COMPLETELY by chance, I just stumbled across David Ortiz's MLBlog page.

Let me start off this rant with a caveat - I think him being linked to steroid and PEDs is another smear on baseball; a black mark on the game, his character and the Red Sox Championships.

I love the Red Sox and I respect their fans and franchise. My best baseball experience ever was watching the Red Sox at Fenway. They have some of the most knowledgeable and passionate fans in the game.





















This is, instead, a slash at Ortiz who, if the reports are correct, tested positive for performance-enchancing drugs and then got on his moral high horse about how the game needs stiffer penalties to stamp it out.

Watch ABC's news report on David Ortiz discussing the use of PEDs from earlier this year.

I could not let this freakish opportunity pass without being sarcastic.

These are my initial thoughts, my shoot-from-the-hip, my act-before-thinking irrational gut reactions. If I am wrong, I will gladly eat the biggest slice of apologetic humble pie. I'll even write him a personal letter of apology.

I was reading his latest entry and some things caught my eye.

Let me translate some of it for you.

• Papi says: "The main reason is because I've got a whole bunch of stuff going on off the field."
Marshall translates: "I've just been rumbled - my name has been leaked and I need some good PR."

• Papi says: "Things have been clicking for me at the plate lately, and I feel good."
Marshall translates: "I hit a massive 3-run bomb last night because I was doped up to my eyes."

• Papi says: "I'm back. I'm the kind of guy who a lot of people count on."
Marshall translates: "My new supplies have arrived. Please don't let me get found out."

• Papi says: "The first two months, I had a lot of ups and downs."
Marshall translates: "I was a cranky *** bitch trying to weed myself off the growth hormones."

• Papi says: "This team the past five years has been all about chemistry."
Marshall translates: "Without my cocktail of steroids, the Sox would never have won the World Series in 2004 or 2007.

You were better than this; bigger than this.

Your team deserved better. Your fans deserved better. How perceptions can change in a heartbeat.

Red Sox Nation has every right to feel betrayed. The rest of the league has every right to point the finger and call you a cheat.

A cheat and a hypocrite.

The New York Mets made it five in a row behind seven strong innings of shutout ball from Johan Santana in the first half of a day-night doubleheader at Shea Stadium Citi Field on Thursday.

The Mets scored five runs in the 2nd inning before adding insurance runs in the 5th and 7th innings to extend their unbeaten streak and temporarily reduce the gap in the wildcard race to 5.5 games behind the San Francisco Giants.

The Mets knocked Rockies starting pitcher Jason Hammel out of the game after just 1.1 innings of work, sending nine men to the plate and stringing together five consecutive hits - six in total - to give Johan more than enough support to improve to 12-8 on the year.

Daniel Murphy led off the bottom of the 2nd with a line drive to right field, Jeff Francoeur hacked the first pitch he saw into right and Cory Sullivan gave the Mets a 1-0 lead, lining a 1-0 fastball into centre field for an RBI single.

Omir Santos made it 2-0 with a single up the middle and Angel Berroa added a pair with an RBI double to Dexter Fowler who couldn't come up with the ball.

After Johan struck out swinging, Angel Pagan scored Berroa on the sixth hit of the inning - a single to right field.

The 5-0 cushion was all the Mets pitching staff needed.

Such was Johan's dominance that he only allowed five baserunnres all afternoon, walking one and striking out eight over 104 dominant pitches.

He improved his record at Citi Field to 8-2, dropping his home ERA to 1.71.

Bobby Parnell pitched the 8th inning for the Mets, with Tim Redding working around a one-out walk to close the door in the 9th.

The Mets will aim to complete the sweep in the nightcap against the Rockies. Should they do so, it will be their first six-game winning streak since they swept the Braves (2), Phillies (2) and Pirates (3) in the first week of May.

With Luis Castillo with his wife for the birth of their child, Alex Cora made his first start at 2B since June 21, with Angel Berroa deputizing at shortstop.

Each of the Mets' position players got at least one base hit, with Pagan, Cora and Sullivan each going 2-for-4.

 

WELL, it's been like this all day here in Queens, so the Mets' 100th game of the season will just have to wait.


Here's the problem:






















And this is what I just saw on the Mets.com homepage:

Because the Mets aren't playing I decided to watch the Braves-Marlins game. Their commentators just said the same thing:

It will be a long day in New York tomorrow because they're playing a split doubleheader.

Now, I don't want to make MLB look silly, but that's not going to happen. Queens has had two solid days of rain, and thunderstorms are scheduled for 8 of the next 9 days.


