Porcello joins the ranks of those lending support following Hurricane Sandy

Way to go, Rick Porcello! The Jersey guy had a chance to pick up a little gift in exchange for a couple of digits, but he chose a different route instead.

Torii Hunter asked his new teammate for No. 48, which Hunter has worn his whole career (since 1997) and Porcello has donned throughout his career -- which only goes back to 2009. In cases like these, the veteran usually gets his number -- for a price. But Porcello, to his credit, didn't want any money or a watch. He asked that Hunter donate the money to Hurricane Sandy recovery efforts.

Porcello joins a growing list of ballplayers and teams lending a hand, either by volunteering their time or making a donation, in the aftermath of the storm. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but here are a few of the more notable instances:

 Foley's NY -- the self-described "best baseball bar in New York City" (and it's hard to argue) -- invited David Cone, Cecil Fielder and Joe McEwing in as guest bartenders last week and donated all proceeds (video). (Would have loved to have been there, but I was working.)

 The Lakewood BlueClaws will be participating in "Restore the Shore" Fridays until Memorial Day and joined with representatives from the Phillies, Trenton Thunder and Philly affiliates Reading and Lehigh Valley for a community clean-up day on Monday. I wish I'd known about that one ahead of time to make plans to join them.

 Major League Baseball and the Players Association donated $1 million to the Red Cross. The Yankees donated $500,000 to the Red Cross and will also donate 20 percent of proceeds from sales at nyyankeesfragrance.com (whatever that is) through November and December. Joe Girardi and CC Sabathia also greeted fans (video) who made donations at Yankee Stadium.

 The Mets held a food drive that benefited Sandy victims and Johan Santana joined Jeff Wilpon on Coney Island to assist in the recovery (video).

 And in a gesture that really struck home with me (having grown up just a few miles from Sea Bright), the Orioles collected supplies and had them driven directly to several Shore towns hit hardest: Toms River, Belmar, Sea Bright, Union Beach and Hazlet.

As I said, I easily may have missed some, so feel free to leave any additions in the comments.

Photo Flashback: Meeting the Mets home and away

Night at Oriole Park

I'm finally catching up after a whirlwind weekend. After working long into the morning on Thursday, I went to that afternoon's Mets-Padres game before going back to work that night. And who would've thought that of the two matchups -- Mat Latos vs. Johan Santana and Jon Garland vs. Jon Niese -- that it would be the Niese game that would turn out to be nearly perfect?

When Wednesday's game was rained out and the doubleheader announced for Thursday, I was psyched that Johan drew the afternoon start. I would've enjoyed seeing Niese -- I've seen him before, as far down as the Class A Sally League -- but I'm never disappointed when I get to go to a Johan game. As it turned out, I did get to enjoy Niese's performance on SNY, watching much more closely than if I'd been at the ballpark.

Padres vs. Mets, 6/10/10

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

On Friday, my wife and I hit the road at 1 p.m. -- an hour later than we'd hoped, but I needed to sleep in a little -- and got to our Inner Harbor hotel a little before 5. Even though we were an hour behind schedule, we still trudged up through the Mount Vernon neighborhood for cold beer and good food at The Brewer's Art (make time for it the next time you're in Baltimore), even though it meant missing the start of the game when the light rail took forever to come afterward. We waited for about 20 minutes and watched three northbound trains pass by.

Once there, we entered at Eutaw Street and walked around to our seats on the third-base side, behind the Mets' dugout. It had been nearly eight years since I'd been to Camden Yards and I think almost 18 since I'd been anywhere but the Eutaw Street concourse, so I didn't recall the layout of the main concourses. While Oriole Park began the retro ballpark trend, one significant change in most of those that followed is the open concourse that allows fans to see the game as they're circumnavigating the stadium. It doesn't detract much from the experience for me, and I actually found it quaint and another retro aspect of the design. The concourses are still wide, but they open through vast wrought-iron gates to the surrounding streets and as you walk to your section, you notice the immense support poles holding up the slanted structure above you. Writing now, I wish I'd paused to take a few pictures (though it's not like there aren't any out there, or like I'll never go back there), but at the time, we were weary and late and eager to get to our seats. Then once there, we didn't move until the Mets had wrapped up their 5-1 victory.

Mets at Orioles, 6/11/10

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Photo Friday: Vintage Spring Training

In some ways, I'm still not caught up from vacation, because I hadn't intended to skip two slide-show Fridays. The plan was to have this one in the bag for two weeks ago, then resume with the weekly collections the following week. Clearly, didn't happen.

At least it's still spring training, though these images fit more toward the beginning of camp. Back in February, I bought the March 3, 1958, issue of Sports Illustrated and the April 5, 1948 issue of LIFE magazine on eBay because they had photo spreads -- and covers -- dedicated to spring training. They're fun images to look at, especially because, until recently, Al Lang Field in St. Petersburg was still used (by the Rays) and Vero Beach was still the Dodgers' home. Now, both are retired, at least as spring facilities. More images can be found at the Google LIFE photo archive, LIFE.com and SI on Getty, plus 39 covers at SI.com.

I'll dig up something for next week and then hopefully will have fresh batches of photos throughout the season. I might not get to a game a week, but I definitely have the archives to come up with something to post each Friday, as long as I stay on top of things. I don't expect I'll choose to do any more that aren't my own shots. This was a one-off look back at what spring training used to be.

Photo Friday: Memorial Stadium, 1991

Cal

I never got to see Comiskey Park before it was replaced by New Comiskey, and I still regret that a bit. But I was just 13 in the summer of 1990, and Chicago is a long way from New Jersey. There was no way to get there on my own, and our family trip that summer was to California, so Dodger Stadium was the ballpark away from home that I got to visit.

But a year later, I did get to see Baltimore's Memorial Stadium in its final year. As with the Rangers-Red Sox game at Fenway in 1993, the foursome of myself, my friend Matt and our fathers made the trip. It was a one-day jaunt down to Baltimore and back, about a 3 1/2-hour drive each way, not counting the time spent sitting without moving in the parking lot after the game. With the stadium jammed into a neighborhood, parking was limited, so cars were just lined up in the lots around the ballpark, as you can see in the photo on this page. We weren't in too deep, but we did have to wait for at least one car to move before we could depart, and the owner of it didn't leave the game as quickly as we did.

Other notable moments from the day: We saw Mo Vaughn's first Major League home run, I was definitely psyched to see Cal Ripken play (you'll notice his batting stance in one of the photos) and Wade Boggs struck out. I found this last one notable because, a week earlier in Boston, I'd seen Don Mattingly strike out, and neither did so all that frequently.

