Last Man Standing

Out of the five original starting pitchers of the Yankees on opening day, one guy remains as Randy Johnson has missed one start and though he is slated to start for Tuesday, people are not so sure he will able to make that start either. Throw Wang into the mix, who has been arguably their best starter this season, and the Yankees have five of their top six starters out of the rotation at one time. Carl Pavano is on his way to see Dr. Andrews and we all know what happened when Phil Humber went to talk to Mr. Andrews and there are rumblings he may miss the entire season. 33 year old Aaron Small has been tremendous for them, but things are not looking rosy in the Bronx. Luckily the Yankees can pound their opponents into submission, but at the White Sox series showed the entire world, good pitching can shut this team down.

'Tis a sweet thing to watch.

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I wrote this the other day:

Not that 99% of you care about steroids and testing, Buster Olney and Mark Madden from ESPN the Magazine said that there are rumors of another big star being outted for 'roids. Olney did say he has heard this stuff before and it never materializes, but that is the steroid rumor de jour.

Looks like it happened. A big name has been released for failing their steroid testing. Drum roll please......Wilson Delgado will serve a 30 days suspension for failing his steroid test.

Floyd on Mike Cameron:

"He said he's going to play again this year. ... I'm going to go with that. I wouldn't second-guess him too much. You all know him."

Jonathan Mayo, who repeatedly told me he would do an interview and kept telling me he was doing it only to just keep snubbing me and telling me he was too busy, put out his top fifty prospect list. Lastings Milledge checks in at number 17 and Mr. Mayo does nothing to redeem himself to me by leaving Yusmeiro Petit off the top fifty entirely. Thanks.

Minor update:

• Norfolk beat Lewisville 3-2 behind a solid pitching performance by Steve Trachsel. Trachsel declared himself ready to move back up to the Major Leagues by going seven innings, allowing five hits, two earned runs, one walk, and struck out five. He ended up getting the no-decision as Royce Ring picked up the victory in relief in .1 innings of work. Wil Cordero picked up a hit to keep his average from going under the .100 mark which I have dubbed the Duncan line. Angel Pagan went 1 for 3 with his 23rd stolen base and a walk, Anderson Hernandez went 1 for 3 with a walk, and Steve Trachsel even got his lumber working and went 1 for 2.
  
• Binghamton beat New Hampshire 3-2 as two of the brightest Met prospects led the way. Lastings Milledge went 3 for 5 with a double, his second homer since moving up to AA, and an RBI and Yusmeiro Petit went eight innings of three hit, one walk ball and gave up only one earned run and struck out eleven. He continued to have the long ball plague him and Ron Davenport hit a homer for Petit's only run allowed. As for the rest, Aarom Baldiris went 2 for 5, Mike Jacobs went 2 for 2 with two runs scored, a double, one RBI, and two walks, and Brett Harper went 1 for 4 with two runs scored, two RBIs, a walk, and his twelfth homer on the year. Harper knocked those twelve homers in only forty-three games at AA and has 32 homers between St. Lucie and Binghamton in only 105 games.
  
• St. Lucie played Brevard County in a double header yesterday. In game one, the Mets third best prospect Gaby Hernandez had some trouble and did not make it out of the fourth inning. Gaby went 3.1 innings and gave up eight hits, six earned runs, two walks, and struck out three en route to his third loss in high A ball. He is now 2-3 with a 5.54 ERA in six games for St. Lucie. On the offensive side, Grant Psomas went 1 for 2 with a run scored, and RBI, and a walk, Dante Brinkley went 1 for 2 with a run scored and a walk, Andy Wilson went 2 for 3 with a run scored, and Tony Piazza hit his first homer of the year and drove in two runs while going 1 for 3. In game two, the Mets came back to beat the Manatees 5-2. Aaron Hathway continues to hit and got moved up to second in the lineup and went 3 for 4 with an RBI to bring his average up to .298.Ivan Maldonado Oquendo got the win and went five innings, gave up two hits, no walks, no runs, and struck out four.
  
• Hagerstown beat Greensboro by a field goal 10-7. Carlos Gomez continues his hot hitting and went 3 for 5 with two runs scored, a triple, and his fifty-third stolen base on the year. It would not be a game without Carlos Gomez and Ambiorix Concecion not stealing a base in the same game which they have been seemingly doing nightly and Concepcion went 1 for 4 with two runs scored, and RBI, and hits thirtieth stolen base on the year. The big offensive star of the day was Jesus Flores who went 3 for 4 with a walk, double, his sixth homer, and five RBIs. Russ Triplett went 2 for 4 with two runs scored, his third homer, and two RBIs. As for the pitching end, Matt Durkin continues to struggle with what is keeping him back from being a solid a solid prospect. Durkin walked five in only 2.2 innings and has more walks allowed (45) than hits allowed (43). He managed to give up only one run despite adding three hits allowed to his five walks for a not so tidy WHIP of 3.00 on the day and his season WHIP is up to 1.49.
  
