Elster88

Oh. I see. Eh. Not a huge deal to me. Delgado also has a number that should've been retired that was worn on a jersey like that.

Great stuff Carnac.

Why the anger next to Lo Duca's name?

Buster is blah: ]There are times when a star player finishes his career in a strange place, and it all seems kind of sad. Joe Namath with the Rams, O.J. Simpson with the 49ers, Steve Carlton with the Minnesota Twins. Mike Piazza had eight remarkable years with the Mets, and now he is playing for the Padres. And it couldn't be more perfect. In Piazza's last couple of seasons with the Mets, he seemed absolutely worn down by the demands of his stardom, something he has never really cultivated or desired. He didn't play with the same kind of enthusiasm that he had earlier in his career, didn't have the same kind of presence on the team. The Mets and he parted after last season, and he left to go to San Diego, where a couple of 0-for-4s for a future Hall of Famer is not considered a major crisis, where your off-field life generally stays out of the newspapers. I went to Shea Stadium on Tuesday, and some Padres gushed about how great Piazza has been for them, how hard he has played. Manager Bruce Bochy has been careful to rest Piazza, through the use of a three-man catching system. If Piazza was still in New York, there would be stories about his diminished playing time, his fading star power; in San Diego, he can be a half-time player, just another guy, and it's no big deal. He can just be a baseball player. And on Tuesday, he was able to return to New York as an active player and receive an incredibly warm greeting from Mets' fans. After Piazza finished speaking with an enormous crowd of reporters in the San Diego dugout, he stepped onto the field to prepare for batting practice, and the fans roared. Piazza grinned broadly, sheepishly, looking somewhat surprised and humbled by the intensity of the response. When he took his first swings in batting practice and slammed some balls over the wall, fans cheered again, and kept on cheering for him the whole night. It was all the way you'd hope it would be for Piazza. David Wright, who is to the Mets now what Piazza used to be, got a couple of big hits to beat the Padres. It's probably just nicer for Piazza as a visitor, considering all the blowups while he was in New York, writes Ken Davidoff. Piazza was deserving of the warm reception, writes Mike Vaccaro.

Officially Ridiculous By Jim Caple The Boston Red Sox have made just 41 errors this season, which is an outstanding total given that Manny Ramirez is their everyday left fielder. By seriously upgrading their infield defense over the winter with the additions of Mike Lowell, Mark Loretta and Alex Gonzalez, the Red Sox may break the major league record for fewest errors in a season (65, by the 2003 Mariners). Does that mean they're the best-fielding team in history? Before you answer, consider the following: Error totals have fallen steadily since 1977, dropping from an average of 143 per team to 103 last year. They've dropped by 11 per team just in the last decade. The five lowest error totals for a team have all been since 1999. American League teams are on pace to average less than 100 errors per team for the entire season. If there was a similarly dramatic change in a batting statistic, Congress would subpoena Omar Vizquel to pee in a bottle. What are the possible explanations for this drop? One, fielders really could be better than they were in the days of Brooks Robinson and Paul Blair, though I can't think of a compelling reason why they would be that much better. Two, fields are in better shape throughout the majors, accounting for some drop in errors. But given that bad hops generally aren't considered errors anyway, this doesn't explain that big a decrease. We all know the most obvious cause, though. Players just aren't given errors anymore. These days, it's easier to charge a player with use of a controlled substance than an error. An official scorer is more like being a federal prosecutor. To charge an error you need a DNA swab, a release form from the player's agent and sworn testimony from six eyewitnesses that the ball did not take a bad hop or get lost in the sun, in the stadium lights or against a backdrop of attractive female fans. This wasn't always the case. Back in the old days when players relied on big bowls of Wheaties, two packs of Chesterfield cigarettes and fistfuls of amphetamines for their training diets, errors weren't that big a deal. A player's pride might have been hurt by having a play ruled an error instead of a hit, but it didn't affect his wallet because the owner was just going to screw him come contract time anyway. That's not the case now with arbitration and free agency, where there is the perception that every error and every point off a batting average costs someone money. I'm sure Scott Boras has a formula for it somewhere in his River Styx headquarters. Thus, when official scorers rule a play an error, someone is going to complain, whether it's the player and his manager or a team official complaining for them. You might assume that the competing interests of the two teams would cancel each other out, but this is not the case. The problem is that while someone will usually argue that a player deserved a hit on a play, few will argue that someone deserved an error unless a number of possible unearned runs are involved. It simply is not in a team's interest to argue that one of their players should have a hit taken away or be charged with an error. I don't fault the teams, who are only looking toward their own interests. But the result is a chilling effect on the scorers that winds up steadily lowering the bar. It's to the point where only the most obvious plays are ruled an error. Essentially, the only time a player gets an error now is if a thrown ball hits the mascot in the head. The fallout is that the error is losing relevance and meaning as a statistic. They are so sparingly charged that they no longer give much measure of a player's fielding ability, which is better gauged by range factor (assists plus putouts divided by innings) or one of the more advanced defensive metrics. It's not too late to change direction, though. The major league offices can and should announce a new scoring crackdown. Tell all teams and scorers to hold players to a higher standard again -- they are, after all, major leaguers. It has to be leaguewide because an individual scorer who tries to raise the bar on his own will only get criticized for not being consistent with his fellow scorers. And while they're at it, the league should also introduce some scoring changes/reminders to more accurately record what happens. There is a tendency not to charge a fielder with an error if he doesn't touch the ball. Sorry, but if a routine popup drops next to an infielder, that's an error, even if his fingerprints aren't on the ball. If the ball drops between several players and it's hard to determine who was at fault, that's all right. Create a new error: the team error, to apply in such situations, as well as others. For instance: An outfielder makes a perfect one-hop throw to third base but the ball hits the runner in the back and bounces to the dugout, allowing the man to score? That's almost always an error on the outfielder, but no longer. That's a team error. Players need not worry if their error totals rise. For one thing, everyone will be in the same boat. For another, it's no big deal because errors are part of the game. Or at least, they should be. BOX SCORE LINE OF THE WEEK Mariano Rivera earned a save with a five-run lead while Greg Maddux threw six innings of no-hit ball before being forced out due to a lengthy rain delay. Nice efforts, but they can't beat Jake Westbrook's performance Thursday. The Cleveland pitcher allowed 15 hits -- and still won. That's right. Westbrook threw a 15-hitter and beat Boston 7-6. His line: 8 IP, 15 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 1 K. Westbrook is the first pitcher since John Dopson in 1988 to allow 15 hits in a game and win TELL YOUR STATISTICS TO SHUT UP Twins starter Francisco Liriano has allowed almost as many earned runs in Detroit (nine) as he has in Minnesota (11). � When the season ends, the Mariners can only blame themselves when they finish out of first place. Seattle beat Oakland the first meeting this season and has lost 12 in a row since. If the Mariners had won just four of those 12 games, they would be in first place. Jim Caple is a senior writer for ESPN.com. You can reach Jim at jimcaple.com. Sound off to Page 2 here.

