Ken Davidoff's baseball insider

Before the Phillies took pre-game batting practice this afternoon, they could help themselves to an interesting message from Phillies legend Mike Schmidt. It surely will interest the Mets, as well.

The Hall of Famer e-mailed this note, which was posted on the inside of the door that leads to the playing field:

One pitch, one at bat, one play, one situation, think "small" and "big" things result, tough at-bats, lots of walks, stay up the middle with men on base, whatever it takes to "keep the line moving" on offense, 27 outs on defense. The Mets know you're better than they are. They remember last year. You guys are never out of a game. Welcome the challenge that confronts you this weekend. You are the best. Good luck. #20.

My Newsday teammate David Lennon is working as I type, seeing if the Mets have any reaction to Schmidt's assertion of their state of mind.

1. In the final Mets-Phillies series of the season, the Mets will take two out of three games from their nemeses at Shea Stadium, extending their National League East lead to four games. They'll also survive a scare when Carlos Delgado comes out all right after colliding with an umpire. Asked later why he ran into the ump, the resurgent slugger Delgado will explain, "I accidentally ate some fugu this morning, and that led to hallucinations. And I could've sworn the ump was Willie Randolph."

2. The Yankees, hanging on for dear life, will take care of business and sweep the lowly Mariners in Seattle. After Joba Chamberlain provides two innings of stellar relief Saturday, showing grit and guts as he throws 40 pitches, Brian Cashman will make the expected announcement: Better safe than sorry, Joba will begin the 2010 season, also, in the bullpen.

3. Randy Johnson and Jamie Moyer will announce their intentions to vote for Barack Obama. Not because they like the candidate or the Democratic Party's platform, they explain, but, "It would just be too depressing to be older than the vice president."

4. I will be on "Sports Extra" with Duke Castiglione, 10:30 Sunday night on Channel 5.

5. Okay, now, to get serious for a moment: I started this blog in April 2007, and the average item received one or two comments, often from Steve from South Amboy (who has a prior connection to me) and Jon E., a childhood friend to whom I dedicate the above "Bachelor Party" movie poster.

Now, thanks to your help, we've established our own little community of commenters, most of whom I know only from this blog. I am ever so grateful to those of you who take the time each day to read what I have to say and post reaction, or criticism, or change the subject altogether.

But tensions have risen, as the regulars know, so much so that Jim, one of our best contributors, left last week after things got pretty heated.

That's not good. So as we head into the weekend, and the new seasons _ both autumn and the heat/meat of the general election, which by all means you're welcome to keep discussing _ I'm asking you to all be mindful of a quote by the great George Costanza: "You know, we're living in a society!"

If we can find a way to maintain the excitement of the discussions here, but keep it more civil, that's what I'd like. And no, this is not a warning exclusive to Richie G. Many of the regulars here, very much including myself, are guilty of occasionally going beneath the belt.

The only comments here I've ever deleted are duplicates (when some of you, understandably frustrated by the comments' security code, post twice). I don't ever want to. But I am going to monitor discussions more closely, and if something needs to be deleted, then it will be done. Just think twice before you post; remember how others can interpret your words differently than you intended. If you're having a bad day, then maybe just read (I need those page views!) but don't comment.

Jim has agreed to return, and I appreciate it. He brings a lot to the party, just like the rest of you do. Let's let bygones be bygones and move forward, please.

Thanks for reading this, and have a great weekend.

Most of the time, my job is simple enough: Write about baseball players and games, with an occasional needle-moving issue sprinkled in to keep things lively.

But every now and then, a story emerges that is so riveting, so wrought with irony, crazy characters and/or delicious subplots, that I find myself laughing as it unfolds. These are my favorites. Some, I covered more than others. But they all have occurred since I began covering baseball:

5) The Rafael Palmeiro-steroids debacle. On March 17, 2005, while Mark McGwire saw his life go down the toilet, Palmeiro wagged his finger at the House Government Reform Committee and swore that Jose Canseco was wrong to have accused him of steroids usage in "Juiced." It was a convincing performance; Palmeiro scored major PR points.

And when he failed a test for illegal PEDs later that year, he went from Capitol Hill big shot to the subject of a Congressional investigation. And he became persona non grata on the Orioles. He never hit another homer after his test result became public.

And to add another layer of intrigue, Palmeiro blamed his positive test on a substance he received from teammate Miguel Tejada. When Tejada told Congressional investigators that he didn't use illegal PEDs, and when George Mitchell reported that Tejada did violate baseball law, Tejada became the subject in another Congressional investigation that is still ongoing.

What a mess. And it all emanated from the arrogance of Palmeiro, who probably figured he wouldn't get caught in his own web of lies.

