Jeff Conine’s surprise appearance in No. 28 for his Met debut last night was remarked upon in the TV broadcast by Gary Cohen who said it was unusual to see Conine wearing anything but No. 19. Cohen related that he brought this fact to the attention of the Mets’ current wearer of No. 19, Sandy Alomar Jr., who told Cohen he’d have no objections to surrendering the jersey, only he hadn’t because nobody had asked him to.
I’m highly suspicious of Conine remaining a 28 for much longer.
Thanks to Greg for the headline (his remark in the “Odd Occurrance” post below, plus my additon, four exclaimation points for emphasis). Among the many things Karim Garcia ruined (not the least of which was almost any day he played for the Mets) was the fouling up of an otherwiseall-odd starting lineup on May 30, 2004. The chubby cheap Vlad Guererro was the only even-numbered player in the day’s starting lineup, which was a shame since we have yet to find a game in Met history that didn’t have any even-numbered players in it (nor have we found an all-even lineup).
That’s not to say these things haven’t happened.
So we’re still looking to find an example of each, not to mention an all-ascending or all-descending starting lineup.
The clubhouse leaders for highest (274) and lowest (84) combined are as follows:
Lowest
July 3, 1962:
1 Ashburn
10 Kanehl
11 Woodling
16 Taylor
4 Neal
2 Throneberry
18 Mantilla
7 Chacon
15 Jackson
Highest
April 4, 2002
47 McEwing
12 Alomar
42 Vaughn
31 Piazza
13 Alfonzo
20 Burnitz
44 Payton
10 Ordonez
55 Estes
In a move they hope will address the right-handed bench power in the absence of Damian Easley, the Mets this afternoon said they have acquired veteran Jeff Conine from Cincinnati for a duo of minor league scrubeenies. No word yet on what number Mr. Marlin will wear for the Mets but he’s most often been spotted in 18 and 19 with his other employers.
Guess here is that as a means of welcoming Conine to New York, the Mets will offer him 19, currently belonging to Sandy Alomar Jr. but of no real significance to him. (How significant Alomar is at all is a matter of debate). Moises Alou has 18 today and will tomorrow. Another solution is to give him “09″ (pronounced oh-nine) which would rhyme.
I might have preferred the Mets swing a deal for Detroit’s Craig Monroe, who’s younger and presumably still has upside. The issue I have with Conine is only that in the event Delgado doesn’t heal properly the Mets will be tempted to make him an everyday guy and we’ve seen too often already this year the downside to that. But, here’s to Mr. Marlin. Chime in if you have a uni number suggestion or confirmation.
The Mets will wear special jerseys celebrating the little-known holiday Festiva Latina on Friday, according to El Presso Releaso.
Well the all-odd infield as described below went out together for a second straight night Saturday but it’ll be their last for awhile. Damian Easley stepped awkwardly while running and gruesomely rolled his left ankle in an event likely to sideline him for the rest of the regular season. Ever roll an ankle like that? It makes a noise.
Anderson Hernandez was recalled from AAA Sunday to take his place on the roster, arriving to find out the No. 1 jersey he wore in previous visits to New York had been assigned to Luis Castillo in his absence. The Mets roster has Hernandez dressed in No. 4 (bad news for Ben Johnson should he deign to return).
A more pressing concern could be finding an acceptable right-handed pinch-hitter, preferably one who can play first base (among other positions), so as not to further compromise our oftentimes meager attack. Easley was one of the few guys on the team who’d done almost no harm and/or disappointing this season too. But I thought it was weird when Omar didn’t come back after the trade deadline with a right-handed bench hitter, so I’m pretty sure this merits a trade too.
Meantime on Sunday Sandy Alomar Jr. 19 was back for Ramon Castro 11, whose bad back necessitated a DL stay. All as we swept a team for the first time since June and — can you believe this? — reached a new highwater mark at 17 over .500.
Tonight’s infield is an odd one.
