The Mets Miss The Lincecum Memo And Other Stories

• Mets 7-Giants 0:

While they said all the right things about being impressed with Tim Lincecum's stuff and how bright the

diminutive righty's future is, the Mets apparently missed last week's issue of Sports Illustrated because they knocked him around pretty good on the field. Carlos Delgado sending one of Lincecum's fastballs deep into the Flushing Meadows night was impressive in and of itself considering how Delgado's had such trouble catching up to power fastballs this year; I would hesitate to think this is a renaissance for Delgado because the pitch was up and out over the plate; he still can't get around on a power inside fastball at all which indicates a location mistake on the part of Lincecum. Mike Pelfrey and his reliance on his power sinker is starting to make him look like a young Kevin Brown.

• Yankees 5-Rays 0:

Andy Pettitte was masterful against a hot hitting and tough lineup in the Rays. In looking at Pettitte's numbers----stats----if he hangs around for two or three more years and can win between 13-15 games each year in addition to this

year's likely 16 wins, he's going to make the Hall of Fame. A winner; a gutty innings-eater; honest about his brief PED usage; and a post-season record of 18-7 (as of now) plus around 240 wins will make Pettitte more of a no-brainer for the Hall than Curt Schilling. Another thing about Pettitte that many people may not know is that he wasn't even drafted; the Yankees signed him as an undrafted free agent in 1991. That's some pretty good scouting, luck or both.

• Did the Dodgers owner nix a deal for C.C. Sabathia?

The Pasadena Star-News reported on Monday that Dodgers owner Frank McCourt nixed a deal that would have brought C.C. Sabathia, Casey Blake and Jamey Carroll to the Dodgers for a package of youngsters----Story----the main reason is implied to be financial. McCourt may receive criticism for this after the fact especially if Sabathia pitches the Brewers into the

playoffs, but McCourt has every right to do what I see as the right thing for his franchise by stopping his GM from mortgaging a big chunk of his team's loaded farm system to win right now.
Dodgers GM Ned Colletti is already under fire for the team's underachieving and the huge money contracts he doled out to Andruw Jones and Jason Schmidt with literally no return. If the Indians, a smart organization that knows how to scout prospects, were trading three players with expiring contracts who are in demand, there would probably have been at least five prospects going to Cleveland including the likes of Matt Kemp, Andy

LaRoche and lots of young pitching. The Dodgers are getting their injured players back and with manager Joe Torre's history of hot second half finishes, along with the way the NL West is looking like it might only take 85 wins to take the division, why make such a desperation move? Add in that McCourt may be keeping an eye on the Brian Cashman/Yankees situation with the possibility that Torre and Cashman will be reunited on the West Coast after the season and there was no reason to allow Colletti to make this move.
Despite McCourt's attempts to win within a budget and create a clone of the Oakland Athletics when he hired Paul DePodesta to disastrous results, he's spent a load of money and allowed Colletti to be very aggressive in trying to win immediately over the past three years; he shouldn't receive criticism when he finally says enough's enough.

• Is there an agenda in place here?

I don't know the circumstances with Keith Law's departure from the Blue Jays in 2006, but reading between the lines in the comment about Chad Gaudin in the Rich Harden trade, and

you have to wonder if there's a bit of sniping going on underneath what masks itself as an opinion:

Chad Gaudin is an outstanding second player -- hate to call him a "throw-in" here -- for the Cubs, as a short reliever who could be dominant in that role in the NL. His fastball/slider combo has produced over 300 innings of above-average pitching since Toronto discarded him after a grand total of two big league starts, and his career-long vulnerability against left-handed batters has vanished this year, in large part because of his improved control.

If Law's letting personal biases enter into his judgments (intentionally or not), he should try and put them aside if he intends to be a credible media voice. For the record, I wouldn't have touched Rich Harden unless I was getting him for nothing because he's completely unreliable health-wise from one day to the next.