Most Annoying Pitcher Ever?

Let us recap. Steve Trachsel has a 10-2 lead and lets it evaporate down 10-6 game by the time all is said and done making Willie use five relievers to finish out the game. His general sucktitude almost eluded me as I must have had too many endorphins coursing through my body due to the Mets stellar play of late. I started telling myself maybe it wouldn't be that bad if he was one of the Mets four starters in the playoffs. I ignored his 67/63 K/BB ratio, his 1.57 WHIP, his .286 BAA, and his sorry 94.9 P/GS and almost wavered on my season long vendetta against Steve Trachsel.

Sure, he is tied for the NL lead in wins, but his 6.80 in run support is the most in the National League and would rank fifth in the offensively charged American League. There are nineteen pitchers in the Majors with more than six runs of run support per start and Trachsel is one of three in the National League. The closest person is Josh Fogg and he is .62 runs off his lead. His success this year is more of a byproduct of the bats showing up when he starts rather than him finding a way to win. Out of all the current starters, he has the most wins , the lowest IP/GS, highest ERA, the lowest K/9 by far, worst WHIP by far, worst BAA, and the most stupid look on his face.

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The contest ended up being tougher than I thought as only two people nailed more than one category. It came down to the first tie breaker and Brian B edged out the competition by one run. Congrats Brian, you have won the next best thing to a free ticket to the donkey show in Tijuana. You have now won the Mets 1986 World Series Collector's Edition.

If you are feeling left out and have DVD envy, pick up your own set from the nice people who put up the DVD set for the contest. Thanks to everyone who participated, hopefully we'll have another giveaway for this year's Mets 2006 World Series Collector's edition.

Rob Neyer speaks the truth.

Jon (Connecticut): We know the Mets can beat anyone in the NL. Now, the question is, would they have a shot in the World Series?

SportsNation Rob Neyer: Sure. With that middle-of-the-order and Martinez and Glavine, the Mets could beat anybody they'll face, up to and including the Tigers or Yankees.

Good stuff.

Don't mess with the Buzzmaster.

Nate (Chicago): Buzz, Joe is a multiple MVP and World Series winner. What are your credentials to be talking to us about baseball?

SportsNation Buzzmaster: I watch baseball. I was second on my Little League in batting my last year when I hit .538 or something. Led the league in doubles. That count?

You have to love this question:

Smorf (The Dub): What team has the stupider fan base: the Yanks or the Sox?

SportsNation Jim Callis: I don't need more angry emails.

Callis deals a low blow to us Met fans.

Bob (NY, NY): Pelfrey and F-Mart or Hughes and Tabata?

SportsNation Jim Callis: Hughes and Tabata.

I'm sure no one would be crying over either duo though.

Dayn Perry lays out his ten predictions for the stretch.

8. Carlos Beltran will set the all-time record for extra-base hits by a center fielder

This one will take some work, but Beltran has a puncher's chance. Right now, Beltran has 35 homers, 32 doubles and a triple, and that puts him on pace for 91 extra-base hits this season.

If that pace holds, he'd rank sixth on the all-time list, just ahead of Willie Mays' 90 knocks in 1962. However, we're going to challenge the percentages and say that Beltran fattens up against a glut of weak pitching staffs on the schedule and ups up the pace. In fact, we're betting he eclipses Hack Wilson's all-time mark of 97 set back in 1930. It'll take some work, but Beltran's remarkable consistency (he's slugged better than .600 in each month of the season) is in his favor.

Sick.

Um, yeah.

East Greenland polar bears suffer from reduced size of genitalia due to chemical (xenoendocrine) pollutants.

New scientific results show that there probably is a link between the size of East Greenland polar bear genitalia and levels of some endocrine disrupting xeno-pollutants polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dichlorodiphenyl trichloroethanes (DDT), dieldrin, chlordanes, hexacyclohexanes, hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). High levels of pollution hence show a reduced size of genitalia (testis length and baculum length and weight, ovary length and weight and uterine horn length).