Here's the forecast for Thursday, according to my iPhone and the weather channel:

THE New York Mets are on a roll.

Maybe not the kind of stretch the Yankees found themselves on after the All Star break, but equally important.

Some would argue, even more so.

After winning back-to-back games to take the last series in Houston, the Mets rallied from behind on the strength of Fernando Tatis' pinch hit grand slam to take the opener of a four-game set against NL Wildcard-leading Colorado Rockies.

Tatis went down to drill an 0-2 changeup over the tall wall in left center field to lift the spirits of the Mets faithful and remind them that, as banged up as they are right now, they can still lock horns with the best of them.

With the exception of the catcher, Jerry Manuel named an unchanged team for the third successive night and the continuity proved to be successful again as the Amazin's defeated the Rockies 7-3.

Oliver Perez labored through five innings of work but only allowed three runs as Colorado wasted chances to bury the Mets early, stranding runners in the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 7th innings.

New York's bullpen held the Rockies in check and one big swing of the bat busted the game open in the 8th after chasing starting pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez out of the game.

Revitalised

In a season of struggles, a three-win streak in Queens is practically unheard of.

The last time it happened was at the end of May when they swept the Nationals at Citi Field before taking the opening game in the following series against the Marlins.

Maybe not coincidently, it was also the last time the Mets were in first place.

While the Mets did not make up ground on any of their NL East opponents, they did not slip further behind. With crunch fixtures against the Braves, Phillies and Marlins still three weeks away, now is the time for the Mets to try and put something together.

Recap

The Rockies took a 2-0 lead in the 2nd inning but Jeff Francoeur cut the deficit in half with a solo home run in the 4th.

Clint Barmes reinstalled Colorado's two-run lead with a home run to lead off the 5th inning but the Mets plated two runs on three hits and a sac fly to level the game at 3-3.

That was the way the score stayed until Tatis' late heroics made it 7-3, quickly helping Mets fans forget some of the struggles earlier on in the game.

You could flip a coin to guess which Oliver Perez would turn up at Citi Field and, as it happened, fans got to see a little of each as he tip-toed his way anxiously around the big-hitting Colorado lineup.

Oliver 'walks are a part of the game' Perez started quickly, throwing just seven pitches in the 1st inning.

But he fell behind in the 2nd, giving up a pair of runs on Troy Tulowitzki's home run to center field.

This lead looked like it could be enough early on, with the Mets mustering just one hit - Luis Castillo's one-out double - through the first three innings.

Dexter Fowler left the bases loaded in the top of the 4th inning after Perez had given up two walks and an infield chopper to his opposite number, and the Mets pulled one run back in the home half of the inning.

David Wright had extended his hitting streak with a lead-off single, but Daniel Murphy grounded into a tailor-made 6-4-3 double play. This brought up Jeff Francoeur who hit his eighth home run of the season - his third as a Met - on an off-speed pitch to left field.

The Rockies however regained their two-run lead when Clint Barmes turned on a belt-high 3-2 fastball and sent a frozen rope drive deep into the stands down the third base line.

Perez walked the high rope again in the 5th inning but escaped unharmed, getting out of the inning and stranding two men on base.

His 103rd pitch was his final pitch of the evening, leaving him on the hook for the loss after allowing three runs on five hits, two home runs and four walks.

Bullpen

Brian Stokes kept the Rockies in check in the top of the 6th inning and the Mets bats turned Perez's potential loss into a no decision in the bottom of the frame with a two spot to tie the game at 3-3.

Castillo legged out an infield single against Jimenez to lead off the inning and Wright turned on an inside fastball to single through the hole.

Daniel Murphy drove in Castillo with an RBI single to right field and Cory Sullivan hit a sac fly to Hawpe in right field to knot the game.

Stokes worked around a pair of two-out hits to post two scoreless innings in the 6th and 7th and Pedro Feliciano got through the back end of the Rockies order to keep the game tied in the 8th.

While the Mets bullpen did their job, veteran reliever Juan Rincon self destructed.

Rincon airmailed a 3-2 pitch to Luis Castillo to the backstop and then walked David Wright on four straight pitches to put men on first and second.

Daniel Murphy dropped down a beautiful sacrifice bunt to force Rincon to intentionally walk Francoeur and then Tatis - hitting for former Rockie rookie Sullivan - took Franklin Morales deep to see New York on their way to the victory.

WHICH is the worst team in baseball this year?