The next year, we went to Camden Yards in its inaugural season, and the differences were immense. Of course, Oriole Park is noted as the beginning of the "retro ballpark" trend, but in addition, it also marked a shift from building stadia on the outskirts of town to finding room in or near the heart of downtown. Or at least more accessible to the city itself and its public transportation. In some ways, it can be seen not only in Baltimore, but San Francisco, San Diego, Cleveland and Houston, just to name four off the top of my head that I've visited. The drive to Memorial Stadium on the city's east side included a civics lesson, while a visit to Oriole Park is as much a tourist destination as the nearby Inner Harbor.

Starting a new Tradition (or Starting anew at Tradition)

If teams are supposed to bring at least four starters to road games in the spring, how do you tell with the Orioles?

That's a question I asked my new friends as we watched the Mets and Orioles from the second row behind home plate at Tradition Field in Port St. Lucie. The lineup on this day featured holdover veterans Aubrey Huff and Jay Gibbons, and then ... probable center fielder Adam Jones (who had been acquired from the Mariners in the Erik Bedard trade) and eventual Opening Day starter Jeremy Guthrie. All-Stars Brian Roberts and Nick Markakis didn't make the trip, though the two New Jersey guys I'd met this morning and the Frenchman who had joined us walking around the complex thought that third baseman Mike Costanzo was Markakis, and shouted at him during batting practice based on that assumption.


I'd been at the ballpark since 7:30 a.m., taking a shot at catching some of the players as they arrived for work. I saw some -- Carlos Delgado in his Mazerati pulling into the fenced-in players' lot, Johan Santana and Aaron Heilman through the screen over the fence as they walked from their cars into the clubhouse -- but only Heilman acknowledged us, saying he had to get inside. There were only five of us, yet still no willing signers.

Port St. Lucie was the best stop of the trip. It might've been the familiarity of the club or the relative friendliness of being with my own fans. At Dodgertown, I could've easily had Jason Schmidt's autograph, but I didn't have much of a desire. But in St. Lucie, I went to bed at 10 p.m. just so that I could get up at 6 o'clock to be at the complex by 7:30. I was, literally, the first fan there.

After a walk around the main field, I returned to a spot near the players' lot and met Jamie and Michael, the two brothers from central Jersey. We became fast friends and spent the day talking baseball. When I mentioned that I had to go buy a ticket to sit in the seats because I'd bought a berm-only ticket, they handed me one of their two spare complimentary seats two rows away from the Mets' on-deck circle. I even ended up in the aisle seat.

After two hours of nothing -- no players came over from the lot, though as I said, we saw Delgado, Santana, Heilman, Jose Reyes, David Wright, Brian Schneider and a few others, even if we were unsure of exactly who they were -- we walked through the practice fields with three fans from France who had made the trip and happily joined us around the grounds. Jamie and Michael saw two minor leaguers they'd gotten to know from going to games at Binghamton and Trenton -- Tim McNab and Mike Nickeas -- and we caught the big leaguers warming up for batting practice on Field 7, the one reconfigured with CitiField's dimensions. The outfielders were learning the angles just as we were usured out at 10:30, when the gates closed.

Though the Mets may have been the most unaccomodating of the three teams I saw -- no way to get autographs as the players arrive, only a short hour or 90 minutes to roam the fields, and a way-to-early forced exit at 10:30, then limited access near the dugout -- I enjoyed the brief glimpses in Port St. Lucie the most. But based on what others said about charging for workouts, I suspect the Braves are more uninviting. I arrived too late at the Disney complex to wander around, but I was told in PSL that Atlanta (or Disney) charges fans to enter the workouts. And though the Dodgers and Mets collected $5 for parking, that's $5 if it's one person in the car, but also if it's four.

Once we entered Tradition Field at 11 a.m., we spent about 90 minutes during Orioles batting practice waiting for Mets autographs and got nothing. They never emerged from the dugout, having completed all BP and warmups on the back field. That annoyed me. I haven't tried for any autographs in years, but I printed out some photos I've taken and felt an urge to meet a few guys for the first time in a long time.

My photos from behind the plate on this day are stellar, in my mind. It was a great afternoon for shooting, which made up for the lack of autographs. The Mets starters -- save pitcher Oliver Perez -- played through the sixth inning, and following Perez, we got Wagner, Heilman, Joe Smith and Duaner Sanchez. After the game, I went with Jamie and Michael to see Omar Minaya, but didn't think until much later that I should've mentioned my plan for the Home Run Apple to Fred Wilpon.

Jamie, Michael and I met up with the three French kids and the father/son pair from Islen once more before I headed north to my cousin Donna's house, another long drive through Floridian desolation with the iPod shuffling and the Prius coasting.

Port St. Lucie -- as remote and lonesome as it is, relative to the well-known Florida hotspots -- was the perfect end to this initial foray into spring training tourism. I'm eager to go back, though not as eager as I am for the course of this season, which is bound to be interesting. I don't know that I'd want to make it an annual trip (there are too many places I'd like to see to spend vacation time and money going to Florida every March), but I'd certainly be up for a somewhat regular return.

2008 Preview: AL East

BOSTON RED SOX

In general

What's not to like about the Red Sox? Really only one thing: Curt Schilling's shoulder. Clearly, Boston was counting on Schilling as its likely third starter with the $8-million deal it signed him to in the offseason. Had they had any doubts about his healthy, they surely would've offered him an incentive-laden contract (say, $2-4 million a year, with increases for innings pitched or starts made). And if Schilling didn't like that offer, he would've tried the free-agent market. But it's not all bad for Boston, because now they can put both promising young arms -- the right one of Clay Buchholz and the left one of Jon Lester -- into the rotation, if they so please. Nonetheless, their starting pitching is in decent shape (particularly if Bartolo Colon has anything left) even without Schilling, while their bullpen and lineup haven't really lost anything.

September/October star Jacoby Ellsbury should get the center field job, leaving Coco Crisp as an attractive backup or trade piece to help the pitching staff. It probably wouldn't hurt the Mets too much to consider Crisp as a left-field fill-in for Moises Alou. But everyone else is back, and maybe J.D. Drew won't suck as much.

What I'm looking forward to seeing

Will they be able to put away the Yankees if they open up a big lead like they did last year? Can Buchholz and Lester handle the load they're likely to be given this year? Will Tim Wakefield pitch until he's 50? (That won't happen this year, though.) Is Manny going to put up tremendous numbers in his walk year? (the Red Sox have an option for each of the next two seasons.) What can Ellsbury do in his first full season? And which J.D. Drew will the Nation get?

