Lundy

George Brett tops my list, his 1980 baseball card was one of the first in my collection. I still have my George Brett-endorsed baseball glove. Johnny Bench was also a favorite, probably from watching "The Baseball Bunch" in my formative years. I've always liked John Smoltz. Dave Steib of the Jays too. Perennial Pirate relieve Kent Tekulve; perennial Reds reliever Tom Hume as well.

Use of we/us happens often at the ballpark, where you feel like you're a part of the action: "C'mon Carlos, we need a hit here!" But use of them/they often happens in discussion afterwards: "I can't believe they only had three hits" Also: the let's in "Let's go Mets" is a contraction of "let us"

They should have Seaver and Piazza walk in from centerfield, in a reverse of what happened the last day at Shea.

Santana 5 Wright 3 Beltran 2

Living presidents is what I was going for. There hasn't been a Rudolph, Hillary, Mitt or Barack on the Mets, so it could be tough to do that one come 2009...

They've all worked in the Mets broadcasting booth at one time or another.

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff279/lundy629/collazzo.jpg It was.

I wrote to Keith Hernandez, it must have been in 1985, because I remember writing about the 19-inning game that he played in against the Braves. I asked for his autograph, and did get something in return--a Keith Hernandez postcard with Keith's autograph rubber-stamped onto it.

I didn't have enough time to put together a visual KTE for the Pirates this time, so I'll just post the notes I made, and feel free to add anything that I've missed: THE TEAM: The Pirates have been perrenial bottom-feeders for the last decade or so, and this season is no different. They are in fifth place in the NL Central and only a half game ahead of the cellar-dwelling Cincinnati Reds. They are coming off of successive series losses to division rivals Houston Astros and Colorado Rockies. THE PLAYERS: Playing first base for the Pirates these days is Adam LaRoche. A familiar face to Mets fans, this is his first year in Pittsburgh after three years with the Atlanta Braves. Freddy Sanchez is manning second base, and while he hit a career-best .344 last season, he's hitting .295 this season. Jack Wilson is at shortstop, but the Pirates recently acquired former Dodger, and former Cub, Cesar Izturis, and it has been rumored that Wilson is on the way out with the trading deadline approaching. The hot corner for the Bucs is manned by Jose Castillo, whose numbers are down this season, batting .238 with no homers and 10 rbi. In left field the Pirates have Jason Bay, who is hitting .246 with 13 homers and 60 rbi. The Pirates' centerfielder Nate McLouth is also their leadoff hitter, but he's only scored 21 times and has six stolen bases. And in right field, a man who knows a thing or two about playing at Shea--Xavier Nady. He's having a pretty respectable year, batting .280 with 14 home runs and 52 rbi. Ronny Paulino wears the tools of ignorance for the Bucs. He's got a little pop in his bat with five home runs. PITCHING: This is where the Mets can get into trouble, as the Pirates will have their top three starters going against the Mets. Tonight they put up Ian Snell (7-7, 3.31) against John Maine, Tom Gorzelanny (9-5, 3.20) goes against Tom Glavine on Wednesday, and Paul Maholm (6-12, 4.57) goes against former Pirate Oliver Perez on Thursday. EX-FACTOR: who more appropriate to be the lone ex-Met on the Pirates than the X-Man himself, Xavier Nady?

Yancy Street Gang wrote: For some reason I can't determine, a lot of people are Googling Ed Glynn today. Anthony of the "Opie and Anthony" radio show mentioned this morning that his mother briefly dated Ed Glynn back in the day...

I'll take the Pirates July 24-26.

My brother in law gave me an Easter surprise with tickets to yesterday's game. We were in the Upper Deck, but we were in the sun so it was actually quite warm for most of the game. Lots of people in my section were getting on David Wright much like Dickshot was in this thread. We saw Feliciano come to the door of the bullpen, and my brother in law commented that now that he didn't come into the game that he was going to catch Howard's homer. He was wrong. He hit it to just left of the bullpen... Also of note, the "Professor Reyes" segment is now the "Jose Reyes Spanish Academy" sponsored by Delta.

I can do one of the series with the Reds.

Good to see offensive contributions from Alou and Green, tow guys who had a less than stellar spring. A solid defensive game, with gems from Alou, Beltran with the throw to nail Eckstein at the plate, and a nice stop from Valentin to start a double play. Even with a five run lead, Wagner makes it interesting. Glad we didn't get to Pujols in the ninth. I know that Peter Gammons had some health problems last year; it was good to see him seemingly back at full strength.

It was absolutely intense at the game. The fans were keyed up for every pitch of the game. We were standing and rhythymically clapping for strikeouts in the FIRST inning, for crissakes. I was sitting in the mezz in the rightfield corner, kinda near the back of the section, so we couldn't see Shawn Green miss the ball, but we could tell from the crowd reaction that he didn't catch the ball. I'm guessing the baserunners were also focused on Green and whether or not he caught the ball. It certainly was the oddest double play I've ever seen. Kinda angry that they didn't replay it on Diamondvision (or if they did, we missed it.) Just to illustrate how busy and intense the game was. While walking to Penn Station, I noticed that my shoelace was untied. I was running late for the train, so I said, screw it, I'll tie it on the train. Train was too crowded--had to stand. Boardwalk over to Shea was packed as well. Waiting to pass through Gate E packed as well. Got to my seat right at first pitch and never thought about my shoelace. It was finally tied--right after I got off the train at Little Neck after the game.

I'll go in, but I was planning on putting the (electric) razor down on the day the playoffs begin.

I opened my email this morning to find I was selected in the "second chance drawing." I picked up four tickets, in section 24 of the mezzanine, for Game 1. This'll be my first playoff game I've ever gone to.

CF Chavez RF Milledge 3B Wright LF Floyd 1B Franco 2B Woodward C Stinnett SS Hernandez P Glavine

] Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to find a picture of Pete Flynn's puzzle-piece re-shodded Shea infield from 1986. The Mets had a day game the next day in 1986, so the grounds crew had to stay up all night fixing what the the vandalous fans had undone. I was at that game, and I have the game on tape somewhere. It was a patchwork quilt of a field.

CPF to Xavier Nady: No Thanks.

Wow, I used to live in that congressional district...

Cow-Bellman is more noticeable in a sparse crowd. And very annoying to listen to.

MFS62, the KTE is a video posted on Youtube. I'll try and post it elsewhere.