No ifs or ands, but...

I went to a career fair at PNC Park yesterday to see if any of the MLB teams in attendance had any openings for writers/any form of media. I got an okay amount of talking in, but it seems like most teams are only looking for people to work in sales and finance. My best bet right now is the Washington Wild Things.

If someone were to write an article about my experience, it would probably be titled something along the lines of "Jonas attends first career fair, but attempts fall short."

There always seems to be a "but" lurking around the Mets. Starting during the pre-game speculation, the "but" made its way uncomfortably through the game, popping up just when you most expected it. First, it was, "the Mets have some momentum coming off their first win in five games, but they have yet to show that momentum helps them at all." Coupled with that was, "the Mets have some momentum, but they have Oliver Perez on the mound." Further into the game, it got better, surprising us with, "Jeff Francouer made a bonehead baserunning play, but scored on a throwing error anyway!"

But unfortunately, things turned sour, and suddenly there was, "Oliver Perez actually pitched well, but now Fernando Nieve just hit a guy and walked a guy to load the bases!" Fans were befuddled thereafter, thinking, "Hisanori Takahashi has done very well in his last three appearances, Ryota Igarashi has yet to allow a run and as recently as yesterday was said to be the team's latest setup man, and Jenrry Mejia is supposed to have great breaking stuff that'll either get ground balls or strike guys out, but why does Jerry always choose the newest guy to put out the fire?" It's a question Mets fans have pondered for a while now, and one that reached a pinnacle last year when rookie Jon Switzer was brought in to face the Yankees instead of, well, anyone else, and gave up a three-run homer to give the Yanks a 7-6 lead.

But gripes aside, bringing in Raul Valdes didn't work out, and after Felipe Lopez hit his grand slam, the only "but" left was one the Mets have heard a lot over the past two weeks: "Mets fight back in ninth, but comeback attempt falls short." Jeff Francouer summed it up best. "I'm not going to lie to you, I thought we were going to win today," he said to mets.com's Anthony DiComo. "But it didn't happen that way."

The Pirates refuse to drop two games below .500, despite the best efforts of their bullpen. Reds starter Mike Leake pitched decently after an hour-long rain delay, giving up three earned runs in seven innings, but the Pirates' Zach Duke was better, pitching seven scoreless before walking a batter to start the eighth. He was replaced by Joel Hanrahan, Javier Lopez, and finally Brendan Donnelly, and when the dust settled, it was 3-2, and an inning later Octavio Dotel blew the save to tie the game.

But former Mets top prospect-turned-top target Lastings Milledge smacked a two-out single back through the box to score Andrew McCutchen in the bottom of the ninth, and the Pirates won 4-3. They are 5-5 on the year.

The Padres had a little walkoff action of their own on Friday, scoring a run each in the seventh and eighth to cut their deficit to 3-2 against Arizona. David Eckstein hit a two-out double to tie the game in the ninth for San Diego, and after an intentional, no-brainer walk to Adrian Gonzalez, Chase Headley Lamarr blasted a three-run homer for the 6-3 victory.

One way to avoid your bullpen imploding and blowing the game is to not let them pitch in the first place. The Cleveland Indians, whose bullpen is 1-2 with a 4.85 ERA, got a complete game victory from David Huff on Thursday and got another one from Mitch Talbot on Friday. I wish the Mets would get some more of those as it is, but Jerry Manuel is not a fan of them and tends to enjoy wearing out the path from the dugout to the mound.

The Giants' Aaron Rowand was hit in the face with a pitch from the Dodgers' Vincente Padilla last night. He sustained small fractures to his cheek and a concussion. In a bizarre display of logic, umpires chose not to eject, or even warn, any players or managers after the incident, even though earlier in the game, Giants starter Todd Wellemeyer had thrown high and quite tight to Matt Kemp. Hopefully Rowand will be okay, and hopefully umpires will continue to let the game go on without unnecessary repercussions.

Short hops: Nats top-prospect Stephen Strasburg dominated the world yesterday with 2.1 innings of one-run (none earned) ball yesterday before a rain delay in the second Double-A start of his career... Jorge Cantu got another hit, but couldn't drive in a run against the Phillies on Friday, ending his streak at ten for games with a hit and an RBI to open the season... Red Sox centerfielder Mike Cameron passed a kidney stone yesterday in one of the grosser injuries suffered by a player this season... The Blue Jays did their best Marlins impression yesterday, hosting a mere 14,779 fans to see them lose to the Angels on Friday.

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