The Bullpen Blows

Well, not really. They are still pretty good overall. Yes, it is frustrating that the bullpen lost the first game of the series and could not hold onto last night's game to give the Mets a chance, but Wagner had been really sharp for while before his last slip up and last night the Mets were facing Dontrelle Willis. I could care less that Aaron Heilman's ERA continues to climb towards 5.00. I believe the bullpen will fall into place and someone will step up whether it be Heath Bell, Henry Owens, or even Mike Pelfrey in September and October when his season as a start is most likely done. The good news from last night was Pedro Martinez was on point and struck out nine batters in six innings.

"He threw lights out," catcher Paul Lo Duca said. "He was as good as it gets. He was dominant. This was great news for us."

Great news indeed. If this Met team has any hope of making some noise in the playoffs, Pedro Martinez is more important than any bullpen arms or bats. It starts with Pedro Martinez giving the Mets a win in game one of the playoffs, setting the tone, and being vintage Pedro throughout the playoffs. You try not to go too crazy over one start or two by a young pitcher, but John Maine looks like he might step up and give the Mets another starter to compliment Pedro and Tom Glavine. Glavine has been horrible of late, but I truly believe he'll find it and step up for the Mets. El Duque seems like he is shaping up into being a dependable starter for Mets too giving the Mets the four they need in the playoffs. The rotation will give the Mets a shot to go all the way. However, above all, a sharp Pedro Martinez is the most vital piece to this team's success and that is what the Mets got last night.

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There was a valuable display of teddy bears in London destroyed by the very dog hired to guard them.



"It's a terrible disaster," Daniel Medley, the park's general manager, told CBC News.

There must have been some kind of scent, Medley said, "that made the dog go berserk."

Barney first tore into Mabel, a bear that was recently purchased at an auction in Memphis, Tenn., for $85,000 Cdn. Mabel had once been owned by a young Elvis and was made in 1909 by the German manufacturer Steiff.

The bear's owner, Sir Benjamin Slade, had put it on display at the collection "just a few days ago," Medley said.

When the mauling was over, Mabel's chest had a gaping hole and its head had nearly been torn off.

But the trouble was far from over with the six-year-old Doberman pinscher.

"Once Mabel had been pried out of his jaws he then went on a rampage," Medley said. When it was over, about 100 bears in all had been damaged.

This teddy bear once owned by Elvis Presley was damaged by the guard dog. (Wookey Hole Caves/Associated Press) This teddy bear once owned by Elvis Presley was damaged by the guard dog. (Wookey Hole Caves/Associated Press)

"He was pulling arms off, heads off," Medley said and there was fluffy stuffing everywhere.

Sounds interesting. Letting a dog watch a bunch of stuffed animals is like asking a great white shark to baby sit some seals (yes, I'm addicted to Shark Week...it is like my second job). Are they really that surprised? My dog would have torn that shit up too. Barney the guard dog has been forced into retirement and will be placed on a farm "where he can chase chickens", which is fancy talk for getting killed. Serves them all right for spending so much on teddy bears anyway. Now excuse me while I tend to my My Little Pony collection.....

Local fluff piece on David Wright for anyone interested. It is about days in Columbia, SC.

Wright batted .266 for the Bombers with 11 home runs and 93 RBIs, but he struck out 114 times in 496 at-bats as he learned for the first time to deal with a steady diet of breaking balls. In the deciding game of the playoffs that season Wright struck out on a 3-2 curveball from former USC pitcher Lee Gronkiewicz of Columbus with the potential lead runs on base.

According to Wright, it was one of the few bad memories of his summer in Columbia. Isn’t it interesting that in the end, a player of Wright’s stature probably embraced Columbia more than the city did him?

It is actually not interesting at all, that is why he is called Sugar Pants.

