A Boy Named Seo

]Even if Peterson was of the opinion that Scott Kazmir was a likely candidate for a debilitating injury, the Mets would be grossly unprofessional to realease that specific opinion in the context of the trade. They hung him out to dry enough by letting that ten-minute comment leak. I agree with you, and the Mets might've done that, who knows. If the "he's gonna get hurt" theory was talked about openly, it could've been an attempt by the organization to justify the trade and to calm the angry WFAN Met fan after it happened. I'm still curious whether Peterson actually said anything along those lines, though. This BA article from two years ago suggests he did publicly say Kazmir had mechanics issues, but provides no direct quotes from Peterson, and Kazmir himself refutes that Peterson had any problems with the way he pitches. Following the trade, Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson was quoted in several publications suggesting Kazmir's mechanics needed improvement. At barely 6 feet tall, Kazmir already fought questions about his durability. He had a tender elbow at the start of the 2003 season and an abdominal strain early this season, and the Mets handled him carefully, so he has never had a huge workload. While Wilken points out that few 20-year-old pitchers have perfect deliveries, he says there's nothing in Kazmir's mechanics to suggest a future of arm problems. "We didn't see anything alarming either mechanically or mentally," said Wilken, who previously worked with Peterson in the Blue Jays organization. "Scott Kazmir has gotten through a lot of things, so hopefully in his next steps he can handle (making adjustments) too. "I just hope Rick Peterson's wrong this time." Kazmir disputed that Peterson even made the criticisms attributed to him, and said he isn't worried about his mechanics regardless. Doctors analyzed his delivery at the American Sports Medicine Institute in Birmingham prior to this season, looking at the muscle strain and torque in his arm and upper body, and said he checked out fine. "I don't think (Peterson) said that, to tell you the truth," Kazmir said. "Because when we were in Birmingham doing biomechanics with all that, he was saying he didn't want me to change anything and that my mechanics were pretty sound."

I looked for a minute (and came up empty) for quotes regarding Kazmir's delivery and mechanics. My brain told me that Peterson thought Kazmir had a violent delivery, and that maybe this opinion was formed after Kazmir's session in Birmingham at the Sports Medicine Institute (something like a hundred bazillion, trillion revolutions per millisecond in his pitching arm... pretty sure that's what he said). My brain's not as smart as he sometimes thinks he is.

You could argue that he hasn't kept Pedro and Glavine healthy, but you'd lose that argument quickly. Also, Kazmir's recent shoulder woes make you wonder if Peterson really did see something or if that's just a crappy coincidence for poor Scotty. That article didn't even give him props for Darren Oliver or Aaron Heilman. Edit: What Yancy said.

That Pujols fella has 3 homers, too.

I love OO's avatar. Nicely done.

It looks like C-Los' development into a fearsome closer has continued as planned this year in high-A ball. He's saved 30 St. Lucie victories in this, his All-Star season, and his numbers go like this heading into the home stretch: 4 wins, 3 defeats, 48.1 IP, 39 H, 17 BB, 44 K, 3.17 ERA, 1.16 WHIP. Homeboy's gotta be in Binghamton next year. Gotta be.

"Nothing. I woke up." -Julio Franco when asked what he wanted for his 48th birthday.

I love the socks on the Marquis de Suck. Staying with fashion, I've become really keen on the snow white uni's and the two-tone crazy helmet. I think it looks great.

"We were always all-stars after midnight", sez Keith. Well said.

Keith is positively giddy in the booth right now and still wearing his uni. "They'll have to tear the uniform off me," he said. Right on, Keith.

There's live baseball on at 9 in the morning. I haven't even had coffee yet.

It's getting so much attention because a lot of people really love hearing about shit like this. More than just a simple divorce filing, Lo Duca cheated on his wife with a young girl he allegedly met at "18 and over" night, and he lied to his wifey, who also happens to be his baby momma. JD was right on everything he said and it does scream loser (I've been waiting on 'Footballers Wives' in my Blockbuster queue for a couple of months - I can't wait to see it). This is the kinda thing, though, that reminds me that as much as I love Cliff Floyd's quotes, Carlos Delgado's integrity, and everything about David Wright, I still don't want to know anything about the Mets personal lives because I probably won't like them anymore.

Billy Wagner... right on.

