Where Is Igawa When You Need Him?

I guess Tyler Clippard was unavailable this weekend due to a prior commitment. But luckily, Brian Cashman was able to lock in an old friend.

With the battle-tested Dan Giese, who now has one career major league start under his belt, facing surging Mets’ right-hander Mike Pelfrey in the first half of Friday’s Subway Series double dip, the Yankees will show off their latest acquisition in game two.

The inflated Sidney Ponson (and that adjective describes more than his ERA), who hails from the baseball hotbed of Aruba, will take on Pedro Martinez at Shea Stadium on Friday night.

Recently acquired from Texas, which had a surplus of good pitching, Ponson will don the pinstripes for the first time since the memorable campaign of 2006. In his 16.1 innings as a Yankee that season, the burly right-hander surrendered 19 earned runs (10.47 ERA). One can only hope he looks half as good when he toes the rubber at Shea on Friday night.

Oh wait, now I realize why Cashman brought back Ponson. This guy is a horse that is capable of giving his team a lot of innings. In addition to the 16.1 he threw for the Yankees in 2006, he pitched another 68.2 frames for St. Louis that season to the tune of a 5.24 ERA. Then, last season, his workman-like 37.2 innings yielded a 2-5 record and a 6.93 ERA. Ok, so he’s not a horse, he just looks like he swallowed one.

Ok, let me reel myself back in and look at the situation from a different perspective.

Ponson could easily wind up as the winning pitcher in tonight’s game. Although his counterpart, Pedro Martinez, can still get major league hitters out, he is not the same Pedro that got the best of Don Zimmer a few years ago.

Ponson will receive more good news when he finds out the Mets batting lineup will include the pitcher’s spot (National League rules are in effect tonight much to Hank Steinbrenner’s chagrin) as well as Carlos Delgado.

I can’t predict how this series will go, nor can I even proclaim confidence in the Mets’ ability to put up a crooked number off Ponson.

I can guarantee one thing though.

Win or lose, Ponson is likely to put a dent in the Diamond Club Buffet, so get there early and be thankful that Jose Lima won’t be anywhere close to Shea tonight.

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The New Jersey Nets must have been subscribing to the Brian Cashman theory during last night’s NBA Draft. If it doesn’t work the first time, try, try again. Those Jason Collins enthusiasts know exactly what I’m talking about.

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Victory for Liberty: In the most important news of the day, yes even more significant than Maria Sharapova’s stumble at Wimbledon, the United States Supreme Court deemed the District of Columbia’s ban on hand guns unconstitutional in a 5-4 vote.

The high court’s protection of the Second Amendment, which states the people’s right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, is a victory for liberty. If you don’t believe me, then read the following short story.

There once was a leader who prohibited a certain sect of society to participate in the firearms business. This leader launched a campaign to disarm the individuals that comprised this sect of the population. Only months later, this leader’s army invaded the neighborhoods of the disarmed and easily incarcerated many of these folks.

The aforementioned story is a true one, and the leader’s name was Adolf Hitler. Before the infamous Kristallnacht of 1938, Hitler stripped the Jews of their guns in preparation for completely stripping them of their freedom.

Guns are a means of protection that empower us to individually preserve our lives and liberty. Not to mention, if the government can find a way to rescind our right to own a gun, then they can surely find a way to rescind others if they chose to do so.

Presidential hopeful John McCain (R) praised the Court’s decision as “a landmark victory for Second Amendment,” and later went on to say “This ruling does not mark the end of our struggle against those who seek to limit the rights of law-abiding citizens. We must always remain vigilant in defense of our freedoms.”

Meanwhile, his counterpart, Barack Obama (D) attempted to straddle the fence on the issue. Obama made a comment that I still don’t fully understand and I don’t know if he does either. “I have always believed that the Second Amendment protects the right of individuals to bear arms, but I also identify with the need for crime-ravaged communities to save their children from the violence that plagues our streets through commonsense, effective safety measures,” stated Obama.

So, is he saying that legal and registered hand guns are the ones being used to hurt children in these crime-ravaged communities? Or is the senator from Illinois saying that hand guns are the culprit of violence in these crime-ravaged communities? Or is Mr. Obama simply saying something that will help make him president?

Pacman's Name Game Not Al-Wright

Click Here to View Pacman's Rap Sheet courtesy of Bumpshack

Adam “Pacman” Jones, the habitual criminal that doubles as a NFL defensive back, issued a proclamation stating that he wants everyone to drop the nickname and just call him Adam.
His reasoning? Well, the man who has been arrested six times since 2005 said the following about his old nickname: “There's really just a lot of negativity behind it.”

When I hear the word “Pacman,” I think about all the quarters I wasted playing that primitive video game during the days of my youth. So Adam, are you sure it’s the name you need to change?

Does the negative connotation accompanying the mention of your name have anything to do with the fact that you have been involved in 12 separate incidents that required police attention since the Tennessee Titans drafted you in April 2005?

