Edgy MD

Will Lefty wait a few innings before starting the next game?

Strange thing about Andres is that everything about his game performance in camp that spring suggested he had made the team. I think what we appreciate about spring triaining tryouts is that a big part of what's being judged is not about what's happening in the games, and the Mets applauded his hitting but saw him day to day and didn't believe he could possibly make it through a season, or shuddered at the thought of him ever actually playing the field during a game. Either that or the guy that had to get hurt for him to make the squad didn't get hurt.

That's Andres Gallaraga, being a little shy about his massive, massive arms.

Vic Sage wrote: Q: Terry Collins? A: We�ve seen everything but the finish. The finish is not going to difficult to access but will require a different kind of assessment. so he's been your manager for nearly 3 years, and you still don't have enough of an assessment of his performance to decide whether to extend his contract or let him walk? But you lose your best hitter, best pitcher and top closer to season-ending injuries, and you trade away the next best hitter along with the starting catcher for prospects, and you add late season call-ups comprised of kids and marginal MLers, and THESE are the conditions under which you're going to evaluate your manager's performance? If that's not a setup for scapegoating, i don't know what it is. I think it's more like, "I pretty much know what we're gonna do but we're not ready to talk about it right now, so, you know, let's have everybody play hard down the stretch." On the other hand, the right move, like with players, depends on the marketplace, and the manager market won't completely come into focus until the off-season.

And, of course, it ain't really the bunt, but the I-got-mine kiss-off that followed.

Yeah, most would probably take that. But eating 55% of the deal? Hard to imagine Toronto doing that.

I'm pretty sure that guy was an Apollo astronaut just visiting camp on a day off from Cape Kennedy.

My wife has been re-reading Thor Heyerdahll, recalling what he meant to the Calfiornia mythos she grew up in. I found it koo-koo. Sometimes, I think about "After the Gold Rush" and "Come Sail Away" and Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Parliament Funkadelic and Battlestar Gallactica and the Muslim-in-name-only theology of Louis Farrakhan and I wonder out loud, "What was it about the seventies that we were all supposed to be saved by spacemen, coming to bring a space-age rapture and take chosen ones to an idyllic new home?" And she nods and says, "Thor Heyerdahl.'

Some sweet memories here. LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr wrote: From Saturday... [youtube]iItnQ_YpnrY[/youtube] That's-a my boy.

As did Pay-Rod, but I think what's left of Reyes' fast-guy skills will translate more to the outfield, and even moreso as he ages. Ripken, of course, began his career at third.

I was just upstairs combing what's left of my hair into a slick old-guy pompadour when I got the notion that soon Jose, like Shawon Dunston and Robin Yount before him, is going to start gravitating to the outfield. His play at short was never as refined as some others', certainly a product in part of his increased size. Now entering the second half of his career, age, injuries, and increased bulk will likely rob him of much of his agility, even if the bulk of his footspeed is retained. He perhaps will display more consistent power, good enough to retain starting jobs should he become a full-time outie, but I fear he'll have few All-Star games going forward.

Cool, you just got a traffic bump from Rubin: http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/mets/post/_/id/77217/morning-briefing-a-day-of-rest-in-cleveland

The key to plunging beneath 60 seemed to be playing Hicks instead of Hickman. I'm thinking Casey may have been meaning to write Hickman's name into the lineup, but grew disengaged halfway through the name and trailed off.

And Matt Long homers to win it for Salt Lake. What could have been a sweet night comes up short as the organization, poised to take three playoff games in one night, instead wins just one. What's tomorrow for, however, if not to serve as the garden in which to plant our fondest dreams? We'll get them tomorrow, sure as the sun will rise.

Carson gets the first two.

Out. Go to the bottom of the inning, hoping for extras. That didn't work out so well for Bingo. Bo still trying to sell me energy, like this is Mad Max or something.

Hicks also flies to left. Nieuwie up.

Flies to left. Daniel Strange on for Salt Lake as Brandon Hicks approaches the plate. Hicks 1-2 with a walk, double, and strikeout.

Gets the last out on a grounder with the tying run on third. NO MORE INFIELD HITS! We go to the ninth. Catcher and eight-place hitter Juan Centeno to lead it off.

Salt Lake ties it in the eighth. Rob Carson on the hill.

Infield hit for Ryal. That's how the misery started for Bingo.

Navarro reaches on a walk. Now pinch-hitter Rusty Ryal at the plate. Don't trust pinch-hitters named Rusty.

Sean "Mother" Henn comes on for Las Vegas, facing firstbaseman Efren Navarro, lefty v. lefty.

Burke stays on for the eighth and gets his first hitter Andy Marte on a pop to short.

Hoffman grounds out. And we go to the bottom of the eighth.