3 Things

3 Things From My Saturday of Playoffs Football

1) I never really knew how I felt about David Garrard. I always liked Byron Leftwich, because of the Marshall connection with Chad Pennington, and because of his fighting-through-injury performance in one of his college games, where he played with, I think, what turned out to be a broken leg and drove his team to a comeback win, and couldn't even run down the field, and had to be helped by his offensive lineman to get down the field.

So there were a couple of feelings about Garrard - one was not caring a thing about him, the other was anger because I liked Leftwich. 'Not caring much' won out, because I didn't like Leftwich too much.

But then I saw James Brown's interview with Garrard on the CBS pregame (the interview started at 8:01 of what was supposed to be an 8 o'clock game, so I imagine most everyone saw the interview). And it was very good - Garrard seems very likeable, no? So I think I'll be rooting for him for a while...although his likeability took a pretty big hit after his first quarter fumble against New England. (James Brown looked ridiculous in those cutaways during the interview, incidentally. That's why if I had made it as a reporter I would have taken a very active role in the editing process.)

(Just looked up the Byron Leftwich info - broken shin, and they lost the game...but it was a valiant effort nonetheless.)

2) These Budweiser commercials where that dude keeps talking about the Budweiser process annoy me. I don't like them, and they're not going to grow on me. Boring.

3) Watching the Packers win their playoff game really brought me back to the early 1990's. You may remember that's when the Jets were the pits, and I was always left without a team to root for come January. So I adopted the Packers, partly because I liked Brett Favre, partly because I liked the green and yellow (this was one instance where I could really pick a team based on anything, and team colors weighed in heavily). So I rooted for the Packers, and it was kind of neat for me when they beat the Patriots in 1996. Well, this year I'll be rooting for the Packers again, and their win was pretty fun, in the snow and all. (The only thing I'm not rooting for is the Patriots-Packers rematch, because you know how I feel about rematches. We'll get to that next week as the teams shake out.)

I'll recap the weekend games Sunday night. Terrell Owens is reportedly 100% for the game against the Giants...I don't know if that changes my feelings on the game. I don't know if that's a lie to make him seem more threatening, or the injury was a lie to get him some extra rest.

CALLED TO THE HALL

I have lots of problems with lots of things. Trouble is, with some of these things, here's the way my mind works:
1) acknowledge problem
2) obsess over how troubling the problem is
3) move onto another problem to obsess over

Rarely does 2a) happen, but in this case it has. 2a) is this: Think of solution to problem, publish it on blog, and solve problem.

Here's what I've solved.

The problem is election into the baseball Hall of Fame. I have a big problem with the fact that a guy is not a Hall of Famer one year (maybe on his own merit, maybe in comparison to the people he's up for election with in a given year), and then in succeeding years, he gets closer and closer and closer to election, until one January day he gets the call and suddenly, he's a Hall of Famer! (Two things - I realize this system worked for Hall of Famer Gary Carter, but it's flawed to me, no matter which person I idolize benefits. Also, I realize that this is not the only problem with the system, but it's the only one I'm solving.)

Now, this is big news up by me these days because of Jim Rice, and how close he has gotten this year, and how likely it is that he will get in next year, after 15 years of eligibility (I think I have that right....I'm going sans looking up information here). (Also note that this is Jim Rice, pictured below. He's the Red Sox player about to be tagged out at home by Gary Carter in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.).

What makes Rice a Hall of Famer now, after all these years, when he barely got 30% of the vote his first few times out? (Actually, with Rice, it's quite simple - the media are lording it over him that they control his Hall of Fame fate, because he was a downright jerk to them when he was playing. Since the media always gets the last laugh [you listening, Roger Clemens?], and he didn't stay on their good side, he's paying the price.)

My solution to this whole thing - wait more than 5 years on marginal candidates before you vote. Maybe give it ten years, and only leave them on the ballot for five years total. This way:

1) We're not subjected to year after year of voting, where a guy inches closer and closer and finally makes it.
2) A player, instead of campaigning and trying to win votes after his first year of eligibility and seeing how many more votes he needs, can spend 10 years building the case for candidacy before anyone votes at all.
3) A player like Jim Rice, who ticked off the writers, can have a longer cooling-off period (but, really, when it comes down to the media, they have long memories, and will hold the grudge no matter what).
4) With a player who is a lock for the Hall of Fame, the commissioner can step in and do something positive for the sport - waive the waiting period, or declare a 5-year waiting period, and that player can get in sooner.

I just thought I'd weigh in - it's rare that I can complain about something and offer some ideas to make it better. So I'm taking advantage of that opportunity.

AN E-MAIL: Thanks to Rob in New Jersey, who heard my desperate plea for e-mail and answered...in reference to my post last week about the Mangini cell phone ads:

"I was going to post a comment, but I didn't feel like taking the time to set up a log-in. Plus, I could tell you were jonesin' for an email to this address.

