Opinion

Back in mid-May when R.A. Dickey made his debut with the Mets, many fans didn't know what to expect. Those who had heard of Dickey probably didn't expect much, considering they were likely aware of the knuckleballer and his career ERA of 5.43.

With his unconventional style, Dickey has ended up turning the heads of Mets fans and baseball fans alike, as a part of the new look New York Mets rotation.

Who has been the most valuable player in the National League so far this season? Ask that question to 10 different people, you’ll probably get four or five different answers.

It's a question as old as Abner Doubleday.  How does a contending team strengthen their starting rotation by the MLB trade deadline?  Well, it's possibly a bit more modern than Doubleday.

If you are the Cincinnati Reds, just have your All-Star pitcher go down a month and a half through the 2009 season, get a new arm via Tommy John surgery, and have him come back before the All-Star break—very simple, very easy.

There is none of this haggling with other teams regarding potential trades.

In 1985 Philadelphia Inquirer sportswriter John Lowe created the stat known as the quality start.

A quality start is defined as a start in which the starting pitcher pitches six full innings and allows three earned runs or less.

The advantage of this statistic is that it does not punish a pitcher who suffers from a low run support the way a win-loss record does. If a pitcher allows one run but his team is shutout, his quality start percentage will increase, but his win percentage would decrease with the loss.

Offering opinions in print, particularly on the Internet, curses the writer to be haunted by his opinions forever.

Oh, it must be nice to be in the electronic media where you can offer an opinion and have it just disappear into thin air.

It's hard to deny having opined that the San Francisco Giants would finish 75-87 once the opinion appears in print. Say it on TV or radio and ... "Well, I mentioned that they COULD potentially finish 75-87, but I think I made a bit larger point and, really, I'm not surprised to see them in the thick of the NL West race."

In some ways, the Houston Astros 3-1 loss last night against the San Francisco Giants was business as usual.

Roy Oswalt pitched seven innings, giving up two runs on six hits while striking out five. In other words, good enough for a win, but since he pitches for the punchless Astros, he fell to 5-9 on the season despite a 3.08 ERA.

I can't help but wonder if Oswalt kept waiting for his cell phone to ring with news from his agent that the New York Yankees wanted to trade for him and throw in, as a bonus, controlling stock in the Caterpillar Tractor Company.

The New York Mets will be adding a bat sometime within the next three weeks to four weeks. The team announced that center fielder Carlos Beltran will begin a rehab assignment tomorrow (Thursday) with Class-A St. Lucie.

Assuming there are no setbacks, Beltran would return to the Mets no later than July 15, the first game after the All-Star break.

Fans of Jose Bautista's former team, the Pittsburgh Pirates, would laugh at the idea. (Except for yours truly.)

But the former "tail-ender" now leads the Toronto Blue Jays in four out of five offensive categories, according to ESPN.

Huston Street is back.  Sort of.  Street was activated from the disabled list on Tuesday as Juan Rincon was designated for assignment, making room on the roster.

It's a good thing the New York Yankees starting pitchers have been able to go deep into ballgames most of the season. It is, however, a long season, and the bullpen will need to step up and win some games for this club.

Do you feel confident they can? I sure don't. Outside of Mariano Rivera , who is having yet another excellent season, the Yankees bullpen is full of question marks.