Mike Schmidt, a forum for Yankees haters and more contest incompetence
Spoke a few hours ago with Mike Schmidt, who unwittingly stirred it up a couple of weeks ago when his e-mail to the Phillies became public. He regretted that he came off as trashing the Mets.
"I shouldn't have said '(The Mets) know you're better than they are," Schmidt said. "It's something I might have said if I was in uniform, in the clubhouse. 'They know you're better than they are,' that's kind of a tough comment. Maybe 'You know you're better than they are' would've been better.
"I didn't mean it to be disrespectful. ...Basically, both teams have got to feel they're better than the other team. For me, the most important stuff in the e-mail was the other stuff, about thinking small."
The truth is that, if the Phillies hadn't been so mindless about posting the e-mail where nosy media folks like myself could see it, this never would have become a story.
Meanwhile, Schmidt is promoting his involvement with this cause. This is especially relevant for men in their late 40s and early 50s. Schmidt himself is dealing with an enlarged prostate.
Josh is a hard-core Red Sox fan, and in this blog entry, while describing his respect for Yankee Stadium, he also asks for suggestions for how Yankees fans can spend their unusually empty October.
Among Josh's suggestions are "Work off those Reggie bars," and "Add Monster Seats to the wall at Bucky Dent's baseball school." Yankees haters, check it out and come up with something good.
Thanks, Brian, and sorry, everyone. Next time, I'll make the question easier.
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Comments (12)
Ken I didn't know you were a fellow Tribe Member!! Cool.
As for Schmidt, I was thinking the same thing. Why did the Phils make it so the media could see it?? I think its great that he still cares about his old team.
Most contests are too easy. I like that you wanted to make it more difficult. That was a little nutty though.
Ken -
I'm old enough to remember Hondo Howard...he was a Yankee killer but so were a lot of players back then.
I was a student-hostage in Phila (1979-83). Philly loves Michael Jack Schmidt. But I knew he was a dunce....so his electronic blather last week did not surprise me.
The Phillies probably posted the e-mail on purpose for everybody to see. Schmidt still follows the Phillies closely and he wanted to cheer up the team. I think it has had a big effort on the Phillies to some extent.
As a Yankees fan, here's what I would do with the Yanks not making the playoffs.
1. Watch the playoffs and root against the Red Sox and Mets (If they get there).
2. Watch football.
That's what I'll be doing in October.
The Padres will need more than just Cano to even consider trading Peavy. Peavy just sign a contract extension at good value for the Padres. If I had the chance to trade Cano while he still has trade value and I can get Peavy for him, I would do it.
Ken, question for you. Let's say next year Rivera hurts his arm and is out for the season. Who do the Yanks pick as the closer, Joba?
By the way Ken, I got the book in the mail today. I'm looking foward to reading it. While I was doing the research, I saw Frank Howard listed as a winner of the 1960 NL Rookie of the Year. But I didn't sumitt his name because I didn't think at the time he play with Mel Stottlemyre with the Yanks nor be on the same team with Stottlemyre as a coach and/or work in the front office.
Ken, what did you make of Heilman's appearance tonight?
RG, check out this link when you have a sec: http://www.beyondtheboxscore.com/2008/9/11/611626/all-those-in-favor-of-carl
The post purports to let out some of the air from the Delgado "clutchness" argument.
I am pleased that you mentioned Reyes though. He gets way too grief from the fans (not saying that he doesn't deserve the occasional raspberry, though) and is having an excellent season.
First place, baby!
AS much as this expression sickens me, let me be the first one to utter it:
LET'S GO CUBS!!! and Go Rays!
Ken was right to bring this up: when one considers what millions of Texans are going through in the wake of Hurricane Ike, the Astros' recent woes seem inconsequential.
However, it is also clear that the Astros players are plenty pissed, even going so far as donning "Bud Killed Us" t-shirts.
From Richard Justice's most recent column, posted this morning:
"How did this happen? Were they so rattled by Hurricane Ike that they simply lost all their focus? Was their anger at Bud Selig so consuming that he got into their head?
"It’s not just that they’ve lost five in a row. It’s that they haven’t even been competitive.
"They’re been outscored 38-5 and trailed for 44 of 45 innings. For weeks, they had a different hero almost every night. All of a sudden, they’ve all gone quiet at once."
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/6010527.html
On the other thread, Ken joked around that Ryan Howard should be considered for MVP. We laugh (and some take it seriously) however in Philly they don't laugh. I can't see for one minute a guy who hits .220 all season and tries to break his own record for strikeouts can be MVP just because he has a hot last month. The same guys who want to vote Howard MVP also think Manny should be MVP and CC should win the NL Cy Young Award. It's a season-long tribute and none of those guys rate and neither does Carlos Delgado (aka perro). If any Phillie is MVP it's Brad Lidge who is 37 out of 37 in save attempts (or maybe he's Cy Young). No Phillie offensive player deserves the award that should go to Albert Pujols. And no Met either.
JE, I loved what Manuel did with Heilman tonight: Get him in, go after the RH, then get him out. Might as well use Heilman as a RH situational guy, considering all of the LHs they have, plus Stokes for the 8th, Ayala in the 9th and Parnell on deck. Terrific managing by Jerry tonight, IMHO.
I was looking for you at bp Ken. My son and I were at the front corner of the Mets dugout.
Heilman was superb. When he first stared coming in from the pen, I thought it was Parnell. I was shocked to see Heilman. The Met fans at the dugout got up for him as he left. I agree about Parnell from the little I've seen. You know he'll get a shot in the pen next season.
Murphy does it again. I thought Church should've been bunting.
I'll look for you again tomorrow Ken.
As Ken knows I'm an Aaron Heillman loyalist. My brother yesterday started yelling at me telling me he cannot be on the postseason roster. And I said that no Met reliever should be on the roster!! But they need some pitchers and Manuel has to ride the hot hand. Heillman can get hot. I'd put him in.
JE, thanks for the link. To be honest, I dont know those catagories. I'm a traditionalist, HR, RBI, runs, Avg., OBP. I'm just starting to look at slugging haha.
But to say Delgado is not clutch is to not watch. He's been amazing. But I think people do tend to forget the first half, when he was a MAJOR reason their manager got fired. And yes, had they switched (sorta like Chase Utley) then the Mets would be tanking right now. I think Delgado is in the conversation, but wouldn't be ahead of Wright and probably Reyes. I'm very glad Ken has this vote. It should make for a very very very fun debate! He is going to get killed if he puts in Pujols. Also, (though Ken may disagree) many writers have a bias towards their hometown team. (I bet K-Rod gets 1-2 first place Cy Young votes) So Delgado will be hurt by Ken's non NY bias. (If he does vote Pujols)
As for the Stros, they pulled a Delgado. They didn't play in the 1st half. They made it somewhat interesting but never got close enough to really warrant much attention. Clemens might have gotten them over the hump.
whynot, e-mail me at kdavidoff@newsday.com and let me know where you're sitting.
Richie G., I can't dispute the BBWAA hometown bias thing, not when A-Rod received 26 of 28 first-place votes for AL MVP last year and the two second-place votes came from Detroit writers who voted for Magglio Ordonez.
".... and more contest incompetence"
I believe the word for that is "incontestinence"