NEW YORK YANKEES

In general

They had one "significant" acquisition during the offseason -- highly uncharacteristic for the Yankees in the past decade -- and that was to bring in reliever LaTroy Hawkins. In a kick to the rear end for nostalgia, they gave him No. 22 -- the digits worn last year by Roger Clemens. That's pretty much an about-face from the self-indulging comeback announcement he made from George Steinbrenner's box at Yankee Stadium last year. Hawkins' signing, in theory, means that Joba Chamberlain moves to the rotation to start the season. But now the talk is that Joba will "begin" the season in the bullpen. There certainly is no need to force him into the rotation when Chien-Ming Wang, Andy Pettitte, Phil Hughes, Mike Mussina and Ian Kennedy form a solid five, but age is an issue with four-fifths of that quintet. Wang has won 19 games each of the past two seasons, but Pettitte and Mussina are basically year-to-year guys -- who knows what you'll get from them each year beyond their last. And Hughes and Kennedy will be attempting their first full seasons in a Major League rotation, and for all their talent, they'll still have to face the Red Sox three or four times each and face other challenges at the big league level that can't be simulated at lower levels or in spring training.

The Yankees lost nothing from their lineup, ensuring Alex Rodriguez is overpaid in a market that got out of hand in some cases (Carlos Silva) but showed admirable restraint in others (good job, everyone, for not giving Kyle Lohse $10 million a year). A-Rod didn't seem to have teams rushing to sign him for $230 million, but the Yankees didn't even try to bring him down from his -- or agent Scott Boras' -- initial demand. They also retained their catcher coming off a career year -- though their 36-year-old catcher, whom they signed for four more years. Jorge Posada shouldn't be a question mark this year, but at some point all that squatting has to (pardon the pun) catch up with him. Of course, his aversion to blocking the plate should add a year or two to the productive period of his career.

Where the Yankees are tight, or struggling with lineup decisions, is the left field, first base, designated hitter triangle. If they put Jason Giambi at first, Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui can split left and DH. But if they don't -- or can't -- put Giambi in the field, then either Damon or Matsui sits. And who plays first? Morgan Ensberg? Ouch. Whether it's Giambi, Damon or Matsui riding the padded cushion in the dugout, that's an awful lot of money for your first pinch-hitter off the bench. And it's not like you can put any of them in there for a defensive upgrade.

What I'm looking forward to seeing

I loved A-Rod when he was in the AL West, but now I hate him in pinstripes. However, it's still thrilling to watch him hit and to see just how high he can get those numbers. How quickly will he close the gap to 755 home runs? Will Derek Jeter -- the worst fielding shortstop in the game (up through something like 2005) -- get to any balls more than three steps away? (Kidding.) Actually, what I really want to see from this team is what Hughes, Kennedy and Chamberlain do -- and whether new manager Joe Girardi goes easy on them or pushes them as hard as he pushed his young Marlins pitchers during his lone season on the bench in Miami. Only Scott Olsen came out of that season unscathed. Josh Johnson, Ricky Nolasco and Anibal Sanchez have all had arm problems and missed significant time. And do they make the playoffs? This is not to discount the Yankees, but have they ever had the kind of competition for a playoff spot as they do this year with the Red Sox, Tigers and Indians? Probably not.

TORONTO BLUE JAYS

In general

In some other divisions, the Jays might be contenders. In the AL East, behind Boston and New York, Toronto is likely a mid-80s win team with a chance to make spoiler. Their lineup features solid on-base guys mixed with the power of Alex Rios, Vernon Wells, Frank Thomas and maybe Scott Rolen. The rotation starts with two premier arms in Roy Halladay and A.J. Burnett, followed by some potential breakout guys like Dustin McGowan and Shawn Marcum. The bullpen could be decent if B.J. Ryan is back from Tommy John surgery from the outset, but without him, it could be a slow start -- something the Jays can't afford.

What I'm looking forward to seeing

I drafted Rios in a fantasy league three or four years ago -- which was two or three years too early. He blossomed last year and was nearly traded to the Giants for one of the top up-and-coming arms in the game, Tim Lincecum. How good will Rios be? What does Frank Thomas have left? Seems like a lot, and it's always fun to watch the guy keep slugging because he's one of the good guys -- and one of the clean guys. Does Wells bounce back from a disappointing 2007? Does Rolen have a rebirth north of the border, or is his career set to take off on the downward slope?

TAMPA BAY RAYS

In general

This team is on the rise, and with the de-feathering of the Orioles, the Rays will move up a rung in the standings. A rotation beginning with Scott Kazmir, James Shields and Matt Garza looks like fun (so long as Kazmir's elbow is healthy), and a lineup stocked with young, talented hitters like Carl Crawford, B.J. Upton and Evan Longoria will be much more enjoyable to watch than the previous attempts with Fred McGriff, Jose Canseco and Greg Vaughn.

What I'm looking forward to seeing

Is Longoria ready for the bigs? Will he live up to the hype? Can Upton continue to hit like he did in '07? Is Shields really that good? Will Kazmir make it through a full season?

BALTIMORE ORIOLES

In general

Andy MacPhail is in to straighten this team out, and he's brought in a load of prospects -- mostly pitchers -- by dealing Miguel Tejada and Erik Bedard. Dumping Tejada days before his name appeared in the Mitchell Report was an added bonus. Now if he can keep making moves without owner Peter Angelos interfering -- note how long it took for the long-rumored Bedard deal to finally happen, and how long we've been hearing about Brian Roberts to the Cubs -- the O's may turn this around sooner than we think.

What I'm looking forward to seeing

There's not much. Maybe three: Is Nick Markakis a stud? Is Jeremy Guthrie really the best this pitching staff has? Can Adam Jones emerge as a leader?

Laying Trachs to the AL East

Steve Trachsel

The right-shoulder injury sustained by Kris Benson leaves the Orioles in a lurch, because the team felt rather comfortable up to this point with its pitching situation. Baltimore went out and spent more than $40 million to bolster the bullpen and expected Benson to anchor an otherwise young but up-and-coming rotation. Left-hander Erik Bedard led the Birds with 33 starts in 2006, Daniel Cabrera brought his ERA down by nearly a run and raised his strikeout-to-walk ratio by almost a full point after the All-Star break, Jaret Wright came over in a trade from the Yankees to add another experienced arm, and Adam Loewen was expected to fill out the final spot and continue his development.

