Mets

[Amazin69]

Aw, piffle! The team is strong enough to survive a little 16-27 stretch!

I mean, sure, this means that they've spent more than 25% of the season playing at a .327 clip, which would be 60-102 over a full season, but don't worry!

Just think how we're going to turn it around when the young pitchers find their feet!

(25-year-old José Butto is currently the only pitcher under age 27 on the entire 40-man roster. No prospects at Syracuse or Binghamton or wherever. Way to develop the talent pool, Eppler.)

Also, didn't David Peterson used to be pretty good? All-Star candidate and everything? Nice job keeping him on the right path, Hefner.

At least Tylor Megill is okay. I think every team's "ace" should have a 1.70 WHIP, don't you agree?

(And I've literally not seen a Met throw a pitch since last year. Wow, so much fun I'm missing.)

On the plus side, Gary Sanchez homered last night. For San Diego, but still.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

You guys do need a decent DH for sure.

I didn't necessarily mean Luke Voit, but he may surprise you.

[Déjà Bru]

And oh, by the way:



Here is why:



EDIT: Heh, after I posted that, I noticed the name two lines down. Boog Powell! (Older baseball fans may recall the all-star Baltimore Orioles first baseman from the 1960s and 1970s.) How in the heck could he still be playing? It turns out that he is not, since he is now in his 80s. No, this is another Boog Powell who is not even related to the earlier Boog Powell. His father chose to nickname him "Boog" because, as the fourth Herschel Powell in a row in the family, there was confusion.

[Amazin69]

Yes, I remember A's outfielder Boog Powell; I used him in a game. Good to know John Wesley Powell is still alive and well.

Hechevarria seems to be mashing the ball nicely down there. It's only the Atlantic League and he's 34, but a shortstop who can even hit his weight should be able to find a job.

(Remember, Hech was a Met in 2019, and then he hit two homers off of us for Atlanta in the Last Real Mets Game Ever, before Dom Smith won it with that extra-inning walk-off.

[Yes, kiddies, once upon a time baseball played things called "extra innings", where they used the same rules as the rest of the game and just kept playing until one side won. I swear! It's true!])

Congrats to Murph.

Ooh, Mets-Yanks on TBS tonight. It's almost tempting to see if Ronnie rips the team a good one, but I'll feel better if I keep my vow.

And besides, I wouldn't want to miss that Golden Knights Stanley Cup celebration! [bitter laughter, followed by dry heaves]

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

I didn't necessarily mean Luke Voit, but he may surprise you.

Why's this team always signing things it already has plenty of? In this case, old farts that can't hit a lick. [Yeah, yeah, the Raccoons start their offseason soonish and I am sure I can find them another three right-handed relievers that will make it their passion to get grabbed by the ankles and flung into the unpadded part of the outfield fence, snout first. Sorta like Ottavino!]

I'm just merry that I gotta work and don't have to see the Mets choke against the Yanks.

How about a renaming of the team? The New York Chokers.

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

Ooh, Mets-Yanks on TBS tonight. It's almost tempting to see if Ronnie rips the team a good one, but I'll feel better if I keep my vow.

Further temptation, though: Verlander-Cole matchup on Wednesday.

[Hageneezz]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Hopefully, you virtually know me by now. I am not one who comes around to gloat and pile on. I am genuinely interested in the Mets and this is an enjoyable thread to follow.

So, perhaps it is in commiseration that I point out this headline:

Attachment 953018
If Mets’ don’t end spiral, would anyone be surprised to see Steve Cohen make changes?

Yep, the vultures are already circling.
It's nice to have an owner who likes to spend money but Cohen is a neophyte who is only now learning that one cannot buy championships even with $359 million.

It worked out for Man City though, but then again, they spend billions...

[Amazin69]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Further temptation, though: Verlander-Cole matchup on Wednesday.

Yeah, but…

a) on ESPn, so no Ronnie
b) on ESPn, so possibly A-Roid
c) my only interest in Verlander is if Kate Upton shows up. And I've already seen her…naked and a decade younger, so I won't be particularly impressed.

Verlander, 2-3, 4.85. Totally worth $43m +!

At least Jake put up 0.7 WAR for Texas before going on the shelf. (And at a lower pay rate, too.) Old Guy will have a chance to surpass him, but atm he's only posted 0.2.

