Vic Sage

It's about as fundamentally pointless as most screenplays, but it made a terrific movie. Peter Weir is one helluva director. I'm going to do a filmography on him, at some point.

we'll be up in nose bleed territory... Upper Level Box, section 4, Box 712A (front box, front row) If it rains, it'll hit us first.

i'm taking my daughter to "kids opening day" tomorrow. If anybody is tailgating, or hanging out, let me know.

Darth Vader's theme from "Star Wars"

Glavine - 3 Nady - 2.75 Wright - 2 LoDuca - 1 Wagner - 1 Heilman - .25

i couldn't stand it any longer, so i went across the street to ESPNZone and watched the last 2 innings from a recliner right in front of a huge screen. I wolfed down 6 sliders and a brew in 15 minutes while watching the 8th and 9th, and now i'm back in my office. i don't know why i bother to go to work on opening day. I never get anything done.

the Nats have the wrong F-Rod

beltran gets to hit 2nd this inning... despite WWSB's master plan.

Reyes Ks swinging. I don't think Ricky taught him that.

1st hit of the year... single by Nady.

V is certainly flawed, but i disagree with your overall assessment. The movie is ambitious, but it is sort of schizophrenic... its an art-film with too much violence, or an action film with too much chatter. But nevertheless, it's a chilling, moving call-to-arms, sounding at an important time. V's final battle under the subway shows what this movie COULD have been, had they cut some chatting and mixed it up a bit more. Its not just that more action would've been enteraining (tho it would've been), it would've also better serve the theme the movie pretends to raise. Because, if you're going to ask the question "when is terrorism justified?" then you can't so load the answer in the story-telling. In between blowing up empty buildings, V only kills bad guys who deserve it, and this he does mostly off-screen, in bloodless ways. It lacks ambiguity and sophistication in its viewpoint. In fact, the one horrible thing we see him do to an innocent is forgiven by his particular victim (i won't say who) and his act ultimately serves the victim's needs. If we had seen some exciting action sequences in which he serves his taste for retribution in more interestingly horrible ways, and if his actions actually killed innocents because "in order to make an omelette...", then the question is more complicated and more interesting. V is further humanized by giving him a stupid, pointless love story, as if that had anything to do with anything. But this is Hollywood and we must replace moral complexity with simplistic heroism, and politics must always revolve around a love story. On a side note: If Portman's character "Evie" is to be totally debased and dehumanized during her imprisonment, to the extent that she is completely broken down, then where is the requisite "nude shower scene" or other moment of sexual humiliation or torture? They show a bit of a shower scene, but all you see is her upper back. Now, not only does this annoy me because i want to see Natalie Portman naked (which is a good enough reason), it again underlines the way the movie pulls its punches. But here's the thing... the movie works anyway. Portman's radicalization is a personal journey that we take with her, and, in the end, when the gates outside Parliament are filled with a citizenry finally awoken from its stupor... well, its a glorious moment, a call to arms reminiscent of the Les Miserables musical in its goose-bump inducing emotion. Heavy-handed? Yup. But between the striking art direction, the moving performances, the chilling message (compromised though it is), the imaginitive action sequences (few as they may be) and the engaging personal journey toward awareness and engagement for not only Evie but the entire populace... it seems to me well worth the price of admission, and its virtues (such as they are) are better appreciated on a big screen, rather than waiting for them to be minimalized on tv.

Cairo is evidence of WWSB's tendency to mistakenly project offensive prowess onto 2bmen.

Wee Willie was a 2nd-hitting 2bman... of course, he had an OB% around .400, didn't strike out, could run ok, great bunter (BIFL), had some pop, and was basically as an ideal a #2 hitter as one could imagine, for his era. That he then projects this on Hernandez (or Matsui) is silly, but not entirely surprising given the WWSB is an idiot.

i've got him on most of my fantasy teams. which, for a guy with little faith in young pitchers, is either a gesture of supreme stupidity or an indicator that, as i get older, i get more... hopeful?

there was a time there, when Bobby Jones was winning 14 games a year for the Mets, and Pettitte was with the Yanks, that I was sure Jones was the better pitcher, and would have the better career, and Pettitte was merely the benificiary of great run support and being able to neutralize LHed power in Yankmee stadium. Of course, i also thought for a while there that Billy Doran was much better than that overrated Sandberg guy in ChiTown, and if they had switched parks, Doran would've been the hotshot 2bman. And i still think that, but for Doran's injuries.

