Vic Sage

Apparently, Dr. Altcheck is going down to florida this week to check on Santana. The mountain is coming to Mohammed.

wow... bunting, hitting the other way... fundamentals. In spring training? IT .. WILL ... WORK!!

what was the final score?

] think we can all agree on one thing, though: putting ketchup on a hot dog is, basically, treasonous, and should be punished by deportation. So Chicagoans can put tomatoes on their dogs, but look down their noses at ketchup? Feh. Personally, i don't mind "red onions" which are in a tomato-based sauce, but wouldn't use ketchup. As a parent, on the other hand, I'm more forgiving of my kids' affection for ketchup on their dogs, and would certainly resist their deportation.

top of the 4th; church's 2-rbi bases-loaded single knocks out the Oriole pitcher. Mets lead 7-2 Church = 3rbi; Castillo = 4rbi Manuel's strategies in kicking Church and coddling Castillo is working, so far.

steaming is equivalent to boiling. Both processes render meat flavorless, while grilling enhances flavor. And yes, a hot dog is a snack, while the chicago dog is a meal.... but it's a meal with very little to do with hot dogs. It's a seeded hero loaf of veggies, with some steamed meat underneath. YUMMM!

I grew up in Coney Island, where the "Chicago-style Hot dog" is considered an abomination. Hot dogs (or, more properly, "Franks" or "Frankfurters") were invented by Charles Feltman in 1867, who put a Vienna sausage in a roll and called it "Coney Island Red Hots." Some people, unsure of its ingredients, called it a hot dog. It is still sold at the world famous original Nathans the way God, Feltman and Nathan Handwerker intended... grilled (not boiled!) and served plain or with sauerkraut on a bun without other adornment except the availability of mustard, applied by the customer. A little relish is acceptable, even a drop of ketchup for the pre-teens who put ketchup on everything... even some "red onions". But a chicago dog is boiled (on edit: or steamed) and then buried in an overwhelming bun with a warehouse full of veggies. You might as well not have the hotdog in there at all, for all it matters. If you want to do that to a big polish sausage or a kielbasa, then fine. But a hot dog is a subtler creature and needs a tad more minimalism for its true appreciation. And don't even get me started on their pizza. Second City? I wouldn't even rate it in the top 5.

never mind that he's too unreliable to be great. he's too unreliable even to be adequate.

something keeps whispering "Livan" in my good ear. put me down for 100 DisneyBucks.

yes, he should retire when journalists tell him to. Me? they would have to rip the bat out of my hands and beat me to death with it.

my saturday plan is cheaper this year than last year.

yup

[u:1dsvs0fu]Big FAs to sign:[/u:1dsvs0fu] Manny Ramirez, LF - rh (36) - type (A) Orlando Hudson, 2B -rh (31) - type (A) [u:1dsvs0fu]situational lefties:[/u:1dsvs0fu] Joe Beimel, RP (31) -type ( Dennys Reyes, RP (31) -type ( Will Ohman, RP (31) [u:1dsvs0fu]rh bat[/u:1dsvs0fu] Emil Brown, LF (34) Nomar Garciaparra, SS (35) Jay Payton, LF (36) [u:1dsvs0fu]fifth starter[/u:1dsvs0fu] Mark Mulder, SP -lh (31) - worth a minor league look

]Dunn probably more one-dimensional than ever feared. OB% = .381 SLG% = .518 looks pretty 2-dimensional to me...

The Mets are more than $20m under the luxury tax threshhold. Sign Dunn and Hudson, then pay someone to take Castillo off our hands. or better yet, offer Manny $20m/1year, with a $5m buyout of two additional $25m option years. We'd still be under the "cap" and with new sold-out stadium and a cable network, and the additional merch revenue Manny brings, and the additional revs from post-season, it would be a great investment. But of course guys who invested with Madoff wouldn't know a great investment if it were sukking their collective cox.

there is no evidence that he knew he was positive until 1/06, and the complaint doesn't allege any. That he SHOULD have known before then, based on his various symptoms, is a matter of conjecture, and not the basis of "criminal" conduct. It might rise to tortious conduct, if her allegations are proven true, and though sections 29-34 of the complaint are worded broadly (as such complaints generally are), they clearly are about what he SHOULD have known. Of course, during all this time HE should have known, shouldn't she have? Why would she continue to have unprotected sex with someone whose symptoms she alleges were so obvious that ignoring or denying them rose to the level of negligence (civil, much less criminal negligence!). Wasn't she contributorily negligent? Oh the other hand, if he actually told her that he'd been tested on the numerous times that she alleges, and always told her he had tested negative, that's fraudulant behavior. Still, in most jurisdictions "emotional distress" needs at least some element of physical damage to be actionable, and certainly so for a criminal prosecution. She doesn't claim any battery, and as long as she tests negative, neither she nor any state may have a claim against him for what he might have or should have known. But certainly, if her allegations are true, there is moral culpability here.