Re: Magini's Razr phone commercials... It also took me several viewing before I got the point.

Even though I agree with your take on the ads, allow me to pose an alternate theory: could it be that everyone in the city with a stake in Jets' outcomes or with things that cause angst is chucking his phone in frustration and they just end with Mangini showing his particular brand of frustration as a way of illustrating why the phones are turning up embedded in walls? In other words, could they be trying to make us think that Razrs are getting embedded in walls all over the place as people have things - Jets related or not - digust them? Hmmmm..."

If you want to meet someone who has obsessed over this longer and given it more thought than I, meet Rob. I think he's right - that's probably where all of the phones came from. It never seemed right that Mangini had about twenty phones and was chucking them into things all over Jersey. Thanks for making sense of that, Rob.

That said, I think we can all agree that if that is Belichick's voice at the end of the commercial (and the more I hear it now, the more I think it is), it's gotta be driving him nuts that he's tagging the end of a commercial starring Eric Mangini.

CAN IT BE?

If you've watched the NFL at all this season, you've seen the ad. If you're anything like me, it took you about 10 times seeing it (from the beginning of the season until about mid-season) to realize what was going on. It's the Motorola Razr ad, in which Eric Mangini is the guy flinging his phone around in anger, and since it's such a sleek phone, it embeds itself into whatever it was thrown at - a car, a ceiling fan, a boat. (Like the wall in the picture at the top left, but that's not from the same commercial.)

Part of what I want to comment on is the fact that this commercial portrays Mangini as the coach of a team that didn't play well, presumabely more than once, since these phone have been thrown so many different places. The commercial has been airing since the beginning of the season, with the Jets coming off a playoff appearance - no one involved with this commercial, I'm sure, saw the 4-win season coming. So it was a little prescient, and I'm sure if Mangini had any inkling that his team would be this bad this year, he wouldn't have done this commercial.

But that's not my main comment. After seeing the commercial for about the 100th time in the past couple of weeks, and thinking for about the 97th time, "Why would they use Eric Mangini in this commercial?", I heard the tagline for Motorola. It's a voiceover, and the voice they use sounds an awful lot like......Bill Belichick. Now, I don't know if it's him or not...I'll leave that to more inquisitive minds, like naturalbl0g. Part of it is likely - NFL coaches have a deal with Motorola, they wear their headsets and all, and if Eric Mangini is in a commercial, why not Belichick? But part of it is also unlikely - I don't think Belichick would do endorsements. But if it is him - interesting that his voice-over is the tag on a commercial starring Eric Mangini, no? Especially this year, with the spy-gate follow-up to "The Hug" of last year.

This isn't a major deal - it's just something I've been meaning to write about for a couple of weeks. And I thought now was a good time.

PLAYOFFS: I'll comment on the playoffs Sunday night as my last act before resuming a normal school schedule. Thanks to everyone who is participating in the playoff picks.

MAINE MAN

Mets 1, Nationals 0 (NYM: 15-8, WAS: 8-17)

If John Maine keeps going like this, he's going to need to clear some space on his mantle. Maine improved to 4-0, lowering his ERA to 1.35, as the Mets took two out of three from the Nationals in Washington, DC. Right now, he's one of the best pitchers...not just in the National League, but in the majors.

Seriously, I'm not exaggerating. He's fun to watch. He's just mowing batters down. Now, I know the National League is a bit different offensively than the American, but he's pitching very impressively.

All the offense the Mets needed in this game came from Carlos Beltran, who BUNTED in the first inning. It drives me nuts when he bunts. After Jose Reyes singled, stole second, and then David Wright walked (hitting second - more on that and the walk in a bit), Beltran laid down a bunt. The announcer on MASN said he was probably bunting for a base hit, but Beltran was not busting it down the line. So the problem here is twofold - 1) if you're bunting for a base hit, run faster, Carlos, and 2) swing away, for crying out loud! Anyway, Reyes and Wright were stranded, and nothing came of that.

In the sixth, Beltran got a pitch up high, and swatted it out to right. That's what he should be doing every at-bat. The Mets had a 1-0 lead, and held that lead with the help of Aaron Heilman (two-thirds of an inning, but he loaded the bases), Scott Schoeneweis (one-third of an inning, inducing a bases-loaded groundout), and Billy Wagner (recording his fourth save of the season).

This has to be mentioned, but first I should say that Paul Lo Duca rested Sunday, as did Carlos Delgado, so Julio Franco started at first base. In the seventh inning, with runners on first and second, the Nationals laid down a bunt. David Wright stayed back to cover third, and Franco charged from first - he looked like Keith Hernandez. When the ball hit the ground, Franco was right on top of it, picked it up, and fired to third for the out. It was a great play, especially considering it was made by an old man.

