Elster88

Yancy Street Gang wrote: ]Just curious as to why the moneyed Mets aren't being mentioned in the Roger Clemens sweepstakes. He would make a much better playoff rotation buddy for Pedro Martinez than Victor Zambrano or Brian Bannister. Interesting thought. Please no.

cooby wrote: two youngsters starting for the other team........ uhoh ="Willets Point"]I know what cooby's thinking and it makes me worry too. ="seawolf17"]Cooby's right. I sense an ugly two days. Holy Ingrained Met-Fan Pessimissm, Batman! Just keep repeating to yourself: Pedro and Glavine, Pedro and Glavine, Pedro and Glavine.

What�s not fair? Being the only team in a 6 team division with a record under .500 What�s even less fair? Being 8-20 and playing in said division. What�s the least fair? With that record, having to face a 17-9 team in their home park What just plain blows? Facing Pedro Martinez and the Officially Rejuvenated Tom Glavine, and then moving on. �Let�s stop by New York and take a good, hard beating on our way from Chicago to Washington.� Who�s hot? Ummmm�nobody really. Over the last week, Chris Duffy (OF) is .313 but his OPS is only .764. Freddy Sanchez (3B) is .364 with an OPS of .819, but that�s only an 11 at-bat sample size in the same timeframe. The Wilsons, Craig (36) and Jack, have been two of the top three hitters for the Pirates this year, with OPS's of .982 and .901. (Not pictured - Jason Bay: .437(!) OBP, .904 OPS) Who�s not? The rest of the team over the last week: Jack Wilson (SS) - .238/.333/.429//.762 Jeromy Burnitz (OF) - .222/.263/.556//.819 Craig Wilson (1B) - .200/.304/.450//.754 Joe Randa (3B) - .222/.263/.222//.485 (yuk) Jason Bay (OF) - .235/.458/.353//.811 Ronny Paulino (who?) (C) - .200/.294/.200//.494 � The paulino is the name of the little ball in bocce. Who looks familiar? Jeromy Burnitz and Jason Bay (sigh), of course. Roberto Hernandez (0-1, 3.18, 11.1 innings, 12 H, 1 HR, 8 BB, 7K) is still going strong at age 41. Correct me if I�m wrong, but it doesn�t look like anyone from the infamous Benson-Wigginton deal will participate in this series. Zach Duke pitched Pittsburgh to an 8-0 win over the Cubs in their last game Who�s pitching? Ian Snell (1-2, 5.79) vs. Pedro Bear - 5/3/06, 7:10 pm � Ian has 11 career starts, 5 this year. After three awful starts, he�s calmed down somewhat. He went 6 innings against Houston on April 22nd and allowed 2 earned runs on 6 hits and 2 walks. His best start this year was his most recent: 7 innnings, 5 hits, 1 walk, 7 strikeouts, 1 earned run against the Phillies to get his first win of the year on April 28th. Paul Maholm (1-3, 5.86) vs. Tom Glavine - 5/4/06, 7:10 pm � Maholm was the Pirates Minor League Pitcher of the Year in 2005. His best start of the year was also his most recent: 7 innnings, 6 hits, 2 walks, 4 strikeouts, 1 earned run against the Phillies. Other than that and a decent outing (6 IP, 2 ER, L) against St. Louis he�s had a pretty awful year, allowing 5 earned runs in each of his other three starts. What�s the bottom line? A two game series...at home...our two best pitchers...two youngsters starting for the other team........and the other team stinks. Gotta take 'em both. Beat the bad teams.

100 game ban: NEW YORK -- Tampa Bay Devil Rays minor league pitcher Matt Rico was suspended for 100 games Tuesday after testing positive for a drug of abuse. Rico is in extended spring training, and hadn't played for a team yet this season. He was Tampa Bay's sixth-round draft pick in 2001 as an outfielder, but was converted to a pitcher last year. He had no record in eight games with short-season Class A Hudson Valley last year, finishing with a 2.53 ERA. The penalty for an initial positive test this year was increased from 15 games to 50 for players with minor league contracts, and the penalty for a second positive test rose from 30 games to 100. For major leaguers, the punishment was lengthened from 10 days to 50 games -- but any test for major leaguers is treated as a first positive test.

]1989 Fleer Billy Ripken: obscenity on bat knob Haha Lots of Mets and Met fathers in there. What no-good organization can't even get their cards right?

