Amazin' Avenue, a New York Mets community

A snippet at the end of Adam Rubin's report about Angel Pagan's quad issue: Pitching coach Dan Warthen, who routinely walks in the neighborhoods by stadiums pregame to get a workout, said he had a knife flashed at him on Sunday morning in Atlanta. Warthen indicated he kept walking without issue, and that he was not robbed. He described the knife-flashing more as a warning to keep walking and get out of the area. Sounds like Warthen has played knifey-spoony before.

"I think Mejia works really hard to throw the baseball," the pitching coach said. "And I worry about the volume of pitches during the course of a year. You get 30 to 35 starts, and you're throwing 100 pitches each time, every fifth day, I worry. ... You just watch his arm swing. It's a long arm swing. His ball natural cuts -- again, [like] a Mariano Rivera. If Mariano had to go out there and throw 100 pitches every fifth day, when a ball cuts all the time, instead of staying behind it, I think you find a lot of torque on your elbow and your shoulder. But, again, that's a singular opinion. He's a very strong individual."

Recall the Mets' spring training emphasis on their pitchers throwing strikes. Now check this story by Adam Rubin, featuring Dan Warthen blaming Mets' starters decreased velocity on the "throw strikes" plan. Chances are the decreased velocity is mainly a product of something besides the plan but this invokes memories of the 80-pitch drill and the focus on going to the opposite field. Just more weirdness from Mets officials.