Two Down, One to Go

Yesterday, Cliff Floyd did his best Nick Evans impression by going deep twice in the same game. Both of his shots were monster shots and he drove in four RBIs. With those two shots, Cliff Floyd is on pace to set a Met single season record in homeruns as he is on track to knock out 44 homers. Todd Hundley set the Met single season homerun record in 1996 with 41 and Mike Piazza was the only other Met who knocked 40 homers when he did it in 1999.

The Mets sit seven games out of first place and three games off the wildcard lead. While some people think tomorrow's game is only gravy since they have clinched the series, this game means a lot. Taking the series from the Yankees at Yankee Stadium while sweeping them would be a tremendous morale boost. Sure these are not your gran pappi's Yankees, but the Mets have been kicked around by them physically and figuratively for too long. Taking the season series is big for them. Cliffy, how would you feel about the Mets first sweep of the Yankees at Yankee Stadium?

"It would be awesome," Floyd said.

Thanks. Thanks a lot for the commentary. This is the first time the Mets clinched a series at Yankee Stadium in the history if interleague play and the Mets are on the verge of taking their second season series in a row. Not only that, but they are simply playing good ball. They are playing sound baseball right now and executing as a team. The Mets are playing like the Yankees have played all these years while the Yankees are looking like the Mets for a change. Today's game against the Big Unit could be a catalyst for the previously listless Mets and it is a must win game.

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I went down to Citizen's Bank Park to see Boston help the Mets out and beat the Phillies heads in and the Phillies new park was a gorgeous place to do it. Like Camden Yards and Coors Field, they feature a concourse running across the outfield with food stands, great views of the game, and things to see and do for the fans. If the Mets want to do things right, they need to copy these jewels and do the same thing. They need to put their new field below street level so when you walk in, you are looking down at the field and they must scrap this Olympic Stadium augmentation plan in order to create that concourse in the outfield. If they have to configure a ballpark that can be fitted with 80,000 extra seats, and outfield concourse would seemingly be impossible. Also, they need to actually put some good food places in. For the life of me, I cannot figure out why Shea has not been more creative. In Citizen's Bank Park, Ashburn Alley has plenty of places to get heartburn at and Geno's Steaks is one of them. How hard would it be for the Mets to throw in a place that puts cheese wiz, onions, and steak on a role? Not hard, but I'd like to see some effort put forth like that and adding BBQ place would be nice as well as BBQ stands are quickly becoming staples of every baseball stadium. When I go to these new stadiums and see what a great place they are to see ballgames, I would hate for the Mets to fall short of these in anyway.

Minor update:

• The Norfolk and Columbus game was suspended due to rain in a 3-3 tie. After going 1 for 5 with a homerun in his AAA debut last game, Hernandez went 1 for 3 in his second game before it was cut short by rain.
  
• The B-Mets lost to Erie 13-7. Aarom Baldiris went 2 for 5 with a double and two RBIs while Chase Lambin continues to show power as he knocked his twelfth homer in a 2 for 4 night.
  
• St. Lucie beat Dayton 8-7. Corey Ragsdale was the star of the night going 3 for 5 with two runs scored and five RBIs. Lastings Milledge knocked his fourth homerun of the year and went 2 for 5 with one run scored, a double, and two RBIs. Brett Harper knocked in the other run and went 4 for 5 with four singles. Shawn Bowman had a forgettable night and went 0 for 5 with four strikeouts.
  
• Hagerstown beat Lexington 9-4 to take the first half title. Gaby was not his best and got touched up for four earned runs in one innings, but notched the victory anyway. In five innings, he gave up six hits, four earned runs, two walks, and struck out six. His record is 6-1 and his ERA is 2.61. On the offensive end, Carlos Gomez went 2 for 5 with one run scored while Grant Psomas went 2 for 2 with two runs scored, one homer, and three RBIs. Grant has fifteen homers and forty RBIs on the season.
  
• Brooklyn beat Aberdeen 4-2. Jonathan Malo went deep for his first homer on the year and Drew Butera got his first pro hit and it was a homerun. Butera also knocked in three RBIs.
  
• The Kingsport Mets lost to Bristol 4-2.

Ryan Zimmerman was promoted to AA Harrisburg by the Washington Nationals and went 3 for 4 with two runs scored and a double. Give the kid a bat and he can hit anywhere.

After I went to Philly, I stopped in a bar back home to catch some of the Mets and Yankees game. There was a Yankee fan telling everyone how the Yankees turned down a deal for Cameron in which the Mets requested Cano and Wang. Can I ask where these people get their information? Not only was it not true and the Mets are the ones not interested in a deal at this time, but he said giving those two up for Cammy was too much. That of course, was before Bernie made another snafu in the outfield and let a ball go under his glove to compound with him forgetting how many outs there were earlier in the game and missing a Jose Reyes fly ball. The Yankees will be getting desperate for a centerfielder and will be pushing for it soon.

"They're still champions in my mind. They'll be fine," said first-year Mets manager Willie Randolph, a longtime coach with the Yankees. "In a lot of ways in my heart, they're still my boys."

Tino has some common sense, but will Yankee fans exhibit any? My guess is no.

The first place Anaheim Angels will be looking for some pitching help now that Kelvim Escobar is lost for the season. Their best option right now for the rotation is Corey Lee from their AAA team, but the 30 year old minor league journey man is hardly the type of pitching they would like to add when their #2 starter goes down. The Mets may be able to assist the Angels in this department for sure.

Omar's best move this off season may of turned out to be not giving up Floyd for peanuts like he was rumored to have been looking for.