Per Adam Rubin, Reyes is out again.  And so, against perhaps the best pitcher in baseball, Jerry Manuel decides "nah we don't really need good hitters."  So instead of Tatis at first, we get he of the never-started-there, Jeremy Reed.  No, no need for Daniel Murphy ANYWHERE instead of Ryan "I CAN'T HIT RIGHT NOW" Church.  I just don't get it.  I understand that you might want a lefty bat, but MURPH HAS 1B EXPERIENCE and extensive infield PT behind him.  Oh yeah, and let's reward Ramon Castro's big 9th inning hit yesterday by BENCHING HIM.  Oh, we'll surely need Santos's short swing against Tim Lincecum! I just have no idea how he can come up with these awfully horrendous lineups.  I mean, is he just picking names out of a hat, or is he horribly brain damaged?  I'm really afraid that this team needs to pull a 2008, struggle mightily so he can get canned.  At this point, I'm honestly wondering whether this team might be better off with WILLIE FREAKING RANDOLPH managing.  Why is this team, this organization SO HORRIBLY INEPT.

/rant.

Does anyone know of that website where you see where pitches were, in the strike zone, and if they were called strikes, balls, swings, whatever?  Cause I really want to look back and see if John Maine actually was getting squeezed and Vasquez was getting some calls.  Just curious.

Also, I want to see just how tiny Angel's was tonight.  Looked like it couldn't have been any bigger than a postage stamp, but the stats never lie, and I don't have them.

With the position by position WAR statistics coming up now, I got to thinking.  Sometimes, it's not about how a player performs that dictates how much you like them.  With that in mind, set a lineup consisting of your all-time favorite Mets.  I'm going from 1994 on, because those are the only teams I know.

C: Mike Piazza. Could it be anyone else?

1B: John Olerud. For the helmet.

2B: Edgardo Alfonzo. My all-time favorite Met, Fonzie was awesome.

SS: Jose Reyes. For pure excitement

3B: Robin Ventura. Not David Wright? Yup. For the Piazza impersonation.

LF: Cliff Floyd. Spoke his mind, bright spot on some shitty teams.

CF: Carlos Beltran. Easily the best, only memorable one.

RF: Benny Agbayani. For the walk-off

Bench: Todd Pratt (For the NLDS), Rey Ordonez (For the backhand), Endy Chavez (For the catch), Joe McEwing (For being Super Joe), Tsuyoshi Shinjo (For the hop)

SP: Rick Reed (for consistency), Al Leiter (for breaking all those bats), Johan Santana (for being awesome), John Maine (for not being a cross dresser), Jae Seo (for an awesome stretch in 2005)

RP: Turk Wendell (for everything), Bruce Chen (for the 9/11 game), John Franco (for being pure New York), Dae-Seung Koo (for owning Randy Johnson), Kane Davis (for having an awesome name), Chad Bradford (for scraping the dirt)

Manager: Bobby Valentine. For the glasses and mustache

As you probably all know, I made a pretty good fool of myself yesterday.  I said something that was crude, irresponsible, and flat out wrong.  I made a joke at the expense of a great man who passed away, and not one that was funny or at all tasteful.  From the moment I posted that, I regretted it, and wished I could take it back.  Even before the floodgates opened, I hated the fact that I had written such hateful words.

I made a mistake.  I had that momentary lapse of judgement that we all share from time to time.  I'm not asking for your forgiveness, because those words will be there forever, and the sting of them can only be assuaged with time.  I know that I can be a better contributor to BSD, and  a better member of the Penn State community than I have presented myself as.

I can only hope that this will serve as a peace offering.  I will continue to take in the heaps of abuse with which I have been presented, because my actions deserved such retribution.  What I pray is that I can redeem myself, at least in your eyes.  I'd like to think that I can play a bigger part in this BSD community, the blogosphere, and the Penn State fanbase than being the guy who made a mistake.

This isn't about Mets and Phillies.  This is about a man who died.  My heart goes out to Mr. Kalas's friends, family, and all those who he touched.  I can only hope that this post proves my absolute sorrow for the unfortunate situation.

Okay, here's my attempt for a comprehensive thread.  Screw Lunardi, here is my breakdown of the NCAA Tournament Field.

First, here are the automatic bids earned so far, conference in parentheses:
Total: 14
Cornell (Ivy)
East Tennessee State (Atl. Sun)
Morehead State (Ohio Valley)
Radford (Big South)
Northern Iowa (Missouri Valley)
Chattanooga (Southern)
Virginia Commonwealth (Colonial)
Gonzaga (West Coast)
Siena (Metro Atlantic)
North Dakota State (Summit)
Cleveland State (Horizon)
Robert Morris (Northeast Conference)
Portland State (Big Sky)
American (Patriot)

Here are the other conferences that will be one-bid conferences, no matter who wins:
Total: 7 (Cumulative: 21)
Mid-American Conference
Sun Belt
Southland
Big West
SWAC
MEAC
America East

