Edgy MD

Stunning lack of gule for Fred. Stunning surfeit of balls for Katz. Got it.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: batmagadanleadoff wrote: One possibility is that Fred's comments were very calculated, and purposely designed to eventually push his stars to other teams. Perhaps Fred crunched the financials and already knows without doubt, that which we fans still hope isn't true -- that the Mets won't be able to afford to re-sign either Reyes or Wright, no matter how things break. Just one theory. He doesn't need to push anybody anywhere. He might. What if the Mets are so broke that they know that they wouldn't be able to afford to re-sign their stars even if the stars offered the franchise a home team discount? Perhaps Wilpon would rather offend his players to the point of no return in order to mask his inability to re-sign them. He doesn't have to say anything to not resign them. Being a dick certainly makes him look worse than being broke.

Well, try and think of the pickup as something from among Davis, Wright, Pagan, and Santana --- or just Santana if you were already factoring the other three into your optimism --- and you can maintain your hope, if you can keep away the very rational doubts that Santana will have much to offer this this season.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: One possibility is that Fred's comments were very calculated, and purposely designed to eventually push his stars to other teams. Perhaps Fred crunched the financials and already knows without doubt, that which we fans still hope isn't true -- that the Mets won't be able to afford to re-sign either Reyes or Wright, no matter how things break. Just one theory. He doesn't need to push anybody anywhere.

Yeah, judging by the rest of the article, it's hard to blame a dimming mind. More likely frustrations with a terrible start and lousy judgment. Funny to see this cartoon woven into the text.

Centerfield wrote: You just don't say stuff like that. What a fucking idiot. Well, folks do all the time. Fans do all the time. But owners don't say that about their company and employees while on the record. Makes me wonder if his mental capacity is on the wane.

Any word on how this surgery came out?

I don't know who most Met fans are. I think most folks like him. Those who hate him are more likely folks predisposed to hating a lot of things. More generally, I think folks are have a broad enough perspective to know what he is and what he isn't, and put those things in the proper boxes. They have more trouble with relievers.

Goodness.

I also think it's pretty terrible job of picking photos there. From a roll of portrait shots, that was the keeper?

Yankees to Honor George M. Steinbrenner III With New Museum Exhibit The New York Yankees today announced a new exhibit dedicated to honoring the legacy of the franchise's late Principal Owner George M. Steinbrenner III at the New York Yankees Museum presented by Bank of America. "The Boss: Remembering George M. Steinbrenner III" will open today - Friday, May 20, 2011 - as the Yankees welcome the Mets to the Bronx for the start of the Subway Series. The exhibit aims to capture Mr. Steinbrenner's dedication to winning, his motivation to take the Yankees to the top of baseball and his quiet generosity. The exhibit includes a variety of Mr. Steinbrenner's championship rings, including all seven of his World Series rings (1977, '78, '96, '98, '99, 2000 and '09), his American League championship rings from 1976, 2001 and 2003, two rings from the Olympics (1994, '96), his 1977 All-Star Game ring and a 1967 Rose Bowl ring. Fans can also get up close with Mr. Steinbrenner's straightforward leadership style with the "Lead, Follow, or Get the Hell Out of the Way" sign from his desk at the original Yankee Stadium. A selection of unique photographs from the Associated Press are also on display, as well as original artwork created by the late Bill Gallo and presented to the Steinbrenner family at the 2009 Welcome Home Dinner. The exhibit also captures Mr. Steinbrenner's passions off the diamond with a 1970 Tony Award for Applause and an opening night Playbill from the show, which he co-produced. Additional awards on display include the "Pride of the Yankees" award presented to the Steinbrenner Family at the 2009 Welcome Home Dinner, the 1998 "Team of the Year" ESPY Award and the 1999 "Sportsmen of the Year" trophy from the Sporting News. In addition, select items are available for viewing from Steinbrenner High School in Tampa, Fla., which was named in honor of Mr. Steinbrenner for his commitment to the community - in particular the schools and school system.

