Ceetar

I prefer to pronounce his name Shane Victory? No.

2009: Because the Astros have only a two-day series, in Washington, the club made it voluntary for players to attend what has become an annual trip to Walter Reed Army Hospital. Nineteen members of the 25-man roster joined Cecil Cooper, the entire coaching staff, general manager Ed Wade and Astros owner Drayton McLane on the visit. Stars Lance Berkman, Carlos Lee and Roy Oswalt were part of the group, which awoke early to make the trip after arriving late Sunday night in Washington. �We had a great turnout,� Wade said.

On Saturday, July 10, 2010 San Francisco Giants catchers Buster Posey and Eli Whiteside spent a couple hours of their afternoon giving back to the Washington, D.C community. In town for their series against the Washington Nationals, the two baseball players visited the Walter Reed Army Medical Center (Roberto) Hernandez chilled as he recalled the experience he had shared with Mike Piazza, David Wright and Danny Graves. Two hours of saying thank you didn't seem to be enough. The four Mets were struck by what they saw -- young men missing arms and legs, a man missing a chunk of his skull, another missing the skin on the back of his neck and his head stapled together. 2005: Many..didn't name names. A good visit: Many of the Phillies players and coaches went to Walter Reed Hospital and the Naval Medical Center on Friday. They talked, took pictures and signed autographs with patients, many of whom were wounded in the war in Iraq.

metsmarathon wrote: "And because it involved skipping a visit to amputees who serve the country, it inevitably will create backlash and make those players look particularly bad. They deserve that, too." well, shit. now i'm really curious as to who all goes on these trips each and every year. do other teams visit walter reed? who attends those visits? who sits out? if other teams don't elect to visit the wounded veterans, why not? when did jeter last visit a wounded vet? and arod? get the pitchforks and torches, folks, we're going a-mobbing! I did five minutes of searching on the Phillies and Yankees (after all, Baltimore is not far) yesterday just for the 'fun' of it. Was tough because it kept returning the recent Mets visit with all sorts of scrolling division stats or whatever that hit my 'Yankees' key word. The entire Yankee team went to the hospital this year. But it's hardly fair since the event was planned in advance (probably as far back as when the schedules for finalized) and they did it on the way to the White House. There wasn't any way to skip it. Plus, April and September are two different times in the baseball season. I'm not sure when or how the Mets visit was planned or announced (hey, why not research _that_ information for us beat writers? no?) I did find other examples of teams visiting (and various 'not all of them'). Every single major league teams visits that area though.

I'm considering unfollowing on Twitter all the beat writers. I actually think my feed/knowledge/info would be better for it. I unfollowed Rubin the other day anyway for his cruel interview with Wright, and i'm just not sure they're providing much value to me. Why are we still talking about this 2 days later? Steve Popper questioned the cruelty/hatred of Manuel countdowns and wishing people to lose their jobs yesterday, and he may have a point about people maybe taking it too far, but even though the Mets are out of it, stories about Towers possibly getting a GM job elsewhere, the rookies the Mets are playing and how they fit into offseason plans, and possible managerial replacements are much bigger stories and they're all sitting there for the writing.

bmfc1 wrote: Three Mets (Gee, Parnell, Thole) visited Ground Zero yesterday: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/10/sports/baseball/10mets.html?ref=baseball It might have helped stop the "controversy" if Beltran, Perez and/or Castillo also went. Gee didn't go to Walter Reed--he was excused as that night's starter--and he went yesterday. Interesting how that story throws in the big about them going to Ground Zero, then rants for a couple of paragraphs about the Walter Reed thing, specifically Beltran.

Reminds me of the old Houston Colt .45s promotion.

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: He has to start arriving at the park in a luchadore mask. Or better, the Mets "say" they've released Perez at the same time a masked lefty arrives... Just have him legally change his name to Johan Santana. That should keep fans suitably confused.

dgwphotography wrote: This is as much of a non-story as the one about no Yankees showing for Bob Shepard's funeral... at least the excuses were better than "the bus got stuck in traffic"

metsguyinmichigan wrote: How about what he says about Castillo and ethnicity? "Castillo was a terrific illustration of the ethnicity point before this happened. A guy without a ton of ability who smartly scratches out hits and gets on base, who plays through injuries to help his team�hmmm�are we talking about David Eckstein? No, we�re talking about Castillo, who would probably be called a �grinder� and a �gamer� if he were white. That reality led to a tarnished image of Castillo before the Walter Reed issue, and has not helped him this week." I think fans were plenty hard on Frenchy, and he seemed to be kind of white. There was a poll when Frenchy was traded on the broadcast that 90% of fans said they thought he was treated unfairly or something. I don't really care about what fans think anyway, as long as the front office doesn't make decisions based on them/us. I do (did) worry that Jerry Manuel feels that way about Castillo, and Beltran, though.

