I know I'm about a week late on the Hall of Fame conversation, but my question has nothing to do with the guys that got elected in.  My question has to do with who was actually on the ballot.  Is there any criteria for being put on the HOF ballot, and who decides who should be on it in the first place?  I was surfing over at baseball-reference.com and they have the whole ballot posted on their homepage.  Guys like Ron Gant, Jay Bell, Greg Vaughn, and Dan Plesac were all very good Major League players, but worthy of HOF consideration?  All of them were on the ballot (albeit none of them received the required 5% of the vote to remain on next year's ballot, or any votes for that matter), but how did they get on there?  How does a guy like Jay Bell get on the ballot despite a career BA of .265, 195 career home runs, and never finishing higher than 12th in the MVP voting?

First off, congratulations to all my fellow Mets fans, it's been a while since we've been back in the NLCS and it feels good.  

I thought Willie did a whale of a job managing during this series. I know some of us here on AA criticize Willie for his in-game managing skills but the way he handled the starters and the bullpen was spectacular.  The way he pulled Maine in game 1 and Trachsel in game 3 the first sight of trouble and relied on the 'pen was perfect.  Although the stats for the bullpen from this series won't look real good, they were very effective except for a couple innings.  They'll bounce back as they have all year.  It was great to see the bats finally awaken after napping for much of September.  I was pretty confident going into the playoffs that the bats would get hot again.  It must be kind of hard to play everyday in September with absolutely nothing to play for.  Great job all around in this series...starters were reliable(for the most part, at least kept us in the game), the bullpen did its part, and the bats were able to get enough runs to let the pitchers pitch comforatably.

Now, with all that being said, it's time to look to the NLCS.  Personally, I would rather play the Padres than the Cardinals.  The Cards are a much better team than their late season slump indicates, as evidenced by their 2 game sweep in San Diego.  I think the Mets match up better with the Padres than any other team in the NL playoffs, including the Dodgers. I was hoping for the Padres to get the wild card so the Mets would play them in the first round.  

As shaky as the rotation looks heading into a 7 game series, I feel okay about it, based on Willie's managing from the NLDS.  He knows that the bullpen is the strength of the pitching staff and he isn't gonna let his starter pitch the Mets out of a game.  However, I would like to have a more reliable starter for games 3 and 4.  I haven't liked Trachsel all year and Oliver Perez scares the crap out of me.  Hopefully they can do enough to keep the Mets in the game and let the bullpen and the bats win it. I wouldn't mind seeing Dave Williams on the roster and given a chance. He pitched pretty well down the stretch and I think would be more likely to keep the Mets in a game than Oliver Perez. Glavine and Maine should be fine.

I would look for Lastings Millege to be put on the NLCS roster with the injury to Floyd in game 3 of the NLDS.  Floyd is listed as day-to-day but if Uncle Cliffy can't go, the Mets are going to need another bat off the bench, especially a right handed bat.  It hurts to lose Floyd's bat in the lineup, it looked to me like he was starting to heat up.  He had a few hits in the series and hit a few other balls hard.  All in all though, the Mets don't really lose too much with Endy in the lineup, he just gives us something different and certainly improves the outfield defense.

I'm looking forward to Wednesday whoever the Mets play.  Hopefully they'll be able to keep it going and give us some more fun for as long as possible.  Also, the longer the Mets stay in the playoffs, the more we can gloat and piss off our friends who root for the Yankees. AAAAAAAAA-ROD!!!  Lets go Mets!

(moved from diaries --eric)

EL Duque has a partial tear of his calf muscle and has been left off the NLDS roster.  Oliver Perez will take his place in the rotation.  Also, Mike DiFelice has been removed from the roster in favor of Royce Ring. John Maine will start Game 1 today at Shea.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/playoffs2006/news/story?id=2612496

Personally, I would have rather seen Dave Williams on the roster over Oliver Perez or Royce Ring.  Williams has been more consistent since joining the Mets and can give you versatility by coming out of the bullpen that Perez can't really do.

I'm confident having Maine on the mound today to start the series.  I love the way he pitches and the way he isn't afraid to challenge hitters even when he falls behind.  That makes me think he is up to the challenge of starting games in the playoffs.  I think we can get by in the NLDS with Maine and Glavine starting Games 1 and 2 and if the right Trachsel shows up for Game 3 we'll be ok.  However, if we do get by LA and reach the NLCS, we are gonna need El Duque back.

Either way, it will still be the most fun I've had watching baseball in October since 2000.  Let's keep our fingers crossed and Lets go Mets!

Ya know those sites about Jack Bauer and Chuck Norris that have all these crazy "facts" about them? Like..."Jack Bauer's tears can cure cancer, too bad Jack Bauer never cries."  Well now there's one for Lastings Milledge, only it's not quite as lame because it's about the Mets and there actually are some pretty funny ones that talk about the Mets.  My favorite was "7. Lastings Milledge has taught Willie Randolph how to execute a double switch."

This may have been posted here already but I have been in the middle of a move and haven't been able to check AA as often as I usually do. But if you haven't heard of it, check it out, you might get a kick out of it too. Go Mets!

http://milledgefacts.blogspot.com/

I just read over at MetsBlog that Joe Mays is a free agent and I saw yesterday that Kyle Lohse was sent down to AAA by the Twins.  I would think either of them would be a better option that Jose Lima pitching once every 5 days for the Mets.

I'm not a big numbers guy (but I know some of you are so you can help me out here) but after a quick look at Lohse's numbers, they arent that terrible. He has struggled this year but he had a 4.18 ERA last year and a K/BB ratio of about 2. Mays's numbers are pretty bad so he might not be much better than Lima Time but I think I would rather have Lohse than Lima at this point.  He would probably at least give us a chance to win when he is on the mound.

Anyone else have some thoughts on this matter (violent Jose Lima thoughts notwithstanding)? Anyone else have some other solutions for this problem especially since Bannister got hurt again today in his rehab start?

There is an article on espn.com today saying that the Phillies are interesting in signing Mikey and have had preliminary discussions with his agents.      http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2304496

While I love Mike and what he did for the Mets during his tenure in New York, and I want only the best for him because he is a great player and a great guy, it would hurt me to see him in a Phillies uniform playing against the Mets 20 times a year.  Also, I don't think it's the right situation for him because I think he can be a very productive DH in the AL for several years down the road (even though he still wants to catch).  His body will hold up longer and he will be able to produce at a pretty high level for at least 3-4 more years. The article also mentioned the possibility of Piazza going to the Yankees, which might hurt even more than the Phils.

I want all the best for Piazza for the rest of his career, but I would prefer to see him thrive in the AL than continue to struggle in the NL (not to mention, potentially hurt the Mets 20 times a year). I'm pretty sure I'm not alone here. Thoughts?

Did anyone else read Bob Klapisch's article on ESPN.com today talking about the Mets' offseason moves and how they should have a clearer path to the playoffs than the Yankees? Well, there was a part in there about Minaya still trying to get Manny from Boston. One deal he was trying to get done was to trade Benson to Texas for Juan Dominguez and Laynce Nix and then packaging those guys with Beltran for Manny.  Is anyone else outraged by even the thought of that deal? I probably wouldn't even trade Beltran for Manny straight up (because of his speed, defense, and age).  And if they got Dominguez and Nix for Benson, they should keep the 2 guys and help solidify the bullpen and right field.  

I just hope Omar isn't gonna go too far with this Manny thing.