Another fact worth noting - David Wright walked twice. He has now walked in ten straight games, thirteen total in that span. So he's not hitting, but he's getting on base. That's good that his slump isn't affecting his plate discipline. I wish I could tell you what's wrong with his hitting right now, though. Maybe his bat will wake up in Arizona.

The Mets host Florida for three games, then go on to Arizona, where the past couple of years they have absolutely caught fire. This should be a good week for the Mets - so good, in fact, that they are my choice for the "New Baseball Pool" this week.

NHL on NBC johnnymets.blogspot.com Player of the Game: For the third time this season, John Maine. He went 7 scoreless innings, striking out 8, while giving up 3 hits and walking three. He's just been fantastic all year.


TURNING TWO...HUNDRED: No double plays again on Sunday, so this item is going to be temporarily retired (I'm just not as excited about it after the confusion from mlb.com). It will be replaced with:

WHAT A STEAL!: Jose Reyes had two stolen bases on Sunday, increasing his season total to 16. I expect him to shatter the team record this season, 66, held by Roger Cedeno of those (soon) infamous 1999 Mets.

INJURIES: Jose Valentin left Saturday night's game after feeling/hearing a 'pop' in his leg. He was in New York on Sunday, not with the team, getting that checked out.

Orlando Hernandez also was in New York to have his pitching shoulder checked out. He apparently felt pain there. He was supposed to pitch Monday against Florida, in New York. It remains to be seen whether or not he will make that start.

AROUND THE MAJORS: What happened to Josh Hancock of the St. Louis Cardinals is just horrible. That's going to be tough for the guys on that team.

The Rockies beat the Braves, putting the Mets back in front of the Braves by a half game. In that game, Troy Tulowitzki turned an unassisted triple play (the second triple play of the season - the Phillies also turned one). Tulowitzki is a good defensive player - he impressed me at Shea earlier this week against the Mets. How about this, too - he hit a triple.

Brian Bannister started for the Kansas City Royals on Sunday - and pitched well. The former Met gave up 3 runs in six-and-two-thirds innings, but on just 4 hits. I thought it was his first start of the season, but it wasn't. It looks like he's made at least one other start, maybe another appearance, too.

The Dodgers and Padres are heading to the 17th inning, so that's exciting. But I just saw a hilarious Coors Light commercial in between innings - I won't describe it - just keep an eye out for it. It's about new bottles where the mountains on the label turn blue when the bottle gets cold. The key line in the commercial - "It turned blue!" Really funny.

BEAT THE STREAK: Season high continues - I'm at six games, after A-Rod's hit. I'm going with Vladimir Guerrero against Odalis Perez on Monday.

NOISY MOISES

Mets 8, Phillies 1 (NYM: 8-4, PHI: 3-9)

After consecutive rainouts, the Mets didn't miss a beat in playing their first baseball since Saturday. Actually, the Mets looked much better than the last time they took the field, when they lost to the Washington Nationals at Shea.

Tom Glavine had another rocky start, but the Mets pulled out career win number 293 for him. Glavine walked 5 and gave up 6 hits in six innings - but he only gave up one run. He pitched out of a bases loaded situation in the third inning - after he walked the opposing pitcher to start the inning, and walked Ryan Howard with the bases loaded to give up his only run. He was in and out of trouble the rest of the way - another struggle for Glavine, but he got the win. The way I see it, the way the Mets struggled to get Glavine wins his first couple of years here, when he pitched well (not the first half of his first year, when he stunk - since then) and they couldn't score for him, or the bullpen blew it - the Mets owe him wins like these, where he can battle, but know that he'll get the run support if he slips. Turns out he didn't need the extra runs, but I think you know what I mean.

A word on the opposing pitcher, Freddy Garcia. This was Garcia's first start for the Phillies, since coming over from the White Sox in an off-season trade. Garcia had been hurt, and was on a short leash in this first start of the season. Garcia is one of the main reasons I thought the Phillies would challenge the Mets in the National League East, and now that he's back I think the Phillies are a better team. That said, this outing was not the best one to judge Garcia by, since he wasn't going to go very deep into the game, and the weather was awful (also a reason I think Glavine had to battle - he hasn't pitched in very nice weather yet this season) - but he showed flashes Tuesday night that he can be effective (6 K's in 4 and two-thirds).

The Mets bats woke up late, but early on Moises Alou sparked them. He had two home runs, both to left field, and the wind was apparently blowing in at a pretty good clip. The Mets scored runs in the 5th through 8th innings, putting the game away, but they were aggressive all night long. Jose Reyes had two stolen bases as did Carlos Beltran.

