metsmarathon

yay.

jeter's intangibles went around

ask if they're ever planning on holding another run to home plate... or if its even possible the way the stadium is built

i don't think you should use instant replay to call balls and strikes. granted, i don't think you need to use a human for that, at all. some ball/strike calls might even come quicker. with instant replay, we also wouldn't have that wonderful moment where a young jeffrey maier set into motion perhaps the greatest crock of baloney we've been privvy to for the past fifteen years. with instant replay, derek jeter wouldn't have an edge. he'd just have a long fly ball.

mistakes are great - ask the gulf coast!

i find it maddening that baseball "purists" are falling all over themselves trying to defend and protect and reinforce the "human element" of baseball officiating. i'd like to rebrand them "errorists" or "inaccurists" in this regard. the reason we accept human error in baseball officiating is because we are forced to, as for 150 years or so, humans were the best thing we could come up with to judge the events on the field against the criteria set forth in the rule book. humans, being inherently imperfect, are expected to make mistakes at times. yet we still ask, nay, demand of them to strive towards perfection. do we not demand of our umpires to get the maximum number of calls correct? and isn't what distinguishes baseball officiating from officiating in most other major sports that there are virtually no judgment calls - that everything is either black or it is white - with the possible exception of the declaring the applicability of the infield fly rule, or whether a player left the basepaths to disrupt the defense? balls and strikes - either the ball is within the imaginary box, or it is not. safe or out - either the batter beat the ball to the bag, or he did not. fair or foul - either the ball is on this side of the line, or it is not. catch or trap - either the ball hit the glove first, or the ground. there's no "gee, did he touch the other player too hard, or not? did he grab his jersey but not yank too hard, or let go quickly enough? was that kick to the groin or slapshot to the face really just incidental?" if baseball could eliminate the potential for the officials to make mistakes, would not that be the most pure form of the sport - you go out there and play, and your actions alone determine the outcome? if baseball could eliminate the umpires, and the calls could be made instantly, accurately, and automatically, would that really be an abomination, or would it be more perfectly capturing the intended function of the umpires? more to the point, there is already precedent established whereby instant replay can be used. i'm not talking about the boundary calls on home runs. the umpires are already allowed to request assistance in making a call from their peers, and in fact may consider arguments made by the players on the field and other uniformed personnel such as the manager and base coaches. and if a sufficient case is made, the umpire is permitted to reverse his call, and even make a determination on where the baserunners should be positioned as a result of teh modified outcome of the play. there is also precedent for adding additional umpires to the field of play, as in teh playoffs we add a pair of umpires down teh lines for the express purpose of calling home runs (fair foul, too? i forget..) so how is that appreciably different than installing a fifth umpire who is able to reinforce or overturn calls made on teh field when sufficient evidence is presented? i've gotta say that 99% of the questionable calls can be resolved by the television broadcasters before teh next pitch is made. why cannot a fifth umpire, with his ever-watching eye, also have a hi-def terminal with multiple simultaneous camera angles available to him to make a rapid assessment of the accuracy of a call in question? if he can't resolve the matter in 30 seconds, the call on teh field stands. and i don't know why that should serve to undermine the authority of teh umpires. in the case of the imperfect game, joyce himself has stated that he made an error, and wishes he could reverse the call. and how often does a call look blown in real time, but then on instant replay, teh tv crew is amazed that the umpire was actually able to get it right? when the home plate umpire asks for a ruling from the first base umpire on a check swing, does that undermine his authority to call that same play unassisted? how is that any different, except that all of a sudden there'd be technology involved?

in 1985, i realized baseball existed and was televised regularly. davey johnson was the manager of the team my grandfather watched every so often. i dont have any specific memories of baseball back then, only ralph kiners voice, strawberry's sweet sweet swing, and mookie wilson's knack for getting out of the way of a ball at his feet. i think my first mets game was in 86 (maybe 87), and we were in standing room only. it was summer and it was hot. later in the game we got to move into real seats.

[table:6dih8r0q][tr:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]By Count[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]AB[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]R[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]H[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]2B[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]3B[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]HR[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]RBI[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]BB[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]HBP[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]SO[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]AVG[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]OBP[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]SLG[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]OPS[/td:6dih8r0q][/tr:6dih8r0q][tr:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]Count 0-0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]9[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0.111[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0.111[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0.111[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0.222[/td:6dih8r0q][/tr:6dih8r0q][tr:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]Count 0-1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]6[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]2[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]3[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]2[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0.5[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0.571[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]1.571[/td:6dih8r0q][/tr:6dih8r0q][tr:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]Count 0-2[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]10[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]8[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0.1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0.1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0.1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0.2[/td:6dih8r0q][/tr:6dih8r0q][tr:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]Count 1-0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]8[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][/tr:6dih8r0q][tr:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]Count 1-1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]10[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]4[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0.4[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0.4[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0.4[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0.8[/td:6dih8r0q][/tr:6dih8r0q][tr:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]Count 1-2[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]20[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]2[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]2[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]10[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0.1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0.1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0.2[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0.3[/td:6dih8r0q][/tr:6dih8r0q][tr:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]Count 2-0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][/tr:6dih8r0q][tr:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]Count 2-1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]6[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0.167[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0.167[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0.167[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0.333[/td:6dih8r0q][/tr:6dih8r0q][tr:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]Count 2-2[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]16[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]4[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]2[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]8[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0.25[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0.25[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0.5[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0.75[/td:6dih8r0q][/tr:6dih8r0q][tr:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]Count 3-0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]1[/td:6dih8r0q][/tr:6dih8r0q][tr:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]Count 3-1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]3[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]1[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]2[/td:6dih8r0q][/tr:6dih8r0q][tr:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]Count 3-2[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]8[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]2[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]2[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]2[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]6[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]4[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0.25[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0.533[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]0.5[/td:6dih8r0q][td:6dih8r0q]1.033[/td:6dih8r0q][/tr:6dih8r0q][/table:6dih8r0q] i had been thinking, "don't throw the 0-2 curve to eckstein"

holy fuck, man.

