• The Rays have something happening:

    Even though the Rays have been nothing short of a laughingstock for the first ten years of their existence and their current string of excellent play is still being looked at with a "wait and see" attitude from voices credible and not, there is a precedent for teams to come out of a similar swamp as the Rays have and vault into contention. Two teams that immediately come to mind are the 1991 Braves and the 1984 Mets.
    All three teams had been annual losers of 90+ games with little hope and little attention paid to the good things they were doing; all three had built an impressive array of young pitching that had matured while enduring those years of endless losing; all three had management that believed in their players while naysayers doubted them; and all three imported high-character veterans to lead and teach the youngsters how to play and win.
    I'm stunned by the Rays sudden leap into contention, but probably shouldn't be. Having believed they would improve, but that they had too many question marks to jump to the front of the line in a division that included the Red Sox, Yankees and Blue Jays, I felt that a season record of 76-86 was likely and could be seen as progress. The Rays have had other ideas.
    The years and years of accruing top draft picks and making good moves (mostly by the ridiculed former GM Chuck LaMar) are paying off now that they've made smart, lucky and necessary trades and signings----dumping Delmon Young and Elijah Dukes; acquiring Scott Kazmir and Matt Garza; signing journeyman Carlos Pena and getting an MVP-quality season in 2007; and acquired gregarious, well-liked veterans like Cliff Floyd; in addition to the development of home grown players like Evan Longoria, B.J. Upton , Carl Crawford and James Shields.
    The Braves and Mets had made similar veteran acquisitions as they rose into prominence. The Mets had Keith Hernandez to lead the team out of the wilderness and the Braves had Sid Bream, Charlie Leibrandt and Lonnie Smith. The Rays are now eleven games over .500 and are drawing similar attention as those Braves and Mets teams did.       
    Understandably, many won't take them seriously unless they continue this solid performance past the All Star break, but I doubt I'm the only one sensing the winning aura emanating from Tampa Bay. And it should be remembered that even the Mets and Braves fans were reluctant to start investing their emotions into those teams when their hearts had been broken by unfulfilled promise so many times; it was when the season wore on and the teams hung around and continued their solid play that the fans started showing up; I would expect a similar reaction from the Rays fans. It doesn't look like the team's going to fade out anytime soon.

• The Reds are about to leap into contention:

    The Cincinnati Reds are thisclose to jumping into contention. Their young players like Joey Votto, Johnny Cueto and Edinson Volquez are gaining experience and Jay Bruce has injected life into the offense. Once Aaron Harang starts winning some games (and he will start winning some games), they're going to be hard to handle. The Cubs are looking like they may run away and hide in the division, but the Wild Card is going to be up for grabs and it doesn't look like any team is ready to take control yet. Dusty Baker's teams are always there at the end of the season, especially in his first season. They're going to be heard from before this season's over and those that keep repeating that they're "not very good" are going to regret it.

• Would Greg Maddux accept a trade to some unusual venues?

    The obvious assumption has been that when the Padres begin their sell-off, Greg Maddux will head back to the Braves. That's still where I think he'll end up, but one has to wonder if Maddux would be willing to go to the American League. He'd want no part of New York, but would he be willing to go to Boston? To Tampa Bay? Or would he want to go to Philadelphia or Houston? I don't think Maddux has a no-trade clause, but I'm sure he has a gentlemen's agreement with the Padres that they won't send him to New York, but if not the Braves, there are other teams with strong bullpens that could use Maddux's six innings of work and a pennant race might get his adrenaline flowing. He's been inconsistent for the latter part of his career, but he looked good last night against the Giants weak-hitting lineup. He might have a few big games left in him and that might be all one of the above-mentioned teams would need from him to put them over the top.

• The Mariners have the wrong guy on the firing line:

     Historically, Bill Bavasi has been a competent GM, but his explanation that so many prognosticators had picked the Mariners at or around the top of the AL West as justification for the type of team he put together is a bit weak. There have been continued rumors that manager John McLaren's job is hanging by a thread, but how is Bavasi not under the same scrutiny? The team is constructed in a quirky way and if there's someone to blame for that, it's not the manager, it's the GM.

• The uproar over Joba Chamberlain's move to the rotation becomes deafening:

    There are a series of justifiable arguments for leaving Joba Chamberlain in his former role as the eighth inning man in front of Mariano Rivera----Chamberlain is so dominating in that spot that once the Yankees get a lead after seven innings, the game is basically over; this should have been done in the winter, so a viable eighth inning man could have been found; moving Chamberlain into the rotation creates a hole that not even Kyle Farnsworth's biceps are going to be able to fill; the Yankees are not a team that is trying to build for the future, so they have to try and win right now and because of that, they can't afford to be throwing away games in order to develop pitchers as some other teams in a less stressful atmosphere could. That being said, in looking at the big picture, Chamberlain and the Yankees have to see if he can be a starting pitcher. With the holes that are currently in their tattered rotation and the entire American League struggling, they might as well do it now.
    How much the pressure exerted by Hank Steinbrenner on the Yankees front office to make the move has affected its expediency is impossible to know. GM Brian Cashman has effectively blunted Steinbrenner's bloviating so far and it doesn't appear as if he's letting his contract status affect his decisions (his ego, but not his contract), so this appears to be a baseball decision. As great as Chamberlain is in the bullpen, the consensus among those that have seen the pitcher's other pitches is that he also has the potential to be a brilliant starting pitcher. To take a youngster like Chamberlain, at age 22 and pigeonhole him as a relief pitcher when he might become a Roger Clemens-like starting pitcher is unfair to him. He deserves a chance to show what he can do in that role.
    Chamberlain doesn't seem like the type to demand that he be made a starter or sulk if he isn't getting that chance to earn a starting pitcher's paycheck. (It also helps that he plays for a team that pays their relievers about as lucratively as they pay their starters.) The comparison to a guy like Jonathan Papelbon is also unfair because Papelbon was worked into the Red Sox bullpen in 2005 and was moved to closer's role out of necessity; he was also 25 when he took over the job full time. Mariano Rivera is another example of a young pitcher who was thrust into the dominant seventh and eighth inning role in 1996, but people forget that Rivera was 26 and fell into that role by accident; there also wasn't the giant hole in the rotation for either the Red Sox or 1996 Yankees that there is in the 2008 Yankees. And he's 22-years old! Team needs aside, to sentence a guy to fifteen years of relieving when he could possibly be a dominating starter is baseball malpractice.
    The Yankees have a set number of innings that they want their youngsters to throw as they work their way up. The way it's worked out for Chamberlain, his innings threshold will be reached if he's a halfway decent starter (averaging six or so innings a start) from this point on. The Yankees have taken everything into account in making this move now, and to dismiss it as "stupid" for the way it was done is ignoring the possible dominance Chamberlain may bring to the rotation. They're doing it now while the situation isn't dire; they're doing it now because it's best for the pitcher to see if he can fulfill that potential using all four of his pitches; and they're doing it now because, worst case scenario (barring him getting hurt) is if it doesn't work, they can simply move him back to the bullpen. Making the transition the opposite way is much more difficult the older a pitcher gets and, given the pitcher's abilities, it has a very good chance of working out just as the Yankees planned.

