Today's Matchup

After a great win last night by the Mets (complete with the obligatory "get out of a bases-loaded jam that I created" by Billy Wagner) the Mets look to make it 2 out of 3 against the Braves. Here's the matchup:

John Maine (12-6, 3.27) vs. Tim Hudson (12-5, 2.95 ERA) - John Maine is coming off a horrible outing last time out and is looking to bounce back. The Braves, however, are 10-2 in games started by Hudson after a loss.

The lineups:

BRAVES

W Harris LF .326
K Johnson 2B .296
C Jones 3B .340
M Teixeira 1B .258
B McCann C .267
J Francoeur RF .306
A Jones CF .214
Y Escobar SS .325
T Hudson P

METS

J Reyes SS .307
L Castillo 2B .344
D Wright 3B .301
C Delgado 1B .251
M Alou LF .297
S Green RF .276
R Castro C .290
M Anderson CF .237
J Maine P

No Lastings Milledge in the lineup which follows a trend by Willie Randolph who seems to always sit Lasto down when there's a tough righty on the mound. Marlon Anderson gets the start instead. It's only his 9th start in CF ever for his career.

Not much more to say. Mets need to win this series in the worst way. Let's go Mets!

Bonds vs. Clemens: Who's The Bigger Cheater?

Now that Barry Bonds has finally injected his way to the top of the homerun record books, it's time to move past Bonds and focus our wrath on others who may have cheated their way into history.

Subject #1: Roger Clemens

Yes I believe Roger Clemens did steroids. Do we have any hard evidence? No. But then again, do we have any hard evidence on Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa? No we don't. But I think most people believe they juiced up as well.

So here are my thoughts on why I think Roger Clemens did steroids. First, just like Sosa, McGwire and Bonds, Clemens is huge AND a whole lot bigger than he was during the early part of his career. Don't believe me. Check this out:

http://cache.deadspin.com/assets/resources/2007/04/clemensnewandold.jpg

So if you convicted Sosa, Bonds and McGwire on their physical appearance alone, I think you almost have to treat Clemens the same way.

Next, say what you say about Jose Canseco, but Clemens makes an appearance in his book "Juiced," the book that started it all and brought the use of steroids in baseball to a more public light. Here's what was written:

http://thesteroidera.blogspot.com/2007/07/jose-canseco-and-roger-clemens-quotes.html

Canseco mentioned Rafael Palmeiro and we see what happened.

Next, Roger Clemens is apparently mentioned in the affidavit against former pitcher Jason Grimsley, who has admitted to using steroids. Check this out:

http://thesteroidera.blogspot.com/2006/10/evidence-against-roger-clemens.html

Until the affidavit is made public we'll never know. But usually when this information starts getting leaked, there's a flood that follows.

And finally, my own little personal aside... When Clemens threw that bat at Piazza back in the 2000 World Series, I've always felt like that was some sort of roid rage incident. The look on his face alone did it for me.

Add to this the fact that his career stalled in Boston and "magically" turned around once he went to Toronto and New York... I just think the guy looked for an edge and found one with the juice.

I'd go even more into more depth on this but honestly who cares? If Clemens juiced he juiced. Just don't act like Bonds is the only one who did the stuff and then single him out to be the lone villain.

Simply put, Bonds is a cheater and because of that he'll never be respected in my eyes. He's still a hall of famer, but top 5 all-time? Errrr, I don't think so. But neither is Roger Clemens. Holla back.

Congratulations Tommy!

Congratulations Tommy! You earned it.

Now as a Mets fan, I'm probably not as excited for Tommy as the rest of the world. Growing up as a teenager during the 90s, I had to endure some pretty lean years for the Mets (not to mention constant ribbing from obnoxious Braves fans doing the tomahawk chop and bragging about how many division titles the Braves had won in a row. How many World Series did that get ya tough guy?).

Plus, I always felt that Tommy was the beneficiary of a HUGE strike zone from a majority of umpires. He would get strike calls for pitches that were clearly 4-6 inches off that plate. I really hated that.

But now that I look back at it, was it really Glavine's fault that he got those calls? If anything, it just proves how precise, smart and crafty of a pitcher the guy is. He hit his spots on the regular and was rewarded for it.

Think about it, in the entire history of baseball... a game that's been around since the 1800s... only 22 pitchers have 300 wins. Glavine makes it 23. He's also only the 5th left-hander in history to achieve the feat. That in itself is amazing.

And think about it, by all accounts he did it without a dominating fastball (Nolan Ryan), without the use of steroids (Clemens maybe???) and without the help of spit, baby oil, vaseline, hair tonic or any other foreign substance that was available (Gaylord Perry).

(As an aside, having Gaylord Perry in the Hall after he admitted to doctoring the baseball and then getting on Bonds for steroids is the epitome of hypocrisy.)