4) News breaks that Bud Selig received a loan from Carl Pohlad. The loan occurred in 1995, but news didn't leak until January 2002 - right around the time that Pohlad's Twins had been approved for contraction. Whoever leaked it, wanted a connection to be made between the two: Pohlad helps out Selig with the loan, then Selig helps out Pohlad by liquidating the Twins.

It was a perfectly fair connection to make, given Selig's blatant conflict of interest. What I enjoy most about the linked story is how MLB president Bob Dupuy and Selig's allies Drayton McLane, Jerry Reinsdorf and Fred Wilpon express such "outrage" over the perfectly valid criticism.

3) "Fat, puss-y toad." I was fortunate enough to be at Legends Field on April 1, 1999. It was the last day of spring training, and the Yankees were one out away from wrapping up a victory against the Indians, packing up and boarding a flight to Los Angeles.

But an Indians hitter _ I can't find it, but I'd bet $5 of Richie G.'s money that it was Jolbert Cabrera _ hit a grounder to the right side, and Irabu failed to cover first base - precisely the Irabu sin that set Yankees camp into chaos five days earlier.

I knew what this meant, that my evening flight to LA was in serious jeopardy, and I threw my pen out of the press box in frustration. Then the media pack immediately headed to find George Steinbrenner, and it paid off: The Boss, still in his prime, said that Irabu looked like "a fat, puss-y toad" in not covering first.

We were all in shock: Puss-y? How do you even spell that? As interim manager Don Zimmer and Steinbrenner met with Irabu in the manager's office (Joe Torre was recovering from prostate cancer surgery), reporters played the tape for Yankees players who had heard about the comments. Hysterical laughter abounded. Meanwhile, Irabu held up the entire breaking of camp for a couple of hours, causing someone to call for a pizza delivery to the Yankees' clubhouse.

It didn't end there: Irabu refused to board the plane to California, saying he needed more time to prepare for the season. This was a Thursday night. Friday morning, at Dodger Stadium, Zimmer announced that Ramiro Mendoza, rather than Irabu, would start the third game of the season in Oakland. Saturday morning, in Tampa, Steinbrenner said that Irabu would be departing Tampa, and that The Boss' preference was for Irabu to start that third game. This infuriated Zimmer so much that he uttered this classic if nonsensical line, after a reporter asked Zimmer whether he would resign: "I ain't gonna resign! I'll just quit! He's fired better men than me!"

The post-script was that Mendoza started that third game and won, and Irabu pitched in relief. "He wanted Irabu to pitch on Wednesday, and he did," a smiling Zimmer said afterwards.

The P.P.S. is there still has never been an official decision on how to spell "puss-y." Some went with that, while others went with "puss-ie." I was writing for The Record at the time, and I sent this: "pussy (rhymes with 'fussy')." That wound up getting me in trouble with my boss.

2) WhartonGate. The Mets were playing in Philadelphia in an April 2000 series, and Bobby Valentine, rarely one to turn down an audience, spoke to a class at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. As was not the first time for Bobby V., he spoke a little too honestly, infuriating his nemesis, GM Steve Phillips.

In these nascent days of the Internet, the story came to light because of a message-board poster with the handle of "Brad34," who reported Valentine's comments on a Mets fan site. But the school's newspaper taped Valentine's speech, reported comments that can be seen here and also reported that Valentine had asked for the tape not to be released.

Sensing an opportunity to trump his nemesis, Mets GM Steve Phillips flew to Pittsburgh, where the Mets were by the time the story became public, and confronted Valentine about the comments. But Phillips' power play was so blatant that he, rather than Valentine, wound up being ripped by many New York sports columnists.

As you know, the Mets proceeded to make the World Series that year, and within three years, both Valentine and Phillips were gone.

1) The Jeff Nelson-for-Armando Benitez trade. I'll go point-by-point to explain why this was the funniest trade in baseball history:

a) The Yankees had let Nelson return to Seattle via free agency following the 2000 season. They had never been able to find a suitable replacement, going through such options as Todd Williams, Jay Witasick, Mark Wohlers, Steve Karsay (who was decent for 2002, but injured after that), Juan Acevedo, Dan Miceli ...

b) ...and then Benitez, fresh off his implosion from the Mets. It seemed like everyone besides the Yankees officials realized what a horrible idea it was to try Benitez as Mariano Rivera's setup man. He had built up so much ill will among Yankees fans that, the first time he warmed up in the bullpen, the Yankee Stadium crowd booed him.

c) So Benitez quickly turned into a bust with the Yankees, as he clearly couldn't handle the pressure situations, and the Yankees still needed a setup man.

d) Meanwhile, Nelson played for a still-competitive Seattle team, but he had ripped into team management for not getting anyone at the July 31 non-waivers trade deadline. In other words, Nellie was available largely for the same reason that the Yankees didn't want him anymore back in 2000: He had a big mouth.

