RealityChuck

Opinion: LoDuca is pretty smart defensively. Fact: Dave Kingman had the lowest batting average for a home run champion.

$44.95? I guess they had to pay for each of the logos.

This is SOP: sign a bunch of relievers and sort them out in spring training. Terrible? Maybe. But it's better to have extra arms in camp than to have too few.

Not a bad pickup for an organization that is short on catchers. Sure, he can't hit, but if LoDuca or Castro goes down, you need someone to play behind the plate. As someone connected with the Mets once pointed out, you have to have a catcher or you'll have a lot of passed balls.

Hey, if he's cheap, it doesn't hurt to sign him. If he works out, great. If not, you have an extra outfielder in New Orleans (man, that's hard to remember after 40 years at Tidewater/Norfolk).

Hey, the Mets won 97 games with 13 different starting pitchers (they should have started Humber in the final game to get 14, even if he only pitched an inning or two). It wasn't a case of Trachsel being lucky as much as it was a case of a very strong offense providing enough runs to make him a 15-game winner. The offense looks about as good for 2007 as it was for 2006. Valentin may drop, but he hits #8. DiLuca may not be able to hit his numbers, but he should still be pretty solid (his high average was partially a function of hitting behind Reyes -- he got more fastballs as they tried to keep Reyes from stealing, and got quite a few extra hits as infielders got out of position trying to stop Reyes from stealing second. And hitting in front of Beltran helped). But, overall, there shouldn't be much drop. Thus, the team doesn't need five overpowering pitchers. That's how the MFY tried to have it, and it works for fantasy baseball, but in the real world, you just need five guys who can go six innings every four days and keep the game close. Could the staff be better? Of course. But you don't need the staff to be great; you need it to be good enough. Trachsel was good enough last year, and the various options seem like they can be good enough, too. Bonus: If Pedro's back, then he'll be fresh when the postseason comes along.

One of the greatest Christmas movies of all time. It's a film that's funnier each time you see it, with some great performances (notably McGavin and Billingsley), a delightful sense of place, and a real understanding of what it's like to be a kid. You can always see something new and funny in it, often hiding in the background, and if's smart enough to know that the best comedy comes from watching people's reactions. About the only Christmas comedy that matches it (and it slightly better due to the fact it has more of a message) is Miracle on 34th Street.

No, I guess Hughes wasn't involved. Shows what happens when you use the Internet for research. But his National Lampoon stuff was classic.

Decent, if not great satire.

I spotted Hughes when he was a writer for the National Lampoon. He wrote a bunch of really raunchy short stories like "My Penis" and "My Vagina," and the classic High School Yearbook Parody. I never found his movies half as good as his written work.

That was my take. It also shows a rather childish "gimme" attitude and sense of entitlement: if Rocker wants something, he expects you give it to him.

Assume no balk rule. Pitcher takes a step toward the plate and batter gets caught leaning toward second as the pitcher turns and fires to first. It was basically put an end to base stealing and would require runners at first keep a foot on the bag at all times, since they could never be sure if the pitcher was going to the plate. Hell, even going from first to third on a single would be more difficult. The ultimate effect would be to reduce scoring (since it would cut down the number of baserunners). The solution is to make sure the balk is called consistently. As for the Reyes's play, he was doing exactly what caused the creation of the infield fly rule in the first place, and I'm not surprised he was called on it. It's one thing to get an edge, but it's another to remove all chance of success. Without the IF rule, there will be a situation where it's nearly always a double play, no matter what the runners do. If they stay close to the bag, the fielder drops it and gets a DP; if they run, the fielder catches it and gets a DP.

He can go to spring training and work out, but cannot appear in any games, major or minor league.

Assuming no rainouts.