But back to Tommy. He'll always be a Brave, and I'll always be a Brave hater. But I definitely respect his 300 gangsta. His 300 is just as impressive as the movie 300, which I watched for the first time on high def Blu-ray the other day. That movie was freaking sick. (Sony, you can thank me later for the plug).

So here's to the Hall of Fame Tommy Boy, you earned it. Holla back.

Instant Replay Needed In Baseball

I'm convinced. Baseball needs instant replay.

What prompted me to this conclusion? Well today's Mets/Cubs game of course.

Here's what happened. John Maine gets himself in a little jam in the third inning. He has runners on 1st and 2nd with no outs and Ted Lilly at the plate.

Lilly bunts the ball to Carlos Delgado who goes to third on the play looking to get the force out. He bobbles it a little but still gets the ball over to Wright in time for the force.

Well at least the replay showed that. But the 3rd base umpire didn't see the play and only called Jacque Jones out when Wright applied a tag to him after he overshot the bag. If Jones would have been thinking right away and went back to the bag before he got tagged, he would have been called safe.

So the Mets got the out anyway and weren't burned by a bad call by the ump. But imagine if the ump hadn't called Jones out? It would have been bases loaded and no outs - a far worse situation than runners on 1st and 2nd with 1 out.

Okay, moving along in the inning. Soriano grounds out to Maine, moving the base runners to 2nd and 3rd with 2 outs. Up comes Cubs shortstop Ryan Theriot.

Theriot grounds a slow roller to Jose Reyes, who grabs the ball and fires a laser to 1st. What's the call? Safe. Cubs take the lead 1-0.

After that, the floodgates open and the Cubbies go on to score 6 runs in the inning, knocking Maine out of the game and essentially putting it out of reach.

Here's the problem. Theriot was out a 1st. Clearly. Without a doubt. No question about it. Replays showed that Delgado had the ball in his glove securely while Theriot's foot was still in the air.

This was the turning point in the game. Instead of getting out of the inning unscathed, that bad call by the 1st base umpire directly led to 6 Cubs runs.

So I think it's time for Major League Baseball to get with the program and move into the 21st century with the rest of the pro sports community. Baseball is the only major sport without an instant replay system. Even the NBA has instant replay!

I understand that the umpires have a tough job... and I'm not advocating instant replay for balls and strikes. Strike zones, by their very nature, are subjective to begin with. It's up to the pitchers and batters to adjust to what's being called.

But for force outs and close tag plays, why not? How many times a week do you see an umpire get a close play at first wrong? Or call a runner out at second who clearly slid in ahead of the tag? Too frequently for my liking.

So what should MLB do? Here's what I think.

First, adopt a challenge system similar to the NFL's. You get 2 challenges a game. In football if you challenge and the play is upheld, you lose a timeout. For baseball, if you challenge and the play is upheld, you lose your second challenge. This seems fair.

Also put a limit on the number of challenges a team can make in a year. Let's say 20. That way crazy managers like La Russa and Pinella can't go hog-wild with the challenges.

Next, stipulate which plays can be challenged and which ones can't. Balls and strikes, balk calls, check swings and fair/foul balls that remain in play are a few I can think of off hand that should not be challenged.

So what should be challenged? Fair/Foul ball homeruns, tag plays, force outs and fan interference all should be able to be challenged.

You may say, "Why not be able to challenge all fair/foul ball calls?" Think about it. Let's say an umpire calls a ball foul that remains in the field of play. Then replays show that the ball was fair. What are you going to do, give the batter a single or a double? How many bases do runners who were already on base advance? 1? 2? There's too much uncertainty involved with this situation.

However, if a batter hits a homerun that goes fair/foul there can only be 2 outcomes. Either the ball is foul or it's a homerun. Plain and simple. This also goes for balls that hit over the fence and are clearly homeruns (like if they clear the yellow line on the fence) but are not called so.

Also, fan interference should be reviewable. No more Jeffrey Maier's having more of an impact on the game than the players themselves.

Baseball almost headed in this direction after the 2005 playoffs which saw A.J. Pierzynski be awarded 1st base after he ran to first on a third strike that he thought hit the dirt. Replays showed it was caught cleanly. The White Sox were able to keep the inning going and eventually win the game.

What did Bud Selig have to say about it?

"Yes, we had some incidents that certainly need to be looked at. So I'm not minimizing them. But do I believe in instant replay? No, I do not,'' Selig said. "Human error is part of our sport.''

Yes Bud, human error persists in baseball. But the key word is "error." And an error of any kind is wrong. Errors are meant to be fixed. Bud needs to fix it.

So that's it. Baseball needs instant replay in the worst way. I think the Mets would agree after what happened today. Holla back!

