I’m doing everything possible right this moment to ignore the High-Def awfulness of El Duque’s showing against the Cubbies today, topped off by allowing a not-cheap-at-all HR to Sean “In This Hole” Marshall. And what better way to do so than by rejoicing in the Brooklyn Cyclones’ 5-4 win over the Vermont Ex-Expos earlier this afternoon, their sixth such victory on the trot? If the ‘Clones continue at their current pace, the Jersey City Snakes will be mathematically eliminated by next week. Not from playoff contention, just from living, breathing and slithering.

(art by Steve Keene)

Having rejected my helpful suggestion of Von LMO Bobblehead Day at Keyspan Park, the ‘Lil Wilpons have instead opted to celebrate Woody Guthrie’s 94th Birthday eleven days late on the 25th of July with a performance by the Klezmatics.

During a season in which the Durham Bulls have been making news for all the wrong reasons, Sunday provided some tonic for the D-Rays’ P.R. department. Jason Hammel (8.1 IP) and Juan Salas combined for a no-hitter in the Bulls’ 4-1 win over Columbus.

(UPDATE : Mets 13, Cubs 5, bottom of the 7th.  New York’s 11 run 6th inning was helped in no small measure by some astonishingly poor pitching from Roberto Novoa, a pair of grand slams from Cliff Floyd (2 HR,s 5 RBI’s on the day) and Carlos Beltran (with a David Wright 2-run blast added for good measure)..plus a couple of miscues by Nokona Glove spokesman Todd Walker.  Though I don’t think Floyd and Delgado coming back to life offensively does anything to alievate concerns about the back of the Mets starting rotation, perhaps the Bobby Abreu talk can die down for at least a day. Scoring runs isn’t a problem for this team. Finding a taster for Pedro, however, might be in order.)