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I doubt they'll be longer. I'm fairly certain that the math will show that they'll be shorter. I agree. I'd bet that it's likelier that one team rather than both can score the new rule baserunner. Plus, some games will end when the home team's first batter drives in the winning run. This new setup should promote sac bunting, especially for the home team when the visitors couldn't score in their extra inning half. Sac bunting makes sense in a sudden death situation when there's a runner on second with no outs. I'm in a mathy mood, so I went ahead and did some calculations. According to this nice website (https://gregstoll.dyndns.org/~gregstoll/baseball/runsperinning.html), the probability of scoring a run the way adults do, with an inning that begins with none on and none out, is 26%. With none out and a runner on second, it's about 62%. Making a few simplifying assumptions, you can go from there to an average of 2.60 extra innings playing real baseball and 2.12 extra innings playing with a runner starting on second and none out. So it's a little quicker to start with a runner on second. I did not do any calculations assuming a home run derby, coach pitch, or tee ball. I have yet to hear any actual baseball fan come out in favor of this. Extra innings mean more baseball, and what baseball fan doesn't love more baseball? The problem - if there is one - is that there's less baseball per minute than there used to be, not that extra inning games go on for too long. Edgy MD wrote: The 20-second pitch clock was already established in the minors last season. They are reducing it to 15 when there are no runners on base. And they've certainly curtailed mound visit length and frequency, both at the major and minor-league levels. Aggressively and, to my thinking, counter-productively. Have those shortened games? What do the numbers show? Yeah, by about 10 minutes. https://www.milb.com/milb/news/toolshed-time-of-game-down-across-board/c-127176290 "The way adults do", lolol. If they are gonna screw things up, the HR derby, to me, would be more palatable. But I'd protest that as well.

I'll forever hold this image of Mr. Charles in my memory. R.I.P

cooby wrote: Obviously, we think this exciting Most obviously, this^.

They do this shit and I'll turn my back on baseball. That'll be a very sad to for me. Nah, who am I kidding? But I will stop watching after the 9th in formal protest. And Fred, Jeff and Saul. I know you have nothing to do with this but if it happens I won't even buy a Mets jacket, jersey, or cap. (that'll show 'em!) Yo, baseball! The game has been fine for a hundred years. Great, even. DON'T FUCK WITH IT! Especially with such a stupid move. To me, that would be bizarr0 baseball. Bush. Little League stuff. LEAVE MY GAME ALONE!

I don't know how that's gonna work but I know I'll love it. Yay!

That's a great deal. The '70 yearbook was the first I ever owned. 75 cents!!!! I still love browsing through it. Extra special because it covers the '69 series. http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/2011/05/09/mets-yearbook-1970/ [fimg=500]http://www.faithandfearinflushing.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/1970Yearbook.jpg[/fimg]

The Yankees!?!?!? GAHx2! bmfc1 wrote: $5M for one year. For that money, I'd rather have him at 2B than Cabrera. That^