Vic Sage wrote: I think reading 21st century post-racial sentiments onto a 1940s Western is irrelevant and unfair... Don't makke me a presentist again. I contrasted it with other Ford films of the era, mostly films that pre-date it, in fact. Way to give up the spoiler!

Robin "The Body" Ventura.

Santana

And Ivan Nova is a former Bond villian who wasn't even able to kill Timothy Dalton.

dgwphotography wrote: That reads like it was written by the Wilpon's defense team... Madoff's crimes did enough damage and shouldn't be compounded by treating his victims as accomplices without unequivocal evidence or due process. I'd be more willing to accept the Wilpons as victims if they didn't see such profits, and the track record of honesty with this ownership group isn't exactly stellar... Everybody saw such profits. The Wilpons just withdrew more.

The Times and the Post are carrying some more water for Picard in reporting that Wilpon and Katz apparently shopping for fraud insurance in 2001 implicates them in more deeply in the Madoff fraud. Seems like a stab in the dark.

The place will be packed with clones.

"I hate the Yankees," said reliever Pedro Beato, speaking as a native New Yorker, not out of any actual animosity for the crosstown rivals. "My family � I can tell there are no Yankees fans. Excellent. I'm doing well getting answers here. 1. Beltran at DH and Fartinez in right or the opposite? Grimmers says Fars for two and Beltran for one. OK. Give Carlos the middle game. 2. Would it be pointless to activate Angel Pagan in the midst of this series? Looks like a no-go. Pagan went 0-5 last night. 3. Can they reach these Yankee Stadium III walls? Remains to be seen. 4. How about Bay in center for a game? Are you that desperate? It was dumb question, but it was late. 5. Nick Evans: will you get some time against a lefty? Subbing him for Murphy and batting him fifth or sixth might be a great cahnfidence boost. Turning on one against Sabathia or Boone F. Logan even more so. 6. Is Josh Thole replacement-level guacamole? Will this be the series Terry tilts the job to Paulino? Remains to be seen. 7. Can Roosevelt Avenue Dickey answer the bell? Glad to see more folks than mice elf are watching this one closely. 8. Evans/Martinez/Turner/Pridie/Tejada -- will the big light make these guys look like the minor leaguers they were so recently? Would be very deflating if some of these guys got over-exposed. 9. Bobby Parnell, will you answer the bell? Threw a scoreless inning on Wednesday. Intimations are that the Mets aren't treating him like a major leaguer on rehab, but a guy with something to prove who needs to pitch his way back. That the Mets are that comfortable with their bullpen considering the state it was in just three weeks ago, or when Parnell was disabled, is amazin' 10. Pedro Beato --- will a writer try and pin you down on which team you were a fan of in your school boy days and your knee pants? Will you convince me that you have the right answer? Thank you, Pedro.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: "Don't get hit by a falling star" is one of those baseball truisms. Jim Riggleman said it in an an interview the other day, I believe he attributed it to... Joey Amalfitano? I agree, but what does it mean to "get hit" by one? To be forced to play them as they suck? To bench one and take all the shit from the fans? To have to pretend he's a great spiritual leader when he's disengaged and napping in the clubhouse? I think a good manager is confident enough to dodge the first and successful enough at personnel management to effectively impliment the second. In the case of the third, well, managers have been lying about Jeter's character for 15 years, so that's not going to go away.

My friend John Lowe of the Detroit Free Press reminded me of a classic thought uttered by Sparky Anderson years ago, when he considered what is the hardest thing for a team to overcome. His answer: �An aging star.� The Yankees have a bunch of them. Those aging stars have made 2011 an eventful year already, though the season is still young and the Yankees are, this minute, leading the wild-card race. There�s a whole lot of accomplishment on this team. It could be foolish to write them off. The fear-of-the-aging-star stuff always bugs me. Why are managers so afraid of this situation? You're going to get fired eventually anyhow. Rusty Staub was hitting fine (very fine) for the Mets in 1981, but the team came back from the strike and Joe Torre didn't see any point to trying to pass him off as a fielder anymore. He moved Kingman to first, Rusty to the bench, and he played three and a half more years and was part of the dawn of a new golden age for the team. Everybody happy and the star goes out in style, right?

