An Ankle and an Ankiel?

t was Jonathan Niese’s turn to stink up the joint and he took full advantage of his opportunity. I didn’t get to watch today’s game, busily translating old 8 mm films to DVD’s (which is a whole story in itself) but I did turn on the old transistor radio on my kitchen shelf to get little snippets and updates and they were the most depressing little clips imaginable, putting just another aura of gloom on an already dim day.

First snippet…Niese has been pitching well but there’re men on first and second and up steps Adam LaRoche…and it’s a home run, a 3-run homer for Adam LaRoche….second snippet….and up to the plate steps Adam LaRoche, Adam smacked a 3-run homer in his first at-bat, and the pitch…and it’s another 3-run homer for Adam LaRoche, Diamondbacks lead 6 to nothing.

And it was back to the old birthday parties, Communions and Confirmations featuring old people suddenly young again, smiling and dancing and all shielding their eyes from the glare of the lights, those incredible lights that could put halogen to shame.

There’s nothing bright about the Mets right now. Win a game, lose a game, not even a Jason Bay to be mad at, just another day at CitiField, except this time they got totally blown out so there would be no big comebacks on this day. And all the tomorrows for this team will depend upon the farm and whatever this sometimes tired-looking bunch can muster.

Not the Yankees though. With no salary cap to speak of, the Yanks went merrily on their way picking up one aging star, one big bopper and a once-terrific pitcher who now appears third on their depth chart in the latest Yankees roster report, right after Mariano Rivera and Joba Chamberlain.

So now an avowed Yankee-hater such as myself can just hope against hope that percentages don’t carry the day for those guys in pinstripes, that Austin Kearns won’t hit dinger after dinger into that right field porch, that Lance Berkman won’t come through some night with a big hit in a crucial spot, and that Kerry Wood won’t become re-invigorated in front of big crowds at Yankee Stadium.

But what am I complaining about? The Mets got new players too. That they haven’t contributed as much as these Yankee pickups doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t add an un-definable something, maybe a hard-hit ball from the redoubtable Mike Hessman or a nice catch from Jesus Feliciano, maybe some Chris Carter or Josh Thole odd contributions along the line.

The good pitching had to end sometime. I was beginning to think Dickey and Niese were going to keep on rolling, but only Dickey kept it going for one more game. Niese didn’t come through today but, then again, Takahashi did his part yesterday so things haven’t been all bad. Even Pelfrey pitched a little credibly before that and Santana, well, he got rocked but how often can that happen?

We’ll all find out tomorrow when Johan faces the Braves Tim Hudson in Atlanta. A win in that first game could surely pick up my hopes. If all those young guys could just pretend they’re really still in the friendly confines of the Citi, who knows what could happen?

Lowered expectations of this young team could help them play more loosely, to just go out and have some fun. I know I’ll be happy if they can just be competitive more days than not. And really, that’s something they’ve been able to do. Not today, of course, today they got blown out but, for the most part, they’re almost always in games to their last dying breath.

And the transition pains are over. Beltran’s been back some time now as has been Castillo. Jason Bay’s been out for a few games now too and stands to miss several more now that he’s been put on the DL. So, although there are some new faces, those faces are at least all in the same organization. That alone should promote some esprit de corps among the troops, some spirit that won’t show in the box score necessarily but could translate into W’s rather than L’s down the stretch.

Interestingly enough, the Mets are still just 6 ½ games behind the Braves but are 7 ½ behind in the wildcard standings, the Giants, Phils and Reds all seemingly getting tougher in the last ten games or so. But all those teams seem beatable, despite their own recent acquisitions. Those additions might help but some won’t. Percentages tell me so.

The Braves for example picked up Kyle Farnsworth for their pen and Rick Ankiel, that former Cardinal quasi-star, somebody who could just as easily be bad as good. The Phils big splash was getting Roy Oswalt from the Houston Astros but he managed to get shelled by the lowly Nationals in his Phils debut the other day. And Ryan Howard just sprained his ankle.

So, while I’m no longer expecting some kind of post-season activity, unless it’s just the announcement of a new management team, I am expecting some inspired play from these guys. Just hearing Dickey talk about how happy he was to be part of this Mets team picked up my spirits. Conversations with Ike Davis seem to have the same effect. There seems to be a genuinely good feeling for one another in that Mets clubhouse.

