Sugarloafed

The state of Maine has over 21,000 miles of public highways, exceeding the total mileage of any other New England state.

John Maine gave up a home run tonight that is still traveling and should reach 21,000 miles sometime Thursday afternoon.

Maine made his unspectacular Met debut tonight in a 6-2 loss to the Washington Nationals...punctuated by an Alfonso Soriano home run that landed in the green seats in left field. Ouch.

But the highlight of the night was the second career ejection for our dear Willie. Obviously, it takes an act the size of the county of Aroostook to rile Randolph up, and Mike O'Connor's strikeout of David Wright did it. O'Connor, who was in his second major league game, pitched an excellent game tonight in this battle of green pitchers...but the pitch that Jeff Nelson called Wright out on was by his ankles. And pitchers who are pitching in their second major league game shouldn't get calls like that. But O'Connor did, which makes me wonder if Jeff Nelson isn't the other Jeff Nelson. So Willie got mad and backed up his star. Randolph picks his spots, and in his first season was very cautious in terms of picking his spots. This season, with the Mets flying high, expect that to change. Of course, Mike Francesa will most likely spent tomorrow's 2:00 hour blasting Willie Randolph for arguing...after spending the 1:00 hour talking about the weather patterns which brought rain to Boston, and about his adventures in procuring Yankee mini-balls. Which brings me to some random rants:

The incomparable Matt Cerrone wonders why he listens to Mike and the Mad Dog.

Probably for the same reason that people who hated Howard Stern listened to him...they want to see what he'll say next.

I myself try to avoid them at all costs. But today was one of those days at work where Michael and the Angry Puppy were on the tube, and frankly I was too lazy to change the channel. So I left it on. And I'm sorry I did.

I actually heard Francesa tell a Yankee fan caller today that he was spoiled because he's "one of those fans who wants to see a .300 hitter at every position." This coming from a man who cried like a jilted bride when he found out Billy Wagner uses "Enter Sandman" as his song. Spoiled?

Francesa calling anyone spoiled is like Barry Bonds asking Moises Alou if he's put on a few pounds.

Speaking of which, isn't it shameful that ESPN's "Outside The Lines" Barry Bonds piece tried to compare what Roger Maris and Hank Aaron went through as they tried to pass Babe Ruth milestones to what Barry Bonds is going through, which is mostly self inflicted? Maris and Aaron's crimes were merely being talented baseball players. Then again, ESPN is the official network of Barry Bonds' side of the story so what should I expect?

Arnold Schwarzenegger wants two NFL teams for Los Angeles? Why not just move all 32 teams there, and play every game at the Coliseum...like a bar league! Start 8AM on Friday morning, end at 3AM on Monday! This way the league can get four Monday night games a week, eight Thanksgiving games, and no fans.

Just give them the Jets and Giants. The Jets in Los Angeles should only lengthen my travel time to games by about a half an hour.