Centerfield

Wonderful job BG.

Bobby V.

Leaving Fenway this year we were given a dinner roll individually wrapped in plastic. I opened it thinking it would have some filling/flavor, but nope. Just bread. Wish I could remember the name. Maybe Willets knows?

The Mets did us a favor and broke the unwritten rule that stretches like this have to be immediately preceded by a gut-wrenching late inning loss so you can stew on it and drive yourself crazy. For these 51 hours I will be thinking about the Duda blast.

Edgy MD wrote: After two rounds of balloting, the twitters are announcing that Manfred is the man. I for one welcome our new alien overlord. The guy looks like a douche. Probably runs at night.

Wait, for real? You needed someone to explain to you the connection between Harvey and Hefner?

Dear Matt, This is what I was fucking talking about. Slow the fuck down. Love, Sandy

We will be there the night before (this Friday) for Ryan's birthday.

He throws funny.

deGrom is deBomb

Fister? I hardly know her.

Talking about Mitchell bothers me. It reminds me of all the bad moves after 1986. Imagine if we had held onto Mitchell, Dykstra and Aguilera. Dykstra CF Jefferies 2B Straw RF Mitchell LF HoJo 3B That's a nice way to start the lineup.

My Gamecast tells me Duda has been ejected. For real? Did he sulk in an offensive way?

Sure, it would be great if the Mets got back into it, but right now they are not realistically in any race. That's ok. Here are things I'd like to see for the remainder of this year. If some of these things pan out, I'm ok with falling out of the race. 1. Play Lucas Duda against lefties. Let's see how he does. I want 30 HR's. 2. Play Flores at SS every day. We know what we have with Tejada. It's not much...even when it's "good" Tejada. Let's see what Flores can do. 3. Don't push DeGrom past his innings limit. Don't worry about his innings, because the Mets will... 4. Call up Noah Syndegaard. It's time. Throw him into the mix. Let him get the jitters out in a stress-free environment. 5. Wrest Wright. His shoulder seems to be bothering him. Let's give Campbell 2 weeks at third.

Jeff Kent.

It would be great if teams could keep cutting and signing Dan Uggla so the Mets face him as many time as possible. (I know I am tempting fate here. If Uggla kills the Mets this series it's all on me.)

Edgy MD wrote: Can you imagine if the Mets dealt off Duda instead of Davis and their seasons otherwise continued on the track they are on now? I don't even want to imagine. Every time we hear that the Mets always make the wrong call, let's remember Davis-Duda. (Now watch as Ike Davis miraculously turns around his career and turns into a Hall of Famer.)

Lucas Duda says the dimensions at CitiField are too small.

Also, I thought I read someplace that deGrom has already had TJ surgery. Did I make that up?

Nothing? Come on FK. I can understand the music is not for everyone, but wow, she would be tough to take pass on if she were sending eyes your way.

Kind of inspired by the deGrom thread I started going through some of the Met prospects of the recent past and realized I would be a terrible scout. Looking through my past judgments, there are far fewer hits than misses. (I excluded the no-brainers like Reyes and Wright, who everyone got right, and Gregg Jefferies, who everyone got wrong.) Misses 1. Victor Diaz. Was convinced this guy was going to be a star. 2. Justin Turner. "That guy is definitely an everyday player." 3. Jae Seo. We are really going to regret trading Jae Seo. 4. Dave Magadan. Is going to win the batting title year after year. Future Hall of Famer. 5. Jenrry Mejia. After watching him when he first came up, I didn't think he would be an effective starter or reliever. 6. Carlos Gomez. "Are people really upset that we traded the second coming of Roger Cedeno? Come on. The guy will never hit enough to be an everyday player." 7. Kevin Mitchell. "This McReynolds guy is solid. And we got him for a bench player? Nice!" 8. Jordany Valdespin. Looked like a good hitter to me. Though I guess there is still time for Valdespin to find himself. Hits 1. Dillon Gee. Everyone said he didn't have major league stuff. But from what I saw, he had a low 90's fastball, good secondary pitches, and great control. He's been better than I would have expected, but I saw no reason why he couldn't be Bobby Jones. 2. Alex Escobar. Looked like crap from the very beginning. Turned out to be crap. 3. Jason Tyner. Really? We spend a number 1 pick on this 120 pounder? Worst #1 pick I can remember. 4. Ike Davis. Eventually anyway. When I saw his swing I thought this guy can't hit in the major leagues. Was happy to be wrong for a while, but eventually his suck potential kicked in. Ugliest swing ever.

deGrom kind of illustrates how little I understand about scouting and labeling prospects. For instance, Zack Wheeler is as highly touted as they come. They say he has front-of-the rotation potential. Zack throws his fastball around 96, but his secondary pitches are not great, and lack consistency. Wheeler struggles with his control. deGrom, on the other hand, sits at about 94 with his fastball, but has plus secondary pitches, including a great changeup he can throw even when behind in the count. deGrom has good control and limits his walks. Despite this, he was a fringe prospect. From what I read about him, I expected him to be Pat Strange or Kevin Mulvey.

Colon is going to pitch a perfect game. We deserve it after our wait.

I took 30 and see I'm the only one going that low so far. Where is all of the second half improvement going to come from? Wright, d'Arnaud, Wheeler, Syndergaard, LF trade/promotion, some run differential regression Pitchers hitting. A performance at short that, even if Tejada doesn't maintain his current pace, won't include his sluggish start or anything from Quintanilla. A performance from Granderson that also does not include any extension of his mudslogged start. The glorious promotion of a man called Reynolds. Familia and Mejia and Black turning the last three innings into a dark, lifeless room that opponents dread being locked in, and do not emerge from. A heretofore unheard-of fight song rising seemingly spontaneously from the zeitgeist that gives zeal to the fans and wings to the players' heels. Terry Collins, tasting second-half competitiveness for the first time as Met manager, reverting to the fiery maniac that led his teams to rousing initial success in the American league, before becoming tiresome and burning them out in year three. Terry Collins, spirited commander and strategic genius. Spontaneous fan clubs rising up in a Yankee-weary world. Manhattan, Kansas? Met fans. Canberra, Australia? Met fans. Quito? Phnom Penh? Dakar? Suddenly crawling with screaming Mets fans. Many of them dancing to a remix of that fight song I was telling you about, too. You, you, you, you, and me. Believing. There is going to be that phenom named Timo Jefferies that comes up and lights the world on fire this second half. He will continue his success in the post-season and become an October legend. Sure, the rest of his Major League career won't amount to much, but when the 2014 Championship team comes back for reunions, Timo Jefferies will get some of the biggest ovations.

OMG. FINALLY. THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO... Wait what? 10 p.m.? Grumble grumble.