Watermarked

The Mets reached a new high watermark for the season: thirty games over five hundred.

Here's how they did it.

Reyes hit. Lo Duca hit. Beltran scored some runs. Delgado hit. Wright, well he nearly hit two out.

And Shawn Green looked all right.

Everything's all right. The Cardinals aren't a great team, even if they had Edmonds healthy. Eckstein is useless anyway.

The truth is that their pitching is hyper-overrated. Aside from Chris Carpenter, who is an elite starter, their rotation is a bunch of bums whose best seasons are behind them.

Anthony Reyes was the best of the bunch, but he got bumped out of a spot in favor of Jeff Weaver. And Cardinals fans should be upset about having a guy with a 4.71 ERA demoted to the minors!

Marquis, Suppan, Weaver and Mulder all have ERAs above 5.00. That's no excuse for a good starting staff.

And aside from Pujols and Rolen, their lineup lacks venom. Chris Duncan has been a nice complement, but how long can that last?

The Cardinals seem to be roasted. I think it's time they head over to Arizona for football season.

Game balls to:

• Dave Williams
  
• Bert Hernandez (much as I still hate that trade) (p.s. Have you ever seen anyone so pumped up to be a Royal?)
  
• Jose Reyes
  
• Carlos Delgado

A few quick hits:

If I told you that Dave Williams, Brian Bannister and Oliver Perez would be starting consecutive games in August, is that something you would be interested in? Do you realize that two of those people pitched in a rotation for the NL's worst team as recently as 2005? Abysmal.

The Mets inked Kelly Stinnett to a minor league deal. As far as I'm concerned, he's better than DiFelice Navidad. The largest head (Castro) in pro sports is out for the season.

Where's the love for Guillermo Mota? I don't think he really deserves all that much, but hell, let's give it to him.

Did anyone else feel a little bit weirded out by Keith's sarcastic rant during the eighth on SNY? I don't want a Kool-Aid drinker as the Mets broadcaster, but please. You don't have to tell us that you don't like coming to work.

I'll be juggling Pilot Pen matches with trying to catch a Mets-Phillies game this weekend. So it should be a light posting weekend for your blogger.

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