Edgy MD

Frayed Knot wrote: It's harder to read names on latter-day cards. Well, it's a Braves New World out there. Check out those two cards just above the Hunter/Capra card. Would it kill you to use a normal ink color that contrasts with its background? Frayed Knot wrote: Uggla's career vs. the Mets: an Elsteriffic .223 / .304 / .397 // .701. Which represents a sizable cut below his career .252/.342/.469 // .811 line Indeed. Elster was a comparison I just pulled out of my hat last night, but it wasn't a bad one, as he went .228 / .300 / .377 // .677 for his career. At least he gave you the top shelf defense that Uggla couldn't dream of. Look at that isolate OBP for Uggla, though. He's actually leading the league in walks.

That's got two levels of clever. I don't think Sterling goes that deep. Apparently, last night, there was a handsome, but naturally cheaply fabricated, giveaway of a little statuette replica of the Cal Ripken statue --- plaster painted to look like bronze. I found three or four broken apart as a I got off the Marc train this morning --- arms and heads ripped off and left in a pile. I blame Yankee fans. I had half a mind to grab a bunch of pieces to glue back together, but I would have had to sit there placing the severed limbs against the stumps to make sure I had matching parts, and I didn't want to look like any more of a dork than I already am.

seawolf17 wrote: Edgy DC wrote: I don't see anything in there that would lead me to such a broad characterization. They don't care enough, maybe. Semantics. That's what I meant. Well, in my experience, tempered in the fire of multiple viewings of Beau Geste and The Bounty, organized mutinies are notoriously hard to get off the ground. I don't remember the initiative belonging to Zeile, but rather to Ord��ez. Obviously, they all deserve credit, but also obviously, the zeitgeist was different.

It's harder to read names on latter-day cards.

Uggla's career vs. the Mets: an Elsteriffic .223 / .304 / .397 // .701.

Ashie62 wrote: Maybe the Rockies should wear caps in honor of Aurora first responders. Maybe they should, but that's not my team. You're the master of the non-sequiter tonight, more than most.

Ceetar wrote: An Adam Bomb, from Adam Jones! You're on the Mark, Reynolds! I can't think of one for Wieters, Andino, or Davis. bah. That's a BIG STAT... for MATT!

Bomber appearances earlier this season meant more Yankee gear than Oriole gear in the Camden Yards neighborhood as I left work. This evening, I didn't see a single Yankee hat. Had no idea they were in town. For serious.

If there's a Moneyball II, here's hoping Brandon McCarthy gets a good role.

I don't see anything in there that would lead me to such a broad characterization. They don't care enough, maybe.

The problem is that it's hard to see how they get out of this cycle. Absent a turnaround in play with a corresponding increase in attendance, team revenue isn't changing. Better performance is needed to improve revenues. This is, of course, generally true most everywhere.

Hats of New York's finest and bravest remain lowest of priorities. http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/mets/post/_/id/56377/first-responder-caps-pregame-not-in-game

I don't know if anybody is saying the team is stacked. (Optimists? Where?) You always need more pitching. Everybody knows that.

A big dodged bullet perhaps for years to come, has to be Julio Teheran. The team's top prospect (#5 overall in the last two Baseball America pre-season rankings) went 15-3 / 2.55 in AAA last year and looked ready to advance smoothly to the bigs at 21. He not only didn't make the team out of camp, but he regressed severely back in the International league (7-9 / 5.08) and got raked in his lone mid-season start with Atlanta. He's back now as a September callup. I wasn't quite expecting Strasberg, but definitely thinking another dominating starter was about to enter the division. Maybe a young Cole Hamels-level pitcher. What happened to this guy?

Justin Turner ?@redturn2 Watching some more #USopen action pic.twitter.com/1jTqdwar Tim Byrdak ?@Givemethelefty @redturn2 oh so that is what's more important than seein me in the hospital. U suck

That's the funny part. He doesn't even complain that the Mets are a pack of skirt-chasing, entitled douchebags, which would hardly surprise me, but that they're more or less as boring as most people.

Covering the Mets ruins the Mets!

Schaefer ads and billboards.

I think it helps. Even if the September players aren't much good, they give a team a safety net. You can pull your pitchers for platoon matchups more liberally knowing you're less likely to run dry in an attrition war. You can pinch-hit your backup catcher knowing there's a third or fourth guy available if the catcher goes down. You can also carry a pinch-hitting slugger who is utterly useless on defense, without worrying about having to use him in the field.

I'm not sure I see it as an uneven playing field. While it is changing the rules in the last month, it's a change everybody knows is coming and has equal time to prepare for.

Gooden's 1985 was a runaway triple crown for him. Seaver led the league in wins twice as a Met, earned run average thrice, and strikeouts five times, but never pulled off all three in the same season.

Is the data still available to retroactively generate Bench Players and Relievers of the Month?

Yeah, this is a perfect issue. I also appreciate the historical context in the presentation. Cool that we may finish 2012 with six different Bench Players of the Month. (I'm calling September for Jason Bay.)

Vic Sage wrote: the Mets were better with him than without him in the years immediately preceding and following his Mets manageriacy. And he won us a pennant. and before all that, he did better with Texas than was either expected or justified by the team's talent. which could be said of the Mets as well. and i'd bet (but do not know) he did well in Japan, too. Whatever happened in Beantown, i blame the players. Apparently the owner did too as he shipped half of them out of town for a sack of magic beans. But Bobby is a whipping boy for the media (cuz he's smarter than them and he lets them know it), so he's demonized. Hell, for all i know about it, he deserved it this time. But he didn't deserve it here and i wished he'd outlasted Steve (I'll fuck the cleaning lady now, thanks) Phillips and the Wilpons. I hadn't realized that had become part of Phillips' name. and i'd bet (but do not know) he did well in Japan, too His teams went 494-460-23 (.518) with one Japan championship that became a pan-Asian championship when his Marines beat the Korean League champs. (He challenged Ozzie Guillen to put his US champ White Sox forward but the challenge unsurprisingly wasn't taken very seriously.) He was ousted after a smear campaign by the Chiba Lotte ownership but the fans took his side overwhelmingly. Here's the thing --- when you're taking the side of the cock-jock sports radio host, it's a good time reconsider your feelings. And the weeny position of "Hey, don't get mad at me --- I'm just repeating some baldfacedly bullshit backpage thing I read in the tabloids" is real real weak. And to repeat, Valentine doesn't go ape here. He responds to a strong accusation strongly.

That's just perfect.