You were at that game!?!? WOWZERS! I was watching on TV and you could hear the gunshot like sound at home. Damn, I was so scared shitless (spellcheck says I was scared "shirtless") Matlack was seriously hurt. Jon was a favorite at the time and I was very upset. He came back so fast and so unaffected that I thought it was a miracle. He had been a speaker at my little league's awards breakfast after his rookie year and i had gotten his autograph. He seemed to be like 17 feet tall, and he looked a little bit like Herman Munster. So when i saw him go down at that game, it was pretty scary. It was like somebody i knew. It must've made an impression because here i am, 45 years later, and i can still smell the grass and the rain. Yo, I couldn't even sleep that night. It was like someone I knew was in a bad accident. Here's a detailed break down of that indecent that I wrote up in 2014: The young lefty did not get off to such a great start in '73. On May 8th 1973 Jon was 2-4 and set to face off against the Atlanta Braves at Shea Stadium. New York established a 2-1 lead going into the 7th inning of this damp, chilly night game. Matlack had surrendered a home run to Davey Johnson in the 4th for the Braves lone run. The Met pitcher had only given up 3 hits through 6 but in the 7th he ran into trouble. With one out Jon issued a base on balls to Atlanta first baseman Dick Dietz. Catcher Paul Casinova and pinch hitter Rod Gilbreath followed with back to back singles, loading the bases. Ollie Brown popped out to Ed Kranepool at first and with two out Marty Perez came to the plate. The Braves shortstop connected on a Matlack fastball and smacked a wicked line drive right up the middle. The screaming meemee hit the Mets pitcher on the forehead above his left eye and caromed up and through the air, landing in the Mets dugout. I was watching on TV and it was just horrifying. Matlack lay on the mound clutching his head as his teammates rushed to his aid. Two runners scored and Perez was credited with ground rule double. I really thought the worst, that Matlack was seriously hurt and this was the end of his most promising career. He was taken off the field on a stretcher. Jon suffered a hairline fracture of his skull. Amazingly he recovered and returned to pitch six shutout innings only 11 days later on May 19 in Pittsburgh. This was just one of many injuries that kept knocking the team down in 1973. But they would keep bouncing back. In August and September, during the stretch run for the playoffs, Matlack was 7-2. He had a 1.40 ERA in four September starts helping the Mets capture the National League East crown. I made the same comment about Herman Munster in the past (lol): From the mfc project: Matlack reminded me of Fred Gwynn who played Herman Monster on T.V. I went Munster in 2014 for Da Murph: [fimg=400]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/PS1PlXt2QuACvj58c1H_pHka-LKJEiCG-uYUIfo-dOAatAOevbG9j63h2-0rdPCuqCXf3UtONYEibgYR8ix1dhkpMjMcbOFWvFhVT_pkO5nVErogAiZouGOS6wARwF_d0D_grx08-a22nTUiADOyd9KDFUW2_VJL7XLOrCwuYLBosM0m5wzhhP4WC_FvCCgMcUuFZLaPc6MAbhuCA_Ar6ej8N03tAIW6HeYCjnrJedTlj6JH9rnSJtJNJzYbb8NKTH_JKTX5-HHip2VFANrFLoXJE_w4OGEJ2LpqqBFZxRTTyLUZI6EF2Ipeiojr3bLvZjJBswgiVyqKwsSy9yJpwDv4jgJMWyHN_rBHkbBfyr-RKO2bWqADUDIwaYG0AMiTis307MS158vib2qU5UgUhJhbEQkU4sElVb2m7iFA9Azg_SfnCVJigDdNRwNMFKII1qb-k6yDpwzrHtqWAfmeedCb_KawdQ3JmUPc2ZfJjjALY-jFbPKjJ7WxlGW-sUEi2qXHko5cQtaOTbNi7TcSNfNwm-IXLKI5YUnTj8bsBODceEmtczemOlodefVSaIPaXq_OWwijf_uTzG1CBH8yY7v09qFWkNHMgR3E1spB=w652-h463-no[/fimg]

Oh, my favorite memory was when I sneaked up into the greatest scoreboard known to man and the universe back in '72 or '73 after a night game. I've got to write up that adventure someday (maybe I have here at the CPF, I don't recall). I know I've touched on it before but to do it justice will take a lot of typing.

To the Phillies!?!?!?! GAH!

batmagadanleadoff wrote: The scoreboard clock was sponsored by Elgin as early as 1977. I've got pics of the clock from 1976 but I can't tell the sponsor. The 1976 lettering doesn't look like Longines or Elgin. When my internet connection gets fixed, I'll post pics. Thanks Batmag. Same with me, it's so small on most photos it's hard to make it out. Ceetar wrote: internet tells me Elgin went defunct in '68? Thanks for looking. That's wacky because I know they had their name up there before the scoreboard went blue. Post (app.)75-Pre 1980. Vic Sage wrote: i'm sure I went to games before '73, but my earliest memory was seeing Jon Matlack take a line drive off his head that year. It was mid-May (we went for my 12th birthday), and a rainy day against the Braves. I don't remember who hit it, but I remember the sound off the bat, like a gunshot, and Matlack going down like a puppet with its strings cut. People thought he was dead. My father was, like, "of course he's dead. that's the Mets for you." we ended up losing. It was a bad day, but ended up a pretty good year. You were at that game!?!? WOWZERS! I was watching on TV and you could hear the gunshot like sound at home. Damn, I was so scared shitless (spellcheck says I was scared "shirtless") Matlack was seriously hurt. Jon was a favorite at the time and I was very upset. He came back so fast and so unaffected that I thought it was a miracle.

Does anyone here have a good enough memory or Shea knowledge to tell me when the clock on the Shea scoreboard, the best scoreboard known to man and the universe, changed clock sponsors? First it was LONGINES and then it became ELGIN. I know it was still LONGINES when the Yanks slept over in 1974-75. After that I lose track until the scoreboard makeover that placed an oval clock in the center, where the Mets logo used to be.

