Danny Graves update from the rags...

Let the Danny Graves bidding begin. The New York Times reports that Omar Minaya has contacted Graves' agent. Then again, he could have contacted him about a recipe, so who knows. Other media outlets have linked Graves to the Marlins, the Nationals, and the Cubs. If your team wins the Danny Graves sweepstakes, does your team really win?

Meanwhile, here's Newsday's David Lennon with the teacher/student relationship between Willie Randolph and Jose Reyes, Jay Greenberg of the Post talks about the Pedro effect at Shea, and Vic Ziegel of the Daily News talks Pedro from a different angle.

Rubber Match...Live Blog!

7:09 PM I take a seat at the home office to live blog the rubber match between the Diamondbacks and the Mets. Got my potato chips and my Diet Vanilla/Cherry Dr. Pepper (the official soft drink of Metstradamus), and the first thing I notice is that Tony Clark is in the lineup. It’s never good news when a former Met is in the lineup.

7:15 PM Pedro Martinez has two outs, two balls, and two strikes on Luis Gonzalez when the freakin’ sprinklers go off. What happened, did the groundscrew think it was a day game? Were they out looking for action on the spelling bee? Pedro was in that commercial where he runs through the sprinklers, and now he gets to do it for real. Only this time, he takes a drink. I see the headlines now: “Martinez to miss next start due to catching cold from bathing in the sprinklers.” Great.

7:17 PM Order restored, as Pedro K’s Gonzalez to keep the no hitter intact. (The Mets have never had a no-hitter in team history, so to hell with superstition. I’m pressing my luck…NO-HITTER NO-HITTER NO-HITTER NO-HITTER…STOP!)

7:20 PM Estes delivers to Jose Reyes. With all the talk about Reyes and walks, I did a little research. The closest leadoff hitter on a winning team that I could find so far to Reyes is Willie Wilson for the 1985 World Champion Royals. In 575 AB’s from the leadoff position, Wilson batted .275, had an OBP of .314, and slugged .400. Wilson only walked 29 times and struck out 90 times. Reyes is on pace for 24 walks in 681 AB’s as his numbers are similar to Wilson’s (.278/.306/.426).

7:24 PM NOOOOOOOOOOW Shawn Estes has a 1-2-3 inning.

7:29 PM Kaz Matsui’s going after a pop-up (holding breath), he caught it (exhales).

7:30 PM There goes the no-hitter. Tony Clark hits a dinger to make it 1-0 Snakes in the second. And what did I tell you about Tony Freakin’ Clark! That’s why I’m Metstradamus, damn it!!!! (Stupid groundscrew and their sprinklers!)

7:39 PM Note to Chris Woodward…this isn’t cricket.

7:42 PM Do I see a Kevin McReynolds jersey in the background, drinking a beer in the first base field level? KEVIN McREYNOLDS?????

7:43 PM First round of boos for Carlos Beltran tonight, as he looks like the 1973 version of Willie Mays, sliding and stumbling on a looping fly to center as the ball goes off his glove, then gets outsmarted by Craig Counsell as he fakes out Beltran and gets him to throw to first as Counsell advances to second. Nice job by Counsell. I wonder if that’s an easy play for Beltran if he’s 100%.

7:51 PM First round of boos for Kaz Matsui.

7:53 PM First reference to the Estes/Clemens game by Mets announcer Dan O’Brien.

7:55 PM First Michael Bloomberg re-election commercial. Do we really have five more months of this?

7:58 PM First round of boos for Tony Clark.

8:02 PM Beltran ties it up with a HR to right center. Stop that booing right now! Beltran oddly enough has hit all 7 of his HR’s with Pedro pitching. This was his first one righty. More importantly, there’s a smile from Beltran in the dugout. Quick, someone massage that quad!

8:04 PM WPIX shows a shot of a “Vote For Pedro” shirt being sold at the concession stands for $24.00. Meanwhile, you can get the original “Vote For Pedro” shirt on eBay for eight bucks. Boy, it’s not bad enough that you get gouged by the Mets on water, iced tea, and premium Giants tickets even though Barry Bonds isn’t playing, now Fred Coupon marks up a pop-culture reference t-shirt 200% and all he does is change the letters from red to blue. I know you spent a lot on Beltran’s contract but come on now!

8:07 PM Welcome back Cornelius! 2-1 Mets

8:08 PM Now there’s the Shawn Estes we know and love! 3-1 Mets

8:15 PM Note to David Wright, your team has enough strained quads, bruised rotator cuffs, and tweaked hamstrings. Please stop diving into second after the ball is fouled off.

8:16 PM When you pull a 6’ 7” first baseman off the bag throwing from second base, it’s a sign you may have contracted Steve Sax disease. Counsell should seek help immediately…that’s his second error of the inning.