David Wright had a hit in his first at bat, so he now has a 24-game hitting streak - over two seasons. The Mets single-season record for a hitting streak is 24 games, shared by Mike Piazza and Hubie Brooks. Gary Cohen cleared up the distinction Tuesday night, saying that there is a difference between a single-season hitting streak and a streak over two seasons, which makes sense. So Wright has a 24-gamer over two seasons, but a 12-gamer to open this season. Still impressive, and perhaps becoming worthy of a Wright Watch for 2007. We'll see.

The Mets added 3 more double plays to their season total on Tuesday night. Lots of double plays means lots of baserunners by Mets pitchers. They need to cut down on the baserunners. As is, the Mets are probably on a record pace for DP's. The Phillies were 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position on Tuesday.

Wednesday night the Mets head to Florida, where the weather is supposed to be much better than what they've had recently. The pitching will be tough, though - they face Dontrelle Willis. John Maine goes for the Mets (who have shuffled their pitching slightly, in order to have Glavine go on Tuesday night).


VERIZON JOHNNYMETS.BLOGSPOT.COM PLAYER OF THE GAME: Moises Alou. He got the team going with a BOMB off Garcia in the 2nd inning, giving the Mets a 2-0 lead (the ball was a towering shot into high winds). He added a solo shot in the 6th. Alou has been a pleasant surprise thus far. I knew what he was capable of, but I didn't expect him to live up to his capabilities. Hopefully he can stay healthy. Alou has also been good defensively - and in this game, he made a headfirst diving catch, in the 6th inning, I think, to end the night for Glavine. Final line for Alou: 2-for-3 (2 homers) with a walk, 3 runs scored, and 3 RBI.

SCHEDULE CHANGE: Due to a family situation, I will not be going to the Mets game against the Braves on Friday night. My first game at Shea for the season will have to wait for another weekend. By the way, I don't think I've mentioned this, but since the Mets had a rainout on Sunday, they will have their recognition of Jackie Robinson before the game on Friday night. Willie Randolph will be wearing number 42 that night.

NOTES: Interesting note from the Mets-Phillies game. Gary Cohen mentioned that Jayson Werth (now with the Phillies, formerly with the Blue Jays) is the nephew of former Met Dick Schofield.

Also, it's worth noting that the Philly Phanatic is pretty entertaining. Whenever SNY's cameras catch him in the stands, he's doing something with the fans. And whatever he's doing looks entertaining. He doesn't seem to be too annoying - and the stuff he does is almost funny. He's always on, it seems. That's some good schtick.

ADS: A couple of quality commercials that I need to bring to your attention:

*Another great "This is SportsCenter" commercial. (Ironic that I find the commercials for SportsCenter entertaining, and not the least bit annoying, as much as they're self-celebratory, like the show itself, while I can't stand the show itself for the very same reason. Did I make that clear or confusing? I'll try again: I like the commercials, hate the show.) This one has David Ortiz, Jorge Posada, and a SportsCenter anchor (not even sure which one - he's not important though) in the conference room, and Wally the Green Monster walks by. I'm not going to say any more about it other than it's laugh-out-loud hilarious. Look for it.

*Bud Light also has some quality commercials out now, and I'm not sure if they've been on elsewhere, and I just haven't seen them (like the Super Bowl), or if they're new for the baseball season. One involved a squirrel who watches a beer for some guy, the other involves a self-filling refrigerator. Typical Bud Light fare, but pretty good.

BEAT THE STREAK: A one-game streak!!! No rainouts!! Jose Reyes led me off on Tuesday. On Wednesday I'm going with David DeJesus of the Royals. I was very impressed by DeJesus against the Tigers Tuesday night...so impressed that I picked him up for one of my fantasy leagues, even though I don't need another outfielder. All I ask is for a hit on Wednesday afternoon.

WAGNER LOSES GRIP ON BANNISTER; METS LOSE IN 10

Nationals 9, Mets 5, 10 innings (NYM: 1-1, WAS: 1-1)

OK, it's my fault. I take the blame. I'm the one who called my parents in the sixth inning to let them know they should watch the Mets, because Brian Bannister had gone five no-hit innings. Then I told my sister, and no sooner did she say, "Isn't that supposed to jinx it?", did Bannister give up a double...then hit a batter....then give up a 3-run homer to Nick Johnson. The Mets still led, 4-3, but I told my sister, "Yes, it jinxes it." Sorry Brian.

I also messed things up for Billy Wagner. I'm sitting there, thinking, as the Mets head into the top of the ninth with their 4-3 lead, "So this is what if feels like to have 100% confidence in the bullpen." Wagner promptly went 3-0 on Ryan Zimmerman, then got back to 3-2, then left a fastball up that Zimmerman turned on and hit over the wall to tie it at 4.

It got worse. In the tenth, Jorge Julio gave up 5 runs, and the Nationals went on to a 9-5 win.

