Random Tidbits

Did you ever have a hankering for a mint that was bacon flavored and just wonder how the hell you were going to satiate your desire for pork flavored breath fresheners? Wonder no more.



Each one of these mints tastes like a delicious slice of crispy bacon with just a hint of mint flavor to give it that extra punch! It may sound weird but once you taste it, you'll see that mint and bacon is a match made in China.

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Strippers/crime stoppers?

Still, fake money in circulation is a fraction of 1 percent of genuine currency, Secret Service spokesman Eric Zahren told the paper.

The paper reported that counterfeiters are getting more bold, with one person arrested after offering a counterfeiting how-to class. The report also said that one man was caught at a strip club after strippers realized he was passing out fake bills and called police while the bouncer held the man.

God bless strippers.

You cannot make this stuff up.

A tour bus of U.S. senior citizens defended themselves against a group of alleged muggers, sending two of them fleeing and killing a third in the Atlantic coast city of Limon, police said.

One of the tourists -- a retired member of the U.S. military -- put assailant Warner Segura in a head lock and broke his clavicle after the 20-year-old and two other men armed with a knife and gun held up their tour bus Wednesday, said Luis Hernandez, the police chief of Limon, 80 miles east of San Jose.

That dude was gangster.

Now to baseball...let's not have anyone get their panties all bundled up about today's game and Perez's shaky start. Most guys that dominate Spring Training are guys that are trying to make the team and giving it their best. However, pitchers who have their spot, pitch like Tom Glavine in spring of '06 when he put up a 5.06 ERA. Sure, results are nice. But if a pitcher is going to truly work on things, chances are he is going to get knocked around. It may sound counter intuitive to be happy about a bad performance, but if Perez was working on things like keeping his shoulder in and getting some consistency down rather than revert to bad habits just to be a bunch of minor leaguers, it was a great start.

"I was happy with the way he threw today," Mets catcher Paul Lo Duca said. "I think a couple years ago he might have went out there and just tried to throw 100 miles per hour. Today he worked on throwing strikes."

Bad numbers now will hopefully lead to a more comfortable Perez and better numbers later. So sit back and watch to see the progress and how things unfold. You can practice all you want, but until you try out your new stuff in live games, you really have not accomplished much. There is going to be a learning curve here.

In Peterson We Trust...

"We've made some minor adjustments that have allowed him to be himself," said Peterson. "I'd compare it to driving a car. You pull out of the parking lot, something doesn't feel right, and you realize you've got the parking brake on. You take it off and away you go.

"I think what we've done for him is take the parking brake off. It's a minor adjustment but it makes a huge impact. We want him to throw consistently at the bottom of the strike zone, because then, if hitters have to gear up for 94 (mph) down, how do you think they'll handle 98 up in the zone?"

At this point, Ambiorix Burgos and Joe Smith seem to be generating some excitement in camp. It's early yes, but the returns have been good so far. Currently, the Mets have Jon Adkins, Ambiorix Burgos, Jorge Sosa, Billy Wagner, Aaron Heilman, Duaner Sanchez, Juan Padilla, Pedro Feliciano, and Scott Schoenweiss who could all be effective relievers in the big leagues this season. The problem is there is only room for seven. With Wagner, Heilman, Sanchez, Feliciano, and Schoenweiss locks with Adkins, Sosa, and Padilla the leading candidates for the last two spots for a myriad of reasons, it means Burgos and Smith may be the defacto cuts come time to break north because they can still go to the minors. All this does not even factor in the fact that Mota will be back at some point.

I've spoken about Omar hedging the Mets suspect rotation with his bullpen. If you can effectively shorten the game, you need much less out of a starting rotation. When you have a lesser starting rotation, that tight bullpen is certainly good to have. That's not to say the Mets will be as bad as everyone predicts, but it gives some insurance. Hell, if the Mets want to get crazy, they can go with a four man rotation while carrying eight relievers and having them go four or even five innings a night if something tragic happens and a suitable replacement could not be found. While it would certainly be unlikely, it could work for a period of time and it certainly would not be that much of a stretch since there are still people who vehemently support the four man rotation. The point is there are options to control the damage if things go out of control and this bullpen is looking like it just might be the best in the best if the bigs for a second year in a row and might be good enough to mitigate any damage caused by the rotation.