• The Blue Jays need one power bat to be legit contenders:

    With that starting pitching and that deep and diverse bullpen, the Blue Jays could be a genuine championship contender if they had one power bat in the middle of the lineup. Vernon Wells wasn't it even when he was healthy and Alexis Rios might have had a career year last season. The one name I would keep an eye on if I were the Blue Jays is Matt Holliday. He's proven himself to be a guy who loves the spotlight and, despite having massive numbers in Colorado and lesser numbers on the road, would still be an All Star player no matter what kind of home park he plays in. He'd fit right in with the feisty David Eckstein and intense Roy Halladay and he'd be exactly what the Blue Jays need to possibly make a playoff run instead of having a late season hot streak to make their record respectable and appear to be a team on the rise when they're really just an also-ran.

• One of the best parts of the InDemand baseball package is the out of state, local commercials we see:

    Of course there are the national spots like for beer and car companies, but it's the local ads that are the funniest. Randy Johnson transposed in front of an Arizona car dealership and delivering his lines as if he's Krusty the Klown with a glazed look in his eyes saying, "I heartily endorse this event and/or product"; the personal injury law firms of Ohio, Illinois and Arizona; the most repulsive looking fast food products in world history----Sonic; the Belle Tire guy in Michigan with his little cartoon character sidekick----they're all worth mentioning, but I'm wondering if those across the country and world see the New York area ads and think they're as bizarre.
    There's the Giuseppe Franco commercials for Procede hair product----YouTube Clip----featuring a group of men for whom a lack of thick, full hair is the least of their problems discussing how wonderful the product is at making their hair appear thicker. Franco looks something like Eddie Munster and for a Beverly Hills hair salon to have Gary Busey as their "celebrity client" makes me wonder what other "celebrity clients" they have, if any. In fact using Busey as the celebrity endorser for a hair salon would probably lead me away from the place given that Busey's hair looks like he pressed the index and middle fingers of both hands together and shoved each pair of fingers into separate light sockets.
    Another ad that I just don't get is the one for a Queens car dealership where the president of the company, Sam Fox, proudly introduces Phil Lombardo as his dealership's new GM. It's one of those things where you watch the commercial, see Phil introduced and say with a puzzled look, "Um, oh kaaaay?" I'm not quite sure if we're supposed to automatically know who Phil Lombardo is like he's the Branch Rickey of the car dealership GM set, but that's the impression I get from the way the guy's introduced. It also doesn't help that Phil's Brooklyn accent makes me wonder if I'd get my legs broken if I decided I didn't want to buy one of his cars.

• A suggestion for Paul DePodesta's next blog:

    How does the square root of the hypotenuse in the corners of Petco Park affect Paul McAnulty and Justin Huber as their batting averages hover on the interstate? Discuss...   

• Mets 7-Marlins 6:

    Much of the Mets slumber has appeared to be due to a lack of energy and interest, but they've been unlucky as well. Carlos Beltran has been stinging the ball lately, but many of his hot shots have been directly at someone. Last night, in the bottom of the twelfth inning, he hit another screaming liner that passed directly through where Hanley Ramirez would have been standing had David Wright not been running on a 3-2 pitch. Part of the credit for that goes to manager Willie Randolph for sending Wright (I might not have done the same thing); but part of it is due to pure luck.
    As Duaner Sanchez started work in the eleventh inning, I was mentally organizing my words for an accurate description of Sanchez's lost velocity. His changeup was puttering in at 81; his fastball at 88-89. Both numbers are a drop of 5-7 mph from his pre-injury norms. Then he started ripping the ball and cutting loose as he hasn't since his return. Suddenly, the fastball was around 92-93 and he looked like he'd broken through a mental block that was preventing him from unleashing as he did before. Not only that, Sanchez brought something that many of the Mets relievers don't have because it's not in their personality---- he's mean. Sanchez looked irritated that Logan Kensing knocked him down as he was trying to bunt and looked out menacingly at the Marlins pitcher. When he was the eighth inning guy in 2006, Sanchez was always willing to drill someone, glare or announce his presence with some swagger. That, despite the home run he allowed, is a good sign for his future if he's able to keep it up.
     There have been reports that the Mets are trying to acquire a "high-energy" guy for a low price to infuse the clubhouse and the lineup. That could be someone who can run or someone who has a big mouth, big personality and has provided big hits in his career. Scanning the teams that have fallen out of the race, I don't see anyone who has speed and would provide an impact at a corner outfield spot, but there is a guy like Kevin Millar who has those attributes, bats right-handed, plays first base and the outfield and doesn't shut up. I'm sure he's available, but whether Orioles baseball czar Andy MacPhail is ready to start dealing with his team playing relatively well is a question; and MacPhail doesn't just give players away. I looked at the Padres roster to see if there was anyone who could provide anything described above, but unless they're willing to deal Adrian Gonzalez, there's nothing there. Speaking of which...

• What is this obsession Rob Neyer has with Paul DePodesta and his torturous blog?

    I understand Neyer has a personal affection for DePodesta; I understand that they believe in the same things as it goes into running a ballclub, but the way he promotes DePodesta's ponderous ramblings is painful. The link----DePodesta Blog----explains why the Padres traded for Cha Seung Baek and what they think they can get from him, blah, blah, blah. Let me say right now for the record that the Padres are going to get nearly nothing from Cha Seung Baek, so this deal was a non-entity.
    Now maybe DePodesta is an effective number two or background guy in an organization, but his tenure as the Dodgers GM, which was a Hawk Harrelson-level disaster, should preclude anyone from taking him and his justifications too seriously, just as his role in Moneyball served as a Kevin Trudeau-style infomercial inducing one easily duped owner to put him in charge of his baseball team, with the results we saw during those nightmarish 20 months in which he destroyed the Dodgers.
    I don't see how anyone can look at anything DePodesta says as having any weight considering how poorly constructed the Padres are and how barren everyone says their minor league operation is. The same people have been in charge for years now, so they created this mess and they have no one to blame for it but themselves. Any self-justification in the form of an "insider's view" is transparent, but only if an observer sees what's there and not what they want to see. I'm still waiting for him to break into a few bars of the Harvard school song as part of a blog entry. Will that be treated as gospel as well?

• The Rays, an exciting young team that is playing well, are still not drawing fans to the ballpark:

    The notion that Florida is such a dead baseball town is disproved when one looks at the Rays attendance from their first year in the league. It's interesting to note that in 1998, they drew 2.5 million fans to that monstrosity known as Tropicana Field. The numbers have dropped precipitously since then, but that first year proves that there are people who want to see a baseball team in Tampa Bay. The Marlins have had one year in which they've drawn three million and a few years of two million-plus.
    It may be that school isn't out yet and that many aren't willing to invest their emotions into a team that may or may not be for real, but to latch onto the Rays small attendance numbers so early is unfair. If they hang around in their current position (in playoff contention and ten or so games over .500) and the fans still aren't coming, then it may be time to look seriously at the problem, but they're creating a buzz now because they're playing so well; perhaps it's going to take some time to reach the casual baseball fans of Tampa Bay who aren't aware of it yet or aren't ready to believe it's for real.

