Steady As She Goes

"It (stinks) because we should've won, hands-down," Wagner said. "They had no chance. They should've never even been in the ballgame. I come in there and let 'em right back in. That's what's frustrating. But, you know, can't cry over spilled milk."

You cannot fault Willie for bringing in Wagner in that situation yesterday. With a four run lead and Randolph not wanting to mess around with the Yankees, he wanted to end it and have Wagner shut them down. We know the Yankees are never out of it and they can put up runs fast and that is why Billy was in there. However, to lose in the fashion the Mets did with Mr. Billy Wagner imploding hurts. The bright side is the Mets still have a chance to take the series and that is the ultimate goal when all is said and done. A win today will set the universe straight and Tommy Glavine is going to have a big game to pick up the Mets after a tough loss. That is what aces do. That is what the Mets need and then they can go take two from the Phillies.

* * *

Random factoids from Jon Heyman. Barry big trade request

The A's requested either David Wright or Jose Reyes for Barry Zito. With Eric Chavez in the fold, I guess they'd have figured out what to do with Wright later.

Of course, the Mets retained their sanity, along with Wright and Reyes.

Understandably, the Mets now view Zito as a winter target.

Wright and Reyes aren't going anywhere, but the next most untouchable on the Mets' list, even ahead of Lastings Milledge, might be Mike Pelfrey.

And by the way, the Nationals have to know they aren't getting Milledge for Livan Hernandez, his $8-million salary and 6.04 ERA.

Basically, Zito is not available. If Beane really had any interest in trade Barry, the asking price would certainly not be that high.

A mound of thoughts

The Mets love Pelfrey, but the more seasoned Alay Soler gets the next call-up.

That also makes the most sense and Soler was already called up and will start one of the games against the Phillies.



By now, it's clear the Mets think Aaron Heilman's a reliever.

You are just figuring that out now?

Kyle Lohse is on the Mets' radar. And he's got to be available. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire was upset that Lohse didn't remain on the bench after his removal the other night, leading to his surprise demotion.

Lohse never quite lived up to expectations, but has a good arm. He can throw in the low 90's and is a fastball/slider guy. Yes, his ERA is sky high, but he probably will be cheap since the Twins do not want to pay him $2,400,000 to sit in AAA. He is worth the gamble since it should not cost the Mets too much.

The Mets are trying to sign righthander Pedro Beato, last year's eighth-round pick. The Brooklyn product, throwing 94 to 95 mph at St. Pete JC, seeks close to $1 million.

Give him the million and everyone will be happy.

It is a shame all that Barry tying Babe Ruth's record is not being celebrated more. I'm not going to get into the entire cheating thing again because we've all been over that before. The one thing that I hope does not get over looked now that Bonds is forever tarnished is that Bonds is, and always was, a pretty fucking good baseball player who had already won three MVP awards before all the suspicions about steroids even began.

From Peter Abraham:

Kazmir coming on: Mets fans may want to skim down to the next item. This is sure to make you sick.

Tampa Bay's crack PR staff has determined that Scott Kazmir is the youngest pitcher to reach six wins by May 16 since John Smoltz did it in 1989, a day before his 22nd birthday.

Kazmir is nine months away from turning 23.

Mike Pelfrey struggled in his start yesterday.

The late rally saved Pelfrey, the Mets' top pick in the 2005 draft who struggled on Saturday. He pitched just two-thirds of an inning, allowing three walks, two hits and two runs -- both of which were unearned following a Caligiuri error. Samuel took Pelfrey out of the game after the right-hander had thrown 39 pitches.

"The last couple starts, it seems like my control has eluded me, and that's always been one of my strengths," Pelfrey said. "I need to find it."

He is just not close to being ready.

Tim McCarver is just a douchebag extraordinaire. He took a page out of the Mike and the Mad Dog book and just made blatant unsubstantiated claims. First, he asked why the Mets are never accused of buying a winning team like the Yankees are with all of the recent acquisitions by Omar Minaya. That statement was stupid on so many levels it is hard to know where to start, but I’ll just break it down simply.

2006 Total payroll:

New York Yankees       $ 194,663,079
Boston Red Sox         $ 120,099,824
Los Angeles Angels     $ 103,472,000
Chicago White Sox      $ 102,750,667
New York Mets          $ 101,084,963
Los Angeles Dodgers    $  98,447,187

If you are fiscally responsible, you would suprised what you can afford.

Then he started talking about how Mariano Rivera had Enter Sandman as his entrance song first and Billy Wagner stole it. While it is really minor, it is just annoying when ‘experts’ perpetuate false beliefs and pass them along to large audiences to ensure everyone believes the wrong thing. We all know it was Billy’s first.

Just end it McCarver. Just end it.