Glavine's deja vu

[Angola!]

For some reason, Buck, there is a smalll contingent of very sick Mets fans who love Matt Franco. I believe it had to do with one hit off Mariano Rivera that beat the Yankees in the 9th inning in like 1999.

As a reformed fanboi, let me tell you that moment was ****ing outrageous.

I mean, c'mon SP, you of all people should understand why that moment has forever endeared Franco to Mets fans. Matt Franco? With a game-winning pinch-hit two-run single off Mariano Rivera? And frogs didn't fall from the sky immediately afterward?

It'd be like me getting a date with Jessica Alba and rounding the bases. No, it does not mean I can have sex with Jessica Alba all the time, or even some of the time, or even more than once. But for one day, I did have sex with her. And you look at me and go "You know what he's a looser, but there was that time he hooked up with Jessica Alba, and for that I must admire him."

It's like that with Mets fans and Matt Franco. Or so I've heard.

I assume this was a regular-season game? I can't remember it.

Yes it was.

Was 1999 or 2000 the Subway Series? I'm too lazy to look it up, that is why I asked if it was a regular season game.

2000. The Mets won, 4-1. It was a good time.

That's what I thought. Thanks. How did the Yankees win that one game? ;D

In between cheating on his taxes, Derek Jeter beat the Mets 1-on-9.

Ah yes, that was his World Series MVP year. I forgot about that. Too many beers ago.
Well, how did the Mets win their one game?

 

[mike311gd]

You think a Rico Brogna Starting Lineup figure is ****ty?

I can top it. I am the embarrassed owner of a Rey Ordonez Starting Lineup. **** you all and try to top that ****.

The worst I have is a Cecil Fielder -- well, other than my John Franco.

 

[mike311gd]

I still have a 1988 Ken Griffey Atlanta Braves SLU figure. Pwned!

I also have the 1990 New York Mets roster, complete with Kevin McReynolds, Frank Viola and Davey Johnson.

 

[hockeybeat]

... and I have no doubt believing Mike is one of them.

I'll never forget the absolute gem Rey Ordonez turned in a completing a double play in the third inning against the Yankees in 1997. That was a great game in Mets history, in my opinion.

Ordonez was good in his day, and I'm sure the double play was fantastic, too.

I was at Shea for the brutally brisk and rainy Opening Day in 1996 when Ordonez, in his first big league game, threw out at home someone for the Cards (Ray Lankford?) from his knees in short left field. A true holy **** moment. Too bad the guy made the routine look difficult. Or that he was a miserable prick.

I remember that play like it happened yesterday. Lankford got the hit and Clayton was thrown out at the plate.

I think Ordonez finished the season with 27 errors. He was tough to watch most of the time, but he cleaned up his act to grab to Gold Gloves.

Too bad the **** couldn't hit or run the bases or not be an asshole to reporters.

 

[mike311gd]

He hit a few homers with Tampa Bay, though.

 

[BYH]

For some reason, Buck, there is a smalll contingent of very sick Mets fans who love Matt Franco. I believe it had to do with one hit off Mariano Rivera that beat the Yankees in the 9th inning in like 1999.

As a reformed fanboi, let me tell you that moment was ****ing outrageous.

I mean, c'mon SP, you of all people should understand why that moment has forever endeared Franco to Mets fans. Matt Franco? With a game-winning pinch-hit two-run single off Mariano Rivera? And frogs didn't fall from the sky immediately afterward?

It'd be like me getting a date with Jessica Alba and rounding the bases. No, it does not mean I can have sex with Jessica Alba all the time, or even some of the time, or even more than once. But for one day, I did have sex with her. And you look at me and go "You know what he's a looser, but there was that time he hooked up with Jessica Alba, and for that I must admire him."

It's like that with Mets fans and Matt Franco. Or so I've heard.

I assume this was a regular-season game? I can't remember it.

Yes it was.

