Mano-A-Mano With Burrell; Can The Mets Move To Arizona And Still Call New York Home?

• Phillies 6-Giants 5:
  

    Giants closer Brian Wilson looked like he wanted to get into a macho mano-a-mano with
Pat Burrell by firing three straight fastballs in pretty much the same spot in the bottom of the tenth inning last night. He blew the first two past Burrell, then watched as the third one was sent into the left field stands. I don’t know much about Wilson other than he’s big with a power fastball and good control; a scouting report I just read says he has a “Robb Nen-caliber slider”. If that’s the  case, then why he would try to sneak a third straight fastball past Burrell is beyond me; any big league player is going to be able to time anyone’s fastball if it’s repeatedly thrown to the same spot at the same speed. It looked like Wilson was trying to exert his will on Burrell and got it shoved right back at him. A good slider would’ve whiffed Burrell and ended the game.

• Mets 7-Diamondbacks 2:

     The Mets broadcasters, Gary Cohen and Ron Darling, kept mentioning the background at Chase Field in Arizona as one of the reasons that the Mets play so well there. I don’t know one way or the other; all I know is that they seem to love the place. I turned the game on as Moises Alou stepped into the batter’s box and, not knowing he’d been activated, reacted like I’d seen a long lost friend who pops up, bring good will and then quickly disappears for months at a time. “Hey, look who it is,” was the quote.
    Ryan Church batting in the two hole worked earlier in the season as the Mets went on a win streak and Church was a big part of that; manager Willie Randolph, for reasons that were never elucidated, then put Luis Castillo back in the second spot rather than ride the hot streak and the Mets went back to their inconsistent stumbling. Church was back in the two hole last night, went 2 for 4 with a homer and the Mets won; therefore I’m fully expecting Randolph to put Castillo back in the second spot very, very soon.

• Marlins 6-Padres 4:

     If the Marlins continue playing as well as they are under Fredi Gonzalez, and the Yankees play .500 ball as they have, will the bloom start to come off the rose of former Marlins manager and now Yankees manager Joe Girardi? Girardi got an inordinate amount of credit for the Marlins stunning play in 2006; if he got the credit for that, he should get the blame for everything that’s going on with the Yankees now. (I say this with the opinion that I think Joe Girardi is a smart guy who’s going to be a solid manager.)
    And the Padres look terrible. What’s going to happen when the pitching runs into a slump? Is that lineup going to be able to carry them if they can’t even score enough runs when they’re getting the pitching to win?

• Braves 2-Reds 0:

    It’s difficult to give the Rangers too hard a time for trading Edinson Volquez for Josh Hamilton given how good Hamilton has been this year (he’s going to be an All Star if he keeps up his good play); but wouldn’t they have been better off spending some money to buy an outfielder and hanging on to Volquez? Those making the judgments on pitching with the Rangers have a lot to answer for as they’ve traded away of the likes of Chris Young and Volquez, and for the likes of Brandon McCarthy.

• Yovani Gallardo Tears His ACL:

    Losing a young pitcher with the potential and career results of Yovani Gallardo may be devastating for a Brewers team whose bullpen is shaky and in flux and doesn’t know from one game to the next how long Ben Sheets is going to be able to pitch. I saw the Gallardo play when it happened and the slow motion made it look like something that was going to end badly. If manager Ned Yost and the training staff had seen the replay rather than Gallardo telling them that he’s okay to pitch, it’s hard to believe they would have left him out there; but that had nothing to do with severity of the injury.

    Please check out my book The Prince Of New York’s 2008 Baseball Guide also available on Amazon.com and BN.com.