Edgy MD

Wait, there was a time when the Giants wore royal blue caps? Making them indistinguishable from later Mets caps? And they even had an orange dot? Making them an absolute precedent for a Mets cap scheme that didn't debut until much much later? My mind just keeps getting blown. Is this something everybody knew except me?

Roger Jongewaard, former Mets scout who championed Darryl Strawberry, among others, succumbs to a heart attack at 75. Jongewaard went on to the Tigers after the Mets and then to the Mariners. Helped build some damn good teams. In 1987, the Mariners had the first overall draft pick. Owner George Argyros wanted to take Cal State Fullerton pitcher Mike Harkey. Jongewaard wanted a high-school outfielder from Cincinnati named Ken Griffey Jr. Jongewaard's judgment prevailed.

Ike Davis, spotted this evening on Interstate 93, running from Canton, Massachusetts north to the vicinity of St. Johnsbury, Vermont. I imagine it's lovely this time of year. Plus, you get to cross this lovely bridge.

Come on. You all gotta pick one of these dudes to write to and tell them to SIGN. 1 Gavin Cecchini, ss (HS) SIGNED 1 Kevin Plawecki, c (Col) SIGNED 2 Matt Reynolds, 3b (Col) SIGNED 2 Teddy Stankiewicz, p (HS) 3 Matt Koch, p (Col) SIGNED 4 Branden Kaupe, ss (HS) SIGNED 5 Brandon Welch, p (Col) SIGNED 6 Jayce Boyd, 1b (Col) 7 Corey Oswalt, p (HS) SIGNED 8 Tomas Nido, c (HS) SIGNED 9 Richie Rodriguez, 2b (Col) SIGNED 10 Paul Sewald, p (Col) SIGNED 11 Logan Taylor, p (Col) 12 Robert Whalen, p (HS) SIGNED 13 Matt Bowman, p (Col) SIGNED 14 Chris Flexen, p (HS) 15 Nicholas Grant, p (HS) 16 Myles Smith, p (Col) 17 Stefan Sabol, c (Col) SIGNED 18 Paul Paez, p (Col) 19 Tyler Vanderheiden, p (Col) SIGNED 20 Tim Peterson, p (Col) SIGNED 21 Gary Ward, p (Col) 22 Tejay Antone, p (HS) 23 Connor Baits, p (HS) 24 Andrew Massie, p (HS) =#FF8000]SIGNED 25 Leon Byrd, 2b (HS) 26 Chris Shaw, 1b (HSl) 27 Zach Arnold, c (HS) 28 Jacob Marks, p (HS) 29 Austin Barr, c (HS) 30 Dustin Cook, p (HS) 31 Vance Vizcaino, ss (HS) 32 Jon Leroux, 1b (Col) =#FF8000]SIGNED 33 Jared Price, p (HS) 34 Mikey White, ss (HS) 35 Brad Markey, p (Col) 36 Donovan Walton, ss (HS) 37 Benny Distefano, c (HS) 38 Jeff Reynolds, 3b (Col) 39 Patrick Ervin, 2b (HS) 40 David Gonzalez, p (HS)

Cyclones, like their daddy club, win by five --- in their case, a 6-1 victory over the Staten Islanders. Luis Mateo an older DSL vet, gets the start and is dominant, going 5 2/3, giving up two hits and one run, striking out nine and walking one. Nimmo starting in center again, batted second, and went 1-3 with two walks and a run.

And my point wasn't to pick apart his punctuation or syntax, but to suggest that maybe there were more flowers in that sentence.

Who was the greatest thirdbaseman in Major League history to ever don a Mets uniform, without achieving all-time Met status. In other words, greatest hot-cornerer in MLB history, who played for the Mets (no matter how well or poorly), not named Wright. Because Wright is the best. You know that, right?

Definitely living within the margin of error. DateJune 19Runs For306Runs Against304Pyth. Win. %.503Act. Win. %.536Difference-.033Pyth. Rec.35-34Act. Rec.37-32Difference2 games

Frayed Knot wrote: That sentence perfectly illustrates why some folks love, while others hate, the writing of Roger Angell. Starting as it did with a lower-case letter, I'm getting that there's more to it we have to click to see.