Maybe Uncle Stevie should go back to "shopping in the fruits and vegetable aisle"? Because this "prime cut" is smelling like the glue factory, honestly.

ETA: The Mets are headed in the right direction!

Yes, they've gone 1-2 since I last checked, but that's .333 as opposed to the previous .327 trend. Progress! Back to .500 ball by uh… mid-September?

(Not a .500 RECORD, that would be long gone, but if they continue this "upswing" , they'd be on pace to go 6-6 in the last two weeks or something similar. Dream big!)

[BBGiovanni]

Originally Posted by Westheim

Why's this team always signing things it already has plenty of? In this case, old farts that can't hit a lick. [Yeah, yeah, the Raccoons start their offseason soonish and I am sure I can find them another three right-handed relievers that will make it their passion to get grabbed by the ankles and flung into the unpadded part of the outfield fence, snout first. Sorta like Ottavino!]

I'm just merry that I gotta work and don't have to see the Mets choke against the Yanks.

How about a renaming of the team? The New York Chokers.

I dunno, I think you need something at stake to be called a choker when you fail.


I lived in NY for the Worst Team Money Can Buy, I'll say that at least this crew is nice so no firecracker throwing, groping/assault, etc. Maybe they're the Blurst Team Money Can Buy!

[Le Grande Orange]

The following might be of interest for those wondering about the financial side. It's an article published back in March on Forbes.

Citi Field Scores Record Revenue And Profit For New York Mets In 2022.

[Amazin69]

Yeah, but then Uncle Stevie blew all that jack on the Colossus of Queens in left field.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by Amazin69

Yeah, but then Uncle Stevie blew all that jack on the Colossus of Queens in left field.

Who gave Vogie a glove?

[Déjà Bru]

Originally Posted by Déjà Bru

Further temptation, though: Verlander-Cole matchup on Wednesday.

Originally Posted by Amazin69

Yeah, but…

I tell you, last night's game, with all of its zaniness was still very enjoyable to watch. Back and forth, ups and downs, hard fought. And my team lost!

A69, I am not sure what your beef is; that is, whether it's with baseball in general or the Mets specifically. Some of both, I suspect.

But I can relay my own experience. There are four major sports in the NY area but, until recently, I had shut out three of them. Basketball, because the Knicks stank up the sport's mecca year after year — they ought to have been ashamed of themselves. Football, because the Giants so often played stupidly and self-defeating. Hockey, because the Rangers play in a barbaric sport.

Well, two out of three ain't bad. I resurrected my interest in basketball and football DESPITE the crappiness of local teams. Why in the hell should I have denied myself of any sports enjoyment as a result of the morons who were running those local organizations? (Sure, their recent improvements have me peeking but not bestowing stock and faith.)

Hockey, sad to say, remains verboten. Despite the beauty of that game — on a wide-screen TV with the camera following the action back and forth, the ballet-like choreography, the bright colors against the stark whiteness of the ice — it's beautiful. But any sport that employs otherwise low-talent enforcement goons; any sport in which fights are common, expected, premeditated, and not sufficiently punished; I just cannot abide.

So my point is, are you harming yourself despite your issues with which the Mets, or baseball itself, is run? The hell with the big bozos who run them. Unless there is a problem with the game itself — a visceral one like what I have with hockey, not something stupid like the ghost runners in extra innings — you may want to revisit your vow. You missed a heck of a game last night.

[End of unwanted advice.]

[Amazin69]

[Largely OT, but it feels right to do a general State of My Fandoms post, without scattering it all around.]

I'm hardly "harming myself".

As I've said before, Manly Rob Manfred has made the game unrecognizable in ways that even Bud Selig never did. Read the Rules Change thread for a sampling of my complaints.

If Rob wants to bring back 2019 NL baseball (including proper-sized bases and a schedule with ideally NO inter-league play but at worst a couple of skirmishes with you guys), I would be right back in. But he won't, so I'm gone.

I wish the Metsies all the luck. Uncle Stevie may represent a large chunk of what's wrong with the world, but his heart is in the right place, baseball-wise. I adore the Squirrel, the Polar Bear, Mr. Pointy (BtVS joke) and many others on the team. Pathetic overpaid has-beens on the pitching staff (and cheating Timmy) aside.

