I wonder if Niese's little macho showdown with Doug Eddings on Friday will cost him some zone space tonight.

That's not a good start.

I kind of miss Curtis, though.

Me, too. Always liked Grandy.

Amazing catch.

But God, this is looking ugly.

They're all hammering the ball.

Phew....nice catch.

Even the out was loud.

Man, thank God for the defense.

Jesus.

So if the Mets are simply going to sit on fastballs all night it's going to be a short night for Meat.

God, they are just getting savage swings off him.

Yaaay, Alex!

Sped his bat up there!

Yay-Rod!

Sweet! Atta boy, Alex!

Give em 2 errors!

hi, team.

that was a nice inning!

i need to see a replay of #659...

Nice rebound.

Keep that up, Nate old boy.

nice double, J.R.

petit!

knotted up at dueces!

Yaayy!!

Tied up!

Way to go from the scrubs!

Bottom of the lineup getting it done!

Brett!!!!

Yaaayyyyy!!!!

(I want this game so bad.)

double 'em down!!!

go gritner!

3-2 pinstripes

Sweet!

That was a nice swing. He looked so balanced.

i dig chris young.

4-2

c'mon, Alex!

C'mon Alex, tie Willie!

4 XBH in less than 2 innings.

i wish they'd show #659.

my dad won't be happy when alex ties - and passes - willie, but he'll like it if the yanks win.

[25] He made an incredible catch in the first, racing back to track down a hard line drive over his head.

Alex!

Hahah!

Wtf was that throw?

I'll take that

Good grief, that was one horrible throw.

Alex wanted a triple.

wow. what a weird play!

alex with a double. what an awful throw by Cuddyer. C.Y. scores before A-Rod is tagged out, foolishly trying for three...

and i still haven't seen #659.

This game has drastically improved since I last dropped in to Banter.

[29] i need to see a replay of that too!

cuddyer makes johnny damon's arm seem like vlad the impaler's!

[34] that's because i showed up.

Holy shit. I missed 4 runs!

ESPN is terrible about replays. I wanted to see Young's hit again and then that last play.

that's 3 K's in a row.

Sit down, Curtis.

(I love you, but sit your ass down.)

I kinda like Schilling in this role.

[38] yeah. and i wanted to see cuddyer's throw like 73 more times!

[40] exactly.

4 K's in a row!

Just a bit outside.

[41] So funny, I was just thinking the same thing.

He's perfectly civilized, not obnoxious, and has interesting things to say.

OK, Cuddyer is up. show the throw!!!

also, he looks a lot like McCann with a beard. holy crap. he's taller and not in a braves uni, but i had to do a double-take.

[36] Oh, right, but also in other ways.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Ugh

bollocks.

do NOT let them score one more.

Why exactly was no one in any kind of rush to get that ball?

(41) It's sitting next to Krukie..makes anyone shine.

What's happening team, what I miss??

and there it is.

crap.

I'm going to cry.

I can't take this.

Wait til Yanks get up!,

alex's double tied him with wille - 523

I like Schilling in exactly zero roles.

Eovaldi, I know you're Italian, but quit serving up meatballs.

we're still winning.

Lead intact.

[58] I think I'll sign on for that one too.

(He's not wildly popular in Rhode Island.)

Teix has to hit another couple of dingers.

The Red Sox "pitching staff" coughed up 18 runs this afternoon, to the Orioles. Just sayin'.

Carlos, Carlos, Carlos.

[64] That's no small tally of runs.

(64) But they're projected to run away with the AL Least..!!

[66] It is a Great Tally, in fact.

Beli has struck out twice today...

[64] nice! we were at a festival this afternoon; when i checked it was 11-zip.

Krookie waxing eloquent about everything Mets...

oh, but now i'm seeing the shit sox came back to score 7 runs. that's no small tally either...

I think this season (and maybe even this game) we're seeing why people dream on Eovaldi but why he's never been very good.

[71] Yeah, after 11-0 each team got a touchdown.
They can score runs (although the Orioles wasted no good relievers), but their pitchers suck. They also lost a beauty last night: scored in the ninth to send it to extras, scored in the tenth, then gave up two in the bottom of the tenth to lose.

safe!

Very nice.

That Duda guy sure has trouble with the scoops. Kind of reminds me of Giambi on that score.

Damn it.

[73] yeah, i saw some highlights of last night's 9th & 10th innings. i approved of the outcome!

not so much of the DP that just happened.

We need more fucking runs.

Oh, jeez.

Is there any chance we win this game?

Get em next time, Eovaldi. FFS!

Agggggghhhhh!!!

Double play please.

Aren't lefty specialists just so much fun to watch?

nice DP!!

Oh, thank God.

That was huge.

Thank you

Sweeeet.4-6-3.

a-rod's OPS right now is .1020

4+6+3=2

They're better DPcombo than Drew at second and Didi at short.

Damn it.

God damn it.

wow. i thought he was out, but via replay he was safe.

Safe!

Fabulous.

don't bunt, dude.

I wish Brett could steal.

weeping - you'll be happy to know that brett is batting .308

i agree with the homer bonus money going to charity. i've thought that for awhile...

love it!

see. don't bunt!

Can they really not pay A-Rod when it's in his contract?

The Mets middle infield kinda sucks, huh?

Man, what a big break.

Come on, Alex.

Let's get some runs.

That's a nice break. C'mon, Alex. Do some damage (and don't hit into a double play!).

