Stop Limping
The mets are 3-7 in their last 10 games and 9-11 in their last 20. They have lost 5 of 7 games since the clincher. I’m not one to get alarmed easily and usually err on the side of patience but I can’t help but think of what Don Shula said in the ’80s when his Miami Dolphins lost a couple of games after clinching a playoff berth:
Teams that limp into the playoffs often limp right out.
I don’t remember the exact quote but that’s close enough to get the point.
For a team like the Mets, whose lead allowed them to take it easy, look at some new players and get healthy down the stretch without hurting their chances of clinching a playoff berth, the last week of the regular season is a time to tune it up again and play like the team that got you there. Otherwise they could limp home alot quicker than anyone wants them to.
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Foul Ball Hits Wife
I saw a story today that was totally unrelated to the Mets but was just too good to let go by without comment. Baltimore Orioles oufielder Jay Gibbons came up to bat in the ninth inning with one out and proceeded to foul a pitch straight back behind the plate that cleared the screen and hit a fan. But it wasn’t any ordinary fan that got hit in the ribs by the foul ball. It was Gibbons’ wife! What are the odd?!?!
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Mets Change AAA Affiliates
An article on MLB.com reports that the Mets have announced that they will be changing affiliates at the AAA level. The top farm team will no longer be the Norfolk Tides. Instead the New Orleans Zephyrs will be the Mets AAA team.
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No Party for Pedro
In today’s New York Post Michael Morrisey discusses Pedro Martinez and his approach for the rest of the regular season. Pedro discusses his health and why he didn’t party hard with his team mates upon clinching the division the other night.
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“I’m Sorry” Baseballs to be Auctioned
Pete Rose has autographed baseballs with the inscription “I’m sorry I bet on baseball”. The 30 balls will go up for auction in April 2007. They are sure to fetch a good ammount of money but the inscription is incorrect. Rose is not at all sorry that he bet on baseball. He’s only sorry that he got caught. If he was sorry that he bet on baseball he wouldn’t be taking ewvery opportunity to make money off of havong done it. OK, so the balls don’t belong to Pete Rose (they belonged to a collector who passed away last year) so he won’t be making money off of these balls again. But I couldn’t let an inscription like that go by without commenting.
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Almost There!
With the Phillies loss to the Atlanta tonight the Mets magic number is down to 1. This means that the Mets are almost asured of clinching the division and dethroning the Braves, who have won the division for the last 14 consecutive years, while they visit the Pirates in Pittsburgh this weekend. The only way that won’t happen is if the Mets lose all 3 of their games against the Bucs AND the Phils win all of their games against the Astros in Houston. Unlikely considering they go up against Roger Clemens tomorrow night.
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Magic Number Plugin
Though I haven’t made a post to this blog in about 10 days I have still been wortking on it behind the scenes. The most noticeable feature I have implemented is the magic number counter on the top of the page. It’s something that I wanted to do for a long time but I didn’t want to do it if it meant having to change the number manually since that could be a tedious task and would no doubt lead to days where I would skip the task and end up displaying the wrong number.
After much searching I found a site that maintains an up to date XML file of the baseball standings including the magic number of each first place team. So I created a plugin for WordPress, the software that powers this blog, that examines this XML file and extracts the Mets magic number for display. I simply uploaded and activated the plugin and then placed a placeholder for it at the top of the page. Now the magic number gets updated automatically when the standings XML is updated. No muss, no fuss.
What do I plan to do with this plugin? Currently it’s specific to the Mets. I plan on generalizing it so that it would work for the team of your choice. (Choose a team from the admin page and whenever the team is in first place you’ll get their magic number.) I’s also like to make a version that displays MLB standings. (Select a division to show in your sidebar or something like that.)
If you are interested in anything like this for your blog then please let me know. Knowing that there are other people who want these things will help me get them done.
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Mets & Rockies To Make Another Trade?
According to a report by Ken Rosenthal at Foxsports.com the Mets are in discussions with the Colorado Rockies to acquire backup catcher Danny Ardoin and infielder Luis Gonzalez.
I guess the thought process on Ardoin is that with Ramon Castro on the shelf and Mike DiFelice being mostly useless what has Omar Minaya have to lose by acquiring someone, anyone who can catch. Ardoin is known as a good fielder but lousy hitter.
The motivation for acquiring Gonzalez is more sound. Omar wants to have an experienced infielder around as insurance for Jose Valentin. Makes sense to me.
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Mostly Good News For Mets Yesterday
It was a big day for the Mets yesterday. First they learned Tom Glavine will not need surgery. Then they pulled off a comeback win. Then they finally acquired Shawn Green.
Read the rest of this entry »
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No Surgery for Glavine
According to several reports Tom Glavine will not need surgery. That’s good news. But we’ll need to see how he handles his condition going forward. It’s going to be an interesting situation to watch develope.
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