- The theme of tonight’s Mets game should be the state of umpiring. Across the board the umpires, in my opinion, have been terrible this year. Normally my biggest complaint would be the inconsistent strike zone, but now basic calls are blown. Bill Welke is becoming the symbol of this problem. If you remember, he made that dopey call against Delgado the second game of the season. Now he blows two calls including one (the phantom interference) that could have been game changing. Perhaps it’s time for the league to start cleaning house. The crew at Citi Field tonight should be the first on that list. Some of the one’s at Yankee Stadium this week ought to be right after.

- Imagine if Jose Reyes pulled what Shane Victorino did? You would have heard cries of immaturity from here to the land of hoagies. When someone in Philly red does that its “gritty”, but if a Mets player did that it would be considered bush league.

- Is Carlos Pena taking the “Big Papi” mantle from David Ortiz? That is now 15 homers for his career against the Yankees. Thirteen have come the last three years in a Tampa uniform. Perhaps “Mini Papi” is more appropriate

- I keep harping on this but Rivera’s velocity continues to be down despite his command being good as ever. You have to wonder how much longer he can get away with these mid-eighties fastballs. This leaves him with very little margin for error. Even the great Mariano can’t be perfect all the time. The Crawford and Longoria at-bats last night proved that point.

- You saw two 3b on display tonight. One (David Wright) looks to be finally breaking out of his slump. The other (Evan Longoria) might very well be putting an MVP season together. Longoria is quickly becoming one of the best players in baseball this side of Albert Pujols.

- Who stole Citi Field? Five homers in one game? This includes a 420 foot homer by Ryan Howard and a David Wright shot to dead center. The best part about this barrage is we all got to see that the home run apple works.

- It would be a great story to see Jaime Moyer pitch until he is 50. Unfortunately, Father Time looks to have sucked away his command and whatever was left of his velocity.

-Omir Santos was the best thing to ever happen to Ramon Castro in a Mets uniform.

- You know who might be the Yankees biggest competition this season? Age.

- I actually am looking forward to A-Rod coming back. Don’t ask me why, but things have just been too quiet around the Yankees without him. Now we can stop talking about empty seats and focus on the next dopey statement.

- Steve Somers calls the Nassau Coliseum the Nassau “Mausoleum”. How long before the new Yankee Stadium earns the “mausoleum” moniker? After Rivera gave up the back to back bombs it was more like a crypt. Is it possible the ghosts didn’t get the memo that the team moved?

- Were those boos in the eighth inning after Mark Teixeira flied out? I thought I heard a few when Mariano left as well.

- If you missed last night’s show with former big league catcher Brent Mayne feel free to download the replay here. You can hear Brent give you a great perspective on the life of a big league catcher.

Mike Silva is a freelance writer and radio host since March of 2007. This website is his own personal "digest" of New York Baseball He's also hosts NYBD Radio on Blog Talk Radio and 1240 AM WGBB. Check out his sports media commentary at www.sportsmediawatchdog.com. You can read about him professionally at mikejsilva.com.

Mike Silva

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Tags: A-Rod, Bill Welke, Carlos Pena, Citi Field, David Ortiz, David Wright, Evan Longoria, Jamie Moyer, Jose Reyes, Mariano Rivera, Mark Teixeira, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Omir Santos, Philadelphia Phillies, Ramon Castro, Ryan Howard, Shane Victorino, Steve Somers, Tampa Bay Rays