2009 salaries for projected 25-man roster: (revised) 1) Johan Santana - $20M 2) Carlos Beltran - $18.5M 3) Carlos Delgado - $12M 4) Oliver Perez - $12m 5) F-Rod - $10.5m 6) David Wright - $7.5M 7) Luis Castillo - $6M 8) Jose Reyes - $5.75M 9) JJ Putz - $5m 10) Brian Schneider - $4.9M 11) Ryan Church - $2.8M 12) John Maine - $2.6m 13) Ramon Castro - $2.5M 14) Tim Redding $2.25m 15) Alex Cora - $2m 16) Mike Pelfrey ~$2M 17) Fernando Tatis - $1.7M 18) Duaner Sanchez - $1.6875m 19) Pedro Feliciano ($1.615m) 20) Marlon Anderson - $1.15M 21) Jeremy Reed - $0.925m Mets have the following players under their control for `09, but salary not yet determined or unknown: 22) Sean Green (08=$0.405m) 23) Brian Stokes (08=$0.402M) 24) Dan Murphy (08=min) 25) Carlon Muniz (08=min) additional payroll costs: - DL: Billy Wagner - $10.5M - Traded: Scott Schoeneweis - $1.6M (still owed) - Cory Sullivan - $0.6m - Angel Pagan - $0.575m - Connor Robertson - trade - Rocky Cherry (08=$0.390m) - rule V - Darren O'Day (08=$0.390m) - rule V - Freddie Garcia ($1.5m, if makes the 40 man roster) - Jose Valentin ($0.8, if makes the 25-man roster) - Livan Hernandez ($1m, if makes the 25-man roster) TOTAL ESTIMATED 2009 PAYROLL = ~$138.5M 2009 Luxury Tax Threshhold = $162m (tax = 22% of amounts over threshhold)

my observations: 1) saying someone has AIDS could be actionable, unless it were true, so it is unlikely the woman would make this accusation without some good faith basis to believe it to be true; 2) The gay rumors (which i recall) and his sudden and precipitous drop in performance add further credibility to the claim and therefore are relevent issues to raise without pretending otherwise, or implying veiled innuendo of homophobia for having done so, 3) There doesn't seem to be an allegation that Alomar knew (or even that he necessarily should have known) that he had AIDS at the time they were having unprotected sex, so there is no criminal liability (or moral culpability); 4) this is tragic all the way around; and 5) Namor's perspective does not surprise me in the least.

]Henderson didn't display an extraordinarily strong platoon differential, but he hit lefthanders significantly better than he hit righties, particularly for power. um... come again?

yeah, i mean basically he just got a raise!

]But naming rights, especially if they endure, can perform another vital function for brands. It can help make them part of the vernacular. The greatest desire of any marketer is for her product's name to work its way into conversations. When I was growing up, it was common to say, "I want a Coke" when you were referring to any kind of soda. People ask for a Kleenex when they mean a tissue, say they're going to Xerox a document even if they're using a Ricoh copier, and speak of Googling when they refer to an Internet search. Stadium naming rights can help products and brands gain that sort of status. um... while those that control corporate brands want their brands to be ubiquitous, they do NOT want their trademarks to become generic. That's called "genericide", a sort of "public domain" status for trademarks, and thus costs the owner exclusive control over their mark. Of course, the naming of a stadium isn't likely to cause this phenomenon (oh look at that new Citi they're building in Montreal! I bet that'll bring baseball back!), so the point is not only incorrect, it's irrelevant. Now that's journalism!

its government cheese... part of the stimulus package.

current bench (assuming a 7-man pen, and a 5-man bench): 1) castro (rh) - C 2) Tatis (rh)- corner IF/OF [platooning with Murphy (lh)] 3) Alex Cora (lh) - MI 4) Marlon Anderson (lh) - IF/OF 5) Jeremy Reed (lh) - Of - Cory Sullivan (lh) - OF - B.Kielty (rh) - Of I would like to see Kielty take Anderson's job, and have Anderson duke it out with Reed and Sullivan for the LHed PH/OF slot. Of course, if Aurillia can still play MI, he'd be a more valuable asset, giving the bench more flexibility.

smg58: ]According to the Fielding Bible, Church's defense in RF was superior, Murphy's glove in left was above average (and far better than most people realize), and Dunn's glove was well below average no matter where he was put. I'm not sure Dunn would give the Mets anything with the bat that he wouldn't take away with the glove, especially in a more spacious park. The same applies to Abreu, and would have applied to Burrell, Ibanez, or Jermaine Dye. This kind of horsehockey makes my shorts steam. you're worried about corner of defense, when you've got a guy who averages 40hr/100+rbi/100+BB /year? Get Ollie & Dunn and be done!

2009 salaries for projected 25-man roster: (revised) 1) Johan Santana - $20M 2) Carlos Beltran - $18.5M 3) Carlos Delgado - $12M 4) Oliver Perez - $12m 5) F-Rod - $10.5m - DL: Billy Wagner - $10.5M (DL) 6) David Wright - $7.5M 7) Luis Castillo - $6M 8) Jose Reyes - $5.75M 9) JJ Putz - $5m 10) Brian Schneider - $4.9M 11) Ryan Church - $2.8M 12) John Maine - $2.6m 13) Ramon Castro - $2.5M 14) Tim Redding $2.25m 15) Alex Cora - $2m 16) Mike Pelfrey ~$2M 17) Fernando Tatis - $1.7M 18) Duaner Sanchez - $1.6875m 19) Pedro Feliciano ($1.615m) - Traded: Scott Schoeneweis - $1.6M still owed 20) Marlon Anderson - $1.15M 21) Jeremy Reed - $0.925m - Cory Sullivan - $0.6m - Angel Pagan - $0.575m Mets have the following players under their control for `09, but salary not yet determined or unknown: 22) Sean Green (08=$0.405m) 23) Brian Stokes (08=$0.402M) 24) Dan Murphy (08=min) 25) Carlon Muniz (08=min) - Rocky Cherry (08=$0.390m) - rule V - Darren O'Day (08=$0.390m) - rule V - Connor Robertson - trade TOTAL ESTIMATED 2009 PAYROLL = ~$138.5M