Opinion

A little more than two weeks into the season and the Mets are 6-9 and were just swept by the St Louis Cardinals, and there is serious talk about firing coaches and demoting pitchers to the minor leagues.

The Mets are now starting a home stand against the Nationals and Marlins, it is crucial that the Mets get their legs under them soon or else there will be major consequences.

Jerry Manuel is on a short leash, no question, but I for one am not positive firing the coaches and sending pitchers down to the minors will solve the team's problems.

The Yankees have many traditions in their organization. One of the most well-known traditions is the great men that have graced the outfield in center field.

Joe DiMaggio. Mickey Mantle. Tom Tresch. Bobby Murcer. Mickey Rivers. Bernie Williams.

Each of those players had their own set of special skills. Some won gold gloves. Others won MVPs. Some were All-Stars. All were Yankees.

All of them won World Series Championships and all of them represented the position of center field with a type of grace that not all players possess.

The best I've ever seen," says a longtime scout. "And it's not even close." These are the words of a longtime scout to Buster Olney, ESPN’s Acclaimed MLB senior writer, after watching the game’s future star. With the velocity of strikeout king Nolan Ryan and the pinpoint control of future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux, Steven Strasburg is being touted by many in baseball as the greatest pitching prospect ever.

Nothing the Brewers do to the Phillies this, or any other year, could quite make up for the four-game beat down last September or the ousting from the playoffs in four games. But seeing Braden Looper and Dave Bush pitch gems while Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder finally get a clue at the plate sure does leave a warm feeling in the heart. 

The Brewers finally won a series and put together back-to-back wins for the first time this season. Dave Bush flirted with a no-hitter and continued to look rock solid in the Brewers rotation.

"In the past, I haven't tried to be outspoken, I didn't try to be friendly. I was just in there trying to play baseball, and that's all I want to do. I found that if you rub people the wrong way, they get the wrong impression. If you don't talk a whole lot, they assume things."

Really Milton?

"If we can get away from all the negativity and going back four, five years and the stuff I did—I'm just focused on what I'm doing now. I can be a positive influence, and I think I'm a good guy."

C'mon... seriously?

I know, I know. That is not a picture of Jackie Robinson (It's Andruw Jones).

But, in a late tribute to the trail blazer that was Jackie Robinson, I have decided to dedicate my 42nd article to No. 42.

This is a story that we have all heard a billion-and-a-half times before; but every time I hear it, I get chills up and down my spine.

Now seems as good as any to step back from the San Francisco Giants' season and take a look at how things are shaping up thus far.

The boys are coming off a two-game "sweep" of the San Diego Padres—a small measure of retribution for the three-game variety the Fathers put on SF when our guys visited Petco about 10 days ago.

But, in this writer's opinion, two games a series do not make so there's no need for a specific recap dedicated to the duet.

The Texas Rangers have made it very clear that the solution to their ongoing pitching problems rests on the arms of their two prized pitching prospects.

Both Baseball America and ESPN have deemed the Texas Rangers farm system to be the best in baseball for 2009. The Rangers' prized pitching possessions are 20—year—old, right-hander Neftali Feliz (fourth overall prospect, according to ESPN) and 22—year—old, left-hander, Derek Holland (No. 21 overall).

On Wednesday night, Holland made his Major League debut out of the bullpen in Toronto.

If you go to Metsblog.com and check out the in-game comments for today's 12-8 Mets loss to the Cardinals, you would think that the world is ending or something.  People are calling for Jerry Manuel and various members of the coaching staff to be fired, for core players to be traded, and for a nice tall glass of whiskey to deal with the pain. And Matt Cerrone tells us after the game that:

I attended my first Toronto Blue Jays game of the season last night.  It was a usual Wednesday night at the ballpark, full of cheers, hot dogs, and a pint of beer. 

I was enjoying myself immensely until the ninth inning, when Michael Young of the Texas Rangers hit a solo home run off of closer B.J. Ryan to the section next to where I was sitting to tie things up at 7-7.

The young man who caught the ball had been sitting quietly all night long, enjoying the game with his girlfriend in section 141—one of the non-drinking sections at the Rogers Centre.