Gwreck wrote: They're good. Metropolitan or Field Box. Did they give you a choice of game? I'd recommend, just because it's not something many regularly get the opportunity to do, to check out the Caesar's Club. (second level, behind home plate). Also, peak into the Acela Club. why not right?

Oliver Perez is just three strikeouts (currently tied with Ryan) for 19th on the all-time Mets list. Of course19th is the active leader, Johan Santana, with 496.

Frayed Knot wrote: To me, the Phils, with all that pitching and their lineup now healthy at the same time, are the better bet to outlast the Braves who have to rely on the likes of Infante & Prado to not wake up and realize that they're not this good,. And Heyward's had his slumps. And Chipper's out for the season. And Lowe is shaky as is Tommy Hanson. And if the Phils (with Madson pitching the 9th) can get three more outs they'll have the half-game lead. Braves have been in 1st every day of June, July, August, and the first week of September. Now two outs .... now one. The Phillies peaked too early. They're due for one of their horrific slumps where they just can't hit, and their bullpen is shaky at best. Hamels is also due for a shaky couple of starts.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Edgy DC wrote: If he starts the season next year as the new guy, the fans will boo him for being Not-Bobby. Would they? I think they'd be just as likely to cheer him for being Not-Jerry. I have to admit that I probably don't have a real sense about what Mets fandom in general wants, but my guess is that Bobby Valentine is more popular in this forum than he is outside it. But I could be very wrong. If anything, I think he's _more_ popular outside it. He'd be my choice. It's an uneducated choice, but I know he fits my criteria of being intelligent and understanding the game. Unless the manager is Jerry Manuel, I'm not going to boo whoever it is, but I'd be really disappointed if it was Melvin. (and not just because Kay would be right about something) I think I agree with Edgy that it'll be something big coming. Hopefully it's not big for big's sake, and is a carefully thought out and planned altering of the team's long term plans.

Edgy DC wrote: Both teams have muscled up for the stretch. The Braves have Heyward coming on strong. The Phils have guys coming back from injuries. The Braves are playing for Bobby Cox's last hurrah. The Phils have played hot September ball before. Umm, the Phils have six games left with the Mets. The Braves have three. I think the Phillies are pushing too hard too soon. I expect them to fizzle, of course, the WC may make it all redundant.

17-7. That's the record the Mets would need for Jerry Manuel to end his Mets tenure above .500.

Angel Pagan - RF Luis Castillo - 2B Carlos Beltran - CF David Wright - 3B Lucas Duda - LF Ike Davis - 1B Mike Nickeas - C Ruben Tejada - SS Jenrry Mejia - RHP Hey look, it's half a lineup. How's Mejia's hitting? Fukudome rf. Castro ss. Byrd cf. Ramirez 3b. Nady 1b. Colvin lf. Soto c. DeWitt 2b. Zambrano p

Edgy DC wrote: It's clear that it's not a compliment, but it's also not entirely fair. Neither one may have had the defense to make up for a poor bat (few do), but Ordo�ez wasn't an average glove man with a spectacular arm, he was a complete package at shortstop with Gold Glove skills and two (OE: three!) actual Gold Glove awards to show for it. It was close at times, but I did feel Ordonez made up for his lack of offense on defense most of the time. It was a LOT closer than Frenchy anyway, given that it was at SS.

"On at first with a double and two runs batted in is David Wright!" close Howie..heh. nice start.

Pagan only because Manuel's an idiot though. But yeah, the other six weren't even on the roster. [crossout:335hpgo9]It's actually two though, Tejada _was_ in the opening day lineup.[/crossout:335hpgo9] I've already forgotten Cora existed..I realize I'm wrong..

Ashie62 wrote: This is off topic but in the OF I find myself wondering when the Mets go all in and throw Fernando Martinez into the deep end of the pool or wish him well in another organization. I know he is young but I don't see that much more time in the minors will benefit him. Eh, in the "long term solution in the outfield" it does sorta fit the topic. I don't think players need to dominate the minors before being 'ready'. I'm not willing to roll with F-Mart right now (Bay-Beltran-Pagan atm anyway) as I think the Mets need to be a little more serious than that. Unless we're somehow sure Ike will have a good year and we're not going with a hole like Tejada at 2B I don't think the Mets should roll the dice with another rookie. Martinez will definitely be part of the 'creative' problems the Mets have this offseason involving how to treat the outfield(ers).

Well, I think they started with the not a high priority thing. Alou wasn't exactly making billions and was a one year deal. They've actually run through dozens of corner outfielders of various failure and injury even on the backup front from Ben Johnson and David Newhan to shawn Green. I think Bay was an attempt to identify a longer term solution that would be semi-complete and satisfying. We will probably get there next year. you'd hope. It'll be interesting though. Assuming that guys that are here are here, both corner positions are pretty set next year in Bay and Pagan. Not that anything ever seems to work out as it's assumed.