Paul Lo Duca's Inspiring Idiocy

• I'm Sorry, Italians. Paul Lo Duca calls it a "good Italian temper," but I'm going to choose to think a little more highly of the Italian-American population, and call Lo Duca's display childish, dumb, and embarrassing. The idiot Mets catcher was thrown out of the game for arguing balls and strikes, but before leaving the field, proceeded to throw all of his catching equipment onto the field, because ... I don't know, because he's a jackass, I guess. Meanwhile, the Mets won back-to-back games for the first time since May, eeking this one out 1-0 on a David Wright RBI-double in the bottom of the 9th.

• Bud Black Is A Smooth Talker. Two games into the Padres/Red Sox series, three starters have turned in brilliant performances. The one who didn't, Tim Wakefield, was molested twice last night Khalil Greene home runs in a 6-1 Padres victory. Co-MVPs for the Padres: First, manager Bud Black, who talked umps into reversing two calls the Padres way ... one a base hit that Manny Ramirez pretended to catch (that devious bastard), and one a Josh Bard home run that clanged off the foul pole. And secondly, Chris Young, who gave up just one hit in seven innings, to go along with his 11 masterful Ks. Only two pitchers in baseball have a better ERA than Young right now, and one of them is teammate Jake Peavy, who will be on the mound for the Padres today against Boston's Josh Beckett.

• N-Holtz Saves The Day. Alex Rodriguez was again clutch ... but only for a few minutes. A-Rod tied the game up with a home run in the 9th, but was upstaged in the 13th with a game-winning RBI single from Nate Schierholtz, who is probably the better all-around talent. 6-5 Giants, in 13 innings.

• Only 746 Behind Hank Aaron. Dioner Navarro put his awe-inspiring power on display, crushing a 7th inning home run to give the Devil Rays the 4-3 win. That boosts Navarro's batting average on the year to .172, and lifts his HR total to 1.