METS 12-7, 1st Place, NL East, 3 gms. up

The Giants beat the Mets 6-2 in the first game of their 3-game series in San Francisco Monday night.

As you know, the wife and I saw the A's in Oakland, but we did swing by AT&T Park (formerly SBC and PacBell Park) in San Francisco. It looks very nice:

So we'll be going back to San Fran to check out that park...probably three more name changes later. And they'll probably be playing the:



Big picture there from outside the right field gate - guess the grounds crew was getting ready for the Giants' next opponent - our New York Mets.

BELTRAN*: Carlos Beltran* has a strained hamstring. He's not going to play during the Giants series. This is why the asterisk has yet to be removed from his name.

HERNANDEZ: The latest on the Keith Hernandez flap/debacle. Suzyn Waldman, who is a Yankees broadcaster (the only woman play-by-play person in the majors, actually), has been a New York sports radio personality for years. She's a woman. Anyway, she says she expects as much from Hernandez, because he was apparently always surly to her in the clubhouse. I believe it. Here's a guy who's been around guys since before high school, at a time when women weren't around sports like they are now. He's from a different time. I'm not defending him, because he's gotta keep his dumb opinions to himself. I enjoy Hernandez's outspoken baseball opinions - but he should keep those opinions limited to baseball.

As I'm writing this, I'm remembering a game at Shea last year where the cameras caught an overweight guy eating ice cream in the stands. Hernandez made an inappropriate comment then. He needs to filter things a little more - and I expect he'll be more careful commenting on non-baseball issues from now on.

WHAT IF......?: There's a new addiction brewing inside of me. It'll take off in just a few days. Whatifsports.com. You may have heard of it - it's a site where you can compile fantasy teams using any player from any year in the history of baseball. A friend of mine knows a guy who's starting a "What If" league, in which 24 people will join, each being a separate team. These 24 people will be divided into six divisions, and there will be 6 division champions, 2 wild cards, and a full playoff and World Series following a 162-game regular season. I think it'll start Wednesday, and I hear 3 games are played a day, so I'll be checking this site constantly. It could be dangerous.

Of course, if I'm going to venture into something like this, I'm not going without the Mets. So here's the squad (with the help of my article last year of the "greatest offensive seasons by Mets"):

The Lineup
2005 Jose Reyes - SS (hopefully he'll get on base enough)
1988 Wally Backman - 2B (good number 2 hitter)
1985 Gary Carter - C (expensive but non-negotiable that he be on the team)
1999 Mike Piazza - DH (same)
1999 Robin Venture - 3B (Last year's David Wright was too expensive)
1976 Dave Kingman - LF (Couldn't afford Strawberry, so I'll take Kingman's 37 HR's)
1975 Rusty Staub - RF (Solid outfield numbers)
1976 Ed Kranepool - 1B (I needed to save some money at first)
1985 Lenny Dykstra - CF (Speed at the top, speed at the bottom)

The Bench
1995 Tim Bogar (He had a good year in a down year for the Mets)
1999 Shawon Dunston (Hopefully a good pinch-hitting option)
2001 Joe McEwing (Flexibility to play a lot of positions)
1999 Todd Pratt (Needed a good, cheap backup catcher)
1980 Mookie Wilson (Some late inning speed for the basepaths)
2004 David Wright (Couldn't leave him off the team! Not as good as '05, but still good)

The Pitchers
1972 Tom Seaver (Had to compromise, take a cheaper season - his best year cost $13 Mil)
1984 Dwight Gooden (Not his best season either, but still better than most in history)
2005 Pedro Martinez* (His numbers were among the best in team history last year)
1988 David Cone (20-3 record - how could I not)
1970 Jerry Koosman (Had to have a lefty - but not Koosman's best season)
1969 Tug McGraw
1985 Jesse Orosco
1989 Randy Myers
1989 Roger McDowell (Not a bad foursome out of the 'pen)
1962 Vinegar Bend Mizell (He's awful, but I had to fill a roster spot cheap - he's programmed to only go in for mop-up duty when I'm losing)

So that's the squad I'll hopefully win it all with. You only get $100 million to work with, and I spent a lot of that on pitching. I hope pitching truly does win championships. My offense isn't too bad, though - I can use Hall of Famer Gary Carter along with Mike Piazza, since we can use DH in this league. Needless to say, I can't wait for the games to get underway. And you better believe I'll be giving updates.

THE KID'S KIDS: I haven't gotten a final from Tuesday night, but the St. Lucie Mets' win over the first place Manatees Monday has them at 11-6, 1.5 games back. They're in second place, a half-game ahead of Palm Beach.

BEAT THE STREAK: Alfonso Soriano got a hit, so I'm working on a 4-gamer. Gotta get this one to 10, at least. For Wednesday, it's David Wright, a career .600 hitter against Giants starter Jason Schmidt. (He's 3-for-5.)

The Mets are a 3:30 game tomorrow in San Francisco, before heading for a very important road series in Atlanta. And lucky me - tomorrow is a half-day of school. I'll have a full game posting Wednesday evening. Right now, it's time to go to bed and try to stay up for a Steve Trachsel start. That'll be quite a task.