Thwomp!

I think our d and the crowd are the difference. Dalton can be rattled. Bills in a nail biter. Could be the vodka though ( a common theme :D)

I hope so. Syndergaard throwing 101 is pretty damn good. That may be the vodka talking, but he's been consistent at 100+

Let's go Mets! Let's go Mets!

Yeah, we're gonna be on the short end of the calls for awhile unfortunately.

It's early, but Harvey is looking very good tonight.

I have a good feeling about this one for some reason. Eventually they are going to have a great game against a good team. Why not tonight?

Columbus will be fine! (When it's too late) I did this analysis in the game thread, but I think it's worth re-posting here. Living in Columbus and having friends that are Jackets fans, I pay attention to them casually. OK, tell me if this sounds eerily similar to something we lived through in the not-so-distant past. 2012-2013: Finished tied for 8th in Western Conference with Minnesota but lost the tiebreaker and missed the playoffs. Started out 5-12-3. Finished 24-17-7. 2013-2014: Finished 7th in Eastern Conference and lost to Pittsburgh in first round of playoffs. Started out 10-14-3. Finished 43-32-7. 2014-2015: Finished 11th in Eastern Conference. Started out 6-15-2. Finished 42-35-5. 2015-2016: So far have started 0-5. The Blue Jackets have taken the old Sabres' "heroic run to 8th" strategy and have heroically run with it. These slow starts have killed them and even though by the end of the season they are one of the better teams in the league, they buried themselves in a huge hole that they usually can not get out of. And even if they do barely squeak in they get eliminated by a top seed. They give up so many points at the beginning of every year and it just kills them in March and April. My supervisor who is a huge fan just shakes his head over this. I just tell him "I've been there": No man's land in the draft and no man's land for the playoffs.

None. That's why other teams and agents are pissed. This is a terrible precedent imo.

As would I and millions of others right along with you. It would have to be available on Hulu though for the cord cutters. I'm not messing with an antennae and tv schedules ever again outside of live sporting events :P The time off should be paid. That's a big part of the point that I negelcted to mention. Everyone else in the world has guaranteed paid leave except the good ole USA. Why do we allow ourselves to be treated as less than everyone else when we're supposedly the greatest nation on Earth?

I think the way that people desire their news to be delivered has changed. I haven't watched a local or national news broadcast at 6 or 6:30 in well over a decade. The days of grabbing your salisbury steaks and mashed potatoes and watching the news are over. I don't even know who the anchors are anymore. The way the world and America really is is extremely depressing. If I'm going to see that dark side I want it with humor so I laugh my ass off while I'm being outraged. And shows like the Daily Show and John Oliver actually dig deeper into the why of how things are instead of just reporting on the surface, which is also important to me. Sure they have some bias, everyone does, but they make me think and dig deeper and become more aware. And I happen to think that Jon Stewart and John Oliver do a better job being newscasters than the actual newscasters do.

I have seen what you describe with FMLA. I think the problem is more that the system is entirely screwed up and allows for this kind of stupidity. If we had a system where everyone was universally granted a certain amount of time for a childbirth, this much time to care for a sick relative, this much time to recover from surgery, etc. etc. it would work better. OK, you're off for 12 weeks, but I can fully count on you when you get back. As it is now, like you said, it's kind of an umbrella reason for people to take random time periods off from work for a long period of time and screws everything up in the workplace. Ok, Cindy is here today and next Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday the next week, but off the rest of the time. How does that person even help or be able to have any responsibility in a workplace? Like I said, just be off for 3 months and have it over with rather than 2 days here, 3 days here, off for 2 weeks, in for 1 week, etc, etc. Edit: the time off should be paid, like every other country in the world gives to their citizens

I'd also like to point out that I'm 6 for 6 thus far :D

Now we have to beat Back to the Future II. Pitching is set up nicely. Should be Harvey, Syndergaard, and de Grom twice each. If needed of course.

yeah! Sweet dreams, LA. Suck it, Utley!

This game is Daniel Murphy vs. the entire city of LA.

I can't believe it's tied after 4. Mets are clawing and scratching for everything.

There's some conflicting information out there, but I believe he's a senior based on the RPI website and a news article. http://www.rpiathletics.com/roster.aspx?path=hockey& http://www.sbncollegehockey.com/2015/4/27/8501217/rpis-jason-kasdorf-to-stay-for-senior-season

Thanks guys. I think I have it now. That was a particularly angering episode as I recall.

And he's off to an excellent start to his senior year in college, which was all I was saying in my first post.

Your wish is my command. You must have missed this somehow. :P https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIhKAQX5izw P.S. Can someone give me dumbed down instructions for embedding videos? I can't seem to figure it out.

We're not that far off, and I see your point. I just wish MLB, and sports leagues in general, enforced (not ignored) the rules on the books as circumstances dictate instead of screwing everything up, making things worse, and undermining their integrity. Then we get the public relations spin afterwards. :wallbash: I would like to be confident about the Mets chances, but I've seen this story many times before and I'm afraid that I already know the ending. I'll likely just have add it to the "disappointment and screw-job" list; also known as being a Bills-Sabres-Mets fan.

As I've said they were both illegal plays under MLB rules and should have been ruled so accordingly. The rules say that the runner is automatically out when he goes out of his way to make contact with the catcher. He was already out, so not that big of a deal. Perhaps the double play should have been granted; however that part does not seem to be covered by the rules I've read. Unless that is covered by the regular interference rules, in which case the batter should have been called out as well. The Utley play was obvious and intentional interference as defined in the rule book. The rule book states that he and the batter should have been called out. MLB can correct the call after the game, which they did, but it really needs to be called on the field when it matters or the rule is useless.

I haven't seen the video and can't find one anywhere, but it seems that they're not different based on the still shots I've seen. There are rules on the books for both plays that baseball should have enforced but did not. That's my argument. Not the aftermath. And for 's sake the play was not routine. If it was routine there would have been no injury, no outcry, and no suspension. MLB, like every other sports league, declined to enforce their own rules to the detriment of a team and the entire sport.

I agree with what you're saying for the most part. The early evidence has shown that Eichel is a perfect fit for our team. We can only speculate over whether McDavid would have been the same. I'm just so happy at this point that we're not on the wrong side of the "what if" argument.

That's his style. The awkward, funny-looking British guy. it's not a comfortability thing, it's who he is. And I think his investigative journalism is needed and connects well with his audience. They do a better job than traditional media and do some pretty deep digging into things. I completely disagree with the bolded. His satiric comedy relates well to people and teaches us something in the process.