Hell Freezes Over, Glavine Registers a Win

I wonder if hell actually has frozen over. Glavine pitched a game in which the Mets offense scored more runs than he surrendered, albeit one more run at the point he left the game. Glavine gets back to .500 and notches his eighth victory of the season even though he should have notched up his 14th victory (or something close to that) and been in the CY Young hunt. He had not won in over a month despite being the most consistent pitcher in the majors all year. On top of Glavine actually registering a win, Stanton managed not to blow a game. I guess miracles can happen.

Reyes is still red hot. He picked up another two hits and his average for the month is up to .316. Oddly enough his OBP is .316. Yes, that is right, he appeared in 22 games this month and has yet to draw a walk. I'm not going moneyball on anyone, but just worth noting.

Wigginton pulled his average up to .280 after an impressive game against his arch nemesis Zach Day.

Cameron was the offensive star hitting his 18th homer of the year and driving in three of the Mets four runs. I'm sure Glavine will take Mikey out to dinner.

The Mets are still three games under .500 and need to get on a little win streak (I know I’m stating the painfully obvious). Oh, and the Mets are back to 5 games out of first and 3.5 out of second place. I guess one positive is that as bad as the Mets have played, they are still strangely in it. To put it all in perspective, the Pirates have the same amount of wins and one less loss and are 15 games out of first. The fact that the Mets are still legitimately in it is noteworthy in itself.

* * * *

Spencer clearly distraught over the fact that his buddy was traded was caught drinking and driving.

Words of wisdom from Peter Gammons:

"The Mets are now essentially out of the buyers' market and are focused on next season."

Scott Kazmir made and appearance at #4 on the Baseball America's Prospect Hot Sheet.

The Mets finally took the training wheels off of their prized arm, promoting Kazmir to Double-A in early July. He's responded by taking a perfect game into the eighth last Tuesday while compiling a 1.73 ERA in four starts.

The did finally stopped babying him. The Mets were perpetuating rumors about his health by treating him with kid gloves. They let him go and he turns out some great games including an eight inning performance. I’m not sure he went eight at any point in his professional career until now.

Yusmeiro Petit stops in at #14 on the list.

Tyler Clippard from Low Class A Battle Creek of the Yankees organization has stopped in as an honorable mention on the prospect hot sheet. The Yankees will no doubt start trying to sell him as the second coming of Nolan Ryan.

Anyone watch Shark Week on the discovery channel? Last night a guy was swimming with Great Whites for some reason. No cage, just a pole. Then he tries to ride them with his hand on to the dorsal fin. Um, not sure that is a good idea.

BP Brawling? In one of the more bizarre things to happen this year the Rangers and the Angels got into a bit shoving match prior to the game.

If you have not seen the movie Starsky & Hutch with Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson, see it. It is some funny shit.

Reports are that Johnson wants out, and wants out soon.

According to Newsday, the Yankees would be willing to assume the contracts of little-used Roberto Alomar and the injured Matt Mantei, totaling nearly $8 million, and then eventually release them both. That's on top of the $22 million Johnson is owed through 2005, which the Yankees could absorb without blinking.

Once again, if this move happens, the Yankees will be heralded brilliant baseball strategist with the ability to get anything done. But once again, the truth is it comes down to money. They do not have the prospects to get the deal done, so they'll just eat as much money as they can to make the deal sweater. Skill? Nope.

According to his agent:

"If you don't trade him to the Yankees, you're going to have one unhappy player," Meister said.

If he said that, he's an asshole. This is a team he won the World Series with and became the face of an expansion team. He owes them a bit more than two or three B-level prospects. I'm sick of this overpaid crybaby ballplayers DEMANDING trades and agents orchestrating trades. The GMs no longer run the teams, the player and agents do. The inmates are running the asylum. I say fuck Johnson let him be "unhappy" in Arizona. Boo-hoo, he'll just have to make 16 million next year and play in mediocrity. If Arizona is smart, they do not make this deal. If Garagiola makes another bust blockbuster like the Sexson and Schilling deals, he in no way deserves to have a job. So far he is looking like a horrendous GM and has done a great job dismantling a team that is not as bad as they look.

Floyd wants out? He already said after this contract is up, he is done. The guy is only making $6.5 million per year and would be perfect DH/OF for a cash strapped AL team that needs an extra offensive boost. If Cliffy leaves, the Mets can survive it with a good amount of talent out there in the off-season. He may be one of the more valuable pieces despite his oft injured status. A move to DH would certainly strengthen his chances of remaining healthy a whole lot.

Glavine said it the best:

"To be honest with you, I don't know who we are," pitcher Tom Glavine said before last night's 4-2 victory. "I really don't. That's what's frustrating for us and our fans and everybody else trying to assess this team. We've been a very streaky team all year long. When you sweep the Yankees, I'm sure there's a feeling of, 'Hey, you beat those guys. Here we go!'

"Are we where we are because we're much better than people anticipated or because other teams haven't done what was expected of them. Probably a little of both."