Batista should be tossed for excessive shoe-tying.

I see it as a solid strategic maneuver. Sacrifice a righty for a lefty in the seventh, get a strategic advantage in a big spot. Sacrifice a righty for a lefty in the first, get strategic advantage all night.

I would love to see a manager announce righty starter and go to the pen after the opposing number stacked his lineup with lefties.

On live with Francesa.

Muffy back at 2b: [*:361a61py]Nieuwenhuis, cf[/*:m:361a61py] [*:361a61py]Valdespin, lf[/*:m:361a61py] [*:361a61py]Wright, 3b[/*:m:361a61py] [*:361a61py]Duda, rf[/*:m:361a61py] [*:361a61py]Davis, 1b[/*:m:361a61py] [*:361a61py]Murphy, 2b[/*:m:361a61py] [*:361a61py]Quintanilla, ss[/*:m:361a61py] [*:361a61py]Thole, c[/*:m:361a61py] [*:361a61py]Santana, sp[/*:m:361a61py][/list:o:361a61py] Curious to see how far Terry's willing to go with Valdespin as a viable left field candidate. That position's become a real death trap, huh?

"So I was at CitiField the other day, all psyched to see R.A. Dickey. And I'm heading through the turnstiles, and who do you think is ripping my ticket? R.A. Fucking Dickey, that's who! I'm thinking, 'that's strange.' Before getting to my seat, I want to grab a beer. And wouldn't you know that it's R.A. Dickey pouring the fucking beer. Smooth, too. Not too much head. And he's pouring the good stuff, too. I don't go up to the Budweiser counter. Maybe Hefner is over there pouring that shit, I don't know. Anyhow, we settle into our seats, and R.A. Dickey is introducing the lineup, exorting cheers from the crowd, wiping down the odd wet seat for a latecoming patron. He sings the Nationalfucking Anthem, and he don't cheat on the high notes, neither. I get a tear in my eye, because, you know, my father served in Korea, and then he introduces himself as he jogs out to the mound." "You'd think it would come off as arrogant, but it wasn't. Because he's Dickey. Fuck 'em all, he's fucking DICKEY, you know? Here I am, calling in to FAN the night before, saying 'Terry has to use this guy as much as he can --- let him carry the team as far as he can.' Maybe Terry was listening, maybe he wasn't, but here he's giving Dickey a chance to carry the whole goddam organization. I'm half wondering if he's gonna do some Bugs Bunny shit out there by playing every position. But he doesn't. Because that would be stupid." "But he gets through the first inning untouched with two strikeouts because, you know, he's ridiculously awesome. Makes Adam Jones look like a piece of shit. Punk that guy is. In my day, I tell you.... Anyhow, he gets Jones and starts walking to the dugout, and then walks right past it, through the gate, into the stands and starts in with what I can only call his 'between-innings duties.' He's signing copies of his book, he's shooting fucking tee shirts, he's selling popcorn, he's giving advice on filling out my All Star ballot. Fuck you, Jason Bay, I'm not voting for you." "Second inning, he throws a few out of the strike zone, and then he has sort of a visit to the mound with himself. It culminates with him rolling his eyes back in his head like Luke FUCKIN' Skywalker using the force. And then bam! thwak! pow! Baltimore Orioles are going down like nameless Joker henchmen in Batman. The Adam West one. The only one. That one they're doing now is sick shit. I won't let my kid watch that shit." "Third inning, he's in the booth filling in for Darling. Saying something about critical theory with regards to the hit-and-run. He's of the Horkheimer school while Mex was sticking with Walter Benjamin. Heady stuff that was about two beers past me, but impressive nonetheless. Fourth inning, he's throwing on the side. HE'S IN THE MIDDLE OF A GODDAM START and he's THROWING ON THE SIDE to get ready for his next start!" "He completes the game, strikes out everybody, drives in three runs, stabs a liner behind his back like he's Curly Neal, coaches third during the eighth-inning rally. I don't know what he's doing between the other innings --- scanning the waiver wires, negotiating his contract on behalf of the team with his own agent, doing a neurological workup on Jayson Bay, I don't know. I swear he was probably wiping babies' asses at the Koala Kare station. But anybody who says that calling in to WFAN is a waste of time is full of it. We're riding Dickey 'til he drops. I had a great night, drank way too many beers, and I'm feeling no pain." "Listen, I've got to go now, I'm home. Yeah, she's gonna be pissed, but fuck it. Third house on the left, R.A."

