Ceetar

John Cougar Lunchbucket wrote: Yup on the O's. They are playing .270 baseball, something needs to be done. I never had any real thoughts on Fredi Gonzalez good or bad, I guess he wasn't about to turn into the next Bobby Cox. Except of course, for the rumors that he will be the replacement to Bobby Cox. ;-)

TransMonk wrote: I love the way that Pagan has played this year. I'm also going to be suspicious of Beltran's ability until he is actually playing MLB games. But, sorry Andy, a genuinely healthy Beltran is better than Angel Pagan in every way, IMO. Pagan has been amazingly valuable. He's played great defense (and has a lot of outfield assists as well, so let's not get all giddy about that from Frenchy), runs the bases, has plenty of extra base power even if not as many go over the walls, and he doesn't strike out a ton. I don't want to diminish how good he's been by talking about Pagan alongside what is basically one of the best CFers you could ask for. The team is better if you find a way to have guys in the lineup regularly. I'm not ready to project Beltran at less than his normal ability. For one, we've been told that the injury that actually has keep him out is the bone bruises, not the surgery from the offseason. The same bone bruises he played on, successfully, last year. So why should I listen to analysts/writers/fans that want to, without any evidence, predict taht Beltran will come back unable to run as well, hit as well, move as well?

run support: 5.79 to 3.71

Benjamin Grimm wrote: 20 days? I thought they had said it would take six weeks after he started baseball activities. Would that have been 22 days ago? the "baseball activities" line has been pissing me off since like January. What's it mean?!?! I assume it must have encompassed the DHing and hitting and light running and 3innings of field work he's been doing.

seawolf17 wrote: And the 20-day clock starts, according to every person in my Twitter feed. well doesn't start officially until thursday. Latest he'd be able to be back would be 7/15 right after the break. Also a good two weeks to analyze and trade Frenchy for pitching.

Looks like Beltran will continue running...in real games starting Thursday for St. Lucie. according the Minaya on SNY.

Edgy DC wrote: And I'm ready for the big A-Rod controversy over Aderlin Rodriguez. The _second_ anyone calls him A-Rod Francesa will be all over it.

So, what are the chances Tejada plays? Fiance wants to see him before Castillo is activated (which seems like it won't be immediately, but today/tomorrow is our only chance to get to a game until July 5th. Manuel screwed us on the Sunday game in Baltimore in this regard. If I had to guess I'd say Cora plays today against Verlander.

26, and probably at least a half dozen because I was forced to in high school. Pretty poor showing I'd say, although that's still a better percentage than Texiera is hitting.

Visiting team gets a cut of the ticket sales. but I imagine they don't get a cut of the ticket fees.

I'll assume the security guard that let them in has been sacrificed on the steinbrenner altar?

LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: "I will not take [Takahashi] out of the rotation," Manuel said. The manager also closed another door on Maine. "I don't see [Maine] as a candidate for the bullpen," Manuel said. "We'll just have to make some tough decisions if we deem he is ready to join us and compete at the major-league level." ...Where does that leave Maine? "Pitch him on off days," Manuel said jokingly before the Mets lost 5-3 to the Yankees. Between the injury-hiding and public questioning of Manuel just after the 5-pitch yank job, Maine's not without fault in whatever rift there is between his manager and him. BUT given that Maine's done the rehab assignment, is still suffering from the spooky velocity loss, and is more or less crossing his fingers that his career isn't over... isn't the usual Jerry Youngman business a little... I don't know, distasteful? It just strikes me as being stubborn about finding a way Maine can help the team if he's deemed healthy and competitive. In one breath he's questioning if he has the proper bullpen makeup, and on the other he's flat out refusing to think about if a guy could help him there.

Is there any way to avoid the fees? If I buy direct from the CitiField ticket counter and pay cash, do I pay face value? yes. However, with the redsign of many stadiums, the cheap seats go first, so you can get to the booth day-of and only be offered $70 tickets. (I believe they may hold back some cheap seats for day of/gates open sales.)

Edgy DC wrote: I think it's a product stubborness, perhaps, but also of the team not scoring for him and the manager committed through much of the year to one-run strategies... ... which helps the team not score for him ... which helps him grow stubborn. well, I can understand his frustration there.. I do recall a game last year where he swung through a bunt sign for a 2RBI double. Maybe he needs a couple of hits to get going? He didn't get a shot his last two outings. As far as Cy Young years..Jimenez may have to physically explode not to win it this year, with his home park as Coors, Johan could have the most Johanesque second half and it wouldn't matter.

Edgy DC wrote: He's post-op. Maybe he'll get his velocity back in year. Maybe he won't. I've made no secret of the fact that I think he's trying to be too perfect, unwilling to ptich to contact early in the count with a runner in scoring positon, and perhaps let a run score but avoiding the big inning. The post-op definitely could be affected his long-term arm strength that he hasn't quite built up yet, and it messes with the off-season pitching schedule. we'll see. Do you think the trying to be "too perfect" is a result of him just being too stubborn to give in (versus the typical Ollie Perez stubbornness of too stubborn to believe that a batter will chase a 3-0 pitch out of the zone?) or frustration with the lack of run support he gets?

self promotion on why I think Santana will be fine-> http://www.ceetar.com/optimisticmetsfan/2010/06/17/why-santana-will-be-just-fine/ I laugh at that sponsor everytime. I always thought the idea about sponsoring a page is that when people go to it, they'll see your site link, and maybe go to your page, etc. Advertising. I guess there are a couple of Phillies fans looking up Santanas numbers to write troll posts about how Halladay is better, but seems a poor use of their money. Was Chris Coste's page not available? I was at the game yesterday, and it was frustrating how that inning unfolded, the two sloppy/lucky plays (and that's at least two "hits" Jeter got basically undeservedly in this series) and then the home run that hit the jet stream and squeaked over the wall. As far as analyzing the performance, Santana has been slowly been having the velocity creep up again, he didn't quite throw as many balls this time, and did seem to get a couple more swings and misses (although I don't have the actual numbers, just observing). Still not at the "blow them away" point, but guess what? Next time he goes out there it'll be summer, it'll be almost the second half, and it'll be his old team. What better time for a dominant 10k performance?

Fucking Added Bonus: His final appearance was one of his best, in a tense rivlary, before a packed house, in a huge showcase, against an excellent offense. What a great positive to pull him out on. Can't argue with this. His "Mental" development is that much greater going down after yesterday's game, than it would've been had they done it after, say one of the walk-off homers he gave up.

I am 7-1 on the season when I attend Mets games. 1-0 on the road. Yankees are batting .056 with RISP this series.

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Perhaps you read it here: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=14110&p=351928 Good call. It's been a busy weekend.

G-Fafif wrote: The Mets should feel free to use the current 8-1 run as a jumping-off point for bigger and better things. I read somewhere that the only two times the Mets had two 8game winning streaks in the same season was '69 and '86.

if the Royals would consider winning a game or two, maybe we could find out from Elias.

I suck at grammar, but this.. the surging Mets stayed as sharp against one of baseball�s best teams It implies that the Mets were sharp against themselves. That can't be correct.