Conforto will freakin' rake! He will out homer Bruce and Cespedes. Don't question it!

Some are saying that Plawecki will be the #1 Catcher. I can't see that no matter what kinda spring he has. Barring injury: 122 games, 25 doubles, 18 HR, 62 ribbies. And I stop yelling at him cause he stops most balls in the dirt to the left and right of him. Throws out his fair share too.

Ceetar wrote: 20 days. I think there's a big number up somewhere and a stray dot.. OH NOES! NOT THE DREADED DOT!!

So we saw "The Good Matz" today. Dats'a nice. Fammy and Robles concern me, but I won't worry until I see a little more from them. What do we got? Around 3 weeks? I'd like to see more hits and more small ball along with the homers. Mets social set is calling for Robles's head. I just feel bad for him.

IIRC the "fuck Ichiro!" bit started as a joke, and no real animosity was involved. I'm sure he did something to deserve it though. Personally I love the guy. Very cool graphic work on the header to that article. Haven't been able to finish reading it yet. I may wait for the movie. [fimg=600:wwizoo5c]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/FgVvUiZB_oUn5y8XNKyfgoVK-Dz_y27ZQ3OCV9753yiMDnpkct-ffVhqmPzQETIOgoE35mQP56Ht2B8PplScHnilLpLsMtJ-eLfgfwzz94mdGGSBM8GDs9SsVP0mz_J9yckOkKlvky6jg8_eFHaGLZtHHg-MtlCEAjIbPguN4OWAlnVp9zgZLBp_GHUy17Khnnnds37n6Kd4eBfzl71B47hpOQLb_IQQAZ6M_kXdCOj_U-Tozu_H682NwadUeazDkOBCtE2BPTw-Pl3SbptTvrHhpDSJ5Vks0FtLiqv4wPRMbf-qIKnTAEzMp8f6rsuZ1zexULgoCiM95Sg0GS7fpZNfsZ6AGxstDukMh0svthlFIvQRl850QVcijN5LU5zfvMNAvMPJJrFOuR-SZxZT0X_0TNtBVcmhagJGsuPOPEG2S4FhUfSgD_Z9xJpF40ZW3nNvQaHaX3xHx-AcWO0OxoGrPPoQ5POyvjw6oAQTuLJzu9j9KJ8ZHGTBRwN2fKGofiXZ-fcXb0tn2pyoSojKAeWaVIrxUaDUahwo4JRC4LjHFWGeI6DCkm8vtt59T0syCfe93JJq3-mHvPnVh8_Zq63Y6Lq0v5Elm7Jih3BM=w1600-h900-no[/fimg:wwizoo5c]

That wall of deGrom pics is perfectly laid out. That had to be difficult to do. *APPLAUSE! Newsday reports: According to Matt Ehalt of The Bergen Record, deGrom, who is recovering from lower-back stiffness, will need to face live hitters four more times, either in simulated games or actual Grapefruit League action, before the Mets clear him for the regular season. The multiple checkpoints leave deGrom's availability in question for Opening Day, though the Mets are optimistic the right-hander will at least avoid a stint on the disabled list. I'll say 32 starts, 17 wins, 256Ks, 3.41 ERA. One bad bump before the ASB, not an injury but a shelling, misses one tired turn, and then smooth sailing to the post season afterwards.

batmagadanleadoff wrote: OT--How the hell does anyone type on a smartphone? You need Barbie doll fingers. It took me 10x as long as it should've to type this post. lol. This drives me crazy. It's the screen type keyboards on the smaller phones that are difficult. I'm always hitting the wrong keys. The little, pull out keyboard types (not on screen, an actual keyboard) are the best if you are not gonna go I-Pad. I'm looking into getting one of those next.

It's the curse of Ray Ramirez!

Fman99 wrote: I found a photo of the Mets' head physician. It explains a lot. At least he washes his hands.

cooby wrote: Kinda makes me glad I don't get Mets broadcasts lol. Ye not judge thy book by thy cover, my good lady.

A Benjamin Myles Grimm fairy tale.

Edgy MD wrote: [fimg=252]https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/866433721855082501/fOsicBrj_400x400.jpg[/fimg] Most hideous Mets jersey EVER!

Edgy MD wrote: In the great tradition of Mickey Mantle and Eliott Maddox, Tebow's ankle injury is the result of an unfortunate interaction with a sprinkler head. ....amazin'.