But now the Orioles have to find someone to fill Benson's slot, and the reports are it will be free agent Steve Trachsel. ESPN.com's Rumor Central posted on Feb. 2 that Trachsel prefered to stay in the National League, with the Cardinals, Astros and Nationals considering him. Now, suddenly, it appears he's willing to go to the junior circuit.

The problem -- which could be quite amusing, so long as you're not an Orioles fan -- is that if he chooses Baltimore, he chooses the AL East. And he chooses to face lineups -- those of the Blue Jays, Red Sox and Yankees -- that will be less than forgiving for a pitcher making an adjustment to the designated-hitter-heavy wallops packed by AL batting orders. Look at what Randy Johnson experienced in his two years in the AL, and he didn't have to face the Yanks.

Both Bedard and Cabrera started a slew of games against that triumverate in 2006, so Trachsel should expect to face them a total of eight or nine times this year. On 11 different occassions, when Bedard went out to the mound for the first inning, he found himself looking at one of those teams in the opposing dugout, facing the Jays five times and the Red Sox four. Cabrera went up against Toronto four times.

I just find it hard to believe that Trachsel would be willing to join Baltimore and face that kind of potential bombardment, when the Cardinals and Astros apparently wanted him to come in and bolster more experienced and starting staffs on teams that have better postseason chances than the Orioles do.

As a Mets fan, I was happy to have Trachsel around for 30 starts in 2006. He was the longest-tenured Met and clearly enjoyed the celebration when the Mets clinched the NL East. But when he struggled in his Game 3 start in the NLCS, hurt his leg and then, apparently, asked out of the game, he lost some respect in the clubhouse, reports have said. It was unlikely he was coming back to the Mets. And considering that he's now 36 years old and the Mets have younger options in John Maine, Oliver Perez and even Chan Ho Park, I think I'd prefer they take their chances with one of those, even with three out of five starting spots officially unaccounted for.

But man, there could be some fireworks on those days Trachsel toes the rubber against the AL East's big three.

Which part of Palmeiro's story do we believe?

I have to say I'm stunned. Shocked. Knock me over with a feather.

It's not so much that Rafael Palmeiro tested positive a banned substance under MLB's new drug policy, it's that so many people are being so damn quick to crucify him for it. To be clear, I agree that this is a blow to his career and his accomplishments. Furthermore, perhaps most importantly, he certainly could answer a lot of questions — and perhaps clear his name a little bit — if he elaborated on his comments that he "never knowingly took steroids" and that he would love to explain what he tested positive for and why he took whatever it was he took, but he won't by saying he can't.

To read Scott Miller's column, you'd think Miller himself walked in on Palmeiro holding the needle. Buster Olney calls for Palmeiro to explain himself and at least tosses in the conditional "might" before saying his Congressional testimony in March does not appear to have been truthful. The fact of the matter is, we don't know what Palmeiro tested positive for, and we don't know that he was telling anything but the truth before Congress. Apparently, such details were not passed on to Miller. It bothers me when journalists are so quick to get their opinion out there, eager to inflate their reputation with strong words and a definitive stance. It's a tired, repeated refrain (just take a look at any conservative site with regard to the war in Iraq) that the media is so quick to report on the negative and overlook the positive, but it seems not to be restricted to world politics. (And how much does the internet play a role? Would some of these columns look any different if they weren't rushed "to post" less than six hours after the announcement?)

In my opinion, I think MLB rushed into this policy because it wanted to save face. It had ignored the problem for so long, but now that Congress was getting involved, it had to do something. Almost as soon as the details were announced, they were criticized.

To this day, I wonder if the players have been provided with a definitive list of what will cause their urine sample to come back positive when tested under baseball's drug policy. Torii Hunter was initially scared to drink Red Bull and I wonder if he's received any assurances that it's OK. Senator Joe Biden (Democrat of Delaware) issued a statement in January saying, "The new testing system sounds better than the flimsy one they had before. But the penalties are weak and it is still unclear what substances will be banned under this new agreement." And in the NFL, they had already learned that some banned substances are not clear on the labels of the supplements they take.

Back to Palmeiro. If it weren't for Jose Canseco's book, I don't think Raffy would have been among the usual suspects with regard to steroids. To me, his career just doesn't scream "steroid user." His home run output never had the jump that, say, Barry Bonds' did when he suddenly hit 73 after never reaching 50 before (or since). He increased his 1992 total of 23 by 15 in 1993, an impressive bump, but not a suspicious one to me. He was 28 that season, too, and how many baseball men will tell you that strong arms and quick wrists that produce lots of line drives and doubles can turn into home runs with a minor adjustment that puts a little more loft on the ball? Sure, it doesn't help Raffy's case that the 37 home runs came in the year after Jose Canseco arrived (I'm not going to ignore a fact just to prove my point), but again, it's not like there were no other possible explanations for the power boost.

Palmeiro played five years in Baltimore — somewhat seen as a welcoming park for the left-handed hitters — and then returned to Texas and its new hitters haven. He was solid and consistent, as are the hitters on his comparable players list. Nothing but reliable Hall of Famers there.

I don't think Palmeiro's stupid. I don't think the combination of his lawyers, agent and wife are, either. Even if he had done something he shouldn't have in the past, before his appearance before Congress, how could he put himself in such a position to be caught like this? Seriously, do you think a man who has continued to work with Congress, participating in a conference call just a few weeks ago, would accept that invitation while knowingly breaking the rules at the same time?

Last summer in Houston, I stood in a conference room at Minute Maid Park with every living member of the 500 home run club. Steroids had again become a hot topic to the point where that night on Baseball Tonight, I watched Karl Ravech interview Mark McGwire, a conversation that must have happened either moments before or after the press conference I attended. Each hitter had a table to which he went after the initial introduction and camera crews and print reporters alike approached the players as they needed. Aside from the great Willie Mays and the outspoken Reggie Jackson, the players who drew the biggest crowds — and, in the instances I dropped in and heard bits of conversation as I made sure I stopped at each table, fielded the steroids questions — were Bonds, Sammy Sosa and McGwire, the players who then, as now, have drawn the most suspicion.

Among the most accessible tables were those of Ken Griffey Jr. and Palmeiro. In fact, some of Bonds' overflow spilled into Griffey's space. In my mind, I still tend to think of Palmeiro as part of that group, the one that included Mike Schmidt, Harmon Killebrew, Willie McCovey and Frank Robinson; not the group of Bonds, Sosa, McGwire. I'm sure Palmeiro is guilty of something; I don't think he's a patsy, I don't think he's being set up by MLB. There's no conspiracy. But I do wonder if we'll ever know the truth, if every suspended player who says he never took anything more than a supplement will be vindicated or exposed.

