Ugh. I have the same evidence book, and it is painful. I have spent my whole break reading about creationism and the Establishment Clause for a seminar. I think you probably did better at actually having a spring "break."

Tell you the truth, the Twins are "this" close to sending Gomez down to AAA until the lineups expand to learn to hit a breaking ball. Unless he starts getting on base better, at least. I think the Twins will probably provide him with a sandpaper pitching machine before they break at the end of the season and tell him to find a pitching coach who can throw a breaking ball to be his roommate.

Take this with a grain of salt, because I clamored pretty loudly to get FMart included in the Santana trade last year instead of Carlos Gomez, but now I am glad we didn't go that direction. Maybe it is just me as a Twins fan, but the Mets need to watch how fast they fast-track their players through to the majors. One of the big problems with the Mets call-ups in this and past years is that they can't hit a decent breaking pitch, because they have never seen too many. Players learn to hit progressively better breaking balls through each level of their minor league careers, and if you look at a player like Carlos Gomez (who I have written about extensively) the problem becomes clear. He simply cannot hit breaking balls. In April, pitchers didn't know that yet, so they threw him a lot of fastballs, but since late May, he has seen 45% breaking pitches, which has caused him to get over a hundred strikeouts. I think FMart will be just fine, so long as he is given time to develop in the minors. HOwever, if he gets his first cup of coffee from the major league club in the next two years, you should be concerned.

That said, I also get crazy pissed at how the Twins progress their players sooo slowly, but they are also known for developing quality non-power prospects from some unconventional draft picks.

Soooooooo. What did we discuss earlier today? Either we jinxed Santana or we should write the horoscope for the paper.

Next time I quit law school and become a major league pitcher overnight, remind me not to play in the Big Apple.

Eeesh. That sounds like his life last year with the Twins. Santana is always expected to throw a no-hitter or at least get an easy victory. But his problem, as I have noticed, is the same as last year (and the reason he wanted to leave the Twins): He NEVER gets any run support. Last year, his run support was one of the worst in the minors, and this year, while slightly better, it has still lagged far behind the league average. Santana is great, but he isn't God. He can't be expected to win every game he pitches when the Mets won't give him help.