It seems to me that the problem is with the person and not the name, and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell must agree considering he suspended Jones for the entire 2007 season in response to the cornerback’s connection to a shooting outside a Las Vegas night club that left a man paralyzed.

Goodell recently granted Jones permission to begin football-related activities with the Dallas Cowboys, but did has not yet fully reinstated the beleaguered star for 2008 regular season play.
After a year to think about his mistakes, Jones has supposedly realized that he must change his ways.

If this is Adam’s best attempt at remaking his way of life, then I’m afraid he is no different than the man whose entourage was responsible for a triple shooting. Just last month news reports alerted he was being investigated for failure in paying $20,000 in gambling debts. New name, same old “Pacman” Jones.

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Flagged: Buffalo Bills' running Marshawn Lynch probably won't find a second career in teaching Driver's Education courses, especially after his hit-and-run accident that left a Canadian woman wounded in Ontario on May 31. Lynch is expected to reach a plea bargain, and this off-season incident should not deter you from taking him in your fantasy football drafts. Although I wouldn't choose him as my designated driver, I would certainly take him in the top ten of this year's draft. A hard-running, pass-catching back, Lynch ran for more than 1100 yards as a rookie and could be a driving force on one of the NFL's possible surprise teams. ... Carolina Panthers' receiver Dwayne Jarrett enters his second professional season with six catches for 73 yards and a DWI. He pleaded guilty to driving while impaired Monday after being arrested back in March. ... Neither Lynch nor Jarrett were arrested by reserve Miami police officer Shaquille O'Neal. The 7'2" O'Neal was asked to forfeit his special county deputy badge as a result of his recent freestyle rage against former teammate Kobe Bryant.

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Call it long overdue. Credit the day off his manager gave him on Tuesday. Say it’s just one game.

Regardless, David Wright answered the bell last night and let his bat do the talking.
I must admit, just the other night, I began to doubt Wright for the first time since he took New York by storm three years ago.

Two innings after I saw him butcher a routine grounder that set the stage for pitcher Felix Hernandez’s grand slam, David Wright carried a .273 average to the plate and stepped in for his second at-bat of Monday night’s 5-2 setback to Seattle. Previously lost in the commotion of Billy Goat meltdowns, the Willie saga, and the team’s overall uninspiring performance, it finally struck me.

David Wright is quietly enjoying a very sub-par season to date.

The third baseman compounded that thought by grounding into a 6-4-3 double play. After an 0-for-3 night, Wright left the ball park with a .272 average and a bruise on his ego courtesy of Johan Santana.

Suffering the loss and seeing his record fall to 7-6, the Mets’ $137 million dollar pitching ace shifted attention to Wright’s costly miscue. “We didn’t make the routine plays,” said Santana at the post-game presser.

Wright responded by homering in each of his first two at-bats during his return to the lineup on Wednesday.

When the Mets were in danger of being swept at home by baseball’s worst team, Wright saved his team from the embarrassment that Santana couldn’t save himself from two nights earlier when he permitted Hernandez to become the first AL pitcher in 37 years to hit a grand slam.

Cheers for Beltran, Jeers for Fans

Was that Lenny Dykstra? No, but had the Mets current centerfielder been wearing No. 4 last night you wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference.

Carlos Beltran single-handedly produced a run by exercising the grit and toughness that became the beloved Dykstra’s trademark.

With the Mets trailing 5-0 and looking absolutely hapless against dominant right Felix Hernandez in an eventual 5-2 loss to Seattle, Beltran smoked a double off the left-center field wall. With one out and Trot Nixon batting, Beltran caught the defense napping and flew to third.

Then, after Nixon struck out, Beltran completed his trip around the bases with some of the most inspiring, gutsy, heads-up baseball I haven’t seen at Shea since Bobby Valentine was managing the club.

As Hernandez’s pitch hit the dirt and scooted about 10 feet to the left of the Mariners’ catcher, Beltran shot towards home and slid in hard and safely. Hernandez, an absolute pleasure to watch, incurred a game-ending injury on the play, but it was simply an unfortunate by-product of Beltran’s hustle.

I have not always been kind to the stoic Beltran whose numbers have yet to justify his seven-year, $119 million deal, but the man plays centerfield arguably better than anyone in Mets history (Nails included) and has had a knack for the clutch home run.

At times, Beltran’s lackluster numbers, although above average amongst MLB centerfielders, looked even less impressive because of Beltran’s lack of emotional display. To a fan base that wears its heart on its sleeve, Beltran appeared overly quiet and somewhat disinterested at times.

The thing that had been absent from the first 410 regular season games of Beltran’s New York tenure was on full display last night.

Hopefully, the appearance of this missing link was not an aberration.

Something tells me that if gritty, heads-up play becomes commonplace for Beltran, then he will quickly become the special performer we all were excited about when the Mets signed him.

Beltran couldn't have picked a better time to practice this sort of play. With the Mets still attempting to break through the malaise that lingers from "The Collapse," this is just what the doctor ordered. But as last night's final result showed, they need it in much higher and more frequent doses.

