Ollie Time!™

It is hard to be upset about any loss after the Mets won seven games in a row and eleven straight at home, but yesterday's game did teach me more about Brian Bannister. While some people can say they were shown how he has the ability to recover from a rocky start and put together a decent start as he finished six innings, I saw another par for the course start from Bannister with a lot of baserunners. I saw 84 mph fastballs. Yes, 84 mph. While he may have value on a Major League roster, with the arms the Mets have on the horizon and the likelihood of Omar chasing a big time free agent next year, I can only envision him as a sixth starter/long relief type guy. His stuff just looks average overall and none of his secondary pitches stand out and they really need to without a commanding fastball.

Enough of Bannister and talking about average stuff, today is Ollie day. I have not been this excited to see a pitcher start a game for the Mets since the first day Pedro pitched for the Mets. Not Pelfrey, not Bannister, not Owens, not anyone. It is hard not to fall in love with his upside and his potentially lethal slider. Oliver Perez fits perfectly into a rotation that is too soft tossing and provides a drastically different look than any pitcher the Mets throw out there. Though I know they are set this year in the rotation barring any injury, hopefully we get a taste of the future and see Oliver Perez get a bit of his confidence back so he can get back on track in dominating batters.

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Howard for MVP? It is impossible to keep him out of the discussions and he is certainly up there with Pujols, Beltran, and Reyes.

GAME ON!

Carlos Lee's agent will remain Adam Katz and will not represented by Scott Boras.

Standing next to his once and future agent, Adam Katz, Rangers free-agent-to-be Carlos Lee said Friday afternoon that any flirtation with switching to Scott Boras' group was nothing more than "confusion" on his part.

"I just realized I've got to do what is right," Lee said in confirming that he would continue to be represented by Katz. "I got confused about a couple of things, but things settled down. I just want to concentrate on playing baseball right now. This has been a very difficult part of the game, going through this process."

Lee turned down a four year, $48 million deal before being traded to the Rangers and really, that was a pretty good offer for his services.

Zito took a no-hitter into the eighth inning and won his 100th game and is now 100-61 in his young career.

Zito carried a no-hit bid into the eighth inning, and the A's beat the Rangers 9-3. It was Zito's 100th career victory against 61 defeats, and it was the first leg of what Zito hopes is a 300-win career.

"I wasn't thinking about 100 wins, but after six innings of no-hit ball, you start to think about (a no-hitter)," Zito said. "It's the worst thing you could do. You start to protect it."

I want him really bad for next season in this Met rotation. Anyone sour on him is not looking at this stats. Ever since he has been a starter, he has topped 210 innings (on pace for 211 this year) and gotten within 1.2 innings of 230 or over 230 three times and won fourteen games in every year but one (he has 13 so far this year). He is very consistent and moving to the NL could result in a few years of a sub 3.00 ERA.

Scott Kazmir's season could be over.

The Rays placed Kazmir on the disabled list after Friday's game for what they said were precautionary reasons and don't know when he will next pitch.

Kazmir, their prized 22-year-old lefthander, was on the DL from July 24 through Aug. 11 due to shoulder inflammation. He has made three starts since and, while getting decent results (0-1, 2.25 ERA, 24 strikeouts in 16 innings), has not looked as smooth mechanically as the Rays would like.

Anyone that derives any pleasure from seeing this has problems. This hardly means the Mets were right, it just means a young pitcher has an issue now like most do. Even if he never pitches again, the trade was horrific. In case anyone hasn't noticed the guy we got was out for the season long before Kazmir.

You sitting down? Carl Pavano is close to actually pitching for the Yankees on the big league stage.

Carl Pavano, on the disabled list for more than a year, declared himself ready to pitch for the Yankees after his latest rehab start Friday night. "Yes, I'm ready," he told The Columbus Dispatch. "I felt good."

Pavano, pitching for Triple-A Columbus in an 8-2 win over Indianapolis, allowed two runs, eight hits and a walk in six innings, throwing 89 pitches. His fastball was said to consistently hit 90 to 91 mph on the radar gun, significantly better than last season, when it fluctuated in the mid-80s. "The pitch count was a little high, but I definitely felt better than my last start," he said.

I already checked outside. No pigs are flying.

Ruben Gotay continues to hit well and went 2 for 5 with a homer and two RBIs in Norfolk's 7-3 win over Richmond last night.

Phil Humber looked good in 5.1 innings of work in Erie's 3-2 win over Binghamton. Humber gave up four hits, one run on one homerun, and two walks while striking out five. Carlos Gomez went 2 for 3 with a triple and an RBI.

In game two, Binghamton won 5-0 over Erie. Carlos Gomez went 1 for 2 with his seventh homerun of the year and three RBIs. Michael Devaney threw a seven inning shut-out for his fourth win.

In game one of a doubleheader, Fernando Martinez went 1 for 4 with a run scored in St. Lucie's 4-2 win over Daytona.

In game two, Mike Carp went 2 for 2 with his fifteen homerun of the year and two RBIs. Deolis Guerra didn't last long in his first start in high-A and went 2.1 innings and gave up four hits, one homerun, four earned runs, and four walks while striking out three.

Eric Brown won his fifth game of the year with a seven inning, two hit performance and struck out seven along the way in Brooklyn's 6-0 win over Aberdeen.

Willie backs Jose Reyes for Jose Reyes as an MVP candidate.

"When you talk about doubles and triples and runs scored, stolen bases, that to me is what a real MVP is," Randolph said before the 4-3 loss to Philly. "You talk about [St. Louis' Albert] Pujols and you're talking about Beltran; it's not all about power numbers for me.

"Most Valuable Player, you're valuable - you're crazy valuable - if you can do all those things, plus play defense. That's valuable, that's every aspect of the game.

"So I don't care if it's singles or if it's not dramatic. If I'm the manager, I want a guy who can do all those things. So that to me is most valuable."