Edgy MD

John Wayne is a lot dickier than he is in his other movies.

This promises to be a brutal battle for fourth place, with the Mets sitting one game behind the Nats, and the Nats sitting one game behind .500. Wilson Ramos has come along at catcher and has now displaced Ivan Rodriguez (and slowed his Quixotic quest fo 3,000 hits), starting 24 of 41 games to the quarterpole. Ramos is outdoing Josh Thole in simultaneously coming along as a catcher and a hitter, posting a .756 OPS. (Maybe having a veteran partner will help Thole.) He in fact is the only Nat regular besides Jason Werth to post an OPS+ over 100, matching Werth's 108 figure. So take him not lightly. Though he has but two homers, the lineup juggling Nats have e'en been experimenting of late with Ramos in the cleanup spot --- the only rookie in the majors afforded that honor so far this season. �I was surprised when I saw my name in the cleanup spot,� Ramos said. �A couple days ago, I was struggling. For me today, it�s the start of a new season. I don�t care about what happened before. I�m going to concentrate on tonight, keep working hard. I�m excited for today to see my name in the cleanup spot.� For what it's worth, the Pirates batted .100 hitter Matt Diaz cleanup the same night. He bats righty, came over for Matt Capps, and demonstrated that the Nats know one thing if nothing else --- good relievers are over-valued in the trade market, and only grow more so as the deadline approaches. Don't take him lightly. Don't dread him, for Pete's sake, but don't take him lightly. Let's talk first base.

The names change, but the defense is always wanting.

Burke Bandenhop cut some swinging sides for Blue Note in the mid-fifties.

Guys, you're his familia. Act like it.

"An Epic Event."

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Internet buzz says it's the Cosmic Cube, though I noticed nothing cube-like in that box. I'll have to look for a screen shot online so I can take a fresh look. I thought it was funny to see Samuel L. Jackson walking around with a glowing mysterious thing in a briefcase again.

Didn't make much sense to me. I don't know what happens to me, but a lot of times in sci-fi/fantasy, we get to the climax, and I have no idea what's going on. I mean I know who the good guy and the bad guy are but I don't understand what they're doing and why. I'm gonig to make a great old man. -- Huh? Wha'? -- Quiet, grandpa!

I'll come in late like Ray Charles did then and mention that a good way to get these guys is to get into their bullpen as early as possible.

Don't have a lot of Houston music. But I have the Drells. [youtube:jkofzm1o]Wro3bqi4Eb8[/youtube:jkofzm1o]

Reyes is leading the league in doubles plus the sort of hits that would be mere doubles for a lesser man.

Looks like it wil after September 15.

The starting catcher for the Astros is Humberto Quintero, a righty batter with really big arms. He's nonetheless displaying a lack of power production that defies both his strength and home park, with zerio homers this year and 13 in his 323-game big-league career. Catchers can be like that. Maybe it'll come. He only started one game at Citi and went 0-3. He controls the running game well and he's got a Brad Ausmus-like nose for picking runners off, so be on your toes. He's a Venezuealan of a Euro-Indian complexion. Good plate blocker, too: Wifey: Michelle Backing him up is J.R. (Justin Richard) Towles, whose probably good on D also, because he's a career .201 hitter. But hol' on. Something's amiss. Because that .201 includes a .271 / .386 / .458 // .844 line in 59 plate appearances this season. So maybe he's turning a corner at 27. Maybe he's taking the job away from Quintero. I dunno. He looks kind of scrawny for a catcher, not unlike a petty thief/closet homosexual from a petty cop show that gets in over his head messing around with the big boys, know what I mean? He's handsome, but a little pretty and a little nervous he's about to be found out. Twitchy, you know? Cops in the seventies could see right through a guy like that. Anyhow, back in 2008 he ran with a girl named Brittany who seemed silly short for him and, well, jailbaitishly young-lookin' at the time. What's going on at first base?

Craig Biggio: retired.

