IGT 7/18 Mets vs White Sox Carrasco vs Giolito 7:10

[Fman99]

Listening on XM from our lodge in Grand Canyon Village, AZ

I wasn't too far from there last weekend. I absolutely love the GC. You guys goin in it? Have an incredible time.

Yeah three full days staying within the park grounds. Yesterday was a driving safari tour and a hike into the canyon on the Bright Angel trail, today is a rafting tour along the Colorado River and tomorrow we see it from a helicopter. Good pics on my IG account

[A Boy Named Seo]

that looks pretty solid actually



edit: the "soccer" one is terrible

[DocTee]

That's cool , good trade

A couple weeks ago I swapped a pair of bucket hats for access to the Delta Sky Club. That was sweet

[Edgy MD]

So, what's the racket? These guys have e-bay stores, stocked up by trading untraceable food for giveaway merch?

I get a free tee-shirt at pretty much every O's game I go to. Last time I'm there, I get a guy stepping up to me 30 feet after I pass through the turnstiles. He wants to know if I could give up my shirt for his niece who was too sick to make the game. All the other kids in the family who had come will go home with a tee, and he doesn't want the niece to feel left out. I like nieces, and want to bring smiles to the faces of the sicker ones, and I had no great need for a Trey Mancini tee-shirt in my life, and the guy seemed okay, but something didn't smell right, and besides, what niece wants an XL men's tee-shirt?

So I decline. Perhaps I make up some shit about having a kid in my own life I wanted to give my shirt to. I'm not a bullshitter, but I can blabber no-account nonsense out in order to extract myself from an awkward situation with a stranger — something I'm not proud of.

My wife and I walk on another 30 feet and then we hang back for a moment, seeing him hit the next person, and the next. And then we spot a sports bag behind him, underneath a stairway, kind of bursting with shirts this guy was able to extract from the generous, gullible, and perhaps two-beers-into-their-evening patrons of Oriole Park at Camden Yards. I figure this was his regular hustle. The O's give something away at pretty much every game, and if he works a different gate each game, maybe a second gate on the way out, he can do pretty good business. It's scummy, but mostly victimless. I was briefly feeling law-and-orderly and resolved to rat him out to security (who likes getting bullshitted?), but I'm pretty certain I didn't.

But if food concessionaires are trading $25 in food for the merch, they're kind of working the racket out of the back door on two different bosses. And they can't really move from their station if someone wants to drop a dime. That's got to catch up with them, right?

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Yeah I considered posting a tweet but didn't want to get the guy fired. What he did was very bad by management standards

[A Boy Named Seo]

So, what's the racket? These guys have e-bay stores, stocked up by trading untraceable food for giveaway merch?

I get a free tee-shirt at pretty much every O's game I go to. Last time I'm there, I get a guy stepping up to me 30 feet after I pass through the turnstiles. He wants to know if I could give up my shirt for his niece who was too sick to make the game. All the other kids in the family who had come will go home with a tee, and he doesn't want the niece to feel left out. I like nieces, and want to bring smiles to the faces of the sicker ones, and I had no great need for a Trey Mancini tee-shirt in my life, and the guy seemed okay, but something didn't smell right, and besides, what niece wants an XL men's tee-shirt?

So I decline. Perhaps I make up some shit about having a kid in my own life I wanted to give my shirt to. I'm not a bullshitter, but I can blabber no-account nonsense out in order to extract myself from an awkward situation with a stranger — something I'm not proud of.

My wife and I walk on another 30 feet and then we hang back for a moment, seeing him hit the next person, and the next. And then we spot a sports bag behind him, underneath a stairway, kind of bursting with shirts this guy was able to extract from the generous, gullible, and perhaps two-beers-into-their-evening patrons of Oriole Park at Camden Yards. I figure this was his regular hustle. The O's give something away at pretty much every game, and if he works a different gate each game, maybe a second gate on the way out, he can do pretty good business. It's scummy, but mostly victimless. I was briefly feeling law-and-orderly and resolved to rat him out to security (who likes getting bullshitted?), but I'm pretty certain I didn't.

But if food concessionaires are trading $25 in food for the merch, they're kind of working the racket out of the back door on two different bosses. And they can't really move from their station if someone wants to drop a dime. That's got to catch up with them, right?

Pearl Jam does these events at different sports games - Seattle Mariners, Philadelphia Flyers - where you buy a ticket through the fan club and everyone sits in the same section and gets a pretty cool PJ-branded M's shirt or Flyers shirt. By midnight that same night, they're on eBay for $100 and people are buying that shit.

Here's all the basketball jerseys that were going home to sick nieces: https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R ... y&_sacat=0

[kcmets]

I'm not a bullshitter, but I can blabber no-account nonsense out in order to extract myself from an awkward situation with a stranger — something I'm not proud of.

You should be proud! It can save life or limb in real life...