If I’m disappointed about anything, it’s those relievers. The likes of Valdez and Acosta are not the answer to anything, except maybe “name two Mets pitchers who have no stuff.” Elmer Dessens and crazy Ollie don’t exactly inspire confidence either. I think even the most understanding of Mets fans could have expected a little help in the pen, even if it were to bring back a Mejia of Igarashi.

But they don’t call this time we’re in the “dog days of August” for nothing. A bunch of guys trying to make their bones might weather such times better than would veterans.

A Fine Night for Baseball and Takahashi

The Mets took two out of three from the Yankees, took the first game of the series from the Phillies and all I hear on radio and TV is that Manuel will be fired but has been given a reprieve. I hear ridiculous proposals too. What about picking up Roy Oswalt? Even more ridiculous….what about Carlos Lee? What about Cliff Lee?

The Mets are at .500. The dropping of the pouter Maine and the maniacal Ollie Perez seems to have given our Metsies a new lease on life. Now if they could just keep Darryl Strawberry out of the clubhouse, I could see the Mets going on a nice long run.

I’ve only asked one time for Manuel’s removal. That was when he benched his regulars a couple of weeks ago in a game against these same Phillies with first place on the line. Facing the Phillies with the horrendous Gary Matthews replacing Francoeur and Mr. Uppercut #1 Fernando Tatis replacing Ike Davis was just a little bit too stupid for me to take lying down.

Manuel had his reasons, of course, but they were ridiculous tactical moves that ignored what could have been and should have been a real war for first place. Manuel is prone to errors such as these because his mind is always going and he is a deep thinker. Sometimes he loses the obvious; losing the forest for the trees.

But, I still think, all things considered, Manuel is the perfect manager for this Mets team. He stays too long with non-performing veterans, he has almost no faith in rookies, and to be frank, he doesn’t seem to believe in his team. I know he didn’t believe in his relief staff at the start of the season and that has been one of the team’s strong points.

But that thinking may be changing. Bringing up Ike Davis, Chris Carter, Jenry Mejia, and then the knuckleballer Dickey, and at the same time finally putting the kibosh on Maine and Perez, seems to be portending an old dog looking forward to learning some new tricks.

We don’t see too much of Matthews and Tatis anymore. We do see Carter and Davis. We also will be seeing some more of Hisanori Takahashi and A. J. Dickey, who are now officially listed on the depth chart as the number 3 and number 4 starters. Takahashi goes tonight again, followed by Pelfrey ans Santana. After that, some resourcefulness will be needed as Niese isn’t scheduled to return until June 1st.

Now watching the Mets put another whoopin’ on the Phils, I’m struck with how good the Mets look when they get the pitching and are in the game. Takahashi was nothing short of masterful and Reyes just kept chuggin’. Rod Barajas, meanwhile, just keeps tearing it up. When there’re men on base, Barajas just gets tougher. He’s not locked in unless he sees some of his same uniform out there on the basepaths.

You can’t compare the Mets telecasts with any other. They are just too good. While this may seem like “homey” thinking, the MLB Network, that uses the local broadcast team on its live feeds and replays most of the time, has allowed me to see how it’s done in other cities. These other broadcast teams range from poor to passable. There’s just no chemistry that you get with Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling.

Mejia’s out there now in the top of the 7th and the Mets leading 4-0. There are 2 outs and a man on third. Raul Ibanez is at the plate, and why can’t I find myself worrying? It would be logical to worry. But then Ibanez hits a weak grounder that that youngster Jenry just pounces and makes the play at first himself. Ibanez looked old and feeble in comparison.

But you do wonder how long this can last. How will Niese perform after his layoff? How will the relief corps be affected by the removal of Takahashi and Valdez from their ranks? How will Valdez fare as a starter?

The anxiety goes on the back burner though when the Mets win. All those concerns take a seat on the bench. Almost every Mets player now is contributing. It’s very often different guys each and every night. Even Francoeur is chipping in which is very important for this team as Frenchie seems to be one of those positive forces everywhere, except when he’s slumping.

The other Japanese pitcher, Igarashi, is now pitching the Phillies eighth. I’m still not worried. This guy, who I’d been watching since spring training, was really very impressive in spots and was just pretty good the rest of the time. In fact, for most of the beginning of the season, Takahashi was “the other Japanese import.”

