Blackballing Barry

Brian Cashman is making a point of not denying the possibility that the Yankees might sign Barry Bonds.

What I can't figure out is why no one else has tried. As far as I can tell he hasn't officially retired. It's that no team has offered him much money to play baseball. My impression was that last year he was starting to look washed up, and there was the chronic and ultimately season-ending knee injury, but his half-season numbers were stellar: 28 HR in 340 ABs with a .276/.480/.565 line.

I understand a certain amount of reluctance to bring on the Barry Bonds media circus (taking Pedro Gomez out of cold storage, etc.), and find the guy personally unappealing myself, but for the general manager of any AL team to let him sit there, with his huge arms and head, just getting older and being pissed, while he's still capable of cranking out lots of home runs... well it borders on malpractice.

The problem with the Giants wasn't that they had Barry Bonds and he ruined their chemistry. It was that every other player on the roster was horrible. That wouldn't be the case for the Yankees. Or the Mets for that matter.

Mets lose. I get rained on.

Well for the first five innings it was pretty pleasant. Santana pitched well, except for one shaky inning. The persistent drizzle was actually kinda nice in the heat. Got to see Ramon Castro just crush a line drive over the center field fence. I love Ramon Castro. I don't understand why we keep acquiring other catchers to play in front of him. He was better than Paul Lo Duca.

In the 6th inning things took a turn for the thunderstormy, so we headed out thinking it would be a long delay. We missed the Wright home run, but got home in time to see Mariano slam the door in the 9th.

Jose Reyes does seem to have a weird and unfortunate habit of getting picked off second base.

Carlos Delgado goes buckwild on Yankees

He just had 9 RBI in the first game of the Subway doubleheader. That's more like it. I regret anything I may or may not have posted that suggested any loss of faith in him on my part.

This was the Yankee Stadium leg of the twinbill, and the short right field fence is why the Yankees are so keen on lefthanded sluggers like Giambi and Matsui. Sure enough, both of Delgado's home runs and the double were to right, but Gary Cohen said both were legitimate bombs.

Trot Nixon catches the last out. NYM 15 - NYY 5. Sweet.

10 Ks for Chien Ming Wang

That's really not his usual game. The guy's been awesome, and a very good #2 starter behind Andy Pettite, but but he's been doing it without missing a lot of bats (to say the least), relying instead on the heavy sinker and pitching to contact. Tonight every Mets starter except Lo Duca struck out at least once, and he only had one AB before leaving with a bruised left elbow.

El Duque did not look good. Not that Alex Rodriguez really seems to care what the opposing pitcher throws these days, but a slow fastball on the inside corner is guaranteed pain.

The high point of the broadcast was the trade speculation, which I hadn't been paying much attention to. Apparently Omar is in talks with the White Sox about Mark Buehrle, and Houston about Brad Lidge.

I would make Buehrle the top priority of the two. The Tom Glavine career death watch is back in full effect after is last two drubbings, and even though Hernandez, Maine and Sosa(!) have been solid there's no need to bank on their remaining so. And aside from a disastrous 2006 (36 HR allowed) Buehrle has been damn good, like a more durable if slightly less effective Chien Ming Wang.

Brad Lidge would also be handy, and given the way the Astros pulled his closer card in mid-April it's possible he's underappreciated in Houston. Lidge had to whittle his ERA down to 2.35, and get some help from Dan Wheeler to get the job back, and of course what does he do but cough up a one run lead in his first opportunity. So he's still technically save-less, which is unusual for a closer at this point in the season.

BUT, he's also struck out 44 in 34.2 innings with a 2.44 ERA. So I predict that if the Mets get him and have him pitch the 8th in front of Wagner like old times, he will get effusive praise for pitching the exact same way he had been in Houston, just because he will no longer be measured by the most ridiculous statistic in baseball.

Whomever the Mets deal for, the idea is that the consideration will include Milledge, Gomez, and/or Fernando Martinez. I'd be fine with that. That's what those guys are there for, at least while the Mets are a legitimate championship contender, which they are... even though they just got dominated by Chien Ming Wang.