RealityChuck

Have you created a macro to fill in this thread subject? Seems it would be handy to only have to hit one or two keys to say it.

It doesn't make a lot of sense to fire your batting coach when your team leads the league in batting average and, even with the low number of walks (which may have been a function of players trying too hard*), was sixth in OBA. More homers? Sure, but when your two top HR threats are out most of the season, that's hardly the fault of the batting coach (the team actually ranked fairly high in triples and doubles). There's more of a case with Warthen, but three of his starters were out for most of the season. Having Maine, Santana, and Perez (who, most people forget, was starting to pitch pretty well when he was injured the last time) would have made the team competitive. The main failure was Pelfrey, but there was some surprisingly good pitching from Misch, Figueraro, and Nieve. The other question is who would do better (and is available)? *Baseball is played by human beings, BTW.

I wouldn't have minded signing Pedro, but you'd have to be crazy to think that would have made a difference this year.

Five years after the trade, the Mets had Mazzilli -- and Darling and HoJo. Best Mets Trade Ever.

Oops. Just realized Red Sox hits was Yaz, not Teddy. If not Wagner for Pirates hits, then it's Clemente Cubs HR: Ernie Banks Hits: Billy Williams

Pirates hits: Honus Wager by a nose over Roberto Clemente Red Sox HR & Hits: Ted Williams. Tigers hits: Ty Cobb

I suspect the original script had the friend dead, which would have made the action less heinous. But it looks like it was rewritten so he could have a death scene.

Carl Yastrzemski. Roger Maris (the star of the first year I followed baseball). Ty Cobb

Just saw in on DVD. Really awful. It's not so much that Bond is bad (there have been bad Bonds before) but the direction was horrible. One chase scene after another and it was impossible to keep track of who was chasing who, or if one shot was either the chaser or the chasee. And Bond is a real prick. He uses his best friend -- the only one who was willing to go out on a limb for him -- as a human shield. Is that how Bond says "thanks"?

The thing is, with all this complaints about how the Mets handled injuries this year, it's unlikely that anything they did made things worse. Even if the key players were put on the DL immediately each time, the lineup in July and August would have been the same as it was. Consider: 1. Delgado. Hip injury that required surgery. If he had gotten surgery immediately, he'd possibly be close to being able to return now (or maybe not). But it's far too late for him. 2. Reyes. His injury was originally a sprain. He could have gone on the DL earlier, but the sprain was not why he hasn't returned. The injury to his leg when he was on the DL is what's kept him out, and that was diagnosed and treated immediately. In any case, he'd still be out. 3. Beltran. He could have gone on the DL sooner, but at that rate he still would have missed most of June, July, and August and might be able to play in September. It's possible he injured himself more by not going on the DL sooner, but he'd still have been out a couple of months. As an aside, the fact that he went to an outside specialist is given as a sign the Mets's medical staff is not to be trusted. But the outside specialist came to the same conclusion as they did. Obviously, the Mets diagnosed things correctly. 4. Wright. No one has any problems with how this was handled. BTW, the comparison to Church was bogus -- Church's problems were due to his second concussion; after his first, he had an OPS of .913 and was tearing up the league. Wright certainly bears watching -- you're more prone to concussions once you have had one -- but if there's a parallel, he's going to do quite well in September and no one was complaining about Church's treatment after the first concussion. 5. Santana. Bone chips are weird things; they float around. You can pitch without pain even when you have them and on another day, be unable to throw. The team's wait-and-see was not unreasonable. But shutting him down for surgery at the all-star break would certainly have made the team worse, and would have ended his season. Ultimately, he and the team would be in the same position in either case. 6. Alex Cora. Not a star, but consider: July 15: Cora's a gutsy player who continues to play hurt. We need more players like him. August 15: The Mets mismanage an injury again. Raise your hands if you took issue to Cora's treatment before August. 7. Oliver Perez. Was put on the DL after a couple of bad starts. Came back, pitched badly, but seemed to be improving before his knee failed. In any case, he wouldn't have been available in June, July, and August after knee surgey. 8. John Maine. Again, he wouldn't have been back in time to make a difference. 9. Jonathan Niese. Joined the team when it was in free-fall; no one can complain about how the team handled his injury. 10. J.J. Putz -- pitched effectively until May 31 -- batters were hitting .200 against him and he had 9 holds, three saves and only one blown save. Is that when you shut him down? His next three appearances were disasters, however, and he went on the DL. So it is highly unlikely the team would have had these players available (and would have missed Santana) in June and July when the season fell apart. Another argument is that all these injuries were due to bad training methods. Possible, but in order to back that up, you need to indicate how Mets training methods differed from other team's and from how they differed from the methods used in previous years. If they are using similar regimens to the Red Sox, say, what's wrong with their methods?

Actually, right after the game, Hodges said they kept baseballs with shoe polish smudges on them in the dugout for just such an occasion. It was considered a joke at the time.

An interesting bit of trivia for that game: Julio Franco played third base. The previous time he had played third base in the majors, his shortstop, Hernandez, hadn't been born.

I agree that Scott is vastly uneven. He can do utter crap like Alien (one of the stupidest movies in film history), but also great films like Thelma and Louise and decent ones like Blade Runner (overrated, but still interesting and influential) or Matchstick Men (which worked very nicely as a caper film). I await a prequel to Alien with vast indifference. I have no doubt that it will be just as stupid as the original.

Story wasn't all that original and was really just an excuse in futility. The Winslet character was certainly stifled with life, but was also very self-centered. She wanted to go with her husband to Europe and take a job so he could find himself, but what if he found himself with this new promotion? OTOH, the husband could have said, "I'll take the job in October, after we spend a month in Europe." Too much shouting, too. That gets tedious and screaming is no substitute for acting. Oh, and this wasn't a tragedy. It was, as I said, futility. In other words, "Life's a bitch and then you die" is hardly a new or entertaining idea these days. The acting was decent, but the script was tripe.

Joan Whitney Payson was born in NYC. M. Donald Grant was born in Montreal. Omar Minaya -- born November 10, 1958 in the Dominican Republic

Be scientific: see if he weighs the same as a duck.

The team saw what Murphy could do at 2B in the ASL last winter. Presumably, they didn't like what they saw, since there hasn't been any mention of trying it again.

Maybe. But saying "I felt a pain in my hammy on my landing foot" should have raised a red flag. Even on an easy pitch, he's going to land there with all his weight. If there's a potential problem that's a good way to make it worse.

Interesting contrast: Neise gets injured covering first. The team asks him to throw a pitch, and he collapses. I'm willing to bet the muscle tear happened then and not when he was covering the bag. Sheffield gets injured running to first. He doesn't go into any "let's test and find out" crap, but just walks off the field. It may not have made a difference, but was throwing a warm-up pitch really a good idea in that situation?

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: ="metirish"]O'm curious to know if some of our long time fans have ever seen the like of this with the injuries . We're at 47 players and counting. Met record is... 54, in '67, right? (Anyone care to confirm?) That sounds right -- I see 54 players in '67 (the team set an all-time record for most pitchers) and I doubt that's been topped.