So, if I remember the history of this character right, Thor origingally wasn't really THOR Thor, but a doctor who finds the hammer and becomes endowed with the power of the deity. As the character evolves, he starts talking fruity, making Norse references, and running afoul of Loki, while other characters from Norse pantheon start making appearances. The editors realized that they had gradually changed the character from a mortal who got lucky to the god himself, so they came up with this explanation that he was always Thor, but was walking the earth in some magic amnesiac exile, and when it was time for him to re-awaken, a spell he placed on the hammer would summon him to find it and reclaim his destiny. Something like that, right? Do I have it right at all? And is that sort of what's going on in the movie? That Blake isn't doesn't kow he's really the guy until a switch goes on and reminds him?

Kisses to you, too. Oh, and... re-sign Beltran NOW!!!!

Other outlets are reporting that Cohen is out the door.

Willie and Trey Harris.

Number 8 is Wesley Wrenn --- swingman for Wally's 'Clones last year.

BINGHAMTON -- Binghamton Mets pitcher Jeurys Familia didn't get the victory, but he showed he's more than capable of handling Double-A hitters. Familia allowed just two runs, one earned, in seven innings, and the B-Mets scored five runs in the seventh and eighth innings to defeat the New Britain Rock Cats, 5-2, in the second game of a three-game Eastern League baseball series at NYSEG Stadium. Mike Fisher and Eric Campbell hit eighth-inning homers for the B-Mets. Fisher's broke a 2-2 game in the eighth. Familia, the 13th-ranked prospect in the New York Mets minor league system according to Baseball America, struck out six batters and didn't walk anyone. He was a little wild at times, once throwing a wild pitch that went behind a batter all the way to the backstop. "I didn't feel pressure, I felt all right," Familia said in Spanish with reliever Manny Alvarez interpreting. "I got excited when I got on the mound. I tried to control my emotions and throw strikes." Familia, a 6-foot-3, 186-pound native of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, was promoted on Saturday. He was 1-1 with a 1.49 earned run average in six starts for Single-A St. Lucie. He allowed just 21 hits and he struck out 36 batters in 36.1 innings. Familia's fastball touched 96 miles per hour on Tuesday night, according to the right-center-field radar gun display. Familia, a 21-year-old fourth-year pro, complemented that fastball with a curveball and a change-up. He allowed just five hits. His change-up clocked between 80 and 86 miles per hour, froze several batters and also elicited off-balance swings. "Everything was there for him tonight," B-Mets manager Wally Backman said. "His velocity was good. He threw some real good change-ups. He threw a few too many breaking balls at times, but I like the mound presence that he showed as a young kid. "I think this kid is a big leaguer. He's young. He's still got to learn, but if he stays healthy and does some of the things he showed here tonight, he's going to be a pretty good pitcher one day." A throwing error in the first inning by second baseman Josh Satin led to the first run Familia allowed. New Britain scored another in the top of the fourth on an RBI single by Evan Bigley for a 2-0 lead. The B-Mets bats came alive in the seventh inning. The first two batters reached base and a sacrifice fly by Kai Gronauer and a pinch-hit RBI single by Carlos Guzman tied the game, 2-2. Designated hitter Fisher, 0-for-3 going into his last at-bat, hit a line-drive homer that cleared the wall down the left-field line for a 3-2 B-Mets lead. "I was just trying to find something positive to end the day on," Fisher said. "I just kept looking inside, hoping he'd throw it there and he did." Campbell added a two-run homer, his first of the season, three batters later. Inside pitches: Left-handed pitcher Brandon Sage joined Binghamton from Single-A St. Lucie. Sage pitched the last two innings to earn the win. ... Right-handed pitcher Dylan Owen, who pitched and won on Sunday in New Hampshire, was moved to Class A Brooklyn's roster to make room for Sage. Owen's move was purely paperwork as he is still with the club in Binghamton.

Kablammo!

The new equipment manager is Kevin Kierst, the Port St. Lucie EM, and I think he might have been the spring training head honcho as well. For what it's worth, he seems to have really scaled back the black.

MALAISE!!

Plate appearances too. Second in overall hits. First in doubles and triples, and second in steals.

Jordany's solid if unspec in Bingo, working at .284 / .325 / .450 // .774 with 7 swipes and two CS's. He's got two trips and two homers to help him get that sweet little ISOP. On May 9, he came up just a single short of the cycle. He had been ripped by Wally Backman the previous week for lack of hustle so take this as campaign fodder, Backman fans.