Ok, so I'm not wasting any time to start looking forward to next year.
Denial only worked for a few days.
Does anyone know where I can find the Mets rosters' contract status?
Not how much they are making, but how much is remaining on their contracts.

Thanks,
Kenny
www.metsmagic.com

This was an email to Tom McDonald/ Sports on 1 as he wondered out loud how the Mets ranked in pinch hitting statistics.



Hey guys -
Pretty lame, but I couldn’t find any stats like this online, nor using ESPN’s site, nor MLBs, and I had to bruteforce it from this site. Let’s just say I’m having a slow morning.

http://www2.sportsnet.ca/baseball/mlb/stats/?dr=49

Which I sorted by PH appearances and then calculated in the attached. * I broke out Conine because I could only get single-season stats on him.

If you reference back to the original site, among PHers with 20 or more BAs, the top 10 are
Jeff Conine
So Taguchi
Marlon Anderson
Josh Phelps
Tony Batista
Mark Sweeney
Ruben Gotay
Ryan Spillsborghs
Kevin Frandsen
Ryan Ludwick

our main 3 PH threats off the bench are Marlon Anderson @ .343 and Ruben Gotay @ .310, with Conine @ .370

However, as a team, the PH average is .242 or .241 depending on how you calculate it, and now I do recall the MANY peanut-regurgitating appearances of David Newhan earlier in the season that pretty much kills the stat for the whole team. I’m sure the number is MUCH better since the All-Star break.

Let me know if you’ll use this on your show, which I love! If the Mariners take 2 out of 3, and Clemens MRI comes back positive, think you can put the Mets first in the broadcast for the rest of the season? Yanks fans have a way of putting the blinders, and then putting their heads in the sand facing adversity, so you might be doing your viewership a favor! ;-)

Amazin’ Again,

- Raji in Hell’s Kitchen

No, we're not blog neglectors... this Blog Harbor seemed to have an insanely low bandwidth limit plus technical problems, and we have pretty much been knocked offline all season. But we're back and in good timing.

Now, fair warning, I finally found the banner policies and am aiming to try to get on the broadcast for every pitcher in the rotation. Wish me luck!!!


Banners
Banners are permitted at Shea Stadium; however, they may not be hung from any level in fair territory or block the view of any fan. Banners may not be connected to poles of any type, and poles will not be permitted into the stadium. They may not be carried through the stands while play is in progress; however, this is permitted between innings. Fans are not permitted to display their banners on levels or in area other than where their ticket admits them. The Mets reserve the right to remove banners containing inappropriate language or commercial messages or that the Mets otherwise determine to be inappropriate due to their size or for any other reason.

2 unfortunate photos = 1 big funny?

You know we're having a great year when in and around the 5 boroughs you often see more Mets caps than Yanks caps....



You know we're up for something special when the Japanese have copped our likeness for a soft drink:






I'm over in Japan, the country that brought us Shinjo and Little Matsui, for a wedding, rushing home to catch the MLB Gameday Audio (I hve another post forthcoming about what a complete sham that was, between the blackouts and it not working as advertised), and low and behold, my favorite four-letter word is caling me from behind the glas sof your average vending machine...

Of course straight from JFK to Shea upon landing for Piazza's return to Shea, to snap this shot.

Pretty damn tasty too.... maybe Grapefruit to represent the bittersweet pill that is Mets fandom?

I just have to get this off my chest. You people are all crazy!!

I mean c'mon. I'm a die-hard mets fan. But I'm not an idiot.

It kills me that Duaner Sanchez will miss the rest of the season due to an idiot drunk driver who should be locked up in a cozy cell with every belligerent mets fans who get arrested at shea. It actually kills me in more than just a selfish want-your-team-to-win way.... I feel bad that the guy won't get to pitch in the postseason for us after carrying us on his back 8th inning after 8th inning.

But back to the Parade of Insanity: Nady for Bert Hernandez and a young lefty with great stuff that could benefit from a good pitching coach is not the end of the world!

For crying out loud, Omar had about 12 hours it seems to figure this one out. He had to change gears and fill a huge and unexpected gap in our bullpen. And what did he use? An outfielder. We've got a few of them, some might even say a surplus.

Get over yourselves! Omar isn't a moron like most of you are. He has a job managing a big city team. You have a job that you are avoiding by commenting on Metsblog.com. This deal had to be done. I don't care how old Bert is as long as he can pitch another three months!