• The on-field, roughhouse celebrations are eventually going to get someone hurt:

    I know it's all in good fun and it's just guys screwing around (we've all done it), but eventually someone is going to get injured in one of those roughhousing celebrations after a game-winning hit. If I were a manager, I'd tell my players to calm down with the irrational exuberance before someone gets hurt.

    From their status as a pre-season World Series pick to the sudden waiting game that is occurring with the Braves relievers that are on the road to coming back, the Braves are getting a pass for their faults. Their starting pitching is still short and their lineup, while solid, is still missing consistency from left and center field. For a team that has been unbeatable at home and inept on the road, there should be more questions about them from the mainstream media than there have been. And as for this non-stop talk about how tough their bullpen is going to be once Rafael Soriano, Mike Gonzalez and John Smoltz return, it strikes me as sounding eerily similar to all the reports about how great Mike Hampton looked in the spring; Hampton has yet to throw one pitch in the big leagues this year and no one seems to know when or if he's even going to come back. Much like Hampton, I'll believe the hype about the impending return of the Braves relievers when I see it. 

• Ian Kennedy joins Phil Hughes on the disabled list:

    I don't think this is what Ian Kennedy and Philip Hughes had in mind as the entire winter was spent by prognosticators and talent evaluators predicting what the Yankees young pitchers were going to accomplish this year. Big league reality has a habit of biting young phenoms in the butt without warning. The worst part about this is that Kennedy looked like he was on the road to becoming a competent (for a rookie) big league starter by season's end; not that he was going to live up to the pre-season hype of being "the next Mike Mussina", but his control had improved and he'd shown some fortitude in extricating himself from some jams. Now he joins Hughes on the disabled list. It's somewhat odd that the injuries have nothing to do with either pitcher's arm, but their torsos. Hughes is on the DL with a fractured rib and now Kennedy has strained an oblique, an injury for which there is no way to come up with an accurate time frame for a return.
    Much like the injury to Hughes, it's not the best case scenario in which to give a struggling rookie a breather and limiting his innings, but it will serve that purpose. Neither pitcher has to endure the ignominy of huge hype and a demotion (with Kennedy, it would have been two demotions); and both will pitch in the minor leagues on rehab assignments when they're healthy enough. This way the Yankees can leave both pitchers in the minors for extra time if they deem it necessary and explain it away as continued rehab even if they're healthy enough to return to the majors.

• Does Bill Hall have a right to be irritated at his benching?

     Bill Hall has been slumping since the season started especially against right-handed pitching----ESPN Story----and Brewers manager Ned Yost has statistical evidence to justify the platoon he's using with Hall and Russell Branyan, but Hall has an argument to be allowed to work his way through this slump without losing his job. Hall is a guy without a clear cut position and has done everything the Brewers have asked of him. He hit 35 homers as a shortstop in 2006, moved to the outfield last season in favor of J.J. Hardy and, on very short notice, switched positions with the iron-gloved third baseman Ryan Braun at the beginning of this season. He's done everything asked of him without complaint and, while it may not seem to be that big of a deal to move from one position to another, who knows how the fielding concerns have affected Hall's bat?
    Hall's 35-homer season in 2006 was probably a freak occurrence, but to platoon him with a guy like Branyan so early strikes me as either desperation move by Yost or a way to get Hall angry enough to wake up his bat. Brewers GM Doug Melvin is smart enough to know that Russell Branyan is not the answer at third base, nor is he a good enough player to replace Hall for the entire season. At this point in his career, the journeyman Branyan is a feast or famine player who strikes out too much and provides little more than the threat of a home run when he makes contact. He murders Triple A pitching, but is little more than the 28th guy on an active big league roster of 25 players. Hall was angered by the decision, singled in the ninth and scored the winning run. The fiery reaction by Hall may have been what was intended and, for one night at least, it worked.

    Everyone's coming up with a diagnosis or opinion about the Mets without providing suggestions for a clear-cut solution. Every day, every game, every loss brings up another crisis and waiting game for manager Willie Randolph's dismissal. The players are saying that the manager is not responsible for the way the team is playing, but that begs two questions: If he's not responsible, then who is? And if the players don't want to see Randolph fired, then why are they still playing as if they don't care?
    Media people, from the respected to the idiotic to the self-promoting; from those that are watching the Mets on a daily basis to those that are sitting elsewhere and commenting based on a personal relationship with Randolph are proffering unsolicited opinions of what to do. Peter Gammons dismisses the idea that it's all Randolph's fault and doesn't see a fit for any of the managers available as a replacement; Mike Francesa and Christopher Russo on the Mike and the Mad Dog Show on WFAN in New York react in a similar knee-jerk and ill-thought-out fashion as many of their callers while presenting themselves as experts; John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman discuss the crosstown matters during their broadcasts/cheering brigade during Yankees games; the Mets TV broadcasters----Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling----report on what they see, analyze and try to formulate ways things could be done differently to turn things around, but no one is saying that the ever elusive THIS will fix things.
    When the Yankees of the 70s and 80s had bloated payrolls and struggles on the field, there was always Billy Martin to whom to turn for a quick fix and swift kick in the backsides of slumbering players; the Mets don't have anyone out there that is an obvious replacement for Randolph. The names that have been floated----Jim Fregosi, Jerry Manuel, Joey Cora, Bobby Valentine, Larry Bowa, Buck Showalter, Keith Hernandez, Wally Backman and Gary Carter (not floated, but rammed by none other than Carter himself)----all have positives and negatives, but no absolute track record or guarantee of success.

• Fregosi works for the Braves and, while he's got the old-school leadership and veteran cachet to get the players' attention, is unlikely to be allowed to leave the Braves for the Mets during the season.
• Manuel was a better manager than he was given credit for while with the White Sox, but he's been sitting next to Randolph throughout this entire time from the rise to championship contender to the precipitous fall. He was criticized for adding to the confusion during the Mets ninth inning rally against the Cardinals in the NLCS and I don't see what he'd do differently as a manager than he has as bench coach.
• Cora is an intriguing name, but it would be a no-win situation to walk into this mess at mid-season and too big a risk for the Mets.
• Valentine isn't going to leave Japan at mid-season to walk into this hurricane.
• Bowa would inject some life and intensity into the clubhouse, but his players everywhere have hated him and, despite being a superior tactical manager, would end up in a war with some of his veterans who won't want to see his made for TV sour faces and gestures when one makes an error or strikes out with the bases loaded.
• No one is mentioning Showalter seriously which leads me to believe that the Mets front office has no interest in him at all or his interview with them raised some red flags before the Mets hired Randolph.
• Hernandez is an interesting idea. Bringing a broadcaster down from the booth and onto the field has succeeded----Bob Brenly, Larry Dierker----and failed----Buck Martinez, Jerry Coleman; Hernandez certainly has the intelligence and status as a former star player and off-field regular in the gossip columns to have the breadth to get the attention of the players. Francesa related that when he spoke to Hernandez at Yankee Stadium during the Yankees-Mets series that Hernandez would take the job if offered. The thing I would be concerned about with Hernandez would be if he'd be willing to commit for the foreseeable future and not decide after three weeks that he didn't like all the baggage that comes along with the high-profile job of being a New York manager. At this point in his life, is Hernandez going to want to trade his free time to be back in the spotlight and make a lot of money?
  