It is hard to get people on board with cleaning up mother earth, but something tells me if that was happening to males of the human race things would start to clean up very quickly.

This fact never ceases to amaze me.

Tom Glavine, cleared to resume activity after doctors treated blood clots in his finger, said he hopes to throw a side session Saturday, which would have been his next start. The 18-year veteran is hopeful of avoiding the DL, where he has never been placed.

"If I do go on, for sure I can't pitch until [Sept. 1], and physically I feel I can get back out there before that," Glavine said.

NEVER ON THE DL. Of course, there are times he could of been placed on it, but was kept active. Still an impressive feat.

Castro....done.

Backup catcher Ramon Castro had surgery to repair the torn meniscus in his left knee, though manager Willie Randolph remained hopeful of his return this season. "That's why we want to get it done now," Randolph said. Castro injured the knee while stretching before a rehab assignment in Brooklyn. He was already on the DL with a rib cage injury.

It looks like it is Brian Bannister for Tom Glavine.

Rookie Brian Bannister was at Shea to throw his side session and pronounced himself 100 percent in his return from a strained hamstring. Bannister could be activated to take Glavine's start Saturday.

All is right in the universe now. It would have been a slap in the face otherwise.

Guillermo Mota has been moved. No, not off the roster; just in the clubhouse. Initially assigned to the corner stall formerly used by Mike Piazza, Mota arrived at Shea Stadium on Wednesday to find that his locker had been relocated to an adjacent wall. "I guess they didn't want me in Piazza's locker," Mota said. The two players are notoriously linked by beanings and fights, leading the Mets to avoid the irony and switch Mota with teammate Aaron Heilman. "I just go where I'm told," Heilman said.

I love this guy.

"I'm not a home-run hitter," Reyes said. "I swing hard and they just happen."

He knows what he is and that is a very good thing. There was speculation among Cohen and Hernandez that Reyes tended to get homer happy after popping one out, but I don't think that is/was the case.

Kevin Mulvey did not dominate mediocre talent while at Villanova so we will see if he can step it up against AA competition tonight.

"After I got drafted in June, I had about a two-month layoff," Mulvey said by phone on Wednesday, before the B-Mets' lost 6-0 to the Portland Sea Dogs. "So going from just running and keeping in shape and throwing on the side to jumping right into a playoff race, it's pretty cool. I'm having a lot of fun right now."

Mulvey was a second-team All-Big East selection this past spring at Villanova. He went just 3-8 but had a team-best 3.61 ERA in 14 starts. He threw five complete games and had 88 strikeouts in 92 1/3 innings.

In three seasons at Villanova, Mulvey went 14-16 with 222 strikeouts, the most in school history over three years.

"Kevin will come at you," said Joe Godri, his coach at Villanova. "He's real durable. He can go nine innings like he was drinking a cup of coffee. If he settles in early, he's a pretty tough hombre."

Mulvey throws three pitches -- a fastball that Godri says can reach 92-93 miles per hour, a slider and a change-up. He made one appearance with the Rookie Gulf Coast League Mets, throwing two scoreless innings on Saturday.

No one doubts his stuff as he can throw three above average pitches, but he has not really made the most of this talents just yet. However, as Rick Peterson says, you cannot teach velocity and Mulvey has all the tools to succeed.

Shawn Green makes his Met debut tonight and explains why he has had a dip in power.

"There's nothing physically wrong," Green said about his decline in power yesterday during a conference call.

"I was really struggling earlier this year and made a conscious effort to stop chasing home runs. I shortened my swing and started hitting line drives.

"I've been swinging the bat well. My goal is to build off that, and the homers will come."

The Mets do not need power, just a consistent bat.

Thanks to Emad for pointing this out:

Meyers relieved newly acquired starter Brandon Wilson, who joined the Suns when Deolis Guerra was promoted to St. Lucie earlier in the day.

Nuts. He was the youngest player in Low-A earlier in the year and now he is in High-A.