1 Castillo 2B
3 Easley 1B
5 Wright 3B
7 Reyes SS
9 DiFelice C
I’m going to guess this is the first time that’s ever happened.
Got a cool message this morning from Met roster genius Jason:
Mike DiFelice became the first-ever New York Met to be added to the 40-man roster five different times. No other Met has ever been added more than 4 times in Met history.
5/16/05: Purchased from Norfolk (having been signed as free agent, 3/31/05)
6/2/05: Designated for assignment
6/6/05: Outrighted to Norfolk
8/21/05: Purchased from Norfolk (having stayed at Norfolk, 6/6/05-8/21/05)
10/28/05: Announced free agency
8/4/06: Purchased from Norfolk (having been signed as free agent, 5/31/06)
11/8/06: Announced free agency
7/29/07: Purchased from New Orleans (having been signed as free agent, 1/9/07)
8/2/07: Designated for assignment
8/9/07: Outrighted to New Orleans
8/12/07: Purchased from New Orleans (having stayed at New Orleans, 8/9/07-8/12/07)
Forgive me but it was hard to notice until last night that Carlos Beltran 15 was back. He was of course; he returned from the disabled list on Friday, while Marlon Anderson 23 hit the bereavement list. Last night, Anderson was back and David Newhan 17 was again sent to the minors top make room.
Mike DiFelice by now is getting all the playing time you’d think he wouldn’t and so firmly established as the 22nd official member of the Sons of Jeff McKnight, or the three-number club:
Jeff McKnight 5, 7, 15, 17, 18
Kevin Collins 1, 10, 16, 19
Ed Lynch 34, 35, 36, 59
Darrel Sutherland 43, 45, 47
Cleon Jones 34, 12, 21
John Stephenson 12, 19, 49
Jim Hickman 6, 9, 27
Mike Jorgensen 10, 16, 22 (thanks, Chris)
Hank Webb 22, 29, 30
Hubie Brooks 62, 39, 7
Clint Hurdle 7, 13, 33
Chuck Carr 1, 7, 21
Kevin Elster 2, 15, 21
Charlie O’Brien 5, 22, 33
Ron Darling 12, 15, 44
Jason Phillips 7, 23, 26
David Cone 16, 17, 44
Jae Seo 40, 38, 26
Roger Craig 13, 36, 38
Lee Mazzilli 12, 16, 13
Pedro Feliciano 55, 39, 25
Mike DiFelice 33, 6, 9
Mike DiFelice is on his way back to the Mets this morning after Paul LoDuca 16 was sent to the disabled list with hamstring issues. This gives DiFelice a second shot at accruing some playing time while wearing No. 9 — his visit earlier this year ended without seeing any action.
It’s hard to say that another disappearance of LoDuca is actually going to hurt: He sadly has been of little help while he was in the lineups this year. But LoDuca’s not alone in his struggles.
More and more 2007 is resembling 2005, only instead of hanging around the .500 mark all year they’ve futzed around the ten-games-over-.500 mark. Like 2005, they’ve done it while Carlos Beltran secretly hides one or more injuries and players make too many outs on the basepaths. All we need now is for Shingo Takatsu to “bring the funk.”
Brian Lawrence, who is scheduled to start this afternoon in Milwaukee, is expected to appear in No. 54. That would make Lawrence only the second Met player ever to appear in No. 54, which has traditionally been reserved for coaches and staff (including the recently whacked Rick Down, 1967 interim manager Salty Parker, and, for 14 years (1968-81), pitching coach Rube Walker.
The only previous playing tenant was non-alliterative starting pitcher Mark Clark, the best pitcher on a 1996 Mets team that’s remembered for its offense. Clark arrived in a trade from Cleveland for Ryan Thompson, won 14 games for the 96ers, and was traded to the Cubs as Steve Phillips took over as GM in the Turk Wendell/Mal Rojas/Brian McRae thing in 1997. Clark later got stupid money to pitch badly for the Texas Rangers.
Lawrence is a former 15-game winner or the Padres, but hasn’t pitched in the big leagues since 2005.
