I kept thinking of Smoltz's 200th win as the mirror image of Oliver Perez's 36th — he looked dominant for long stretches, acutely vulnerable at other times before wiggling out of trouble, and while he was clearly the star of the game, the outcome remained in doubt until the very end.

Yes, David Wright got fucked [...]

Oliver Perez could have saved us a great deal of trouble had he been born maybe 10 years earlier and signed by the Joe McIlvaine regime in time to blossom for the opening of Turner Field in 1997. 'Cause, man, he would have been handy to have had around for most of the last decade.

A [...]

Having won the first round of the basically meaningless Battle for New York, it was time to resume pursuit of the real prize — the National League East — and the foe that seems to have returned after a one-year sabbatical. So how'd it go against the Atlanta Braves?

Not so good. It was obvious pretty [...]

A discussion within a discussion within the enjoyably endless thread that accompanies the post that precedes this one (got that?) hit on the idea of former Blue Jays not working out as Mets, vis-à-vis Carlos Delgado's slump.

Brings to mind one of my favorite mental exercises, name the Met you think of when you think of [...]

Pitcher of last month Johnny Maine isn't necessarily Johnny May. Jose Reyes doesn't hit 14-year-olds particularly well. And 'em all we can't win.

Still, what a homestand. Two of three from the once-hot Brewers, three of four from the once-trendy Cubs and two of three from the once-relevant Yankees, all while the Braves were losing six [...]

There was not, to invoke a scenario that others have used to promote their policies in the service of weightier matters, a surrender ceremony on the deck of a battleship, but maybe there should have been something like it.

Maybe the principals should have been gathered on a 7 train idling for just this occasion. Better [...]

Make no mistake: Last night was fun.

There was Endy, gunning down Johnny Damon and turning our groans into cheers. There was Endy again, walloping an Andy Pettitte offering over the fence. There was Perez, whose game was in some ways more impressive than his Mother's Day throttling of the Brewers. He had everything working then; [...]

Did I just watch a Met-Yankee game that lasted only 138 minutes? No wonder the Yankees lost. That's the fourth inning in the American League.

Oliver Perez may be demonstrative to the edge of flamboyant, but he doesn't screw around. Ollie proved the slightly more substantial 46 versus National League veteran Andy Pettitte. Pettitte was good. [...]