Good story from Slate's Josh Levin.

"All in all, Ayala and his comrades-in-noodle-arms have blown 29 save opportunities in 2008, the most of any playoff contender. Now that's bleeping brutal."

Frackers! If they could have closed out a mere 25% of those games, the Mets would have run away with the division.

Jose Reyes is seeking U.S. citizenship. Also, this is pretty cool:

"Reyes isn't abandoning his native country by any means. He's even sponsoring an entire youth baseball league back home - treating the players to everything, from uniforms to equipment.

"'I've got like six or seven teams,' he said. 'I just tried to give everything they needed. I did that for the first year this year. It's gone great so far. It's great to see the young guys in the Dominican, people who don't have a lot of money to buy equipment, that I'm able to help them out. I paid for everything. They don't have to worry about anything. They just have to worry about playing baseball and being there on the field on time.'"

A little nugget from my buddy at ESB:

"Since [Luis Castillo's] first game for the Mets last July 31, they are 56-62 when he has played and 42-23 when not."

OK, I know that one player does not make all the difference, and it's not the hugest sample size, but he remains my least-favorite Met, and I can't wait to see him go. I hope the Mets keep him mothballed for the rest of the season and beyond.

(By the way, the link to the picture is just because I had to include a URL of something to get this to post properly. I also thought about using this one.)

Washington releases Paul Lo Duca. He was hitting .230/.301/.281, with seven doubles and no homers in 139 at-bats. His OPS+ was 55. Can you blame them?