Process

Hey, look at the ballee.

All right, so it's not exactly Jose Reyes stealing home like he wanted to ... and I'm sure he would have liked to pull it off while the league was wearing Jackie Robinson's 42 (I hear that later in the homestand the Mets are holding Mo Vaughn night ... and Kevin Appier is throwing out the first pitch), but being the second runner to score on one wild pitch is something I would consider "close enough". It's sure as hell rarer than stealing home.

Tonight had to be some sort of rarity, where five Met runs scored on either wild pitches, sac flies, or double plays (is it me or is Gary Sheffield having a hell of a time getting around on a breaking ball much less a fastball?) You might consider the Mets 7-2 win an ugly victory. I on the other hand ...

No, that was pretty ugly. But it still counts.

The ugly part, in actuality, was all the attention on the continuing outfield adventures of Daniel Murphy. First, a runner tags from first on a fly ball to Murph ... a smart play by Scott Hairston knowing who was in the field. Then, going to third on the Murphy throw that handcuffed David Wright. And at this point you're probably thinking "oh great, every SNY camera is going to be trained on him for the rest of the night."

And then you realize: "S**t, the game is on ESPN too." Poor Murph.

Throw in the first Padre run, a single to left which an outfielder would have had a real chance to throw out Luis Rodriguez at the plate. An infielder in outfielder's clothing? Eh, not so much, as he threw the ball like he was holding second on a double play. As the kids like to say: "It's a process." But that doesn't mean that Daniel Murphy's defense isn't going to be scrutinized from now until the end of time (or until he robs Scott Rolen of a home run in the NLCS and turns it into a double play.) Welcome to your life, Danny Murphy.


Hopefully the process is coming to an end for Oliver Perez, who turned in a quality start on Wednesday against an opponent not named Phillies, Yankees, or Braves. Imagine that. Guess Dan Warthen's 'round the clock supervision is finally paying some dividends for Ollie. Or perhaps there's a Shake Shack burger on the top of every staircase in Kitti Field to entice Ollie to get his running in. Whatever works.

(Stupid World Baseball Classic.)

25 Bottles Of Butch On The Wall

Jackie Robinson is nothing short of a baseball icon ... a pioneer of the highest order. If he wasn't baseball's best player ever, he sure might have been its most important.

But seeing every New York Met wear the number 42 tonight in honor of the 61st anniversary of Robinson breaking the color barrier didn't make me think of how important Jackie Robinson was. It made me think: "Gee, I wonder what Butch Huskey is doing now." Because I didn't see 25 Jackie Robinsons tonight.


I saw 25 Butch Huskeys.

(Sounds like a weird dream ... "all of a sudden I'm in a field of marshmallow fluff and I see 25 Butch Huskeys flying around my head.")

Now 25 Dodgers wearing 42 would make me think of Jackie Robinson. But to see Jose Reyes wear 42 made me think he gained weight. I mean, he moved fast, but he just looked slow. Thankfully, Jose didn't hit like Butch Huskey, going 4 for 5 and taking his rightful place as the most important Met right now, leading the Mets to a 6-0 victory over the Nationals. Tied for most important are Mike Pelfrey with his seven shutout innings and David Wright and his five RBI's.

A close second is the long-awaited return of Filthy Sanchez to the ranks of the active, pitching a scoreless ninth inning.

(Side note: Was it mere coincidence that at the very moment SNY revealed their poll results regarding whether it's unfair to boo the Mets so early in the season, Aaron Heilman entered the game?)