OK, it was kind of amusing and kind of cool to watch a 44-year-old man with a history of gout beat out a bunt single. (I mean, gout? Seriously? What is David Wells, a Dickens character?) It was less amusing and less cool when this little adventure didn't result in that 44-year-old man laboring on [...]

I'm still trying to get the soot out of my fingernails from having forcefully thrown Carlos Delgado under the bus when I discovered he was in the lineup Saturday. Not only did I want him to sit, I wanted him to pack for 2008…though the fact that I'm already sorting through next year's lineup and [...]

As Saturday's tilt with the Dodgers wound through the early innings, I kept singing a little bit of doggerel I'd adapted for the occasion:

(to the tune of “Green Acres”):

El Duque is the pitcher for me

He's older than a redwood tree

(ba da ba-da-bum)

He don't speak English

(ba da ba-da-bum)

He don't speak Spanish

(ba da ba-da-bum)

He speaks Duque language

El [...]

Eighteen home games remain in the 2007 season. Eighty-one home games can be assumed (barring weather, wildcat strikes, goodness only knows what) for 2008. And then that's it for regularly scheduled baseball at Shea Stadium.

There are 99 games left in the life of the ballpark that was born in 1964 and is slated to die [...]

A funny thing has happened since I admitted that I don't particularly like the 2007 Mets — they've started growing on me.

No, the just-concluded three-game set with the Padres wasn't good for the W-L record or the heart. But the Mets beat Trevor Hoffman once, then came leaping out of the coffin twice more. There [...]

The bottom of the sixth Thursday night, which lifted the Mets from a desultory 6-1 deficit to a thrilling 7-6 lead, was one of the most precious half-innings you'll ever witness as a Mets fan. If it had been a ninth inning or an October inning, we'd be talking about it into eternity. If it [...]

Rare is the out-of-town scoreboard update that doesn't involve ATL or PHI (or, because we are the way we are, NYY) that gets our collective attention, but geez, nobody at Shea or anywhere had ever seen anything like what TEX was doing to BAL.

“Wow. The Rangers are winning 14 to 3.”

“Now it's 16 to 3. [...]

That old feeling. It was there Tuesday.

No, I don't mean thrilling come-from-behind wins against Hall of Fame (c)losers in which everybody has a hand in triumph, after which you look up and realize your team is in pretty darn good shape.

OK — that, too. But something almost better because it's been missing more than I [...]