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2429888&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab3pos2 Ballplayer's card trading for $2,550 because it's not supposed to be out yet. Updated: May 2, 2006 This card costs 'cause you aren't supposed to have it By Darren Rovell ESPN.com Alex Gordon has yet to play a single game in the major leagues and yet his rookie card is the hottest in all of baseball, selling for as much as $2,550 in recent weeks. Is Gordon the Kansas City Royals' next great player? Could be. But that isn't why his card, which is No. 297 in Topps' 2006 set, is worth that kind of money. The piece of cardboard is worth that much only because it never should have been produced in the first place. Last year, in part to reduce confusion in the marketplace, the Major League Baseball Players Association ruled that card manufacturers could make rookie cards only of players who either made the 25-man roster or played in a major league game the season before. Gordon didn't qualify either way. After he led Nebraska into the College World Series, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2005 draft didn't sign his contract -- including a $4 million signing bonus -- until late September. "At the last second, we realized we had made a mistake, so we pulled the cards, destroyed them by cutting out the photo and then destroyed the plates," said Topps spokesman Clay Luraschi. But a fan named Jeremy Troutman pulled five of Gordon's cards on a shopping trip in his hometown of Wichita, where, coincidentally, Gordon is playing Double-A ball for the Wranglers this season. "I went to Wal-Mart, bought two boxes, and got two in the same pack," Troutman said. "So I bought seven more boxes and got another three in the same pack." Troutman, whose story first appeared in the Wichita Eagle, opened 1,000 packs to find his five cards. He sold all five of them to different collectors for a total of $5,761.79. Troutman had the right idea. The Gordon cards are believed to exist only in the earliest shipped packs, many of which went to Wal-Marts across the country. But before you raid your local Wal-Mart in search of a bonanza, you should know that the odds of a payday like Troutman's aren't in your favor. Fewer than 20 of the Gordon cards have shown up for sale on eBay, leading some in the collectibles industry to believe that the card is as rare as they come. Luraschi is confident that fewer than 100 cards got out. A few weeks ago, Jason Mauk, owner of the card store "In The Zone" in Hagerstown, Md., purchased one of the cards from the wholesaler who provides boxes for his store. After hearing the story, Mauk paid $1,000 for it. He then put it up on eBay and sold it for $1,425. "I've sold thousands of cards online and I've never had 2,000 hits on one auction like I did in this case," Mauk said. "I've never had 100 people put a single auction on their watch list like I did with this card." John Schulteis, a 28-year-old from Mission, Kan., bought one of the Gordon cards from Troutman for $895. Schulteis, who buys to sell, currently has the card up for auction. "The fact of the matter is that Topps is the most collected brand out there, and this card ruins it for people in that they won't be able to have it in their set," Schulteis said. The last major error of this magnitude in the trading card industry happened in 1989, when a Fleer card featuring Billy Ripken was released that carried an obscenity clearly written on the knob of the bat Ripken was holding. Fleer's attempted cover-up created more than six versions of that card, but the original remained the hottest property, selling for hundreds of dollars at the time. Today, that card can be had for $5. Some think the price of the Gordon card is worth more than other error cards because of his great potential as a player. In his first full season as a pro, Gordon is batting .326 with 6 home runs and 12 RBI with the Wranglers. "If he turns out to be a superstar, the price can be sustained for a long time," said Rich Klein, price guide analyst for Beckett, a collectibles publisher. "If he's a flash in the pan, people will still remember it, but they won't care as much." But Schulteis doesn't agree that Gordon's star potential is much of a factor in the frenzy. "The fact of the matter is that Topps is the most collected brand out there, and people won't be able to have a complete set without getting this card," Schulteis said. "The scarcity of the card means much more than the caliber of player this guy is or does become." Like the Ripken card, other versions of the Gordon card have emerged. One version has the photo missing and so just includes the thin card borders, and it has been selling in the $30 to $50 range. A full Gordon card that just has his name on the front and a blank on the back has sold in the $100 to $200 range. What does Gordon himself think? He was shocked when he first heard about the value of his card. "One of my buddies said he searched the card online, just as a joke to see how much I was worth," Gordon said. "And he told me, 'Your card is selling for hundreds and hundreds of dollars.' I thought he was joking. It blew my mind." So far, Gordon hasn't come into possession of any of the valuable cards, but he says he does a double-take every time he signs an autograph to make sure he stays on the lookout for one. And he certainly isn't complaining about the error. "Topps is helping to get my name out there," Gordon said. "I should send them a thank you card or something." BASEBALL CARD ERRORS � 1969 Topps Aurelio Rodriguez: picture of team batboy Leonard Garcia � 1981 Fleer John Littlefield: picture is reversed � 1985 Topps Gary Pettis: picture of Pettis' younger brother � 1987 Donruss "Opening Day" Barry Bonds: picture of Johnny Ray � 1985 Donruss Tom Seaver: picture of Floyd Bannister � 1988 Topps Al Leiter: picture is Steve George � 1989 Upper Deck Dale Murphy: picture is reversed � 1989 Fleer Billy Ripken: obscenity on bat knob � 1990 Donruss John Smoltz: picture of Tom Glavine � 1990 Donruss Juan Gonzalez: picture is reversed � 1990 Topps Frank Thomas: has no name on front

First player to be awarded the monthly award in back to back months. Sort of. Edit: You do great work with this Yancy. Way to be.