Now, eternal optimist that I am, there were lots of positives in this game. (I'm not nearly as upset by this loss as I probably should be.) I'll start at the beginning - Brian Bannister pitched very well. (He was wearing number 40 - I'm surprised the Mets gave up Braden Looper's number so soon.) He got himself in a jam in the 2nd inning, with men on 2nd and 3rd, and managed to pitch out of it with a strikeout and a flyout. He was clearly gassed in the sixth, and still faced a few batters, striking out his final batter, after giving up the 3-run homer to Nick Johnson.

The Mets' bats were working early - they blew a 4-0 lead. David Wright had an RBI single in the first (after Carloses Beltran* and Delgado struck out with runners on 1st and 2nd), Xavier Nady homered to make it 2-0 (he is tattooing the ball early on), and Delgado rebounded later with a 2-run bomb of a homer to make it 4-0.

Anderson Hernandez looks great at second base. He saved Aaron Heilman (who actually pitched well in his second game - as did Duaner Sanchez, getting the 4-3 lead to Wagner) by fully extending and diving into right field for a ball hit over his head. He stayed down for a while, but it looked like he only knocked the wind out of himself. He also made a great play running into right field's foul territory, catching a ball over his shoulder, and then calling off Carlos Delgado on a similar play in foul territory behind first. A great defensive game from Hernandez.

Believe it or not, I thought Jorge Julio actually pitched well too. He hung a curve to Jose Guillen that Guillen just put over the left-field wall (Cliff Floyd actually mis-timed his jump, or else it would have been a long out), but his stuff looked good. After the Guillen homer, he struck out Nick Johnson, but the ball got away from LoDuca, and Johnson reached. Then a nubber in front of the mound was thrown away by LoDuca, and it snowballed. But I expected a lot worse from Julio, and I was encouraged by the way he played.

The Mets had mounted a 2-out rally in the bottom of the ninth, after Wagner's blown save, by the way, and LoDuca flew out to right with the bases loaded, following a pinch hit single by Julio Franco (47 years old!) and a walk (!) by THE GREATEST BALLPLAYER WHO EVER LIVED, Jose Reyes. The Mets just couldn't get their bats going after the fourth inning.

NO SNY: I couldn't watch the game on SNY because as soon as the game started, DirecTV blacked out the SNY feed, and I had to watch the Nationals feed. That's OK - SNY needs to work out all their bugs. I was watching the pre-game, and some dude tossed to sound, and the sound never rolled. It's uncomfortable to watch. Speaking of uncomfortable to watch, one of SNY's big shows is "Daily News Live", hosted by Gary Apple. Not good. Rob Schneider was a guest on the show, promoting his new movie (very knowledgable in sports, by the way), and he should have hosted. At one point, Apple says, "Coming up after the break, we'll switch gears and talk football with......with.......with, uh......" And Rob Schneider says, "With WHO?!?!?" It was great. Turns out, Apple forgot he was having the Chicago Bears' Thomas Jones on the show. So SNY's programming has a long way to go, in this humble opinion. They should have made me their official blogger...I wouldn't be nearly as hard on them. I really do want to see Gary Cohen do a game on TV, though.

COMMERCIAL WATCH: Heineken is out with a few good new ads for baseball season, the best of which features a couple of brothers visiting their parents, and the less responsible brother wins points by bringing Heineken. It's much better when you see it - not read about it in my nutshell recap. Also, from the "Didn't Expect That" category, Suzy Kolber is the new spokeswoman for Chevy. Seriously.

BEAT THE STREAK: I picked Miguel Tejada, he had a hit in the Orioles win over Tampa Bay, so I have a 2-gamer going (Wells had a hit yesterday). Tomorrow, it's Jose Reyes.

The Mets' 3 hour-37 minute, extra-inning loss has me up way past my bedtime. Big game for Pedro* in his season debut now on Thursday night. You can see that game on ESPN - unfortunately, I'll have to watch the Nationals feed, because I think it's Chris Berman.

BIG LOSS

Padres 2, Mets 1 (SD: 58-56; NYM: 58-56)

The game is almost an afterthought after something like the collision between Mike Cameron and Carlos Beltran* in San Diego. That was ugly. If you didn't see it, you will - it will probably be played ad nauseum this weekend. In the bottom of the seventh inning, David Ross hit a blooper into shallow right center field. Both Cameron and Beltran* ran full speed after the ball, and both players dove (dived?) head-first in an attempt to catch it. Neither one did. They collided head first. Cameron is already on the DL, suffering a broken nose and multiple fractures in his cheeks. He was taken off the field on a stretcher and is being held at the hospital overnight. Beltran* walked away from the collision, but looked like he was having trouble lifting his left arm, holding his shoulder, and he suffered a mild concussion. He was said to be OK, but I don't expect him to play much this weekend.

The runner ended up on third, and ended up scoring on a single two batters later. It was a rotten way to end the three-game series in San Diego, because the Mets looked really good on Wednesday night bouncing back from the bad loss Tuesday. Tom Glavine pitched a very good game, and the Mets couldn't come back in the top of the eighth to get him off the hook.

