Thought all baseball fans would be interested in this.

ESPN has a great piece about Lou Gehrig’s final letters. Hear clips of his final speech and read his letters to his doctor throughout the ordeal. Gehrig was only 37 years old when he passed away from ALS.

MLB will honor Gehrig’s infamous speech at every ballpark this 4th of July.

Much of the focus over the offensive woes of the Mets has centered around the three bats of Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran, and justifiably so. The Mets wouldn’t have approached 800 runs scored last season without huge contributions from all three of these stars, and the Mets miss them terribly.

However, the offense has struggled more than could even be expected with these three out, and that is due to what had been an utter collapse in the secondary bats of Fernando Tatis, Daniel Murphy and Ryan Church.

Fernando Tatis gave the Mets an .853 OPS in 306 plate appearances last season. He did this with little in the way of platoon split (over .800 OPS against lefties and righties), and combined with his minor league numbers in 2006-2007, there was little reason to expect a complete collapse in his numbers. Yet entering yesterday’s game, Tatis had an OPS of .680.

The same was true for Ryan Church, a career .795 OPS hitter who had a .699 OPS as of June 27, and to a lesser extent Daniel Murphy, who has followed his .871 OPS performance in 2008 with a .674 in 2009, though obviously without the track record of either Tatis or Church.

As badly as Church, Tatis and Murphy have struggled, their problems with runners in scoring position only amplified their slumps. With RISP, Church’s OPS is .623, Tatis stands at .546, and Murphy is at .638.

In other words, while the three of the top four offensive contributors have been missing, another three have been well below expected performances.

Now, Daniel Murphy is still an unknown. Chances are he isn’t the poor hitter he’s been so far in 2009, nor the John Olerud clone he was in 2008. That would still leave him with room to improve over the rest of 2009, of course.

But the bust-outs by Fernando Tatis and Ryan Church of late are long overdue, and it is certainly reasonable to expect that we have now seen the bottom of both players’ performances in 2009. That is welcome news for the Mets, particularly given Church’s defensive prowess.

This has two other direct ramifications for New York. One is that over the next few weeks, as the Mets continue to play short-handed, the lineup can suddenly boost an attack that has been “Sheffield, Wright and pray for errors”.

In addition, a producing Tatis and Church, when added to the returning Delgado, Reyes and Beltran, will give the lineup depth. With Tatis even a viable option at second base, the Mets would be able to sport power potential at seven of eight lineup spots, while hoping that Omir Santos finds some additional magic beans.

This is not to say the Mets have solved all of their many problems. But just as we keep trying to acertain when the economy has hit bottom, this may be the moment we saw the Mets reach their nadir and begin the climb back to 2008’s offense.

In 1995, when Mariano Rivera was a rookie, he came to the big club from the minors as a starter. The results were mixed, to be kind. In 10 starts, batters hit .306 of Rivera and 8HRs to the tune of a 5.94 ERA. The following year, new manager Joe Torre put Rivera in the pen. Rivera responded by striking out 130 in 107 innings with a WHIP under 1.0. The rest is history.

Phil Hughes career as a starter has been mixed at best. His career ERA as a starter is 5.22, but that number doesn’t tell the whole story. At times, Hughes appears to be dominating, in complete control, almost toying with hitters. At other times, he appears tentative, lost, almost afraid to use his arsenal and his prodigious talent. However, after moving to the pen earlier this season, the light has come on for Hughes. Opponents, hitting .276 off him this season as a starter, are now batting a paltry .116 off Hughes as a reliever. His ERA was a 5.45 as a starter; it’s 1.38 as a reliever.

But that’s not all. Hughes appears more confident on the mound, more aggressive. Freed from the starter’s mentality of every 5th day, Hughes seems to come into the game and unload, give everything he has and attack hitters. Hughes confidence has gone up and so has his velocity, which has touched 96, 97 since his move to the pen, up from the 92 range as a starter. And with his newfound velocity and his aggressiveness, his WHIP has dropped almost a full point from 1.5 to .615. And his SO/BB ratio has gone from 2.07 to an astounding 5.33.