Was 1999 or 2000 the Subway Series? I'm too lazy to look it up, that is why I asked if it was a regular season game.

2000. The Mets won, 4-1. It was a good time.

That's what I thought. Thanks. How did the Yankees win that one game? ;D

In between cheating on his taxes, Derek Jeter beat the Mets 1-on-9.

Ah yes, that was his World Series MVP year. I forgot about that. Too many beers ago.
Well, how did the Mets win their one game?

Rick Reed was real solid and Armando Benitez somehow set the Yankees down in the 9th without ****ting his pants right there on the mound. Exception that proves the rule and all that.

 

[Angola!]

Thanks BYH, I thought it was one of the Joneses that had a big performance, but maybe I am thinking of the NLCS.

And I agree with 'beat. I think Piazza's homer after 9-11 was pretty ****ing badass as far as Mets' moments are concerned - well other than that one time that ***** Clemens threw a bat at that ***** Piazza.

 

[buckweaver]

I still have a 1988 Ken Griffey Atlanta Braves SLU figure. Pwned!

I also have the 1990 New York Mets roster, complete with Kevin McReynolds, Frank Viola and Davey Johnson.

Alas, I did not have this one:

 

[Webster]

Two things about Glavine. First, when the Mets clinched the division title in 2006, and the locker room was celebrating, SNY interviewed him. His demeanor was basically speaking about the players on the Mets as "they" as in "they have a right to celebrate". The whole thing made it seem like he was still a member of the Braves and shouldn't join in the celebration.

Second, it is hard to imaging a player coming up smaller than he did when it counted this season. A career is defined by moments like that and nothing that he ever did as a Met matters in the least compared to that abomination.

 

[Guy_Incognito]

Sorry to interrupt, but I think there's a huge story here. Didn't he turn down like a $13 million player option? He gave up $5 million (and I don't think he misread the market) because he hated NY so much? I guess it's not always about the money. Mets owe him a thank you card.

 

[Webster]

Given that he put his house in Greenwich on the market mid-summer, it was pretty clear that he had made up his mind not to return.

 

[novelist_wannabe]

Perhaps I should let it go, but I'm not sure I'm all that happy about the GRTB returning. If he hadn't left, there's an argument to be made that the Braves' division title streak would be intact. They'd almost certainly have won it in 2007 with him in their rotation instead of the stiffs they had at the back end. But he never should have left.

 

[broadway joe]

All in all, the Mets got about what they could have realistically expected from Glavine. Yes, he sucked his last few starts, but he also pitched very well for them in some big games the last couple of years, including a couple of those late-season games against the Phillies in which the bullpen blew it for him -- although I don't buy the contention that the bullpen kept him from having a much better career mark with the Mets, because their offense also got him his share of wins and no-decision in games he didn't pitch well. The bottom line is that he's now a pitcher who can still be very effective when he has precise command of his pitches, but when he has anything less than that, he's gonna get torched -- and those days are only going to come more often. As a Met fan, I thank him for his service, and I look forward to him taxing the Braves' bullpen and giving them +5.00 ERA in return for their $8 million.

 

[Overrated]

Gary Gaetti is far from the worst Starting Lineup figures I own.

Second-to-worst is Chuck Long.

The worst? Jeff Chadwick. Does anyone even know who that is?

 

[outofplace]

Gary Gaetti is far from the worst Starting Lineup figures I own.

Second-to-worst is Chuck Long.

The worst? Jeff Chadwick. Does anyone even know who that is?

Kicker? (ok, off to google I go, but that was my guess)

Edit: Damn. Right sport. Wrong position. He was a receiver with the Lions, Seahawks and Rams. Stuck in my head that he played for the Lions, but that's about all I could come up with on my own.

 

[Overrated]

Gary Gaetti is far from the worst Starting Lineup figures I own.

Second-to-worst is Chuck Long.

The worst? Jeff Chadwick. Does anyone even know who that is?