The Mets made wholesale changes after the collision, so Jose Reyes, scheduled to have a day off, led off the eighth, and walked. After Jose Offerman (in Beltran*'s spot in the lineup) struck out (an at-bat during which Reyes stole second - he started the steal slowly, because it was supposed to be a hit-and-run, and then when Offerman swung and missed he turned on the speed, and still beat the throw - it was something to see), Cliff Floyd was hit by a fastball in his knee. He went down in a heap, and it looked like the Mets lost their entire outfield in the span of an inning. But he managed to get up and go to first, only to have David Wright hit into a double play to end the threat.

I was listening to Steve Somers on WFAN Thursday night, and he probably put it best. He said we could have seen the Mets' summer end out in San Diego with that play, but it all depends on how the Mets respond. They could stew over the collision and let it affect the rest of their games, and just pack it in for the season, or they can battle through it and inspire themselves to play better ball. We'll find out when the road trip continues in Los Angeles Friday night.

The instant Cameron and Beltran* collided I thought of a game back in 1986 or 1987 at Shea Stadium. I don't remember who the Mets were playing, but I know Lenny Dykstra was in center and Mookie Wilson was in left. I remember I went with my friend Steven, and the big draw was that the Mets were giving out Spider-Man comic books, and before the game there was a big ceremony - Spider-Man married Mary Jane on the field. It was thrilling. But during the game, on a fly ball into the left-center field gap, Dykstra and Wilson collided. It was the ugliest collision I had ever seen (probably still is, even after Thursday, because there was lots of blood visible - Thursday's blood wasn't visible to me). Wilson and Dykstra banged faces, and Dykstra's mouth was open, and Wilson's nose got hit with Dykstra's teeth. They were both OK - I think Wilson needed some stitches, but that was a bad one. I expect we might see some replays of that one this weekend too. Just remember- I was there. I wonder if I'll find that scorecard. I think I drew a picture of the collision on the scorecard. It was probably good therapy.

I forgot to mention David Wright's catch Tuesday night against the Padres. If you haven't seen this yet, you haven't been watching sports channels. Wright dove out towards shallow left field, and caught a pop-up with his bare hand. It was a great catch. I don't know that it ranks as one of the all-time great catches, though. MSG replayed the great highlight of Ozzie Smith back when he was with the Padres, one of the only great plays we ever see of him when he was with San Diego, where he dives for a ground ball up the middle, but the ball hits something and bounces back towards Smith's right. He grabs the ball bare-handed, still diving up the middle, and then makes the throw to first to get the out. I think that's the greatest play I've ever seen - at least by an infielder.

The play did draw some national attention to Wright, though. Ironically, it was for something defensive when he's been struggling defensively, and lighting it up offensively. But it won't be the last we hear of that kid, I'll tell you that.

A couple of e-mails in the inbox:

"You miss a Boston University hockey game for Lion King. Now you miss a Mets game for Momma Mia.

Johnny….what’s happened to you??

kevin
JMDBSDC Southern Bureau"

Kevin - first of all, it's Mamma Mia. Not Momma. Secondly, it's all the wife's fault. Speaking of which, Happy Birthday, wife. Also, speaking of which:

"Dear JohnnyMets-

Doing some catching up on my blog reading... I noticed a while back you lamented the fact that I call TV ads "ads". As you know, "ads" is short for "advertisements". I consulted Merriam-Webster and found the following entry for "advertisement":

Main Entry: ad·ver·tise·ment Pronunciation: "ad-v&r-'tIz-m&nt; &d-'v&r-t&z-m&nt, -t&-sm&ntFunction: noun1 : the act or process of advertising 2 : a public notice; especially : one published in the press or broadcast over the air

Note the "broadcast over the air" part of that ... I believe you owe me a public apology?

Sincerely,
Your Wife"

You owe me a public apology for not reading that entry until yesterday. That's from 10 days ago!! Geez. Also, yes, all COMMERCIALS are advertisements. But not all advertisements are COMMERCIALS. The public notices broadcast over the air have another name - they're called COMMERCIALS!!!! Think about that for a bit. No public apology from me. And again, happy birthday.

ELTRAN*'S: This might be the last Eltran*'s for a little while. He's talking like he's coming right back, but I find it hard to believe he'll be playing Friday, at the least. Before leaving the game, Beltran* again showed some signs of life, despite an 0-for-2. He scored a run and stole another base.

27-for-99 (.273 AVG.) 3 HR, 15 RBI, 20 Runs, 6 SB

WRIGHT WATCH: 0-for-4 on Thursday, but Wright did ground into a double play. Thanks to Dave in Brighton for pointing out that double plays sounds sort of like doubles!

