MVN - Most Valuable Network

Wrong Church, Wrong Pew

Legendary New York City mayor Fiorello H. La Guardia: “When I make a mistake, it’s a beaut.”

I made sort of a beaut back in November, when I had something to say about the Lastings Millege-for-Ryan Church/Brian Schneider deal between the New York Mets and the Washington Nationals:

. . . while it’s refreshing to see that there’s as much room for clubhouse cohesion as statistical analysis in cobbling or securing a baseball team, after all, it’s difficult not to think that maybe the Mets got the lesser of a deal for an outfielder who could have (should have?) been packaged in a bid for at least one more proven starting pitcher.

Well, now. Looks to me as though the Mets probably did get the best of this deal. Says one unnamed scout to ESPN’s Jayson Stark: “Hell, Ryan Church is (the Mets)’s MVP so far, offensively and defensively. And Schneider is in a system now where his talents are accentuated, because there’s so much emphasis on game-planning and game-calling. Milledge, for me, is just a marginal player with great skills. We’ll see if that changes.”

I’d have to agree with that scout. Church is the sleeper in that deal, and Schneider hasn’t exactly been an obscurity when it comes to game plans and game calls, but he does get a better platform to show that part of his repertoire with the Mets—who need that kind of help hugely, behind everyone not named Johan Santana or (the big sleeper in Queens) Nelson Figueroa.

That kind of wrong I don’t mind being.

MEANWHILE, BACK IN THE JUNGLE . . .

HORSE SENSE—Don’t dismiss any and everyone who’s saying the Atlanta Braves are in deep trouble if John Smoltz misses significant time—even if he does stick to his word about going back to the bullpen when he comes back. Tim Hudson is a good pitcher who can be great, but he isn’t Smoltz.

ONLY ON THE ASTROS?—Lance Berkman right now is the man the Houston Astros can’t live without. But they may want to consider being a little more careful when they need to high-five their big man: Berkman rolled his ankle while slapping fives after his two-bomb game in Cincinnati last week. Congratulations aren’t supposed to be hazardous to your health or your lineup, are they?

BABE RUTH, CALL YOUR BARTENDER—How rich is this: Micah Owings, Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher, called in to pinch-hit, staying in there to hit even after the Astros change pitchers when he’s the announced hitter, and hits one over the right field fence. It leaves him with a 4-0 record, a .421 batting average, and (you can look it up) a higher lifetime slugging percentage than Ted Williams with an OPS two points higher than Albert Pujols. He keeps this up and there’ll be petitions all around the National League to compel the Snakes to trade him to the other league post haste.

GAMMA RAYS—Maybe the only thing that could slow down the piping-hot Baltimore Orioles (you’re not seeing things) could be the Tampa Bay Rays? The Rays just took two of three from the Orioles, in Baltimore, and it left the Orioles having lost four of five. And who’s that guy who was retired a year ago and racked up his sixth save in as many tries this season, moving him into a dead heat with John Wetteland for tenth place on the all time list?

It’s been a long time since Tampa Bay was four games above .500. Been since 1998 (10-6) and 1999 (11-7) , to be precise. And it’s been a longer time since either the Rays (half a game back) or the Orioles (a game and a half back) were this close to the American League East leaders (the Red Sox, in this case). And, as of today, the Rays have the American League’s best record over their last ten games—8-2, above the Tigers (7-3); and, the Indians, the Angels, the Twins, and the A’s (6-4 each).

THROWING OUT THE FIRST MANAGER OF THE YEAR—Right now, three managers look to be getting ready to walk the last mile . . . and it shouldn’t be them to do it.

The Texas Rangers have a front office and not manager Ron Washington to blame for their horrid beginning, their dubious deals of the past couple of years, and their amazing ability to run out pitchers who can’t pitch until they’re stripped of their Rangers silks.

The Toronto Blue Jays’ John Gibbons isn’t everyone’s idea of a great leader, but that club’s trouble is named Ricciardi.

And the Mets’ Willie Randolph has only two flaws: he’s the strong silent type, and he still can’t figure out how to use a bullpen without blowing it out. The exhausted bullpen was the real cause of the 2007 collapse, but since nobody blamed Randolph then (any ideas where Rick Peterson was at the time?) it’s going to be as hard as Fox Sports’ Ken Rosenthal says it will be to blame him for the Mets’ skittery past couple of weeks. Especially since they’re still either in first in the NL East or fighting for it tightly.

A Fox Sports poll says Randolph might be the first of the trio to get strapped into the electric chair. On the other hand, the Cincinnati Reds went to the source of their dilemna and dumped general manager Wayne Krivsky; the Reds are a better team than their record thus far (12-17) shows. Maybe someone was paying close enough attention to that thinking?

BILLY TO OLLIE: GET YOUR HEAD BACK IN THE GAME—Speaking of the Mets’ bullpen, that was closer Billy Wagner giving starter Oliver Perez a verbal fanning after Perez didn’t make it out of the second inning—among other things, he walked the bases loaded—while the Pittsburgh Pirates began a 13-1 thumping of the Mets. “Perez has honestly got to step up,” Wagner fumed, “and know that we’ve just used every guy in our bullpen the night before. [The Mets all but empited the pen to win one in eleven innings.] He can’t come out there and decide that, gee, he hasn’t got it today and so be it.”

Not that Perez was alone in his sleepwalk. He actually surrendered only two earned runs out of the seven on his night’s sheet; he had Luis Castillo to thank for three of those unearned, after Castillo fouled one up with the pads padded, but he may have let himself get undone by that boot.

TULO-LULO-OH, NO!—Say goodbye to Troy Tulowitzki until after the All-Star break at least, Colorado Rockies fans. That torn quad tendon he took charging a grounder against the San Francisco Giants in AT&T Park Tuesday is going to keep him “at least a couple of months, but we won’t know until they do further medical tests,” his agent, Paul Cohen, told reporters.

BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE WASHINGTON—Don’t be shocked when you start to see Washington Nationals relievers working outside their usual zones: closer Chad Cordero’s going to miss four to six weeks with a muscle tear in his shoulder.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 1st, 2008 at 6:04 pm and is filed under Willie Randolph, Ryan Church, Troy Tulowitzki, Catbird, Ron Washington, Brian Schneider, Luis Castillo, Lastings Milledge, John Gibbons, John Smoltz, Oliver Perez, Micah Owings, Billy Wagner, Chad Cordero. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.