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Paul Hagen: Mets' latest replay home run anything but conclusive
On deck
CHEERS:
For Royals righthander Zack Greinke. Who else? Greinke, who next pitches Sunday, is 8-1 with an 0.84 earned run average. He's the first big-leaguer to have a sub-1.00 ERA after 10 starts since Juan Marichal was 9-0, 0.59 for the Giants in 1966.
There's more. He has five complete games, more than any other team and as many as the Royals had in all of 2007 and '08 combined.
Postscript: Marichal went on to have a terrific season, ending up 25-6, 2.23 ... and didn't win the Cy Young Award. Sandy Koufax (27-9, 1.73) did.
JEERS:
To Mets rightfielder Fernando Martinez. With one out and a runner on second Wednesday, Martinez hit a popup in front of the plate. Nationals catcher Wil Nieves dropped the ball. Martinez would have been safe at first, except that he didn't run until after the ball hit the ground.
Making it worse is that Martinez is a rookie who was playing in just his second big-league game.
The Citi Field crowd booed heartily. Martinez, at least, was remorseful afterward. "I promise that will never happen again," he said. "I promise that's not me."
BY THE NUMBERS:
0.85: Earned run average for Detroit's Justin Verlander in his last six starts.
5: Rays players put on the DL in the last week: shortstop Jason Bartlett, second baseman Akinori Iwamura, closer Troy Percival, No. 2 starter Scott Kazmir and lefthanded relief specialist Brian Shouse.
79: Career home runs hit by Brewers leftfielder Ryan Braun as of Monday, the second anniversary of his arrival in the big leagues. The only player ever to hit more that quickly: Chuck Klein, 83 with the Phillies, 1928-30.
91: Losses the Nationals will end up with if they play .500 from here on.
UP NEXT:
One of the most anticipated debuts in recent memory will take place tonight when Matt Wieters will be in the Orioles lineup at Camden Yards.
Wieters, a 22-year-old catcher, was the Baseball America 2008 Player of the Year and the O's first-round draft choice. Baltimore is in last place of the AL East and it's been a while since the fans have had something like this to look forward to.
Manager Dave Trembley has jokingly referred to the team's top prospects (including outfielder Nolan Reimold, who was called up 2 weeks ago, and minor league pitchers Chris Tillman, Jake Arrieta and Brian Matusz) as The Cavalry. But it's clear who's expected to lead the charge.