Utley’s up. I should be worried. Curiously, I’m not. Maybe the Phillies just aren’t that scary anymore. Utley gets a high hard one and swings through it. Then he pops up. Ho-hum, it’s just another Phillies out. Now Ryan Howard, he’s been looking silly all night long. I still have no worries, even with a man on first, even though Howard just took a vicious cut at what looked like a slider in. Sure enough, he swings and misses at a beautiful low and outside pitch. I’m not sure what the pitch was but it was headed down, a lot like the Phillies.

You know the Phils are killing time when they insert Nelson Figueroa, another journeyman former-Met who left the team under less than optimal circumstances. He gets Francoeur, but Frenchie hit it hard. Darling, Keith and Cohen discuss the disparity between the box score and a player’s actual performance and effect on the team. Perfect timing , as usual.

It’s over in Yankee-land. Pettite gave them eight innings. He and his cutter were magnificent and the Yanks went on to win. Nick Swisher belted a homer in the 9th to win it. Mariano got three weak groundouts to close it out.

Just Too Much

Well, what can you say? The Phillies were just too much for the Dodgers. Too much pitching and especially too much hitting, too much confidence, too much ability, too much faith, in one another and spiritually too for some.

That lineup is pretty awesome. In fact, it was awesome last year before they added Ibanez and then Werth got that much better with more opportunities to play. But adding SP Cliff Lee was probably the clincher.

If any team matches up with the Yankees, who will probably clinch tonight against the Angels, who looked thoroughly beaten in Game 4 of their series, it’s these Phillies.

So far, two position players have dominated. Arod and Ryan Howard. Two pitchers have dominated as well. That would be Sabathia and Lee. You could say the Yanks have the better relievers, I suppose, but the Phils’ Lidge has looked much better lately while the middle relief Yankees pitchers have let down somewhat. Neither Joba nor Phil Hughes have been very good lately.

If there’s an edge, it’s in the home Stadium. Because the American League won the All-Star game, the Yankees will have the home field edge. But with two cities just about 90 miles apart, I’d be surprised if every player didn’t just sleep in their own beds for the entire Series. (Whether that would help whatsoever is another question, but it’d be pretty impossible to answer).

All we’ve heard lately from the Yankee media is Arod, Arod ad nauseum, of course, but at least he finally deserves it. What is it now, 5 homers and 11 or 12 rbi’s? Sabathia’s been unhittable. Rest? He don’t need no STINKING rest.

The Phillies don’t get as much press but Ryan Howard is a beast. He’s one of those rare animals who actually love getting up in those pressure situations, confident that he can end the proceedings with one swing of the bat. Arod has been Howard-like in this post-season but there is only one Howard.

Anyway, an outstanding Series it promises to be. Can ANYBODY hit Sabathia? Can ANYBODY hit Lee? The most likely scenario will be that the two or three games between those two aces will be decided in the late innings by relievers, another impossible situation to really predict. I’m assuming they’ll face each other but that may not be the case, given Girardi’s strangeness. Or is it Cashman’s nonsense? It’s hard to tell with the Yankees.

Then there’s Burnett and Hamels, Blanton and Pettite, and maybe even Joba and Pedro. How great would that be? All I know for sure is that it’ll be a World Series I’ll enjoy thoroughly, and probably a seven-game affair. (If it ends in four, I’ll be inconsolable).

This is all premature, right? The Angels can still come back? I don’t think so.

On the WBC And Stuff......

Does this seem backward to anyone else out there? I mean, we’re having a World Series to start the season. The World Baseball Classic starts tomorrow and it looks as if it’ll be a pretty good one. Not that there’s more than 4 or 5 real contenders, but the contenders will probably have some really interesting tussles. Baseball being baseball, there could be some really good first-round games too.

But the way the divisions shape up, it looks as if the good ol’ USA will win their division, not that it’s impossible they could have some trouble along the way. Venezuela could give them some trouble, but I don’t expect much from Canada and Italy isn’t really ready for prime time. They have one hell of a team meal though.

Japan should be good in Pool A. I don’t figure either China to match up with them and who knows about Korea? For Japan, the first few games should play out like exhibitions.

The Pool B division features Cuba, I would suppose, but it seems as if we’ve grabbed off all their best players and those fellas don’t necessarily want to go back. Mexico City might be close enough to inspire a little anxiety. Mexico could probably give them a little trouble. The less said about South Africa and Australia, the better.

Pool D figures to be a dogfight. There’s the Dominican Republic that seems to breed baseball players, Puerto Rico, Panama and the friggin’ Netherlands. No, really….The ten-run rule may be in effect in the first round.