I liked Nady, I really did. Great potential. Hits for power. Had some big home runs. But look at what Endy Chavez has been doing and explain to me why the guy's role hasn't expanded. Look at Lastings Milledge wallowing in the minors. Feed his ego and bring him back up. Let him show us flashes of greatness and hit the same .263 Nady was.

Losing Duaner sucks. Bert should hopefully be as good as his 2.93 ERA suggests. I don't know what kind of lopsided fantasy deal you people were expecting.

As I watched David Wright, after being reverse-Jeffrey Maiered out of the Home Run Derby, and Carlos Beltran provide HALF THE OFFENSE AND ALL THE FUN of our NL All-Stars, this is what's going through my head -




Had David Wright jerk the first freakin' pitch, of his first of many years of All-Star games, off of a lights-out Kenny Rogers, out of a park seemingly built for the pull side of his swing? Absolutely. Had Carlos once again come through on the big stage with hits and steals? Yes! This was all tied up. But with one out remaining the cold hard truth was staring me in the face, even before Michael freakin' Young (you hold on to that memory reallllll long and hard my friend) annoints himself the MVP of this stupidity, that WE'RE METS FANS, THE ONLY THINGS THAT COME TO US EASILY ARE TICKETS TO SHEA*

Add me to the list of self-appointed pundits who officially DESPISE this rule. A spectacle put on mostly for the fans should not decide the home field advantage of the sport's championship - it doesn't in any other major sport nor should it here. Call me selfish for the wake-up call as I watched the Mets lose homefield advantage for the World Series * because the only thing Trevor Hoffman was pitching the night before was buffalo wings and beers into his gullet.

But thank you Major League Baseball for instituting a cheap rule to increase the viewership of a single game. You really did get me involved in the game, because what I saw last night made me see RED more than any loss this season.

And thank you, Mr. Wright, by the way, for revealing on camera last night that the NL might actually have a chance in this game and the Mets are by, LEAPS AND BOUNDS, the class of the National League.

Anyway, in an age where Revisionist History IS History, this is my story and I'm sticking to it. Let's go Mets!






* except every 20 years or so

With both subway series' out of the way, a friend of mine told me he was going to his first baseball game @ Yankees stadium, because his friend was coming from out of town and wanted to go there.

With that I had to remind him of the following:


The wife and I moved our family to New York City for the fall so we could experience firsthand the thrill of rude cashiers, cabs that smell like a goat fry and the $19 tuna sandwich.

So we've had a front-row seat to the tension in Gotham lately, with elbows flying in grocery lines, mothers slamming their strollers into each other and half the populace screaming at the other half. And that was before the Subway Series.

Folks in the rest of the country see this World Series as the government versus Microsoft. They don't care who wins as long as a whole lot of New Yorkers suffer. But having studied the Mets' and the Yankees' fans, it seems to me there are some basic differences.

For instance, I've noticed that Mets fans occasionally take the peanuts out of the shell before eating them. In addition, many of them are from families who've been walking erect for two or more generations.

Mets fans are a paper-napkin kind of crowd. Yankees fans prefer their shirts, in the rare event they're wearing them.

Mets fans worship their heroes so devoutly that Mets players find it difficult to leave the house. Yankees fans worship players whose prior felonies make it illegal for them to leave the house.

There haven't been many, but Mets fans take great pride in each and every pennant their team has won. Yankees fans take great pride in each and every pennant their team has bought.

Mets fans enjoy the everyday food of the city -- a delicious hot dog from Gray's Papaya, maybe an egg cream or a street-corner knish. Yankees fans like beer.

Mets fans worship an odd mascot with an XXL head known as Mr. Met. Yankees fans worship an odd mascot with an XXL head known as Mayor Giuliani.

In big games Mets fans pray for another home run off the bat of 32-year-old legend Mike Piazza. In big games Yankees fans pray for another home run off the glove of 12-year-old legend Jeffrey Maier.

After wins at Shea Stadium, Mets fans love to celebrate to the beat of Who Let the Dogs Out. Yankees fans make visitors ask the same question. In fact, Mets reliever John Franco wouldn't let his eight-year-old son, J.J., wear his jersey to Game 1 at Yankee Stadium for fear it would cause trouble. But Yankees fans don't mind jerseys. It's Mets hats that they steal off heads and set on fire.

