Anthony Young busted out the champaign bottle after Russ Ortiz's losing streak ended at 12 last week.
The problem isn't that the Mets traded Kazmir per se. Its that they got crap back in return for him. They could've gotten a MUCH nicer return for a young fireballer like Kazmir.
A couple of ex-New York players figured in this afternoon's Cubs win, so it seemed a good time to check in again with our former baseball heroes. Alfonso Soriano was 2-for-5 with 2 runs scored and a ribby (and two Ks), and is above his career averages in AVE, OBP, and SLG. Cliff Floyd was 1-for-2 with a ribby, but still has an OPS below .750 (similar to last year). Mike Jacobs is doing his best to make Carlos Delgado look bad with a .928 OPS. Braden Looper had his first really bad start of the year, giving up 5 ER in 5 innings on Tuesday against Milwaukee. Chad Bradford continues to be lights out for Baltimore, being unscored on in his last 14 appearances. Armando Benitez is 7-for-7 in saves, but has a hurt knee. Jae Seo is 1-2 with an 8.19 ERA. Heath Bell has a 0.51 ERA.
Mike Piazza has been placed on the DL because of a sprained right shoulder. He's expected to miss 4-to-6 weeks. It came from a collision on Wednesday with Mike Lowell at third base. DH-ing was supposed to ease the burden on his body, but it didn't work out that way. Piazza was doing okay (.282 AVE, .332 OBP), but no power at all, with only 8 extra base hits in 103 at bats (.379 SLG).
The bump is a good excuse to look again at some old faves: Alfonso Soriano: OBP still okay, but slugging has gone down (OBP .345 SLG .472 AVE .288) Cliff Floyd: continues to sink, with absolutely no pop (OBP .323 SLG .387 AVE .280) Mike Jacobs: on the DL, and had started coming back to earth a bit, although still loads better than the Mets' current first baseman (OBP .355 SLG .490 AVE .281) Chad Bradford: a rougher May than April, with a 6.14 ERA in his last 9 appearances Armando Benitez: 9/10 in save opportunities Heath Bell: a 1.32 ERA and 0.84 WHIP in 22 appearances Scott Kazmir: 2-2, 3.81 ERA, with an unsightly 1.47 WHIP Xavier Nady: up to just about his career numbers after a hot streak the last 10 days or so (OBP .317 SLG .438 AVE .273) Gary Sheffield: continuing his steady decline since 2003 - not too much worse than last year, but that was his worst season in 15 years (OBP .354 SLG .433 AVE .240)