Here are the at-large teams with their bids, more or less, secure and not at jeopardy-some of these teams are those alive in not-yet-finished tournaments:
Total: 33 (Cumulative: 54)
Utah State
Butler
UConn
Louisville
Pittsburgh
Marquette
West Virginia
Syracuse
Villanova
Duke
North Carolina
Wake Forest
Clemson
Florida State
\Boston College
Ohio State
Michigan State
Purdue
Illinois
Missouri
Oklahoma
Oklahoma State
Texas
Kansas
Arizona State
UCLA
Washington
LSU
Tennessee
Utah
BYU
Memphis
Xavier

So there are 11 at large spots left, this is the real "Bubble."  These are the teams who are probably in, but nothing is set in stone:
Total: 7 (Cumulative: 61)
Cal
Wisconsin
Michigan
Texas A&M
Michigan
Dayton
Temple

Now here are the teams battling for the final 4 spots:
Minnesota
Penn State
Maryland
San Diego State
__________________ (cut off point)
Florida (Unless they win the SEC)
Duquesne (unless they win the Atlantic 10)
Baylor (unless they win the Big XII)
South Carolina
Arizona
Davidson
Saint Mary's
Creighton


The way I see it, we're in, along with Maryland, Minnesota, and San Diego State.  The only way I think we're out is if two of three of Florida, Duq, and Baylor win their tournaments.  Florida is the only team that can be in even if they don't win their tournament, but it would take a win tomorrow no doubt.

The sky is far from falling.

Yeah, I know, shameless self-promotion.  But over at NittanyWhiteOut, we'll be running a bracket contest where the winner gets, drumroll please, a free ticket for the Penn State-Ohio State game this year!  Yeah, that's a big deal!

For more details, check NittanyWhiteOut.com, but we'll reveal the rules during our Selection Sunday liveblog, starting at 6 o'clock.  We'll look to have a lot of interesting stuff this week, as it's a pretty important one for PSU basketball, in the long and short term.

Thanks!

I was trying to mix and match, and make the best possible 25-man roster for the Mets, of course, with players under contract. 

Catchers (2):

Brian Schneider
Ramon Castro

Infielders (6):

Carlos Delgado
Luis Castillo
Jose Reyes
David Wright
Marlon Anderson
Alex Cora

Outfielders (5):

Ryan Church
Carlos Beltran
Daniel Murphy
Fernando Tatis
Angel Pagan

Starting Pitchers (5):

Johan Santana
Mike Pelfrey
Oliver Perez
John Maine
Freddy Garcia

Relief Pitchers (7):

Tim Redding
Brian Stokes
Sean Green
Pedro Feliciano
Duaner Sanchez
J.J. Putz
Francisco Rodriguez

Any objections?

Today's Penn State vs. Iowa basketball game is currently being replayed on the Big Ten Network.  For everyone who didn't get a chance to watch the incredible comeback the first time, tune on to BTN and watch it!

I'm not going to spoil it, but we won.  But seriously, turn it on, and watch, at 11:00 pm Eastern, this is all filler.  Why does a fanpost have to be 75 words?  What am I at now?

Penn State adds another defensive back, one who they just offered this past weekend.  It's not the flashy prospect that we were hoping for, in Jenkins or Justin Brown, but Wallace is a good get, if not just because he and Jenkins have been considered a "package deal."  Wallace is a 2-star prospect on Rivals, a 1-star recruit per Scout, and has a grade of 73 on ESPN.

Here are the measurables:

Ht: 5-foot-10
Wt: 182 lbs
Forty: 4.57 secs
Vertical: 31 inches
Shuttle: 4.51 secs
GPA: 3.5
SAT: 1510 (no idea whether it's out of 1600 or 2400)

The ESPNU Scouting Report:

"Wallace does show good physicality and a nose for the ball on the corner blitz; could develop into a safety if he can learn to run the alley properly. Good defensive football player and should develop into a solid special teams performer as well."

Nittany Nation has the story:

"Wallace had scholarship offers from Penn State, New Mexico, Stanford, Army, Maine, New Hampshire and Towson University.  However when the offer came from Penn State over the weekend it did not take Wallace long to make up his mind."

http://www.nittanynetwork.com/index.php/component/resource/article/177-wallace-commits-to-penn-state

The great recruiting weekend has continued, as FightonState reports that OL John Urschel has committed to Penn State.

Urschel is a 2-star  recruit, per Scout.com, but also held an offer from Boston College, and Stanford had expressed interest in the 6'3, 260 pound lineman.

No offense to Urschel, but this is the kind of recruit that I really wonder why we went after.  We don't have too much need for another o-line recruit, especially a two-star guy at that.  I know, star rankings aren't everything, but when a Justin Brown expresses concern that we might not have a spot for him, you start to wonder.

Still, a 3rd commit in as two days is pretty sweet, and here's to hoping Jelani and Justin join the club.

http://pennstate.scout.com/a.z?s=157&p=8&c=1&nid=3796713