There could certainly be a case made that it is my New York Mets. They have quickly become an embarrassment both off and on the field.

But what about the Nationals? They are the joke of any franchise, surely? They were terrible as a Canadian team, arguably worse in the nation's capitol and they fail to spell their own name right.

Outside the NL East though, there are still plenty of other contenders - the Padres, Royals and Diamondbacks spring to mind.

I've been joking that the Mets are playing like a AA team and Hyun Young at 'Made in San Diego' joked about her Padres being a AAA club.

I'm sure other fans are feeling the same about their clubs. Especially if you wake up supporting the Royals or As every day.

I actually don't think the As are the worst team in baseball and I do think they are a legitimate big league club. The Mets and Padres and Nats, I'm not so sure.

So anyway, I'm going to conduct an experiment. It's not scientific and it actually proves nothing, but it will make me feel better about getting to follow some other miserable bums for a change.

Over the next few weeks I'm going to track the fortunes of 8 lovable losers. I'll put them into a fictitious playoff bracket and see just who is the worst team in the league right now.

More importantly, I want to see which team should get demoted to the minors. My instincts right now say the Nationals. They really do suck. But, for 'scientific' purposes, I'll let the results take care of themselves.

Here is the bracket, in all of its ridiculous and random glory.


So, let's meet the teams:

New York Mets (44-50)
10.5 games back
4th in NL East

• They have $57m of talent on the DL.
• Mets VP Tony Bernazard challenged the AA Binghampton Mets to a fight.
• The Mets rank last in home runs at just 54.
• They can't find the gaps either - they also rank last in extra base hits (244).
• Mets pitchers have given up the most walks of any team (372).

Kansas City Royals (37-57)
12.5 games back
Last AL Central

• Only the Padres have scored fewer runs this year.
• Alex Gordon has a worse hip than my great grandma.
• Gil Meche. Yes, the 4-9 4.50 ERA, 1.50 WHIP back spasming Gil Meche. Enough said.

San Diego Padres (37-59)
24.5 games back
Last in NL West

The Padres are on a worse run right now than even the Nationals, and that is saying something.

• They are 2-8 in their last 10 games and 3-17 in their last 20.
• They have only won 19 games against a starting right-handed pitcher (worst in the majors)
• Their road record (13-33) is second, only to Washington.
• They have rank last in hits (738), runs scored (350) and RBI (335) and average (.230)

Oakland As (40-54)
16 games back
Last in AL West

• Two words - Jason Giambi. Batting a league-worst .193 and now on the DL. Excellence.
  
• Bottom 5 in batting average, home runs and slugging percentage.
• Matt Holliday was never going to post 2007 numbers outside of Coors. People expected too much.

Arizona Diamondbacks (41-55)
20.5 games back
4th in NL West

• Only the Nationals are more defensively inept in the field.
• You have Chris Young on your team. Ouch. Batting .198 with 6 home runs.
• Conor Jackson has Valley Fever pneumonia swine flu plague and Brandon Webb. Well, don't get me started on his 4 innings of work in 2009.
  
• You know you're in trouble when your best player leads the league in Ks. Again!

Cleveland Indians (38-58)
12.5 games back
4th in AL Central

• The Indians rank dead last in ERA (5.31)
• Grady Sizemore has been a massive flop - no power, no speed, no All Star vote.
• It took Cliff Lee 20 - yes twenty - games to get his fifth win.

Baltimore Orioles (41-53)
16.5 games back
Last in AL East

• Their pitchers rank inside the bottom four teams in the majors for strikeouts, hits and ERA.
• 'All Star' - and I use that term loosely - Melvin Mora has 26 RBI. In 2008 he had 104.
  

Washington Nationals (28-67)
27 games back
Last in NL East

Okay, it's pretty easy to see why the Nationals don't deserve to be a Big League club. Yes, they took two out of three from the Mets, but they are still the worst franchise in the country.

• They are 5-15 in their last 20 games
• They have the worst home record in the majors (18-32)...
• ...AND the worst road record (10-35)
• They rank dead last when they play teams under .500 (12-19)
  

YOU know you're struggling when you lose back-to-back games against the Nationals.

Washington beat the Mets for the second straight night on Wednesday, handing them a 3-1 defeat behind a stiffling pitching performance.

The Mets could only manage four hits and one walk against starting hurler Craig Stammen, who did not allow a baserunner until the 5th inning.

