Ramon Hernandez is pretty much guaranteed of being a Met next season, isn't he? Peronally, I don't really care much either way. I wouldn't mind giving Castro a shot at the everyday job but I can definitely understand the argument against that. If they can get him at around 6 million a year, I'd be OK with that deal.

Russlan, try something like 9m/year.

You really think he'll get that much? From who?

Any chance the Mets' chatter will keep up with the Scoreboard Watching Chatter™???

Probably not. That one may just blow up the whole internet.

From who? The Mets, of course.

Barring that, the Diamonbacks.

How about this little tidbit from the Daily News this morning:

Braden Looper is expected to undergo an MRI tomorrow to determine the extent of a season-long injury to his right shoulder.

WTF??? He's been pitching with a "season-long injury," and they're just NOW doing an MRI??? Huh?

Sticking with Sylvia Plath for the final villanelle of the regular season:

I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;
I lift my lids and all is born again.
(I think I made you up inside my head.)

Sylvia Plath, Mad Girl's Love Song (verse 1)

I should say that Ramon's agent is Scott Boras, and the guy has a knack of getting top money for his free agents, even if only one team is bidding for them. Ie, Derek Lowe, Magglio Ordonez, Pudge...

PBoost, is that the last one she wrote before committing suicide? That would be fitting because that's what the Phils are doing in this series.

From what I saw of Zambrano last night I can see why Peterson thought he could help him. He had some nice location.

PB, Have you run a comparison of our record under Auden vs. Plath?

WTF??? He’s been pitching with a “season-long injury,” and they’re just NOW doing an MRI??? Huh?

Maybe Braden's claustrophobic.

He had some nice location.

Yeah, he had some nice location. It was right here. Then Jim Duquette got a brainstorm (braincramp?), and the rest is history.

Big hello and thanks Mets fans for helping the Braves clinch early, get some rest and set up their rotation. But over here in Brave Land we are still kind of hoping the Phils can snag the wildcard or at least push it to a one game playoff. So if it's not too much trouble, could you call off the dogs for this one?

So Braden has been injured?

Yeah, that's good to know now.

Two off days in a row for Diaz? I know they've faced two righties, but Lieber and Padilla aren't exactly Pedro and Clemens.

But Marlon must bat second! And Cario must play!

Nice pitch to Burrell.

But Marlon must bat second! And Cario must play!

When did Marlon become a better #2 hitter than Cairo? I thought Cairo was perfect for that spot?

WOW!

Cornelius!

94th run scored by Wright.

Maybe Willie will use the Diaz mentality on Cairo and just keep him eighth forever.

Why must Cairo get hot the last week of the season?

So Looper's having surgery. I'm glad they waited until after he blew all those games...

So Looper’s having surgery. I’m glad they waited until after he blew all those games…

The Mets must have hired the Red Sox medical team.

Wright has lost his edge on the whole intentionally walking someone before him thing.

I'm so glad Trachsel is back.

Trax has kind of been "Ehh..." lately.

Looper is going to have injury!? WTF?!

Looper is going to have injury!? WTF?!

Yes, he plans to get hit by a truck tomorrow.

Err..surgery

MIGUEL CAIRO IS AWESOME!

Beltran on Mets Missing Playoffs: "Blame God."

What kind of numbers can we expect from Beltran next year?

Beltran on Mets Missing Playoffs: “Blame God.”

Is that who he is also blaming his complete lack of power this season on?

Is that who he is also blaming his complete lack of power this season on?

That was the gist. You make your own luck, Los.

I miss Cameron.

I guess there's no chance we can get Howard for Petit now, huh?

I guess there’s no chance we can get Howard for Petit now, huh?
How about Thome for Petit? :)

Woo Hoo, David "Clutch" Bell. He has a flair for the dramatic.

Obligatory Ishii/Graves suck comment.

Memo to Ed Wade:
Fire any scout who recommends a look at Danny Graves.

So I guess all those people thinking that Willie had learned something by having Heilman close some games were wrong. Looper was just too hurt to pitch. Willie has to go unless this team wants to walk around with a five game handicap. If the manager was competent this year, the Mets would have won the wildcard.

WRIGHT!

Three RBIs to go!

Willie has to go unless this team wants to walk around with a five game handicap.

I hate to break it to you, Why, but Willie's not going anywhere. Unless the Mets are 30-60 at the break next year, Willie makes it at least half way through 2007. And if the team begins to consistently contend, he'll be around a heck of a lot longer than that.

Hey now, Heath Bell in.

Thank God Bell didn't pitch in the last month. We wouldn't want pitchers who strike guys out coming out of the bullpen.

And he strikes out 2 in the inning.

UUU's in. There go the fingernails.

UUU in. Heh.

Heath Bell deserves better. He probably should ask for his release.

MIGUEL CAIRO IS A BEAST!!!

We never did find out why Bell hasn't been pitching? And to be fair, the Mets bullpen has been very good lately.

What's up with all the question marks I've been using lately?

Heath Bell deserves better. He probably should ask for his release.

Based on zero information (and evidently some misinformation about the guy's locker).

