Not sure in anyone has reported this yet:

mlbtraderumors.com is reporting that the Rockies have "long coveted" LoDuca. Troy Renck, a beat writer for the Rockies, expects them to make a push to sign pauly

LoDuca has had a shaky year with injuries, and his BA is down from last year. He is a solid player, but just average. If the mets dont resign him, then they will go after someone else (well duh thats always one of the choices) or they will make Castro an everyday.

If Castro is everyday, then I think its pretty much automatic that we get another back up catcher. Diflice and Alomar are just not cutting it with the bat to be on the bench as our back up catcher. (It will def show more if they had to be back ups all year long)

After being beaten badly, and being beaten late, the Mets will try to avoid the sweep agaisnt the Phils tonight (and keep their record against them at .500). That being said, lets look at tonights numbers:

Ollie's last start was the first time since July 26th that he allowed 2 runs or less. (Another way to put it, July 26th and August 24th he allowed 0 runs. Between those days, he allowed 4 runs or more, and 3 runs once.

Before Last night, the last time Delgado hit a homer was on August 12th.

Jose Reyes hasnt stolen a base in 2 days.

The mets dropped the first game in this series...big time. Tonight they will ralley behind Glavine and hopefully take the middle game, and take the series tommorow....so lets get some numbers thrown around:

Glavine 2-0 this year agaisnt the Phils. Eaton hasnt pitched since august 11th when he gave up 6 runs against the Braves.

In his last 10 games, David Wright has 10 RBI's and 10 runs (1 homerun).

In his last 10 games, he has 5 RBI's, despite his .205 BA. (If you didnt figure that one out, that would be Carlos Delgado). He should have more like 15 RBI's but he strands runners like how Lawerence gives up hits.

Beltran, in his last 5 games, has 1 RBI, in his last 10 games, he has 13 RBI's...ergo his hot streak is over and now he is on a cold streak.

Lets Get em

In a moment of confusion, I said in the last post that those five teams, compensation picks aside, would be lined up in that order for the first 5 picks, although that was close to be correct, there are some teams like the Nationals, although they have a higher elimination number than the Orioles, that would go before the birds in the draft due to the record.

So to re-do this, all things staying the same, the first five teams to be elimiated (elimination number):
1. Tampa Bay (4)
2. Baltimore (12)
3. Texas (15)
4. Florida (16)
5. 3 Teams Tied with 17 (San Francisco, CWS, Nationals)

Teams slated for the top 5 picks based on record:
1. Tampa Bay (.392)
2. Chicago White Sox (.431)
3. Pittsburg (.442)
3. Kansas City (.442)
5. Washington (.443)
5. Houston (.443)

I know many of you think the same:

On a non-Mets note, was anyone else really surprised to hear that Wakefield got his 16th win of the season, I knew Beckett was doing well in terms of wins, but I had no idea about Wakefield...is there possibility for two 20-game winners on the same team?

Why was Alomar 7th instead 8th? I know in the late innings, having gotay then a pinch hitter, then the top of the order can start a ralley, but having alomar than Gotay can end a ralley as well (which it did at on point in the game)

Alomar's defense...good stuff.

Do you know that last year, Carlos Beltran was hitting .275?
Do you know that this year, Carlos Beltran is hitting .274?

There are 34 games left in the season, there are 30 more SB's till 100, lets see if Reyes can do it.

The stats from today (mlb.com) look like this. Wells has had three consecutive bad starts. Maine has yet to lower his ERA since the allstar break, (6.10 since the break) and is walking nearly twice as much. Furcal is hitting over .300 against the Mets this season.

Lets just go and attack him.

(Before I begin, I would like to start off with saying that this will be my 213th post).

We are getting to that time of the year were magic numbers will start slipping towards 0, and teams will start to get eliminated. Here's Looking to the first five draft pics of '08 (ruling out any loss of picks due to compensation losses

First to be eliminated from winning the division, thats the Devil Rays, their number is 6. (Theres no hope for a division come back in this case)

This helps the Devil Rays even more with that 2012 world series championship ring again, as they are currently destinied to get one of the top picks....again.

Rounding out the bottom three is (ironically) Texas and Baltimore, who both have a magic number of 16. Baltimore could use the high draft pick, as their minors system is lacking position players outside of Matt Wieters (2007 draft pick) and Billy Rowell (19 year old first baseman, just loss a 27 game on base streak.

There are two teams with a magic number of 19, that would be the Florida Marlins, and the Sanfancisco Giants.

I am keeping the websites name, but physically, I am no longer 213 miles from shea stadium, I am now 233 miles from shea.

Just an update

This three game series is big for both sides tonight. For the Mets, it means cushion going into Phillidelphia and Atlanta after these three games. For the Dodgers, its their current hot streak on the line as they still hang on to hopes to get the Division and the wild card.

There is more to this story than just hopes for October. Penny, who was dominent last time he played the Mets has become inconsistant, tripling his losses to the season (going from one loss to three losses over his last 6 starts). On that same note, Ollie's ERA has shot up about half a run since the last time these two teams meet.

Other story lines this weekend:

Will Wagner Correct himself?
Will Mota get anyone out?
Will Green start hitting again (13-30 agaisnt Penny lifetime)?
Will Delgado actually make contact and stop striking out?

On another note completely, since extending his contract thru 2008, the Orioles are 0-3, and they have given up 44 runs and scored 12 runs, over those three games.

After a lot of research, finally using Baseball Digest, I found the top 35 SB leaders in a single season since 1900 (before 1900, there were a ton of people that hit the centruy mark, and marks in the 90's that really throw off the data). Number 35 on that list (well really 34), is both Ty Cobb, and Marquis Grissom with 76 Stolen Bases. (There could be more people with 76 as well)

Reyes has to steal only 8 more bases then to join the top 34.