• Backman would light a fire in that clubhouse and has Billy Martin-level baggage; he'd be in the faces of players he didn't think were going all out regardless of their contract status. It's a desperation move that would either explode right in the Mets faces or send them on a tear. I doubt the Wilpons are going to risk this type of explosion even though it might work.
  
• Carter probably blew any chance he ever had of managing the Mets with his overeagerness, even though he has some experience and success as a minor league manager and his playing career would be respected by the Mets veterans.

    Does anyone have an answer? The Mets ate the last two years of Art Howe's contract even though what happened with them during Howe's tenure wasn't the manager's fault. The case could be made that it was Howe's gentle guidance that allowed David Wright and Jose Reyes to grow accustomed to the big leagues and become the All Stars they've been since. The argument that the Mets don't want to swallow Randolph's remaining contract isn't going to be a factor because they've already lost the post-season revenue from 2007 and aren't going to let his relatively meager salary cost them 2008 post-season revenue (or basic fan revenue as the season winds down if things continue as they are).
     Bottom line and regardless of the excuse, this team should be playing better than they are. It's got nothing to do with age and decline of the veterans; nothing to do with the slumping players; they should simply be better than what they are. When people like Gammons venture their opinions about the Mets problems, it's acceptable because he's been around the game so long and is dialed into what people are saying inside and outside the Mets organization; Cohen, Darling and Hernandez are seeing this team on the daily basis and have the baseball knowledge and experience to wonder what the team and manager are thinking when they do certain things. It's when the knee-jerk, ignorant know-it-alls like Francesa and Russo start coming up with off-the-wall suggestions that they have no accountability for if they work or not that it becomes necessary for the Mets to make a decisive move to stop the blather. It's when Sterling and Waldman start pontificating about a team they rarely see and openly despise that it becomes theatre of the absurd.
    Sterling knows he's a schtick artist, but Waldman fancies herself as a journalist when she should actually be sitting there munching a Yankee-frank; wearing a Yankee hat and waving a Yankee pennant during broadcasts. What credibility does she have when she openly has a fit when Roger Clemens announces he's returning to the Yankees in 2007? Or when she starts sobbing as Joe Torre's Yankees tenure ends? Then she claims "sexism" because she cried; it wasn't sexism; it was that she's unprofessional.
    Randolph indulges in some creepy version of gallows humor when things go very badly for him and his team. Last season, after the collapse was complete and Randolph shaved his mustache and joked that he was going to slit his throat; then over the weekend, he joked that GM Omar Minaya was "sharpening his machete". These are the statements of someone for whom the pressure is getting to be too much to bear; it's one thing to make such darkly humorous statements, but to make them so publicly provides a window into someone's mental state and it's disturbing as he tries to stop a tailspin. And make no mistake, Randolph brought this on himself. Whether perception or reality has anything to do with the way the Mets have played over the past week is irrelevant; this sudden downturn directly coincided with those strange comments Randolph made to Ian O'Connor regarding race and team coverage on SNY. The way this team is playing, something has to be done. Either definitively say that Randolph is the manager or fire him. The problem is no one is coming up with an answer as to whom the new manager is going to be and if it doesn't work, who's going to be blamed then?

    Please check out and purchase my book The Prince Of New York's 2008 Baseball Guide also available on Amazon.com and BN.com. 

• Marlins 7-Mets 3:

    The Mets look like zombies. Not even the sprinting zombies from 28 Days Later/28 Weeks Later; they look like the slow moving, stumbling, easy to kill (again) zombies from Night of the Living Dead. How much longer are Fred and Jeff Wilpon and Omar Minaya going to sit around, watch this and wait before doing something?

• Taking a page out of the Rockies book in building a bullpen:

    I've been a fierce critic of Colorado Rockies GM Dan O'Dowd for his continued attempts to reinvent his team in so many different ways and for his open, organization-wide search for players who follow a Christian-based moral code; but one thing he deserves credit for is eschewing the trend of spending a load of money on mediocre pitchers to fill out a bullpen and instead finding available, affordable veterans and using youngsters to get the outs in the late innings.
    Building an effective bullpen has never been more important than it is in today's game where a starting pitcher is regularly yanked after 100 pitches or six innings, whichever comes first. If a team doesn't have at least four trustworthy relievers, they cannot expect to contend. Teams spend big money on relief pitchers and still don't know what they're going to get from one game to the next; and a lefty will always have a job based on nothing more than being a lefty; whether or not he's any good never seems to enter into the equation. The Rockies have had an effective bullpen over the past few years because they've picked up veterans who were without jobs and given them a chance to pitch. Guys like Matt Herges, Taylor Buchholz and Ryan Speier, who would have been called journeymen in years past, have done an excellent job while costing little money. The Cardinals build their bullpen in a similar way by finding pitchers with ability and slotting them into the correct position to maximize their effectiveness.
    Big market teams like the Yankees, Mets and Red Sox have been burned repeatedly with relievers who were supposed to do a certain job and received lucrative contracts, but failed miserably. It looks splashy to spend money on a pitcher with a proven track record, but how often does it actually translate into an effective year-in, year-out performance? Most teams don't know what to expect from many of their relievers and have to keep using them because of the money that's been spent. It may be that relievers (other than the closer) can be more interchangeable than most teams realize and that they can save some money in that area because an affordable, available veteran won't perform much worse than many of the "proven" relievers out there do.

• It's almost time to admit that Kenny Williams is smarter than pretty much everyone:

     Even with the massive stats he put up in the minors (almost identical to what he's doing now), no one could have expected Carlos Quentin to: A) stay healthy; and B) be leading the league in homers as a legitimate MVP candidate heading into June. After his series of gambles----hiring Ozzie Guillen; signing troublemakers like A.J. Pierzynski, Bobby Jenks and Carl Everett; acquiring unfulfilled potential in Jose Contreras; and quirky veterans like Orlando "El Duque" Hernandez----and winning a World Series, there were two ways to look at White Sox GM Kenny Williams, he was either really lucky or really smart.
    After the team stumbled to 72 wins last year and he made some questionable decisions (trading Jon Garland for Orlando Cabrera; keeping an unraveling Guillen; trading for Quentin and Nick Swisher; signing Octavio Dotel and Scott Linebrink), many (myself included) thought that Williams's luck was finally going to run out. Apparently, he's not lucky; he's just smart.
    The White Sox have climbed to the top of the AL Central, helped in part by the stumbling Tigers and Indians, but they've performed well in their own right and have been carried by the unlikely hero Quentin, who hit two homers last night including a game winner off of John Lackey. The White Sox defense is still porous; their hitting has been woeful and their pitching is still shaky (but then, so is everyone else's); I wouldn't automatically think that they're going to stay in first place for the entire season, but Williams has the attributes of a great GM----he's smart, gutsy and couldn't care less what anyone says about the decisions he makes; that's why he's been such a success and guys like Quentin are working out so well.

