You Mutha Fucka/Tough Decision

1.67 WHIP....4.50 ERA....the offense giving him copious amounts of runs....another win.

Steve Trachsel lives to annoy me and I live to be annoyed by Steve Trachsel apparently. He is once again tied for the National League in wins after another so-so start. However, he would have to win game seven of the World Series for me to no longer watch him and have a desire to punch babies and rip my eyes out. It is clear that he will be placed on the post season roster, but what is not clear is who will be left out?

"You just don't give in," Trachsel said. "It comes with experience."

Way to basically try and sell yourself to your own team who is enamored with veteran presence. The Mets will presumably slim their staff down to eleven pitchers in order to carry an extra bench player. But when you have a bullpen as deep as the Mets do, who gets knocked out? We know Pedro, Glavine, Maine, The Duque, and Trachsel will be there. That leaves six spots for the bullpen and the Mets have seven effective relievers. We know that Wagner, Heilman, Bradford, and Oliver and his .170 BAA to lefties will be there. That leave two spots for Feliciano, Mota, and Bert.

Feliciano has been stellar and should go and Mota has the upside and showed some signs of waking up and should go as well. That ironically leaves the guy they traded their starting right fielder for to plug a hole in their bullpen. It is not even that he has been bad. He has actually been good with a sub 1.00 WHIP and a 2.89 ERA, but it's just a numbers game at this point and there are too many pitchers. When is the last time a team had that problem?

The Nady trade might end up being useless come playoff time. The Mets replaced him with Shawn Green and though he has much less power, the difference is negligible and Omar at least has Oliver Perez as a wildcard now. He did what he had to do, but it looks like the Mets will not even need Hernandez's services. Omar made the move out of necessity at the time, but one has to wonder what Omar would have done had the Mota deal been in place earlier. Ultimately, Omar had no time to work things out and made the right call, but Bert may be home eating nachos come playoff time.

* * *

Binghamton beat Portland 10-3 behind a nice start from Kevin Mulvey. Mulvey went 4.1 innings and gave up four hits, no runs, and two walks while striking out five and walked away with the no decision, a few pats on the ass, and some praise from Omar Minaya. Carlos Gomez went 2 for 4 with a run scored and a double in the game to bring his average up to .285.

St. Lucie played Palm Beach in a doubleheader yesterday. In game one, the Mets lost 5-2. Fernando Martinez went 0 for 3, Cliff Floyd went 0 for 3 with two K's and made Jaime Garcia's day in the process, Mike Carp went 0 for 3, and Jesus Flores went 2 for 2 with two runs scored and walk.

In game two, St. Lucie walked away with the victory 4-1. Fernando's day did not get any better as he went 0 for 4 to see his average dip to .202. Mike Carp went 1 for 3 with a run scored, Cliff Floyd went 2 for 3, and Jesus Flores capped off a great day with a 3 for 3 game with three RBIs and his eighteenth and nineteenth homeruns on the season. Flores now his fifty extra base hits on the season which is just astounding and he has really catapulted himself into one of the top catching prospects in the game proving his 2005 year was the fluke rather than his 2004 year.


In the Tides won 10-0 over the....ah who the fuck am I kidding. No one cares what the Tides did.

Yikes.

Informed the Astros had just given him a five-year, $73 million contract extension Tuesday night, ace righthander Roy Oswalt immediately placed a call to Weir, Miss., to give his father Billy the news. In the ensuing news conference, Oswalt fought off tears as he acknowledged his father's guidance.

The bar has been set. Thanks Drayton. Anyone thinking Zito will be had for less than 5 years / $75 million is nuts.

Whenever you make a bad signing, just try and void it! Simple solution to a horrible problem!

"It's a very strange story," a Yankee official told the Daily News. "It seems like there might be more to it, but you just don't know. Maybe there isn't. At this point, it doesn't look like we would have any grounds to void his contract."

At least you gave it the old college try. At least Pavano has no trouble in terms of the Yankees taking his money, but in true American fashion, the guy he hit only recently found out the man that hit him was rich.

Pavano's worries may not end there. The man driving the truck he hit suggested that despite the fact that neither he nor Pavano reported injuries at the time of the accident, he may sue the Yankees' $40 million pitcher for damages.

Ernest DeLaura, of Port St. Lucie, Fla., told The News his shoulder "is all messed up. My doctor told me to stay in bed."

DeLaura, who was driving a truck for the Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County when he was hit, would not go into details about the accident. He referred a reporter to his lawyer, Larry Krasin, who told The News that he and his colleagues are investigating.

When asked if he expected to file a lawsuit, Krasin said, "We are looking into the circumstances of the situation. There was an accident, and we have a client who was injured."

Toasty, your kind makes me sick.

The Cards are done. Not that Mulder to the DL tipped the scales, they were done before that. Aside from Carpenter, their pitching is just too weak.

Beltran likes what he is doing.

"I feel very happy to have the year that I'm having, being able to stay healthy most of the season and being able to contribute to the team," said Beltran, who crushed a 438-foot shot to center against Rockies starter Byung-Hyun Kim to top his previous season-high of 38 homers set when he split the season between the Royals and Astros two years ago.

Any guy in the league would be happy to trade places with you with the year that you are having all around....well maybe not Ryan Howard. I think he is having some fun too.

Also from the above link:

The Rockies (61-70) pulled within 4-3, but Reyes stranded the tying run at third base in the fourth when he fielded Todd Helton's grounder on the outfield grass behind second base and fired to Delgado at first to end the inning. It was the Mets' 11th straight error-free game, one shy of the club record.

"That gets me more excited than anything else," Willie Randolph said.

That is swell.

Even Cliffy is not immune to Randolph's fames non comittal answers.

Mets manager Willie Randolph said there are no guarantees concerning injured left fielder Cliff Floyd when he is reinstated from the disabled list.

Endy Chavez is providing consistent enough offensive production, and his defense is far superior to Floyd's, so one should not assume that when Floyd returns he will immediately trot out to left field.

"We want to get Cliff going, but we still want to keep getting Endy into games," Randolph said. "A lot depends on how Cliff feels."

One has to wonder how much interest a team will have that needs to depend on his bat and figures to be in some type of playoff race. He might be up for a platoon role here, but if not, he might find himself on some last place team somewhere trying to catch a healthy Cliff in 2007.