SECOND HALF: 8 SEASON TOTAL: 30 TEAM RECORD: 44

WRIGHT NEEDS 14 DOUBLES OVER THE TEAM'S FINAL 48 GAMES TO TIE!!

THE KID'S KIDS: Wow. A 10-4 victory for the Gulf Coast Mets over the Nationals. They're 29-13, with a 10-game lead. There are just 13 games left, so they have to be close to clinching something. I might call down to Port St. Lucie to get the scoop on the Gulf Coast League post-season.

Good news. The Mets picked up a half-game on Atlanta, shut down by Zach Duke and the Pittsburgh Pirates Monday afternoon. The Mets, of course, didn't play.

The Mets, I was surprised to read in the New York papers Monday, are happy that Mike Cameron wasn't traded. I guess he's a really good guy in the clubhouse. Cliff Floyd especially was thrilled that his friend was staying. I don't think the players realize that Cameron is KILLING the rest of the team. Oh well. Maybe this all being behind them will lead to a big run in August.

I'm going to the game Sunday night. According to my calculations, I will not be seeing Pedro Martinez* pitch. I'll know better later in the week, but I think Randolph is giving him the extra day of rest, so Pedro will probably be going Wednesday-Tuesday.

When I do go to the Mets-Cubs game, you may hear me yelling on ESPN. I will be the only one screaming for a double when David Wright comes to the plate.

This is an off-day, but since there is some e-mail to get to, I'll forego a trip down memory lane, and put aside the old scorebooks. Maybe I'll do that next week.

Dave checks in with this e-mail:

"Dear Johnnymets,

Off day commercial fodder.

I saw the Southwest commercial you wrote about a few weeks back, where the guy and girl have an awkward moment on the couch then he runs over to his computer. I figured out why it's so awkward: the woman in the commercial was just recently married -- in a State Farm auto insurance commercial, in which she makes her husband throw out a bunch of his
stuff, but they keep his insurance company because "she had the Gecko." And she's cheating on him already. No wonder there was a strained moment on the couch in the Southwest ad.

Along this same vein, David Spade's trainee/coworker from the Capital
One ads is making extra money working at a grocery store, where he
offers Pringles to shoppers.

Dave in Brighton"

Dave, of course, is referring to my article over the All-Star break on some of the best commercials that air during all of the baseball games I watch. Dave, it turns out, likes to create stories about the lives of the people who appear in numerous commercials that air at the same time. I have yet to notice that the woman in the Southwest commercial is the same as the woman in the State Farm one. But I'll take Dave's word for it - the woman sounds like a tramp.

As for the David Spade trainee, he's appearing in a bunch of commercials these days. And I have to say, I am very happy with Dave's repeated use of the word "commercial". I have a strong feeling that ads on TV should be called "commercials". My wife calls them "ads". I think "ads" are the ads in newspapers and magazines. It's tearing us apart.

Here's another e-mail, shifting the focus back to baseball:

"Johnny...

I love the Wright Watch....such a captivating part of the column....I'm surprised the NY Post hasn't stolen the idea yet.

Anyways - do you feel like the Mets did an injustice to their fans by even getting in the Manny Ramirez talks?? They get the whole city hyped up about getting Manny - then they don't get him - and end up with nothing. It seems like they're just putting their fans through a roller coaster of emotions.

kevin
JMDBSDC Southern Bureau"

Kevin - thanks for the kind words on the Wright Watch. Johnnymets.blogspot.com loves its Southern Bureau. Remember - 16 doubles in 57 games. Quite do-able.

I do think the Mets were sort of used by the Red Sox. As I mentioned on Sunday, it's my theory that the Red Sox floated out this trade proposal to make Red Sox fans realize that they didn't really want Manny to go. So in essence, they used the Mets, because they were never going to trade him....now, anyway. The off-season is a different story. But I don't think that ended up putting Mets fans through a roller coaster of emotions, because people in New York tell me there was a bit of an uproar over the Mets getting Manny. I don't think people wanted him...which is hard for me to believe.

However, I do think the Manny thing took some of the Mets' focus away from the Alfonso Soriano trade talks, and I think Mets fans would have been very happy with a deal for Soriano. So the fact that they didn't end up with Soriano might have made some Mets fans mad (myself included - I forgot to mention that the other day) - and that can be blamed indirectly on Manny.

I should probably weigh in on this whole Rafael Palmeiro mess. How can you unknowingly take steroids? That's what I want to know. I feel like the past 15 years need to be wiped from the books. Everyone's a liar, everyone's been cheating. It's very disheartening, disappointing. Palmeiro's credibility is shot. He lied to Congress....who's to say anyone has been telling the truth. It's just bad. I don't know who to believe - I can't believe these guys have the gall to be doing this now, anyway, faced with this drug plan. I think it lends a ton of credence to my dad's theory that Jason Giambi has been having a great month because he's back on the juice. I wish stuff like this wasn't happening...but maybe the fact that a big name is outed now, in Palmeiro, it will either scare others straight, or lead to other big names and other suspensions.

