Nudes and Goats

What do you think Jason Bay says to himself when he sees the lineup card and reads that he's batting 5th in the Mets order, and Mike Jacobs is in the 4 hole? Maybe he thinks, "Well, it makes sense because Jerry's splitting up the lefties. Wait, there are no lefties to split. Well, he wants to split up the righties. Split up the righties...I liked it better in Boston."

When I coached Little League, I toyed with batting my best hitter first, Ichiro style. We're conditioned to expect the best hitter in a lineup to be in the 3 hole, but an argument can be made that if one player is going to get that 5th at bat at the end of the game, it's better to see Ryan Zimmerman up there against a closer than Nyjer Morgan. I'm not saying I'd bat Zimmerman leadoff, but I would bat Bay 4th, and Jacobs 5th. I'd bat Gary Matthews Jr. not at all, and I'd bat Jeff Francoeur on his cranium.

It seems like on bang-bang plays at first, umpires get the call right 50 percent of the time. Incidentally, they could also flip a coin and get the call right 50 percent of the time.

Sometimes Keith Hernandez really gets on a roll when everything that comes out of his mouth for half an inning is wrong.

This is definitely starting to feel like a very long season for the Mets. Too many Maine/Nolasco matchups aren't going to lead to a lot of wins in the Mets column.

Ian Desmond Finishes 5th in MVP Voting

If you're like me, it drives you a little crazy when baseball analysts state the obvious. I love the MLB Network more than most things in life, but it gets a little tiresome when the prognosticators, the guys paid to give you information that you don't already have, just regurgitate either the extremely obvious or Baseball America.

Tom Verducci of SI fame predicts the NL Rookie of the Year voting to look like this: 1. Jason Heyward; 2. Stephen Strasburg; 3. Mike Stanton. Geez Tom, that's some analysis. He likes Brian Matusz to win in the American League. As a pathetic, super fan, I'm looking for guys like Tom, guys that spend a ton of time in March in Arizona and Florida, to tell me something I don't already know. We won't hold it against you if you're wrong. And by the same token, I'm not giving you any credit when Heyward wins the award. Last year, Chris Coghlan and Andrew Bailey were nowhere near anyone's radar. Everyone knew about Price, Weiters, Hanson, Rasmus, Maybin, Fowler, et al., and, predictably, none of them won the award (although Hanson was pretty spectacular). For those of us who have watched and read a ridiculous amount in the last 4 to 6 weeks in anticipation of the season, we've heard Jason Heyward's name so many times that we're beginning to hate the guy.

The same goes for John Hart, my favorite of the MLB Network team, and his pick-to-click segment at the end of the 30 Teams in 30 Days shows. John, we know the highest rated prospect in each system. It does us little-to-no good to hear you restate what we've already read in Baseball America. You could qualify your opinion with, "This is what most in the industry agree on, but I like..." It wouldn't kill you. This was never truer than with The D'Backs special. Jarrod Parker isn't pitching year! How can he be your pick-to-click!?!

Here are some predictions that wouldn't have made me angry:

NL Rookie of the Year: Ian Desmond

AL Rookie of the Year: Danny Valencia

NL Cy Young: (tie) Jonathan Sanchez and Jorge De La Rosa

AL Cy Young: Brett Anderson

NL MVP: Joey Votto

AL MVP: Billy Butler

I spent about ten minutes on that. None of it will happen, but at least I offered something up. Verducci did his best not to state the obvious when he decided to pick MVPs that weren't Pujols and Mauer. His picks: Longoria and Tulowitzki. I haven't read all there is to read. I don't know who people are picking to win MVPs beyond the little that I've caught out of my peripheral vision. But don't those seem like the most obvious, trendy picks imaginable? I understand it's a fine line. I guess my MVP choices aren't on teams good enough, but what about Panda and Kendry Morales? Anyone that didn't go to Cal State Fullerton.

Just for the record, I love Tulowitzki. And I love Ian Desmond. Like in an unhealthy way. I think once Strasburg is called up, the Nats will be a better team than the Mets. I think the Rockies win a boatload of games, and I think the Phillies are in an injury away from not making the playoffs.