Mark Downs meet Satan, Satan, meet Mark Downs

If anyone missed this crazy story, here it is for your reading enjoyment. Mark should start getting to know the Dark Lord, because he is going to be spending a long time with him. You just cannot make this stuff up.

A T-ball coach allegedly paid one of his players $25 to hurt an 8-year-old mentally disabled teammate so he wouldn't have to put the boy in the game, police said Friday.

Mark R. Downs Jr., 27, of Dunbar, is accused of offering one of his players the money to hit the boy in the head with a baseball, police said. Witnesses told police Downs didn't want the boy to play in the game because of his disability.

Just t reiterate in case you missed it, it was T-ball.

"The coach was very competitive," state police Trooper Thomas B. Broadwater said. "He wanted to win."

When you get arrested for trying to pull a Tonya Harding on a disabled 8-year old, you need to reevaluate your life. This reminds me of a guy who used to coach a little league team in my little league. They guy was so gun ho about it his team had warm up jackets and real uniforms while every other kid was in basically jeans and t-shirts. On top of that, he somehow got to have the best team every year. He was the equivalent of George Steinbrenner and they were the evil empire for kids with snot coming out of their nose.

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From Steve Popper:

The Mets gathered on the field at 3:30 p.m. for the team photo. And as they fidgeted in the sweltering heat, they waited. Finally, at 3:45, the shot was taken with only 23 players in the frame. The photo was taken without the team's best hitter and pitcher this season as Cliff Floyd and Pedro Martinez were not at Shea in time for the photo. Five minutes later, Floyd wandered into the clubhouse, a victim of traffic on the Triborough Bridge. Martinez arrived at 4:40, smiling and seemingly oblivious to what he'd missed. Well, at least there was no fight in this photo shoot, unlike 1989 when Keith Hernandez and Darryl Strawberry had to be separated.

The mismanagement of the Mets barrels on. They finally pull Ishii after it basically does not matter any more since Steve Trachsel is coming back and Seo will get two shots maximum with the Mets.

"Obviously Ishii's been struggling to win ballgames for us," manager Willie Randolph said. "He's pitched well at times. The bottom line is to win ballgames. His record wasn't that good, so we want to get someone in there and see what he can do for us."

The Mets were 7-9 in Ishii started games.

Albert Pujols is good.

Albert Pujols became the first major leaguer to belt 30 home runs in each of his first five seasons, helping the Cardinals end John Smoltz's eight-game winning streak with an 11-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Friday in St. Louis.

A lot can happen in his career, but this guy looks like he will turn out to be one of the best all time. His 162 game average so far is .334/.416/.625 with 47 doubles, 42 homers, and 130 RBIs. Even more mind boggling, the only time he had more strikeouts in a season than walks was his rookie year. His K's have gone down from 93, to 69, to 65, to 53, and they are slightly up this year. He has only posted under a 1.000 OPS once and is still only 25 years old. Unreal.

This was big.

2005 fourth-round draft pick Hector Pellot yesterday and then welcomed him to Shea Stadium for batting practice. Pellot, 18, is a 5-11, 185-pound lifelong shortstop who was drafted as a second baseman by the Mets, and he will report to the Gulf Coast League before heading to an instructional league next month.

"My favorite player is Derek Jeter, even though he's (with) the Yankees," Pellot said. "He's a leader, and his style of play is unbelievable."

With the Mets not signing a lot of their to picks, getting their fourth round pick to ink was pretty important. I can only hope he has as many intangibles as Captain Jeter, but was it really necessary to make that statement when you just signed with the Mets? I can see him and Willie getting along famously.

From BA:

Yankees outfielder Melky Cabrera, who played six games in center field for New York in July, was sent down again, from Triple-A Columbus to Double-A Trenton. Cabrera was hitting .248with Columbus this season. Thursday, Cabrera went 0-for-4 in his first game back with the Thunder since late June.

He was not ready to go to AAA, much less the Majors.

Also from BA:

The Mets are trying to get Mike Jacobs more innings behind the plate as the season winds down. Jacobs, a 38th-round pick in 1999, has played primarily first base this season. Wherever he plays, Jacobs shows no ill-effects at the plate--he's hitting .358-7-34 in 134 at-bats when he catches, .296-13-41 in 203 at-bats when he plays first base, and .308/.360/.584 in 377 at-bats overall this season at Double-A Binghamton.

and

Perhaps it’s time for the Mets to see if righthander Robert Manuel can handle a move to short-season Brooklyn or Class A ball. Signed as a nondrafted free agent out of Sam Houston State, the 22-year-old righthander improved to 7-0, 1.64 in the Rookie-level Gulf Coast League with a win against the Nationals. Manuel has walked just three in 38 innings while striking out 32. Manuel went 3-2, 3.12 this spring for the Bearkats.

Tom Glavine may not have been at his sharpest, but he got his 270th career win and gave the Mets what they needed and that was innings. I talked about heart and the ability to rise above to help the team, and that is exactly what Glavine did yesterday. With the bullpen in shambles and Willie unwilling to use certain players in the pen, it was a veritable necessity the Mets get something out of Tommy. The Mets nibbled the Cubs to death with fourteen out of their fourteen hits being singles. Cliff Floyd, Jose Reyes, and Carlos Beltran had eight of them and though David Wright had no hits, he walked three times. He leads the team in BA, OBP, and OPS.

On a side note, 29 year old Scott Williamson made his debut this season after recovering from Tommy John surgery and is a nice boost to the Cubs pen. Too bad the Mets did not jump on that this off season because he looked sharp and his slider looked nasty.