Felix Pie's inability to hit major league pitching, and Lou Pinella's lack of patience, means Pie is headed to the bench.

I was at the Mets-Brewers game on Saturday, and outside of pointing out just how much of a bomb Rickie Weeks hit off of Johan Santana, I just wanted to note two outstanding observations from the game. First, Mr. Met (yes, in my book, he is worthy of being printed in bold faced font) was up in my section, and someone hurled a bag of peanuts and hit him square in the head. Although it was fairly hilarious to see, I have to question the motives of what lunatic would dare throw peanuts at the beloved Mr. Met. Shocking, to say the least. Second, the woman in the row in front of me pulled out a bag of McDonald's around the 7^th inning and starting eating a cheeseburger. Doing the rough math on this, the game was about two and a half hours old, and you imagine that she bought that cheeseburger at least half an hour before that. Call me crazy, but three-hour-old cheeseburgers that have not been refrigerated should probably be avoided.

In another baseball related story, the Yankees were up in arms this week as a rogue construction worker/Red Sox fan buried a Red Sox shirt into the concrete while working on the new Yankee Stadium. I suppose it’s a fairly amusing prank, but what is infinitely more amusing to me is the uproar in the papers about this.  Today, the New York Post notes that the Yankees are considering pressing charges against the prankster, accusing him of “criminal mischief.”  The Post also refers to the construction workers who found the shirt as “heroic.”  Have our standards for heroism drifted so low that digging up a shirt to prevent a hex is what it takes to be a hero?  There has to be SOMETHING in the world more worthy of front-page news than this nonsense (okay, I brought it on myself for reading the Post).

On to the actual baseball news:

Felix Pie has apparently been given his chance and failed, as after a week of not setting the world on fire, manager Lou Piniella has opted to use Reed Johnson, and even at one point, sliding Kosuke Fukudome into center and playing Daryle Ward in right.  Nothing builds a young player’s confidence like being benched after one week.

I would be remiss if I failed to mention John Bowker’s historic call up to the major leagues.  With Dave Roberts hurt, Aaron Rowand bound to run into a fence and get hurt, and Randy Winn also an injury waiting to happen; Bowker may find himself with a large share of the at-bats in the Giants outfield.  Still, he’s a marginal prospect who probably just had a nice two-day run.  Don’t rush to pick him up based on this weekend.

Speaking of the Giants, I have decided that given their personnel, they should stop fooling themselves, and emulate the 1985 St. Louis Cardinals.  For those who do not remember, the 1985 Cardinals stole 314 bases, with five players over 30 stolen bases.  I know that in this day and age, the homerun is popular, and everyone wants to out-slug their opponents.  But, the bottom line is, when your two best power hitters are Bengie Molina and Aaron Rowand, you have to pursue alternate means of run production.  Bruce Bochy, if you are listening (and I am sure you are), play Fred Lewis in right, Rajai Davis in left, Eugenio Velez at second base, and Dan Ortmeier at first.  Lewis, Davis, and Velez are all 40 stolen base threats, and Ortmeier could likely steal 10-15.  With the pitching on roster, they are still not a contender, but they could raise some hell for opponents, if they run, run, run.

I am sure everyone noticed, but Johnny Cueto got bombed the other day.  I do not wish ill will on anyone, but it was good to see a reminder that he still is young, and will still have his bad days.  Let’s take that inscription off the Cy Young Award please.

Trevor Hoffman has looked pretty brutal, despite his four saves.  I am slightly biased, since I own him, but I think the calls for his retirement, or removal from the closer role are a bit premature.  In all likelihood, he will struggle more than usual, but I think he will still collect between 30 and 40 saves, with an ERA in the 3.50 range.

That is all for this week.  Unless you are taking the Wesley Snipes approach, remember to file your taxes!  See you next time.