Thank Heavens for small Phavors

The Backstop Back At Ya: Question: What if the Red Sox lost Ellsbury, Youkilis, and Bay leaving Pedroia to be their main offensive producer? Would they still be in first place by four games?

Do you think they would be 2 & 1/2 games out?

Well multiply that and you get the situation the Mets are in.

As we all know the Flushing 4077th suffered another loss to the Cardinals last night. And my pick for N.L. M.V.P Super Carlos Beltran is the latest edition to a D.L. that is starting to look more and more like the 25 man roster looked on May 1. At least they dealt with C-Bell's injury better than they have with other players in the past. They did not fund it necessary to fly him around the country 3 times, make him read a book about fishing for salmon, dance a bit, pinch hit him once on one leg and then wait and see how he feels. Somewhat of an exception to a bad habit that the Mets have to address with their medical staff.

The Good News: (and we all know by now that the Backstop is alwats going to try and find the silver orange and blue lining) Down 95 a bit the Phriggin Phillies have been stinking the place up even worse.

Unfortunately we can not expect this to keep up. Sooner or later, and preferably not on the very last game of the season, somebody is going to decide that they want to win the East.

Of the trade rumors I have hears, I must be honest, I am not in a hurry to make any of them. I like DeRosa from the Tribe because he plays a variety of positions. If any of the position players decided they wanted to get healthy, DeRosa can play others. Actually he can play almost all of them.

I would like to see them inquire about a few players on teams that are presently holding contention. We will have to see how that shakes out.

It should be noted that former Met bust, and present Oakland A's G.M. is a little handcuffed

this year. He has never made it a secret that he is willing, even happy to let free agents walk away at the end of the season in exchange for compensatory draft picks. i.e. Matt Holliday. The problem Old Billy No Deal has is that for his team to get those draft picks he would have to offer Holliday arbitration. With no magic 8-ball to tell him when the state of the economy will improve, it is likely that Holliday would accept arbitration for one year in hopes of landing a multi-year contract before the 2011 season. He is already making $13,5m for this year. Arbitration would likely promise at least $17.5. That would be more than 25% of the team's salary. Mr. Beane is a smart guy and I am always amazed at his ability to do a lot with a little. But I do not see him risking that kind of money when there is a good chance Holliday will take arbitration, play for his contract next year, and the A's get 0 (Zero) player draft choices for their trouble. We should start to monitor this situation closely in the next few weeks.

Just a little more than a month to the trade deadline. The contenders and pretenders are going to have to decide which one they are soon.

One thing is certain. We are not going to stay 2 & 1/2 games out for long with Wright/Castillo/Church and Murphy as the new core.

Stay Believing, You Gotta.

The Backstop