And ours is no longer the least productive first base team in the league. Or even in the division! RKTeamAVGOBPSLGOPS1Cincinnati Reds.361.486.6571.1432Chicago White Sox.308.403.584.9873Washington Nationals.280.363.564.9274Arizona Diamondbacks.302.380.527.9065St. Louis Cardinals.298.378.524.9026Detroit Tigers.316.393.506.8997Chicago Cubs.280.348.473.8218New York Yankees.262.338.472.8109Texas Rangers.261.327.473.80010San Francisco Giants.263.362.425.78711Houston Astros.291.345.440.78512Boston Red Sox.267.332.450.78313Baltimore Orioles.273.330.446.77614Los Angeles Angels.257.320.449.76915Colorado Rockies.234.332.410.74216Philadelphia Phillies.260.320.419.73917Oakland Athletics.212.328.398.72718Toronto Blue Jays.231.298.424.72119Milwaukee Brewers.243.297.421.71820Tampa Bay Rays.197.349.343.69321Los Angeles Dodgers.258.318.363.68122San Diego Padres.250.323.352.67423Kansas City Royals.221.294.372.66624Pittsburgh Pirates.239.298.361.65925Atlanta Braves.223.279.373.65226Seattle Mariners.226.285.365.64927Minnesota Twins.202.285.342.62628Cleveland Indians.216.281.343.62429New York Mets.204.288.335.62330Miami Marlins.192.251.286.537 Slot 27 is only three points away!

Lance, like you, is Joe's son.

I kind get the feeling it's about time that Lance Niekro re-emerged as a knuckler, with the family recipe tucked in his back pocket.

El Thing wrote: You'd think that there would be a good number of them who would be willing to try the knuckleball as a last-ditch effort to hang on. That's what I'm thinking. For some of these guys, the end of the line means losing their visa and going back home to cut sugar cane. You don't think they'd throw it between their legs if the coach suggested it might extend their careers? But I'm guessing that it's the always vulnerable management that views it as a risky proposition, and for those guys to turn their career over to a gimmick pitch, they may have to go through indy ball to do it, where management isn't as charged with the long-term development of their players, and sideshows are often part of the marketing.

I think folk have to make themselves less failure-averse. In an industry where the vast majority of pitchers fail to blossom anyhow, I think what they fear is looking bad with a non-traditional failure. (As if that's somehow worse.) Nobody wants to expend the energy defending themselves against the "You messed up a young pitcher!" argument. But if one in three such experiments work, isn't that meaningfully better than the success rates of non-knucklers?

If Showalter really had vision --- if anybody did --- they'd identify knuckler candidates and start 'em on the butterfly track a lot earleir. I wonder why every system doesn't have three knuckleballers at any given time.

Wasn't this pretty much Showalter's suggestion to turn Dickey into a fulltime knuckleballer? This is pretty much Frankenstein's monster coming back to get him, isn't it?

The Clones opened their season at home with a 2-0 shutout victory (and shutouts are best kind of 3-0 victories) over the Staten Island Yankees. Gabriel Ynoa pitched three innings giving up three hits, striking out four and walking none in search of his missing vowel. Dawrin Frias pitched two innings for the win, giving up one hit, one walk and striking out two, as he tried to get his juxtaposed consanants in order. Recent draftee Tyler Vanderheiden pitched a perfect ninth, striking out two for the save. Brandon Nimmo went 0-3, but his eighth inning walk started the two-run rally that led to the win, with him breaking the scoreless tie, coming home on a bases-loaded walk by leftfielder Stefan Sabol, another recent signee. The Cyclones are again led by manager Rich Donnelly. Nineties Expo and Marlin Marc Valdes is the pitching coach. Former Met prospect Bobby Malek coaches the hitters, which may make him the first former Cyclone to return to the team as a coach, but I somehow doubt it.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Most books sold too. Those would be the books he is continually putting IT in.

What must it be like to be a 12-year-old Met fan witnessing this sort of run?