According to Ken Rosenthal, the Mets had the opportunity to deal the increasingly redundant Rod Barajas, but the trade went DOA when the team placed Barajas on the DL with an oblique strain. This is extremely puzzling. Barajas hasn’t been a power threat since May and should unquestionably be hitting 9th in the lineup, if at all. His place on the roster is questionable, as the defensively solid Henry Blanco makes him utterly unnecessary. With the arrival of Josh Thole providing a superior presence in the lineup, it seems like [...]

Today’s an off-day for the Mets, but SNY is not devoid of baseball. This afternoon SNY aired a Triple-A game between the Buffalo Bisons, New York’s AAA affiliate, and the Syracuse Chiefs, Stephen Strasburg’s practice buddies.
Strasburg pitched his final tune-up before his highly anticipated Major League debut for the Nationals sometime next week. Strasburg was dominant as usual, pitching 5 scoreless innings and striking out 5 with only 1 walk and 3 hits allowed. But this is the fifth dominant start I’ve seen Strasburg pitch on TV at the AAA [...]

Saturday night, Joe and I had the privilege of announcing the Yankees vs. Mets Subway Series game from Citi Field on Fox Sports. It’s always exciting when me and Joe get to offer some unbiased Yankee/DJ♥ analysis and pious commentary, respectively.
When I saw the umpiring crew, I did not know what to expect, and that in itself is unexpected, since I’m famous for first guessing every play. The night before, my beloved Jeter’s intangibles were unable to sway the umpire to call a borderline pitch a ball. What’s the world [...]

Ollie’s Bargain Outlet is pretty much the greatest store in the history of man. Its slogan is “Good Stuff Cheap” and as I walked around the store in Watertown on Saturday afternoon, I was delighted to see a Wii Zapper for $5, big garden fertilizer bags for $8.99, and the Sarah Palin autobiography for $2 in the bargain books section (if that’s your sort of thing; it’s not mine). Ollie’s even gives complementary cups of coffee to shoppers as they wander around the store. It’s the generic version of Big [...]