Mets fans root for outfielder Benny Agbayani, who once tossed a live ball into the stands. Yankees fans root for infielder Chuck Knoblauch, who once tossed a live ball to first base.

The hardest three-year stretch for most Mets fans was from 1977 to '79. The hardest three-year stretch for most Yankees fans was third grade.

A good question to ask Mets fans is, "Do you think manager Bobby Valentine will be back next year, or will he leave for more money?" A good question to ask a Yankees fan is, "Is this the stop for Yankee Stadium, or should I go screw myself?"

Put it this way: Mets fans are diehards, Yankees fans throw DieHards.

Mets fans take advantage of New York's unsurpassed array of cultural treasures, including art museums, opera houses and Broadway theaters. Yankees fans like beer.

At Shea Stadium, Mets fans get used to the wind blowing in from leftfield. At Yankee Stadium, Yankees fans get used to the wind blowing out from the owners' box.

Mets fans seem to be ethnically diverse, with a fan base that includes African-Americans, Asians and Eastern Europeans. Yankees fans have also gotten used to sitting behind poles.

Mets fans use their cell phones during games. Yankees fans use the phones in their cells.

The language of Mets fans can be a little coarse, sprinkling the occasional f word into conversation. The language of Yankees fans can be a little coarse, too, sprinkling occasional conversations in with the f words.

All in all, I'd say Mets fans seem to relish the honor of winning after years of sweat; of standing by their team because it's their team, through feast and famine; of wearing their old, frayed Mets hats past all the bandwagons and Senate candidates in the crisp new hats of the easy team to root for, the soulless one, the corporate one.

Yankees fans like beer.

As I watched England's painful loss to Portugal decided on Penalty Kicks, I said to myself, you know what, I am pretty glad that baseball is America's pasttime, soccer is just shit, well at least World Cup soccer is. I'm told the Premiereship and the more local leagues have proper teams that play together constantly so they can at least put a goal together. I guess it's he equivalent of asking the AL and NL all-star teams to take a break for a while and go play other countriess. So what happens but many games are decided by either completely shitty and/or corrupt refereeing and/or the equivalent of a PBA skills challenge at the concluision of a tie game.

Then I turned on today's Subway Series game and had to suffer through some pretty shitty umping.

A big vaafaungula to today's umpiring crew. You know they say it all balances out but for the life of me it always seems like the Mets garner a bit more of the bad calls.

Today's game made it seem like the crew is actually on the Yankee payroll. (Well, who isn't on the Yankee payroll by now).

In the first inning, we have Jeter legging out an infield hit, yet he's behind the force by about half a step. Just not a call that should be blown unless it's Rush Limbaugh manning 1st and he's just scored some downers..,,,, Please, for such a pest as Jeter, call him out honestly.

Then, an umpire can't manage to get out of the way as Castro trys to grab a routine popup. I'm not aware of what rule pertains to this but I'm pretty sure Fluff had the right of way. Either way, it's up the ump to call interference on himself, how often do you think that has happened?

But the most egregious offense,  by far, was committed by home plate retard Jerry Layne, who just plain ignored Xavier Nady getting hit by a pitch that deflects by a good 30 degrees, you can hear the impact  of ball on bone, AND Nady instantaenously throwing his bat away and heading for first. (And thank you to Fox for televising Nady proclaiming "It fucking hit my leg!"

I have a theory about why he was simply the only person in the stadium or greater television audience who missed this HBP...




What I can't take his obnoxious home plate highness's reaction, ordering Nady back in the box (and where was Willy BTW?), because obviously, Nady was suffering from some sort of delusion. This is the hubris created by no accountability on these umps. This crew blew all these calls, the Mets won despite all that, and they're gonna get on the plane and head on to the next game with no less job security.

I know Instant Replay would slow down a game which can already move glacially. And I'm aware of Bud Selig's desire to maintain the "human" element... (Human Eye, Human Growth Hormone, etc. etc.)

How about splitting the difference and giving coaches some sort of challenge - but to maintain the "human" element, we give them 2 buckets of balls, 1 each to institute a challenge to go to Instant Replay by tossing them angrily into the center of the field (make those ballboys earn that minimum wage folks!) More than 2 challenges and we should be examining their bank accounts for direct deposits from YES.