On the all time list, Jose Reyes has jumped to 275. He recently passed D Strawberry, Dave Winfield, and Scott Podsenick.

Last week, in the MLB.com Fab 15,  the Mets dropped from 3 to 6. Well this week, they went up to position 5, switching with the Mariners. The Phillies and Braves each dropped a position to be at 10 and 11 respectivily.

After a lot of research, finally using Baseball Digest, I found the top 35 SB leaders in a single season since 1900 (before 1900, there were a ton of people that hit the centruy mark, and marks in the 90's that really throw off the data). Number 35 on that list (well really 34), is both Ty Cobb, and Marquis Grissom with 76 Stolen Bases. (There could be more people with 76 as well)

Reyes has to steal only 8 more bases then to join the top 34.

On the all time list, Jose Reyes has jumped to 275. He recently passed D Strawberry, Dave Winfield, and Scott Podsenick.

Last week, in the MLB.com Fab 15,  the Mets dropped from 3 to 6. Well this week, they went up to position 5, switching with the Mariners. The Phillies and Braves each dropped a position to be at 10 and 11 respectivily.

To think that 24 hours ago, Reyes didnt break the record yet, no team in 110 years scored 30 runs, There was a 41 inning scoreless streak that was still alive, the Phillies were leading the wild card, the cubs were in second place and pujols had 6 consecutive 30 homer seasons.

Reyes is the all time Mets SB leader in a single season. The Rangers scored 30 runs. Webb's streak came to an end. The Padres regained the Wild Card. The Cubs took over the division again. And Pujols became the first player to have 30 homers in the first 7 seasons of play.

Out of all of this I am still baffled by the Orioles giving up 30 runs. They were all earned runs, and they were all to actual pitchers. Why there wasnt and Infielder pitching in the ninth inning was just beyond me. The O's had a game facing them right after that, and they needed their pitchers. Who knows what effect the 9 runs will have on Shuey who couldnt get any one out but was forced to keep pitching.

When rosters expand in September, we can expect a lot of Postseason roster position battles to start. Main fight will be in the bullpenn. I feel its safe to say that only Heilman, Wagner, and Feliciano can really be sure that they are going to be on the postseason roster in the pen (Sosa will be on the roster and hopefully in the pen.)

Then it comes down to Schowenwies, Mota, and Sele who will have to fight for their current spots agaisnt whoever comes up during the expansion. We can expect consideration for Burgos, possibly Pelfry, who is good the first time thru the order. Lawerence, who will hopefully be out of the rotation by that time could also be fighting for a long relief spot.

Then there is also the battle of the bench. Milledge got the snub last year to Anderson Hernandez, who I think was a pinch runner in one game. It seems pretty obvious at this point that Milledge this year will make it in over Hernandez. The rest of the bench will be determined based on how people are healing. Conine was practically brought to the team for the postseason, so he has his part.

My opinion about the Bench is that it will remain the same it is now, unless when rosters expand, one of the people that come up just start a tear in September. The bullpen will be under a lot of watch, which is not a surprise.

The baseball Gods must feel bad about all of the injuries to the Mets because on the night that they lose, the braves lose and the Phillies get crushed. Although, they did play with our hearts for a little bit with the almost come back in the ninth inning.

Now the Oriole fan in me has to speak out. I know the Orioles are bad, but how do you lose 30-3 to a team. Ex-Brave, Salty, was 4-6 with 2 homers and 7 RBI. On that note, how do u allow a teams 8th and 9th batters, in the NL cases 7th and 8th, to have a combined 14 RBI's, thats just ridiculous. That entire game was ridicilous (and to think I was almost going to go to that game).

I do know that part of the reason is that after D-Cab gave up 7 runs, Trembly did not want to use up his bullpen in a "lost" game, due to the second game coming up

You also know that your pitching is bad when you give up 15 runs to the dodgers.

I say that now, and then this weekend, Mota will give up 15 runs to the dodgers.

There are other high scoring games tonight as well. Right now the Pirates have scored 8 so far and their game isnt over. The Indians have scored 11 so far and broke it open vs the Padres. Texas just took the lead 5-3 agaisnt the Orioles, and now we can see what will happen next.

The good thing about the Padres winning tongiht is that they take out the Phillies in the wildcard, but I rather the Mets win.

The Mets have a tall order tommorw as Lawerence will take on Jake Peavy, one of the best pitchers in baseball, but what about the other teams, what our their chances today

The Braves will take on the struggling ace of the Reds today, Bronson Arroyo, who has had a below average year this year going 6-13 with a 5.68 ERA. The Braves will send Cormier to the mound with his 9.90 ERA. So far this year, he has allowed 10 homers 20 IP, or one homer every two innings and we all know that the Reds do like to slug it out.

The Phillies will be sending Durbin and his 5.36 ERA agaisnt Derek Lowe and the Dodgers. Despite his losing record this year (9-11), Lowe has a 3.45 ERA. When the Phillies play the Padres at the end of the week, they will have to deal with Maddox, and it is TBA about who they will deal with on Sunday.

Like they say at Rutges, lets just keep choppin

We all know Beltran has been on a tear, but how does it compare to pre DL 2007, 2006 and 2005 Beltran.

Like any time I do this, the first step is to break each stat down to Hits per Game, Runs Per Game, etc.

2007 Pre DL Beltran

2006 Beltran

2005 Beltran

2007 Post DL Beltran Line:

13 H, 10 R, 18 RBI, 6 HR, 6 BB, 9 SO

When looking at all of this, the first thing I notice is how bad 2005 was for Beltran. His strikeouts were the lowest out of all the stats, but his homers were way down, his walks were way down, his RBI’s were way down and his runs were way down.