THE WIFE TAKES THE REINS

JohnnyMets is off camping for the next few days, so you all are stuck with me, The Wife. For those of you who know JohnnyMets personally, you can join me in a chuckle as you picture him camping. This is the city boy whose biggest outdoor challenge so far has been mowing our lawn, and who still gets freaked out with all the "wildlife" (i.e. rabbits and the occasional deer) in our neighborhood.

You can also join me in another chuckle, because JohnnyMets is away on the day that he's been anticipating all season. Yes, he is going to be royally P.O.'ed because the Mets called up Lastings Milledge from Norfolk! Granted it's only for 2 weeks while Xavier Nady recovers from an appendectomy, but this is his real chance to prove himself as a big league player. And John is nestled in a sleeping bag wondering what that strange noise was outside the cabin.

Because of this development, I am renaming the "Last-Place Lastings" daily feature and calling it "Lasting in the Majors?" I'm not sure if JohnnyMets will approve of this ... however, he's not here to argue, and as The Wife, I always get my way anyway, right? So, it will be called that at least for the next three days and then The Husband can reassess.

So the Mets won last night 7-6, with a walkoff hit by David Wright in the bottom of the ninth. Speaking of David Wright, tonight is "Dog Day" at Shea Stadium, and they had some video on SNY of David holding two puppies. Sigh. Is there anything better in the world? David Wright and puppies? Given his hit last night, I think even John would agree with me.

Reaching into the mailbag, Dave from Brighton assures that someone is reading this blog while John is away:


"Dear Mrs. Johnnymets,

Do you look just like Johnnymets, except with a pink bow, a la Pacman and Mrs. Pacman? For your sake I hope not.

I'm interested in getting a fresh outsider perspective (i.e., a perspective different than that of the hopelessly optimistic Johnnymets) on three Mets and Mets-related questions:

1. Tom Glavine looks great this season. Do you think he'll get to 300 wins?

2. Sometimes Mets fans are really tough on Carlos Beltran. But he's got 14 homers, including last week's game winner, and seven steals. Is he worth all that dough?

3. I know you've followed Pedro for a number of years. Do you think he'll 'hurt' his big toe right before the Red Sox series at Fenway?

3a. If he does pitch against his former team, how do you think he'll do? My money is on 7 IP, 3 ER, 10 K (3 by Ortiz), but a ND courtesy of Billy Wagner.

Signed,
Dave in Brighton"


Dave-

I guess you could compare JohnnyMets and me to Pacman and Ms. Pacman. Except I'd wear a pink Mets (or Red Sox) hat instead of a pink bow. That's really the only difference between us. That, and I'm pregnant.

Getting to your other questions-

1. Tom Glavine does look great this season. I do think he'll get to 300 wins -- but not this year. That would be awfully tough. He'd have to win 17 more games. As well as he's pitching, I don't think he'll have that blockbuster of a year. Let's get realistic.

2. I'm slightly encouraged by Carlos Beltran's performance as of late. He's really picked up his game and is finally starting to deliver. But no way is he worth all that money. For $119 million, I'd expect Albert Pujols numbers. Carlos is heading in the right direction, but he still has a ways to go.

3. I don't think Pedro will hurt his big toe before the Fenway road trip, but I also don't expect to see him take the mound either. I think the Mets will "conveniently" schedule Pedro to pitch right before the Sox series and right after. It's all stupid, though. Sure, some people would boo Pedro, but I'd clap for him. And I'd bet that most Fenway fans would too. I don't think Pedro thinks that way though -- thus, we won't see him pitching here.

3a. On the off-chance that I'm wrong, I say 7 IP, 4 ER (3 of them in the first inning), 8 Ks, but Beckett will out-pitch him.

Thanks for your mail, Dave. Always appreciated. On to the regular features:

THE KID'S KIDS: The St. Lucie Mets are playing the Vero Beach Dodgers tonight. I'll let you know the outcome tomorrow. I did find out some interesting stuff about Gary Carter last night though, that even JohnnyMets didn't know. I'm reading this book called Marley & Me, which is about a crazy yellow lab named Marley and all of his hijinx. I learned that back in 1993 or thereabouts, Marley played himself in a movie called The Last Home Run. You probably haven't heard of the movie -- it went straight to video -- but it was about a 79-year-old guy who lives in a nursing home and he becomes a 12-year-old for 5 days and gets to play Little League ball. Marley was cast as the dog of the Little League coach -- played by none other than Gary Carter. You can bet Mr. and Mrs. JohnnyMets will be renting this movie.

LASTING IN THE MAJORS?: Lastings Milledge has been up to bat twice as of this writing. He received quite an ovation from the Shea fans, and followed that up with a bullet of a hit -- unfortunately, it was right to the shortstop. Second time up, he grounded out to third. However, the SNY announcers astutely pointed out (with help from their research department), that Milledge and Daryl Strawberry were the exact same age (21 years and however many days old) when they were called up to the majors. Strange coincidence... let's hope Milledge can live up to the Strawberry comparisons.

FANTASY UPDATE: John didn't give me access to the What If? League, so I have no updates. However, I'll make it clear right now that I think this what if stuff is bull. I told John from the outset that I don't trust a league that's all based on scenarios and not REAL matchups and/or statistics. Even though he's now in second place, I think he now understands my concerns. What If he just stopped playing? I think we'd both be much happier.

BEAT THE STREAK: John has Paul Lo Duca tonight (currently 0 for 2) and I have Manny Ramirez (0 for 1 right now). So we both need big hits tonight.

FOOTNOTE: John just called in from his camping trip. Good thing they have cell phone service up there. I updated him on the Lastings situation and his response was "HOLY COW, THEY CALLED UP LASTINGS!" He was in a bit of disbelief. I'm sure he'll have much more to say about it when he's back.