• What's so hard about writing a few hundred words?

    I'm not criticizing those who are lucky enough to get paid for writing columns and whatever, but I find it fascinating when I scan the web and newspapers for columnists who are getting paid for their work and are either unimaginative or are given time off from...from...what, exactly?
    A few weeks ago, I was reading the New York Times and got to the back of the Sunday Week In Review and looked to see that columnist Maureen Dowd was "off". Off from what? It's not like an opinion columnist is required to interview people or is busting their behind to come up with things to write about. There's a certain amount of freedom that columnists have; it shouldn't take all that much effort to come up with something to write. I see this in paid columnists on ESPN and other entities as well. Such and such was "off for the weekend". Off from what? I don't know if any of these people have worked jobs in which they performed dangerous physical labor at bizarre hours, but I have and I don't see why they need time off when they're not really exerting themselves in any substantial way to begin with.

• The arrogance of perceived self-importance:

    I literally know zilch about auto racing, but it's hard not to be inundated with stories, photos, advertisements and whatever about Danica Patrick and I'm left wondering if I'm the only one who notices how impressed with herself she seems to be. For someone who is largely a creation based on marketing principles and has been used to drum up interest in a dying entity like Indy Car racing; and has only won one race in her career, she's remarkably arrogant. I barely pay attention to the sport, but she's everywhere and in her interviews, the conceit just drips off of her.
    I don't mean this to diminish her skills or accomplishment; she has to have driving ability to even compete on that level at those speeds, but she's more like Anna Kournikova than some top-notch driver. Patrick has every right to make as much money as she can and use the exposure to further her own interests, but it's when someone starts to believe the marketing copy that they become so self-involved that even those who have no interest or knowledge of the sport notice it. Kournikova was denigrated because she was seen to be more style than substance, but that disregards the difficulty of making it into tennis's top ten.
    Think about it, of all the female tennis players in the world, she was one of the ten best (I think she reached number seven in her career), and that's pretty good, but her outside interests and jealousy she endured made her appear to be a marketing idea. The same thing is evident in Danica Patrick, but the tantrums, sour faces, complaints and overt arrogance are making her look like someone who is believing the hype; the resentment amongst other drivers must be growing exponentially because she probably started with two strikes and the last thing she needs is to be seen as someone who thinks she's better than everyone else because she's cute (not gorgeous as she seems to think); and gets into the faces of other drivers for whatever reason (she uses being a female to her advantage in that respect because if she were a guy and behaved that way, someone would belt her). The inflating balloon known as her head is going to be popped eventually; perhaps then she'll learn some humility and not to blame others when she fails. This sense of entitlement she's carting from other endeavors doesn't exist in the trenches and she's in for a big fall after that balloon is finally popped.

    Racing fans who wound up here via search engine should check out and purchase my baseball book The Prince Of New York's 2008 Baseball Guide also available on Amazon.com and BN.com. Try baseball, it's more democratic.

• Astros 4-Phillies 3:

    In their most successful seasons as a franchise, the Astros have always been built around pitching; this year they tried the opposite route and built an impressive lineup and a top to bottom pitching staff of journeymen (except for Roy Oswalt). Things looked even worse as they released the ineffective veteran Woody Williams after a woeful spring and the Astros, with a new manager and drastically remade roster, were expected to be also-rans this season. Instead, they've played extremely well and are appearing to be a close-knit, opportunistic group that is taking to manager Cecil Cooper's laid back and unique style.
    As of right now and without much attention, their record is 29-22 and they're staying around the top of the NL Central and Wild Card without the usual dominance of Oswalt. In addition to that, their heralded rookie catcher J.R. Towles hasn't hit and Michael Bourn is batting .221. The middle of the Astros lineup is relentless with Lance Berkman (left) playing like an MVP; Miguel Tejada leading on and off the field; Hunter Pence emerging into an All Star and Carlos Lee the RBI machine he's been his whole career. The pitching has been adequate enough to keep the team in games and even though there aren't the marquee names of Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte around any longer; and even though the Astros bullpen was dismantled to concentrate on offense, they've done enough to stay competitive. If Oswalt returns to his dominant self and Wandy Rodriguez can come back as well, the Astros may hang around in a winnable division.
     What's been most impressive is manager Cecil Cooper. It's natural for a manager in his first big league job (no matter his minor league or playing experience) to do what is easiest to explain to those that would question a certain strategy, but Cooper has shied away from the imaginary "book" that has doomed many a manager. For example, he has used veteran journeyman Doug Brocail to close games when he's felt it was the right thing to do. On April 15th, closer Jose Valverde blew a game against the Phillies by allowing home runs to Chris Snelling and Pat Burrell; the next night, the Astros were leading 2-1 in the ninth inning when Cooper used Brocail to close the game. This was not intended to punish Valverde, but to give him a breather while assuring him that he was still the Astros closer. The decision worked as Brocail recorded a save, but it could just as easily have blown up in Cooper's face for a number of reasons. The easy thing to do in that situation (and what many managers would have done) would have been to go right back to Valverde amid the shaky logic that "he's my closer; that's his time of the game"; Cooper chose to do what was right instead of what was easier to explain and it worked, just as many of his other moves have worked and as a result, the Astros are hovering around and contending when few thought they were any better than a .500 team. They'll have to beef up their pitching if they want to have any chance at a playoff spot, but as of right now, they look pretty good.

• Reds 7-Padres 2:

    And on the other side of the coin is a team that many picked to possibly win the World Series and now looks (literally) like an expansion team----the San Diego Padres. That lineup was bad enough, but now they've predictably lost Jake Peavy to an arm injury and Chris Young is out indefinitely after getting hit in the face with a line drive.
    *Here's a quote from my book regarding Peavy, which I take no pleasure in having become reality:

    Peavy has a stressful motion that would concern me if I were the Padres management. His arm bullwhips violently and he gives everything he has seemingly on every pitch. Eventually, I think he's going to have some arm problems with that motion; it's only a matter of when.

    Now without two of their top starters, they're reduced to using guys like Wil Ledezma and Shawn Estes (who has pitched surprisingly well, by the way), it's time to start clearing out some veterans that contenders could use. Greg Maddux would probably welcome a trade back to Atlanta and Randy Wolf has pitched well and would attract much interest from pitching-short contenders like the Yankees. I would also listen to offers for Khalil Greene. The Padres are not going to be able to keep up with either the Diamondbacks or the Dodgers in that division (if they were in the NL East or Central, I might suggest they wait until the All Star break to see if things turn around), they may as well start to retool now. And why is Chase Headley still in the minors? Does it make any sense at all to be playing Paul McAnulty and Scott Hairston in left field at this point when there's a hot prospect in Triple A?

• Brewers 5-Nationals 2:

    Dmitri Young hit a little dribbler up the first base line and as Prince Fielder grabbed it and went to tag Young, I swear it looked like two Sumo wrestlers getting ready to square off.