Kicker? (ok, off to google I go, but that was my guess)

Edit: Damn. Right sport. Wrong position. He was a receiver with the Lions, Seahawks and Rams. Stuck in my head that he played for the Lions, but that's about all I could come up with on my own.

That's still a fine showing, OOP. Nothing to be ashamed of...or wait, maybe it should.

 

[BYH]

Sorry to interrupt, but I think there's a huge story here. Didn't he turn down like a $13 million player option? He gave up $5 million (and I don't think he misread the market) because he hated NY so much? I guess it's not always about the money. Mets owe him a thank you card.

Right. And if it wasn't about the money in 2002, he never would have left the Braves. So let's not fall over ourselves congratulating tom for putting personal happiness ahead of his checkbook.

I like Glavine personally but it still disappoints me he let the union bully him into taking the most money with a ****ty team five years ago. I can only imagine how he feels about it. Five seasons with the Mets and, as Webster notes, it felt like he was concealing a Braves T-shirt underneath his uniform the entire time. Is it really worth that much to set the market? You spent five mostly mediocre years with a mostly ****ty team. you won no. 300 as a hired gun.

Winning no. 300 in Atlanta would have provided the historical context his accomplishment deserved. He would have been only the fifth pitcher ever--yet the fourth Brave--to win 300 games with one franchise. He could have been painted as the modern-day Warren Spahn. He could have been lauded as the guy who won 300 games with one team in the free agency era. Someday, they would have unveiled a statue of Glavine next to Spahn.

Instead, he won it for the Mets in Chicago. It felt more inevitable than it did historic. All because he had to set the market.

So yeah, let's not congratulate the guy for taking $5 mil less in 2008.

 

[ballscribe]

All the Nationals fanboys (all four of them, not including Moddy) can stop e-mailing me now hoping he will go to D.C. because of his "prior relationship" with Kasten.
Told 'em there was no chance; he was going back to Atlanta. Rare prescient move on my part, after I responded "why would you want him at what he'd charge to go anywhere other than Atlanta?"

 

[broadway joe]

Sorry to interrupt, but I think there's a huge story here. Didn't he turn down like a $13 million player option? He gave up $5 million (and I don't think he misread the market) because he hated NY so much? I guess it's not always about the money. Mets owe him a thank you card.

Right. And if it wasn't about the money in 2002, he never would have left the Braves. So let's not fall over ourselves congratulating tom for putting personal happiness ahead of his checkbook.

I like Glavine personally but it still disappoints me he let the union bully him into taking the most money with a ****ty team five years ago. I can only imagine how he feels about it. Five seasons with the Mets and, as Webster notes, it felt like he was concealing a Braves T-shirt underneath his uniform the entire time. Is it really worth that much to set the market? You spent five mostly mediocre years with a mostly ****ty team. you won no. 300 as a hired gun.

Winning no. 300 in Atlanta would have provided the historical context his accomplishment deserved. He would have been only the fifth pitcher ever--yet the fourth Brave--to win 300 games with one franchise. He could have been painted as the modern-day Warren Spahn. He could have been lauded as the guy who won 300 games with one team in the free agency era. Someday, they would have unveiled a statue of Glavine next to Spahn.

Instead, he won it for the Mets in Chicago. It felt more inevitable than it did historic. All because he had to set the market.

So yeah, let's not congratulate the guy for taking $5 mil less in 2008.

Just to be accurate, Glavine only took $2 million less. He got a $3 million buyout from the Mets when he declined his option, so he's making a total of $11 million instead of $13 mil.

 

[novelist_wannabe]

Funny he's talking about family considerations now. When he signed with the Mets, he talked about how Wilpon made him fell like family. The businesslike Braves clubhouse -- in which, it should be noted, he was the central businesslike figure -- no longer appealed to him, and Wilpon made it feel like family. Great, he'll finish his career with Atlanta. Like BYH said, he's cheapened his career by the choices he's made.