Big Day in The Big Apple – What a day for the New York Mets.  Despite a 13.5 half game lead, the Mets woke up facing an uncertain future with Pedro Martinez on the DL and Tom Glavine potentially to follow him there, possibly for good.  By the end of the day, however, things were beginning to look quite a bit brighter. 

 

Glavine got great news when doctors told him he had a non-serious condition that they will treat with – among other medications – simple baby aspirin.  He will miss only one or two starts after undergoing an invasive angiogram in order to help determine the cause of coldness in his ring finger. 

 

Then it was announced that all financing and construction contracts for the team’s new stadium were in place and it is on pace to open in time for the 2009 season. 

 

But they were just getting started.  Long simmering negotiations finally bore results as the Mets acquired Shawn Green from the Diamondbacks for minor league pitcher Evan MacLane.  Green will take over in right for the Mets after batting .283 with 11 HR and 51 RBI for Arizona.  With 314 career home runs, Green is 19th among all active players and tied for 101st all-time with Reggie Smith, one behind Jeromy Burnitz for 100th all-time.  Ron Cey would be next on the list with 316.   

 

And finally, the team played a game, and it was a pretty good one.  Despite watching Albert Pujols hit two homers and drive in 7 runs, both off John Maine, the Mets eeked out an 8-7 win when Carlos Beltran hit a two-run walk-off home run off of Jason Isringhausen.  It was the 36^th home run of the season for Beltran, leaving him two shy of 200 for his career.  Also in the win, Carlos Delgado hit two home runs, including the 400^th of his major league career.  The two long balls gave him 31 on the year and helped Delgado leapfrog Andres Galarraga, Al Kaline and Dale Murphy into 42^nd on the all-time list.  He now has 9 hits in his last 18 at bats, including a double, a triple and five home runs.  He has driven in 11 and is slugging 1.500 in his last five games. 

 

The Longest Streak Pt Ia & IIa – The Yankees’ bullpen let them down on Tuesday and the result was the end of their five-game winning streak as well as the end of the Mariners eleven-game losing slide.  Jeffrey Karstens was solid in his debut, but Cha Seung Baek, recalled from the minors to give Gil Meche extra rest, matched the effort. Adrian Beltre hit two-home runs, including a walk-off shot in the 9^th, to help Seattle end their losing streak. 

 

The Longest Streak Pt Ib – The Yankees’ loss left the Mets and Angels, who beat Boston 4-3 on Tuesday, tied for the longest current winning steak in the majors at five straight.  The win for Los Angeles also helped them pull to within 4 games of Oakland in the AL West. 

 

The Longest Streak Pt IIb – Meanwhile, the Mariners’ win over the Yankees, combined with the Angels’ win, left the reeling Red Sox with the longest current losing streak in the majors at 6 straight.  Gabe Kapler went 1-for-4 in the loss and now has 2 hits in his last 34 at bats (.059). 

 

The Longest Streak Pt III – With a third inning infield single, Willy Tavares tied Jeff Kent for the longest hitting streak in Astros history at 25 straight games.  He had been tied with Tony Eusebio for second in Astros history.  Eusebio hit safely in 24 straight in 2000 while Kent set his mark in 2004.  The infield hit is the fifth Tavares has collected since the streak began; later in the game he collected his sixth.  He also has 7 bunt singles in 9 attempts, including 7 in his last 7, meaning that 13 of his 36 hits during the streak have not left the infield.  It was his 4^th multi-hit game in his last six, but only the 9^th during the streak.  He is batting .336 (36-for-107) with 1 HR and 7 RBI in the 25 games but .400 (10-for-25) in his last 6.  Tavares was the Astros lone bright spot in a 14-0 loss to Cincinnati. 

 

Chasing 3000 – Craig Biggio went 0-for-2 in the Astros’ debacle and is 0-for-his-last-13, leaving him stalled in his chase for career hit number 3,000.  He is 93 shy of the magic mark with 2,907 career hits.

