devo

More bad news for the Mets as Orlando Hernandez is going on the 15-day DL with bursitis. Even worse, Chan Ho Park is going to start in his place tonight. http://www.metsblog.com/blog/_archives/200...3.html#comments Bah. Well, in any case, this can't be any worse than when Jose Lima and Jeremi Gonzalez were spot starting, right? Right?

It looks like Jose Valentin's going to be out for at least a month. http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball...e_hospital.html I'm sure Easley and/or Newhan can fill in admirably for Jose, so it's not a huge loss. I am curious as to who Minaya will call up to take the roster spot, though.

Since Beltran basically ended up winning the game for the Metropolitans, I imagine it'll burn out pretty quickly. I'm much more interested in Maine's current ridiculous ERA of 1.35 (second in baseball) and opponents' split of .159/.267/.230. Just in awe of how well he's doing so far and waiting to see just when he'll come back to Earth.

Does that retarded Right Guard commercial absolutely have to play before each and every MLB.tv highlight? I end up spending nearly as much time watching some ugly, body-odor obsessed goon assault a deer while his ditzy girlfriend looks on as I do catching up on the day's baseball events.

Well, I was out all day and didn't get to watch the draft while it was happening, so I'm just now finding out about the Jets' exploits today. I'm surprised, but pleased at the same time. I didn't expect Tannenbaum to deal so many picks to move up in the order, but they seem to have gotten good talent that can start immediately at the positions they need to improve the most, so maybe it's for the best. It's probably too much to hope that Revis and Harris adjust to the NFL as quickly and impressively as Mangold (and, to a lesser extent, Ferguson) did last year, but at the very least I'm sure that they'll be able to contribute to the team in this upcoming season.

And Endy Chavez further cements his status as a Mets folk hero as he hits a walkoff drag bunt single to win the game for New York in the 12th. Great, great game.

Down 1-0 in the bottom of the 10th with two outs and two strikes, Damion Easley hits a pinch hit solo home run to save the Mets from defeat. God damn that was amazing. Onto the 11th...

I was starting to get sick of the nonstop media coverage of Alex Rodriguez's historic start, so I switched it to NPR on the way home, hoping to enlighten myself a little bit with All Things Considered. After an interesting story about the rebuilding of Southern Sudan, the show took a quick break before returning with its next story, Alex Rodriguez's historic start. It's really inescapable at this point. I am happy that the question has finally changed from "What's wrong with Alex Rodriguez?" to "What's wrong with the Yankees?", though.

Mets win 6-1. It's scary just how similar Ambiriox Burgos is to Armando Bernitez. With a five-run lead, he walks the bases loaded in the top of ninth (after getting several two strike counts) before mercifully putting the Rockies to bed. Also, Moises Alou continues to play out of his mind, as he goes 3 for 3 tonight with two doubles to bring his batting average to .397 and his OPS to 1.014. Edit: And the Marlins thankfully put the Braves away after letting their six-run lead be whittled down to one. Phew.

Another great line for Maine tonight (7.2 IP, 1 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 4 K), but it's worth mentioning that two balls hit off of him were mere feet from being home runs, one of which would have been a three-run, game-tying shot. He's pretty lucky that he ended up pitching mainly at Shea, since there are a lot of ballparks that don't take as kindly to such flyball pitchers.

Kaz Matsui apparently isn't going to play at all against the Mets due to injury, which is a real shame. I had hoped to see what kind of reaction the Shea crowd would give him.

Just as well, he lost it in the first at bat of the 7th.

That guy's gonna be stabbed at the appearance he's advertising in the background of that video.

Ahaha. That exchange House had with Wilson was terrific. "You slept with her, didn't you?" "Yes." "Seriously?!" "No."

The line drive bounced off of Rickie Weeks' glove and into the outfield, so I'm assuming that even though Jeff Conine was called out, Freel and the other runners were able to advance because Weeks essentially dropped a pop up. Edit: And the Reds receive another kick in the gut as Bill Hall hits a Grand Slam to make it 8-3 Milwaukee.

Wha?

In the Brewers/Reds game, the second base umpire just called the infield fly rule on a soft line drive with the bases loaded and nobody out. The worst call I've seen this year by far, and one that may end up winning the game for Milwaukee.

All I'll say is that the "Jimmy Rollins" chants were really, really satisfying.

The Phillies have had bases loaded with no outs twice and have only gotten one run from it. Ooof. John Maine has more luck than he knows what to do with. 'Course, the Mets' bats are pretty dead, so it's currently 1-0 Philadelphia.

Back to back solo shots from Shawn Green and Ramon Castro of all people. 2-1 Mets in the top of the second.

Can we call him the Maine Event now? Well, I'd rather not, but I'm pretty sure it's inevitable. There were plenty of people who brought signs to the playoffs during his starts declaring him as such. I imagine the trend'll continue once the Mets get back to Shea.

John Maine's final line... 7 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 0 R, 6 K. Hot damn, didn't expect that.

Say! http://mlb.mlb.com/news/press_releases/pre...sp&c_id=mlb

Steve Phillips just a told a charming, rambling anecdote about how Moises Alou had family members murdered in Brooklyn. Not stupid, perhaps, but certainly ill-advised and depressing.

Orlando Hernandez just got his second hit of the night, a two-RBI double that put the Mets up 4-0. Ah, the benefits of having a pitcher who can handle the bat.