Willie's Stroke Of Genius (lol)

OK so on Sunday I wrote about how Willie had a serious brain freeze when he didn't allow Castro to hit against the left-handed Ray King even though Lo Duca had just gotten hurt and Castro would have had to come into the game anyway. Instead he had a "hunch" and went with Marlon Anderson instead. Anderson popped out, killing the rally.

Now fast forward to yesterday. I'm sitting home on my couch, expecting to see Pedro Martinez throw against a few unlucky A-ballers, but of course, the minor league game gets rained out (gotta love Florida in the summer).

So I go to the fridge, grab a Coke and a bag of cool ranch Doritos from on top of the fridge and head back to my viewing throne. Then the lineup cards are announced.

Reyes, SS
Castillo, 2B
Wright, 3B
Delgado, 1B
Alou, LF
Anderson, CF
Castro, C
Green, RF
Perez, P

I almost choked on a Dorito. What? Are you kidding me? Marlon Anderson in center field. I don't think the guy has ever played center in his life. And he's batting 6th? What is Willie thinking. Dumb move.

(Now fast-forward to the 3rd inning)

Gary Cohen:

Here's the pitch to Anderson. And it's a high flyball, deep right field... going back is Hart, looking up... that ball is .... OUTTA HERE!!!! A 3-run homerun by Marlon Anderson and the Mets take a 1-run lead!

Need I say more. Willie had a hunch to go with Anderson. Willie's a freaking genius.

Now here's what I wrote on Sunday:

**(Check back next week when I write the exact same blog PRAISING Willie for going with his gut and ditching conventional wisdom. That's the nature of being a fan you know lol.)

Did I call it or what? Now THAT'S funny. Holla back.

Willie's Brain Freeze

OK, so I'm watching Game 2 last night. Critical point in the ballgame. 1 out, tie game, bottom of the 7th. Lo Duca gets a single and then L-Millz smacks a single right behind him. However, while rounding 2nd, Lo Duca comes up lame with a leg injury.

Now Ramon Castro was already on deck and warming up. So I'm thinking, "OK Willie is going to use a pitcher to pinch-run for Lo Duca and then let Castro hit against the lefty Ray King. Easy decision!"

So El Duque comes in to run for the injured Lo Duca. OK, just what I thought.

Then, for some strange reason, Willie decides that instead of letting Castro pinch-hit, he's going to bring in Marlon Anderson, a lefty, to face Ray King.

Willie, I love ya but WTH WERE YOU THINKING!!!!!!!!!!

I literally was in shock.

This was a bad decision for many reasons.

First, the Mets bench was already short since Anderson Hernandez was sent down to make room for Pelfrey and Carlos "The Next Alou" Beltran was unable to play with a strained ab muscle. (Seems like Beltran is either hurt or playing "hurt" all of the time).

So the bench was already short... why waste another bench player when Castro HAD TO come in the game anyway for the injured Lo Duca?

In the words of Willie:

"I was confident in Marlon," he said. "You don't want to use two players there, but you got to go for it."

Okay, so Marlon Anderson was 3 for 5 with a double and a homerun in his career versus King. Pretty good. Is it a good enough sample for Willie to insert him into the game and deplete his entire bench? Hellz to the no. Using 2 players for 1 when you are already short on the bench is a pretty dumb thing to do... unless the pinch hitter you are sending up is Barry Bonds or Albert Pujols. And Marlon Anderson is no Barry Bonds or Albert Pujols. You feel me?

Plus King is the only lefty in the Nats pen. Which means that there was a good chance down the line that Anderson could be used to pinch hit and it would be against a righty.

So of course Marlon Anderson comes in... and pops out. Hovito Reyes comes up next and does the same thing. Rally over. Bench depleted. Brain freeze.

And to make matters worse, of course the Mets come storming back in the 8th bringing the game to 6-5. But in the 9th, after a ground out by Milledge (hottest hitter in the lineup hitting 8th???), up comes pinch hitter TOM GLAVINE. That's right, Tom Glavine had to pinch hit because Willie used 2 players for one back in the 7th. When he didn't have to. Brain freeze.

I wonder if Willie is a big gambler. I mean, he goes with his gut alot, which is fine, but sometimes you have to put your gut in check and do the reasonable thing. Like, for instance, if he was sitting at a poker table with pocket 7s, and the cards on the table were king, king, jack, ace, queen - would Willie put all of his chips on the line against those odds or live to fight another day?

Willie needed to fight another day. Instead he had a brain freeze. Instead of Subway, maybe Willie should be the spokesman for Luigi's Italian Ice. Horrible.

**(Check back next week when I write the exact same blog PRAISING Willie for going with his gut and ditching conventional wisdom. That's the nature of being a fan you know lol.)

Holla back.

