Tonight the Mets will kick off the remaining 75/162th of the season at Shea, against the Cincinnati Reds. Bronson Arroyo will face Orlando Hernandez. Lastings Milledge may be patrolling left.

If I close my eyes I can imagine what Lastings' face will look like between his cap and the top of his jersey — a […]

Fifteen teams are sending just one representative to San Francisco for the All-Star Game: the Braves (Brian McCann), Marlins (Miguel Cabrera), Nationals (Dmitri Young), Cardinals (Albert Pujols), Pirates (Freddy Sanchez), Reds (Ken Griffey Jr.), Giants (Barry Bonds), Rockies (Matt Holliday), Blue Jays (Alex Rios), Orioles (Brian Roberts), Devil Rays (Carl Crawford), Royals (Gil Meche), White […]

Does the hamate bone exist for any reason except to sideline baseball players? Holy Benny Agbayani — how many outfielders can one playoff contender lose and still stay upright? With Carlos Gomez lost until September, I had to remind myself not to look askance at Ricky Ledee. Because if not him, who? The Mets were […]

It's time.

Time to kick some Rockie ass? Time for young hurlers to prove something while other young hurlers heal? Time for SNY to bring the HD cameras on the road?

Yes to all of the above. But I'm not talking about those things. I'm talking about a more painful subject.

It's time for Julio Franco to step […]

…there was a team that had a starting rotation many — including some of us — thought was better than ours. Whose lineup seemed to stack up pretty well with ours. A team that talked big that this was their year, for the first time since 1980 and the second time since … well, since […]

EXT. — NIGHT. OUTSIDE SHEA STADIUM.

An older, athletic-looking man hobbles across a parking lot on a gimpy knee. The man is Latin, with a thin mustache. Suddenly, a FAN comes racing out from between the expensive roadsters and gleaming SUVs. The FAN looks crazed. He begins shaking the gimpy-kneed man by the lapels.

FAN

I didn't see […]

Two summers ago the Human Fight, our friend Pete and I were all watching the Mets take on the Angels. Bottom of the 10th, Mets down 3-2, two on and two out, and Cliff Floyd slams a long drive into the right-field seats, just foul. Pete was thrilled — obviously Floyd would hit the next […]

No worries, blog partner. I couldn't hear you and you couldn't hear me, but we both knew that the other guy was yelling happy things.

OK, tonight's game wasn't quite epic enough to deserve this post's title. But it was a satisfying game for any baseball fan whose tastes run to pitchers' duels, but likes a […]

Granted, it hadn't done much to repair or losses or been much of a blessing to us recently. But last night was a night to remember the simple sweetness of what baseball's like when your team isn't trying to remove your heart from your body with a rusty box cutter while you bite through your […]

Like all good-hearted people, I hate the Yankees.

When you break down that statement a bit, though, things get more complicated. The only members of the current roster whom I actually loathe are Satan and Miguel Cairo, and Miguel Cairo isn't worth more than passing bile. What I really hate is the franchise as a collective […]