Edgy MD

Yogi, Willie, and Rube Walker, I think, are all candidates. Willie, at least, in the "Thank you for touching the ground and wearing the uniform, and not embarrassing us in any way by using your godlike stature to diminish us" sense. I mean, yeah, his Met legacy is 92% spiritual, but it was enough to get his number (neqr) untouchable, so... Not really pushing his case --- so please don't explode. But I am a big supporter of a Rube Walker enshrinement. Matlack or Felix Millan or Craig Swan or Karl Ehrhardt --- well, let's just say I wouldn't plant a pipe bomb in protest over any of those cases. But more importantly, a 1973 commemorative day would have little downside.

Build it into Hall of Fame Day, especially if they have any 1973 characters they hope to enshrine.

Any plans to commemorate the 1973 Mets team this year?

40 years ago today, the circus got real.

I was hoping it was a new dude I didn't know about.

That's too bad about Kejia. Who's Kejia? Oh, wait... Mejia?

I keep coming back to the entourage he's entering the book store with in the photo above. And maybe hanging out with a bunch of yes-men toadies has brought out an uglier part of Piazza's personality --- more reckless, defiant, entitled. He always seemed a little phony as a ballplayer, but he also was mostly a careful, thoughtful, reserved (except when it came to Guillermo Mota) gentleman. John Dowd really made an impression on me when I saw him speak about the Rose investigations during a presentation at a SABR meeting. People were telling him "You can get to him through his teammates --- he won't listen to you but they'll make clear the gravity of the situation he's in." But Dowd responded that none of Rose's teammates were friends with him anymore, and his crew was buncha hangers on from Gold's Gym. And I wonder if Mike's in a similar situation, and he's no longer making choices to please management and teammates and fans, but to please the porn-star-chasing, chip-on-their-shoulder, overgrown wannabe-rocker, toadie guys he's surrounded by now.

Now that's a good find.

Bigger outlets not picking it up yet, so I'm going to have to predict a likely bullshit story.

No, I don't know who Dog and Pony Show are, but HOLY CRAP!

dD needs to hit a least a little in AAA before he gets a chance at New Shea, I think, but sure, his prospects are looking better today than yesterday. Cowgill had the team made either way, I think.

And a 4-2 Braves win is your final as Gorski and Edgin fail down the stretch. Mets are getting their baserunners, but stranding buckets full of 'em. Two more scoreless for Mitsubishi Montero.

Well, that was the ankle, but I hear that's connected to the shin bone which is connected to the knee bone, so... . I guess this benefits Jordany Valdespin the most.

Or merely "Circus"?

How is the 7 Line getting it's stuff into players' lockers and onto their backs without them knowing how they got there?

How does a ball lean on a flag and not descend into the hole? Are these like really thick flags? Congratulations, Roger Craig. Davy Johnson heard about the shot and said he wants to see the ball.

TransMonk wrote: Can hitters battle back against an established pitcher after getting behind in the count? Nieuwenhuis did a good job digging himself out of an 0-2 count and working a walk yesterday before hurting himself stealing second. I think it was a pretty wild minor league pitcher, though.

Ceetar wrote: The thing is, a lot of times there are things to look for, we just don't know what they are. The team isn't usually looking at Collin Cowgill's line to see if he's going to make the team, it's things like "Did he lay off a slider in the dirt?" or "Is he buying into the general approach at the plate of picking your pitch that Hudgens is preaching?" There's also impressions they're making that aren't necessarily in the games, but in the drills and the un-scored scrimmage play. Bixler, for all we know, has been looking like Ozzie Smith in the the workouts and they're counting that as much as his two errors yesterday. A forty-ish Andres Gallaraga auditioned for the team a few years back. He had massive arms, but no mobility left. He mashed the ball in the games, but the team determined from the drills that he wouldn't be able to sustain the rigors of the season, or maintain his productivity coming of the bench.

Yeah, he's still at the head of the line.

It's hard not to be positive about what you see in spring if you're predisposed. It's hard not to be negative if you're predisposed. Camp is cipher, and you can see what you want to see. Non-roster player is terrible? He's either a typical disaster of your dumpster-diving team's strategy, or the healthy separation of the wheat from the chaff. Non-roster player is doing well? He's either fool's gold pedaled by a cruel management or a possible diamond in the rough from your team's indefatigable scouting personnel. Key player doing terrible? It's either a portent of a disastrous season or an opportunity to be thankful we have spring training so such players can get the rust off and get the bloopers out of the way. Key player doing well? Well, these games don't count, and what's to be concluded when he's going up against a buncha Shlabotniks anyhow? Or maybe it's the promise of Strawberry's monster season ready to happen. I don't know. It leaves a guy afraid to commit or even engage sometimes. The record generally doesn't even matter unless it's like over .700 or under .300. I guess the things I look for are (1) guys who finished last year unhealthily to be demonstrably ready to play (**cough**), (2) whether the new guys (organizational NRIs or NRI vets brought in) can demonstrate more than one or two useful skills (specialists can sometimes hide their flaws in spring), and (3) what does the record look like the last two weeks. Stay healthy, lads.

Has a Parnellian year. Eye-popping stuff, but struggles to consistently put it together. Looks better in lesser roles and worse in higher-profile ones, which shouldn't matter, but it works out that way sometimes. 2-3, 3.81, 57 IP.

You're just blind to the obvious correlation. Santana suffered a setback just by thinking about the WBC. THINKING!

It's possible Jose gets his old-guy skills working --- hits the ball harder while losing a step or two. Those "career" extra-base numbers above wouldn't really be career numbers, as the doubles are relative low. But yeah, put me down for Jose the extra base threat. Dickey could go bad at any time, I guess.

Nieuwehuis's injury today led Terry Collins to use Zach Lutz in the outfield for the first time, where he handled his first chance successfully.

Oh, the depth is there. Just not the, um, height.