There’s been a paucity of New York Mets coverage around these parts of late, not because I’ve ignored the horrible recent atrocities committed in the name of Pete Coors, but rather, due to my low threshold for pain. I couldn’t bring myself to describe (or even cut & paste) how thoroughly humiliating the Unamazins’ trip to Denver truly was.

That, and I’ve been trying to figure out if starting Jason Vargas is any worse than giving Jose Lima the ball.

So with Clint Hurdle having successfully delayed getting shitcanned, we’ll put said ugliness behind us and concentrate on John Maine’s wildly successful outing tonight at Ken Lay Memorial Field. Maine (7.2 IP, 2 earned runs, 6 hits) whiffed a career high 9 Astros en route to his 10th victory of ’07, lowering his ERA to 2.71 in the Mets’ 6-2 win. Carlos Beltran gave Drayton McFuckface a glimpse of what he could’ve kept with a 9th inning solo shot off Dave Borowski, and Ramon Castro celebrated the weirdness that shall be 120 year old Sandy Alomar Jr. breathing down his neck with a double and a pair of runs driven in.

For Maine, tonight’s outing shall be considerable consolation in the face of Roy Oswalt being picked for the NL All-Star team in place of the ailing John Smoltz. Even Mark Redman thinks there’s something screwy about such a selection.

David Newhan was recalled from New Orleans on Thursday with the news OF Carlos Gomez was undergoing surgery on his left hand back in New York. Gomez broke his southpaw on a checked swing during Wednesday’s 17-7 capitulation to the Rockies, and is expected to miss up to two months of action. If you’re wondering what’s up with Da Edge, Ever-Lastings’ rehab assignment at Binghamton got off to a fine start Thursday, with the much maligned outfielder hitting a solo HR and stealing a base in the Lil’ Wilpons’ 7-5 loss to New Hampshire. Milledge is probably at least a week away from being slagged off by Wally Matthews a promotion to Flushing.