Stammen allowed just one run in 7.1 innings of solid work and the bullpen trio of Bergmann, Beimel and MacDougal did the rest, combining for 2.3 innings of perfect relief.

The Nats took the lead on Ronnie Belliard's sac fly in the 4th inning but the Mets tied the game at 1-1 in the 6th on an Angel Pagan triple to centre field.

But the Nationals regained the lead - which they would hold for good - in the bottom of the inning on a two-run homer to Josh Willingham - one of his four hits on the night.

The Mets fell to six games below .500 for the first time this season and the loss also meant they remained double-digit games behind the first-place Phillies.

I don't want to harp on about the injuries the Mets are dealing with - injuries are part of the game - but consider these numbers:

The Mets' makeshift lineup was the 67th different 1-through-8 formation used by Manuel this year.

Angel Berroa was the 6th different starting shortstop used by the Mets in 2009.

Cory Sullivan was the 8th different guy to start in left field this season and the 5th to start the game there in the last 29 games.

Since Carlos Beltran went on the DL one month ago, the Mets have used 9 different starting outfielders.

Jeff Francoeur almost gave the Mets the lead in the top of the 2nd when he sent Adam Dunn back to the warning track in left field and next batter Cory Sullivan was then robbed of an extra-base hit by Nyjer Morgan when the centrefielder ranged back to the wall.

Things didn't get any easier for the Mets when Luis Castillo was tossed out of the game in the home half of the inning after arguing a call at second base.

With the anaemic Mets offense struggling at the plate, the Nats soon took the lead.

Nick Johnson drew a one-out walk in the 4th inning, advanced to third base on Josh Willingham's double down the left field line and came home on Ronnie Belliard's RBI single.

For a moment, one run almost seemed enough. The Mets have been shut out in five of their last 14 contests and they are last in the NL in home runs and extra base hits.

Tied game

The Mets did however find parity in the 6th inning against Stammen, who entered the game with a 2-5 record and 4.48ERA in 11 starts, when Angel Pagan lined a two-out triple past Morgan in centre field.

Morgan hit cutoff man Christian Guzman who inexplicably threw the ball away in to the away dugout as Pagan came in to third base standing up.

With the game tied at 1-1, Pelfrey handed the lead right back in the bottom of the frame.

Adam Dunn led off the inning with what should have been a routine fly ball to right field.

But as Francoeur came in to snag the ball, he lost it in the lights, bailed out of the way and let the ball roll all the way to the wall, allowing Dunn to go to second base without a throw.

Pelfrey got Johnson to ground out on a sinker down and away but he left a hanging slider in the middle of the plate on a 2-1 count to Willingham to give the Nats a 3-1 advantage they would not relinquish.

It was the first time the Mets have lost back to back games against the Nationals since that fateful September last year

In the four games the Mets have lost against the Nationals, they have only scored three runs, losing 8-1, 7-1, 4-0 and 3-1.

By contrast, the two teams ahead of the Mets in the standings, the Phillies and Marlins, have beat up on the Nats to the tune of 19-2.

In want to finish with a seemingly obvious insight which has apparently been overlooked by the Mets.

Until Daniel Murphy drew a walk in the 6th inning, the Mets had gone 107 plate appearances without a base-on-balls. That is hideous.

They also made 15 of their 27 outs on ground balls, increasing their already league-worst 46 per cent.

Here's an idea: take pitches, draw walks and hit the ball out of the infield.

I know it sounds simple, but with millions of dollars of talent sidelined for the foreseeable future, I guess that is easier said than done.

Even though everyone knows I'm a Mets fan and that I now live in Queens, my first big league game since coming over to New York from England was to see the Yankees beat the Detroit
Tigers 2-1 on Saturday afternoon.

Yankee Stadium is fantastic - if you've never been, get down there when you get a chance. We had the most amazing seats for the game, thanks to my fiance's father who took the whole family down there as a gift to us.

We were down the first base line just behind first, 17 rows up, which meant I was able to get some nice pictures. Have a look through and see what you think. If you like them, there's plenty more from this game at my Shutterfly album.

*****


The House that Taxpayers' Money Built

IN one of baseball's most historic cities, the stars of the American League continued their mid-summer dominance of the NL to stretch their unbeaten streak to 13 years.

It was a game where a Tampa Bay outfielder saved a Red Sox pitcher from a loss, a first-time All Star drove in the go-ahead run, a veteran in pinstripes improved his unbeaten ASG record to 9-0-1 and the best closer in the history of the game slammed the door for a record-setting fourth year to consign the National League to yet another defeat.

