From: gajarsky@pilot.njin.net (Bob Gajarsky)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: NY MET ENVY
Date: 9 Apr 92 14:52:33 GMT
Organization: Somewhere in Hoboken

chen70@wharton.upenn.edu writes:

>which is defined as follows: propensity for a fan of a perennial loser
>(see cubs:1945) to become an anti-fan of the team clearly recognized as 
{stuff deleted}
>perennial losing teams.  Usually concentrated in Cleveland, the epidemic
>is spreading rapidly to Philadelphia, Chicago, and Houston.  

off on a great foot, - hey, did you know houston came into the
 league in 1962? 

>2)  Three of the top ten power hitting switch hitters of all time batting
>in 3-4-5 slots.  Bonilla and HOJO are top-notch, and Murray will probably
>knock in 90+ runs.  
so?  that's no big deal.  they don't give you extra runs on the ballfield
 because you say "hey, guess what, if they bring in a righty, i'll
 bat lefty!"  otherwise, jose uribe would be worth a little more.  and
 if murray doesn't knock in *100+* runs, mets fans are going to be
 disappointed, as well they should be.

>3)  Pecota is GOD (just kidding-wanted to see if you were paying attention)
that's dog.  but you got the letters right.

>3)  The most disruptive force in baseball-VINCE COLEMAN (when he's on 
>base) .  Has shown improvement in OBP, taking walks, and even bunting

that's great!  but he's still not up to average on those things.  he's 
 a bad excuse for a leadoff hitter (awful is mike gallego)

>4)  Good veteran leadership: even F**N Bill Pecota has a world series ring

you know, the oakland a's, with all their world series rings last year,
 didn't even win the division. 

>7)   Magadan and Randolph will both again set the table for the big boys,
>getting on base at least 40% of the time
well, that will be kind of hard since 1) magadan is warming the bench, 
 and 2) if he wasn't, the "big boys" he'd be setting up for are hundley,
 elster, and the pitcher.  ooh.  i'm shakin', i'm quakin'.

>10) the defense isn't as bad as the ANTI-MET FANS hope; Hundley, Pecota,
>Randolph, Murray, and Bonilla are at least average.  Hojo is an excellent
>athlete who will adjust to center field-trust me, I picked him for a 30-30
>man back in '83 with Detroit

that's not that bold - so did i, so did bill james, and so did a lot of
 people who decided to look at more than sparky's mouth.  yes, sparky
 said hojo couldn't play....hundley is better than average, bonilla is
 below average, and the left fielder can't play either.  but i don't
 get on themets defense - their OFFENSE is poor.  if they had a real 6
 and 7 hitters, i might say otherwise.  or if they had a real leadoff 
 man, who could get on base.

>If this isn't enough to convince you, how about the REAL five reasons why 
>the METS WILL WIN

hate to tell you this, but if they had frank castillo, dickson, greg
 madddux, and morgan in their starting staff, the cubs woulkd be looking
 better than the mets right now.  maddux is better than anyone the mets
 have right now.

>2) Montreal is too young, and will probably give away their remaining 
>talented players, because nobody wants to play there.  By the way, I get
>nauseated when I hear Ken Hill mentioned in the same sentence as Bob Gibson!
>Also, the Expos TRADED for Doug Simons; that is enough a reason not to pick
>them

i'll let an expos fan handle this one.  you'll be surprised.  and no
 one here mentinos hill in the same breath as bob gibson.


>Quakers pretty soon.  That Smiley trade was a joke - Neagle may have won
>twenty games in the minors, but he relies too much on control and won't
>fool anybody.  Nice bullpen ace -I've seen better arms on a chair. 
>At this pace, Bonds will end up in Atlanta, in exchange for Nick Esasky

somehow, the pirates finished a mile ahead of the mets last year.  with
 that same bullpen ace the second half of the season.  at least this
 is a good sign - yo'ure doing homework in classes, instead of
 on baseball.

it's irrelevant that the mets *could* win the divison, and have a strong
 case for it. it's just random babbling like this from (fill in 
 the team - mets, blue jays, etc.) fans that make me realise how
 stupid a lot of the baseball population is.

- bob gaj
>