Edgy MD

I feel like I'm the only one who saw Jurassic Park.

I also — and this is mostly a latter-day thing — tend to associate the Phils with having players who have a brother on another team.

I guess I should have known this long ago, but Paul McCartney, despite famously playing a lefthanded axe, swung the stick from the right side. [fimg=500]https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2022/10/beatleball.jpg[/fimg]

Good point. I close my eyes and I can see him in a Phillies uniform that he never actually wore.

Absolutely agreed. Now how do we make this come to pass?

That's pretty funny.

Edgy MD wrote: I guess his era was the beginning of the era of closers being adrenaline junkies, pumped and intimidating beasts being let off the leash, but that was never really his act to my memory, despite his broad shoulders and big crazy beard. This sounds a lot like The Mad Hungarian. Hrabosky was definitely of the first generation of juiced-up showmen and muscling-up fireballers. First for me, anyhow. I'm sure there are precedents. Lee Smith replaced Sutter for the Cubs, so I guess they had good reason to let him walk in free agency. Smith better fit the mold of the hyped-up intimidator, and though the Cubs continued to ask for multiple inning outings from him, but he would transition early toward the modern one-inning guy. Sutter never really got that chance. He had maybe his best season with the Cards in 1984 and he was never particularly good again. It was kind of damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't with The Hall of Fame, who was in no hurry to induct either class of reliever before coming around on Sutter inducting him. in 2006 and Smith in 2007.

I also associate the Phils with mullets. Lots and lots of mullets.

=MFS62 post_id=111256 time=1665766126 user_id=60] The starter for the Cubs that day was the only player (other than the washed up infielder we got for Nolan Ryan) whose name I refuse to say or type.

He's the exception from two popular arguments. When it's rare and mostly frowned upon to ask a closer to throw more than one inning in any but the most exceptional situations, you think, "What about Sutter?" And when it's argued that a guy's arm isn't going to last if he relies too much on the splitter, you think "What about Sutter?" I do, anyhow. Although, looking at it now, he didn't have any good seasons after 31. I guess his era was the beginning of the era of closers being adrenaline junkies, pumped and intimidating beasts being let off the leash, but that was never really his act to my memory, despite his broad shoulders and big crazy beard. He went about his business with the relentless efficiency of a bullpen Greg Maddux, throwing over 100 innings a bunch of times. His third act was was with the Braves, falling off in his efficiency from year to year but still pitching a whole bunch of innings. He joins Braves staffmates Rick Camp and Rick Mahler in going to the hereafter too soon.

I've noted earlier that I associated the Phils with Germanic names. Schmidt, Schu, Schwarber, Stott, Boehm, Eisenreich, Vierling, Lieber, Kruk, Vukovich (x2), Chuck Klein, Curt Schilling. You're right about Ys, though — particularly partially extraneous ones. Bryce Harper, please step forward.

With Tsuyoshi Shinjo (Fighters), Kazuhisa Ishii (Golden Eagles), and Shingo Takatsu (Swallows), that's five out of 12 NPB teams currently skippered by Brognas. What we're looking at here is a takeover. You just know it's only a matter of time before Norichika Aoki grabs that opening with the Orix Buffaloes.

As a young cop in the early sixties, my dad got assigned to work boxing matches at Yankee Stadium and Polo Grounds. Well within the age of television. I couldn't imagine how badly I needed to see live pugilism that I would grab an upper deck spot at The Grounds. Dad described directing traffic on the Macombs Dam Bridge (or maybe the 145th Street Bridge), and when traffic thinned out, figuring he'd mosey on up to Yankee Stadium to see if he could catch a bit of the bout of the top of the card. As he reached the entrance, an angry crowd was pouring out after what I guess was something like a first-round knockout, and he had to do his career fastest mile to get back to the bridge.

I don't know what's more of a journalistic coup: Referencing the expertise of Curly Lambeau or speculating that New York might be able to land The International Milk Convention.

Alternatively, we could just rename it The Ruf Award.