Jeez, this milestone home run thing sounds like a dead horse still being beaten.

That's a weird bounce

Nice time for a HR

[97] Indeed!

I like good bounces.

[101] I think the deal is that you're not allowed to put "milestones" in a standard player contract so this was some kind of side deal

Why take that?

[104] Even a double play scores the run

Settle down, Alex. Don't get jumpy.

Nice solid contact.

We'll take it.

Gawd, their defense is brutal.

The MUTS!!!

i love it.

Alex should get an RBI though...

Run in, Keystone Mets!

Wow!

Wow!

Man, thanks, Mets!

I'll take it.

Holy clown show.

OK, Beli.

it's time, dude. get your act together. 3-run bomb time!

Carols is killing us.

And there's Beltran

jeez, carlos.

why is he hitting ahead of chase? they're both switch-hitters...

glad we got another run.

let's a have quick and clean frame and get the bats back in the box!

Fucking Bollocks!

[108] that is true. It's not part of the main contract, however can be denied based on violation of some good behavior clause in the main contract (I.e., the suspension).

Can we take Carlos into the woods and promise him a bread crumb trail?

Shreve looks Like the Scarecrow from Wizard of Oz.

me no likey leadoff walks.

[126] Ray Bolger

[125] 150+ ABs since his last tater..sad to watch, he really was one of the best of his generation.

Lead off walk = booooooo

[124] it would make for an interesting sports/contract law case, but I suspect there will be a settlement.

He was safe, wasn't he?

God.

we have tall pitchers.

chris martin, cc, dellin, miller, pineda all 6'7"-6'8"

He's out one way or the other.

Nice play!

we definitely got the lead runner.

Ok. Out.

Wow.

Amateur Hour!

Bwahahahahahaha!

beautiful, Muts!

Gotta love it!!!

Two outs.

Wait, what?

Three outs!

The Mets are gift-wrapping this game for us.

I'll take that, too.

[134] Yankees have loved tall pitchers for years

Well, that was no good by Campbell

Benny Hill time..Terry Collins is going to go Billy Martin on his team soon.

[133] Wall St Journal had an article about this yesterday.

[124] Interesting. Maybe A-Rod wouldn't even contest it?

Assuming he still enjoys his work, its cool to see the 70 year old camera man.

If he's doing it only because he has to, alot less cool.

i dig chase.

definitely want more runs!

Way to go, Chase.

All right, boys, cash this the fuck in!

[146] oh yeah? cool! do you possibly have a link? (no worries if you don't...)

This homeplate ump is very good, at least vs. the computer strike zone.

shoulda bunted! ; )

[151] Sorry, too old for links, except iPhoto. I think Daniel Barbarisi wrote it.

i think you might need an account to read wsj online, unless you have a link...

Commentators are unendingly talking about how wonderful Mets are, even though they're losing.

[154] totally cool! there may have been a link on the twitter feed on the side of the lohud blog..

they're gonna waste this leadoff double, aren't they? : /

Damn it.

Don't piss away a leadoff double.

[156] yup.

And stop with that wave crap.

That's terrible.

[154] yup, found it via lohud twitter links!

i hear a De-Rek Je-Ter chant : )

[155] Google the headline, takes you to the full article.

[164] I'm still not used to not seeing Jeter or Mo.. :(

two easy outs thus far.

Everyone pitches tonight! Is The Boss's ghost hanging around tonight?

[165] thanks. i found it via barbarisi's twitter feed, through lohud.

[166] same here.

Wow..a LOT of A-Rod hatred still out there on Twitter. I wonder what it's like inside the minds of people obsessed with putting asteriks on Bonds/Clemens/A-Rod's stats..no disrespect intended, I just find it curious to feel so intense about such things.

Six more outs...

I wouldn't be entirely opposed to a lot of insurance runs here in the bottom of the seventh

Hit a homer Alex!

A dud of an inning.

Nerts.

[173] Guess we ain't gonna see it tonight/this morning. It would have been nice for him to get it against the Mutts.

98 - siddown!

another nice k!

God.

Jesus, that was a filthy pitch.

[170] i know. it's not like alex hit his wife and threw down an old man in the organization. but, of course, manny was celebrated as "fun." bollocks.

another K, of sorts...

it's like he swung after it bounced!

[170] Dude, there are way too many people with WAY too much time out there. I'm have to keep reminding myself, "never look at the comments, never look at the comments…" at that's for the NY Times!

I want this ump at all our games

Nice inning.

[180] or campaigned to keep certain people out of baseball based upon their skin color like Cobb & Hornsby did.

That was one of the most impressive innings I've seen

That was filthy.

Too bad Betances didn't work out as a starter. Imagine 200 innings of stuff like that.

[182] Boat! Been too long..we need to get a Yakult game in soon.
'Never read the comments' is indeed great advice.

that's a deflating at-bat.

i dig the big hat. the wrap-around - haven't seen that before. doesn't make the hat itself bigger and doesn't affect vision. just an additional support pad.

Dig that crazy chapeau!

Kinda looks like a Daniel Boone hat or a Raccoon hat ("Woo-woo, Norton.").

Quick music diversion: Pat Benatar tuened 62 last January..just came on the radio here.

62....

:(

i imagine the padding barely weighs anything. prolly just a coupla ounces. yet somehow can protect against high velocity...

that's one!

Nice catch, Brett.

Two more...

[193] she probably still sounds great!

feh.

Fuck.

Hit him on 0-2.

Fuck.