There was no orange button on your new blue cap because you had to earn it Croix de Flushing Meadow style. And despite six hours of service time, you came up short. Tsk.

Of course, I get nothing for manipulating television and radio volume controls from 1:20 until 11:00 except maybe a touch of the carpal […]

Poster's Note: Asterisks in this post indicate facts/statistics/programs/statements that might not hold up to greater scrutiny.

A few years ago, Emily instituted a sensible rule for herself: No April baseball.

No more freezing through 200-minute marathons with balls dying on warning tracks, pitchers struggling to build arm strength, and long lines for coffee and hot chocolate […]

The colleges are pretty much done with these, but not all the high schools have let out yet. So, with great respect to Mary Schmich and, sort of, Kurt Vonnegut…

Ladies and gentlemen of the class of 2006:

Wear sunscreen. Especially if you're going to a day game. Even today's doubleheader if, in fact, it is played. […]

By walking off the field freshly triumphant after 13 innings, the Mets continue to provide free advertising for the most relevant blog of them all, and everything is fairly wonderful, but I'm surprisingly bugged that in his six May starts, including last night's sublime pitchers' duel, Pedro Martinez's won-lost record was 0-1.

That's not Pedro Martinez. […]

Not bad for a night's work: a pitchers' duel from a bygone era, some pretty defense, clutch relief, a whale of a throw and a(nother) Met walkoff. And 13 innings in roughly the time to play one moderately long game of regular duration.

Brandon Webb was first sighted in this park three years ago, beating us […]

It went unremarked upon as far as I could tell that when David Wright had to sit out a game in Florida, Jose Valentin filled in at third and became the Mets' 132nd third baseman. With The David firmly ensconced there, it seems likely (barring everything) that the hot corner will be warm and snuggly […]

If you're looking for highs in the course of a season, you start with wins. But next to those, I can't think of anything more uplifting than the big-time position prospect who makes an unexpected middle-of-the-schedule debut. It's little wonder that we all got fairly excited when Lastings Milledge became the 789th Met Wednesday. He […]

So Lastings Milledge made his Mets debut tonight, accompanied by an enormous wooden cross, enough hype to launch several score circuses and approximately 50,000 mentions of Barry Zito and/or Dontrelle Willis. Collected his first big-league hit, too — a well-struck double off Miguel Batista to lead off the seventh.

Now that we've taken care of […]

Nady out an indefinite period for an emergency appendectomy. Coming up from Norfolk, according to WFAN, is Lastings Milledge.

Yes, that Lastings Milledge. The guy we haven't traded so this moment could materialize. Not like this (recover quickly Hawk, we need ya), but here he comes. First Xavier, now the Savior. Except we don't need saving, […]