Ishii-it

Lefty pitcher Kaz Ishii comes to the Mets in a weekend trade for Jason Phillips.

The second thing that crossed my mind when I heard about the trade was "A lefty pitcher, nice." The third thing that crossed my mind was "So Piazza will definitely be doing all of the catching, because he's only got--" The fourth: "Who the hell is there to back up Piazza?" -- which, of course, can be taken more ways than one. The fifth: "Didn't Ishii get hit in the head with a line drive a couple of years ago?" The sixth: "And doesn't he have a lot of control problems since then?" The seventh: "Haven't the Mets had a couple a Japanese pitchers in the past, like Nomo and Yoshii, who've been largely forgettable?" The eighth: "And don't even get me started on Shinjo." The ninth: "Will it be confusing in the clubhouse with two guys named Kaz?" The tenth: "Didn't Jeff Wilpon get hit in the head with a line drive a couple of seasons ago?"

But the very first thing that crossed my mind when I heard about the trade was . . .

"What the hell is Gogs Is the Greek God of Geeks going to do now???"

And it's moments like that one -- thinking Mets-blog instead of reality -- that support the epiphany I had mid-afternoon last Thursday (well into St. Patrick's festivities, in case there was any wonder about my mental state at the time). Somewhere in a drunken debate with my Phillies friend Nick, who had previously hassled me mercilessly via e-mail in response to my waffling post of Mets v. Nats, it became clear which path I should take. The only thing I really recall is slurring "I just can't walk away from the Mets -- they're like a bad tattoo. At this point, it's forever, despite better judgment." And dammit, I know bad tattoos, man.

It feels good to be back. I hope the new look doesn't irritate too many readers who enjoyed the previous look, a style called "The Very First Weblog Ever." Thanks to the comrades who badgered me into staying put, including Mike at ECA. I appreciated it.