I'm even willing to let Frankie "$341,000,000 Down the Toilet" Lindor convince me that he wasn't a colossal mistake, if he plays slightly well (as in last year) and doesn't act like his buddy Baez's fellow jerk (as in 2021). My mockery of the current follies is in complete sympathy with Westheim and BBGiovanni and anyone else who's chosen to continue to endure this season. Just don't expect me to spend my time on it.

Otherwise, I don't have an issue with the NFL, I'm just adrift since the Traitors stabbed the Oakland fans in the back (I've never been anywhere near Oakland, although I did attend three games in LA, back in the 1990s, but I was part of Raider Nation) in order to become Jerry Jones's lapdogs and basically a plastic team. Plus DereKKKarr's racism and other issues around the time of the move burnt me irrevocably. But I've tried to attach myself to the Panthers; it just hasn't taken. Maybe I need to throw myself into being a Bengals fan and start trying to feel Joe Burreaux as the spiritual heir to Boomer and all that. I mean, I need no urging to hate the Ravens, to paraphrase Star Trek. And a world where Belicheater is a has-been has its charms.

(It would be nice if they''d stop letting Nike ruin the uniforms, but you can recover from that. All three Florida teams are back to sanity.)

As long as they don't actually outlaw kickoff returns in the name of "safety" I can still enjoy it. I'm just low on enthusiasm atm. And I'd be fine with college if they'd stop with the super-conferences.

I've no real problem with the NBA. The Clippers have proven a disappointment on a level beyond even previous failures and I largely put them aside this season to focus on the Kings, but I'm perfectly willing to get back on that train.

I stopped commenting in the NHL thread because I had to let the Kings games pile up while I was watching the March Madness/Masters 1-2 of time-sucks, but I worked my way through that pile, eventually. I just wasn't posting in the thread because of fear of spoilers.

Did the season end in tragedy? Yes, because nobody was willing to punish McDouchebag for his cheap-shot on Mikey Anderson, which sent us into the tailspin that put us right back where we were last season, only worse. (Lose in 6 instead of 7.) You didn't watch the rematch in CryptoScam Arena [still such an embarrassing name] but it was palpable how much the entire crowd wanted McDirty's blood. And when we went meekly down instead, "staying focused on the game" as McLellan doubtless put it, it was a pinprick in our balloon.

I watched to the bitter end, though. And then the bitter, bitter, bitter end, with ****ing ****ing ****ing (same word 3 times, they're worth it) VGK actually lifting the Cup. I mean, it's right that Alec Jazz-Hands scored what was essentially the winning goal and I'm very happy for Quickie and Michael Amadio (and Captain Alex, because I still adore the 2019 Blues), but I just loathe that team soooo much. So not a great season, even if I paused the NHL's "Kiss Me" ad about 500 times during the playoffs so I could look at the joy on Dustin Brown's face. I'm still so heartbroken that I missed both 2012 and 2014 due to poverty.

(Heck, it took me a while to get back into the rhythm of obsession; there are actually 2015 Mets games I didn't see live. The only one of the Five Days in Flushing I remember seeing as it happened was "God Cries for Wilmer Flores" Day, which honestly makes no sense, given that I must have had Extra Innings that season; I honestly have no idea what was up.)

So worry not. I'll still spend next season living and dying with the Kings, watching all the other hockey I can get my paws on, trying to stick with the Clips, trying to love the NFL, and cramming my Saturdays full with NCAA and EPL, even though it will be weird with Leicester buried in the minors. (It would be fine if I could just download the matches, but in the "Championship", all that's usually available are "highlights." Baby likes his games unedited, tyvm.)

Baseball had me and they lost me. I'm glad you find joy, but you're not me. I mean, you've spent 51 years following DH-ball, FFS. And let's not even mention which DH-ball team…

I'm fine with a quiet summer. Maybe I'll spend more time on boxing.

Mind you, I was going to enjoy this week, because the Saudis don't control the USGA and my favorite moments in golf are watching those spoiled babies suffer and whine because one week year they have to play real golf, where you don't get to shoot -30 by bombing away all day…and then the course in LA is too soft and it's not really up to USGA standards anyhow, and two players both shot 62. 62. Blech. That's three days saved. Maybe next year we can go back to Mickelson crying and running away from Shinnecock because it's too tough, Mommy! (Suck it, Phil! Pretty much always.) But this year's ruined, I'll accept that.

