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METS: Pagan-CF Cora-2B Wright-3B Davis-1B Bay-LF Thole-C Francoeur-RF Tejada-SS Dickey-RHP Nationals: Morgan 8 Bernadina 9 Zimmerman 5 Dunn 3 Willingham 7 I. Rodriguez 2 Kennedy 4 Desmond 6 Strasburg 1

METS: Pagan-CF Tejada-SS Wright-3B Davis-1B Bay-LF Barajas-C Francoeur-RF Cora-2B Niese-LHP Nationals: Morgan 8 Guzman 4 Dunn 3 Zimmerman 5 Willingham 7 Rodriguez 2 Morse 9 Desmond 6 Atilano 1

You're right JCL, but I don't like limiting your closer, your best reliever, for something that might not occur.

In the post-game press conference, Jerry was asked why Rodriguez wasn't used in the 9th. He said "that's not what a closer does." Of course, what Jerry doesn't comprehend is that when you're on the road, there is no save situation and the bottom of the 9th is sudden death. While Jerry was searching for a role for his closer, his 4th best (at most) reliever was brought into the game. http://www.wfan.com/pages/223571.php The Diamondbacks have a new GM and manager tonight. Lucky bastards.

Back from a horrible evening at Nationals Park. Their fans suck so much that they now have a male cheerleader on each side. The dope on our side wore a colored wig, blew a whistle and danced to every at bat song. I hated him almost as much as I hate their mascot, the effeminate chicken. (The only good thing is that if you give the Gifford's ice cream guy a buck, he'll give you an extra scoop--it's supposed to be $3.) Your team sucks: Igarashi is horrible and has no business being on the team. Cora is a great bench coach and has no business being on the team. (Tatis didn't play tonight, but he has no business being on the team either.) 3 hits over the last 7 innings. I'm [u:2wrn17ab]so [/u:2wrn17ab]sorry that they were tired after their long flight but there was a game on the schedule and it counted. E.g., Francoeur looked like he'd never seen a major league pitcher before. I was tired today, too, but I put in a full day of work. The Mets didn't. And I can't get over walking a .155 hitter, even if it's Willie Harris. Your manager is an idiot: Who makes a defensive change in the 6th inning? Jerry does. If he has so little confidence in Carter's defensive abilities, then he shouldn't start a game in the OF. Making this move, when combined with Reyes' ability, limited possible moves later in the game. If Pagan was available to play half the game, he was available to start. Plus, I'd like to have seen Carter against Capps in the 9th. Why PH for Blanco with 2 outs and nobody on? Blanco had 2 hits. Unless Bay hit one out, Jerry was counting on Cora, who is no good, to drive in the go-ahead run. The move to make was let Blanco hit and PH Bay for Cora. Tatis could have played 2d if Reyes wasn't available.

Thanks MGIM and Fman. You mean that isn't the real Thomas Jefferson? I once tried to high-five Abe Lincoln (who hasn't?) but he was a she and she wouldn't high five. The Teddy thing is boring--if he was going to win, it should have been long ago. Still, the locals are amused by it. The PA announcer always calls it "The Main Event" which makes me wonder what the game is.

