Putting Your Best Foot Forward

Injuries have obviously killed the Mets this year. But yesterday's lineup was comical.

Jeff Kepinger 2b
Vance Wilson C (yes! Vance batting 2nd)
Gerald Williams LF
Richard Hidalgo RF
Mike Cameron CF
David Wright 3b
Jason Phillips 1b
Wilson Delgado SS

When you field a team like that, there is basically no shot you are going to win. The Mets only mustered four hits and one run off of the Padres. I do not care if Gerald Williams is hitting .313, he should not be batting 3rd. I do realize he scored the only run, but even a blind squirrel finds an acorn. There were only three legitimate starters in the field yesterday for the Mets and one of them almost went down. Hidalgo was attempting to make a play in the field and had appeared to hurt his leg. It would be truly scary if he went down. Howe obviously was sitting Valent because a lefty was on the mound. Art continues to do this crap and puts an inferior product on the field because of his precious manage by the book matchups. Valent should have been at first or left and should get a chance to bat against lefties. You have to figure out what you have there. The Mets are going no where now is the time to see what Valent can do. I’d rather see Brazell at first instead of Phillips and Valent in left instead of Williams. That is my choice for fielding a different lineup that does not seem as depressing. Also, I would have had Garcia or Keppinger at SS instead of Delgado. Aren’t they the utility men of the future? To what end does it service to play players like Williams and Delgado who serve no long term purpose on this Met team? It was clear that lineup would not have gotten it done, so the Mets should be busy assessing what they have and what they will need for 2005. In a few days Victor Diaz will be up from AAA and he will be taking some of these at-bats that are going to Gerald Williams and I am looking forward to it. There is not much to look forward too, but that is one thing I am excited about.

Every game that Benson pitches decent and gets nothing for it is just one more reason for him to test free agency. But hey, at least the Mets will get a compensation pick and sandwich pick for what they gave up right?


* * *

The White Sox are mulling post Magglio options. News about his knee seem to be getting worse by the day.

Randy Johnson may still be pitching for another team this summer, although unlikely.

Jeff Francis is the 2nd highly touted and highly anticipated lefty to make his major league debut in three days. Luckily he will be pitching on sea level today, but good luck pitching a mile high.

In some good news, Cliff Floyd, nailed on the right elbow Monday night, did not play but pulled a couple of homers to right in batting practice.

Orber Moreno was moved to the 60 day DL to make room for Heath Bell on the 40 man roster.

Kazmir quotes:

"He's a No. 1 guy," said Martinez, the former Yankee. "Not to rub it in to the Mets, but he's got great stuff. You can see that. When things got tough out there, he didn't get flustered, he didn't fall apart. It's just a great pickup for the Devil Rays."

"You don't see too many lefties hitting 96, 97," Boone said. "Very rarely does a lefty throw that hard."

"He's electric for being so young," Tampa Bay catcher Toby Hall said.

Howe said the negative reaction to the deal was not necessarily coming from fans, but had been concocted by the news media. Asked why fans seem to oppose the trade, he said, "The fans do because you write it."

Um, no Art. We all have two eyes and brain. We deduced the crappiness of this trade all by ourselves. Way to sell us short you waste of a manager. Anyone that bats Gerald Williams third should be drawn and quartered.

On the trade:

"I hated to lose a guy like Kazmir, but I liked to get a Zambrano," Peterson said. "This is not a three-week trade. Zambrano is eight games over .500 and was third in the American League, or whatever, in batting average against. Unfortunately, there were some things we didn't know at the time we made the trade. But the way I looked at it, we have control of him [Zambrano] for the next three years."

You had control of Kazmir for six years.

Let's see if Matt Durkin can sign today. It would be a bit of good news in an otherwise rather depressing time to be a Mets fan.