(Actually, it could be argued that anytime the US Open is outside of the Northeast, it's a mess. Just put it on a rotation like the Brits do with their Open…Winged Foot, Shinnecock, Bethpage, Baltusrol, Merion, Oakmont and maybe one or two more. JMO. No effing Eden Prairie ever again.)

But nah. Don't worry about me, I'm hardly lacking in diversions.

To quote a wise woman:

XANDER: Don't give me the look; I'm on your side. I'm just saying there are certain things in your life you have to accept.

BUFFY; And I'm saying, Ted ain't one of them.

Baseball ain't one of them. Too bad for them, not me.

(If you settle for less, that's all you'll ever get, y'know. Standards matter. JMO.)

[Westheim]

And that's the way the Cookie Crumbles.......

[Westheim]

Instead of sending in Long-Gone-Vino into a tied game, Colonel Buck should just walk over to the other dugout, shake the manager's hand, and tell him "have it".

I loathe this team.

[Westheim]

Only the Mets can draw three walks and get a batter nicked, and not score in an inning.

Only the Mets...

[Déjà Bru]

It's a team that you love to loathe and that you loathe to love.

[Westheim]

Hey hey, the Mets knock out a starter in the third inning!

Plot twist: Megill is also knocked out in the third inning.

That guy is so ****, he oughta be covered in flies at all times..........

[Amazin69]

So apparently I missed one:

Originally Posted by Amazin69

Largest leads ever blown:

1914 NY Giants, led by 15 games on July 5. (They were 40-24, the Boston Braves were 26-40. The Braves were last in an 8-team NL; the nearest team to the lead was the Cubs, 3.5 games back.) The Giants went 44-46 the rest of the year, while the Braves went 68-19, winning by 10.5 games. The 25.5 games gained is a record, AFAIK.

Some attributed the success of the "Miracle" Braves to the Native American luck symbol they wore on their caps on opening day.

Damn Germans ruined it for everyone…

1978 Red Sox, led by 14 games on July 19. (Sox were 62-28, Yanks 48-42. Yankees were fourth, Boston led Milwaukee by 9 games.) Boston went 37-35, Yankees went 51-21. Yanks won 1-game playoff.

1951 Dodgers, led by 13 games on August 11. (70-35, Giants were 59-50.). They went 26-23 while the Giants were going 37-8, and lost a 3-game playoff.

New entry:

2012 Rangers, led by 13 games on June 30. (They were 50-29, Oakland was 37-42. The Angels were 6.5 behind Texas.) Rangers muddle their way to a 43-40 record for the second half, while the Athletics catch fire, go 57-26 and win by one game. Both teams flop in the post-season.

My bad. Back to the previously-noted chokers:

1995 Angels, led by 11.5 games on August 16. (They were 64-39, Seattle was 52-50. The Rangers were 10.5 behind California.). Complete flop, going 14-27 while the Mariners went 26-16 to close the 144 game season, and then won a 1-game playoff.

2022 Mets, led by 10.5 on June 1st. (Mets were 35-17, Braves were 24-27.) Mets went 66-44 the rest of the way, while Atlanta went 77-34 and won the division on…a tiebreak, Lorde help us.

1942 Dodgers, as noted above. 74-30 on August 5, Cards were 63-39. Dodgers go 30-20, Cards go 43-9, win by 2.

1969 Cubs, led by 10 games on August 14. (74-43, Mets were 62-51, in third place [Cardinals were 9 back]). They tanked completely, going 18-27 (worse than the Pirates and Cards, and 4 NL West teams, too) while the Mets went 38-11, winning by 8 games. Bill "Froggy" Hands went 4-3 in September, and Ferguson Jenkins was 3-4; the rest of the team was 1-10.

So, this year's Mets are not the worst of the worst, choke-wise; like the 1942 Dodgers, they played .600 ball from the high-water mark, which would usually be enough. And they had the best "hey, it's still early" excuse.

But still. Hell of a list to be on, FFS.

And so the 2022 Mets turn out to be only the 6th-worst choke of all time, not the 5th.

But still. Hell of a list to be on, FFS.

(Ah, well…it's just going to make the current team's rally from 14 back [really? Already?] all the more dramatic, right?)