Edgy MD

Here's hoping d'Kong recovered the homerun ball. To judge by his photos, there is only a few dozen other folks at the ballpark to compete with him.

I like the way Cheech gets around on pitches.

I've eliminated Mark Reynolds and Chris Davis.

So much for the Conforto-third/Céspy-fourth thing.

L.J. Mazzilli, by the way, is playing mostly outfield these days. He was the first infielder up earlier in the season when Las Vegas needed a callup but he never stuck and has since been passed over a handful of times. He may be maxing out.

An 8-0 loss dropped the 'Clones to .250 tonight. 15-45. Equalling the 1962 Mets winning percentage.

Man it's great to have a Zvon graphic cap off a win. For the longest time, we had no Z. Then we had no wins. Great to have one of each tonight.

Man, Ramos' body language suggested he thought Lamb got that one.

Bad drama now as the four-pitch walk brings up Lamby-kins as the tying run.

Damn, I didn't post that in time to stop A.J. Potluck.

Bingo takes the first of tonight's games 2-1 on a walkoff hit by Kaczmarski in the 10th. Down 3-2 in the second game as Casey Delgado exited after just two shutout innings. So much for bragging on the healthy rotatoin.

$74 million left on that contract. Let's offer the Tigers Cabrera for Zimmy-plus-$40 million!

Sewald shutting down Schmidty like he wants to be part of the future. Part of NIMMO's future.

He walked to load the bases. Would have been nice if Cabrera got the bat off his shoulder as the next batter. Great stop by Smith. Blevvy fails to cover first. Come on, 2017 Mets! Your head-out-of-game-ness has reached critical mass. Crap footwork by Rosario, too, but I guess he had given up on the throw by then.

Agreed. They stamp in two periods for emphasis and then follow that up with the wet noodle of a question mark? Don't come into my layout office with that garbage!

And he's doing it playing his game. I think we're finally in the position where he's the manager's first choice for leadoff hitter. It's a step forward that's overdue.

I never would have sent the runner on that play. Heck, I might not have sent Dee Gordon, but great job by Lagares. Are the umps wearing wrist bands again? This time gray?

He's got some rough edges on his game, but nothing that can't be sanded off if they show some commitment. It's philosophically a big problem with this organization. They give lip service to on-base percentage, but they don't commit to the players who give it to them.

First of all, the point of having three periods in a three-word phrase is to suggest that the statement in the phrase is such an unadulterated fact that each part of it is a fact, so it should be ... three periods. "BEST. TEAM. EVER." The question mark in "BEST. TEAM. EVER?" totally belies the two earlier periods. That's bad copywriting!

In a system full of teams limping home, the Binghamton Rumble Ponies have been a success in their debut season under a new brand. In fact, you might have called a .600 winning percentage (75-50) a raving success. You might, except for those damn Yankees. The Yankees' Trenton Thunder affiliate sits a comfortable 8.5 games ahead with 15 games to go, none of them head-to-head. You might call it an uttterly lost cause, but the Phillies and Mets know better. The second-place Ponies indeed have an even tougher row to hoe, thought, despite winning 7 of their last 10. They have no remaining days off and rainouts have saddled them with five games in their next three days. Here to help is guy named Matt Harvey. The Po's are the opposite of the Mets offensively, not particularly gifted in the power department (dead last BY A LOT) in the Eastern League in homers, but putting up healthy OBPs, led rightfielder Kevin Kaczmarski (.377), leftfielder, Kevin Taylor (.374), and defensive wizard shortstop Luis Guillorme (.373) It's sobering to look at those homerun numbers: Homers by Team in the 2017 Eastern League Reading: 141 Erie: 136 Akron: 133 Bowie: 129 Portland: 115 Hartford: 108 Harrisburg: 104 Trenton: 98 Altoona: 93 Richmond: 85 New Hampshire: 84 Binghamton: 59 So really, that's their game? Just getting on base? Has their pitching been good? Yeah, I'm mean, sure. They haven't torn the league apart, but they've been mostly stable. While the injuries have torn the Mets staff apart and sucked talent up from the minors, and the pitching staffs below in St. Lucie and Columbia have absorbed hit after hit too, the Rumble Ponies have endured a quiet stability, giving up only Chris Flexen to the bigs. Yeah, that was a big loss after his dynamo first seven starts, but Marcos Molina has joined the team and given them eight starts to the tune of a 3.77 ERA, and that looks pretty good joining a season-long starting rotation of Corey Oswalt (22 starts, 2.41 ERA), P.J. Conlon (21, 3.54), Mickey Jannis (19, 3.81), and Casey Delgado (18, 4.71). That's good, you think, but you're not being knocked out. None of these guys really have the prospect tag except for Conlon, and maybe (now, anyhow) Oswalt. Well, the pen has been RILLY good, led by Tim Peterson (1.23 ERA in 51.1 innings. But the real story takes you back to the magic hands of Guillorme. His superlative defensive performance has actually been typical of the team. Check out these error totals next to their Eastern League counterparts. Errors by Team in the 2017 Eastern League Binghamton Rumble Ponies: 62 Bowie Baysox: 87 Reading Fightin Phils: 95 Altoona Curve: 96 Richmond Flying Squirrels: 97 Portland Sea Dogs: 102 Trenton Thunder: 105 Harrisburg Senators: 106 Erie SeaWolves: 105 New Hampshire Fisher Cats: 109 Akron RubberDucks: 108 Hartford Yard Goats: 118 That's a statistical variance pretty damn comparable to their paltry homerun numbers. That's a statistical variance that gets measured in standard deviations. What I mean to say is ... that's some pretty damn good fielding. They are also second in catching runners stealing and have 29 outfield assists. It's old time baseball folks. They may not bash the ball out of the park but they get it done with good clean play. And it's all the more intriguing when you think their batting coach is former minor league and NLPB homerun champ Val Pascucci. Congratulations on a great season winding down to Luis Rojas and his team. And here's hoping while Matt Harvey is down there, he takes the time to get his photo taken with Lee Mazzilli, Jr. and Corey Oswalt. [fimg=600]http://multifiles.pressherald.com/uploads/sites/4/2017/05/73418-20170510_seadogs_3-1024x683.jpg[/fimg]

Dude really needs to grow his hair during rehab. He's been looking way too respectable.

Yes, that's part of it.

The truth is we're all pretty much utterly ignorant as to whether Wright is progressing or not. The notion that there is 0% chance of this happening and a higher likelihood of that happening is all speculation. Fortunately for everybody, he's put himself back out on the field, allowing all a chance to make an assessment over the remaining weeks. And that's important information to glean before making any of these calls, along with "Is Nimmo a leadoff hitter?" "Is Cecchini a big league infielder?" "Can Flores be an everyday threat?" "Which of these pitchers look like they can be part of a better big league staff next season?" "How much of a backup plan do we need on Smith and Rosario?" The bus may have crashed, but he story isn't written.