Willie Randolph and Omar minaya not getting along? To the point Randolph is going public with it?
I hope so! I’m a diehard Braves fan! We’re 2 out, the Mets (old) pitching staff is weathering fast during the long season, and the Braves staff is getting it together.
But as a lifelong Rickey Henderson fan, I wish he would have taken a job in Oakland.
Old? The two best starters on the Mets (Maine and Perez) are 26; the two best on the Braves (Smoltz and Hudson) are 40 and 32, respectively. Not to mention that there’s this guy named Pedro who will be returning. Did you happen to see what that other old guy, Glavine, did yesterday? 8IP, 2 hits, 0 BBs, 6Ks.
Let’s discuss Andruw Jones next, OK? 
oooooooo! KEN FIGHT!!!
I hope so! I’m a diehard Braves fan! We’re 2 out, the Mets (old) pitching staff is weathering fast during the long season, and the Braves staff is getting it together.
But as a lifelong Rickey Henderson fan, I wish he would have taken a job in Oakland.
Another old pitcher, just weathering away. Must’ve been because he was playing such a weak team (San Diego):
IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA
Orlando Hernandez (W 6-4) 7.0 2 0 0 2 4 0 2.96
Sept 10-12 at Shea… I’ll be interested to see who takes the mound.
Me, too. Probably a bunch of call-ups, since NY will have clinched about a month earlier.
But as a lifelong Rickey Henderson fan, I wish he would have taken a job in Oakland.
I’m a huge Rickey fan. Let’s face it, the Mets brought in “Rickey be Rickey” for one reason … to teach Jose Reyes how to read pitchers and how to use your arms to explode into the first 3 steps. Hard to imagine he (Reyes) could be even scarier on the bases once his skill catches up to his natural ability.
Does this mean Rickey is retired? And we can start the Hall of Fame countdown? Or is he going to try and catch on in the independent league after the season?
1989 ALCS. Rickey shows the world the difference between Rickey and everyone else.
Dale Murphy & Rickey Henderson. I see I’m not the only one who is schizophorenic with their favorite player types. grin As a pler (pitcher), I would have hated Henderson … as a fan I can’t get enough him.
Somewhere one of our relatives idolizes both Tony LaRussa (Animal Rescue fanatic) AND Michael Vick (dog-fighting). wink
My “Rickey Henderson” moment … me and some buddies (89) were going to Kansas City to see the Royals v. Yankees. Kevin Sietzer, the third baseman at the time (2nd in ROY voting in 87), was from my high school. 3 days before the game, Henderson gets traded to Oakland. I had to settle for Steve Balboni hitting one OUT of Kaufmann Stadium.
Is it just me or does Rickey sound like Mr. T?
I hope so! I’m a diehard Braves fan! We’re 2 out, the Mets (old) pitching staff is weathering fast during the long season, and the Braves staff is getting it together.
Okay, less than a month later, the Braves are 4.5 out, the Mets pitching staff seems to be doing fine (Billy Wagner was just awarded some Reliever of the Month award for June) with a .240 batting average against, and the Braves have added Octavio Dotel and have a BAA of .262. Jose Reyes has three fewer stolen bases than the Braves as a team (and fewer caught stealing, to boot). Three games at Shea, starting tonight with Carlyle (who?) vs. Perez.
Smack talk time?
Good timing, today is the first of 9 meetings between the two through the rest of the year.
I can’t believe Shawn Green makes 11 M bucks. Do they know they could get similar production (.269 8HR) from a fringe major leager (or “4A” player) for a lot less?
Be interesting to see how Texeira does from here on out. They traded for his broad shoulders to carry the load.
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Congrats for TommyG on 300. I heard it best as described by some junior high kids I’m helping coach, “He’s so boring, I fall asleep any time he’s pitching.” That describes him exactly. So smooth and deliberate. Painting the corner, extending the strkezone, nothing flashy, nbothing exciting, and THEN … one of the best lefties in history.
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The more I watch Renteria play, the more I appreciate his talent and skill.
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Are the Mets rooting against the cardinals winning the wild card, or are they essentially eliminated? (Can’t believe Carpenter is out for th enext 1.6 years). Oh well, we made our successful run during our window of opp.
El Duque has given up 78 hits in 111 innings. Amazing.
I could watch Moises Alou hit all day lonh. No motion. He has got an incredibly powerful short swing. Seriously watch how far his hands travel on his swing … very short distance, very quick bat, powerful cut. It’s beautiful. You can’t teach that, just admire it.
Almost a nice comeback by the boys today.
The head-to-head record between the clubs makes for nice talk show fodder, but it ain’t really gonna matter in the end. I have a hard time taking any team seriously when Bob Wickman is their closer.
EDIT:
The difference between the Braves and Mets in the standings? The Selig joke of interleague play: Braves 4-11, Mets 8-7.
Two can cherry-pick data: the difference between the two teams in the standings? Play against the lame Central: Braves 16-12, Mets 21-9.
Sorry, Ken, I prefer the Mets over the Braves, but the baseball purist in me has to point out that his data point is a good one, because the Braves and Mets would play the Central regardless since they are still, technically anyway, in the same league. IL play is an abomination that that should, and hopefully will be removed. Due to the “rivalry” point it results in the Mets and Braves playing different teams, which can lead to the one game difference the division could be decided upon.