So it shapes up as a 4-team matchup between Japan, the U.S. the Dominican Republic, and then Mexico or Cuba, I guess. All those games should be worth watching at the very least, and some of them might wind up being classics.

The U.S. team is worth rooting for, for sure. I like the infield especially, with Jeter at short, Pedroia at second, Wright at third base and then there’s Youkilis at first. Good players, good team players all, they’ll be tough to beat. The outfield seems a little power-deficient, but it’s speedy with Granderson and Victorino in there, and Ryan Braun should provide some pop.

The pitching staff is weird. There are only four real starters, and a couple of them are kind of questionable, in terms of quality. Peavy and Oswalt are great pitchers, but I don’t know that Ted Lilly and Jeremy Guthrie match up with them. Then there’re a million, it seems, relievers and some pretty good ones in J.J. Putz and J.P. Howell, my favorites, but then almost all these relievers can be tough for an inning or two.

But this USA team could play with and beat a lot of past All-Star teams, and I think they’ll be really good defensively and on the bases. I just wish the pitching staff were a little more solid. You might be seeing a lot of Davey Johnson , depending upon the rules on visiting the mound.

You have to like the Dominican Republic team though, with at least three first-round fantasy players in the infield in Jose Reyes, Hanley Ramirez and Arod. He’s questionable now, I guess, but then he’s always been questionable. Then they have some really interesting young pitchers, featuring Johnny Cueto and Edison Volquez.

Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado anchor the Puerto Rico team, but they’ve got plenty of good players, and pitchers too. Alex Rios could outdo Delgado for power and match Beltran for speed. They’ve got a really nice catcher in Geovany Soto too, but I’m not crazy about their pitching staff either.

And if none of the above particularly turns you on, you can watch the exhibition season games, not that they’ll be very exciting with all those star players missing. The Mets especially seem really short-handed, what with the likes of Wright, Beltran, Reyes and Delgado all being gone. I think I could live without seeing Putz and crazy Ollie for a few weeks, but I lost my enthusiasm for the rest of Spring Training.

It was really good to see Manny Ramirez finally agree to the Dodgers contract though. If I have this right, I understand Manny has an option for 2010, but not the Dodgers. He’ll get his 45 mill or thereabouts, but he apparently thinks he’s worth more in a better economic climate, or maybe he just doesn’t like LA. You’d think Manny and LA was a match made in heaven but maybe it’s not.

Or maybe he just doesn’t like Spring Training. What am I saying….maybe? It’s nice to see a guy hold up the entire League though. If anybody’s totally aware of his own worth, it’s Manny, and he doesn’t put on any airs. You won’t hear any rah-rah speeches from Manny..

And it’s really great the football Giants care about defense, but some thought, at least, should be given to the wideout position. I guess they figure they can pick a wideout anytime, but you’re not going to find a quality one if you wait. I suppose they’ll draft a few but they haven’t been that smart about those receiver picks in the past.

The Jets look as if they’re making some good moves too, but a quarterback would be a nice addition, unless they really expect a lot out of their reserves. They don’t seem that concerned. I know there’s a plan……somewhere..

The only other thing that intrigued me lately was the duel between Shaq and Superman down in Orlando. They apparently don’t like each other much either, not that anybody could really like Shaq and not that Shaq cares about anybody else. He sure is high on himself though, and especially when the officials let him hang around in the paint for twenty seconds or so.

In any event, though, Howard gave him all he had, and it was apparently more than enough for Shaq. Nothing would make me happier than the disppearance of Shaq from the NBA-protected list (from penalties).

Unless it’s Kurt Warner finally re-signing with the Cardinals.

Red Hot Phillies May Only Need Five

Wow. What can you say? The Phillies continued their drive towards the World Championship last night by embarrassing the stumblin' bumblin' Rays in Game 4 by a score of 10-2 to take a 3-1 lead in the Series. After eking out just a 1-run victory in Game 3, it seemed the guys in the home reds might just finish these hotshot Rays in five games.

Over the weekend, the Phils hurlers Moyer and Blanton outdueled the Rays Garza and Sonnanstine while a little-known guy named Carlos Ruiz showed why he can be added to the list of nobodies to star in a World Series. And Ryan Howard showed everybody why he's Ryan Howard.