While I'm not going to go off half-cocked and absurdly say Palmeiro lied in front of Congress when there is absolutely no such proof to support that accusation, I do wonder just what part of his story I should believe. Unfortunately, I don't think Raffy will ever tell us, for sure.

Orioles-Nationals gate comparison No. 5

The major league teams in Baltimore and Washington have now played at home on the same day 13 times this season. Well, there have been 13 dates, but a rainout in Baltimore last week (yet not in Washington, interestingly enough) meant the O's lost a game. (It will be made up Monday, Sept. 26, a day after the Nationals finish a series at home with the Mets.)

Thursday, July 7
Mets at Washington: 44,492
Red Sox at Orioles: 47,389

So having the Red Sox in town helps make up for last week's rainout with the Yankees in the visiting dugout.

Out of these 12 days on which both the Nationals and Orioles actually played a home game, Baltimore has drawn the bigger crowds seven times to Washington's five. It would have been 8-5, surely, without the rainout since the Orioles average 40,000 with the Yankees in town and Washington had only 31,000 that night. It's also worth noting that two of Washington's better crowds came on weeknights when Baltimore was hosting the Tigers and drew less than 20,000 (including the smallest crowd in Camden Yards history). Washington took both nights with less than 26,000.

For review, here are each of the dates, repeating yesterday at the end:

Saturday, April 16
Baltimore vs. Yankees: 48,598
Washington vs. Diamondbacks: 34,943

Sunday, April 17
Baltimore vs. Yankees: 47,883
Washington vs. Diamondbacks: 35,463

Monday, April 18
Baltimore vs. Detroit: 16,301 (smallest crowd in Camden Yards history)
Washington vs. Florida: 24,003

Tuesday, April 19
Baltimore vs. Detroit: 18,009
Washington vs. Florida: 25,990

Wednesday, April 20
Baltimore vs. Boston: 36,478 (the Red Sox will bring crowds)
Washington vs. Atlanta: 27,374

Thursday, April 21
Baltimore vs. Boston: 40,419
Washington vs. Atlanta: 30,728 (this for a day game)

Friday, April 29
Baltimore vs. Tampa Bay: 24,910
Washington vs. the Mets: 30,627

Saturday, April 30
Baltimore vs. Tampa Bay: 19,920
Washington vs. the Mets: 40,913

Sunday, May 1
Baltimore vs. Tampa Bay: 30,784
Washington vs. the Mets: 27,333

Tuesday, June 28
Baltimore vs. Yankees(so you know it's going to be high): 47,465
Washington vs. Pirates: 35,828

Wednesday, June 29
Baltimore vs. Yankees: Rained out (killer)
Washington vs. Pirates: 31,213

Thursday, June 30
Baltimore vs. Indians: 27,272
Washington vs. Pirates: 37,361

Thursday, July 7
Baltimore vs. Red Sox: 47,389
Washington vs. Mets: 44,492

Orioles-Nationals gate comparison No. 4

So I was asleep at the turnstiles last week, when the Orioles and Nationals had three home dates in common. It had been so long (nearly two months) that they'd both been at home that it wasn't on my radar. So let's look at their attendance figures:

Tuesday, June 28
Pirates at Washington: 35,828
Yankees at Baltimore (so you know it's going to be high): 47,465

Wednesday, June 29
Pirates at Washington: 31,213
Yankees at Baltimore: Rained out (killer)

Thursday, June 30
Pirates at Washington: 37,361
Indians at Baltimore: 27,272

There's one more common date before the break, tomorrow, so after those games I'll break down the head-to-head numbers further, and sometime during the three-day lull I'll look at their overall attendance. But entering tonight's games (with the Nationals at home against the Mets and the Orioles in New York), Washington ranked 13th in the majors with an average of 32,812 while Baltimore was 15th at 31,735. The Orioles, despite a two-month run at the top of the AL East, are drawing about 3,000 fewer fans per game than they did in 2004. However, the Northeast's long, cold spring has affected attendance at most parks, and the O's have a chance to rebound with the summer crowds.

Washington is indeed one of the best stories of the season so far, but how far will it go? Can the Nationals keep up this pace? Can they continue to win 77 percent (23-7) of their one-run games? Can they continue to play 10 games above their expected record? Are they a 51-32 team, or a 42-42 team? Can they continue to have the best bullpen record (20-10) in the National League with the fourth-best bullpen ERA (4.08)?

I'm dubious. I look at this team a little like the 2003 Kansas City Royals, though at 51-32 through 83 games, Washington is six games better than the Royals were at the same point (45-38). For now, I have to root for the Nats to slide while the Mets have a slim chance to be a part of this race. But if Washington can continue to hold off the Braves and the underachieving Marlins, I'll be buying that D.C. cap -- the one I've been meaning to get, since it's my initials anyway -- and pulling for the worst-to-first story.

Orioles and Nationals at the gate, April review

Peter Angelos is going to make out like a bandit. That's going to be my prediction, now that we're one month into the season. The slimy lawyer bitched and moaned (and probably cried) that his franchise, the Baltimore Orioles, would be so damaged by the presence of a team in Washington that he held up the move of the Montreal Expos for two years, then got a sweetheart deal out of the cable network that will show both Nationals and Orioles games. However, as my friends in Washington tell me, when the Nationals and Orioles both play at the same time, guess which one is put on the air? In a small bit of just retribution, Angelos is being sued by Comcast, which has the rights to Orioles games on cable through 2006.

After Angelos claimed that "there are no real baseball fans in D.C.," he tried to avoid having a Washington team presumably continue to take away from his own team's declining attendance figures. What he seemed to forget, though, is that after the novelty of a gorgeous ballpark wears off, the sure-fire way to get people to come to your games is to put together an exciting, winning team.

So here we are now at the end of April, a day into May. Baltimore stands atop the AL East, the toughest division in baseball in which to crack the top two (not to be confused with the toughest division in baseball). They have a four-game lead as of this morning -- on Boston and Toronto, not even the Yankees, who have just finished the second-worst April since George Steinbrenner bought the team. Only the 1984 club, which was chasing the juggernaut Tigers, was more games out of first (11 1/2) than these aging pinstripers (7 1/2). The Orioles' 16 wins in April equaled the franchise record for the month. The previous two times it happened, Baltimore went to the World Series (1969) and won the AL East after going wire-to-wire (1997). They might have gone to the Series that year too, had Jeffrey Maier read the rules on the back of his ticket about not interfering with balls in play.