89

If you wanna talk about "opening day memories", here's one from the archives... 4/1/03 METS OPENING DAY... A LOWDOWN, DIRTY SHEAm I called in sick and drove to Shea with John, a Cubs fan. Its Ok, though... he's from the mid-west, so I don't hold it against him. We were going to meet KC in the parking lot... KC, the source of all tickets and king of the tailgaters. The Grand Central was backed way up, so I took the Van Wyck but missed Exit 12a, and ended up taking 12b to Junction Blvd, and taking the streets of Queens back to the park via Roosevelt Ave, under the 7 train. I still got there faster than those poor suckers sitting on the Grand Central. I imagine them now as skeletons, still sitting in their cars, frozen in time. I parked in the lot on Roosevelt across the street from Gate C, by the Tennis stadium. It was $10 for parking. $10. They just keep cutting the flesh from your bones, don't they? We walked around looking for KC's tailgate party, but we were late and they were gone. Headed into the stadium, on this bright, sunny but brisk mid-afternoon. I'm thinking: "hell, this ain't so bad. I've been colder." I was thinking of the night game in August I saw at Candlestick Park. THAT was sick cold. This? Not so bad. We go up to our seats. They�re right behind home (section 2), but �Rear Mezz�, so under the overhang and no sunlight. We stopped for snacks. Get this... $4.50 for a hotdog. I kid you not. $4fucking50. With the ticket, the parking, a yearbook, scorecard, hot dog, fries and a hot chocolate, I'm already in for over $75 before I've even sat down. The park looks the same, with a new coat of paint. More signage than ever. The field is cut in alternating rays emanating from home plate. Very nice, in a "Better Homes & Gardens" sort of way. Then, of course, the game starts and my day turns to crap. I'm immediately realizing that Glavine, a control pitcher who relies on "touch", can't feel the ball and thus can't locate at all. We better score a lot today. And, down 4-0 after the first inning, we come back with 2 runs against Wood in the second. I'm thinking: "Ok, we can make a game of this." But we don't. That, it turns out, was the hitting for the day. Mikey hit a few shots hard, right on the nose, but to dead center, and Patterson pulled them in. Nobody else did much at all. Oh, yeah... Burny hit a pair of doubles. Big whoop. Defensively, it was just as I'd feared in the pre-season. Uncle Floyd kicks one around the alley in left-center, allowing guys to race around the bases. Malomar fields two routine grounders to his right, falls down both times and throws neither hitter out. "Cey Hey" Cedeno? He made a nice diving catch in the early innings. Then, he misplays a deep fly by forty-something feet, turning Bellhorn's out into a 3-run triple. Well, at least the bullpen sucked too. Strickland added to the depressing walk total. Then, Bascik got his shot... 9 runs, 2 innings. Wow. Could he be mailed to Norfolk in a FedEx box? Lloyd pitches an ok inning, and so did Weathers, but he forgot to cover First Base for yet another error. Speaking of errors... the only thing scarier than Cedeno in center were the two ...um... ladies sitting behind us, calling out their sexual attraction for Mikey and for Super Joe McEwing, in voices like drunken foghorns high on Rhino-horn powder. I'm sure that the testicles of every male within 30 rows shot up into their respective abdominal cavities every time these Gorgons caterwauled their lustful intentions. By the seventh, the cold had penetrated our bones like myeloma. It was a killing frost, whipping through us like an angry dominatrix with a cat-o-nine-tails and a mean hangover. The hot chocolate, uncovered because they ran out of lids, had long since frozen and I was licking it like a Popsicle. I went to piss in the fourth, but could scarcely feel my legs and couldn't find my dick. By the seventh, it was getting dangerous out there, and all we were doing was waiting around to see if Sammy would hit HR #500. He didn't. He walked. And so did John and I, back to the car. It was easy getting out of the lot. Thought I�d be smart and take the Grand Central west, to the Triboro, and up 87. But, of course, we got stuck in traffic due to construction. NYC construction is much like the Mets... arbitrary slabs of rehabilitation, more for cosmetic purposes than anything else, and generally resulting in worse conditions than when it started. Final thoughts... - I'm not worried about Glavine. I think he'll adjust. And this cold can't last forever. Unless we've drifted out of our orbit away from the sun, in which case we've all got bigger problems to worry about. - The Cey Hey kid is proving to be everything I feared. He was my biggest concern going into the season. As my buddies in the I.R.A. say: "FREE TIM O'NIEL!... and pass the Guinness and C4..." - I'm still pissed we gave Fonzie's money to Uncle Floyd and his Mets debut did nothing to assuage my dissatisfaction. - Burny hit 2 doubles, but lets not get too excited.. He started off pretty good last year too. - Malomar looks really fucking old. Can you say �Baerga�? - Bascik is only here because Astacio is on the DL, but should that have come as any big surprise, with his injury history? We are short on quality major-league starters. But then again, who isn't? Still, when Cone's arrival is awaited as if he's Doc coming back from rehab, we've got a serious problem on our hands. And Shane Reynolds ain't gonna fix it. Art Howe says he's �not going to lose sleep" over this disaster, and "It's early". Well...no shit, Artie. But don't ever say that again or I�ll come down there and beat the living crap out of your balding pate with a tire iron. I swear by whatever god you choose, I will do this. I'm not kidding. OK, I may change my mind later, but that doesn't mean I'm kidding now.