="iramets"]Nymr83 wrote: iWhat I actually think, though, is that Seaver had won exactly 0 games before he won the ROTY in '67, and Koosman had pitched briefly and poorly before he pitched better than Seaver had in '68, and no one had heard of Gary Gentry before his rookie year (well, his parents had) And, of course, Generation K worked out really well for the Mets, didn't it? Every year is different. Just because something worked out well 40 years ago doesn't mean you'll get the same result today. Nymr83 Dec 04 2006 04:39 PM you might want to edit your post, i see "nymr83 wrote:" and then a big block of text from ira, i'd hate to have his words associated with me. metsmarathon Dec 04 2006 04:56 PM the baby mets pitchers player age year level ERA IP Seaver 21 1966 AAA 3.13 210.0 Koosman 21 1965 A 4.71 107.0 AA 3.75 12.0 22 1966 A- 1.38 170.0 23 1967 AAA 2.43 178.0 Gentry 20 1967 AA 1.59 79.0 21 1968 AAA 2.91 198.0 Maine 21 2002 A- 1.74 10.1 A 1.36 33.0 22 2003 A 1.53 76.1 A+ 3.07 70.1 23 2004 AA 2.25 28.0 AAA 3.91 119.2 MLB 9.82 3.2 24 2005 AAA 4.56 128.1 MLB 6.30 40.0 A+ 0.00 5.0 25 2006 AAA 3.49 56.2 MLB 3.60 90.0 Perez 18 1999 Rk 5.08 28.1 19 2000 Rk 4.07 24.1 AAA 4.36 43.1 20 2001 A 3.46 101.1 A+ 2.72 53.0 21 2002 A+ 1.85 48.2 AA 1.17 23.0 MLB 3.50 90.0 22 2003 AAA 3.02 47.2 MLB 5.87 23.0 MLB 5.38 103.2 23 2004 MLB 2.98 196.0 24 2005 AAA 9.90 10.0 MLB 5.85 103.0 25 2006 AAA 8.63 32.0 AAA 6.05 19.1 MLB 6.38 36.2 MLB 6.63 76.0 Humber 22 2005 A 6.75 4.0 A+ 4.99 70.1 AA 6.75 4.0 23 2006 Rk 6.75 4 A+ 2.37 38 AA 2.88 34.1 MLB 0.00 2 Bannister 22 2003 A- 2.15 46 23 2004 A 4.06 44.1 A+ 4.24 110.1 AA 4.06 44.1 24 2005 A 2.56 109 AA 2.56 109 AAA 3.18 45.1 25 2006 A+ 1.50 12 AAA 3.86 30.1 MLB 4.26 38 Pelfrey 2006 A+ 1.64 22 AA 2.71 66.1 AAA 2.25 8 MLB 5.48 21.1 how the mets' baby pitchers compare to the baby mets of the late 60's. i've got the late 60's pitcher minor league stats in there first, and below that i've got the current bumper crop's stats to date. i think its a little incorrect to say that 21 year old minor leaguers throwing 200 innings of 2.91 ERA in AAA amounts to coming out of nowhere. nor 180 innings of 2.43 ERA from a 23 year old.

I actually liked the old Astros uniforms -- they looked pretty sharp, and people only think otherwise because the color scheme has gone out of style. Now for bad, there's always this: The shorts make is ridiculous to start with, but look at those collars. They look like giant bowties.

Doesn't look like it: 1978 � Mel Allen, Red Barber 1979 � Bob Elson 1980 � Russ Hodges 1981 � Ernie Harwell 1982 � Vin Scully 1983 � Jack Brickhouse 1984 � Curt Gowdy 1985 � Buck Canel 1986 � Bob Prince 1987 � Jack Buck 1988 � Lindsey Nelson 1989 � Harry Caray 1990 � By Saam 1991 � Joe Garagiola 1992 � Milo Hamilton 1993 � Chuck Thompson 1994 � Bob Murphy 1995 � Bob Wolff 1996 � Herb Carneal 1997 � Jimmy Dudley 1998 � Jaime Jarrin 1999 � Arch McDonald 2000 � Marty Brennaman 2001 � Rafael "Felo" Ram�rez 2002 � Harry Kalas 2003 � Bob Uecker 2004 � Lon Simmons 2005 � Jerry Coleman 2006 � Gene Elston The only ex-players on the list seem to be Joe Garagiola, Bob Uecker, and Jerry Coleman, whose careers on the field were far short of HOF standards.

cooby wrote: I'd love to vote for Ralph, but how is having my phone number, among other personal info, going to serve MLB better? And what would the consequences be if you lie on any of those questions? Hint: The same as the chances of Dave Kingman making the Hall of Fame.