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Surprisingly it wasn’t the booing that was inappropriate at Shea Stadium on Monday night.

In a disappointing move, a number of the fools on hand cheered when they discovered that Felix Hernandez had become a casualty of Beltran’s hustle and was writhing in pain on the third base line.

Then, it got worse. Trying to shake off the pain and remain in the game, Hernandez hobbled to the mound with his manager and trainer looking on. When Hernandez’s wind-up ended with the young right-hander bent over in extreme discomfort, a number of downright classless individuals began gleefully cheering.

Yes, anyone witnessing Hernandez’s dominance would have realized that the likelihood of a Mets’ comeback bid increase, but to take joy in this young man’s suffering was downright despicable.

I have lost my voice at games in the past from both cheering and booing. I will always defend a fan’s right to express one’s self, and I don’t think that right should ever be taken away from a paying customer. With that said, it may be helpful to abide by a small rule of thumb, only do it if it’s justified.

A lackadaisical, overpaid ball player who chose not to hustle deserves the loudest of boos, while Beltran’s play last night deserved the greatest of cheers.

But what had Hernandez done to deserve this ill treatment? He didn’t throw at Mike Piazza’s head. He has never been on record saying anything demeaning about the Mets and their fan base. He simply brought his “A” game to the ballpark and put on a show for those in attendance.

It is disenchanting to think that for an inglorious moment a contingent of the Shea Faithful stooped lower than their rivals down the Turnpike. For a moment we were on the same level as the people who booed Santa Claus.

Mets' Fans Should Be Feeling Rocky Mountain High

Despite a tumultuous week for the New York Mets’ organization, one that made the housing market look somewhat stable, Mets’ fans should be smiling on Monday morning for both obvious and forgotten reasons.

Sitting in front of a television during Sunday’s 3-1, series-winning victory at Colorado, I couldn’t help but turn my frown upside down as I enjoyed CW11’s broadcast.

First, the obvious. With a relatively all-around sound effort on Sunday, the Mets capped a 4-2 road trip with another series victory. Starting pitcher Mike Pelfrey continued to blossom, winning for the second time out and looked good doing so (reminder: this would have been victory number three in a row if Billy Wagner didn’t flush Pelfrey’s eight-inning gem down the toilet on June 11). Carlos Beltran launched a two-run, third-inning bomb with a swing that was reminiscent of the 2004 postseason. And the Phillies did their part too, losing their fifth straight (loss No. 10,000-something) and watching their lead on the Mets shrink to 3.5 games (2 GB in loss column).

In revealing both his potential and mettle through 5.2 scoreless innings at hitter-happy Coors Field, Pelfrey also reminded us about the forgotten. The first reminder came in Colorado’s half of the second frame after second baseman Damion Easley botched a potential double-play ball to give the Rockies men on first and second with no outs.

Pelfrey promptly induced a taylor-made 5-4-3 double play off the bat of Yorvit Torrealba to quell the threat. Yorvit Torrealba. Remember him? The man that left four runners on base yesterday and struck out looking to lead off the ninth inning was a signature away from being Pelfrey’s battery mate this season rather than the easy out he was this past weekend.

Mets’ GM Omar Minaya has made moves of all different varieties – good, bad, and downright awful -- since taking the reigns at Shea in September 2004. He brought us Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran, two overpriced players that are worth it in the long run for various reasons. He added Billy Wagner, and more recently Johan Santana. He discovered two 15-game winners in John Maine and Oliver Perez when their former teams were ready to toss these promising arms into the scrap heap.

But, remember, he also traded Brian Bannister for Ambiorix Burgos and topped that deal by sending steady reliever Heath Bell to San Diego for Ben Johnson (not to be confused with the English playwright that brought us the ever-great “Volpone”).

So, as I watched Pelfrey work out of a two-out, two-on jam in the fourth inning by forcing the light-hitting Torrealba to fly out harmlessly to left. I was thankful for the deal that never got done, and I’m sure Minaya was too, considering this catcher would have drawn more comparisons to Mackey Sasser than Mike Piazza.

Torrealba agreed in principle to a $14.4 million, three-year deal with the Mets in November 2007, but the Mets backed out at the 11th hour, citing a failed physical.

What exactly happened remains a mystery, but I’m not complaining. Before a 2007 campaign that saw him hit a whopping .255 over 396 at-bats, Torrealba had spent seven seasons at the major league level and played no more 66 games in any of them.

Aaron Heilman may be the only one wishing the Torrealba deal had gone through since the Rockies’ backstop would have provided the Shea boo-birds with another target.

Those boo-birds, myself sometimes included, can’t say boo tonight though thanks to the fact that our beloved ball club returns home with some life. Our promising young right-hander, who once had a habit of driving us mad, notched two straight road victories. Our centerfielder, who proclaimed the Mets “the team to beat,” looks poised for a mid-summer explosion. And Yorvit Torrealba won’t be behind the plate tonight at Shea when Mets’ fans are treated to a pitching delight.