     Please check out and purchase my book The Prince Of New York's 2008 Baseball Guide also available on Amazon.com and BN.com.

 

• Rockies 6-Mets 5:

    Those that want the Mets to fire manager Willie Randolph based on some knee-jerk reaction shouldn't use this game as a reference because it wasn't his fault that they lost. The argument could be made that the distractions created by the manager with his absurd racially-charged comments last week and the way the team seems to just say "screw it" when things get tough in the late innings is justifiable, but last night's game was just a case of the players not performing. When a team hands a lead to their closer and he blows it, what is the manager supposed to do?
    There are of course the usual nitpicky items about Randolph's strategies like having Jose Reyes bunting with runners on first and second and no one out in the top of the seventh inning. Reyes isn't some Punch and Judy hitter who needs to bunt as often as he does and he's an unlikely candidate for a double play; let the guy swing the bat; but Randolph has used this type of strategy since he arrived and it's unfair to add it to the list of reasons to dismiss him; it's not like it's something new.

• Gary Carter campaigns for a job that is currently unavailable:

    When I was about eight, I went to a baseball card show with my father at which Gary Carter was appearing to sign autographs. He was seated at a table and I, blissfully unaware of the financial aspect of such matters, walked over and dropped some baseball cards on the table for Carter to sign; he signed three of them and one of the people flanking him asked where my blue receipt was (presumably proof of payment for the autographs); I looked on in bewilderment not realizing that I was supposed to pay for the privilege of having Carter sign my cards. Carter smiled apologetically, shook his head and said, "Sorry partner," because he was unable to sign the last card. At least I got three signatures for free.
    Gary Carter is a truly nice man who would probably make a good manager and the players would undoubtedly respect his Hall of Fame career, but he's a bit too eager to jump straight to the big leagues with brief (and successful) minor league managerial experience, and he's also kind of picking through the bones of the not-yet-dead as he contacts the Mets and lets them know that he's available for the managerial job----NY Times Story----while they still have a manager. It's sort of like Indiana Jones as he robs graves and steals precious artifacts; or telling a woman that if her husband dies unexpectedly to keep him in mind for dates; it's a bit untoward if one looks at it objectively.

•  Edinson Volquez or Josh Hamilton:

    It's a copout to use the oft-heard statement that a trade "benefited both teams"; but what if a choice had to be made? Josh Hamilton has stayed clean; is heading for a start in the All Star game and is, right now, a leading MVP candidate for the Rangers. Edinson Volquez is also heading for the All Star game; is blossoming into an ace at the top of the Reds rotation; is two years younger than Hamilton; and while Johnny Cueto is often compared to Pedro Martinez, Volquez looks more like Pedro than Cueto does. So which would it be if a choice had to be made?
    I would take Volquez and this is assuming that Hamilton stays healthy on and off the field. Volquez is a guy that looks like he's going to be able to front a rotation for ten years. As great as Hamilton's been, he's clearly being helped by the friendly confines of Rangers Ballpark as others----Hank Blalock, Michael Young and Mark Teixeira----have; Volquez has been dominating home and away and in his own right he's pitching in a hitter-friendly ballpark in Cincinnati. Another factor is the difficulty with which either player would be replaced. It's easier to find an outfielder that can hit than it is to find a young pitcher to front a rotation at a reasonable price. If I had to choose, it would be Volquez even before taking Hamilton's personal issues into account.

• Nationals 5-Brewers 1:

     Manager Ned Yost is said to be in serious trouble, but how is the Brewers play this season the fault of the manager? This may be hard to digest for those that thought the Brewers bats would be able to overcome that terrible bullpen, but the team just isn't all that good. If a team is built on their lineup and massive chunks of said lineup aren't hitting, it's not the manager's fault.
    How is it possible to be a vegetarian and still be as fat as Prince Fielder? It reminds me of when my nephew was a kid and gave up eggs and meat for Lent amid the logic that he would have little to eat other than chocolate. Bill Hall is hitting like Dave Kingman; Rickie Weeks is hitting like he did last season before being sent to the minors; J.J. Hardy has hit ten homers since last season's All Star break after hitting 18 in the first half of 2007; and Mike Cameron is still trying to get his timing down after his suspension. And all of this is before one gets to their bullpen and injury-riddled starting rotation. There are plenty of viable reasons to say that manager Ned Yost should be fired, but this team is not that impressive and may have been overrated by those that were expecting a playoff spot.

    Please check out and purchase my book The Prince Of New York's 2008 Baseball Guide also available on BN.com and Amazon.com.

    Keith Hernandez was a fine player and leader; a two-time world champion; a former MVP; and a potential Hall of Famer had he not flamed out and gotten hurt in his mid-to-late 30s. Hernandez was also a player with quirks that didn't endear him to the managers he played for. He's also a good broadcaster with great potential if he dispatches some of those same quirks that he's taken from his playing days into the broadcast booth.
    Hernandez was always a player who marched to his own tune, but now as he broadcasts games for the New York Mets on SNY, he's forgetting about some of the things that he did that irritated the aforementioned managers. In today's game, the lack of hustle is prevalent. Standing at the plate and admiring balls that may or may not be home runs; jogging out ground balls; not running at all on pop ups; inattention to fundamentals----all are things that Hernandez has focused on during Mets broadcasts, with good reason. The simple aspects of the game such as running everything out or being in the right place at the right time can win or lose a team a championship. But Keith Hernandez wasn't a paragon of all-out play during his career. This isn't coming from my memories of him as a Mets fan in the mid-80s, but from Hernandez's own book, If At First, chronicling the Mets 1985 season:

    Here's the objective truth (what else?) on the Hernandez hustle question. I hustle like hell when I need to. When I'm clearly out at first on a grounder, no, I don't sprint across the bag to break the tape. If Pete Rose wants to do this, fine, but my legs and ankles are sore enough, and I have miles to go before I sleep at the end of the season. As it is, I have to soak the legs many nights in a hot bath; late in the season, almost every night.
    Besides, who are these gung ho guys fooling? Some of the fans are easily duped perhaps, but never the players. I've been called a ballplayer's ballplayer by managers, writers, and announcers I respect, and I'm proud of that designation; not a fan's ballplayer, but a player's player. They're the ones who know.
    Find a player or anyone else who says Hernandez doesn't play for his team, and I'll listen closely. But bring them to me. I don't want to read about it in a book first. (If At First, by Keith Hernandez and Mike Bryan; pages 69-70.)

