Baseball

Alex Cora and Jon Niese, I tell you. I actually missed tonight’s game, but was watching updates, and when I heard Cora hit a bases-clearing triple, I had to see how legit it was. It was pretty dang legit.

Niese had a heck of a start, allowing one run (a home run by Josh Willingham in the seventh) and striking out a career high of eight batters. He is now 5-0 since returning from the disabled list. Here are a few notes:

Here is what I wrote about the Texas Rangers’ catching situation back in January…

“You know what’s funny? At the end of the 2008 season, the Rangers had Saltalamacchia, Taylor Teagarden, and Gerald Laird on the roster, and everyone, including the Rangers, thought they had a surplus of catching.

http://mymetsjournal.blogspot.com/2010/07/not-again.html?spref=tw

Joe Petruccio has done an EXCELLENT job this year on recording each game in art afterwards. Check it out!

The New York Mets are coming off of a series loss against the Marlins in Puerto Rico, but they did win the final game. Now they head to Washington D.C. on little rest for a four-game series against the Nationals. Courtesy of NewYorkMets on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/NewYorkMets/status/17516245075 here is tonight’s Mets lineup, with some notes from me:

While the MLB trade deadline is more than four weeks away, the San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers swapped catcher Bengie Molina for reliever Chris Ray and a player to be named later on Thursday.

Although this deal may appear insignificant on the surface, it’s important to understand how this trade affects not only the fantasy values of the players involved, but others as well.

The Mets are in a rain delay. The earliest they will start is 8:00pm, but I suspect an 8:15 or 8:30 start.

Updated at 7:06pm:

Tonight’s game is currently scheduled to start at 7:15 due to a rain delay, but the tarp is back out there and it might start later.

Updated at 6:12pm:

Nobody can accuse me of being hypercritical of the San Francisco Giants' management, including the Bay Area's two most bullet-ridden targets.

For all his warts, I've always believed general manager Brian Sabean's gotten more heat than is justifiable. Meanwhile, Bruce Bochy got the 2009 team to overachieve, which is usually evidence of a good manager.

Consequently, somewhere in Bleacher Report's vast archives, I'm on record as supporting the two-year extensions both men received.

Ubaldo Jimenez has been absolutely filthy through 16 starts this season, going 14-1 with a Bob Gibson-like 1.83 ERA. The 26-year-old flame thrower even tossed a no-hitter back on April 17 .

Victor Martinez was hit with two foul tipped balls on Sunday, the first off Pablo Sandoval’s bat in the second inning, then off the bat of Andres Torres in the third, which broke a bone in the tip of V-Mart’s left thumb.

The term "Batting Average on Balls In Play" (BABIP) has become one of the most popular stats among fantasy managers in recent years. 

To put it simply, BABIP measures the number of batted balls that fall safely for a hit (excluding home runs).

According to The Hardball Times Glossary, the exact formula for BABIP is: (H-HR)/(AB-K-HR+SF).