In this article (http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/6217540) Dayn Perry of Fox Sports gives his opinion. One deal by the Mets is mentioned: ]The best (and there's only one ...) 1. Moises Alou, OF, Mets, one year, $8.5M In this overheated market � and when you're the deep-pocketed Mets � a one-year, $8.5-million pact is basically free. Alou has poor fielding range these days, and he's gimpy. However, he can still rake (.304 AVG/.371 OBP/.548 SLG over the last three seasons). The Mets badly need better production from the outfield corners, and they also badly need help against left-handed pitching. Alou betters them � by a lot � on both counts. This deal is further evidence that Omar Minaya has developed into one of the smartest GMs in the game today. Take that, Wallace Matthews.

dinosaur jesus wrote: Damn. Nice work. Nick Altrock was a pitcher, not an outfielder. Before he became a professional baseball clown, that is. Yeah -- it was a quick and dirty query from the Lahman database. Evidently Altrock played outfield once or twice (it was probably the same for Yde).

All lefty throwing switch hitters in MLB, not counting pitchers, through 2005: Nick Altrock OF Bob Beall 1B Marty Becker OF Lance Berkman OF/1B Bob Bescher OF Lu Blue 1B/OF Tom Brown 1B/OF Mark Budaska OF Scott Bullett OF Morgan Burkhart LF/1B Melky Cabrera CF John Cangelosi OF Syd Cohen OF Dave Collins 1B Ripper Collins 1B/OF Doug Dascenzo OF Jack Daugherty OF/1B Puchy Delgado OF Eric Fox OF Bruno Haas OF Walter Holke 1B George Hunter OF Win Kellum OF Joe Mack 1B Bill McClellan 3B/SS/2B (that's an odd one -- Played 1878-1888) Otto McIvor OF Roy Moore OF Ed Morris OF John Moses 1B/OF Johnny Neun 1B (best known for his OTP) Dave Oldfield C Ernie Oravetz OF Dan Ortmeier RF Wes Parker OF/1B (Little known fact: after retirement, worked as a TV actor -- not bad, either) Case Patten OF Harley Payne OF Brock Pemberton 1B Mike Ramsey OF Dave Robinson OF Ron Roenicke OF/1B David Segui 1B/OF Eddie Smith OF Chuck Stevens 1B Da Rond Stovall OF Nick Swisher 1B/OF Jesse Tannehill OF Tuck Turner OF Jake Virtue 1B/2B/3B Libe Washburn OF Mitch Webster OF Emil Yde OF (though primarily a pitcher)

Trachsel in the pen: Willie calls for help in the third inning, and Trachsel is ready to go by the sixth. The fifth, if he rushes it. Trachsel is so slow warming up that Heinz Ketchup can beat him in a race. He he takes so long to get warm that he can prevent global warming

iramets wrote: I would pay Randolph, as with player incentives, on a per-doubleswitch incentive basis. Give him a year for every doubleswitch he's used as manager.Let me get this straight. The indication of a manager's quality is how often he double switches? You'd much prefer it if Willie did one or two double switches a game, regardless of strategic situation? He would do better, for instance, if he takes out Jose Reyes in the third inning and put Chris Woodward as short, as long as it's a double switch? Would your ideal manager would double switch in the first inning? Pull out Delgado, put Franco at first, and have the pitcher bat in the 4 slot. Interesting criterion.

Not 73, but one of the best books on the Mets (especially about the emotions of being a Mets fan) was about 1972: The Wrong Season by Joel Oppenheimer.

Rojas and Alou are cousins. Alou's name is actually Moises Rojas Alou, taking his name from his father Felipe Rojas Alou. This means that Moises's grandfather's name was Rojas. (The Alou brothers took their last name from their mother's last name, not their father's.) Mel Rojas's names is Melquiades Medrano Rojas, meaning that his mother's name was Rojas. So Mel and Moises share a grandfather.