8:25 PM WPIX Trivia: Since 1992 who are the two Mets lefthanders to throw complete game one hitters. I know Pete Schourek did it for the Mets but I think that was actually between 89 and 91. I think it’s Estes and Glavine. And I actually got it right…look at that!

8:30 PM I’m going to have nightmares about that replay of Mike Piazza scoring from first base on the Cliff Floyd hit. Why am I all of a sudden getting a vision of Robin Ventura’s rain delay impression of Piazza at Yankee Stadium in 2000?

8:34 PM Doesn’t Craig Counsell look like a Dick Tracy villain?

8:36 PM OH MY WORD WHAT A FREAKIN PLAY BY MIKE CAMERON!!!! Was it pure athleticism? Was it luck? Words can’t do this one justice. Go watch SportsCenter, RIGHT NOW!!!!!

8:41 PM No, I really mean it! Stop reading this and go watch SportsCenter if you haven’t seen the Cameron catch. I haven’t seen anything that ridiculous since they had “Ridiculous Day” at the deli…where prices were so low, they were ridiculous.

8:43 PM Counsell throws another one away. Craig, I know you were on the run but your first baseman is 6’ 7”! What kind of target do you need? Three throwing errors = Steve Sax disease! Watch out D’back fans!

8:45 PM A two run double for Kaz Matsui to make it 5-1. Thanks for waiting until I dropped you from my fantasy team to become useful!

8:47 PM Just a thought, why is Shawn Estes still in the game? He’s down by four and he’s well over the 100 pitch mark.

8:48 PM Pedro gets hit number one as a Met; a tape measure job. No, I mean an actual tape measure. One of those metal hardware store ones that go about 25 feet, because that’s all it traveled.

8:52 PM Oh boo hoo! Look at poor little Shawn Estes showing emotion in the dugout after being pulled…taking it out on the water cooler. Where exactly was this four seasons ago? Estes is the left-handed Donne Wall.

8:56 PM Reyes’ comebacker goes off Estes for a hit in the bottom of the 6th, while Shawn Green’s combacker goes off Martinez and caroms right to Reyes for an out in the 7th. I think this game is officially lights out.

8:58 PM Stupid Tony Clark with his two hits! I hate being right.

9:09 PM Aaron Heilman warms up in the bullpen with the Mets up 6-1 in the 8th. I hope Willie Randolph isn’t going to save Heilman for only garbage time innings. He’s a better pitcher than that.

9:14 PM Another test for Beltran and his quad with a short fly to center. Beltran, who plays a deeper center field than most, made a nice running catch to pass the test.

9:18 PM Good job Pedro.

9:27 PM Heilman comes in to pitch the 9th with the Mets up by five. Again, Aaron Heilman is a better pitcher than that.

9:29 PM Glaus and Green get hits off Heilman, completely blowing my argument. And Tony Clark is up. Uh oh!

9:32 PM Heilman gets Clark out on a fielders choice (exhaling).

9:34 PM Ball game. Mets take two of three from the Snakes. Nice job by Pedro. Go watch SportsCenter.

Bruised Wing

Dae Sung Koo, suspect pitcher/baserunner extraordinare, has in fact been placed on the disabled list with a bruised rotator cuff, and Royce Ring has been called up to take his place as lefty reliever/headline-friendly last name.

Ramon "Fluff" Castro makes his return to the Mets tonight from the DL, as Mike DiFelice has been designated for assignment. Here's the Thursday night lineup:

J. Reyes ss
M. Cameron rf
C. Beltran cf
M. Piazza c
C. Floyd lf
D. Wright 3b
C. Woodward 1b
K. Matsui 2b
P. Martinez p

Dragon Ball "Z"

Elizabeth! This is the big one! I'm coming to join you honey!!!

-Fred Sanford

What else could you possibly say? Eight innings of shutout ball from...no wait, I'm not prepared to say it just yet...the concept sounds so freakin' ridiculous.

Jose Reyes had another his second three hit game in a row to bring his average to .278 (walks, who needs walks?) The first run of the game was Reyes' and Reyes' alone as he singled on a fake bunt, stole second, took third base on a groundout to short as he took off on the throw to first, and scored on Carlos Beltran's grounder. Reyes also had three steals.

The disinterested Mike Piazza (according to ESPN's Buster Olney) drove in what would prove to be the game winner in the 8th, doubling deep to right against Lance "don't call me Rheal" Cormier to score Cliff Floyd to make it 2-0. It was big because Braden Looper gave up an inherited runner in the ninth before getting a key double play (that Kaz Matsui remarkably fielded cleanly), and after a couple of hits, striking out Matt Kata to end the 2-1 win. The middle of the order tonight was better than their putrid Tuesday showing, going four out of eleven and driving in both runs. But still rather scary because if tonight's starting pitcher pitched as normal, that wouldn't have gotten it done. But tonight...

