Ceetar

Announce an extension for Reyes? Really not expecting much ground breaking though.

Triples: Pagan - Reyes ?

1. Niese 2. Takahashi 3. Davis 4. Thole 5. Mejia

Isn't Jeter getting married soon? I'm surprised they haven't managed to bring that up a lot.

About his "leadoff hitter should filibuster so the pitcher has more time to get ready" stuff..is it really necessary? The next inning doesn't start until the pitcher is ready, walks out there, and throws 8 pitches anyway. Not like the ump is gonna yank the guy out of the dugout while he's putting his helmet away or anything.

Come now, obviously is was Canseco's time with the Jeter on the Yankees at the end of his career that prompted the change or heart and got him to come clean. Jeter's work with him during that time was the ground-breaking in the whistle-blowing book-releasing exposure era that followed Canseco's retirement. You're just a hater.

There are so many bad writers out there..where do I send my resume to replace these people?

I'm watching the Isles (in SD, stupid msg overflow rangers/knicks suck..bleh) I thought about doing the mlb.tv thing, but that only gets you fixed camera angles, and I think i should have the audio already if I want it.

metirish wrote: Have Fox and Cablevision settled yet? Not that I've heard. I'll probably watch the Islanders tonight.

While some Mets people have a soft spot for Wally Backman, it will be a major upset if Alderson, the Harvard and Dartmouth educated former Marine, accedes to the wishes of incumbent Mets people and hires Backman. Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/baseball/mlb/10/26/mets.hire.alderson/#ixzz13ZdYgxgU Who will be his guy? Hale? Mazzilli? Clint Hurdle?!? Didn't someone post in the last day or so (not sure which thread) a Heymann tweet that Alderson had submitted a list of managerial candidates and that Backman was high on the list? I wouldn't be surprised if that list was alphabetical. In which case he'd be pretty high.

seawolf17 wrote: Yes, because this series is all about the Yankees. Look for Buck and McCarver to default to their usual Yankee-worship mode at least twice in this series. Also- see how long they can go without mentioning the name 'Jeter'. I know it's a series between San Francisco and Texas, but old habits die hard. His name will come up somehow. His impending free agency is way more important than a series that nobody will be watching anyway. McCarver: "The World Series. This is where players dream of playing their entire lives." Buck: "Did you hear the Mets hired a GM? They really should've waited until after the World Series. Don't want to take attention away from this great moment." McCarver: "You'd never get that across town. Not that Cashman's going anywhere anyway." Buck: "Unless you're A-Rod, remember how he opted out of his contract during the World Series games a couple of years ago?" McCarver: "You know we can count on Derek Jeter and the Yankees not announcing his new contract during the games."

I learned in my brief Francesa exposure today that the young tike Lincecum, after getting this post saeson experience and getting to pitch against Halladay and Lee is going to something real special for years to come. also, (not from Mikey) he makes the AT&T Park security guys walk his bulldog for him when he starts.

Obviously the captain should go down with the ship.

bmfc1 wrote: Ceetar wrote: Boggles me that the Yankees get away without even telling people why Eiland was gone for a month and/or was fired, but every tidbit that happens at/near Citi Field is instantly reported by Heyman,etc. Excellent point. I asked a MFY fan in my office and he said "personal business." I guess with the MFYs, the dispatches from on high are accepted at face value. Winning cures all ills or something? I dunno. Sometimes it seems like Jon Heyman and other sharks are in the operating room with Beltran, or working as Jeff Wilpon's shrink.

Boggles me that the Yankees get away without even telling people why Eiland was gone for a month and/or was fired, but every tidbit that happens at/near Citi Field is instantly reported by Heyman,etc.

That's against the law. I don't know what I'd rather see: The Yankees getting burned on a long-term expensive contract to Jeter, or Jeter having to finish out his career in Pittsburgh or Kansas City. For me, it gots to be the former. The latter is painful, but the former, while also being painful in esse, sets up a potential heapin' helpin' of how-do-we-Old-Yeller-this-guy awkwardness the likes of which you've never seen. That's fair. Also, him finishing his career poorly with the Yankees will help tarnish his image with the 'fans' more than him sucking elsewhere.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: I don't know what I'd rather see: The Yankees getting burned on a long-term expensive contract to Jeter, or Jeter having to finish out his career in Pittsburgh or Kansas City. I'm torn as well. Guess it depends if we think they can actually get 'better' at SS without him? Look at the Red Sox troubles finding a good SS. Think of the bidding wars those two will have over prime targets? (err, can we lock up Reyes now please?)

