How’s this for destructive thinking : after observing David Wright punish Eric Milton to the tune of a pair of two run homers, I can’t help but wonder, how many more games would the Mets have won in 2005 had Wright been moved to 3, 4 or 5 in the batting order? What sort of pitches would Carlos Beltran have seen in the first half of the year if Wright had been hitting behind him instead of Mike Piazza?
From the Is-He-Still-Playing? Department, I saw Quinton McCracken doing his thing for Louisville a few weeks ago, and I cannot believe he’s almost 36 years old. He doesn’t look a day over 34.
Pedro Martinez picked up his 7th win today, striking out 8, walking 5 and allowing 2 runs and 2 hits over 6 innings. Look ahead to next week’s visit to Fenway Park, Martinez spoke with the Boston Herald’s Michael Silverman :
œI™m very optimistic that the reception will be what I have in my heart for them, not a back and forth between me and the fans, said Martinez. œI realize business is business and when it comes to arguing money, anything is fair in baseball. Anything seems to be fair.
And to be fair, Martinez feels, fans should separate his decision and the Red Sox™ decision from the man who is taking the mound. Try to forget that the bitterness in his heart and on his tongue when he left has left him.
œI was honest without hurting anybody, without disrespecting anybody, said Martinez of his immediate post-Red Sox comments. œWhat was it I said that I should regret? Did I say I wanted to leave Boston? Maybe I should have said that. They knew that my heart was there, in Boston.
He feels that someone, he™s not sure who, tried to damage his reputation by talking about how he was always late and on his own program.
œI thought that was a little out of place but I guess when it comes to trying to get you cheaper, you have to actually do anything possible, right? he said. œThat™s the world? That™s why I was a little bit bitter but I realized I™m not the only one who™s had that done to them.
At the risk of an admonishment from Mike’s Mets, I will merely mention that Tampa Bay’s Scott Kazmir was fan-fucking-tastic against the free-falling Diamondbacks today.
Bud Selig has ordered Ozzie Guillen to attend sensitivity training after the latter called Jay Mariotti a fag. I look forward to future O.G. discussions with beat reporters, in which he’ll carefully describe how Jay makes him feel.
Consider yourself admonished — but you’re also right. Jim Duquette, even Angelos and Baltimore is not a bad enough fate for you…
Can’t wait to see the back pages of the Boston rags for Pedro’s return. Those usually seem to dictate how the crowd responds to a returning “hero.” When Damon came back to Fenway, I remember the rags eviscerating him for leaving.