Edgy MD

Time's a-runnin' out. More importantly, the damned Padres have been relentless this week, winning six in a row and putting the Mets on notice, lowering the Amazin' elimination number to two, which means they can be mathematically eliminated by the close of play tomorrow. All the more reason to go out with a blaze of glory, and rage against the dying of the light. So much dying, so little light, but so much rage. And who better to rage against than the New York Yankees, from whom the Mets have taken 3 out of 5 in the season series, making this game a clincher. As I type, Cincinnati is down 13 to 5 to the great and powerful Brewers in the sixth, and if the Cerveceros TCB in Milwaukee, the Mets will have moved into a tie for 11th place, league-wide. Whatever happens, post-season-wise, there are Reds to catch, and beyond that, Marlins and Cardinals and Pirates all begging to be overtaken. And there are Yankees just waiting to be spanked. I know just the team to do it, too. The action starts at 1:35, with righthander Cam Schlittler on the hill for the Yankees and the Mets countering with Christian Scott. Two CS-es. Don't be late.

Good job, Mets. Good job, baseball. Dodgers need to stop yutzing around and beat the Marlins, though.

Well, it's going to be tough to get Stearns' name on a contract after burning him at the stake.

As Tobias shuts the door, this is a good day for the Yankee management to wonder if maybe they built this park shortsightedly.

Young hits it off the facade of the upper tank. No pain in that. Let's get another plate appearance for Lindor.

Carson Benge says the Mets have plenty of good outfielders.

Mr. Lindor has a special coupon that allows him to get four runs in one swing. And he just redeemed it.

Let's hear it for the professional scout who wired in a report saying "Let's get Torrens from the Yankees; all they'll ask for is pocket change."

He's surely coming out, but he's only expended 81 pitcheroonies.

All the homers today — by the Mets and Yankees — have been wall-scrapers. Not the one that Soto just hit, though — 20 or 25 rows deep. Against a sidearming lefty, too.

A mid-game update, as Benge's RBI single in the top of the fifth has put him ahead of Ty Wigginton into sole possession of second place. He has 14 1/2 games to catch Alonso and maybe make a run at Projected Hubie. # SEASON ROOKIE HITS PROJECTION 1 1981 Hubie Brooks 169.7 PROJECTION 2 2026 Carson Benge 161.5 1 2019 Pete Alonso 155 2 2026 Carson Benge 147 3 2003 Ty Wigginton 146 4 1963 Ron Hunt 145 5 2000 Jay Payton 142 6 2010 Ike Davis 138 PROJECTION 3 1981 Mookie Wilson 137.3 7 1966 Cleon Jones 136 8 1977 Lee Mazzilli 134 9 1989 Gregg Jefferies 131 10 1996 Rey Ordóñez 129 11 2004 Kazuo Matsui 125 12 2003 Jason Phillips 120 13 2011 Justin Turner 113 14 1981 Hubie Brooks 110 15 1983 Darryl Strawberry 108 PROJECTION 4 2026 AJ Ewing 107.6 16 2001 Tsuyoshi Shinjo 107 PROJECTION 5 1995 Edgardo Alfonzo 104.6 17 1977 Steve Henderson 104 18 2026 AJ Ewing 98 19 1962 Jim Hickman 96 20 2013 Juan Lagares 95 T21 1995 Edgardo Alfonzo 93 T21 2014 Travis d'Arnaud 93 23 1982 Ron Gardenhire 92 T24 1965 Ron Swoboda 91 T24 1986 Kevin Mitchell 91 PROJECTION 6 1972 John Milner 89.3 26 1981 Mookie Wilson 89 PROJECTION 7 1995 Carl Everett 88.9 27 2011 Lucas Duda 88 T28 1962 Rod Kanehl 87 T28 1969 Wayne Garrett 87 T28 1988 Kevin Elster 87 29 1972 John Milner 86 30 2003 Jose Reyes 84 PROJECTION 8 2020 Andres Gimenez 83.7 T31 1996 Alex Ochoa 83 T31 2004 Mike Fitzgerald 83 33 1976 Bruce Boisclair 82 34 2023 Francisco Alvarez 80

I go away to peel and chop some spuds for the wife and the Yankees get a run back. Who was on watch?

Benge thoroughly unimpressed by 2023 Cy Young Awards. This is one them lonely threads.

Torrens thoroughly unimpressed by 2023 Cy Young Awards. Both Met homers are Yankee Stadium jobbies, landing in the first three or five rows, but that's a 3-0 lead.

Lindor thoroughly unimpressed by 2023 Cy Young Awards.

A.J. Ewing Month G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR XBH RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS August 27 117 105 10 18 5 0 0 5 0 9 30 .171 .243 .219 .463 September 8 34 30 7 13 2 0 2 4 9 3 4 .433 .471 .700 1.171

If you weren't looking forward to seeing Juan Soto lace up his glove today, well, it's a good day for you. AGENTS OF GLORY AND BETTERMENT Pearl Dealer Zac Thornton LHP 3-5, 3.53 ERA, 51 SO Lineup F Lindor (S) SS J Soto (L) DH B Bichette (R) 3B C Benge (L) RF J Young (L) 1B M Semien (R) 2B A Ewing (L) CF L Torrens (R) C N Morabito (R) LF AGENTS OF DECEPTION AND RUIN Pill Pusher Gerrit Cole RHP 8-8, 3.41 ERA, 113 SO Lineup P Goldschmidt (R) 1B A Judge (R) DH C Bellinger (L) LF H Ramos (R) RF A Rosario (R) 3B S Jones (L) CF G Lombard Jr. (R) SS A Volpe (R) 2B A Wells (L) C

My new modest proposal is that baseball takes a holiday every year, from September 12-20, parallelling the shutdown of 2001, but also allowing everybody to rest up, heal, and set up the drama to come in the stretch run. Alternatively, baseball can get up on the morning of September 12 every year, have breakfast, and collectively commit to beating the pants off the Yankees.

I suspect that that Soto maybe cares very little about the lofty heights of third place.

Oh, Soto.

Quick, get Tyrone Taylor on the line!

If Baty is able, Alvarez was probably the guy you wanted to pinch-hit him for.

Ewing gives so few shits.

Not an inspiring effort by Soto on the that run-scoring bloop.

Not that I think they are going to hit for Simmy, but is Baty available off the bench?