HahnSolo wrote: Let's look at the AL East this year as a counterpoint though: The Yanks and Rays would have had to go all out to win that final weekend. Let's assume the Yankees had won the division on the final day. That would put the Rays into the wild card playoff. Meanwhile the "second" wild card team this year would have been the Red Sox... who by the final weekend had sewn up their spot in the WC play-in game. So, Boston would have adjusted their rotation ahead of time so that their # 1 pitcher (I guess either Lester or Bucholz) would have been ready for the play-in game (and beyond should they advance). meanwhile the Rays we'll assume have gone all-out and maybe have to use James Shields in a winner take all one-game playoff. Seems a little unfair to Tampa. (I do realize that in many seasons the second WC would not be locked in, and they'd have to go all out.) I think it's fairly rare for the second WC card team to actually have it all locked up. Presumably the Rays would've had the home field 'advantage' in that case though, which doesn't quite negate the pitching thing. I do kinda like that way. Although it still does theoretically punish what could be considered the second best team in the game. I don't think the Yankees were necessarily that this year, but it happens. I understand winning the division is supposed to be all 'meaningful', but ..this is how you end up with 83 win Cardinal teams (although they put up when it mattered, so it's a poor argument) or tanking teams in September with no challengers that end up as the 5th best AL team making the playoffs in 2000 (also won it all, so it's really hard to rank these teams going into the playoffs anyway..)

vtmet wrote: I realize the importance of working a count, taking pitches, drawing walks, and "not getting yourself out" by swinging at bad pitches...but at the same time, I think that the way that OBP/OPS is valued today more than it was years ago helps to create these situations where a team's top "meat of the order" players strikeout looking in important at bats... IMO, there used to be more of a propensity to "protect the plate" with 2 strikes than there is today (although Johnnie Damon is one of the best that I've ever seen at flicking borderline pitches foul with 2 strikes). Now that MLB Network exists, and I've gotten a chance to watch alot of old playoff games, I'm really surprised by some of the pitches that guys used to swing at and put in play vs pitches that get taken now. In both the '69 and the '86 games, some very important playoff/WS hits/RBI came on pitches that by today's standards would be taken...Not just guys like Gary Carter and Ray Knight swinging at them, but some key hits by the Astros and the Red Sox were on balls out of the strikezone... It's not just the value of OPS (which is certainly valuable) but it's that those extra pitches matter. They didn't so much years ago. If you took extra pitches against Seaver, it was just extra pitches that he threw. If you take extra pitches against Santana, it could mean at least three batters get to take their chances off of Igarashi in the 7th versus Santana. And do to expansion and the so called watering down of the pitcher pool, plus crappy umpires and what not, you have less pitchers that are actually capable hitting that outside corner for a called third strike, so it becomes rare that a hitter will strike out looking versus walking. And the curveball is usually the pitch that tricks them, often i've heard that players say they'll look fastball, because its' the pitch they'd most likely get over for a strike when they can't afford a walk. If a pitcher can control the curve and has the guts to risk it on 3-2 in a pressure spot like that, it can be dangerous. And then if a guy's good at it ,the player at the plate has to think about the curve, which could then cause him to be too late on a fastball and strike out swinging.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Yeah I don't blame Beltran much at all, the offense (similar to the '10 MFYs in fact) was slumping for weeks at that point, and just like the '10 MFYs swept the WC series despite it. Were I picking goats I'd sooner go with Delgado (careless error in Game 2), Wagner (shit relief work in Game 2), Trachsel (weak start in game 3) and Valentin (who whiffed with the bases loaded and only 1 out in Game 7). That was probably the biggest inning. Endy rocks the place with that amazing catch of Rolen's home run, and the next inning, with the help of a Rolen throwing error, the bases are loaded with one out. Valentin fails to get the runner in with less than 2 outs (something that's plagued them since it seems like) and then Endy is up in a situation so poetic that if he'd gotten what would've turned out to be a go-ahead RBI, that the writers were probably drooling at that point.

I'm not sure I've watched them enough to critique them, but I've always felt art/movies/tv are too subjective for ranking one as 'better'. In the quick scanning of things going by my brain while on vacation I saw someone mention a sequel trilogy? Someone with more info on that want to fill me in/start a thread?

Yankees and Phillies shouldn't talk about Beltran anyway. (btw, Delgado would probably be classified as the Mets biggest slugger in 2006) It's one AB, these things happen. it's not like it meant he's a bad player. And still, they are worlds apart. Wainwright's pitch decided the Pennant, in that if he'd grooved one the Mets would've captured it. No matter what A-Rod or Howard did, that wouldn't have been the case.

Edgy DC wrote: I have no idea what consitutes a checked-swing strike anymore, except that they seem (maybe I'm wrong) to call a lot more of them strikes than they used to. The "broken wrist" standard doesn't seem to be in effect, nor does the "broken plane" one. (And which plane are we talking about?) And the problem with that is it pretty much opens the door for umpires to favor guys, even subconsciously. At least with normal blown calls, we know they blow them, and we criticize them. If A-Rod signs the ump's kid's baseball before the game, does he get more leadway with check swings?

TransMonk wrote: I hope the Reds can bounce back...but in a short series a dominating loss like this one could have knocked the winning right out of them. Hamels is a pretty boy and I think he'll crack at the first sign of his stuff not working correctly or the Reds not biting or maybe the umpire not giving every call to him. I think the Reds erupt for 10 runs on Friday. I'm hoping that Halladay's pitching has challenged the Reds hitters to really have to step it up, and when the other pitchers aren't as good, and when Halladay isn't as good, they'll be on him hard. I don't care if it's grasping at straws.

I'm done. Every team I wanted to win lost. That's how it went last postseason too, in every single series. So, Yanks over Phillies in 7. There. now that I'm rooting for that, it'll never happen right? I tried to tweet this last night in the 7th but Twitter was borked. "We're going about it all wrong Mets fans. We should root _for_ the no-hitter. Then Halladay's elbow will explode."