense at all to me. It's like that Star Trek: TNG episode where Picard is stuck on a planet with Paul Winfield and he's talking words but they make no sense. I think I've psyched myself out of figuring this out. What does he say?

Make it so.

Lagares is a wonderful centerfielder, but as Delmon Young hit a rare drive over his head in the eighth, I saw his back turned as he headed toward the fence and, well, number 12 just doesn't give me confidence on a centerfielder. Part of it, I know, is the indelible Stearns association of my yute. I'm thinking of petitioning him to pull a Mazzilli during the offseason and switching to a number that speaks more of speed and slickness. A 12 to me is a bruiser. A pug. A palooka. Even the centerfielders that have worn 12 for the Mets --- Hairston, Dunston --- were migrants from another position. Exceptions were Cleon Jones (who played it early in his careeer and migrated to another position), Mazz (who migrated to a better number, as noted), and Tommie Davis (who migrated to another team). Number 12 in centerfield is just not sustainable.

Smeriously, though, I was half joking when I said the key to winning was to hit the ball to the outfield, but reviewing the highlights, that had to be one of the dinkiest offensive outbursts in the Met record books. Manuel should position Delmon Young about 40 feet behind Utley tomorrow. At least when Lagares is up.

Man, did you see Murphy clutch that ball? Hey, Bobby, when a guy falls out of his shoes trying to catch up to your heat, try the breaking pitch next.

And Satin, extra fielding drills for you, no matter how this turns out.

I smelled that homer coming. Parnell only gives up homers to guys name Chase Somethingly.

At Shea, Lagares would be hugging third.

Another demonstration of Delmon Young's range there. What did I tell ya? Hit it to the outfield, Mets.

Way to play at a Keith-like distance from the bag, Satin.

By the way, that was a flare Murphy hit, and no Phillie outfielder got within three or four strides of it.

Beardless Murphy tacks on a run. I can get used to that.

Bad at-battie for Young. Trying to get used to beardless Murphy.

I think All-Stars should get to keep those stars that were on the back of their collars during the ASG for the remainder of the year. But I just checked David's shirt and they're gone. I hadn't realized the wore those this year at all. I thought Jeter didn't do it so it wasn't cool. Jake Diekman is a good name for a Knickebocker.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: Gil had two pitchers on his staff who would've been perfectly suited for long relief: Nolan Ryan, who had not yet transitioned to pure starting pitcher and essentially was their long RH reliever in '69, and Tug McGraw, who had not yet fully transitioned to pure reliever, and even spot started a few games in '69. Cal Koonce and Jack DiLauro were also regularly turning out multi-inning appearances. batmagadanleadoff wrote: But your post opens up another can of worms. The relief pitchers union that would one day successfully brainwash almost all of baseball and decree that the best relief pitchers must only pitch the 9th inning because the accumulation of their saves takes precedence over the goals of the team had not yet been born. Well, if it's pointless to be countercultural, then it's pointless, but we're asking what a strong leader would do, the assumption seems to be that he would have the courage to zag when others are zigging. Beyond that, though, if you want an apple that isn't spoiled, then go straight to the tree. Start with a crew of young, pre-arbitrational bullpenenners, guys who've started much of their minor league careers, and so aren't yet conditioned to live for a single inning, and guys know how lucky they are to have any big-league assignment, and so are unlikely to complain (especially about usage that spares them). In a pen of five/six/seven/eight guys, if one guy balks, complaining that as closer, he's only going to give you one inning/save situation work, well, you have a bunch of other guys who'd be happy to be the featured guy on the same terms as McGraw. Bill James suggests that a guy with Mariano Rivera's career, or Trevor Hoffman's, if used less frequently for longer stints, brought into tie games as well as narrow leads, as early as the eighth or even the seventh (clutches pearls) would maybe only save 20-30 games instead of 45, but might win 20 as well.* The first time somebody pulls off that trick, everybody in the league will want to do it. *And if Jesse Orosco could win 13 (three more than any starter on the teaam) in 1983 and Roger McDowell 14 in 1986, with a role sort of but not quite like the Bill James model, I don't see why this couldn't be true.

The question remains: who's caboose?

The irony is, Gil (or more accurately, Walker) was an early proponent of pitch counts. I think what he would have done is what he did --- and what the Mets of today should do --- and that's retain relievers who can throw several innings in an appearance. It's less taxing, from my perspective, to throw 90 innings in 40 appearances than to throw 70 innings in 60 appearances (or 80!). And it keeps the manager and organization from having to dig deeper and deeper for lesser and lesser pitchers.

Like this game.

Getting Laggy going too. Also nice.

Keep pouring on these baby blue pretenders.

Davis hitting. Buck hitting. Might be worth getting our faces punched if it means getting those going.

Wow. I just had to cut bait with him on my virtual electronic 2013 Mets too. I'm crazy about that little guy. I visited him a lot during his rehab, too. He didn't say much. Stared into the distance a lot.

We have 17 active posters?

If I created a photo essay of Carlos Beltran's signature moments, the post would be about, well, 10 feet high.

He would eventually start smelling really bad.