They Call Me MISTER Met

Notes on a day in baseball:

• That's Gotta Hurt. So if you're a closer, pretty much the last thing you want to do is throw down a couple of balks that lead to your team's demise. They mentioned back during your job interview that they didn't want that. Along with the false start in football, the balk is probably the least overt infraction in all of sports (he twitched!), yet it can be so costly. Poor Armando Benitez. He balked twice in the 12th inning — both times distracted by Jose Reyes hopping around on the bases — as the Mets came back for a 5-4 win over the Giants on Tuesday. Reyes had just scored after provoking Benitez into his second balk of the 12th, when Carlos Delgado hit his second homer of the game to win it for New York; its fourth straight win, and, according to the team, their 15th come-from-behind victory. At least we're kinder than the San Francisco Chronicle, which is calling him "Blow-nitez" this morning. When did they become the New York Post again? Meanwhile, Baseball Prospectus has run the numbers and would like you to know exactly when Bonds is going to hit his 756th homer. So that you can prepare your dinghy for McCovey Cove.

• Red Sox Want To Have This All Wrapped Up By July 1. Now that the Red Sox are running away with the East, it's a good time to get their ace back. Josh Beckett, back from the DL, went to 8-0 after Boston's 4-2 win over Cleveland. Kevin Youkilis homered for the winners. Beckett went on the disabled list with a torn flap of skin on his right middle finger, which we believe is the same injury that finally killed King Kong.

• Don't Go There, Girlfriend. Rodrigo Lopez struck out seven over six innings to lead the Rockies to their seventh straight win, 8-3 over a little team we like to call the Cards. We spit on the remainder of this feature.

• Arrrr. Angry that they have to write Gorzelanny into their scorecards every fifth day, Pirates fans were due for some good news. Gorzelanny lowered his ERA to 2.39 with seven strong innings as the Pirates beat the Padres 4-1. Jason Bay had a homer for Pittsburgh.

• You Can Get Anything You Want, At Jeremy's Restaurant. Jeremy Guthrie and two relievers combined on a three-hitter as the Orioles beat the Royals 6-2.