 

Juiced – The Update – The self described “mad scientist” of Major League Baseball, Jose Canseco, has not played since his well chronicled pitching debut last Wednesday for the Long Beach Armada in which he threw 4 1/3 innings and allowed 3 runs (2 earned) on just 2 hits.  However, Canseco walked 5 and hit 4 others in that start and one of those two hits left the yard.  With just six games left in the GBL season after Tuesday’s 2-1 loss to Fullerton, Canseco is batting .176 (12-for-68) with 4 HR and 9 RBI. 

 

On Monday, Andre Simpson of the Armada struck out 14 in a two-hit shutout as Long Beach snapped a 10-game losing streak with a 10-0 win over Yuma.  On Tuesday, Armada catcher Mike DiRosa was one of two catchers in the league to have their contracts purchased by the Toronto Blue Jays.  Armada manager Darrell Evans said of DiRosa, “We knew we wouldn’t have DiRosa long once we saw him behind the plate.  He’s a first class catcher with a great arm and should move up the Blue Jays system rapidly.” DiRosa will report to High-A Dunedin while Craig Kuzmic has been assigned to Double-A New Hampshire. 

 

We Forfeit – More GBL news, the San Diego Surf Dawgs, Canseco’s original team and the team Rickey Henderson played for last year, was forced to forfeit their game 9-0 against the Yuma Scorpions due to bus trouble. 

 

Quick Hits

 

Julio Franco, third among active players on the career hit list and 76^th all-time, is hitless since August 3, going 0-for-10 and watching his average dip from .295 to .272.

 

Mike Piazza was 0-for-his-last-22 since hitting the second of two home runs against Pedro Martinez on August 9 before driving in the only run in San Diego’s 1-0 win over the Dodgers.  The RBI was the 1,276^th of Piazza’s major league career, tying him with Don Baylor and Hank Greenberg for 100^th all-time. 

 

Kenny Rogers’ win over Detroit on Tuesday was the 203^rd of his major league career, tying him with Lou Burdette, Silver King and Jack Stivetts for 101^st all-time.  He is one behind Al Orth and Orel Hershiser for 100^th.  The win also ended Detroit’s string of 12 consecutive losing seasons. 

 

Frank Thomas is batting .362 (21-for-58) and slugging .552 since August 5 with 3 HR and 11 RBI.  With his next home run, The Big Hurt will tie Stan “The Man” Musial and Willie “Pops” Stargell for 23^rd on the all-time list.  His 1,538^th RBI on Monday moved him passed the Yankee Clipper Joe DiMaggio for 39^th on that career list. 

 

Ken Griffey Jr. was the only member of the Reds’ starting nine to go without a hit in Tuesday’s 14-0 win over Houston, drawing 3 walks and not recording an official at bat.  Junior’s next hit will be the 2,400^th of his major league career.  He needs six hits to pass Stuffy McInnis for 99^th all-time.

 

Jason Kendall has 13 hits in his last 25 at bats and is batting .400 (24-for-60) since August 6.  He is 33^rd among active players in career hits with 1,690. 

 

On Deck – The Cardinals, clinging to a slim 1-game lead in the Central, continue their showdown with the East leading Mets on Wednesday with Mark Mulder (6-5, 6.09) scheduled to go against Steve Trachsel (12-5, 4.79).  Trachsel is 3-0 with a 3.24 ERA in 4 August starts while Mulder will be making his first start since June 20.  He has been on the shelf with an impingement in his left shoulder and irritation and inflammation in his left rotator cuff.  Mulder’s last start came against the White Sox and he was tagged for 9 runs on 10 hits in 2 1/3 innings.  He began the season going 5-1 with a 3.69 ERA in his first 9 starts before going just 1-4 with an 11.06 ERA in his last 6.  SS David Eckstein is expected to replace Mulder on the DL.  Trachsel has held Albert Pujols to just a home run in 11 career at bats.

Questions or comments for Richard? Richard Van Zandt is a staff writer for Baseball Evolution who lives in San Francisco, California. You can reach him at richard@baseballevolution.com.