So now, Baltimore and Washington have each played 13 games at home, including nine times when both clubs were at home. The two clubs rank 11th and 15th overall in MLB in attendance per game:

11. Baltimore: 418,444 total, 32,188 per game
15. Washington 398,741 total, 30,672 per game

That's right, it's the sad-sack Orioles, the team we were all supposed to feel sorry for, that's leading the Beltway battle by nearly 2,000 fans per game. Not only that, they've sold 66.8 percent of all tickets, while Washington's managed only 54.1, according to ESPN's attendance rankings.

Here are the last five head-to-head gates, since I wasn't paying attention last week...

SUNDAY:
Baltimore vs. Tampa Bay: 30,784
Washington vs. the Mets: 27,333

SATURDAY:
Baltimore vs. Tampa Bay: 19,920
Washington vs. the Mets: 40,913

FRIDAY:
Baltimore vs. Tampa Bay: 24,910
Washington vs. the Mets: 30,627

April 21:
Baltimore vs. Boston: 40,419
Washington vs. Atlanta: 30,728

April 20:
Baltimore vs. Boston: 36,478
Washington vs. Atlanta: 27,374

If the Orioles can keep up their run of contention in the AL East, they should win this competition easily, though unfortunately we won't have the pleasure of seeing Peter Angelos eat his words. It's too bad Angelos and, say, mayor Anthony Williams of D.C. couldn't put a friendly wager on this attendance battle, the way mayors or governors do when their teams meet in the World Series or Super Bowl. It wouldn't have been feasible because each man, in effect, would've had to root against his team's attendance with regard to the other team's in order to win (Angelos saying Washington would hurt his team's attendance, Mayor Williams saying Washington's its own city and wouldn't draw from the Orioles' fan base). But it would've been nice to see Angelos, in a pennant race in September, cursing his sellouts to save face.

But maybe he wouldn't have to worry about that, since lawyers rarely show their true reptilian skin.

Orioles-Nationals gate comparison No. 3

Yesterday in New Jersey, there was a promotion at the ballpark.

It was August in April day at Lakewood's FirstEnergy Park. I went to the 11 a.m. game against the Hagerstown Suns (how appropriate) in near-90-degree weather and was glad to put the sunscreen on. Even on an April Humpday, Lakewood drew 4,010 fans. (Unfortunately, the New Jersey team's four-year stranglehold on South Atlantic League attendance titles is in jeopardy with the long-needed new ballpark in Greensboro outdrawing the BlueClaws by 400 fans a game. Though once we get into summer at the Jersey Shore, that could change. Greensboro, though, doesn't have as much lawn seating, or as attractive GA locations as Lakewood.)

So maybe I'll have two sets of attendance wars to follow this summer.

Meanwhile, down around the Beltway...

Wednesday
Baltimore vs. Boston: 36,478 (the Red Sox will bring crowds)
Washington vs. Atlanta: 27,374

Thursday
Baltimore vs. Boston: 40,419
Washington vs. Atlanta: 30,728 (this for a day game)

Orioles-Nationals gate comparison No. 2

Frank Robinson should just worry about getting his team ready to play, not about what highlights ESPN is showing after the game.

Tonight they'll show a second straight loss for the Nationals, and also a second straight outdrawing of the Orioles. So Washington and Baltimore are now 2-2 for the higher attendance on nights both teams play at home.

Monday:
Baltimore vs. Detroit: 16,301 (smallest crowd in Camden Yards history)
Washington vs. Florida: 24,003

Tuesday:
Baltimore vs. Detroit: 18,009
Washington vs. Florida: 25,990

Orioles-Nationals gate comparison No. 1

So much to catch up on, but first (since it can be a short post), here's a look at the first head-to-head comparison of attendance in Baltimore and Washington when they play on the same day. Yesterday's games were played at different times, but close enough (4:30 in Baltimore, 7 p.m. in Washington).

Yesterday:
Baltimore vs. Yankees: 48,598
Washington vs. Diamondbacks: 34,943

Today:
Baltimore vs. Yankees: 47,883
Washington vs. Diamondbacks: 35,463

Let's wait to see how things match up tomorrow through Thursday (when the Yankees aren't in Maryland) before we call bullcrap on Peter Angelos.

Orioles vs. Nationals ... at the gate

Because Orioles owner Peter Angelos and his staff continue to whine (and whine some more, and then piss off some people) about losing fans to the new Washington franchise, I've decided to take him to task. Throughout this season, I'm going to monitor the attendance of the Washington Nationals and the Baltimore Orioles. Neither team is expected to anything higher than third or fourth, at best, in their respective divisions and both have aspects intriguing enough to draw the fans to the ballparks. The Nationals are new, the first team in the nation's capital in a generation. The Orioles have star power in Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro (the first pair of 500-home-run hitters to ever play in the same lineup), Miguel Tejada and Javy Lopez.

So what if Washington is 35 miles from Baltimore? A city Washington's size should have a right to a major league franchise. Granted, the histories are longer, but there have been no problems in New York, Chicago, the Bay Area or L.A. (The Dodgers haven't had a problem with the Angels until they took their city's name. They didn't even move anywhere!) While those four cities and metropolitan areas are large enough to support two franchises, there is nothing that says Angelos has the right to two cities' worth of support for one team. If anything, Baltimore-Washington should be looked at as Oakland-San Francisco.

So while there are already debates about which team to see, it remains to be seen if the Nationals severely hurt the Orioles' attendance figures this season.

So here's what we'll be looking at this season:

• Out of 81 home games for each team, 25 fall on the same day. That's 31 percent, or just about one-third of the home season.

• For the Orioles, four of those 25 overlapping dates are against the Yankees at Camden, always a big draw. They shouldn't have anything to worry about, since the ballpark will be half-full with Yankee fans anyway.

• For the Nationals, seven games involve Mets at RFK, which should be a draw. Mets fans in upstate New York (and some from downstate, too, I'm sure) often made a trip to Montreal each season, so it's no stretch to think that there will be some Mets fans heading south to D.C. for a weekend series. I'll be one of them, in fact.