And can we get a gameball to Joe Buck for pointing out something that some of us baseball fans have suspected for a while - the radar gun trained on Yankee pitchers was showing an extra 5mph per Randy Johnson fastball vs. Fox's own gun, a stat juicing not enjoyed by the other bench. Nice one. Keep telling me how classy your organization is, guys.

Subway Series play - We've won the last 9 of 14 vs. Yankees, and have gone 23-7 in homeruns. So bring on Jaret Wright ya pansies!!! And how about you stop rigging the gun. Whether it's to intimidate/fool our hitters or to justify the ridiculous price you paid for the Big lUNITic, it's pretty lame.

Can we just take a moment and reflect on the fact that Gary Cohen, the eloquent sage of Mets baseball, just called Jose Reyes "Stupid Hot"... adding that it's hard to hit this well in a video game?

I have long been a fan of Jose Reyes, and I don't want you all to think I'm jumping on a bandwagon here, but I think there is no shame in pointing out just how much potential this kid has had and is currently realizing.

I'd like to think that I had something to do with this streak, seeing as I ordered my Reyes #7 jersey, displayed above, on June 14th, towards the begining of his blistering two-three week streak of hitting over .500. Whether he intentionally decided to make me feel good about dropping "stupid" amounts of cash on an ill-fitting, itchy polyester garment destined for beer and mustard stains is for you to decide.

I didn't just order a Reyes jersey because he's a great player or because Raji just got a Wright jersey and we're going to be rocking the Wright/Reyes juggernaut at Fenway next week... I actually have a pretty silly idea about jerseys... and that is that Jose's jersey is the only on the team I could imagine actually fitting me right off his back. Also, we both like to run. Let's just say I can relate to Reyes and imagine being THAT guy on a team if I had loads of baseball talent, which I don't.

Anyways, back to baseball... in true paranoid Mets fashion, I turned on the WB 11 broadcast at noon expecting that today would be the day Jose would cool down and remind us of his inconsistent hitting prior to June 2006. What did I get? Lead off homer. Single in the third, and another run scored. We'll see how the rest of the game goes.

Until then, I have one thing to say to you Toronto Blue Jays fans today: Why not be confident enough in your team to let them try winning without your distracting, annoying, inappropriate air-horn guy honking over every pitch to the Mets? Are you that scared of us that you need cheap tactics? Screw you, airhorn guy. Get a life.

Enjoy the beautiful location of Colorado Springs and the complete lack of non-white-christians.

For a breakdown of the trade from a Rockies perspective, I found this well-written summary on a Rockies blog.

Good luck, Kaz. Sorry it didn't work out. You were never a whiner and never criticized the fans or the press.

We were going to only post after games when Kaz Matsui had a hit. As you can see, the last post was sometime in early May. Thanks for the three weeks of productivity at work, Kaz. Now get used to pinch running...

It's amazing how much has changed in two short weeks. 40% of our starting pitching is now Cuban. Jose Valentin does not cause me to assault my Willie Randolph voodoo doll any more. Beltran and Floyd have stolen Delgado's mojo (apparently all three can't be hot at once).

Of course somethings don't seem to change this season, like Tom Glavine, David Wright and our bullpen.

Anyways, let's slay some Giants now.

P.s I would like to personally thank Mets management for taking my call on this whole Alay Soler business. Have faith brothers, this guy is good. I would also like to thank Matt Cerrone, the godfather of metsblogs, for the props.

As Julio Franco was announced as pinch hitter to face Roberto Hernandez, from under the overhang that thousands of the Mets faithful had huddled under to escape from what should have been called a rainout, we wondered, was this the oldest matchup ever? The 41 years of Roberto Hernandez vs. the 47 years of Julio Franco? That's 88 years of baseball there folks.



Now, can anyone think of an older matchup? Perhaps Orosco's 46-year-old left arm had to try to strike out some 42-year-old DH?

If not, I think we have a winner....

Everybody now,
Free
A-lay
So-ler

Lets get this chant going at shea if Jeremi Gonzalez doesn't make it out of the 5th.

Wish I had more time to post, but until then...

FREE ALAY SOLER.