Ken Rosenthal in Sporting News just rated the Mets bench as 4th best overall. castro Woodward Valentin Franco Chavez V.Diaz (or a 7th RPer)

article in the Post about V.Diaz being on the bubble. it looks like its down to Oliver or Feliciano for the Loogy slot, and the 25th man is either V.Diaz or a 7th RPer (Iriki? Bell? Lima?). I'd much rather have Diaz than an extra arm in the pen.

i'm planning on not planning. I'll see how i feel on Monday. I'll come in to work, and if the weather is decent, and my schedule is flexible, I'll just train it to Shea and see what I can scalp. I should be able to find a single ticket, dontcha think? if i do get out there, I'll look for youse guys... the Chapsfolk, and the Cartersians, and the Yancepators.

1) Give the Met who will have the most of each category, names but no numbers Batting categories Games: Wright Hits: Reyes Doubles: Wright Triples: Reyes Home runs: Delgado RBI: Delgado Stolen Bases: Reyes Caught stealing: Reyes Runs scored: Reyes Batting average (high): Wright On base percentage (high): Delgado Strikeouts (high): Delgado Walks: Delgado Pitching categories Wins: Glavine Losses: Trachsel Strikeouts: Pedro Walks: Zambrano ERA (low): Wagner ERA (high) Julio ERA (low by a starter): Pedro ERA (high by a starter): Trax Saves: Wagner BAA (low): Pedro BAA (high) Trax Games started: Glavine Games pitched: Sanchez 2) Give the number for the player and category specified Cliff Floyd - games 130 Cliff Floyd - batting average .290 David Wright - runs scored 95 David Wright - RBI 105 Carlos Beltran - home runs 22 Carlos Beltran - stolen bases 30 Jose Reyes - errors 15 Jose Reyes - on base percentage .305 Carlos Delgado - batting average .280 Carlos Delgado - RBI 110 Kaz Matsui - games 55 Kaz Matsui - runs scored 20 Anderson Hernandez - games 100 Anderson Hernandez - batting average .245 Anderson Hernandez - fielding percentage .995 Paul Lo Duca - on base percentage .340 Xavier Nady - RBI 75 Victor Diaz - games 100 Pedro Martinez - strikeouts 175 Tom Glavine - wins 15 Steve Trachsel - losses 14 Steve Trachsel - walks 70 Victor Zambrano - ERA 4.21 Victor Zambrano - strikeouts 103 Brian Bannister - games started 15 Aaron Heilman - games started 15 Billy Wagner - saves 40 Billy Wagner - ERA 1.95 Jorge Julio - ERA 4.95

oh, and Yancy... shut up.

a pitching rotation on the precipice of disaster; an offense with holes at 2b and RF, health questions at 1b and LF, and a mystery man in cf; a bullpen with an aging, big $ closer with a sore finger, and a setup guy who was a failed closer from Baltimore, who'll get way too many chances to blow way too many games; a small ball manager with no balls at all; a gm with an itchy trigger finger who hasn't demonstrated any particular ability to assess young talent, and a rich owner in the biggest media market in the world who requires strict adherence to a budget (eg, see Cameron and Benson trades), thus hamstringing efforts to fix the team in midstream. BUT DON'T WORRY... BE HAPPY! BIESBOL IZ BAKK!! ... almost...

]Are scouts just not aware of him? Does he look THAT bad fielding second? No one seems to know . . maybe he pisses in the clubhouse shower?

it looks like you're projecting Bannister over Iriki on the roster, and over Heilman in the rotation, and the non-roster Feliciano over RRing. I don't think it'll work that way, due to roster and contract issues, but it wouldn't be the worst thing they could do. I think that, since they signed Iriki to a guaranteed contract, and he hasn't pitched badly, he'll be in the pen, and Heilman will be in the rotation. Especially since Bannister can be sent back down without any issues. And i don't think they'll try to move somebody off the 40-man (do they run the risk of losing a player thru waivers that way?) to clear room for Feliciano, when Ring has done okay and is already on the roster.