But last night it was all about Joe Blanton. He was friggin' magnificent. It's so good to see a guy come up big in the World Series. He not only pitches great, he hits a home run too. Now, this shouldn't have come as so much a surprise as it was. Joe had actually helped win 9 of the 13 games he pitched for the Phils since he was acquired from the A's in July. And any fantasy player knew how good he was.

But Joe was lost in the whoop-de-doo over the Rays starters and the Phils ace, Cole Hamels. And he was only the fourth starter behind Hamels and Myers and Jamie Moyer, who is about a hundred and three years old. So big Joe looked like he meant business last night as he pitched 6 strong innings for the NL Champs, surrendering just two solo home runs. Oh, and he cranked a low fastball over the fence in the bottom of the fifth to make it 6-2 Phillies. The place became electric.

This self-proclaimed pundit thought it would be the Phillies in seven when this whole thing started. But I didn't count on Jamie Moyer coming up quite so large in Game 3. I figured that game for the Rays. And I thought either Myers or Blanton could come up big. But it seems like everything is going the Phillies way.

The Rays are having some trouble in the field as of late. When had that last happened to the sure-handed Rays? When they do make a play, the umpires miss it. But between Longoria and Iwamura, they've produced adventure to rival some Indiana Jones movie. And then Ryan Howard came to life with two dingers, and Jayson Werth came back to life too.

And then there's a guy like Carlos Ruiz behind the plate for the Phillies. Ruiz just took over a large part of this Series from Game 2 on. Just when the Rays have finished with the likes of Rollins, Utley, Werth and Howard, here comes Carlos Ruiz. It's really been kind of comical. The Phils catcher got the game-winning ground ball the other night and has been just a real pest since Game 2.

But, here's the funny part about baseball. The worm could turn at any time. Now the Rays are up against the wall. And the Phillies have been riding high. And , while the Phils have their ace Hamels going one more time, the Rays Scott Kazmir ain't exactly chopped liver. And, if the Rays get Game 5, it's back to that monstrosity of a ball field in Florida for Games Six and Seven. The Rays would like that.

Would they ever. Then it would be just a matter of winning two straight at home. With Shields and Garza on the mound. They would have to like their chances.

So the real key is tonight. If the Phils can't win this one tonight, they might have to wait another twenty years or so to win a World Series. Not that they can't beat Shields and Garza in Tampa but can guys like Moyer and Myers do it again? I don't even want to think about it.

But it would make this Series one for the ages rather than just a footnote in Red Sox history. In five games, it’ll just be the year the Rays shocked the world but fell apart against a veteran Phillies team. In seven games, it’s something else entirely, and maybe guys like Longoria and Upton and Pena make more of a mark on this Series.
<>If the Phillies really are a smart veteran team, they’ll realize that Game 5 might be the now or never game. They’re hot now and have the Rays on the run. Let the team that beat the Red Sox live one more day at their peril. <>

I’d still like the Phillies to win this thing, even if they do lose tonight. I sense that they’re a team that’s ready now. The Rays have too many excuses for a breakdown with that much youth on their squad, no matter who’s on the mound. And the Phillies do have Utley and Rolo and big Ryan Howard. And that little sparkplug of a Victorino whose “I Got It I Got IT I Got It” is the loudest in either league. <>

But for a New York fan, even a rabid National League and Mets fan, who’d like nothing better than a World Series victory for the team that knocked off his team, yesterday wasn’t all about the baseball. There was a whole lot of football being played in Pittsburgh by the defending champion Giants. And the Jets managed to play a bit more football than the lowly Chiefs.

As well as the Giants played down the stretch, I did see the single ugliest play I’ve ever seen by a secondary man in safety James Butler’s horrible coverage on Roethlisberger’s long pass to Nate Washington. Not only did he appear to just let his man run by him, but when he caught up, he pirouetted away from his man.
<>The Jets are just awful. But not as awful as a Herman Edwards team that ran three into the line when they desperately needed a first down. Count your blessings, Jets fans.

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Thankfully Wrong....

Okay, I was wrong. The Mets weren’t in trouble after all. It didn’t matter that they lost a really tough on on Tuesday night, that Jerry Manuel hadn’t let Johan Santana finish the game, or that the Phils knocked three different relievers around to the tune of six runs.

Within a few hours of my Wednesday column of doom, the Mets would come back. John Maine survived and Jose Reyes helped cement the win in Game 2. And last night, Oliver Perez and Carlos Delgado did even better.

