Odds, Ends, etc.

“Electric Feel” by MGMT is a big time kind of jam.  Wyatt gets some credit there, he was loving it before me.  It’s the best disco song that no one who lived through the disco era has ever heard.  Just thought you oughta know.

Wyatt and I caught the Sunday afternoon Mets/Reds game in the ‘Nati.  Thoughts from that:

• I have never, ever been to a hotter baseball game.  It was just blazing.
• Skyline Chili dogs are hard to beat.
• Your typical Reds fan will find any opportunity to boo Adam Dunn.  In the middle innings of Sunday’s game, a line drive fell in front of him for a single, and the fans booed heartily.  The next inning, he smashed a Mike Pelfry offering down the line to cheers.  Thankfully, some loudmouth behind us pointed out everyone’s hypocrisy.
• Your typical Reds fan will find any opportunity to cheer Ken Griffey, Jr.  Sure, Wyatt and I both loved him as much as anybody during the late 90s, but he’s not that player anymore.  He hasn’t even been that player since he came to the Reds.  Sure, he seems to be an appreciative, gregarious guy, but at this point, Dunn is the better player at the plate and in the field.  Griffey has first basemen’s speed and seems to take exceptionally adventurous routes to balls.  If a fan’s issue with Dunn is a low batting average, then they should take issue with Griffey, too; they’re both hitting under .250, and Dunn’s secondary skills are way ahead.
• Jose Reyes is really, really fast.
• David Wright is really, really good.  There’s nothing he can’t do.
• Edwin Encarnacion just seems like a guy who would end up in Dusty Baker’s doghouse all the time (spotty defense, doesn’t scream “scrappiness”), but he’s avoided it all season, to the benefit of the team.
• The Reds should have some really nice teams over the next few years, with a core of Jay Bruce, Joey Votto, Brandon Phillips, Encarnacion, Edison Volquez, and Jonny Cueto.  They can certainly compete for some playoff spots in the next 5 years or so if Walt Jocketty can support that.
• The next few years for the Mets will go in the opposite direction unless Omar Minaya can supplement their core with healthier (or just plain better) secondary players.

Also, it’s free preview week at Baseball Prospectus.  You should absolutely check that out for yourself.

Lastly, it’s probably time to start using the Wyatt Watch tag again.