Mike Carp can hit, but who knew he can field? Not me. Baseball America said he was an average first baseman in their last handbook, but in the High-A edition of Best Tools, he was listed as the best fielding first baseman in the Florida State League. Either the league doesn't have many good fielders or he improved some. Either way, he is having a great year and is significantly raising his prospect status.

With Varitek possibly out for the season, the Red Sox made a move for Javy Lopez. Problem is, he is a bad defensive catcher and caught only 21 games this year. Good luck with all of that.

The Mets continue to buck their trend of rampant mismanagement and have locked up Jose Reyes through 2010 and own an option on him for 2011. His $23.25 million deal, with a club option for $11 million for 2011 is a great deal for everyone and I'm happy to see Jose stay around so he can continue to blossom into an elite baseball player. I think a lot of us had questions whether or not he would tap into all that potential, but his .291/.349/.466 line with 20 doubles, 13 triples, 10 homers, 46 RBIs, and 44 steals at 23 years old indicates he might blow by our expectations that we originally had.

"That's great to have a young talent like Jose tied up," manager Willie Randolph said. "He's a tremendous talent and he's just scratching the surface.

"He can do a lot more than he's doing right now. Not just with his speed, but with his power. He'll get bigger, like [Derek] Jeter did. His ceiling is real high. It's exciting to dream about what he can be. Wow! He can be really special."

Two things, why bring Jeter into this glorious moment? Secondly, his use of Wow! cracked me up. It reminds me of the Willie's World blog.

Predictably, David Wright was going to get asked about his eventual contract.

"I'm not worried about it," said Wright, who came to the big leagues in 2004, one year after Reyes. "Myself, I'm still a year away from arbitration. You take it one step at a time."

Mets general manager Omar Minaya said working out something with Wright is on his to-do list. Just not right away.

"We've told David and we've told his representatives that when the time is right we will sit down and discuss something long term," Minaya said.

The Mets would never sign him long term before his arbitration period and that is just how things are.

The largest head in the bigs might take his act to the DL.

Reserve catcher Ramon Castro, who has been bothered by a rib-cage strain since last weekend, remains unable to play. Randolph said that if Castro's condition doesn't improve "in the next day or two," the team will have to consider placing him on the DL and calling up a catcher from the minors. Randolph doesn't want to wear out veteran Paul Lo Duca, who has caught six consecutive games.

Toasty loves Cabrera's smirk and it CBS Sportsline has taken notice of it too.


Caption:
Is that an evil grin on the face of Miguel Cabrera after he drives in the go-ahead runs? It might be.

'Tis evil. Very evil.

Phil Humber returns to the mound for the B-Mets tonight.

Wagner tidbit...

Wagner has 23 saves, which tied him for only 14th in the majors heading into yesterday's action. But when it comes to one-run saves, Wagner was tied for second-most in the majors, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Going into yesterday, according to Elias, San Diego's Trevor Hoffman led the majors with 12 one-run saves. Wagner was second with 11, along with Boston's Jonathan Papelbon and Houston's Brad Lidge.

Neil Best is just calling it as he sees it and anyone with the ability to think rationally sees it. The Mets radio duo is far better than the Yankees radio duo.

While the vibe at WFAN is of two broadcasting pros meticulously plying their trade, Sterling and Suzyn Waldman are your bloviating uncle and his long-suffering wife holding court on the porch.

Waldman is a good fit for Sterling in that she gives him a wide berth. Why not? Resistance is futile.

Resistance is futile and that blithering idiot is painful to listen too.

Carlos Gomez picked up three more hits and drove in a run to bring his average up to .286 in Binghamton's win over New Britain. Henry Owens picked up his seventeenth save of the year and struck out two in one inning of work.


Fernando Martinez went 1 for 4 and knocked his fifth homerun of the year in Hagerstown's loss to Augusta.

Kingsport won big over Bluefield 18 to 9 as Emmanuel Garcia went 3 for 6 with three runs scored, a homer, and four RBIs. Junior Contreras went 1 for 2 with a double and two RBIs and is batting .347 on the season.