    Of course playing for the team and hustling are two different matters entirely. Hernandez's head was always in the game and he thought about things that would and could happen five moves ahead. He'd make a fine manager, but (and this applies to his playing career and broadcasting career) he's too lazy. By lazy, Hernandez wasn't all that enamored of hard work. Players in the 70s and 80s weren't into the physical fitness craze as many are today (the argument could be made that that's why so many are getting bizarre injuries that didn't happen back then); had Keith Hernandez been more vigilant about keeping himself in tip-top shape and not been the bon vivant he was with the Mets, he might not have gotten heavy in his early 30s and had the back problems that shortened his career and possibly cost him a chance at the Hall of Fame.
    That laziness has carried over to his broadcasting career. One of the things that irritates Mets fans and analysts about Hernandez on the broadcasts is that he occasionally acts as if he'd rather be doing something other than broadcasting the game. That isn't to say he doesn't love the game; that isn't to say he doesn't add a lot to the broadcasts, but that he sometimes lets his fertile mind wander to things he'd rather be doing.
    The further he gets from his playing days, the more he seems to forget that he himself likely wouldn't have run out many of the ground balls he's chastising players of today for not running out. And he definitely never ran very hard on pop ups. Hernandez wouldn't have stood admiring home run balls because he wasn't a Reggie Jackson-type home run hitter; he'd hit his 12-16 a year and they were line drives rather than bombs.
    The "I'm gonna do things my way" attitude Hernandez carried throughout his career was one of the main reasons that Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog traded him to the Mets in the first place for Neil Allen and Rick Ownbey. The trade turned out badly for the Cardinals and was a windfall for the Mets, but did it really affect the Cardinals that adversely? They went to the World Series twice in the four years following the deal, so they obviously landed on their feet.        
    With the Mets of the mid-80s----a young team with a young manager that needed a leader on and off the field to provide guidance and a tutorial on how to win----Hernandez was a perfect addition to add credibility and astuteness. With the Cardinals, Herzog was in charge of the organization from top to bottom and was one of the most intelligent talent evaluators around. Herzog wanted Hernandez to behave a certain way befitting the leader of his baseball team; as Hernandez was unwilling to bend and fall in line, Herzog dealt him away. The Mets were far more willing to deal with Hernandez's quirks and it worked well for both teams.
    It's not a giant problem for Hernandez to contradict the way he was as a player to what he expects from players now----that's part of the job of being a good broadcaster----but he does appear to be forgetting that he didn't hustle as much as he might like listeners to believe he did, but those who remember the Hernandez who played for the Mets in the 80s and saw his career end prematurely remember the badge of individualism Hernandez wore so prominently and was both a boon and a detriment to his career.

    Please check out and purchase my book The Prince Of New York's 2008 Baseball Guide also available on Amazon.com and BN.com.

• Brewers 4-Pirates 1:

    Brewers manager Ned Yost began the season in a precarious position as it was and now, through no fault of his own, the team is wobbling along at or around .500 and doesn't appear to be a serious contender. Even before Eric Gagne wound up on the disabled list with shoulder issues, he was completely untrustworthy as the closer; the rest of the bullpen corps isn't much better which left Yost in the difficult position of pushing his fragile ace past a reasonable threshold in number of pitches in yesterday's complete game win over the Pirates.    
    Ben Sheets threw 123 pitches in beating the Pirates. I'm no fan of arbitrary pitch counts, but Sheets is so injury-prone that there has to be a number where the risk/reward dictates taking him out of the game, but the circumstances surrounding the Brewers forced Yost to leave his ace out on the mound regardless of the number of pitches he'd thrown.
    With the Brewers bullpen in the sad shape it's in; Yost's job status already shaky; the team needing to win the games that Sheets pitches given the injuries and mediocrity in the rest of the rotation; and Sheets's impending free agency with the Brewers unlikely to be able to keep him, they have no choice but to push Sheets to the limit and hope for the best. As self-serving as it is, if the Brewers want to win now, they can't worry about Ben Sheets's arm; they have to do what is in the best interests of the organization in the present and with the way the team is struggling combined with their bullpen, they're probably not going to contend anyway; but Yost's job status may influence how the manager deals with his ace and games that he might have managed differently with more reliable personnel. Even though Yost sometimes looks like the pressure off the job is eating away at his objectivity and he's not all that great a manager anyway, he's not the one who put that bullpen together with names like Eric Gagne, Guillermo Mota and Salomon Torres; he may take the fall if things continue as they are, but I don't see how Ted Simmons or anyone else is going to fare much better.

• Willie Randolph's misplaced anger:

    Why is it that the team that gives the opportunity to a previously shunned hire always bears the brunt of the fallout for that employee's anger? Willie Randolph appears to have a giant chip on his shoulder out of some belief that he was slighted for whatever reason in not getting the jobs he interviewed for. Now, under fire, that anger is coming out in different ways as he acts out against anyone and everyone except Willie Randolph.
    Many of the criticisms that cost Randolph managerial opportunities were legitimate despite what he thinks. He didn't have any managerial experience at all and refused to go down to the minor leagues to acquire that experience; he does tend to run his words together when speaking and not elucidate himself as clearly as he might like which may lend itself to the interviewer thinking Randolph's not as sure of himself as the employer might like his manager to be; he was offered a job as manager of the Cincinnati Reds, but chafed at the lowball nature of the contract (supposedly $300,000 a year). I don't know Randolph's financial situation and maybe he needed more money, but perhaps it would have behooved him to manage a team with a low payroll and moderate expectations to garner some experience for when another job opened up.
    Randolph ended up getting the job in his hometown with the Mets, but having played in New York, he also had to know the pitfalls of such a high-profile position. As the Mets have blossomed into contenders under Randolph, the scrutiny and spotlight has grown incrementally. The gaffes he made for a team that wasn't a contender and was in the middle of a retooling in 2005, were put under a larger microscope as the team's payroll and expectations increased. The acting out as people criticize him seems in part due to some anger he harbors for not getting a managerial job sooner; perhaps it wasn't any kind of industry-wide agenda against Randolph though; perhaps he could have made some concessions to get one of those jobs. Either way, instead of being passive aggressive and lashing out in other ways, he should look in the mirror and think about what he could have done differently and might now do differently in an effort to save his job, which appears to be slipping away by the moment.

    Please check out and purchase my book The Prince Of New York's 2008 Baseball Guide also available on Amazon.com and BN.com.

    New York Mets manager Willie Randolph attempted to clarify and apologize for his remarks from earlier this week on today's Mike and the Mad Dog radio show on WFAN in New York. The hosts, Mike Francesa and Christopher Russo did an excellent job in the interview----Willie Randolph Interview 5/21.

