Vote or Die

Better development: John Maine going seven strong and earning his 11th win, or John Maine belting a two-run homer?

Answer: Of course it's the pitching that matters, and with Maine coming off his first shaky two-start stretch of the season, we can all be a little bit relieved. Not too relieved -- it was the Pirates after all, the team run by a guy who apparently thought he was going to trade Jack Wilson for Troy Glaus. Props there, stud.

Maine gives up basically just the homer to Jason Bay last night and some other chintzy shit, and now he's looking at an 11-5 record with an ERA just north of 3.00 in 127.1 innings pitched. He somewhat unnecessarily brushed back Y2K hero and good guy Xavier Nady, the X-Man, but that's entirely forgivable. Overall, he basically is averaging one bad start per month, which is going to happen, but in the meantime has absolutely anchored our rotation when we needed it.

Still, there's nothing quite as satisfying as a no-hit pitcher knocking one out of the park, and doing it to left-center at Shea is really even better. If you didn't see the highlight (or it live), the Maine Event absolutely whaled a high riding fastball from Ian Snell up in the zone, connecting at about the same point in its flight as did the Dodgers' Matt Kemp on his game-winning HR this past weekend. Way back, etc., and Willie couldn't believe his eyes in the dugout.

Now they've got a book on Maine -- don't come up and in. HE WILL OWN YOU. At least if you pitch in Pittsburgh.

Homers by hurlers are down this year, as well, with only 12 so far against a total of 36 for all of last year. Which is too bad -- dingers by random guys are a fun part of the game, and we're all for more random cool stuff happening during games. Let's have Joe Smith take Jake Peavy deep and be done with it.

Better development: Blastings going 3 for 3, or Moises Alou ALMOST ready to come off the DL?

Answer: It's a trap! Anything that decreases the likelihood of Shawn Green playing is by definition a good thing, whether it's the return of the Mack or the rise of a new one. Sorry to belabor the point, just get the dude out of my scorecard, for the love of ... well, whomever. Also, is it me, or is he getting skinnier as the season goes along? I swear, he hasn't looked like a Major Leaguer in a while, but he's starting to remind me a little too much of Adrian Brody.

And I mean in the body, the muscle-less weenie. They've always looked similar in the face.

(Speaking of whom, caught the new Danny Boyle flick "Sunshine" on Monday down at 68th St., and highly recommend it to all -- think "Event Horizon" meets one of the better Ray Bradbury short stories. Before the film, the last trailer to run was for "The Darjeeling Limited," the new Wes Anderson joint set to drop later this year. You may or may not recall that the Glass Man and I were invited to the first-ever screening of this thing back in April and absolutely hated the thing. Anyway, as the trailer went dark, I definitely shouted, "That thing sucked!" loud enough for everyone in the theater to hear, and got a couple of laughs and one disapproving "Shh!" Felt like a big man. Anyway.)

I can't be mad at all about this latest setback from Alou -- supposed to join the team last night, but he's going to hold off until the weekend due to a bursty shoulder or some such. Took a bad swing down in Brooklyn, had an MRI, is day-to-day. Whatever. He's been gone for so long, another couple of days isn't going to kill us. Just as long as when he comes back, he's ready to give us a couple of really good stretch months.

And don't look now, but young Blastings has three straight multi-hit games on the trot, and looks like he's getting more comfortable at the plate ...

Better development: The Mets not having made a big trade, or the Braves not having made a big trade?

Answer: Definitely the latter. Any time I hear something about Atlanta picking up Mark Teixeira, I immediately go numb. That would be a worst-case scenario for Mets fans -- the guy is an absolute superstar, and would go on to haunt New York and the rest of the NL East for years to come. I truly believe that.

It looks like the deal could still happen, too, depending on whether or not the team will give up that Salty young catcher of theirs, in addition to one of their two shortstop prospects (Yuni Escobar and Elvis Andrus.) I also saw a scenario flashed involving a three-way trade where Renteria got shipped out, but as good as he's been for them this year, that still terrifies me.

The real problem is that, as per this MLB.com article, there aren't many better fits for Tex than Atlanta -- all three California teams are looking elsewhere, the Yankees aren't going to give up Hughes or Chamberlain (rightly so ... dang!), and while the Red Sox might want him, getting him will involve giving up pitchers they really need to keep for salary reasons going forward (you need at least a couple players on the roster not making $6m a year) and displacing one of either Mike Lowell (.304/.355/.509, Gold Glove D at 3B), Kevin Youkilis (.314/.410/.473, dirt cheap), or a Hall of Fame DH platoon of Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz.

That's four guys in the top 27 in VORP in the AL. Yeah, the Sox may be O.K. at the corners. Whereas Atlanta has needed a 1B forever, owns the trading chips, and really could use a boost in the standings. Fuck.

At the moment, I'm perfectly fine with the Mets not having made a trade. Partly because of the players that will be coming back from injury, partly because I'm a sucker and think we're going to be getting something out of Pedro down the stretch, but mostly because I think guys like Blastings and Beltran are going to be able to pick it up, and that the team is already good enough to win as constituted once everyone starts playing together.

Not that I'm against picking up Chad Cordero from Nats for scraps if he were available (if Kevin Mulvey + Mike Carp gets it done, I'm there in a second), or wouldn't trade basically any two of Gomez/Milledge/Pelfrey/Humber for a REAL frontline starter like Roy Oswalt. But I'm just not that upset to see someone like Javy Vazquez still in ChiSox pinstripes.

Right now, the Mets are better than the Braves, and I think that ceteris paribus (big up to the Williams economics department), things are more likely than not to remain that way.

UPDATE: It goes without saying that this would be awful.

Grudzielanek has approximately $1.5 million remaining this season on his $4 million salary, but his contract also contains a vesting clause that triggers a $4 million players’ option for next season if he gets 500 plate appearances.

Oh, god, don't do it, Omar.