The fascination is not from his appearance. The fascination is from 88 games, which was huge to me growing up as a shortstop, even though he couldn't hit a lick. The urban legend of Elster stealing other players' ladies was hilarious to me back then too, and is why I joke about his looks. Wrapping that all together is how he became my favorite player back then. My press conference to announce that I am not gay will be at noon.

cooby wrote: Hmmm...maybe I'll just go down to the Pretty Thread and critique some of the chicks you have posted on there. Trust me, some of them would not fare too well. But it's all a matter of personal perspective, so, so what? If you don't think Maine or Pedro is cute and cuddly, I have no problem with that. I'll only get upset if someone says that Mr. Perfect and Kevin Elster are not cute and cuddly.

Since when does critiquing a vote suggest a personal attack? If anyone disagrees with my votes or my comments, then I hope they'll let me know. It's called discussion, or debate. My critique is not an attempt to change anyone's voting process, or an attempt to get people to "stop and consider whether I or anyone else agrees with their vote before they cast it." It's just a freakin' comment.

cooby wrote: If you think, for one minute, that I am going to stop and consider whether you or anyone else agrees with my vote before I cast it, you have another thing coming. If I see votes that I disagree wholeheartedly with, I am going to comment. No one's telling you to think about anything. cooby wrote: And don't you EVER accuse me of voting for a player's looks again. That is an insult. A) Take a joke Don't take it so personally. I would have posted the exact same lines whether or not you had said anything in this entire thread. I posted it because I saw votes in the voting box. C) If you'll note, the "cute and cuddly" line was in response to Scarlet, which was a further reference to a joke I once made that Pedro was cute and cuddly in another PotG thread. It had absolutely nothing to do with you. And before anyone else gets mad, I wasn't insinuating that anyone voted because they thought Mr. Maine was good-looking. It was a joke.

ScarletKnight41 wrote: It's hardly mass insanity. Don't take it so literally. I don't think anyone has lost their mind. I'll rephrase. The only reason people could be voting for Maine is because it's his first Met start. (or maybe because he's cute and cuddly?) These are not good baseball reasons to vote for a person as PotG. I used the term "insanity", because when you don't use baseball reasons to vote a baseball player as PoTG, it is a sign of not using good mental judgement.

cooby wrote: ="Elster88"]5 and a third, 4 earned runs, and people are voting him PotG. Stop the insanity, please. This time I'm not the one who is nuts. Stop telling me who to vote for. If I see votes that I disagree wholeheartedly with, I am going to comment. I am not going to stop that. This is something that people are going to have to deal with. Don't take it personally.

5 and a third, 4 earned runs, and people are voting him PotG. Stop the insanity, please. This time I'm not the one who is nuts.

Coulda been. I didn't pay as much attention to that stuff when he was around. I always thought he just wasn't much of a hitter. He had the one good year with Texas.

Ronnie Darling was a favorite of the ladies in my household.

Chicks dig the long ball. Edit: I'm Gary Carter. Cute and cuddly if I've ever seen it.

From the PotG thread regarding my fascination with Mr. Elster: Elster88 wrote: [My] fascination is not from his appearance. The fascination is from 88 games, which was huge to me growing up as a shortstop, even though he couldn't hit a lick. The urban legend of Elster stealing other players' ladies was hilarious to me back then too, and is why I joke about his looks. Wrapping that all together is how he became my favorite player back then. I don't think anyone else is particularly fascinated with him.

If the lead runner of a double steal is thrown out, but the back runner takes second, is the back runner credited with a steal? Another hard shot by Floyd with no results. Lineout to short.

He may be 25, but he looks about 16. I think he went to elementary school with Lenny Harris.

A tidbit from the ex-National-color guy. Last year, in his first appearance after being traded to the Nationals, Stanton is brought in with first and third and does not throw a pitch. His attempted pickoff is a balk, game over. I remember Aguilera balking in the winner back in the late eighties, I think. 1989?

July 3, 1976 (Darold Knowles). Get on it, Yancy. Gary gave a shout out to metswalkoffs.com! Doesn't he post here? An attempted pickoff of first with the bases loaded hits the runner in the arm and rolls into the outfield. Runner scores.

AFLAC: When was the last time the Mets won a regular season game on a pitcher's error? (Walkoff style)

TransMonk wrote: Soriano tattoos one with 1 on. 3-1 Nats, Top 3. Halfway up the leftfield mezzanine.

The (small) crowd is getting behind Maine nicely today.