OK, I'm ready...eight shutout innings by Victor Zambrano. To quote Marv Albert "something...that most people...did not think...they would hear...in their lifetime." He was economical with his pitches (99 pitches, which included 60 strikes), he only walked three (and gave up 5 hits), and he outpitched Brandon Webb for crying out loud. And Met fans everywhere are having Redd Foxx moments. Angioplasty, anyone?

Met-lag

I suppose the let-down was inevitable. The Mets just finished a tough road trip against the class of the N.L. East, so an out of division opponent for the first game of a long homestand was bound to be a disaster, and indeed it was. No hitting outside of Reyes (3-4-5 in the order, 0 for 11), no defense (Reyes' blunder costs Benson two earned runs), and no pitching (Benson was average, Koo was horrendous in the seventh) and you have a predictable 7-0 loss. Someone tell the Mets that this isn't the 2004 Diamondbacks that lost a billion games.

Luckily the Fish and the Racist Native American Slurs also lost. The division gets tighter still.

Allow me now to briefly harp on some other Met matters.

Item: Mike DeJean argues with official scorer to saddle David Wright with an error after Sunday's loss to the Marlins.

So let's review, Mr. DeJean. You've had an on-field incident with a manager, and now you've pleaded with an official scorer to save your stats from the depths of hell. And in that process, you've thrown the jewel of the Mets organization under a bus. Oh and by the way, your pitching this season is reminiscent of a Newark crosswind. Congratulations Mike, you have now reached the calibre of a 1993 Met. There's some cotton balls and a bottle of bleach in the corner. Use your imagination.

Item: Jeff Wilpon pulls Mets players from the Mike and the Mad Dog show because of their constant Met rip jobs.

Jeff Wilpon, by any chance did you get your business acumen from Jim Dolan? First you turn the organization into a laughing stock by pretending to know baseball while ordering your puppet Jim Duquette to trade your best pitching prospect for a biology lab cadaver...and now you tell WFAN GM Lee Davis to stop treating your players so badly or I'M GOING TO TELL MY DADDY ON YOU!!! You are not only a suit, you are son of suit...that means if you didn't have a rich father you'd be flipping burgers at a Carl's Jr. somewhere. So stop it. Just stop it. Take the sportscar that daddy brought you and drive until you see fish. Then, go marry a mermaid, organize a corporate takeover of the lost city of Atlantis, and see if you can trade Zeus for Steve Reed.

By The Numbers

Memorial Day. It's supposedly a great baseball holiday. Yet on Memorial Day 2005, there was no baseball in New York for either the Yankees or the Mets. That meant that fans of both teams were bored, and you know what that means...

Arguments.

Today's argument with my Yankee fan "friend" revolved around numbers. His issue was with the lack of uniform numbers retired by the Mets in their 43+ season history, and the fact that the Mets have a problem with acknowledging their past. Retiring uniform numbers is tricky. Obviously, the Mets only have one hall of fame player wear their cap in Cooperstown, (Seaver) so if you are going to go simply by that criteria, then there's no need to save room on the outfield wall. And while you do want to acknowledge your history, you don't want to make a dopey move along the lines of, say, the White Sox retiring Harold Baines' number 3 after trading him to Texas because the move turned out to be unpopular...only to have Baines play 12 more seasons and come back to the White Sox TWICE.

So here is my $0.02 about who should make the wall, and who should fall just short...

Jerry Koosman's 36: Being a dominant part of the '69 champs and lasting 12 seasons with the Mets work for him. Not being a hall of famer and a Met record of only 140-137 work against him. But if you throw out his last two seasons pitching for terrible teams his Met record becomes 129-102. And he also had seasons like 1973, where he had a 2.84 ERA but only a 14-15 record. And his record in the playoffs: 4-0. To me, 36 belongs.

Tug McGraw's 45: A sentimental choice, as his rallying cry of "Ya Gotta Believe" was the symbol of an amazin' run to the 1973 World Series. Spent 9 seasons with the Mets for 86 saves, along with 10 for the Phillies for 94 saves. Was as much a symbol of the 1980 Phillies champs as he was for the '73 team, and of course he was an important cog in 1969. A shame that he wasn't a Met for his entire career. If that were the case, 45 would have been retired a long time ago. As it is, 45 should be under at least some consideration, and certainly should be mentioned here on this list. Unfortunately, the fact that only two of his Met seasons resulted in over 20 saves keep him off the wall. And if the Mets didn't retire his number after his untimely death last year, they never will.