• The days of the Mets games are: an April Friday-Sunday (when Tampa Bay is at Baltimore), a July Monday-Thursday (with the Red Sox at Camden on the Thursday) and a September Friday-Sunday (also with the BoSox at Baltimore). Days of the week and months of the season are important for the same reason Bud Selig always trumpets the rise in attendance for interleague games each year: they start in mid-June, right when kids are getting out of school and the weather's pretty much perfect in every city. If there is to be a decline in Orioles attendance vs. that of the Nationals, it's more likely to come in April, when D.C. has the added novelty of being new and it's just too dang cold and rainy to sit through a four-hour American League game in Baltimore.

• Back at Camden, six other games involve the defending champion Boston Red Sox, three are against the Western Division champion Angels and three more involve the A's, always an exciting, young, competitive team. So, counting the four Yankee games, that's 16 of 25 games against top competition.

• In D.C., five games feature the retooled and competitive Florida Marlins, three are against defending National League champ St. Louis and two involve 13-time NL East winners Atlanta. Including the Mets, that's 17 of 25 against the three best NL East teams and the defending league champion.

• The Orioles will play six of the games against the potentially underwhelming Tigers, Devil Rays and Indians at Camden (though the Indians could be a surprising team this year).

• The Nationals' eight remaining games involve the potentially underwhelming Diamondbacks, Pirates and Reds, though Cincinnati carries the same disclaimer as the Indians, only without as much of a chance of competing for the division because theirs is much, much tougher.

• In 2004, the Orioles filled Camden's 48,190 seats to 70.3 percent capacity in 80 home games. The team's average attendance had declined every year from 1997 (average of 45,816 per game) to 2003 (30,303) before jumping back up in 2004 (34,300). The magic number is 2.45 million for the season: In 13 years at Camden Yards, the Orioles have never been below that number.

• RFK holds some 45,000 for baseball (to Angelos' dismay).

Now here are the matchups for those common home dates for the Nationals and Orioles. Washington's opponent is listed first, followed by Baltimore's foe. The number in parentheses after each visiting team is that franchise's MLB rank in 2004 in average road attendance. The number at the end of each pairing is the Orioles' 2004 average against that opponent.

Sat. April 16 — Diamondbacks (11)/Yankees (1); 45,580
Sun. April 17 — Diamondbacks (11)/Yankees (1); 45,580
Mon. April 18 — Marlins (20)/Tigers (25); 32,207
Tue. April 19 — Marlins (20)/Tigers (25); 32,207
Wed. April 20 — Braves (16)/Red Sox (5); 40,748
Thu. April 21 — Braves (16)/Red Sox (5); 40,748
Fri. April 29 — Mets (14)/Devil Rays (23); 27,617
Sat. April 30 — Mets (14)/Devil Rays (23); 27,617
Sun. May 1 — Mets (14)/Devil Rays (23); 27,617
Tue. June 28 — Pirates (15)/Yankees (1); 45,580
Wed. June 29 — Pirates (15)/Yankees (1); 45,580
Thu. June 30 — Pirates (15)/Indians (26); 33,596
Thu. July 7 — Mets (14)/Red Sox (5); 40,748
Tue. Aug. 23 — Reds (10)/Angels (18); 34,652
Wed. Aug. 24 — Reds (10)/Angels (18); 34,652
Thu. Aug. 25 — Reds (10)/Angels (18); 34,652
Fri. Aug. 26 — Cardinals (13)/A's (8); 37,937
Sat. Aug. 27 — Cardinals (13)/A's (8); 37,937
Sun. Aug. 28 — Cardinals (13)/A's (8); 37,937
Mon. Sep. 5 — Marlins (20)/Blue Jays (27); 27,374
Tue. Sep. 6 — Marlins (20)/Blue Jays (27); 27,374
Wed. Sep. 7 — Marlins (20)/Blue Jays (27); 27,374
Fri. Sep. 23 — Mets (14)/Red Sox (5); 40,748
Sat. Sep. 24 — Mets (14)/Red Sox (5); 40,748
Sun. Sep. 25 — Mets (14)/Red Sox (5); 40,748

Two NL teams played in Baltimore last season. The Diamondbacks drew 26,603 fans per game for a Tuesday-Thursday (June 8-10) series in June. Atlanta was in for a Friday-Sunday series later that month (25-27), drawing 40,037.

Additionally, Washington gets home games against Orioles opponents Oakland (Tuesday, June 7-Thursday, June 9), Seattle (Friday, June 10-Sunday, June 12) and Toronto (Friday, June 24-Sunday, June 26).

We'll also be able to compare how each team did when it came to Baltimore in 2004, with the months and days of the week of those visits again important:

• The Red Sox (40,748 average at Baltimore in '04) were at Camden for an April Sunday (which was Opening Day) and the following Tuesday-Thursday, a July Monday and Wednesday (rainout) and an October Friday-Sunday, with a seperate-admission doubleheader on Saturday

• The Yankees (45,580) visited for a May Tuesday-Thursday, a June Tuesday-Thursday and a September Friday-Sunday.

• The Tigers were in town for a Friday-Sunday series in September.

• Tampa Bay showed up in April (Tuesday-Thursday), June (Friday and Sunday) and July (two separate games on Monday, one each Tuesday and Wednesday).

• The Indians came in May for a Friday-Sunday series.

• The Angels were also in Baltimore for a May Friday-Sunday series.

• Oakland showed up in August for a Monday-Wednesday matchup.

• The Blue Jays faced off at Camden in April (Friday-Sunday), August (Friday-Sunday) and September (Monday-Thursday, with a traditional doubleheader on Wednesday).

So there's the setup. I plan to monitor the teams' overall attendance figures, posting them either weekly, bi-weekly or monthly, depending on how diligent I am with scrutinizing the box scores and whatnot. But for those 25 home dates the two teams have in common, I intend to post the comparison by the next afternoon.

And then, come October, we'll see whether Angelos was truly worried, or whole-heartedly trying to get every possible dollar from MLB that he could.

Short hops

As you may recall from the post just below this one, I specifically said the Orioles should trade Jerry Hairston and prospects for Sammy Sosa. I had no idea the Cubs would settle for two minor leaguers in second baseman Mike Fontenont and right-hander David Crouthers who are ranked merely No. 7 and No. 10, respectively, in Baltimore's top 10 by Baseball America. Plus, when you look at how little the Orioles actually have to pay Sammy (whether they decide to sign him to a ridiculous extension is their own fault), it was too good a chance to pass up. They'll need him to hit 66 home runs again to overcome their questionable pitching, but you never know.

* * *
According to Bob Nightengale at USA Today, the Pirates' Craig Wilson has ditched his mullet for a crew cut. We mourn you, Thor, god of thunder.

