GOOD THING THE GAMES DON'T COUNT

The Mets were clobbered twice on Sunday, leaving me with plenty to write about. I'll start with the game I didn't see - the Mets lost to the Dodgers 16-2. Cuban defector Alay Soler was among the pitchers who were rocked.

In the game that was on ESPN, the Mets lost to the Puerto Rico World Baseball Classic team, 6-1. Not quite a clobbering, especially considering the fact that half the game was Mets minor leaguers, but the big hits for Puerto Rico came off Billy Wagner. (I'm chalking it up to the fact that he doesn't have his best stuff in early March - I'm not worried.)

I'll go in bullet format, with talking points from the game:

• Lastings Milledge led off and played center field for the Mets (since Carlos Beltran* was playing for Puerto Rico), and he played pretty well. It was good to get a look at him - he moved to left later in the game, and made a nice hustle catch on a sinking liner (he dived when he didn't have to, but it was still a very nice play)
• Carlos Delgado didn't play (for Puerto Rico) - he has a sore elbow. Jose Oquendo expects Delgado to be OK for Tuesday's WBC game, Delgado told ESPN's Duke Castiglione he might not be able to play in the WBC at all.
• I was going to save this for later, but I've already mentioned Castiglione, so here goes. I'm already biased against Castiglione because he's the son of a broadcaster. Since broadcasting was a tough profession for me to crack, I feel like 'sons of broadcasters' had better earn their spots. Joe Buck has earned my respect, few others have. Duke Castiglione is wearing real thin. He'd better just report, and report well - too many times he's trying to be buddy-buddy during interviews, or acting with a schtick - just do the reports, Duke. If I have to watch you because of some favor to the Castiglione with some (and I stress some, not a lot of) talent, you'd better just do the job the way it's supposed to be done. And why is Castiglione getting so many Mets assignments? I feel like I see him all the time on Mets ESPN games. Castiglione did the game with Brian Kenny on play-by-play and Steve Phillips doing color. Phillips is good - I like listening to him in radio guest spots, and he offers some good front office insight in the booth. Kenny needs to stick to the Hot List. I'm not a fan of his play-by-play. I don't know what the broadcasting sightlines are at Tradition Field - but Kenny missed a lot of stuff during the game - it was very distracting for me. I think this team is doing the WBC games from Puerto Rico the next week or so. I might not watch those...or I will to see if Brian Kenny can do better (Believe it or not, I do kind of like Brian Kenny....or at least, I prefer him over some other ESPN personalities.)
• Back to the game - Castiglione interviewed Pedro Martinez* during the game. Pedro* said his toe was sore, but that's "to be expected". Lately, the big deal in the New York papers has been whether Pedro* will be ready for Opening Day. They're playing this up way too early - I think he'll be OK. We'll leave it at that for now. Anyway, Pedro*'s take: "If nothing goes wrong, I expect to be ready for Opening Day." On the Mets chances in 2006: "If the team stays healthy, and it starts with me, we're gonna be a hard team to beat." On unseating the Braves atop the NL East: "Winning the division is not that important. Whoever is fresh in the finals - whoever's in good health and ready to play is who's gonna win it.....winning the division isn't important." I was surprised by that comment - I know the Mets can still make the playoffs as a wild card, but you can't go into the season with the mindset that second place is OK. Win it all, men. Pedro* is a good interview, though.
• Kenny and Phillips interviewed Willie Randolph, and Randolph addressed the 2B controversy: "It's an open competition - I really feel, though, that Kaz might step up and take the job."
• During that interview, Matsui made a nice backhand play up the middle, and the throw to first to make an out. In the bottom half of the inning, after a leadoff double by Milledge, Matsui grounded out to the right side to move Milledge to third, before David Wright squibbed a single between first and second to score the run. I thought it was a good day for Matsui.
• One more thing about ESPN - they had huge issues with their chyron operator (the person who controls the words that come on the screen), specifically in the age department. When showing Pedro*'s age during his interview, they listed him as age: 340. Also, Matsui was listed as age 20 (instead of 30. Pedro*, obviously, is 34.) I guess it's spring training for everyone.
• One more interview - this one was Omar Minaya in the booth. He was a little more aggressive than Pedro*, when it comes to the division: "The team is better - We expect to give the Braves a hell of a run." When asked about the starting pitching, he said the Mets have "good starting pitching", but he's "always thinking of things" when it comes to making a move.
• The Mets have a very young kid that played shortstop at the end of this game - Jose Coronado - I think he is 17. He showed he has a gun, making two good plays in the seventh inning. One he went into the hole at short, planted himself, and fired to first. The other play was a chopper over the head of the pitcher, and he charged it nice and made the play at first. He also singled later on.
• Finally, I mentioned last week that the Mets are one of about three teams wearing a new aerodynamic helmet with air holes, which offer more protection. They look sleek. I like them. I'm trying to place where I have seen helmets like this before - either in college baseball or women's softball. Nice looking though. I think the Angels are one of the other teams wearing them.

Monday the Mets are on ESPN again - this time at 1 against the Cleveland Indians. Tom Glavine and Jose Lima are among the scheduled pitchers.