September 2006
Mets Clinch! Mets Clinch! Mets Clinch!
The 2006 Champions of the National League Eastern Division: the NEW YORK METS!!!
Cheers to all the wonderful MLBlogs Mets blogs, and the friends I’ve made:
Zen master Evan at Amazine
Insightful Eddie at Willie Ball
The delightful Zoe at Pick Me Up Some Mets!
Carl, Baseball’s answer to Escher, at Inside Pitch
John, the #1 Wrightaholic
And an honorable mention to two other blogs I read regularly, but don’t know the authors–yet:
Met’s Magic Number
Lets Go Mets Go
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I’m Not Going to Pittsburgh
Getting swept by the Pirates? Are you kidding me? Someone must want to clinch at home.
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Champagne On Ice
It could have happened yesterday, but New York lost and Philly won, so we have to wait another day to celebrate. We haven’t had that spirit here since…1988. First baseman Keith Hernandez wasn’t in the booth, he was in the clubhouse getting a message. Fellow broadcaster Ron Darling was on the mound. HoJo wasn’t a minor league third base coach, he was a major league third baseman. The rest of that offense popping the cork that year consisted of Kevin Elster at short, Wally Backman at second, and Lenny Dykstra, Kevin McReynolds and Daryl Strawberry in the outfield and Gary Carter behind the plate. Pitching was David Cone, Sid Fernandez, Dwight Gooden, Bob Ojeda with Terry Leach and Roger McDowell in relief and Randy Myers closing-for $108,000.
Catching was at a premium in those days. Carter was the highest paid player at $2.1 million. Darling was the highest paid pitcher at an even mil. Of course that was back when a million was still a million, and the champions of the National League East were from New York.
Seventeen years are a lot of misery. But then, we are all just prisoners here of our own device.
Be sure and visit Some Ballyard!
By the way, I want to mention that Zoe over at Pick Me Up Some Mets beat me to the Champagne on ice…
They’re Out!!!
It was a foregone conclusion, but the DREADED BRAVES, as RADIOMAN dubbed them, were officially dethroned last night. For the first time in an incredible 15 years, it is a mathematical certainty there will be a champion of the National League East other than Atlanta.
Atlanta has broken the Mets fans hearts so often, however, there will not be a sigh of relief until the Braves are eliminated from wild card contention. Every Met fan can imagine with horror a series at Turner Field, where the Mets haven’t fared well over the years. The Tomahawk Chop in October is a sinister sound.
Tip of the cap to the Atlanta organization for a remarkable job.
Be sure and visit Some Ballyard!
Go Fish?
The good guys face the Fish tonight and Anibal "Lecter" Sanchez, who ate up the Diamondhacks last week, throwing his first no hitter in just his 13th major league start. No Mets pitcher has ever tossed a no hitter, in over 7000 games. While it would be novel to see Sanchez throw no hitters in consecutive starts, go fish.
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Perspective
’’It’s not life or death. With so many thousands of people down there, sacrifice is life or death. Baseball’s not.’’
– Mike Piazza, after hitting the game winning home run in the first game in New York City following the terrorist attacks of 9/11
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Tomahawk Chop
It was obvious today there is a new sheriff in the National League East. The Mets swept a doubleheader from the Braves, effectively eliminating the already slim chances Atlanta had of making the playoffs as a wild card. No disrespect: actually, the opposite. The last thing any Mets fan wants to see is the DREADED BRAVES in the playoffs. Too bad RADIOMAN didn’t hang around MLBlogs to see it.
Be sure and visit Some Ballyard!
Signs of the Times
September 4, 2006 – Yusaku Iriki and Blake McGinley combined on a six-hit shutout, lifting the Tides to a 3-0 win over the Durham Bulls in the 2006 season finale…The win was the second straight shutout for Norfolk, which closed the season with 24 consecutive scoreless innings against the Bulls. Seven of the Tides’ last 11 wins came by way of a shutout… With the victory, Norfolk finished the 2006 season with a 57-84 mark.
The Tides are scheduled to open the home portion of their 2007 schedule on Friday night, April 13 with a 7:15 contest against the Louisville Bats.
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Ironically, the Tides started the season with a shutout vs. Durham at Harbor Park, although they were on the wrong end. I remember being unable to shake the impression that season opener was an ill portent, and it proved to be so. Wait until next season.
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Diaz Strikes Out
Trying to defuse the hype, manager Willie Randolph once said, in so many words, that the promising Victor Diaz was no Roberto Clemente.
And now, he’s not even a Met.
Diaz was traded yesterday to the Rangers for minor-league catcher Mike Nickeas, thus completing one of the most rapid falls from grace in recent memory. Diaz made the Opening Day roster this season after losing out in the rightfield derby to Xavier Nady, but didn’t stick in the majors and became a total bust after he was demoted to Triple-A Norfolk.
"Am I surprised?" Randolph said. "No, not really. He was going up and down focus-wise. I told him every time I sent him out that I wanted him to go down and focus and play hard and hustle and all of those things."
Apparently, Diaz didn’t follow Randolph’s advice. He batted .224 with eight home runs and 99 strikeouts in 379 at-bats for the Tides. The team’s decision-makers grew frustrated with Diaz’s failure to improve and chose to designate him for assignment on Aug. 22, which effectively ended his stay with the Mets.
Nickeas, 23, batted .248 with two home runs in 39 games for Double-A Frisco. He will be assigned to Double-A Binghamton.
And to think I pulled for Victor over X-man Nady last spring.
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