No Jenn, no dcbatgirl, no Q &A. The Mets are focused and showing good �fundies� so I will try to do the same in this KTE. The Mets play the Nationals this weekend for four games (July 1-4). This will be the Mets first games against NL opponents within the continental United States since June 2nd (@ SD). The Mets are 44-35, 16-22 on the road while the Nationals are 34-45 but 20-16 at home. The Mets trail in the season series, 3 games to 5. FYI: I will be at the first three games of the series: Thursday and Friday, 112-row H-seat 1; Saturday�112-row J-seat 1. Please stop by to kibbitz. That means you! If you�re going to Nationals Park, the best place for food is Ben�s Chili Bowl. http://www.benschilibowl.com. The President has eaten there, Adam Richman of Man vs. Food has eaten there, Bill Cosby has eaten there. My two sons, one is a carnivore and the other a vegetarian, each love it, too. Expectations were raised for the Nationals when they were 20-15 through May 13. Since then, they are 14-30 and have lost 6 of 7, including an embarrassing three game sweep against the lowly Orioles last weekend. Jim Riggelman is being criticized for micro-managing and might be on �thin ice� before too long. Tom Boswell said this in The Washington Post, on June 28, 2010: The level of Nats blundering in the last 30 days is almost incomprehensible. Four infielders -- Desmond (eight errors), Guzm�n (seven), Kennedy (six) and Zimmerman (four) -- have made 25 errors in 28 games. The rest of the Nats have contributed five more errors. How bad is that? In the last 30 days, the Reds' entire team has made only seven errors. And the Yankees only have made 24 errors all season. In those 28 games, Nats errors have led to 29 unearned runs -- 20 more than the average team in that time. Those extra gift runs are the reason the Nats are now all but an afterthought in the National League East or wild-card race for this season, rather than being at .500. Here are the pitching match-ups for the series: July 1: Johan Santana (5-5, 3.55, 1.25 WHIP) against Livan Hernandez (RHP, 6-4, 3.10, 1.28). Look at that again: Livan Hernandez has better numbers than Johan Santana. Johan lost to Washington on April 11, 5-2, going 5 innings, 5 ER. Against Johan, Ivan Rodriguez is 9-40, 1 HR, 5 RBI and 10 Ks. Josh Willingham is 5-13, 2 HR, 7 RBI (including a Grand Slam on April 11). Adam Dunn is 4-8, 2 HR. With Pelfrey struggling and the 5th spot in flux, it would be nice to see Johan step-up and pitch like the ace he is supposed to be. Hernandez is 2-0 against the Mets this year, winning on April 11 (7 IP, 0 ER, 5 H) and May 19 (6.1 IP, 2 ER, 4 H). Against Hernandez, David Wright is 12-36 with 4 HR and 10 RBI but we have to see if Jerry puts him in the lineup as Wright sat on May 19 following a bad game. Jose Reyes is 13-50 with 2 HR. Jeff Francoeur is 7-16 with a home run. At Nationals Park, Hernandez is 4-1 with a 1.81 ERA. However, he was ineffective in his last start, giving up 5 runs and 11 hits in 6 IP (@ Baltimore). July 2 (Black Heritage Day): Jonathon Niese (5-2, 3.84, 1.45), Luis Atilano (RHP, 6-4. 4.33, 1.43). Niese pitched poorly against the Nationals on May 11 (4.1 IP, 6 ER) but the Mets scored 6 in the 8th to win 8-6. Against Niese, Adam Dunn has a HR. I. Rodriguez is 2-6 with 3 RBI. Atilano is 1-1 against the Mets in �10, winning 3-2 on May 10 (5.1 IP, 0 ER, 5 H) and losing 10-7 on May 20 (4.1 IP, 6 ER, 9 H). Against Atilano, David Wright has 4 RBI. July 3 (�Replica Patriotic Cap Day�) (I don�t understand what this means as it�s a real cap, just a cheap version of a more expensive cap. What does a replica of a hat look like?): R.A. Dickey (6-1, 2.98, 1.29) against Stephen Strasburg (2-2, 2.27, 1.01, 48 K, 7 BB in 31.1 IP, RHP). Robert Allen Dickey�s first start as a Met was against the Nationals on May 19 (the triple play game, the Pagan inside the home run game). Dickey went 6 innings, giving up 2 ER and 5 hits. He�s also coming off his worst performance of the season so it will be interesting to see if he can �bounce back.� Against Dickey, Adam Kennedy is 4-15 with a home run. It�s a shame that Strasburg is not getting more publicity because he�s good. When he pitches, the Nationals fans call it �Strasmus.� I can�t tell you anything that you don�t already know about him, other than he�s the reason that this game is starting at 4:10, that you�ll have to listen to Joe Buck on FOX instead of Gary Cohen on SNY, and why I have to leave at least a half-hour earlier for the game. He throws a lot of strikes but some say too many strikes: after his start on June 23, MASN color commentator Moron Rob Dibble argued with Mets World Series Hero (who works on the MASN pre- and post-game shows). Knight said that Strasburg needs to nibble more when ahead in the count. This was too complicated for Moron Rob Dibble who disagreed: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2010/06/dibble_and_knight_debate_stras.html July 4: Hisanori Takahashi (6-3, 4.24, 1.44) v Craig Stammen (2-2, 5.13, 1.40 RHP). This may be Takahashi�s last chance to stay in the rotation following two bad outings. Before that, he had two great outings. Before that, two more bad outings. And before that, two good outings. Based upon this pattern, he�ll pitch well this time. None of his starts have been against Washington. He�s pitched 4.1 against them in relief without giving up a run. Stammen was sent to the minors when Strasburg was called up but he returned on Tuesday and pitched well, going 7.1 inning, 2 ER and 5 hits while getting the win against ATL. He pitched 5 innings against the Mets on May 12, giving up 4 ER and 6 H. Angel Pagan is 5 for 8 against Stammen. The Nationals are in the bottom half of MLB in offense (21st in BA, 17th in HR, 22th in RBI, 21st in hits), still searching for a RF and may be trying to unload Adam Dunn very soon. Speaking of Adam Dunn. I admit it, I like him. Not like him, like him, but like him enough that I wanted him to become a Met when he was a FA two years ago. He�s playing out of position (his best position is DH even though he has said that, if traded�rumors are that the White Sox are interested--he doesn�t want to become a DH) but he only has four errors (still, you can�t get an error on a ball you can�t touch). He leads the Nationals with 17 homers and 47 RBI. Our nemesis Willie Harris is still there but he doesn�t play too much. He�s also only hitting .155, 4 HR and 18 RBI. Perhaps he�s saving his energy to torment us once again. More on the series from Adam Rubin: http://espn.go.com/mlb/preview?gameId=300701120 Don�t forget to visit my friend Jenn�s new blog, Nationals Fangirls: http://natsfangirls.com/ I can�t see it at work because the filter thinks it�s porn.