Based on zero information (and evidently some misinformation about the guy’s locker).

I take it that since we have no informaton, that it wasn't an injury.

I take it that since we have no informaton, that it wasn’t an injury.

Actually, you seem to take it that it was arbitrary persecution.

So since Heath hasn't pitched in a lightyear, Willie's just going to burn his arm off tonight?

goddammit, if the mets lose I at least need a save from Wagner.

Bell doesn't have THE FUNK! That's why he couldn't pitch during the last month. Speaking of Takatsu, he really has been excellent with the Mets. In 5.2 innings, he's only given up 9 hits, and walked only three batters. Great job by Willie to use him in all those important situations.

Give credit to Jolly Cholly for maximizing Michael Tucker's value!

OFF, don't forget "he's been there before!"

Apparently Randolph still hasn't managed to understand the intricacies of bullpen management. You don't bring in a LOOGY to face a crappy hitter. The other manager will obviously pinch hit for him.

Randolph has absolutely no idea how to manage a bullpen.

I think he's beyond the point of being able to learn.

Will someone please tell Harry Kalas that the word consecutive is redundant in the phrase "X extends his hitting streak to y consecutive games"?

BTW, Harry is making frequent, if minor, mistakes in his announcing. He doesn't judge fly balls very well any more and often declares the wrong number of outs or the wrong count. It's a shame, similar to the last years of Gene Hart [For you Met's fans, the Flyers' late (and wonderful) announcer].

Poor Bell. How many of the runners he has left behind have scored? I gotta think its a pretty high percentage.

Utley, 101 RBIs! Not bad for a guy who missed a bunch of games early because his manager didn't realize what a player he was.

BTW, Harry is making frequent, if minor, mistakes in his announcing. He doesn’t judge fly balls very well any more and often declares the wrong number of outs or the wrong count. It’s a shame, similar to the last years of Gene Hart [For you Met’s fans, the Flyers’ late (and wonderful) announcer].

Before I left for school I noticed this too Edmundo. I've grown up on Harry, so I'm really disappointed to hear it has persisted.

Harry is near the end of the line and I'm not so sure what it will take for him to quit.

Utley is a hell of a player. Man, the NL East is loaded with young talent: Wright, Cabrera, Utley, Francoeur, Zimmerman, etc

Harry is near the end of the line and I’m not so sure what it will take for him to quit.
Maybe he should talk to Joe Pa. :(

Great, so Hamulack's not making the team next year. Thanks Willie!

What will it take for Victorino to secure a spot on the 2006 Philly bench?

That inning blew up fast.

Well, at least this piece of crap performance isn't keeping us from the post season.

Great, Willie wants Beltran's primary focus this offseason to be becoming a more assertive leader.

“The message more than anything might go, you need to make some adjustments, not just in his overall game, but, in the fact that, when you come to a ballclub for the first time you’ve got to make sure that there’s a leadership that’s there from day one. And I’m not saying that he hasn’t been a leader, what I’m saying is that you have to be assertive in that role. He does it in his own way, but he needs to be more assertive.”

Why, we get it. You don't like Willie. Repeating it over and over makes you sound like a whiny #####.

Wow, Mets eliminated from the postseason BEFORE the Dbacks...

At least Benson is better than Russ Ortiz...

Why, we get it. You don’t like Willie. Repeating it over and over makes you sound like a whiny ####.

Yea, because I'm clearly the only one in this thread complaining about Willie. And I'm also just repeating the same thing over and over, not providing a quote that others may find interesting. You are right though, someone in this thread is being a whiny #####.

Why, maybe you aren't the only guy complaining about Willie. Maybe you don't even do it the most. But it does get annoying that you are negative 95% of the time.

These game chatters are mostly sad for me. We Met fans are too ####### critical of our team. 25 teams would die to have Jose Reyes, but for 4 months in here I had to read "Reyes sucks" because of his low walk total. Yankee fans can gush for hours over Cano, a slow, horrible defensive player and never mention HIS lack of walks. I'm not advocating being a fanboy but for God's sake stop being so negative. We have a very interesting team, with two future superstars, Pedro and Beltran. We have a manager that kept this team hustling when it no longer mattered. Did Torborg, Torre or Howe? No, the races were settled every year by how many walkovers each contender had with the Mets. But because he didn't do everything we demanded, Randolph was "retarded" and the reason there was no postseason. Nothing else he did mattered. The fact that no one ####### publicly until Useless Traschel was ignored, when the past 5 regimes had whiners in the press almost daily. Wasn't it nice not to have to read that crap every day? That he got great play out of Cliff Floyd, who had been going through the motions under Howe. Of course that means nothing, because he used Miguel Cairo a lot. And through all the slamming of Willie, no one once offered a better choice to manage. I'm just sick of the negativity.

Me too. Why needs to zip it.

We never did find out why Bell hasn't been pitching?

Bell left the team for a while to deal with some serious family issues. That's why he hadn't pitched in a while -- well, that and Randolph being reluctant to use him after he returned because he'd been off for so long. His locker was not moved away from the rest of the team.