<font size="3">Mets appear to be healthy in the early going</font>
02/22/2002

Pete Caldera
Bergen (N.J.) Record

In the opening days of camp, the health issues surrounding several key
Mets have taken a backseat.

Pedro Astacio, Jeff D'Amico (shoulder) and John Franco (elbow) have
been throwing well and without pain. Mo Vaughn (biceps) and John Valentin
(knee, foot) are completely healed. Edgardo Alfonzo (back) is in
excellent physical shape.

Vaughn has shown good mobility and soft hands at first base, pleasing
manager Bobby Valentine. Alfonzo's switch to third base has been
typically uneventful. If Valentin can play first base and the outfield (in
addition to playing third base, shortstop and second base), the Mets could
go with 12 pitchers. . . .

Timo Perez is two years older than originally thought, and he reported
late to camp because of visa problems. Perez, who will be 27 in April,
is the least likely candidate to win the center field job outright.

In fact, the job could be a platoon of Jay Payton (a righthanded
hitter), Gary Matthews (switch hitter) and Perez (lefty hitter) because of
their diverse looks. Of the trio, Matthews is the best defensively, with
Payton second. While Payton is strictly a center fielder, Matthews
could get the occasional start in left or right field. . . .

In 1999, the Mets scored a club-record 853 runs. The team expects to
challenge that number this year, one season removed from scoring 642
runs, the lowest in baseball. The club's all-time home run total for one
season (198, set in 2000) is also in jeopardy.

Valentine is far from setting a lineup, but there is a good chance that
Roger Cedeno and Roberto Alomar will bat at the top, followed by
Vaughn, Mike Piazza, Jeromy Burnitz and Alfonzo. . . .

Kane Davis, 26, is a power righthanded reliever who is out of options,
and he has a chance to stick in the bullpen. He appeared in 57 games
with the Rockies last year. Righthander Saturo Komiyama is in excellent
condition and will be ready to start the season.

EARLY SPRING SURPRISE

Of the 22 pitchers throwing bullpen sessions during spring training's
opening week, Valentine said the pitcher he'd least want to swing a bat
against is Aaron Heilman.

Heilman, 21, was the Mets' No. 1 pick last June out of Notre Dame.
Already, he has shown a mature nature and an impressive variety of pitches,
starting with a fastball in the low 90s, a good curveball, a slider and
a changeup.

Plus, Heilman challenges hitters inside. Of the Mets starting staff,
only Al Leiter (with his cutter into righthanded batters) and Pedro
Astacio consistently bust hitters on the hands. Batting against Heilman is
an uncomfortable experience, and that is what Valentine meant when he
said he'd rather not face him.

Heilman could begin at Class AA Binghamton this year, and he is
expected to finish the season at Class AAA. Heilman might be ready to
challenge for a spot in the rotation by next spring. . . .

Jaime Cerda, 23, has some intrigue about him. He is a hard-throwing
lefty with a sharp breaking ball and could impact the major-league club at
some point this season. Also, lefty Bobby M. Jones has looked sharp
after shoulder surgery last year.

Van Exel and Lafrentz for an old Tim Hardaway and a non potential reaching Juwan Howard?? How the fuck is this possible? This gives the Mav's a fucking stacked lineup that will give the Lakers a run..Nash at the point, Van Exel at SG, Finley at SF, Nowitzki athe PF and Lafrentz at C. That's almost a friggin All Star team. Good to see someone's gonna make a run at the Lakers. Plus they have a solid Bench...Najera, Adrian Griffin, Zhi Zhi Wang, Johnny Neuman, Sean Bradley, and Avery Johnson.

Mark Cuban likes to win just a bit huh? Gotta say I like his style and arrogance.

When the fuck did being a Puerto Rican become a different cultre?

I grew up with this girl who was just like the rest of us whitey's in the old nieghborhood. She used to use the same language like the rest of us all the time. Ricans were spic drug dealers that fucked up our parks and shit. She was just a little bigot like the rest of us. She was just a Italian white trash.

Then, the little whore gets knocked up by a PR drug dealer. No, really, we all got our weed from this shitneck. All of a sudden, the lil italian princess does a 180 and is trying to convince us that Puerto Rican's are white like the rest of us and they are just a different cultre. She even adopted the PR accent and the teeth sucking and gum popping.

I really don't fuckin care who people sleep with. It truely is none of my buisness. But, i do care when people start some phoney, half assed bullshit about who they are. she was mad cool when we were growing up. Now she just iritates the ever loving shit out of me. The whole different cultre thing just grates my fuckin nerves. If this is true, then Felix Trinidad is the darkest white guy I have ever seen.

So, is a Puerto Rican a different race or cultre? I really believe it is a different race. They don't ask about your fuckin cultre on job aplications, they ask about your ethnic fuckin background. and I do believe that Hispanic is right there on the damned list along with white.

In both Road Warrior and Beyond Thunderdome, Bruce Spence plays a man with knowledge of flight yet is never referred to as being the same person. In fact his name is different in the credits (Gyro Captain/Jebediah). So I pose this question- was Bruce Spence the same character in both movies?

even though march 1st is my wife's b-day, i'll be there. she understands.



Edited By LZMF1 on Feb. 22 2002 at 10:09

With the principals for Daredevil pretty much cast (Affleck, Garner, duncan, Favreau, Farrell) and the rights to most major title picked up (e.g. Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider) who'd you cast or recast as some of the heros in big features.

Fantastic Four:
Dr. Doom- Jeremy Irons
Mr. Fantastic- Tim Robbins or David Duchovney
Sue Storm - Michelle Pfeiffer(need to think but she's the first that comes to mind)

Daredevil:
Nelson- Andy Richter
Daredevil- Guy Pierce

X-Men:
Gambit- Stephen Dorff

Wasn't it a little early to punk out the nWo?

And was Hall chosen for the beating since he pissed off the peeps backstage?

If Christian really did quit, is this really a bad thing?

Haven't Tazz & Spike had the most underrated title riegn of all time?

Isn't it about time to get another color guy in the mix already?

Am I the only person who fuckin cringed that Billy & Chuck actually won?

Was the Triple H match even worth airing?

How much does UPN suck ass for pushing such a big story for thier Ten o'clock news that wasn't even a blip on the fuckin radar?

what are some of the sequels or prequels you've heard about, not necessarily looking forward to?

* Exorcist 4:1- Liam Neeson plays a young Max Von Sydow in his first adventure fighting a devil. Ryan Philipe is his sidekick. Greatest scene is when the devil threatens to eat his soul if he doesn't play the greatest song in the world.
* Indiana Jones 4- it's definitely a go, unfortunately. is there any way this can be good. why can't they let this die?
* Terminator 3- according to AICN and this 24 year old hot blonde model is the female Terminator. movie will still suck though but I thikn they casted eD norton as an older ed furlong.
* Red Dragon- prequel to Silence, remake of Manhunter. Norton as the guy from CSI role (bad choice he's a great actor but he doesn't seem write for the role). Hopkins is once again playing Lecter and is being computer de-aged. Once again, probably going to suck.

Hello everyone. This looks like yet another place for me to waste time! I'm gonna enjoy may stay here.

For those of you that still have an active account on "the other board", try and log in and post.

If you are already logged in, log out, and then log back in.

Anything out of the ordinary happen?