if we get more than 4 hits, i'll be shocked; dickey owns us in new york.

if we get more than 4 hits, i'll be shocked

A pretty nice attempt at a reverse jinx. Dickey scoffs in your general direction!

A pretty nice attempt at a reverse jinx. Dickey scoffs in your general direction!

that wasn't really the purpose, but at the very least, it appears that we've done a good job of bunching out 4 allotted hits together.

Buster Olney was saying last night that the Mets would hold out for a top prospect if the trade Beltran. He also mentioned BJ Upton as a possibility.

BJ Upton is talented. He also plays with his head up his ass.

He also plays with his head up his ass.

He would fit right in with the Mets.

Upton is hitting .239/.325/.427, pretty crazy to see that is good for a 114 OPS+

He would fit right in with the Mets.

I guess we could always use one more.

Watching Upton, I get the sense he plays that way out of sheer laziness as opposed to a lack of baseball instinct.

Nice catch, Angel!

that's kind of a harsh E-9 there.

This would be a very good time for our third GS.

I'll settle for a two-run single, though.

This means I'm in the bargaining stage, doesn't it?

If it makes anyone feel anyone better, this game is at least causing Hutcheson to post nasty things about the Mets on Facebook. If we can't win, we can at least drive him crazy. Small consolation, but it's all we got.

Well, this is annoying. I expected to be winning by double digits by now!

I think the All-Star break made me lose a lot of momentum for this season. I was in a "we gotta win so they'll resign Reyes" mood for a long time... now I don't really think it's necessary to win much for Reyes coming back being a possibility. And really, trading Beltran for something valuable would be pretty cool.

So, whatever happens now, I'm not too concerned. I think that's a good place to be.

Wow, I hadn't looked at Ruben's slugging percentage I don't think all season. I had been quietly impressed with his .350 OBP, but now I see he's only got a 82 OPS+ because he's slugging .288. Yikes.

I guess he's improving a bit, but I still have to strain pretty hard to see a guy who will hit with enough power to be acceptable.

God, if anyone wants to give a lottery ticket for Byrdak, I'd take it. He is about as underwhelming of a LOOGY as I'd ever seen.

This is wonderful ####### defense, folks.

I guess he's improving a bit, but I still have to strain pretty hard to see a guy who will hit with enough power to be acceptable.

The sad thing is I think he's improved quite a bit, but he still needs to add substantial pop (doubles power) to be a starting quality player. OTOH, at this point you can see the finished player he could be, which is nice progress.

But . . . oy, this has been an ugly half-inning for the infield. Blech.

Speaking of underwhelming relievers, hereeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee's IGGY

Iggy gives up ropes. That's all he does.

Not all he does. He also gets behind hitters before he gives up ropes. When you have mediocre stuff, and it leads you to be afraid or unwilling to throw strikes early in the count, it also means that stuff gets utterly clobbered when you then lay it in there 2-0.

Anyway, he's awful. And the best he could be is mediocre if he ever decided to throw some damn strikes.

Also in the same vein as Tejada, as far as non-power players go, how do you feel about Thole, Sam? I've never been very high on him, and I can't say he's covered himself in glory this year. I think he's a fairly useful piece to have around while he's cheap, but I don't think he's a legit number 1 catcher and probably a guy who'd look to improve upon. I mean, he hasn't demonstrated superior contact skills, he's at .274 for his majors career and .289 in the minors, and he needs to be better than that to be anymore than an averagish hitting catcher. Combine that with feeling pretty comfortable in saying that his defense is below average (perhaps well below average if his arm is as bad as I fear and he certainly doesn't have the minor league numbers to indicate he'll improve) and I don't think you're looking at anything special.

And to clarify my positions, I'm actually a lot higher on Tejada than Thole, simply due to age.

I mean, he hasn't demonstrated superior contact skills, he's at .274 for his majors career and .289 in the minors, and he needs to be better than that to be anymore than an averagish hitting catcher. Combine that with feeling pretty comfortable in saying that his defense is below average (perhaps well below average if his arm is as bad as I fear and he certainly doesn't have the minor league numbers to indicate he'll improve) and I don't think you're looking at anything special.

That about sums it up. He really could have used another year in the minors to work on his defense, because his ceiling all along has probably been a # 2 catcher and that means he needs to be solid defensively. I think by catchers' standards he hits enough to hold a back-up job someplace (as you say, as long as he stays cheap). If I were Thole, I'd be asking the coaches what is my best route to making my defense average: play winter ball, maybe, in just the right place with the right manager? It's his path to career longevity. But either way, he's not the long-term answer for the Mets.

I'm glad to see I'm on the same page with someone on Thole. I hate to sound like I'm ragging on the guy (or Tejada), it's just that when you can't hit for any sort of power, your margins are so thin... they aren't players that I'd gamble on in the long term and if they aren't long term solutions, I'm always gonna want to look towards improving.

And once again, the jury is still out on Tejada having no power.

That was ####### annoying.