However the Yankees have stated publicly that Hughes is a starter, not a reliever. Why? Yes, I know the whole debate of starter vs. reliever and which is more valuable. And yes, a starter pitches more innings, so therefore more innings = more value. Tell that to Mariano Rivera.

This year, batters hit roughly .230 off of Hughes up to his 50th pitch. After that, batters averages jump to about .300. His SO/BB walk ratio is a very good 4.40 in the first 25 pitches; it immediately drops to 1.71 in the next 25. The first time opponents see Phil Hughes in a game this year, they hit a paltry .191. The next time through; .321.

The bloggers have been writing a lot about this subject; mostly to the tune of “OK, fine. But next year you put him back in the rotation.” OK, maybe. Maybe Hughes is just a young guy who has to learn to develop into a starting pitcher. But maybe not. Maybe Hughes is a natural born reliever. Maybe the Yankees should play to his strengths, which, like Mariano Rivera, may fall into the reliever role. Wouldn’t it be better to have a shutdown reliever in the pen—possibly a future stud closer, then a mediocre starter? To whit, out of 7 starts this season, Hughes only had 2 quality starts.

Overall, I’m not saying the absolutely, without question, Phil Hughes should be in the pen. It’s very possible that Hughes will develop into a fine starter. Maybe even a great one. All I’m saying is that the argument that he should absolutely be a starter shouldn’t be so absolute. There is precedent. Just ask Mariano Rivera.

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Frank Russo joined me last night during the second half hour of the show. We remembered Dave Righetti’s no hitter back in 1983, but Frank also gave us some tidbits from his rumor mill bag. We start talking rumors at about the 45 minute mark.

- Cashman is not looking for offense. They believe Hinske is the perfect fit for the team.

- Don’t expect the Yanks to acquire Huston Street. The price continues to be extremely high. Dan O’ Dowd has brought up names like Austin Jackson, Chien Ming Wang, Phil Hughes, Melky Cabrera, and Brett Gardner. The Indians continue to look to unload and would like to deal Rafeal Betancourt. He will be expensive as well as per evidence of the DeRosa deal that netted them Chris Perez from St. Louis.

- Hughes is enjoying his time in the pen. Barring injury or a major trade he will remain there the rest of the year. Some believe he could considered as Rivera’s heir apparent. Imagine the Joba to the bullpen debate changes into the Hughes to the bullpen?

- The Yankees will continue to be cautious with Hughes and avoid him on back to back days.

- Not much to the Chien Ming Wang and Phillies rumor from earlier in the week. Teams ask about Wang, but Yanks aren’t about to give him away.

- The parity in the National League won’t help either team. Too many teams deem themselves in it to strip down their roster. Could the economy have the opposite impact and actually force teams to keep star players to save August and September gates?

- The Yankees would love to add another situational lefty to the mix. The status of Damaso Marte is murky (Yanks not happy with his participation in the WBC). That market hasn’t developed yet with specific players available. Here is a player I would target (this is not a rumor, just my thought): Ron Mahay. He is not having a particularly good year with Kansas City, but lefties are only hitting .250 against him. I believe the Yankees actually tried to obtain him in 2007, before Texas sent him to Atlanta in the Teixeira deal. He is on the last year of his 2 year/$8 million dollar deal. Perhaps he wouldn’t cost that much in terms of prospects. With this market you never know. Here is something that you might not know about Mahay: he was a CF when he first came up in Boston in 1995.

- The Yankees believe that the bullpen is all that prevents them from matching up well with the Red Sox.

- The one difference between the Yankees and Mets is that Cashman is dealing from strength. Despite their attempts, the Yankees will not overpay market value. The Pirates still obtained decent prospects in the Hinske deal. That should be a sign that it will be very difficult and expensive for teams to make trades. The Yankees, unlike the Mets, are in a much better position to do so.

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- I often discuss my thoughts on leadership and get criticized by our stat loving readers. I believe leadership comes in different forms and, for a team to win, they must have variations of it throughout the clubhouse. In the past, the Mets had very little off the field leadership to complement their dubious clubhouse version. This week you saw two great examples of leadership by example. First, David Wright turning down his day off in Milwaukee was the right thing to do. Even though he didn’t do much during the game, the lineup would have been embarrassing without his name in it. Yesterday, K-Rod knew his ninth inning performance was unacceptable. After the Mets score, he goes out and grinds through the Pirates lineup 1-2-3. This while his pitch count reached career highs. That is leadership personified.

