(taken from Hot Foot)

I must admit, I was watching last night’s Home Run Derby with something less than rapt attention, and when it was mentioned that a current Mets teammate was serving up the fat ones to David Wright, my first reaction was, “wasn’t Jose Lima designated for assignment?”

As it turns out, Paul Lo Duca is just as adept at soft tosses right down the middle of the plate. Not content with last night’s face time on ESPN, Disco Paul was interviewed by SNY today, and assured his interrogators that if faced with an All-Star Game collision at the plate ala Pete Rose and Ray Fosse (above), he’d consider it “part of the game”, being “from the old school.” On behalf of everyone who doesn’t want to see Ramon Castro catching 75 games between now and October, I really hope he was kidding.

It’s been a terrific afternoon on SNY, by the way, and their rebroadcast last night’s of State College Spikes / Brooklyn Cyclones clash was very illuminating. If you’ve ever wondered just what it takes to break into the highly competitive field of sports television, here’s a little advice : be born with the last name “Glavine.”