The Lineup

(Note: A quickie from A.F.O.M.G. follows below. Sip will be in with a post around noon and A.F.O.M.G. will take you home around 4.)

Slow week for the Mets, and given the insanity going on outside the castle walls, that's just fine, you know? Better them than us. It's a jungle out there.

Here, then, is a list of my top five newsmakers this week, lineup card-style.

1. #2 Dave Dellucci LF

Holy shit, a halfway sensible signing for reasonable money. A decent outfielder with good pop for $3 years/$11.5M? Way too normal.

Has the SEC been notified? Get Spitzer on the case right now. I don't care if he's unpacking in the governor's mansion, damn it! Somebody is getting away with a reasonable free agent deal!

That somebody was Indians GM Mark Shapiro, who took a decent OF off the hands of the clueless Phillies on the cheap for the second year running.

Jason Michaels didn't work out as a full-time player, but the Dellooch should do fine -- good rate stats (.292/.369/.530) and a nice eye, even as Charlie Manuel inconceivably scrounged for ways to get Abe Nunez and Jose Hernandez into games.

2. #92 Michael Strahan DE

If anyone missed the photo of an angry Giants defensive end berating the media in Thursday's New York Times ... well, it's right below.

Look, I know this blog is mostly populated by fans of the G-Men, so I don't want to dwell on last Sunday's, ahem, game, or even on the locker room meltdown that's been occurring this week out in East Rutherford. That's not very sporting. It's not cricket.

(Although I would be remiss if I didn't point out the comeback kid emerging from his shell up in Buffalo. Hello, J.P. Losman, and welcome to the NFL! All I'm saying is that if you had to pick any quarterback from the first round of the 2004 draft, well, you might not want to go with the famous one.)

Anyway, my point is that Strahan is a big deal -- endorsements, media engagements, etc. So, when he unlocks the crazy vault for the benefit of the outside world, does that fall under the rubric of "No press is bad press?" Or is his publicist chewing him out on the phone after practice for the next two weeks?

He does have a publicist, right? I'm going to be wondering about this for a while.

3. #1 Shawn Carter CEO

I'm looking at my copy of Jay-Z's new album "Kingdome Come" right now, sitting on the corner of my desk. I've listened to it the whole way through twice now. It's just not very good. There are about four good songs, and the rest is filler. Bleh.

(The new Game and Clipse, on the other hand, are out of this world. Moving on.)

AFOMG didn't like "Show Me What You Got," the busiest lead single since "Bachman-Turner Overdrive II" hit record stores back in '73, and I agreed with him. I can't find much to really care about.

Of course, I'm mostly alone there, since the album opened at No. 1 with Jay-Z's biggest sales week ever. It was his ninth No. 1 album in history, tying the Rolling Stones for third most No. 1s by an artist. Almost 700,000 folks bought this mediocrity, including me.

Baseball and rap music, more alike than anyone imagined.

4. #25 Kei Igawa LHP

Hah! The classic Yankees overreaction arrives at last! Oh, you tried your best, sweethearts, but when push came to shove, you couldn't hold back.

Steinbrenner and the Tampa crew made Cashman bid $25M for the right to negotiate with a pitcher whose upside -- upside! mind you -- is that of a No. 4 starter. If everything breaks just right, they'll have a poor man's Ted Lilly (Ted Lilly being available as we speak).

His fastball barely touches 90. His curveball was alternately describes as "O.K.," "pretty good," and "middle of the road." He's slight of frame.

This should work out just fine. No, don't worry about it. No inordinately expensive Japanese pitcher has failed in pinstripes before.

5. #89 Talinn, Estonia BS

Big week for the tiny nation of just under a million and a half hardy souls. You've got your US Presidential visit, always a big deal with the peasants.

You had a showcase for the capital city of Talinn, a place where I'd actually like to visit someday, as strange as that may seem. It's one of the most well-preserved old cities in Europe, an old Hanseatic League port, lot of cool stuff.

You've got a spat with the Russians about a new plan to ban all Soviet symbols from being dispayed. A little censorious, and not the smartest idea to pick a fight with the guys who know how to radiation-poision your sushi from 600 paces, but I see where you're coming from.

But the kicker came during Bush's visit, when he kept eagerly touting the fact that Estonia has a flat tax. Now why, pray tell, did the nation choose to adopt this utterly regressive system?

The flat tax, as it turns out, was the brainchild of the former prime minister, Mart Laar. Mr. Laar was inspired by the only economics book he had ever read, Milton Friedman’s paean to capitalism, “Free to Choose.” Believing, erroneously, that the flat tax had been put into practice throughout the West, Mr. Laar introduced it to Estonia. This year, the Cato Institute, a libertarian policy organization, gave Mr. Laar its “Milton Friedman Award of Freedom.”

A country run the way it ought to be. Kringel for everyone!