- CC Sabathia was punished for keeping his balls up at Yankee Stadium. The Ichiro hit was a perfect example of a ball carrying. I thought it was a simple fly ball, but it kept drifting away from Melky Cabrera. By the way, Ichiro didn’t bust it out of the box, I thought this doesn’t happen with Japanese players. Must be the negative American influence.

- Great point by Paul O’Neill during last night’s telecast. Ichiro is already in the Japanese Hall of Fame and very well could end up in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Barring injury, he will have 2,0000 hits by the end of this season. If he plays another five years until 40, with an average of 200 hits a year, he could get to 3,000. That sounds unrealistic, but he has yet to have a sub 200 hit season. Even if he retired at the end of this year with 2,000 hits I believe he should make it for his accomplishments.

- Jerry Manuel’s honeymoon with the media ended earlier this year. Now the worm has turned and they are hammering away. Bob Raissman points out the recent contradictions that have been spewed during Manuel’s post game press conferences. I said the other day that Jerry made a big mistake accentuating how undermanned this team was. It sends the wrong message to the players. During a time where it would be easy to give up, Jerry gave them ample reason to do just that. The bigger point of Raissman’s story is the possibility of management changing Jerry’s tune. This organization continues to amaze me with their corporate politics. It’s aggravating, divisive, and, quite simply, incompetent. They should be ashamed of themselves. This is the baseball version of bureaucracy getting in the way of achieving a goal. Message to Jeff and company: you can’t BS fans to show up to the ballpark.

- You got the feeling that Russell Branyan’s homer was all his frustration of striking out this series balled into one.

- Teixeira makes his first error of the season. Could it have been the pressure of the midnight All Star voting?

- Ed Price had this to add: Mets came back from 5 down to win — first time since May 15 they won a game in which they trailed by more than 1 run.

- The ultimate insult thrown around by Yankees fans last night: the wave at Yankee Stadium reminded them of one at Shea.

- The antithesis of what K-Rod accomplished was what you saw from Tim Redding. It was a non competitive effort that, quite simply, was unacceptable. Oliver Perez is pitching for Buffalo tonight and, barring a huge setback, should be ready to rejoin the rotation. I said last week that Perez can’t do any worse than Redding. There is at least a future with Perez, there is none with Redding.

- Hat tip to Pat Misch and Elmer Dessens for stabilizing the game at 5-0. They were the two unsung components of the win.

- The Yankees signed 3 international players.

- Another inning and you were going to see Livan Hernandez pinch hit, Johan Santana play the outfield, and possibly Fernando Nieve in relief. That would have been interesting.

- Catch the show on demand as we celebrated the long 4th of July weekend remembering classic games. Hear John Strubel discuss his project about the Mets wild July 4th, 1985 contest against the Braves. Frank Russo reminisced about Dave Righetti’s no hitter. He also gave us some tidbits from the rumor mill as we are just three and a half weeks away from the trading deadline.

In what would add great drama to the Mets/Phil rivalry, Jon Heyman at his twitter reports that the Phillies have had “internal discussions” about Pedro Martinez. It is unlikely that he would be their first option.

Why not go with one of their young arms first? In my opinion, Citizen’s Bank Park would be a terrible place for Pedro to pitch. Regardless, it would add some spice to the rivalry.

I am excited about tonight’s lineup.

First, John Strubel of Flushing 9 will talk about an interesting project he is working on: a book about the July 4th, 1985 game between the Mets and Braves. If you remember, the game went 16 innings with the Mets winning 16-13. Between the long game and rain delays it didn’t finish till 4 AM. John and I will remember the game, and I am sure he might have an interesting tidbit or two for Mets fans.

I didn’t forget Yankees fans. NYBD contributor Frank Russo will join us in the back half of the show to remember the classic July 4th, 1983 Dave Righetti no hitter. Hear Frank recant his experience watching the no no and some of his memories from the game. We may also get a nugget from his rumor mill.