i'd much rather the mets swallow the remainder of his contract than choke on it. why the fuck is that such a hard concept for these multimillion dollar franchises to grasp?

ah. whoops. missed that minor detail.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: metsmarathon wrote: top ten, in terms of nleasterly WAR, as per fangraphs 62.1 Ozzie Smith, STL 35.3 Jimmy Rollins, PHI 27.4 Gene Alley, PIT 25.9 Hanley Ramirez, FLA 24.2 Buddy Harrelson, NYM/PHI 23.5 Jay Bell, PIT/NYM 22.9 Jose Reyes, NYM 22.7 Larry Bowa, PHI/CHI/NYM 17.8 Rafael Furcal, ATL 17.4 Garry Templeton, STL Gene Alley better than HanRam? This does not compute -- not by any measure. That has to be Alley's career, rather than his NL East years. gene alley played all 11 years with the pirates.

63.2 Keith Hernandez, STL/NYM 22.4 Willie Stargell, PIT 21.6 Ryan Howard, PHI 20.3 Mark Grace, CHI 19.2 John Olerud, NYM i tailored stargell's war by his %innings played at first here, in a given season. big willie played 60% of his career in teh outfield, most of that in left. given credit for only hte three seasons in which he played first, dick allen is way out of the running. ernie banks only gets credit for his last three seasons with teh cubs, as prior to that he was a national leaguer, not an nleaster.

top five nleasterly WAR, per fangraphs: 70.1 Gary Carter, MON/NYM 53.7 Ted Simmons, STL 32.2 Manny Sanguillen, PIT 31.2 Mike Piazza, FLA/NYM 28.3 Javy Lopez, ATL yeah, i'm the dissenter. remember, piazza's dodger days don't count. neither do his padres days, if you were so inclined... i was actually suprised javy lopez didnt edge him out too.

top ten, in terms of nleasterly WAR, as per fangraphs 62.1 Ozzie Smith, STL 35.3 Jimmy Rollins, PHI 27.4 Gene Alley, PIT 25.9 Hanley Ramirez, FLA 24.2 Buddy Harrelson, NYM/PHI 23.5 Jay Bell, PIT/NYM 22.9 Jose Reyes, NYM 22.7 Larry Bowa, PHI/CHI/NYM 17.8 Rafael Furcal, ATL 17.4 Garry Templeton, STL

good god, i cannot rip my eyes away from that image. i must instead rip my eyes from my head.

grumble grumble

i think jerry is both unfairly looked at as the scapegoat for the mets' many woes, and a terrible manager of men and baseball games who deserves to be fired.

i think its a great idea! all those people who have been clamoring for the mets go just get rid of luis fucking castillo will finally get what they asked for, and it will be so awful that they will see the error of their ways, and from that day forward will be more thoughtful in their demands of their team, realizing that simply because a player isn't great, or even necessarily good, doesn't mean that there isn't worse out there, and that not good player is the only thing standing in between something worse and the roster of your favorite team. fans will no longer call up radio stations and blurt out their nonsensical ideas without first thinking through the possible ramifications of those ideas and working through at least a cursory risk/reward analysis. metfandom as a whole will be improved, and, seeing this place as a beacon, shining brightly all through the dark stormy night, will flock here to bask in the glow of those who knew better all along, and our crane pool community will grow and grow and it will be truly glorious indeed. actually, i kindof like the idea, with a few provisos. well, really the only one is that murphy be the primary second baseman in the minors until such time that he demonstrates adequate enough proficiency for his combined offensive and defensive productivity to be at least equal to the combined offensive and defensive proficiency of luis castillo. i like murph. i think he can hit enough to be a mediocre defensive 2b. i think he's capable of fielding the position adequately. i only really worry about making the pivot.

contextually, the "habitual liar" thing sounds a lot less damning. its almost complimentary. i imagine maine is frustrated with his injury problems and feels like "if i can just work through it, i can figure out a way to make this work" i guess i'd rather he want to go out there and try to get batters out even when he's not feeling good than to be looking for excuses not to be in the game. i don't like playing the "let's read too much into things" game, but i can help but think that jerry has expressed so little confidence in his starters not named johan, and it may be affecting his relationship with those pitchers. at least with maine. who is probably smart enough to know that jerry's doghouse is an elusive threat. you may never know where it is, when it's coming, and how you got there, but once you're in, there's no escape until you make the transactions ledger. maine seems to be a guy who gets into his own head too much, and having a manager constantly expressing doubt in your abilities is probably not the most helpful thing for a guy like that. ultimately, its on john to be effective and figure things out, both how to stay healthy and how to pitch even if you're not. but i feel like jerry is not helping.

i don't know if i would trade wright for hanley ramirez, but i'd certainly trade him for dontrelle willis and miguel cabrera.

Centerfield wrote: Whatever marathon lady. When Leiter and I form the NTF (Non-Talented Forum) don't think you and your running-ish friends will be allowed. aw, crap...

wow. the washington announcers sound so full of life there, don't they?

that aughtta teach em!

i think they could use some taller foul poles, dontcha think?