Hard to believe Adrian Gonzalez is "only" 25. Feels like he's been talked about forever. Now he's playing for his hometown team (he's from Chula Vista) and having a great season. Outstanding work, duan.

]"We got Edgardo Alfonzo again? Isn't his brother named Edgar? What were his parents thinking?" -Endy Chavez

Thanks, Monk.

Any other MLB.TV'ers getting no feed?

]Ramon Castro - Imperial March, Star Wars Soundtrack Wonder if this has something to do with his freakishly immense, larger-than-the-Death-Star, Dark Helmet-like noggin.

Bring back the cranes.

Wearing #9, and batting fifth to protect the dangerous Offerman-Tucker 1-2 Punch, Fonz picked up a couple of hits and a couple of RBI's in Norfolk's 8-0 win yesterday. That brought him to a clean .300 in the early going (6-20) with one lone double in the XBH department. What could've been behind him that was so terrible they had to dump this crazy gray background there instead?

Edgy DC wrote: Double on a popup to the secondbaseman? That's crazy talk. Pop-up into shallow right field. Phillips pulled up as Chris "Criminal Intent" Denorfia called him off. Denorfia beat wasn't as good as he thought it was and he dove and came up short. Nady wasn't trucking it all that hard around first, but even if he was, it would've been real tough to end up at third.

Elster88 wrote: Whoa. What just happened there? Lots of yelling going on on the FAN about that CS. Whatshisname sounds exactly like Gary. I think. The throw by Castro was offline and to the shortstop side of the bag. Valentin had to pick it on the shorthop and then quickly slap the tag down on the other side of the bag, which he did beautifully. It was a bang-bang play as the baseball announcers say and even Keith thought he might've been in there. Great play by Valentin either way.

Sometime soon, maybe tomorrow, Mike Piazza will pass two more career milestones and pad his already HOF-bound resume with some nice, big, round numbers. With 2 hits tonight (including his 14th homer), Piazza is just one base hit away from 2000 for his career and 2 runs shy of 1000. Maybe it's the weather, the fish tacos, the camo uni's, something, but Piazza's having a really great year. Including tonight, he's now hitting .295/.352./.527 (his career averages are .310/.380/.553) and he's got 43 RBI to go along with his 14 homers. Tomorrow night (if he's in the lineup), he'll face John Lieber, against whom he's fared pretty well (11-34, .334 BA). To get to both of those landmarks in the same game would be pretty neat, but how cool would it be if he eclipsed both in the same at bat? Go Mikey.

If found this in today's Journal Times Tribune Reporter (online edition). Wow, sounds like a doozy! Think he'd do it? I don't know? Think he should? Wow, who knows? Wow. Arroyo'd be sweet, but Pelfrey? Wow. Omar, don't gut the farm! But get us a stud pitcher! Freel? Wow. ]A source in Cincinnati reports that Omar Minaya met with Reds GM Wayne Krivsky prior to the Mets 3-game set against the Reds to try to get a clearer picture of what Krivsky's intentions with the Reds will be as the July 31 trade deadline fast approaches. Last week the Reds were one game above .500 and seemingly left for dead in the NL Central, which is when Minaya placed a call to inquire about All-Star pitcher Bronson Arroyo, who is 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA in July. A high-ranking Mets official indicated that Minaya likes Arroyo's playoff experience and thought he may be reverting somewhat to his career norms. It was believed Arroyo would not be available, but the same high-ranking Mets official hinted that the Reds may want to deal him while he still has a relatively high value, and mentioned Mike Pelfrey as Krivsky's asking price, a ransom Minaya would certainly be reluctant to pay. The point may be moot, however, as the Reds have reeled off 4 straight wins since dealing Austin Kearns and Felipe Lopez to Washington, and have moved to within 3 1/2 games of St. Louis. At this point it would seem Arroyo isn't going anywhere. That still didn't stop Minaya from asking about super-sub Ryan Freel. The energetic right-handed sparkplug is hitting .296 with a .382 OBP and 41 runs scored, but can't find a regular position or playing time in Cincinnati. The trade of Kearns and Lopez seemed to open up that possibility for the versatile Freel, who can essentially play 7 positions and could be the second baseman the Mets have been looking for. Even after solidifying the bullpen, a source close to Minaya indicated that the Reds would want Duaner Sanchez and either Aaron Heilman to fill their rotation, or an outfielder, possibly Xavier Nady.