The flowing mane is no more ...
* * *
The Dodgers signed Japanese third baseman Norihiro Nakamura, who signed with the Mets in December 2002 but then decided he wanted to stay in Japan. He claimed the reason he bailed was because he went online to the Mets website and saw a report that he was coming to New York. The team and Nakamura apparently had made a deal to announce the signing in Japan, and Nakamura mistook the Mets' site at MLB.com as an official team site run out of Flushing. What he was actually reading, however, was a news story -- all of which boast the tagline, "This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs."

"I checked the Major League Baseball web site and there I was on the Mets' web site," Nakamura said at a press conference in Osaka back then. "We asked the New York Mets, please don't issue the news from New York. They broke our agreement. In Japan, the process is very important. We arrive at the new year with the Mets. We have to inform the club, 'We're going to sign with the Mets,' but then they broke the agreement. But I can't sign with a team that broke a promise."

It was probably good for the Mets, who might not have brought up David Wright last season if they were paying Nakamura $3.5 million (his deal was two years, $7 million). At least it appears they had Wright in mind when they made the offer to Nakamura.

* * *
If there's one good thing about the Super Bowl being played in February these past few years, it's that come Monday morning, when most of us are struggling into work after a -- ahem -- heavy night, we will be a mere 14 days away from pitchers and catchers reporting to sites across Florida and central Arizona.

The two weeks between the conference championship games and Sunday's Super Bowl have sapped my enthusiasm and momentum, so I offer only this half-hearted prediction: No one thought the Patriots had a chance against the Rams three years ago, so I'm going against the grain here. While it would be nice for Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis to pick up his third ring in four years, I'm picking the Iggles (+7), 29-20.

The solution to all his problems

Here's one for Peter Angelos: If you want to ensure that the Orioles don't lose too many fans to the Nationals, go out and get Sammy Sosa. Don't make MLB or Washington do the work for you; do it yourself. Put together a package of prospects and throw in Larry Bigbie or Jerry Hairston, have the Cubs pay a chunk of this year's salary if that's what it takes. But do it. It's a win-win for Baltimore. If Sammy can't bring the fans out to Camden Yards, with the 50 homers he could hit even if he misses two weeks with a sneeze-induced back injury, then you were right all along about your fan base in Washington. But if having Sammy hopping out of the batter's box 20 times in June fills the place even without the Yankees in the other dugout, then your complaints were bull, yet you've still got a packed house, which is what you really wanted all along.

Black jersey plague

I have always abhored the alternate jersey phenomenon that has overrun Major League Baseball in the past six or seven years. While I've acquiesed and come to understand that it is, above all, a business, and alternate jerseys -- particularly black ones -- sell well, and these teams all need as much money as they can get.

I'll admit that, at first, it didn't bother me, but that was back when only the Orioles and the White Sox did it. They were the first. Sometime back around 1996, you started seeing highlights and pictures of the White Sox in a black jerseys with a classic "Sox" over the heart. And the Orioles had a policy in which that day's starting pitcher chose whether the team wore the home white or road gray jersey, or the alternate black. But the thing with both of these teams is that black is one of their core colors. The White Sox are black and white; the Orioles black and orange. A black jersey wasn't that much of a stretch, nor was it something new since both teams -- I believe -- wore black for batting practice. If that's not the case, then I admit I was misled in my beliefs on the origin of their alternate jerseys.

But then the other teams caught on, and it got out of hand. The A's started wearing their green jerseys (also an homage to their green and yellow tops of the 70s) and other teams followed suit, with a few holdouts. The Yankees, Dodgers, Red Sox, Giants, Braves, Marlins and Rockies never stooped to such gimmicks. Shortly after the Dodgers were sold to Fox, they wore their blue batting practice jerseys for games, and it looked ridiculous -- and many commentators and others said so. The following season, they had an alternate blue jersey made for the team, but they never reappeared after that campaign. Wonder why?

The Marlins, Rockies and -- alas -- the Red Sox have since relented, but to Boston's credit, they went with red.

What really gets me, though, is the teams that suddenly made black one of their official colors. The Mets were the worst offenders, I thought. They've always been blue and orange -- a nod to the Dodgers and Giants, who left New York without National League baseball in 1957. Then, in 1998, they decided to get into the ridiculous uniform game. If they did it, I'd hoped that they'd go with the classic blue batting practice duds they wore then. Instead, they sold out and added black to the mix.

It sure seems permanent now. In hindsight, I should've seen it coming with the ridiculous changes in 1997 -- ridiculous mainly because of the white cap they added. (Check out the Mets' uniform history here.)

The Mets hurt the most, but I cringed when the A's, for one year, didn't think green was good enough and made a ridiculous black jersey with "Athletics" written out in green script. The Royals did the same -- again, what's wrong with blue ones? -- and then teams like Texas and Seattle added black either in jerseys or, stupid Texas, in an ugly black bill to an otherwise blue cap.

The idiocy of it all became apparent on Sunday, when Mets catcher Tom Wilson wore the wrong one in Yankee Stadium. The Mets' road black jersey says "New York" across the front. The home one says "Mets." He packed the wrong one for the bus ride to Shea and didn't realize it until, apparently, a reporter pointed it out.

None of this would happen if the Mets would just get rid of the black jersey plague. I've come to terms with the white uniforms without the pinstripes, and I've always loved the road grays that have the city written out in a classic font as it was on the original Mets uniforms in the 60s. They'll still occassionaly don the pinstripes for random home games, but not nearly enough of them. And, as far as I can tell, there's no rhyme or reason to the Mets' uniform choices on a given day. Home day, night, weekend or holiday could be plain white, pinstripes or black tops. It could also be either white jersey with the black hat with blue brim, or the white jerseys with the classic (and best) all-blue hat. On the road, it's either gray or black jerseys, but always the black hat with blue brim. (However, all black jersey games feature the all-black hat.)

For those of you keeping score at home, that's five different jerseys and three different hats for a total of seven previously used and accepted combinations (all-black hat only goes with black jerseys, etc.):

1. Plain white/black & blue hat
2. Plain white/blue hat
3. Pinstripe white/black & blue hat
4. Pinstripe white/blue hat
5. Home black/black hat
6. Road gray/black & blue hat
7. Road black/black hat

Ridiculous. The Mets' colors are blue and orange. Their uniforms have pinstripes. Their hats are blue, all blue. The road uniforms are gray. That's the way it should be.

But until gangs go away, until teenage hoodlums stop thinking black clothes every day is the way to go, teams are going to bring out the alternate jerseys to make a buck -- tradition and color scheme be damned.