Dare I say we are probably the only pro-KazMat blog on earth that is not published in the Japanese language. Let me make one thing perfectly clear - without Kaz Matsui, the Mets would have lost this game. He singlehandedly kept us in the game with his inside-the-parker in a game where Peavy otherwise stifled our offense, and then amazingly turned the pivotal (rim-shot) double-play that stopped the bleeding and ignited the Mets offense.

I am furthermore led to believe that Julio Franco has built-in brotherhood with Kaz Matsui, due to his years in Japan, and when Kaz failed to even advance the runner, Julio stepped beyond his years to power one outside of Petco park.

I really don't think this is anomaly, and I know that Kaz has this type of play inside him and can execute it on a daily basis.

I'm not giving Kaz all the credit - Trachsel pitched a GREAT game and once the offense woke up, it WOKE UP. I'll I'm asking is that we embrace the poor bastard, absolve him, and move forward. The team seems to have, shouldn't we follow their lead?

Rafael Santana and Rey Ordonez be damned, I'm going to venture to say that a run saved in the field is just not equivalent to a run scored at bat. While you might save a potential baserunner by A Hern's defense, that may never show on the scoreboard and may not have the same impact as a a 3-hit, 1 run game going to 4-hit, 2 runs. That said, I'd rather have a .255 Matsui than a .200 A-Hern and that's just it.

Anderson H. has blown us away with his defensive range, but who remembers actually waiting for the kid to get his first MLB hit? And then again this season? Keith and others like to say that with this offense, we could afford to carry an A-Hern - well, if anything was proven the past 2 game, it was that this is emphatically wrong.

Now, the real question is, does our 25-man roster have room for a spot bunting specialist?

Pitching services: 50 million. Entertainment Value: Priceless,

Folks, it's this simple, and it should be easy to understand for most beaten-down mets fans: the Braves will not get away with this. We will exact revenge. Sweet revenge. Next week or September. Victory will taste that much sweeter.

And don't say I didn't call this... Kaz Matsui will have an opportunity to provide the team a much needed spark plug for the upcoming road trip to SD, SF and ATL. I am sooo pulling for him, and it's a perfect opportunity... ten consecutive games away from the boo birds at Shea to make some noise in peace. Here's hoping he returns in May to cheers.

That's right folks, the news that about the dozen or so remaining diehard Seibu "Little" Matsui fans worldwide have been waiting to hear all spring, our most favorite Steve Phillips acquisition will be appearing Friday against San Diego. Now let me why this is going to be a great thing, and then you can throw food at your computer screen and imagine it's me:

- Kaz HAS had streaks on the Mets, yet they've been when the rest of the team hasn't been hitting. This team has had something like 5 hits in the past 16 innings. Pretty good timing, eh? Beltran continues to site, Floyd is a maybe, but A-Hern is gone for a while, so he's the 2B, alternating with Woodward perhaps. Honestly, situationally I would MUCH rather have him hitting off the bench vs. Chavez or Valentin
- He's starting in SAN DIEGO, knowing that _anyone_ left who still believes in his abilities would probably be west-coast based, as that's where his original no-trade clause required a trade to. So maybe he'll outperform.
- He's ON THE ROAD. Now I implore you, if you are a Mets fan, you CANNOT boo him until he's putting up Jose Valentin 2006 numbers and David Wright 4/19/06 Defense (3 errors). If you do, you're just not a fan. Look at what you did to Beltran ya bunch of mooks! He very nearly didn't give you a curtain call! Get with the program and don't reduce yourself to Yankee fan tactics.



For the love of this 2006 seasons, let us do our VERY best to sacrifice some virgins and wish him a fruitful road trip and uproarious return to Shea. Remember what this guy is capable of, I just refuse to believe that it's all gone Pete Tong.

OK, this decrepit Atlanta team came into our house and won the series. For what's it's worth, these 2 games we should not have won, not on paper, not with the bench in the outfield and the bench what it is. Glavine did a great job, a wonderful job, but the simple fact is, take out Floyd and Beltran, and Delgado loses most of his efficacy as well, he can be pitched around, and Wright enters a minor stink so that his average creeps below .400, and we're offensive Mutts. At the same time, I'm a strong critic of what we have on the bench besides Woodward and Franco, which is why we've all be actually looking forward to Matsui's return. Listen, his .250 is a lot better than those cockroach's .000

I found Endy Chavez's doppleganger, it's New Jersey's own DJ Eric Morillo





Maybe it's time you get out the booth and into some BP!! Your music sucks too!