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More bad news about former Yankee Jim Leyritz.

via Baseball Prospectus

9:40 AM: It’s been confirmed to by a Mets source that they have signed Venezuelan LHP Juan Urbina, son of former big leaguer Ugueth Urbina. I have also confirmed that the bonus is for over $1 million. I’ll try to track down the specific amount.

Juan is the son of former big league closer Ugueth Urbina. His dad is currently serving a 14 year sentence for attempted murder in Venezuela. Does anyone know anything about this kid?

This is sure to stoke the flames.

Anthony Rieber made an excellant comparison at The Final Score Newsday Blog. He compared Joba Chamberlain to Goose Gossage as a starter.
Goose Gossage as a starter:
W-L 9-22
ERA 4.49
Starts 37
Innings per start 6 2/3
IP 252.2
H 262
BB 104
K 162
ERA as reliever: 2.77

Obviously he was much better as a reliever. Hall of Fame better.

Joba is way better than Gossage as a starter, but it’s an interesting point. The reality that Yankees fans must accept is that most members of the media will not let the bullpen discussion go until Joba proves that he is a top of the rotation starter. This includes going deep into games and actually winning some starts. Ultimately, as much as we hate to admit it, top of the rotation starters win games not just produce good peripheral numbers. Also, if he can’t win with an offense like the Yankees, when will he?

The news that Carlos Beltran’s knee will require rest and not microfracture surgery is good on many levels. The obvious is the ability for Beltran to be back in game action at some point this season. More important, is that a healthy Beltran can be an asset which Omar Minaya should look into dealing once the season is over.

Ideally you would want Beltran to finish his career in New York. He plays a position, centerfield, that is difficult to find players with his five tool skills. It probably will be a long while until we see another Mets outfielder produce the numbers that Beltran has been doing since he arrived in 2005. The problem is that he is not getting any younger and his knee injury is an ominous sign for the next two years of his contract. Playing in the National League is putting him at even a higher risk.

Remember that old “trade a guy a year too early instead of a year too late” saying? The Boston Celtics of the eighties decided to allow Bird, Parish, and McHale grow old together even when it was clear they were no longer championship caliber. It resulted nearly 15 years of inept results. Bernie Williams, as beloved as he was as a Yankee, became a borderline productive player his last couple of years in pinstripes. The point being that you could have received great return for your assets in both those situations if you decided to deal any one of those players before they left their prime. Beltran, at 32 years of age, falls into that category.

It is hard to imagine Beltran being able to play 150 plus games in centerfield. We haven’t even factored in the spacious confines of Citi Field. Just because he doesn’t need microfracture surgery now, doesn’t mean he is out of the woods. He will need to continue to monitor the situation and apply the appropriate rest throughout a season. Sounds like someone that needs the designated hitter option. I could see teams like Minnesota, Boston, the White Sox, and Tampa as teams where Beltran would be a nice fit. Each could use Beltran’s bat and afford him the DH option.

How will this benefit both sides? Beltran has a full no trade clause and will be a 10 and 5 man at the end of this season. Will he approve a trade? I would think if it’s a situation conducive to his health, as well as extending his career, the answer is yes. The Mets could possibly get two young players that will add youth and depth to their roster. If I were Omar Minaya I would look for a young offensive player and pitcher, preferably major league established, as the crux of the deal. Names like Ellsbury, Lester, Upton, and Garza are some names where I would start.

This thought is more conversation for the offseason instead of now, but the recent events make it so obvious. The Mets need to deal Carlos Beltran a year too early, instead of a year too late.

- David Wright took offense to John Franco’s comments. Glad to see Wright stand up for himself and the team versus his usual vanilla commentary. I think Franco is parroting commentary that his buddies (the Wilpon’s) have been discussing with him. Don’t forget that many of the veterans, like Franco and Leiter, were close with Jeff Wilpon during their playing days. There is one way for this discussion to stop: Start to effectively lead this team both on the field and in the clubhouse. You can argue that he has been inconsistent in both categories this year. I hate to sound like our good friend Steve Keane, but this Franco quote has Jeff Wilpon all over it.

- The Yankees haven’t trailed since the sixth inning over a week ago. That’s 57 innings ago.

- Every Mets win is filled with frustration, drama, and heartache. I guess this is the cost of admission in 2009.

