Ceetar

bmfc1 wrote: Campbell gets the start at 1B even though it's a righty. how did Terry misspell Duda that badly?

Sophie enjoyed her first tailgate, even if it was a short stay and she's ticketed for a different Ivy. "17 runs! This is better than last time when Matz debuted and got all those hits!"

Fman99 wrote: MFYs elimination number is down to two. It's just a matter of time. 79-76 I'm still rooting for the losing season.

http://m.mlb.com/nym/video/v1182702083/cabrera-pega-hr-de-oro-en-la-11ma-entrada-ante-filis/?game_pk=449153 Spanish call. it's good. edit: I see bmfc1 already posted it. oops. well now it's on the current page.

I'm not sure what my plans are for the WC and NLDS right now (pending of course) but I did actually win the postseason lottery to buy tickets a few times so if two of you want to use my extra winning code gimme your email and you can have it. (tickets go on sale in 20 minutes..)

ugh Rene and James.

wouldn't they just move something to a few days before the official season like they usually do with these things? It'd be pretty cool imo. If I wasn't going to have two kids and no money, I'd be all about making an excuse for a trip to London.

De Aza might actually be the best third choice.

kinda wish Bruce was more pissed/dickish about it. maybe that'd get his swing back to at least the average+ it was.

Duda, provided he's actually healthy and not just here to be here, is the best option for more offense. I'd argue Bruce over Conforto too, though Bruce is seemingly as lost as Conforto was in May and June. Anything that gets Loney out of the lineup though.

I suspect the only 'plan' regarding Collin's comments about Bruce were to publicly avow confident in him and make any "mental health" days off he gave him seem more like mental health days than the benchings they probably are.

The coverage of him is the worst part, surely. He fit/fits a certain promotional schema that has little to with actual skill and dominating airwaves/news coverage where many fans would've preferred to hear about other/better players and things. And like much of media (today) the over-promotion becomes the story so it feeds itself. "We're only talking about Tebow because it gets traffic! ..because we've been hyper promoting it. Because it gets traffic!" see also: Donald Trump. Take the "devoted to baseball" and "Just want to put the work in" angles that are being played up now, despite that he's being paid like 100x more than a walk-on, has special marketing deals, and still gets to skip games for his other job(s). John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: My memory of Tebow becoming famous was appearing in an icky commercial with his mother testifying that he coulda been aborted but wasn't. It was just, ew. and yeah, the preachy anti-abortion Super Bowl commercial certainly doesn't help the dislike factor.

Brian Johnson

4-3 does feel like a disappointment, unless SF and/or STL go 3-4. 1 game lead is tiny, but just ticking off games help at this point.

themetfairy wrote: We'll be at Closing Day. Come tailgate with us! Probably! Gonna bring some homebrewed Belgian blond with cherries and a um, 'homebrewed' 2 year old German-Italian curly blond.

oof, suggests their won't be a lot of creativity again.

d'Kong76 wrote: Gotta love inning-starting walks. Twins fans probably bitching that Mauer didn't swing. I hear that's what they do. Got 1 now though. Edgy MD wrote: Just stick with pitchers when they're succeeding. It's not complicated at all. Sure it is. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

I mean, sure, stretch out Reed and Familia a little bit so they're more ready to go deeper in the playoffs.

Of the 36 batters the Mets have used this season, James Loney is dead last in fWAR. In the second half, the only Mets with a lower wRC+ are Jay Bruce, Brandon Nimmo (19pa), Cecchini (1) His defense is rated pretty poorly too.

Chad Ochoseis wrote: That's a good thing. The Mets should be able to pick up two games on at least one of them. And only one of them needs to be beaten out for a WC spot. I'm torn between wanting a sweep and wanting it settled versus wanting a split so the Mets can takeover the first spot.

Frayed Knot wrote: That first Sunday, April 2nd, will have three games played with the remainder of the league getting going on Monday. The two afternoon games are already set but the ESPN Sunday Night national telecast is 'TBA' for now and that's traditionally been where the reigning WS champ kicks off their defense of their title meaning that I'm figuring there's about a 74% chance our Monday opener is getting moved up. OK maybe not that high, but don't make any unbreakable plans for that Sunday night quite yet. I hope so! Might be the Cubs though. Imagine it was the Cubs opening on a Sunday night? Do they have enough beer in Chicago for that kind of tailgate?

Bruce at his best is Duda in a slump. But he's started on the bench 5 of the last 19 games. If someone else, Conforto, Nimmo..could start hitting, he'd probably sit even more.

There's also a lack of true understanding of leverage. It's not just using your "relief ace" in a tie game on the road, but maybe using him in the 8th if the heart of the lineup is up and let your second or third best guy face the bottom of the order in the 9th. And of course, it's easier to not lose a game when you have a 1+ run lead than it is in the tie game, so let your best reliever pitch the 9th anyway and have the lesser guys get the save later on with a little more cushion. also, your best reliever should probably be pitching when you're one run down in the 9th at home too. John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: I think what I'm saying is, roles could still evolve but it would take more than just a manager to accomplish this. There's certainly some validity to this, at least in the sense of getting prepared. Closers sorta build themselves up and time their warmups towards the 9th inning. They're perhaps the only reliever (at least, before 8th inning and 7th inning guys) that have the time of their entry more or less set. If you unleashed them early, they'd have to be prepared early. Or be able to get ready faster. Or have to stay ready to go or almost ready to go throughout a long extra innings bout. There's also the idea of saving your bullets. You don't want to be burning out your best guys in tie games or down a run and ultimately lose, and not have him for the close wins because he's tired, or he's less effective. It's a constant balance of risk/reward and the reward for pitching down 1 in the ninth or in the 10th inning of a tie game often can feel like it's not worth it, so managers adhere to a set of rules because they've been taught that it's the way to do things, and keeps your relievers mostly available when you want them most.

dinosaur jesus wrote: I've been saying this for a while now. To myself, in the shower. It's about time someone finally listened. I'd be in favor of ditching saves as an official statistic. Thinking about them just screws up managers' heads. pitcher wins too.

bmfc1 wrote: West coast July 24 to August 3 (wow!). after that though they go basically 3 weeks with only a bus trip to Philly in terms of travel.