Did you get a response, CF?

That statement would've been true even if Eli was still on the team.

Rent-by-mail.

Don't the TV people dress them?

He'd break his face to try to win.

Oops.

I wonder when MLB is going to put a Met hat back on DiFelice.

Can a player fill the Tug McGraw Memorial Spot while on the DL?

What was the last Met trade to Mordor before Gandalf? It was Benitez right? Weren't Cairo/Spencer/Garcia all free agents?

First look at Wagner in this thread. 1 away from Bob Apodaca all-time. Looking to possibly enter Benitez/Franco territory for the season. Saves in a Met Season 1. 2001 Armando Benitez 43 2. 2000 Armando Benitez 41 3. 1998 John Franco 38 Billy Wagner, Projected 2006: 36.26 4. 1997 John Franco 36 5. 1990 John Franco 33 5. 2002 Armando Benitez 33 7. 1984 Jesse Orosco 31 8. 1994 John Franco 30 8. 1991 John Franco 30 10. 2004 Braden Looper 29 10. 1995 John Franco 29 12. 1996 John Franco 28 12. 2005 Braden Looper 28 14. 1972 Tug McGraw 27 15. 1988 Randy Myers 26 16. 1973 Tug McGraw 25 16. 1987 Roger McDowell 25 16. 2006 Billy Wagner 25 Saves in a Met Career 1. John Franco 276 2. Armando Benitez 160 3. Jesse Orosco 107 4. Tug McGraw 85 5. Roger McDowell 84 6. Neil Allen 69 7. Skip Lockwood 65 8. Braden Looper 57 9. Randy Myers 56 Billy Wagner, Projected 2006: 36.26 10. Doug Sisk 33 11. Ron Taylor 28 12. Bob Apodaca 26 13. Billy Wagner 25 14. Danny Frisella 22 Edit: typos

I'm hoping the Padres sneak into the playoffs, but the Dodgers have now won 10 in a row, and still don't have Nomar and Kent back.

My guess would be Trachsel or Glavine comes back next year. Not both.

]Tom Glavine recalled how Turner Field had treated Andres Galarraga when he returned to Atlanta as a member of the Giants in 2001. "How the fans stood and cheered," he said. "And when I went back in ... oh, that's right, they didn't treat me like that."

]Piazza said he �didn�t want it to end,� and compared being here to hanging out with 46,167 brothers, sisters, aunts and uncles. What's nice about yesterday's game is that since Willie wasn't managing, Mike got his last at-bat.

Going into yesterday's game, Lo Duca was 43 for his last 100.

Me too. I once figured he and Mookie were the only '86 Mets who might one day manage the Mets.

Oops. I thought you meant that he was providing for his family by going to the game, and that's why going to the game came first. My bad.

soupcan wrote: I also wouldn't assume that we've gotten the whole story. HoJo: Friggin' Mets wouldn't give me the day off to watch my son's ball game? Screw them, I'm goin'! Mets: You're fired. Somehow I'm thinking this is not exactly how it played out. That would be my guess, too. But for now I'm just going on what's been reported.

There's a difference between ]providing for your family and ]left to attend some kind of athletic event that his son was participating in.

Yancy Street Gang wrote: He left to attend some kind of athletic event that his son was participating in. He had asked for permission, was denied it, and went anyway. (I would have done the same thing HoJo did. Family comes first.) Really? I would've chosen to stay at work and not get fired.