I like in concept, but the two sliding shells would waste way too much space when not deployed. I'd like to see a design with two canopies that open in a fan style, like the canopy of a baby carriage, and meet in the middle. See the shade canopy on this thingie, multiply its dimensions by about 250 or so, then imagine another meeting it from the opposite side. [FIMG=400]https://target.scene7.com/is/image/Target/GUEST_13529f87-1c55-4afe-8555-c0a729b0d84f?wid=488&hei=488&fmt=pjpeg[/FIMG] Cooley High, right?

I think your spelly checky is rewriting your "Tylor Megill." It's sort of strangely arbitrary and not particularly logically consistent that a play-in game, played by two teams tied for a post-season spot, counts as an in-season game rather than a post-season game. It didn't matter so much when the season was scheduled to be 154 games and typically with some of those never quite played to a result. But now that we have several rounds of playoff madness, we should recognize those games for what they are. If it knocks one homer off of Reggie Jackson's all-time regular-season total, or one win off of Al Leiter's regular season record, so be it.

I voted as McOften as I could. I feel I had something close to a 100% rate going into the last quarter of the season, but I shlubbed it up from there. I salute our worthy winners. I personally would have Lindor as our player-guy and Scherzer as our pitcher-guy. Francisco's 161 games played (including 159 starts at shortstop) and the regular high defensive standard he brought made him unparalleled as a wire-to-wire performer.

Gore also wins largely on the strength of one game. The DH certainly takes away a chunk of opportunity for a player to shine off the bench, but with a platoon at DH, a platoon in right after Marte went down, and pinch-hitting-for-the-catcher opportunities, it's disappointing that somebody couldn't step up off the bench more than once a month. The DH is for saps, anyway you slice it.

Well, thank you for the glorious results of your minimal effort!

Thanks for all your great work. Could Bench Player of the Year regain some of its past relevance by including designated hitters? I'm spitballing, clearly.

David Robertson https://www.nbcsports.com/philadelphia/phillies/david-robertson-injured-celebrating-bryce-harper-homer-phillies-nlds-rosteroff the Phillies roster after getting hurt celebrating Bryce Harper's homerun. Astros pitcher Phil Maton is also https://www.mlb.com/news/phil-maton-breaks-hand-punching-locker-out-for-playoffsout after busting a finger on his pitching hand, punching a locker in distress after allowing a hit to his brother, Phillies infielder Nick Maton. Apparently, all Phillies have brothers on other teams — also known as Goeddel's Law.

And, if patterns hold, that's unfortunate for Seattle.

Robinson Canó was part of this team. That totally happened. As remote and foreign as his Mets existence may seem, it was part of the 2022 story. Two numbers were retired in one year. Unprecedented. One of them was done seemingly spontaneously, with no advance publicity and no leaks. Remember that whole five-aces thing of Harvey-Syndergrom-deGrom-Wheeler-Matz? Four of those five got playoff money this year, but only one with the Mets, and two with the Phillies.. Harvey, the sole holdout, didn't appear this season, and his team just missed out on post-season action. Syndergaard and Matz were part of post-season rosters but failed to appear. Without looking at it too closely, like, five or six guys could jump out at you as Most Valuable Met. Looking at it closer, it's probably Lindor, but still! There was a time when the team would rather play Conforto in center than Nimmo. Just when did he become one of the best centerfielders? McNeil and Smith were tied to 824,321 an 711,219 trade rumors, respectively, this offseason, somehow hoping that there was still market value for each after a limp and soggy 2021. Neither went, and McNeil utterly played himself back to the top of the roster and Smith to the bottom. Luis Guillorme started over 100 games. That wasn't in response to an attrition crisis either. It just happened. He played mostly that well. He even caught a second bat. Daniel Vogelbach arrived on July 24, and he is now the team's all-time leader in appearances at DH. That previous fact is actually a lie. Vogelbach has appeared in 48 games as a Mets designated hitter, and J.D. Davis has appeared in 51. But it feels true. And it's almost true, and if you count the post-season, it's even a little bit closer to true. The New York Mets: 468 days without a reported sexually predatory behavior scandal.

The 2022 Mets season was like The Fellowship of the Ring. It was disquieting to see heroes fall and the team routed at the end, and you know that some of them are finished and some will be splintering off, but you also know that the it's all part of a greater narrative arc, and the story goes on.