Play against the lame Central: Braves 16-12, Mets 21-9
And yet, come playoff time, it could be 4-3 in favor of the Central … great catch by Chavez nonwithstanding. grin
Note: I still can’t believe the cardinals won that game after Chavez robbed Rolen. That should have been the momentum shift that we routioenly see in sports. Great game-saving catch followed by an offensive outburst by the same team.
Gee, the central is weak, weak, weak. Talk today on the radio was along the of “someone from this divisions HAS to go to the playoffs, don’t they?”
Oh well, San Diego is a two-time division winner and they’re 0-6 (all versus StL) in the last 2 playoffs. So, let’s just cut trough the chase and award the NL pennant to whoever wins the East. Or not.
The Mets are sort of experiencing what the Cradinals experienced last year. Following a year (04/05 for StL, 06 for NYM) when they dominated the league, they are experiencing consistent injuries to star players and pitchers, and are creating the impressiont hat they are much worse than they really are (i.e., StL 83-win season). The Mets could very well get healthy at the right time and do what StL did last year.
Very little of what we believed to be true about the playoffs is actually true … ESPECIALLY the idea that teams that come into the playoffs hot will usually win. Detroit and StL limped into the playoffs. Detroit was overtaken by Minn and StL held on by one game over Hou.
There is a lot of luck and chance invovled in games.
IL play is an abomination that that should, and hopefully will be removed. Due to the “rivalry” point it results in the Mets and Braves playing different teams, which can lead to the one game difference the division could be decided upon.
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I agree (more below)
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Even with the same number of games against the same teams, competing teams don’t play the “same” schedule.
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I agree that I’d like to see less IL Play. PIck on rival for one mid-summer series (or home/away) series and leave it at that. St Louis doesn’t need to play Seattle, California, etc. Anything more than this I pull my ~50% support for a “rivalry series”. If a rivalry series helps determine the final playoff selection, then it could potentially add to the rivalry. There’s some positives. ~50% of me could do away with IL play altogether.
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I’d sure like to play the Cubs when Soriano’s hurt versus when he’s healthy … or how about when Derek lee decides to take his 4-game suspension a month after the event occurs and only selects a non-divisional opponent and a time when his ankle haoppens to be hurting and needs rest. Dpending on the date, the same team could have faced a World champion caliber St. Louis or one that was missing Rolen, Edmonds, Eckstein, Isringhause, and sporadically Pujols … essentially the difference between a 1st and last place team.
We could go on and on, but with injuries, trades, rotation schedules (two different teams could face one teams #1-#3 pitchers, while the other could face the 4, 5, and #1 or spot starter … B-I-G difference, especially if it’s against two teams fighting for WC), … no two teams never play the same schedule … even with all common opponents for the same # of games.
Lead is down to 3.5 games.
Texeira is as good as advertised, and Willie harris turned into Devon White.
It may be short lived, the Braves next 9 games are against @Philly (60-54), SF(49-64), and division-leading Arizona(64-51).
The Mets next 9 games are against the Marlins(53-62), @Pirates(45-65), and @nationals(53-62).
THEN, The Mets play 10 consecutive games against top teams (SD, LA, PHL) THEN play Atlanta for another 3 game series.
Meanwhile, the Braves will meet the Reds, Cardinals, and marlins.
The Atlanta-NYM seies on Sept 1 could be (literally) for 1st place. Looking forward to it.
***he Mets (old) pitching staff is weathering fast during the long season, and the Braves staff is getting it together. ***
You’re forgetting one thing…
You mean the team whose ERA is 23rd out of the 30 teams in the majors?
Note: I still can’t believe the cardinals won that game after Chavez robbed Rolen. That should have been the momentum shift that we routioenly see in sports.
You got this:
http://i18.tinypic.com/4oz89dl.jpg
And we got this:
You mean the team whose ERA is 23rd out of the 30 teams in the majors?
Oddly enough, I have another chap in my office from the Philly area, so we both get to talk.
We both decided a month ago, those sonsofbitches are doing the SAME EXACT THING they did last year and the year before that:
…win enough games 11-8 in the last 1/3 of the season to make things interesting, but everybody in the league knows damn well the pitching staff isn’t nearly good enough.
At least we have Cole. Reminds me of the Schilling era a little bit actually.
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By the way, I grew up in Bucks County, and saw Johnny Callison and company in person at Connie Mack Stadium in West Philly (“watch your car for a quarter, Mister?”). My brother played HS baseball against Reggie Jackson, and Tony Taylor, Jr. played a game at my high school when I was there.
Braves take 2 of 3, 8 of 12 on the season, and have won every series…
Minus another crap showing from Soriano in game 2 and Yates in game 3 this series wasn’t even close.
EDIT:
The difference between the Braves and Mets in the standings? The Selig joke of interleague play: Braves 4-11, Mets 8-7.
Maine, Pelfrey, Glavine shut down the Braves in Atlanta. Then they come back with Pedro the next day. Braves 7.5 back, 8 in the loss column.