Zvon: don't forget the annoying commercials that they repeat during the breaks and how they don't come back to the game on time from commercial.

Yes it does--perhaps he let him play because of the location of the game.

METS: Reyes-SS Feliciano-CF Wright-3B Davis-1B Bay-LF Carter-RF Barajas-C Cora-2B Pelfrey-RHP Marlins: Coghlan lf Sanchez 1b "Hanley" ss Cantu 3b Uggla 2b Ross cf Paulino c Stanton rf Volstad sp Is something wrong with Francoeur? And why is Cora starting over Tejada?

HAHAHAHA! If a mascot can be over-rated, the Phantic certainly is. And now "he" is being sued--again! http://www.philly.com/philly/news/homepage/97457764.html?cmpid=15585797

Darn! Polanco and Utley to the DL: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=5340054&campaign=rss&source=twitter&ex_cid=Twitter_espn_5340054

I'm glad that the ball buster is busting Yankee balls.

METS: Reyes-SS Feliciano-CF Wright-3B Davis-1B Bay-LF Francoeur-RF Blanco-C Tejada-2B Dickey-RHP Marlins: Coghlan 7 Sanchez 3 Ramirez 6 ("Mr. Hustle") Cantu 5 Uggla 4 Ross 8 Paulino 2 Stanton 9 Nolasco 1

Heyman tweets that Bobby V. will not manage the Marlins.

We were in Puerto Rico last week. This gives me the chance to share some Fun Facts about Puerto Rico as background for the Mets three games in San Juan: The population of Puerto Rico is 3.9 million. If Puerto Rico was a state, it would rank 27th in population (and have six or seven Congressmen). The sun goes down in Puerto Rico at around 7 so it will be dark at game time (Puerto Rico is on Atlantic Standard Time which is the same as EDT). It�s been raining a lot. We might have seen two hours of sun in six days. Hiram Bithorn was the first Puerto Rican native to play in the majors (he was a pitcher for the Cubs in 1942). Next to San Juan is Carolina (�Caro-leena�) which is known as the �City of Giants� because it was the birth place of Roberto Clemente and Felipe Birriel, who was 7�11� (one tour guide said 8�4�). Posters for these games featured Carlos Beltran, Puerto Rican native. Also on the posters are Jose Reyes, from the Dominican Republic, and Johan Santana, from Venezuela. They could have had pictures of Puerto Rican natives Alex Cora, Angel Pagan, Pedro Feliciano and Jesus Feliciano (called �El Motorito� in the local insert of [u:3qcwahyz]USA Today[/u:3qcwahyz]). One of our tour guides said that they are sorry that Beltran will not be able to play. According to Mets.com, �The Marlins have no active players from Puerto Rico, though their interim manager, Edwin Rodriguez, is a native of Ponce, P.R.� If you read that the Mets enjoyed a local food called mofongo before the game, that will not be good news. It is delicious but heavy and it will make the Mets lethargic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mofongo You�ve heard that Miami is New York�s �6th Borough� but I�ll go with San Juan. You can get [u:3qcwahyz]The Times[/u:3qcwahyz] and [u:3qcwahyz]The Post[/u:3qcwahyz] everywhere. A local TV station has a contract with MLB and mostly shows Mets games (either on WAPA or WAPA 2). The ABC affiliate shows �Eyewitness News� from NY each day at 5, 6 and 11. You can get Schaefer at the Super Max (although I don�t know why you would when you can get excellent local beers Medalla and El Presidente) so there will be plenty available for the Mets to earn during these three games.

METS: Reyes-SS Feliciano-CF Wright-3B Davis-1B Bay-LF Barajas-C Francoeur-RF Tejada-2B Niese-LHP Twins: Span cf Hudson 2b Mauer c Cuddyer 1b Young lf Valencia 3b Repko rf Punto ss Baker p

I feel much better since the ump apologized for blowing a big call. It'll give us solace if the Mets end the year a game behind Atlanta. http://www.freep.com/article/20100626/SPORTS02/100626053/1355/ http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=9385229&query=%26game_pk%3D264917

The Mariners see Johan's "performance" today and smile. Way to step up Johan in the face of personal adversity and against your old team.

Centerfield wrote: "Yes, I know it's a puzzling move considering the timing, but honestly, we didn't think we'd be any good and that there would be lots more opportunities to fire Jerry. That being said, he's still doing a shitty job and we just couldn't let Bobby go to Florida, so there you have it. Jerry out, Bobby will be in uniform tonight. I'll take questions now..." I'm a few days behind CPF posts... this was genius, CF.

METS: Reyes-SS J. Feliciano-CF Wright-3B Davis-1B Bay-LF Barajas-C Francoeur-RF Cora-2B Santana-LHP Twins: Span CF Hudson 2B Mauer C Morneau 1B Cuddyer 3B Kubel RF Young LF Punto SS Pavano P