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'Hanks You Very Much

So apparently Msrs. Ron Howard, Dennis Miller, and birthday celebrant Tom Hanks didn't stick around for Thursday's clash between the Reds and the "Catch Me If You Can" Mets, though I'll give them credit for lightening (lightning?)the mood at Wednesday's disastrous soakfest.

I think Mr. Miller would appreciate my the little joke I cracked upon seeing a hitchhiker on the highway today hoisting a sign that read "I won't kill you!" (If he broke his promise, how would I know? makes for a decent "Punchline" I suppose)

Some notes as we head into a weekend series with the Vandal/Pettitte-less Astros. Is it safe to say that "Happy Days" are here again, now that the team has straightened itself out and won 4 of 6 on the road?

* Newest acquisition Ruben Gotay, headed to Norfolk to play some second base, has never had a walk-off hit in the majors. Ruben's uncle Julio was a bit of an oddball (he had a fear of the cross), but we owe him a debt of gratitude for a walk-up win for which he was responsible in May of 1969, when he beat the frontrunning Cubs with a bottom-of-the-8th bases-loaded walk.

*As for trade talks, sounds like Omar Minaya has to decide whether Bobby Abreu's contract is "The Money Pit." So far, Omar has shown "A Beautiful Mind" (my one Howard reference) with the player acquisitions, with some particularly pleased with Endy Chavez right about now.

* Forget Carlos Delgado's 0-for-July drought, since ended (That was a "Big" home run in more ways than one). The Mets are getting dangerously close to going through the entire calendar month without a walk-off win. That's not necessarily a bad thing though. The last time they were walk-offless in July was in 2000, and the team did play meaningful games in October that season.

* The Mets are no longer in "A League of Their Own" when it comes to walk-off wins this season. The Brewers matched the Mets 9 walk-off wins total earlier this month, meaning "That Thing You Do" is no longer unique.

* The Braves acquisition of Bob Wickman made me a little more nervous about Atlanta's pennant chase, but it comforted me to know that all four of Wickman's losses this season (three of which have come on blown saves) have been walk-offs. Perhaps this is in fact a sign that the Braves are heading to a "Road to Perdition."

True Metcademy Award Winners know...Tom Hanks played Jimmy Dugan in "A League of Their Own" (a movie in which a walk-off figured quite prominently). The character was reportedly loosely based on Jimmie Foxx, who is one of five players in MLB history to hit 12 walk-off home runs (the others are Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, Babe Ruth and Frank Robinson, thanks to the research of, among others, home run guru David Vincent).

It would also behoove Hanks (born July 9, 1956) to know that the Mets had walk-off wins on his 8th, 11th, and 17th birthdays.

Comments

Anonymous said…
And a somewhat unlucky 13th birthday, July 9, 1969.

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