And with the above incident, taking place in the 6th inning of Saturday’s 7-4 win over Washington, the Mets have lost Damion Easley for the rest of the season.

A recall of the light-hitting Anderson Hernandez will do little to replace Easley’s versatility. Is it too early for Omar Minaya to consider bailing out Jose Offerman?

Boston’s Terry Francona tells the Globe’s Gordon Edes it would be “incredibly stupid” to mess with Eric Gagne’s setup role, despite the reliever having been badly shelled of late.

Gagné has a history of elbow, back, and shoulder problems, resulting in multiple surgeries. When Francona was asked if the downturn in his performance since Texas set off warning bells, the manager answered, “If I thought his arm was sore, yeah. We probably spend more time on this than you guys do, and we should.”I think you guys look at some numbers and results. [Friday] night, [Reggie] Willits had a 13-pitch at-bat. That took a lot out of him. Then you get to [Vladimir] Guerrero. As we’ve talked about, you can’t throw him a pitch he doesn’t think he can’t hit, he smacks one.

“There are some things you have to keep a perspective on. Sometimes, like with a hitter, you take a borderline pitch and you don’t get it. Suddenly you’re in a bind. Those things happen. Sometimes when you need a break, you don’t get a break.”

Edes might well be onto something. Gagne had been pretty successful in Arlington…after undergoing a pair of surgical proceedures in one year.