Ten Questions for the Mets 1. Beltran at DH and Fartinez in right or the opposite? 2. Would it be pointless to activate Angel Pagan in the midst of this series? 3. Can they reach these Yankee Stadium III walls? 4. How about Bay in center for a game? Are you that desperate? 5. Nick Evans: will you get some time against a lefty? 6. Is Josh Thole replacement-level guacamole? Will this be the series Terry tilts the job to Paulino? 7. Can Roosevelt Avenue Dickey answer the bell? 8. Evans/Martinez/Turner/Pridie/Tejada -- will the big light make these guys look like the minor leaguers they were so recently? 9. Bobby Parnell, will you answer the bell? 10. Pedro Beato --- will a writer try and pin you down on which team you were a fan of in your school boy days and your knee pants? Will you convince me that you have the right answer?

I don't know. This is supposed to be a standout amoung the Ford films, but it's problematic. Wayne is an embittered itinerant Civl War vet who heads back to his old Texas town to set a spell with his brother's family. His brother has a teenage daughter, a pre-teen son, a tween daughter, and a young adult 1/8 Indian adoptee son-ish guy that Wayne himself had rescued as a baby from a Comanche raid. Wayne's characters usually run the gamut from code hero to paladin to misunderstood braveheart to last-of-his-breed legend. But here he's a real asshole anti-hero and gets to stretch a little beyond his limited acting pallette. He hates the Comanch so much that it keeps him up at night. Were you ever nice to one? Then he hates you too! Are you a comanche who's not a coldblooded killer? Bullshit. No such thing. He shoots Buffalo and leaves them to die just to warm himself with the thought of one more starving Indian. He comes across an Indian corpse and shoots his dead eyes out because, he explains, Indian spirits need their eyes to find the spirit kingdom in the afterlife. And that's the kind of dick we're dealing with. When a raiding party runs off with the herd of a neighboring Swedish Texan rancher, he's enlisted into a pursuing party of Rangers, but then his brother's home gets raided while he's out playing cop and the only survivors are the two girls, carried off into God knows what. You can imagine how pissed this guy is. But he doesn't go crazy. He lets it burn. Slowly. Holy fuck this guy. And that's where we get the title. He rides in search of the girls, along with the octaroon adoptee son (and boy, does that kid get some shit) and the Swede's son --- also the sweetheart of the teenager. And that's what we've got. For five years they ride in pursuit of a warchief named Scar (!!). Other Ford movies can be more charitable to the Indians, painting the calvary in a mixed light, protraying the exploitations of the US Indian agents as so hateful that the tribesmen had little choice but to go to war. But the bitter racism of Wayne's character in this movie is unambiguous, and it can't help but infect the tone of the movie at large. Wayne's that iconic a dude. There's probably a lot of messages in here deeper than I'm describing --- about the burdens men carry, about living beyond tragedy, about fathers and sons --- but they're sublimated in a movie about how them seriously, I just used a racist word when I really meant "Guardians" need to be scalped but good. Plus it's supposed to be in Texas, but Ford's clearly further west shooting under the same buttes he always likes to shoot under. Then there's the colorful townsfolk that the film occasionally switches back to --- the Swedes and a preacher/marshall guy with a funny hat, and the town halfwit. The comic relief in Ford films can often feel a little forced when contrasted with the bloody work of his heroes, but here, while this Wayne-monster --- with his spirit broken to bits multiple times over --- is on a gruesome five-year vendetta, it feels almost insulting. Anyhow, some of the most beautiful Western scenery on film is here, starting with shot one, and some typically great stunt-riding. And it's all wrapped up in a complicated and problematic picture. What did you think?

"Yea, um, dank you very much, Mistuh President." I say the Mets choose Chris Rock. "The Mets select.. Cody Stephens? Didn't they pick him two rounds ago? I swear this is the eighth mutha fuckin' Cody this team has picked. Do we have a special Cody scout? Where they findin' all these Codys?"

Good stuff here. None of us really forsaw the pretty foreseeable process of Turner getting the call after the Mets rode Emaus around the block a few times. What ever happened to Chris Shelton?