*A Long Sigh*

Seriously, they can do better than this.

From Newsday:

Lastings Milledge was on second base last night when John Maine hit his home run in the fourth inning of the Mets' 8-4 win. As he headed for home, an excited Milledge celebrated in that, shall we say, exuberant style that sometimes ticks opponents off.

Were the Pirates ticked off? Manager Jim Tracy said, "I'm not going to get into that" when asked about Milledge's antics, which included waving Maine around the bases like a third-base coach. But the second pitch of Milledge's next at-bat was a fastball to the elbow from reliever Tony Armas Jr.

---

What a surprise, another "Milledge is a punk and showboat" article from the New York media. This follows what the MSM is prone to doing in this day and age. Once a theme develops, they run with it until it becomes played out or invalid. For instance, Milledge is now the "showboat punk" so every chance they get to perpetuate this theme they do it. We saw this with A-Rod and all of the "he's not worth his contract because he's not clutch" articles. Now the question is how much will A-Rod make and will the Yankees be foolish enough to let him walk away. Go figure.

I watched the entire game last night and L-Millz did nothing wrong. He didn't show up anyone. Now his Reyes handshake homerun is borderline (that little semi-slide/moonwalk at the end may be pushing it), but again that's at the dugout and everyone knows it's not intended to show up the other team. I'd also like to point out that on the pitch where Milledge got hit, HE'S the one who actually initiated the contact and probably should not have been given first base. For Newsday to implicate that he was hit as retaliation is a stretch.

And yes this is yet another Milledge post (takes a long sigh...). Hey did Bonds homer yet? Now there's a REAL punk for you. Holla back.

Alou is Back... Er Maybe Not

From the "Why Am I Not In The Least Bit Surprised" department:

Newsday:

The Mets were hoping to activate Moises Alou for Tuesday's game with the Pirates at Shea Stadium.

But the leftfielder will have to stay on the disabled list for at least a few more days after injuring his right shoulder in his final minor league rehab game Sunday at Brooklyn.

Alou, who has been out of the lineup for more than two months with a groin injury, had an MRI Tuesday. The tests revealed tendinitis.

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I give Alou 2 1/2 weeks before he breaks down again once he returns from the DL. Good ole Moises "Aaachooooo." Holla back.

Welcome Back Marlon; Franco Slammed

The Mets have finally shipped David Newhan back to where he rightly belongs (Triple A)... and brought back an old friend. Marlon Anderson was signed by the Mets and will compete with Gotay and Valentin for time at 2nd base. Definitely a good move if it's a straight Newhan for Anderson swap. At best, David Newhan was a poor man's "Super" Joe McEwing... which really isn't saying much. Marlon Anderson is just the type of veteran/role player that Willie loves to have on his team. Plus who can forget all of the clutch hits Anderson had for the Metropolitans back in 2005. The guy was clutch. Let's hope he still has it.

Now on to this Franco thing... wow, who knew? Check this out:

From The Journal News:

Manager Willie Randolph said Franco should get more playing time with the Braves, and the reason he didn't with the Mets was a .200 average.

"If you play, you have to produce. That clubhouse stuff is overrated," said Randolph, who volunteered the information unsolicited.

Jose Valentin offered up that Franco was a less than eager participant in the club's pregame stretching.

However, what irked some players was Franco wouldn't hesitate to get in the face of some of the younger players about doing their jobs when he was hitting .200 with one homer with the Mets.

"To be a leader for me, it's not enough to talk all the time," Valentin said. "You have to go out and do it yourself."

---

Wow. Now that's VERY surprising. The whole time I was under the assumption that everyone just loved Julio Franco and his "veteran leadership." Come to find out, Willie thought he was overrated and Valentin didn't respect him. And Valentin isn't the type to slam a player so this must be a sentiment that is shared with at least a few more Mets in the clubhouse. Wow.

And of course "Larrrrry" and the Tomahawk Choppers from Atlanta promptly picked him up and signed him. Honestly, I say that's great news for the Mets. Can't wait to see him return to Shea in a Braves uniform so I can watch him swing late at an 88 mph fastball from El Duque. I think I have more bat speed than Franco right about now. Holla Back.

D-Wright Showing The PSTriple Some Love

Got this from the official Playstation Blog. D. Wright, who is the cover boy for the video game MLB: 07 The Show, took some time out during the All-Star break to visit a few kids at the UCSF Children's Hospital in San Francisco.

While he was there, he signed a few autographs and handed out some free stuff courtesy of Sony. Great job on all sides, can't really hate on charity. In the words of Martin Lawrence...David loves the kids!

If I were those kids I'd take a few of those PS3s and sell 'em on Ebay... $500 bucks is alot to a little kid. I'd keep the autographs though, Wright is the man! Holla back.