Gary Carter's 8: His hall of fame status and his being an integral part of the '86 champs are pros. Only 5 seasons with the Mets hurt him, and the last three Met seasons were awful. "Kid" to me personified what was right with the Mets, and to many, what was wrong with the Mets (excessive curtain calls). There was no more important player on that championship team than Carter with his clutch hitting and his handling of the pitching staff. But his lack of production from 1987-1989 was a big reason why those Mets teams didn't win more than one. If it were up to me, 8 would be on the wall. But just 2 productive seasons is going to keep 8 in circulation, and I can understand that.

Keith Hernandez's 17: Was also an integral part of the 86 team. Spent 6 and 1/2 seasons in blue and orange so that's a bit better than Carter but not by much. From '83 to '87 Mex was one of the best clutch hitters in baseball, the best fielding first baseman in baseball (yes Yankee fans, a bit better than Mattingly), and a big part of the clubhouse with his take no garbage attitude. In '88 and '89 he battled injuries and was let go with Carter at the end of the 1989 season. No hall of fame status hurts him a bit, but I think you could probably make a slightly better case for Keith's 17 than for Gary's 8. I think two things ultimately keep Hernandez off the wall. First is that if the Mets don't retire 8, they would not retire 17. The two numbers should go hand in hand at Shea. And second, to a much lesser degree, is the fact that he works for the club as an announcer and he has butted heads in the past with Piazza over his infamous "they quit" comments a few seasons back. The fact that Hernandez caved from his comments after some pressure from his employers and apologized knocked him down a peg in my eyes, because I agreed with his original analysis. I think it helps keep 17 in the clubhouse.

Darryl Strawberry's 18: The way Straw's career was going, 18 should have been a slam dunk. His name and his persona gave him a recognition factor in the 80's that rivaled Reggie Jackson's noteriety in the late 70's. He spent 8 seasons in Queens and put up big numbers. He also had issues on the field and off. He was on track for Cooperstown until he left the Mets after the 1990 season, where his career and his life fell apart. To me, even though he blew his shot at Cooperstown, 18 would have been a cinch to be retired except for one thing...his public obsession with playing for the Dodgers with Eric Davis which started during the 1988 playoffs. To Darryl's credit, he recently admitted in a television interview that leaving New York was the biggest mistake of his professional career. And I'm glad he's turned his life around. But he can't undo the past, and that's why Marlon Anderson wears number 18.

Dwight Gooden's 16: Similar to Strawberry in that he should have made the hall. Spent 11 seasons at Shea, and from '84-'86, was the brightest star in New York baseball, bar none. But Gooden also had substance abuse problems...first in 1987 when he missed the first two months while rehabbing at Betty Ford clinic (and may have cost the Mets the division that season as they started slow and wound up finishing 3 games behind St. Louis), and twice more in 1994, which ultimately led to his suspension from the major leagues in 1995. Number 16 being raised for Gooden, in a way, sets a bad example. A number retirement would be a mighty high honor for someone who, while dealing with his own demons and meaning no ill will towards anyone, let down his organization and his teammates. You could say it would also be a bad example in Strawberry's case, but Gooden's drug abuse kept him off the field for the Mets, which never happened in Strawberry's Met tenure.

Mookie Wilson's 1: This is interesting. Although Wilson's Met career wasn't statistically spectacular, he was the embodiment of class and played the game the right way. His at bat against Bob Stanley was the most important at bat in franchise history, and if you tell me that he got lucky because of Buckner's colossal blunder, I will respond by telling you that Mookie would have beat it out anyway. The lack of big-time statistics will keep number 1 around, but I have to tell you that if the Mets ever decide to retire Mookie's number, it would be one of the classiest moves in franchise history.

Mike Piazza's 31: Piazza is in his 8th season with the Mets, and is a lock for the hall of fame. Not only was he an intregal part of the 2000 N.L. champions, in many ways he WAS the team. Unfortunately, his lasting legacy in a Met uniform will be tied to Roger Clemens, but I can't think of a good reason why 31 won't make it's way to the Shea wall. Piazza has played more games for the Mets than with Los Angeles, and he should be wearing a Mets cap in Cooperstown...so to me this seems like the most obvious lock.

The Mets obviously take seriously the prospect of retiring a number. This is why there is a Mets hall of fame in the Diamond Club at Shea, so that all of these players can be honored without having wrangle with the decision to pack their number away. It's the way it should be. But do they take it too seriously? Should the Mets to a better job of honoring their past? They could always do better. And to me, Koosman's 36, along with Piazza's 31, belong on the shelf forever, and there should be at least some consideration for the rest. But ultimately, retiring a number should be sacred and extremely special...not the result of extreme sentimentality, wasted potential, an untimely death, or in the case of Baines, a stupid trade. If that were the case, Scott Kazmir's 57 would never be worn again.