He thinks that maybe, if he hides behind his jersey, he can sneak out and join the visitors and go to Cleveland with them. But after his performance in Camden Yards today, I’m not sure the Mets would let him.
Don’t get me wrong, he did some good things for the Mets, like getting Jason Bay going, putting David Wright over his 2009 HR total on June 13th, and helping the Mets to their first three game sweep on the road since September of ’08 (would you believe it was Oliver Perez that won that final game?) But it might be the last good he does for the Mets all season. Anything, and I mean anything more from Kevin Millwood on Sunday, and he’s at least on the Mets’ radar. But Millwood’s “performance” today, combined with John Maine’s encouraging outing in Binghamton (averaging 88 on the gun) has most likely put the final nail in any trade involving Millwood. Timing is everything, and Kevin doesn’t wear a watch, apparently.
(Apologies if I’ve used that joke before … it probably wasn’t funny the first time, either.)
So Hisanori Takahashi breathes a sigh of relief for now … at least until the Mets get to Cleveland and we all start talking about Jake Westbrook again. Key point here is that the Mets are somewhat healthy on the road again, and if it takes the Baltimore Orioles to make that happen, then so be it. (Mike Pelfrey picked a good game to be merely human instead of being a superhero.) Just like if Kevin Millwood is what it takes to get Bay’s bat going, I’m all for that, too.
Here’s what was telling about how good the Mets are going now: Even Alex Cora had a good game. Of course, this was after I was wondering why he would start ahead of Tejada. When Snoop Manuel is pushing the right buttons, you know that the city of Baltimore is providing a good vibe.
Oh, and can Animal DH the rest of the road trip? I would consider that an olive branch from Snoop if he were to do that. Playing against the American League obviously agrees with Chris Carter as he had his second three run HR of the series, and having played with Justin Masterson who starts for the Tribe on Tuesday could be worth an extra walk or hit or both. Masterson has been pretty gosh darn good in his last two starts, along with having Johan Santana’s run support for the entire season in his those starts (Johan begged the Mets to save some of Sunday’s runs for him … repeatedly … not sure it worked), so the Mets need to remember they’re not in Baltimore anymore, fast. The Indians, while below average, are about ten games better than the Orioles, and have some halfway decent starters going this week.
They also need to score for Santana. Playing Carter would help. Behold the power of the Animal.
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