ELTRAN*'S AND WRIGHT WATCH will return on Tuesday.

THE KID'S KIDS: There's either a night game happening (a rare thing in the Gulf Coast League), or there's been another rain out. The Mets are 22-10, six-and-a-half games up.

BACK, BACK, BACK, BACK, BACK.......FROM PITTSBURGH

Enough of Chris Berman already. Who still enjoys his schtick? It seems his ESPN exposure is increasing proportionally with my increasing dislike of him. I don't know whether or not the majority of people feel this way...but I do know I'm not the only one. Anyway, that's my only comment on the Home Run Derby.

Tonight, I'm going to keep things light. Tuesday I'll talk about PNC Park in Pittsburgh, and then Thursday we'll delve into some statistics (lots of statistics), but tonight I'm going to take a light approach to baseball. And more specifically, commercials during baseball games.

I spend a lot of time watching baseball. As a result, I see a lot of commercials. A lot of the commercials bug me, but there are some good ones out there. What follows are some of my favorites, and also some of my least favorites. (This is one of them water cooler articles - this'll have all three of you buzzing tomorrow about which commercials are good, which are bad, and which ones I left out. If you feel strongly one way or the other, e-mail me.)

MILLER LITE: You gotta start with the beer commercials - there are a couple of Miller Lite ones that I really like these days. The first is the commercial where it's raining, and the people think it's raining beer....until they walk into the bar that's serving Miller Lite. I like that one..."IT'S RAINING BEEEEEER!!"

I also like the Miller Lite commercial where the slogan is THE TRUTH HURTS. It's the one where the lady tells her son that "Mr. (whoever) is actually your real father." And the son says, "Right on, dad. Welcome aboard." Then he loses it when Mr. (whoever) tells him Miller Lite tastes better than Bud Light. Just entertaining.

CAPITAL ONE: The new Capital One adds are very good - showing the pillagers out of work, because so many people are using Capital One cards. The pillagers need to find new jobs, so they become barbers, hot dog vendors, dog walkers, etc. Very funny. There are actually a couple of these commercials out there now, one funnier than the other....so it actually keeps you watching to see if there's something in it you might have missed before.

CAR COMMERCIALS WITH THE EMPLOYEE DISCOUNT: These commercials bother the heck out of me. The GMC one is the one that ticks me off the most right now, where they have all the different people who work in different capacities for the company telling us they're "happy that we can share in the discount that they've gotten all along." Where do they get off!?!? How generous of them...like it was their friggin' decision to give us the "Employee Discount". And the fact that this idea was started by one car company, then so blatantly ripped off by every other car company in existence is just wrong to me. I know imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...but this is flat-out shameless. And why can't they offer this employee discount price all the time? As an aside, the ad campaign must be working...because car sales are apparently at an all-time high for this time of year, and the employee discount is being credited for that. Shows what I know - I'm going to go back to charging Miller Lite on my Capital One credit card now.

There is an awesome SOUTHWEST AIRLINES commercial out there now which I've only seen during Orioles games and a couple of Nationals broadcasts...and I can't wait to see it during national broadcasts...or at least Mets or Red Sox games. Maybe it already has - maybe I just haven't seen it. It advertises Southwest's new "ding" service, where your computer gives a Southwest Airlines "ding" when a new, cheap airfare is being e-mailed to you. In it, a guy is talking to another guy a few cubicles away from his desk, and you hear the ding. He goes barreling over the cubicles to get to his desk. It's laugh-out-loud funny. Really. By the way, I'm alone a lot of the time when I watch these games. Can you tell?

FOX SPORTS NET has a good baseball ad for all of its teams (for example, in New York it's the Mets, in Milwaukee, the Brewers, in California, there are separate commercials for the A's, Giants, Dodgers, etc.). It's the "We're all in this together" theme - where a chain of fans is involved either in stealing signs or throwing a home run ball back onto the field. I like the stealing the signs one better, if only because it's more realistic.

And finally, XM SATELLITE RADIO's rivals, "Why Can't We Be Friends" commercial. From the beginning of the season I've loved this commercial...I hope it lasts to the end of the season. Because it's played a lot. I like when the longer version comes on...I just don't understand why they used a Phillies fan with the Mets fan.

That's about all I have for the commercials. Seriously - let me know if I missed one that you really like.

THE KID'S KIDS: With a 5-3 win over the Gulf Coast Marlins, the Gulf Coast Mets are now 11-3 on the season, with a 4 game lead in their division. Might be time to bring Hall of Famer Gary Carter up to the majors.

Coming tomorrow: Mike Piazza and Carlos Beltran* in the All-Star Game, plus johnnymets.blogspot.com takes Pittsburgh!