The American League plated a pair of runs in the 1st inning but the NL hit right back with a three-spot in the home half of the 2nd.

The visiting AL fought back to make it 3-3 in the 5th inning and they came from behind to take the lead in the 8th.

While the pre-game festivities - so often just a predictable preamble to the on-field action - had their share of cheers and jeers, one highlight was the ceremony recognising the true all stars of communities across the country who embody the values that aptly represent the baseball nation - hard work, leadership, passion and teamwork.

Elsewhere, President Obama, sporting a White Sox jacket, threw out the first pitch - a low off-speed offering for those who cared - and then mocked the awful Washington Nationals, Sheryl Crow took the mic to sing the national anthem and Stan The Man Musial received the biggest cheer of the night as he appeared on a cart from right field.

On the field, the best of the best then took centre stage... and Albert Pujols was nowhere to be seen.

In fact, it wasn't quite the two days the St Louis faithful had hoped for. The slugger failed to win a fat man a Chevy before the home run derby on Monday night, he didn't make it past the final four in the derby proper and he went 0-3 with an error during the Mid-Summer Classic itself on Tuesday.

24 hours after Prince Fielder stole the manbeast's thunder in the frankly disappointing longball showdown, it was Carl Crawford, Curtis Granderson and Adam Jones who took the plaudits to give the AL home field advantage in the World Series this fall.

The National League's heartache began early on, subsided as quickly as it rose and then seared its ugly head again as they failed to solve the connundrum of the Greinke, Paplebon and 39-year-old stopper Mariano Rivera.

Reigning Cy Young winner and NL starter Tim Lincecum gave up a broken bat base hit to lead-off hitter Ichiro Suzuki and he beaned Yankees shortstop Jeter Jeter on the left wrist with an 0-2 changeup.

Twins catcher Joe Mauer grounded into a forceout at third and Mark Teixeira reached on a Pujols error on an in-between hop to score Jeter from second.

Jason Bay singled back up the box to load the bases and Mauer scored to make it 2-0 on Josh Hamilton's groundball to the right side when Lincecum was slow to cover first base.

The AL's lead was short-lived however, as Charlie Manuel's team rallied on the strength of three base hits and an error to move ahead 3-2.

David Wright flared a two-out broken-bat bloop and moved over to second on Shane Victorino's base hit. Hometown boy Yadier Molina drove in Wright with an RBI single to right field and Victorino tied the game at two when Josh Hamilton's throw to third base hit the Phillies' switch hitter and bounced away to the stands.

The National League then took the lead on pinch hitter Prince Fielder's ground rule double down the left filed line, but the AL knotted the game in the top of the 5th inning when Joe Mauer laced an RBI double down to left to score Derek Jeter from 1st after he had earlier grounded into a forceout at second base.

The NL bats were mostly quiet from here on out until the 7th inning when Red Sox closer Jonathan Paplebon was given a brief scare.

Brad Hawpe launched a first pitch towards the AL bullpen in left field, only to be robbed by a jumping Carl Crawford who pulled it back into the yard for a long, loud out.

Hawpe was one out in a sequence of 18 hitters who were retired in order, such was the American League's pitchers' dominance.

The catch would prove to be pivotal as the AL would take a lead they would not relenquish.

Curtis Granderson legged out a one-out triple off of Heath Bell in the top of the 8th inning and he came home on Adam Jones' 0-2 sac fly to right field.

Adrian Gonzalez took a two-out walk off of Twins' closer Joe Nathan and the big-hitting Padre went first-to-third on Orlando Hudson's base hit off the glove of shortstop Jason Bartlett.

The mini-rally brought Ryan Howard to the plate to pinch hit, but Howard fanned on a 2-2 fastball down and in to preserve the slender lead.

Mariano Rivera then took care of business in the bottom half of the 9th inning, setting the side down in order to record his eighth consecutive scoreless inning.

I would be more upset, but with the Mets six-and-a-half games behind in the NL East, I doubt we will be going to the Series anyway.

As with so many other things for Mets fans, there's always next year.

Here are my picks for the All Star Game home run derby. Who do you have?



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The Mets have an off-day and, more importantly, I have an off-day.

I've been kinda neglectful of my blog the last month, but here's a quick run-down of what's been going on.

4 weeks ago I finished my job at the Harrogate Advertiser where I had spent the last three years as a senior reporter. I had the cover story for my last ever edition which was quite nice too and I got some fantastic gifts from everybody there.