• Braves 6-Mets 1; Braves 6-Mets 2:

    When Mike Tyson was still fighting seriously in the mid-90s and there were those that thought he bore some resemblance to "the baddest man on the planet" from his glory days of the 80s, he still had the intimidation factor working for him even if his skills had diminished due to apathy, controversy and incarceration. For those that weren't prepared to stand up to him and at least try to fight back, he would hit them with a punch that didn't appear to be worthy of a knockout, but a combination of fear, ambivalence and dollar signs would combine to end the bout.
    It was when Tyson ran into people who weren't afraid of him; who didn't care about what he once was; who were more interested in winning than surviving that Tyson's inner weakness would come out and Tyson would just give up. Sure he received brutal beatings from Evander Holyfield (in their first fight) and Lennox Lewis and took them admirably, but once he threw his first punches, connected with them and saw that his opponent was not only still standing there, but also had the audacity to hit him back, all the will would disappear from Tyson's body like a spray of sweat after a hard punch.
    He gave the appearance of trying, but once Holyfield and Lewis hit him back, the fight was essentially over with the results fait accompli. This "I can't win" attitude was exemplified in the second Holyfield fight in which Tyson bailed out by getting himself disqualified for biting. He saw that he had no more of an answer for Holyfield in the second fight than he did in the first one and cut his losses. I mention this only because I saw a similar attitude from the New York Mets yesterday after the first inning of their day/night doubleheader against the Braves.
    After the Mets scored once on a rare homer from Luis Castillo and proceeded to load the bases against former teammate Tom Glavine, they were ready to continue what they started this past weekend against the Yankees. That was until luck intervened and appeared to remove all of the fight from the Mets. Moises Alou hit a rocket right at third baseman Chipper Jones; two feet to the left or right or a bit more lift on the swing and it's a three run double or a grand slam; instead it was the second out of the inning. Carlos Delgado followed by ripping a shot toward the gap in right center which was run down by Jeff Francouer. After that, the Mets looked like they put their bats away for the day.
    It's bad enough that Glavine was off the hook in the first inning (through no fault of the Mets nor any skill on the part of Glavine), but the Mets let their former teammate have his way with them after that by seemingly going out of their way to get the game over with as quickly as possible. Glavine proceeded to retire the next seventeen batters batters with incredible ease and only threw 82 pitches on what became an easy, rocking chair day for the veteran lefty.
    The malaise continued into the nightcap as the unknown Jorge Campillo rolled as easily through the Mets as the future Hall of Famer Glavine did. This did not appear to be a Mets team struggling with the bats; it appeared to be a team that just said, "screw it" after the first inning of the first game. It's one thing to get beat; it's another thing to make a veteran from the Mexican League who is only now sticking with a major league team at age 29 to look like he's John Smoltz as they did with Campillo. It's one thing to lose; it's another thing to look like they're waiting for the game to end so they can go and do something else; something they find more interesting.
    Following a controversial series of quotes and a team meeting that was designed to clear the air, the Mets went into Yankee Stadium and won two straight games against their crosstown rivals. Those two wins were supposed to be a springboard for the Mets to finally begin fulfilling the potential that made them one of the favorites in the National League; it might have been had they scored more than one run and unloaded on Glavine when they had him against the ropes in the first inning; instead, they reverted to what they were last week, last month, last year. Beating the Yankees may not have been a flashpoint at all; it might have been a case of one team that's playing poorly beating up on another team that's playing worse. Beating a bad team (and that's what the Yankees are right now) can be a cure for a team like the Mets, but only if they use it as momentum and after the first inning yesterday, they didn't.

    As for the Willie Randolph comments about a possible racial connection to the criticism he's receiving----NY Times Story----once a guy starts injecting such things into the conversation, there's a problem; a big one. It would be one thing if this were the first hiccup during Randolph's reign, but there's a lot of ammunition for those that want to criticize the manager. And as for the racial allegation, if this were a less diverse town, then maybe he'd have a point; but this is New York and the only thing people are really concerned about are wins and losses. If Randolph chooses to go down this road, I don't think there's any question as to where it's going to end.

    Please purchase my book The Prince Of New York's 2008 Baseball Guide also available on BN.com and Amazon.com.

• Jon Lester pitches a no-hitter:

    It's strange how the Red Sox get no-hitters from their two top young starters in Clay Buchholz and Jon Lester in within three months of regular season play and teams like the Padres and Mets have never had even one no-hitter in their entire histories. There have been some great pitchers to pitch no-hitters----Sandy Koufax, Bob Feller, Nolan Ryan; some good pitchers to pitch no-hitters----Vida Blue, Milt Pappas, John Candelaria, Sal Maglie; some "who's that?" pitchers----Bobo Holloman, Juan Nieves, Mike Warren; some who should've been great, but weren't for one reason or another----Steve Busby, Don Wilson; and some who were more famous for off-field antics than for their on-field achievements----Bo Belinsky. Then there are the greats who never accomplished the feat like Steve Carlton, Roger Clemens and Greg Maddux.
    It's even stranger that the Mets and the Padres have never had a no-hitter pitched for them because they have, historically, had some pitchers who had no-hit stuff. The Padres have had guys like Kevin Brown, Jake Peavy and Gaylord Perry who either didn't accomplish the feat while with the Padres (Brown and Perry), or haven't done it at all despite wicked stuff. The Mets have an even more sordid no-hit history because with all the dominant pitchers they've had, not one has managed to complete a no-hitter in a Mets uniform. Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan pitched their no-hitters after leaving the Mets, as did David Cone and Dwight Gooden. With pitchers like these and others who had no-hit stuff like Sid Fernandez, one would think they would've had someone do it by now.
    Sometimes it's just a great play that saves a no-hitter; sometimes it's a pitcher putting it all together for just one night; sometimes it's just an accident of circumstance, but while the feat puts a pitcher's name in the record books forever, it's more of a confluence of events and luck than anything else

• Are the Blue Jays paying attention to Frank Thomas's hitting?

     For an organization that utilizes the Moneyball principles about as close to the blueprint as possible, the Blue Jays and their management team acts out in anger an awful lot. Blue Jays GM J.P. Ricciardi worked for and is close to Athletics GM Billy Beane, but he sure doesn't act like Beane when one of his players wears out his welcome. Beane would never have acted so quickly and without benefit to his team in dumping Thomas after less than a month of play. Knowing Thomas's history as a slow starter, Ricciardi reacted with emotion rather than brains in dumping Thomas; now, as Thomas is starting to hit for the Athletics, the Blue Jays are getting great pitching and very little offense contributing to their continued underachievment as in years past. This all adds to the fuel on the fire that the Thomas release was due more in part to his contract incentive which would have been activated had he batted 376 times for the Blue Jays than any decline in performance. The Blue Jays knew the numbers and knew that Thomas was probably going to start hitting eventually. And he is starting to hit----for Billy Beane and the Athletics.

• Hank From Clearwater is getting cranky:

    And with good reason----NY Times Story. None of what's happened this year is Joe Girardi's overt fault, but he does share heavily in the responsibility of the Yankees woes. He came in with the reputation of dealing with and maximizing young players after his year with the Marlins (it should be remembered that the Marlins hot streak started after an 11-31 start, very similar to the Yankees 20-24 start if everything----players, expectations----are put into context); his rigorous exercise program in spring training was supposed to prevent all the nagging injuries that just seem to happen to veteran players who are playing clean, but reality is rearing its ugly head on the Yankees' hopes.
    Steinbrenner's bluster will eventually have to be backed up by some action and it's increasingly looking like the target is on the back of GM Brian Cashman. Perhaps Cashman wants out of the Yankees fishbowl, hasn't truly admitted it to himself and hopes that Hank is going to make the decision for him by dismissing him which will leave intact Cashman's "legacy" of a rebuilt farm system and new young manager to grow together organically; he'd certainly get another GM job somewhere. (Pat Gillick is retiring after the season and Philadelphia is a great spot, close to New York and Washington.) But if Cashman is hoping for a Joe Torre-style martyrdom and another lucrative job somewhere else, he's missing out on an important