Tony Bernazard has long been a lightning rod for Mets blogs, often taking the blame for every bad Omar decision and for backstabbing the managers. Yet, for lack of any concrete reasons, I didn't really see any need to fire the man. He clearly had the support of ownership and the general manager deserves to have an assistant he trusts. That all changes when he goes all Ozzie Guillen on a random minor leaguer. He's really going above in trying to embarrass his organization and himself. Well done.

Meet the Mets

OK, so this has to be the strangest story I have posted about the Mets this year. In case you haven't seen, Tony Bernazard reportedly got into a shouting match with Met prospect Jose Coronado. Management has finally come apart at the seams.

Mets Geek picks up on Sam's theme, and advocates for trading Francisco Rodriguez. I'm convinced.

The 'Ropolitans blog has a great quote from Jerry Manuel.

Jeff Francoeur proves that he belongs here.

Around the NL East

Make it 10 in a row for Philadelphia. 

Phillies Nation is glad that Alfonso Soriano went to Chicago and turned down the Phillies' offer.

The Pedro Martinez experiment took another step forward without blowing up.

Last night's 4-0 win for the Nationals was John Lannan's first career shutout. It was also Jim Riggleman's first win as the Nationals' manager.

Riggleman claims that Ryan Zimmerman's arm slot may be the cause of his scattershot throwing arm. 

MASN's Pete McElroy reports that the Nationals will not sign Stephen Strasburg.

Florida's Gaby Sanchez, called up to take Andrew Miller's roster spot, will not get the starting third baseman's job currently held down by Emilio Bonifacio.

Around MLB

Beyond the Box Score compiles the worst team in baseball by position. Somehow, the Mets escaped it.

The New York Times has a great storyon MLB teams' use of DNA testing to try and nail down exact ages for Dominican Republic prospects. The testing could, theoretically, be used to learn a player's chances of getting certain diseases. Great quote:

The funny thing about this all is that the most famous baseball player with a genetic disorder was Lou Gehrig. Would they have signed him if they knew he was predisposed to A.L.S.?

-Mark Rothstein, a professor of bioethics at the University of Louisville School of Medicine

Sergio Mitre earned his first victory in 2 years and the Yankees are in first place. Awesome. The Yankees optioned Brett Tomko to make room for Mitre.

The Blue Jays have imposed a July 28th deadline for Roy Halladay offers.

FanGraphs takes a look at Carl Pavano, a sleeper trading deadline player.