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The Mets had the night off, but there is still plenty of news to talk about. R.A.Dickey has been awarded the 2012 Branch Rickey award for his work distributing baseball equipment and medical supplies in South America. If the Mets don't have the money to extend DIckey after his fantastic season, the city of NY really needs to chip in to help avoid losing one of the best guys I can ever remember playing the game.
The other big highlight to the season was Johan Santana's no-hitter. One Mets fan was so excited that he rushed onto the field and joined in the celebration. Yesterday he found out his punishment for the offense, a $5,000 dollar fine and 100 hours of community service. I doubt he's too upset about the punishment after having joined in on such a monumental event in Mets history, but I bet he wishes it was a Dickey no-no.
The Mets have some work to do with the contract situations of David Wright and R.A. Dickey this winter. They also have a decision to make on left fielder Jason Bay. I'm sure we'll see all sorts of different perspective on what to do with Bay over the next several months, but I think it's pretty safe to assume that it won't involve enough plate appearances to see his option vest.
One Met that will definitely be back is manager Terry Collins. Jon Heyman is reporting that Collins won't be held accountable for the Mets awful second half, and frankly that's just fine by me.
Yesterday at AA:
Rob took a look back at the 2012 season for our Appy League affiliates, the Kingsport Mets. Kingsport lost an awful lot, but that doesn't mean there aren't a couple of names that will bear watching in 2013.
Josh Thole looks to be in line for a raise via arbitration, as it appears that he's going to qualify as a super two. It probably won't be much of a raise, so I doubt he becomes a serious non-tender candidate.
Around the NL East:
There was only one game involving the NL East Thursday night, and the Phillies lost it 6-4. Haha!
Around MLB:
Justin Verlander and Chris Sale were scheduled to meet with the AL Central lead on the line, but rain forced the game to be postponed. The two teams topping the division will now meet on Monday for the final time in 2012.
The O's continued their winning ways, topping the Rays in fourteen. The Yankees would also win to keep pace in the AL East though.
There was only one non-Phillies game on the schedule in the NL yesterday, and the Cardinals would defeat the Dodgers 2-1. It's starting to look like taking on every bad contract in baseball may not be the way to go about building a winner. Who knew?
The A's have been on fire, but the Angels poured some water on that fire on Thursday. The A's still look to be a serious contender for the wild card though, and I think just about everyone would love to see them make it.
Finally for today, Jeff Francoeur is bad at baseball. I know Eric already linked it, but Francoeur Avenue just wouldn't be the same without doing it again.