But, best of all maybe was the way they did it in Game 3. Phils starter Jamie Moyer had pretty much shut the Mets down while Oliver Perez had stymied the Phils even more spectacularly. But with the score tied at 1 in the eighth, Perez got into some trouble, hitting Ryan Howard with a pitch to load the bases. Stepping up to the plate was none other than Jayson Werth, who had slugged a huge homer off Perez in the 6^th to tie the game.

And who should Manuel call on to bail the Mets out of a jam? None other than the unflappable Aaron Heilman, another of those up and down Mets relievers. But Aaron was up to the task last night, blowing a couple of fast balls by the big slugger, followed by another that had a little too much of the plate and Werth drove it a long way once again.

But this time, you could see that centerfielder Carlos Beltran had a bead on it, and the Phils threat was suddenly over. Perhaps motivated by their near demise in the top of the eighth, the Mets struck gold in the bottom half.

Robinson Cancel, who is becoming a bigger cog in the Mets wheel, singled and moved to second on Reyes’s bunt. After Phils reliever J.C. Romero snagged a broken-bat liner off the bat of Endy Chavez for the second out, he intentionally walked David Wright to load the bases for Carlos Delgado.

So there it was, lefty on lefty, with the game on the line. Carlos, who hadn’t had much luck against Romero in the past, nevertheless hung tough and managed to drive an outside pitcher’s pitch to the opposite field, scoring Cancel and Wright to spot the Mets to a 2-run lead. The Mets intrepid cleanup hitter had done it again.

And, just as he did in Game 2, Billy Wagner came on in the 9^th to get two fly balls from Victorino and Feliz, and, after allowing a base hit, retired 2007 MVP Jimmy Rollins on a hard ground ball. The Mets would end the day in first place in the National League East and solidify their lead in their head to head contests with the Phillies.

It must be pointed out, though, that while Wagner was ultimately able to close out both Games 2 and 3 for the Mets, nobody knew that on Wednesday morning. If I had known the Mets would have Wagner available for the rest of the Series, my outlook wouldn’t have been nearly so miserable.

To his credit, Jerry Manuel was gracious after the game, and did not harp on the fact that Mets fans were upset, or that every beat writer with a pen and a keyboard had been prophesying his team’s doom.

He singled Oliver Perez out for his fine 12 K performance and talked about Delgado, not just for his prowess with the bat, but also for his leadership in the clubhouse. Jerry was pleased that Carlos’s staggering success at the plate would only enhance his standing as a leader in the clubhouse.

Could that be the key to Delgado’s surge at the plate for Manuel, an acknowledgement of Delgado’s importance as a leader? Is it possible that Willie didn’t appreciate his efforts, or wasn’t able to express his regard in the same way? I guess we’ll never know unless some cable station does a reality show on an out-of-work baseball manager.

It’s not that important now, of course. For whatever reason, the Mets are doing much better than they had under Willie. Whatever peccadilloes Willie had are irrelevant now. The Mets can look forward to a brighter future, with better hitting for sure and more timely pitching as well.

And, looking forward, the immediate future looks hard. The Cardinals come to Shea with a better record than the Mets, followed by a series with the surprising Florida Marlins, who have been hovering around the top spot in the division all season long.

The biggest question now is whether the Mets should pick up an outfielder. Once again, Ryan Church is hurt and may be unavailable for some time. Moises Alou is unavailable. The Mets have been doing well by surrounding Beltran in left and right with Fernando Tatis, Marlon Anderson, Endy Chavez and a kid named Nick Evans. But will they do as well in September and October as they are now?

While I think the Mets could stay pat and survive, it’s probably not the optimal solution. I’d like to see them pick up Xavier Nady. Xavier used to be the Mets rightfielder before he was unceremoniously traded away. After the Mets lost Duaner Sanchez to injury in 2006, they picked up Roberto Hernandez from the Pirates and last night’s hero, Oliver Perez.

While Nady was once thought to be just a part-time player, Nady’s hitting .330 this year with runs and rbi numbers in the 50’s for the lowly Pirates. I’d love to see him back again. He was never a great fielder, but he’s one of those guys you feel comfortable with at the plate. He’d look good in blue.

I understand the Pirates are asking the world for him now. Maybe they’d like Oliver Perez back in the black and gold. That won’t happen.

But if the Mets can’t make a trade, I think they’ll be ok. With or without another outfielder, they’re too tough to just fold under pressure.