- Andy Pettitte deserved the ceremonial team “championship belt” with his performance. First time since 1997 that he started out 8-3.

- Yovani Gallardo has now lost two 1-0 games this year to the Mets.

- Great quote by Newsday’s Jim Baumbach: If you add time of Mets-Brewers (2:44) to Yankees-Mariners (2:17), you get roughly the time it takes for a Yankees-Red Sox game at Fenway.

- Ramiro Pena did a nice job during his big league stint. The demotion to AAA will give him a chance to player everyday and improve.

- Is it me or does the fact that Pelfrey had pain in his lat muscle reason for concern?

- Can we all calm down about Erick Hinske. That is all I have heard from Yankees fans. He is an ok bat for the bench, why is he getting this much press?

- Way too early for this statement, but let me make it anyway: Does anyone sense a 1973 type race in the NL East?

- Just when I said Ken Griffey was over the hill he goes and finds the fountain of youth!

- Here is more about the July 4th ceremony honoring Lou Gehrig’s speech.

- Kevin Burkhardt had this odd tweet last night: Our hotel in Pitt is overrun by people dressed up as animals. Anthrocon? And they act as animals. I have seen it all and I am freaked out. Better than the haunted hotel in Milwaukee, no? Click here for a picture of everyone’s favorite sideline reporter with one of the animals.

- Phil Coke has a WHIP of 0.6 since the beggining of June.

- Kick off the long weekend with NYBD Radio. John Strubel of Flushing 9 will talk about his book project about the classic July 4th, 1985 game between the Mets and Braves. Frank Russo will call in during the second half hour to remember Dave Righetti’s no hitter and give us a tidbit or two from his rumor mill.

The B-Mets and Trenton Thunder will be well represented at the Eastern League All Star game. The game will be July 15th and played at Waterfront Park in Trenton.

The list of players is below courtesy of Mike Ashmore and Brian Morwitz

Trenton Thunder

Zach McAllister (RHP)

Josh Schmidt(RHP)

Eduardo Nunez (SS)

Jorge Vazquez (1b)

Reegie Corona (2b)

Binghamton Mets

Josh Thole (C)- unfortunately he went on the disabled list today with a dislocated thumb.

Roy Merritt (LHP)

DJ Wabick (OF)

Kevin Burkhardt mentioned this last night. Watch the video, found courtesy of John Strubel of Flushing 9, which gives you the story behind the haunted historic Phsiter Hotel. Interviews include Trevor Hoffman, Mike Cameron, Tony LaRussa, and St. Louis SS Brendan Ryan who had a paranormal experience. Still no word on which Dodgers player sleeps with a bat for protection or the Florida Marlins players who share a room.

It has been such a pleasure to watch Mike Pelfrey develop over the past two seasons, particularly since it seemed like such an unlikely occurance as recently as spring training, 2008.

Talking to him after he’d been crushed by the B-team of the Cardinals in late March, I remember seeing Pelfrey, always willing to talk to the media at length, seemingly at a loss. He couldn’t throw his secondary pitches, and hitters were crushing his fastball.

But to Pelfrey’s credit, he never stopped trying to figure it out. It’s come in fits and starts for him. Even this season, he entered Wednesday’s game with 29 walks, 37 strikeouts in 81 innings.

His effectiveness is as good as his secondary pitches; with them, he is unstoppable. Without them, he is in a one-pitch test of wills and location.

But on an afternoon like his work against the Brewers, the type of pitcher Mike Pelfrey can be reasserted itself. For Pelfrey, understanding when to throw his pitches, how to vary them, the mental skills necessary for big league success, are already present. This is normally the biggest battle a young pitcher faces, but Pelfrey has made it clear that when he has the weapons, he can deploy them properly.

So while the victory Pelfrey notched, out-dueling the devastating Yovani Gallardo, was vital for a Mets team that needs to gobble up victories wherever possible until the offense returns from the disabled list, there was another element at work here. Mets fans got to see what Mike Pelfrey, an untouchable in the Johan Santana negotiations, is increasingly providing on a more regular basis. Mets fans got to see what Mike Pelfrey could someday be every fifth day.

Each win right now makes the immediate future a little brighter. Today’s win allowed Mets fans to see beyond the 2009 horizon.