• Brooklyn beat Tri-City 2-1 behind a 7.2 inning, five hit, one run allowed, one walk, and two strikeout performance by Jeffrey Landing. Robert Paulk went 1.1 innings to finish the game for his second save and now has a 0.84 era in 10.2 innings in the New York-Penn League and has struck out fourteen so far. Nick Evans and Drew Butera picked up four of the Cylclones five hits and drove in both of the runs. Evans went 2 for 4 with a run scored, a double, and an RBI and Butera went 2 for 3 with an RBI.
  
• Princeton beat Kingsport 5-4. Sean Henry went 2 for 3 with a run scored, a triple, and two RBIs and Cory Wells went 2 for 4 with a run scored and an RBI. Jim Wladyka pitched four innings in relief and gave up two hits, no runs, and struck out four.
  
• Not only did the big Dodgers beat the big Mets, but the GCL Dodgers pounded the GCL Mets 12-3 in a game which every Met pitcher joined the fun and gave up some runs. There was not much in terms of offense either, but Brahiam Maldonado went 2 for 4 with an RBI.

The prognosis is good a good one.

Further tests on Mike Cameron and Carlos Beltran revealed Friday that both were more seriously injured than previously thought, and the outfielders are unlikely to rejoin the Mets any time soon.

Cameron, 32, who sustained fractures of both cheekbones in Thursday's collision with Beltran, could be lost for the season. He was being transferred from San Diego's Mercy Hospital to Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, Calif., on Friday and was scheduled to undergo surgery Friday night. He also has been diagnosed with a broken nose and a slight concussion, though a CT scan did not show extensive damage to his brain.

No extensive damage to his brain? Shouldn't it be NO damage?

"He said his face felt like it broke apart," Floyd told reporters in L.A. "It's amazing that they basically came out of it like they are. All you can do is just thank the man above.

"You always think, in baseball, nothing like this ever happens. But this goes to show you that at any second, everything can change. He told me, 'Other than my face, I'm fine.' So he'll be all right. We're in California, and they've got the best plastic surgeons here."

To sum up last night's game for you all, it stunk. Diaz was good knocking two out and driving in three runs for a big boost, but the rest was not good. I was at a bar where my friend was bartending hanging out with another friend, who is a Yankee fan. He was getting ready to leave in the seventh inning until the Dodgers got the first two on. "Oh, I'm going to stay and watch the Mets meltdown", the smug bastard said. Right on cue, the Mets meltdown ensued.

Jae Seo goes against DJ Houlton today. Houlton got banged up by the Mets earlier in the year and if Jae Seo steps up and wins today and continues to pitch brilliantly, the Mets need to figure something out quickly because I cannot see how you can take him out until he proves he should not be there.

"I'm fine. I'm playing. It's sore," the left fielder said. "I've got to go out and play and just hope I don't get hit (there) again. If you can go out there, you have to go out there this time of year."

You just cannot say enough about Cliff Floyd this year.

Changes, they are a coming. Read the article as it is pretty interesting, but here it the short of it. They are talking about getting rid of the Gulf Coast League and the Arizona Summer League, moving the draft day back about a month, adding a signing date about four to six weeks after the draft, and the creation of an MLB-sponsored combine. Oh baby.

Craig Hansen made his professional debut for the Portland Sea Dogs, the Red Sox AA affiliate.

Hansen, a dominant closer this spring at St. John's, pitched a scoreless ninth inning to save a 3-2 Sea Dogs victory against Norwich. Allowing only a soft single, Hansen hit 96 on the radar gun and struck out the first professional batter he faced on three pitches. All nine pitches he threw were strikes.

The kid is good. A slider in the 90's, a high 90's fastball, and a developing change. Genetics has failed me.

Buckle your seat belts for another long hold out with the D-Backs. Justin Upton is asking for a record $6.25 million dollar signing bonus.

"We have nothing to talk about with him,’’ one high-ranking D-Backs official said Friday.

The D-Backs are believed to have offered $4.7 million dollars. Look kids, Big Ben..Parmliment.