Well, they could also trade Moises Alou to some team that needs a pinch-hitter or DH, assuming major league rules could be changed to permit a stand-in to run the bases for him (to avoid “calf strains” or whatever the ailment du jour is).
Is there a Pedro Martinez Next Injury pool started yet? I’ll bet he’s back on the DL by the end of July, more probably by the All-Star break.
What the Mets need is a closer more reliable than Billy Wagner is now. Brilliant move of Omar Minaya, then, to get Ambiorix Burgos from the Royals.
Went to the game today for Father’s Day. It pretty much summed up the season; four unearned runs scored thanks to an error by Frodo and a three-run home run by none other than Reed Johnson, whose replacement, Shannon Stewart, is hurt and wasn’t any good when he was healthy. Now, why they had the shortstop who can’t field playing when one of the most extreme ground ball pitchers in the major leagues was pitching, I cannot explain. This essentially ended the game, since four runs is way more than the Jays can score. And they knew it, because they just gave up. They were hopelessly shut down by the immortal Jason Marquis. Just to add some hilarity they loaded the bases with nobody out in the eighth and scored only one run, and that on a walk.
It was frankly a completely unenjoyable experience. They don’t even look like they’re trying.
I heard the highlights of Reed Johnson hitting the homer and I thought of you immediately RickJay. I assumed you would not be happy about it.
Yanks just won to go three game over .500 finally. Moose has 10 wins already. It was nice to see the RBIs spread out a bit tonight.
I thought of RickJay when i was watching Baseball Tonight, and saw Eckstein scrambling around on his knees trying to come up with the ball after his error.
The Orioles managed to beat the Bucs tonight after coming back from no fewer than 4 deficits, culminating in a 2-run bottom of the ninth that won the game. Of the Birds’ 34 wins this year, 18 have involved comebacks after being behind in the game. It was very exciting stuff.
The O’s are hanging around the .500 mark, which is considerably better than most people predicted at the beginning of the year. I’m under no illusion that they will challenge for a playoff spot, but if the young guys keep playing well it might at least signal some hope for the future.
Wagner has a 2.33 ERA, with a 32/6 K/W ratio. What exactly in your estimation makes for a “reliable” closer? Wagner is the least of the Mets’ problems; a closer isn’t much good unless you can get him a lead.
Met fans don’t want an above average closer, they want a great closer. It comes from being in the same town as Mariano Rivera. This might not describe cmkeller, but it sure does describe many if not most Met fans I know. It is especially true of the younger Mets fans that don’t really remember before Franco and Rivera. When he was playing, Mets fans were in a hurry for Franco to not be playing.
John DiFool:
True enough, I’m just reflecting the fact that it was three consecutive blown saves by Wagner that has the Mets faithful calling for Willie Randolph’s head. And, as a Royals fan, I’ve been amused or over a year that anyone wanted Ambiorix Burgos, who was a total blown save machine in 2006, and it’s the Mets who’ve got him.
Go Tigers. Crush the puny Dodgers. They need to go on a tear and keep this momentum up on the road. Fernando Rodney is coming back in days (at the most) and Zumaya should be back by the San Diego series.
I also thought of rickjay when I watched the Toronto/Chicago game today.
The Blue Jays looked like a team that was out of it
I was all hyped up for the “Cy Young Matchup” between CC Sabathia and Greg Maddux today because - hey, it’s Greg Maddux!
While I’m excited that the Indians won, I was sort of creeped out to see the Tribe beat up on a legendary NL pitcher. Now, we’re no Toronto (hi RickJay!) but our hitting is atrocious and we got 8 hits and 5 runs off him in 6 innings. I was not impressed…let’s just hope it was a bad day for him.
Yanks won big over Houston today. I think this was the first sweep of the season.
The score was 13-0 and this makes it 4 straight. The very bad news is that Wang sprained his right foot running home and is in a soft cast and he is going for an MRI tomorrow. The Yanks cannot afford to lose him right now, they were finally clicking on all cylinders and ready to catch the leaders.
BTW: Jorge Posada had a great game. He was 2 for 2 with 3 walks and a homer. He finished the game up playing 1st.
A-Rod had the only other homer so the offense came on timely hitting and good running and was helped by some bad fielding. It was good to the Yanks make the opponents pay for a mistake. During the great run in the 90s, giving the Yanks an extra out almost always led to runs coming across the plate. That has not been as true in the 00s.
Cleveland’s offense has been quite adequate; they’ve scored almost exactly the league average number of runs. It’s disappointing in that they were expected to be way ABOVE average, but it’s not atrocious at all. Toronto is legitimately bad; they’ve scored half a run per game LESS than the average AL team. If Toronto had scored as many runs as Cleveland, they’d be in first place or close to it.
Does this suck or what? Running the bases in a freaking interleague game. Talk about bad breaks.
In an ugly win for the Cards yesterday, the ugliest part was Yadier Molina being carted off the field on a backboard after a collision at the plate. The team is calling it a mild concussion. (In my mind, there is no such thing as a “mild” concussion, but that’s just me.) No word on how long he’ll be out. Can it get much worse, injury-wise, for the Cardinals? In 10 days, they’ve lost their best player, ace, and linchpin catcher. Who’s next? Ludwick? Shudder…
The happy news is that they bounced back from that 20-2 ass-kicking on Friday to win the next two games. The not-so-happy news is they’re still stalled 3.5 games back. C’mon, Cubbies! Work with us here! Drop a couple of games, why dontcha!
Hey Dodger fans, I want to know what you think of Torre so far?
Do you like the job he is doing?
Is he part of the reason the Dodgers are below .500 in an easy division?
Did the Dodgers sustain any major injuries?
How do you rate the various parts of Torre game?
Wait, strike the last one, that is no longer part of his job description.
Please help this AL fan out.
D-backs had two ugly losses to KC. However, the Dodgers just don’t seem to want to take advantage of it!
The Mets should just fire Randolph. They know they’re going to do it, so just get it over with. Don’t let the guy twist in the wind with the NY media all over him. I think the Phillies will run away with the NL East and I don’t see a wild card team coming from there.
I’ve heard ugly rumors that the Yankees are looking at Sabathia. I really hope not. I’m so sick of the big market teams gobbling up all the good players. Hopefully, Cleveland will pay him a fair deal and keep him there.
If Wang is seriously hurt, expect those rumors to ratchet up to heavy negotiations. Brian Cashman doesn’t want to trade the young talent, but if he can work a reasonable deal, I know the owners would sign off on it in a heart beat.
The Orioles almost did the miracle comeback three games in a row against the Pirates. Brian Roberts hit a 2-run homer with 2 out in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game, but (for the second night in a row) Sherrill couldn’t pitch a scoreless inning, and the Bucs won the game.