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Showing posts from December 21, 2008

The "Down-Lowe" on CitiField

It used to drive me crazy to hear Fran Healy describe pitches as being "down low." There is no such thing as a pitch being "down high." Healy's use of "down low"was a redundancy, one of several issues that fans had with his broadcast style. There's talk that the Mets are close to signing a pitcher named Lowe, who likes to keep the ball down. In fact, that's the key to his success. And it could play very well in his new home. On page 162 of the The Hardball Times 2009 Baseball Annual, writer Greg Rybarczyk, as intense a historian of home run distances as I am of walk-offs, issues a warning about Citi Field to those fans of the New York Mets. In describing how CitiField's outfield fence distances are significantly greater than the major-league average, Rybarczyk writes: "In spring 2009, baseball fans are going to get a live demonstration of what happens when a team sets out to design a pitcher's park and overdoes it..." That b

Happy Holidays

I would like to wish all of my readers a happy Shawnukkah and a Met-ry Chris-miss. Those familiar may recall the celebration of Shawnukkah, but you're probably wondering what a Met-ry Chris-miss is. I offer up this simple definition: A Metry Chris-miss is a Mets victory that ends with a player named Chris striking out to end the game. Ideally, the strikeout is of the swinging variety (a true "Chris-miss") but it does not have to be the case, because the presumption is that the hitter swung and whiffed at least once. By my count, we've had a few such instances. May 23, 2007- Chris Woodward (Mets 3, Braves 0) The truly Metry know... Twas one of 4 Oliver Perez victories against the Braves that season. September 19, 2006- Chris Aguila (Mets 3, Marlins 2) The truly Metry know...Twas the night after clinching, and a two-run eighth-inning rally, capped by Michael Tucker's RBI single, gave the hosts the win. September 2, 2006- Chris Burke (Mets 4, Astros 2) The truly Metr