So for these two men _ given their rich New York histories, given the backstories behind the teams' motives _ to get dealt for one another, was comedy gold, as Kenny Bania would say.

I wish I had seen this live; alas, I was busy doing other work. However, based on the dispatch from my Newsday teammate Anthony Rieber, it sounds like all went well with the first official usage of instant replay.

What I like most in this two-photo panel is the reaction of Yankees trainer Gene Monahan, standing in the Yankees' dugout behind umpire Charlie Reliford. Sure, Monahan is happy because Reliford upheld Alex Rodriguez's homer. But _ maybe I'm reading too much into this _ I see more than that there from Monahan, who has been the Yankees' trainer since George Steinbrenner took over the team in 1973.

I see Monahan thinking, "How about that? A little progress never hurt anyone!"

The process took two minutes and 15 seconds, according to Anthony. That's perfectly acceptable. Remember when the umps blew the call on Carlos Delgado's homer in this game? Remember the huddling, arguing and ejecting (of then-bench coach Jerry Manuel) that followed? I wish I had the presence of mind to time that. But there's no way it did NOT last longer than 2:15. No way.

I admire those of you who are wary of change. But really, this is a slam dunk. And if we're lucky, we'll all be around long enough for the time when replay determines all calls fair/foul, safe/out and any sort of interference/obstruction. Everything, in other words, besides balls and strikes.

This is not a shocker.

As I wrote yesterday, I thought scorekeeper Bob Webb made the wrong decision here, and that MLB should overturn it. But not eveyone in the yakosphere _ that goes for many of the regular commenters here, too _ has agreed with me. There really hasn't been a clamoring for CC to get his no-hitter.

The Scoring Review Committee is supposed to make these evaluations in a vacuum, and to not worry about the ramifications. But they're human like the rest of us. It would be understandable if they raised the bar on this one, realizing what overturning the call would mean.

In any case, this will be all the more incentive for Sabathia to stay in the National League this winter. He's far more likely to get his no-no in the NL than if he returns to the American League.

(And yes, that last paragraph was just a trap laid for Dennis. Let's see if Dennis bites.)

Thanks to this site for the photo.

Here is my Midweek Insider, which focuses on the extremely disappointing Tigers.

Meanwhile, the Mets continue to amaze us...

Thanks to this site for the photo.

I spoke yesterday with a buddy of mine who lives in the Tampa area, and he was fired up about the Rays, understandably so.

Quickly, we moved to the hot topic of the Rays' attendance, which, coincidentally enough, turned out to be the subject of a New York Times story today.

Despite their terrific year, the Rays rank just 26th in attendance, with an average crowd of 21,460 (thanks to the Elias Sports Bureau). It is rather remarkable. Last night's game against the Yankees drew an announced crowd of 21,629 to Tropicana Field.

As a point of comparison, I whipped out my scorebook from the 2001 season and looked at Oct.4-7, when the Yankees closed out the regular season schedule at Tropicana Field. This might have been the low point of the Rays franchise; they had virtually nothing worth watching. The only players still active from those clubs are Chris Gomez, Toby Hall, Aubrey Huff and Randy Winn. And, burying the lead, this was less than a month after 9/11. These games actually had been rescheduled from earlier, and people had bigger issues than baseball on their mind.

Nevertheless, those games drew 15,265; 22,028; 25,511; and 24,075. Three out of four topped last night's, which featured a dynamic Rays team marching toward its first playoff berth against the hated/loved (if diminished) Yankees.

The problem, my friend said, lies a great deal in the ballpark's location. He lives in Wesley Chapel, a development north of Tampa. Look at how long it takes him to get from his town to The Trop, which is in somewhat remote St. Petersburg.

"If they played where the Buccaneers played football," my friend said, "I'd go to a lot more games. And so would a lot of other people." The Bucs play in Tampa, across the street from Legends Field.

As Buster Olney wrote in the middle of this blog entry, and as Elias' Bob Waterman echoed to me this morning, surprisingly good teams like the Rays usually experience their biggest hit the NEXT season. It'll be interesting to monitor that.

In the meantime, you just hope that the Rays can at least sell out their playoff games. But also, let's see what happens with the Rays' plans for a new ballpark. Right now, they want to set it up in St. Pete. But does that make the most sense?

Sandy, your opinion is requested, if not downright required.