More Saturday Tidbits

Danny Garcia was the star of the night knocking in a career high of four RBIs in the Mets 10-6 victory over the hapless D-Backs. The first three batters in the order picked up two hits while Cameron has already tied his career high in homeruns by knocking his 25th homerun last night off knuckleballer Steve Sparks. He did it in only 106 games and it took 150 games to reach that plateau as a member of the Mariners in 2001 and 158 games to reach that mark in 2002. Hidalgo also blasted a mammoth homerun in the game that was no doubter off the bat deep into the opposing team's bullpen.

Kris Benson pitched better than his stats in my opinion, and despite giving up six earned runs in seven innings, he registered his first Met win. By the good will of God, Stanton managed to not blow anything and pitched a scoreless inning and struck out two in the process. As for Mike Dejean, he pitched the final inning and kept it scoreless. He took only eight pitches to close it out. He now has a 1.72 ERA is becoming one of my favorites out of the pen

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According to Mets Notes, Mets 8th round pick Neil Jamison has said "screw you Mets" and decided to be a Dirt Bag for another year.

Benson's contract talks are leading towards a deal worth about $8,000,000 per year. Is this overpaying for a guy who has a career 4.31 ERA and sub .500 record?

Newsday goes over Jose's medial history here.

Contreras finally beats the Red Sox....but as a member of the White Sox.

Lawrence Rocca exposes the Wilpon's here. It is pretty good article, but not one that will make you feel good after you read.

19-year old Jeff fucking Francis will be making his major league debut on August 25th at Turner Field. That is absolutely crazy that this lefty is only 19 and will make is start against one of the leagues best teams. He has oodles of talent and should be fun to watch. Good luck to him pitching in Coors in his career.

Jae Seo went six innings for AAA Norfolk. He gave up four hits, K'd four, walked no one and surrendered no runs. He has yet to give up a run in AAA and hopefully this stint at AAA will do for him as it did for Steve Trachsel a few years back. Unfortunately, the Tides lost anyway 2-0 to the Yankee's AAA affiliate.

Jeff Keppinger keeps on hitting. He went 2 for 4 last night for Binghamton in their 7-6 victory over New Hampshire. He is now batting .364 and added two doubles and three RBIs last night. Jeff Duncan also went 3 for 4 in that game batting 3rd for the B-Mets.

Scott Kazmir went six innings surrendering only two hits and he K'd seven in the Biscuits 1-0 loss to Hunstville. He now has a 1.50 ERA since moving over to the Biscuits from the B-Mets. This pitching performance is notable since Huntsville has super prospects Rickie Weeks and Prince Fielder.

Caleb Stewart continues to put out nice numbers for the Cap City Bombers. In their 6-5 victory over Lake County he went 3 for 3 with four RBIs. He is now batting .301.

Ambiorix Concepcion got a nice write up in the paper the other day and continues to show why he did. He went 3 for 3 with two doubles and run score in Brooklyn's 5-3 loss to New Jersey. Evan MacLane pitched well going five innings and surrendering one run and striking out seven.

Jose is not the only young phenom having problems staying on the field.

I guess my idea of getting Scott Williamson for the 2005 season is a bad one. There are concerns about his ligament and is seeking second opinion. Not too good. Time to think of a better option for 2005. BJ Ryan may be the best available option, but I'm sure he'll cost draft picks and a lot of money. But hell, it may be worth if the Mets have a top 15 pick and do not have to surrender a first rounder. The Mets have to get an automatic pitcher coming out of the pen that is dependable for 60+ games a year.

Jason Starks outlines the players that can traded this month in his Rumblings and Grumblings.

Barry Bonds hit is 689th career homerun last night. If he continues at his current pace he will top 700 homeruns this year. In 2005 it looks as though Barry would have his work cut out for him to take the all-time record, but if he does return in 2006 it looks like he will over take Aaron easily. As of now, he is 66 homeruns away.