[Frayed Knot]

... but in the end my main takeaway was that Alonso sucks, sac fly and all.

First Sac Fly of the season, btw, for Pete, a fact which seems almost fictional, but there you go.
He had nine last year.

[MFS62]

That stuff has been going on for years. The guy with the "sick relative" tried to buy our Tom Seaver bobble-head dolls.(My wife and I each got one and still have them.)
We said "sorry" but were thinking "Are you f-ing kidding?"

Later

[smg58]

... but in the end my main takeaway was that Alonso sucks, sac fly and all.

First Sac Fly of the season, btw, for Pete, a fact which seems almost fictional, but there you go.
He had nine last year.

He has the highest fly ball rate of his career, too.

[kcmets]

I currently have only three bobbles. A Seaver (ugly, but priceless), a
Kiner-Murphy (just love it) and a Mr. Met.

Have a Cespedes Gnome in the box if anyone wants it. Free + postage.

(are we wading into new thread territory while awaiting tonight's IGT?)

[batmagadanleadoff]

I thought that brought some magic to the evening but in the end my main takeaway was that Alonso sucks, sac fly and all.

I would think we should definitely be concerned that he game back from that injury WAY too quickly.

You know, that's a thought.

That's what I've been thinking, too. He was in a hurry to get back because he was on a pace to hit about 60 HRs before he got hurt and wanted back in real soon, mainly for personal goals. My theory/guess is that he was still hurt when he returned but that the source of his pain wasn't showing up on the diagnostics and so he was able to fool the Mets into coming back prematurely. Or maybe he didn't fool the Mets and the Mets were complicit given the sports culture of rushing players back from injury.

[batmagadanleadoff]

I currently have only three bobbles. A Seaver (ugly, but priceless), a
Kiner-Murphy (just love it) and a Mr. Met.

Have a Cespedes Gnome in the box if anyone wants it. Free + postage.

(are we wading into new thread territory while awaiting tonight's IGT?)

I have plenty of the Mets giveaway bobbleheads, though I haven't acquired one in five, maybe even ten years. I think that the Kiner-Murphy bobble is the best one ever released, at least from the standpoint of actually resembling the subjects they purport to represent.

[batmagadanleadoff]

I currently have only three bobbles. A Seaver (ugly, but priceless), a
Kiner-Murphy (just love it) and a Mr. Met.

Have a Cespedes Gnome in the box if anyone wants it. Free + postage.

(are we wading into new thread territory while awaiting tonight's IGT?)

I have plenty of the Mets giveaway bobbleheads, though I haven't acquired one in five, maybe even ten years. I think that the Kiner-Murphy bobble is the best one ever released, at least from the standpoint of actually resembling the subjects they purport to represent.

And now that I think of it, I don't know why they couldn't have also included Lindsey Nelson on that bobble.

[metirish]

I currently have only three bobbles. A Seaver (ugly, but priceless), a
Kiner-Murphy (just love it) and a Mr. Met.

Have a Cespedes Gnome in the box if anyone wants it. Free + postage.

(are we wading into new thread territory while awaiting tonight's IGT?)

I have plenty of the Mets giveaway bobbleheads, though I haven't acquired one in five, maybe even ten years. I think that the Kiner-Murphy bobble is the best one ever released, at least from the standpoint of actually resembling the subjects they purport to represent.

The HR Derby on top of all that

[Edgy MD]

As much as it stunk to see the Mets' lead melt away last night, it's pretty cool (after the fact) that every small contribution ended up being necessary — Alonso's sac fly, McNeil's RBI double, Canha's stolen base, D.J. Stewart's first Mets homer ... it's a good reminder to stay on your game and keep finding a way to contribute. It's like the offense picked up the pitching before the pitching knew it would need picking up.

And I'll repeat what I averred at the beginning of this thread — good offense (some of the best offense) happens when Nimmo takes his walks.

[Edgy MD]

And perhaps there's another game tonight.

[MFS62]

And perhaps there's another game tonight.

There is. I'll wait for the official IGT.
But Vogelbach is at DH because Stewart did the unthinkable (to Buck). He actually hit a home run when he was given a chance to play. (Does my sarcasm show through?)

Later

[Edgy MD]

I'm not sure what that sarcasm is aimed at. Showalter has been Stewart's biggest supporter.

[MFS62]

I'm not sure what that sarcasm is aimed at. Showalter has been Stewart's biggest supporter.

He seems to never let a non-regular get on a hot streak.(my impression)
He's sitting a guy after he hit a homer. If he's a supporter, let's see what he can do with a few games in a row.
We've seen what Vogelbach has to offer. Can't hurt to play Stewart tonight. Maybe he's the spark the team needs.

Later

[Edgy MD]

I can't imagine what such an impression can possibly be based on.

If he's sitting a guy the day after he hit a homer, that puts him in a class with pretty much every manager ever.