Benson Burner

On the heels of McClendon-gate (I know, that doesn't particularly roll off the tongue now, does it?) Kris Benson had his best outing of his short season as the Mets torched the Reds by a score of 9-2.

I will say this...and this is obvious...if the Mets are going to be major contenders this year, they should beat teams like the Reds. For heaven's sake, they're the REDS! No disrespect intended, but the Reds are, well, the REDS! The Mets should not only be beating pitchers like Paul Wilson, they should be pummeling them. Every Cincinnati Red loss this season makes that opening 0-3 against them so freakin' bizarre! I mean, I just got an internet pop-up that said "Congratulations, you are the 1,000,000th visitor to home plate off of Paul Wilson! Click here for your prize!" The new Mets should be crushing teams like the Reds. And if you've been a Met fan as long as I've been, you know how they have a habit of making a AA pitcher look like Bob Gibson. So tonight was good to see.

Anyway back to Benson, 7 and 2/3 innings, 4 hits, two walks, 8 K's. Good job for someone who reportedly has no heart. I think with this start we can stop worring about any injury residue with Benson, and let the expectations reach the sky, which will probably be too high...but with the state of the Mets rotation, someone else needs to live up to lofty expectations. Mind as well be Benson, and mind as well be now.

The Final Verdict (for now): Victor Diaz was sent to Norfolk to make room for Kaz Ishii's return from the DL. And it looks increasingly as if it will be Aaron Heilman to the pen while Victor Zambrano stays in the starting rotation. Wasn't I just referring to pitchers that should be pummeled and crushed? Ugh.

Koo-less: Dae Sung Koo was impressive in garbage time, getting the final four outs while striking out three. But in the bottom of the 8th, Mr. Koo had probably the most bizarre at-bat I've ever seen in my life. He stood on the very outer edge of the batters' box and never even strode to the plate as Reds' Todd Coffey delievered his pitches. Coffey struck out Koo on 4 pitches (heck, I could have struck out Koo with a beach ball!) The Mets bench absolutely loved it, and it looked afterwards like Koo was asking the coaches if he was standing the right way. (Let me guess, they use the designated hitter in Japan...riiiiiiiight?) If Coffey would have done the unthinkable and walked Koo, he would have never faced another batter ever...EVER!