devo

I guess Ryan Church's brain is okay after all. Still not pleased with the way the concussion was handled, but it's good to see that he seems to have shaken off any remaining effects.

Something dumb was here. Pay it no mind.

Jay Bruce is kinda good.

If anything, his is the story of potential unfulfilled. Having missed literally hundreds of games due to various injuries, I've gotta wonder if, had he been able to stay healthy, Griff would be making a run at Aaron's mark right about now. Edit: Hell of a win for the Mets today. Pelfrey was darn good through seven, allowing only two earned runs on seven hits and two walks, but the offense kept coming up short against Billingsley. But when Broxton comes in to pitch the bottom of the eighth, Wright doubles, Beltran homers, and Tatis singles in the go-ahead run a few batters later. And in the ninth, Wagner continues to be just short of automatic by striking out the side. Great game.

Scott Schoeneweis has been all kinds of good this year. It's nice to see him regularly enter and leave to cheers these days.

Fernando fucking Tatis just won the contest with a two-RBI double in the bottom of the twelfth. Best game of the year so far.

Endy Chavez picks an opportune time to hit his first homer of the year, as he laces a floating fastball over the right field fence to tie the game at five in the bottom of the ninth. That was pretty dramatic.

I'll be honest, in 2005 I was unhappy and did boo him the one time I got out to Shea. But since the beginning of 2006 I've been delighted with his performance and those who say otherwise must have had their minds warped by 2004 NLCS.

Man, Carlos Beltran can hit with the power of Doug Mientkiewicz for all I care. He's almost worth the money for his defense alone.

Poor Pirates. Reds put up a six spot on Gorzelanny and the guy slinks off the field before he can even get three outs.

Y'know, at this point, I would be satisfied if the Mets finish with a winning record. Not happy, but satisfied. It's becoming increasingly obvious that the team has huge gaps that, for a myriad of reasons, are extremely unlikely to be filled this season. I just want to avoid yet another version of The Worst Team Money Could Buy ©.

You're right, that was a foolish comment, made out of frustration that the Reds were letting a hard-fought victory slip away. But don't tell me you're not even a touch concerned that he alone consists of about 12% of the Reds' payroll, with that percentage almost certainly rising next year as his salary balloons from eight and a half to twelve million.

Yessir, that Cordero signing was what the Reds needed to get themselves over the hump.

As someone who did that for a year, allow me to respectfully disagree. Delivery drivers get paid minimum wage, and when you factor in the cost of gas and the wear and tear the job puts on their cars, they get paid significantly less that. Tips are necessary for them to make a living. Not to mention that delivering pizzas is literally one of the most dangerous jobs in the country. I still work at a pizzeria (now as a manager) and three of my drivers have been robbed this month (two at gunpoint). My store's not even in a particularly bad neighborhood, but I guess people just can't resist targeting someone who they know is gonna have cash on them.

What's to say? He's a twenty-two year old from Binghamton who has mostly played first but, as seen today, can fill an outfield spot in a pinch. Decent defender. He rakes against lefties (.349/.414/.683 this season) but not so much against pitchers of the right-handed variety (.259/.322/.454 this season). I guess the best one could hope for is that he's a flipped version of Mike Jacobs.

Here's hoping the Royals get a hit in the next couple of innings, or else every other word uttered on ESPN for the next couple days is going to be "cancer".

Really, FOX? Mets at Rockies is the game you decide to pick up? Won't be watching that 'til about eight that evening.

Today's game made me embarrassed to be a Mets fan. Dropped three out of four to Washington at home. Not a single run off of Jason fucking Bergmann. Jesus Christ.

I'm normally not a fan of Manny's, but that was pretty freaking cool.

Nelson Figueroa needs to be shut down post haste. I appreciate the patch job he's done, but...well, just look at his starts. IP H R ER BB 6.0 2 2 2 2 7.0 3 2 2 2 5.0 7 3 3 5 5.1 7 3 3 3 3.1 5 1 1 2 5.0 5 6 4 5 (tonight) Pretty much just getting progressively worse from start to start. I gotta think that the league's just on to him at this point. Even though the alternative is choosing from a bevy of unimpressive minor leaguers and Tony Armas Jr., I have to think it's almost guaranteed at this point that any future Figueroa starts will be awful.

The SNY announce team were just now discussing stolen bases. I didn't realize this until they mentioned that Bourn was leading the league while hitting under .200, but the guy's got seventeen stolen bases and has been on base just thirty-nine times. That's...insane. I wonder what the record for something like that is (highest stolen base to on-base ratio).

Sandy Alomar is an awful third base coach. What in God's name is keeping him at that position?

Fantastic performance from Maine today as he gets into the ninth before running out of gas (8.1 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 4 K) in a 12-1 trouncing of the Dodgers. Much needed relief for an overtaxed bullpen and especially nice considering the Mets have the day off tomorrow.

Moises Alou shows remarkable hustle for a forty-one year old recovering from a hernia as he advances from first to third on a unremarkable single to center field before scoring on a double steal (catcher threw to second to try and get Pagan, Alou scored before the ball could get back to the plate). Terrifying to watch at the time, but terrific nonetheless.

Jorge Sosa (4) now has more wins than Johan Santana (3). This is a cruel, unjust universe.