"Nasty, Bro"

What's up with Rent coming out of his shell all of a sudden? He was waltzing in the dugout with Willie during last night's game, and this morning I found this quote from him in the AJC wrap:

"Like Barry Zito," Renteria said, comparing Hill's curveball to the San Francisco lefty's famous pitch. "Nasty, bro. And my bat today had holes in it. He pitched a good game. He did everything good."

Since when does Rent even talk to the press, let alone refer to them as "bro"?? I'm pleasantly surprised.

Oh, but otherwise? Everything pretty much sucks right now. The Mets are on are a rare losing streak, but instead of closing in on them, we're just standing in place, waiting for the Phillies to show up and smack us in the back of our heads as they pass.

I didn't mind the loss last night so much, because Chuckie looked good, and as much as I don't want to see the Braves lose to him, I can't really get on them for being outsmarted by my darling Rich Hill. Even when he's kicking us while we're down, I can't help but love that guy, ridiculously big hair and all. And at this point it's actually a consolation to lose to a good pitcher rather than getting shut out by the likes of Oliver Perez or Random Dutch Guy Just Up From the Marlins' Farm System.

I "watched" the whole draft yesterday, kind of. I was fooling around on my laptop and had the TV on, and I glanced up when something interesting happened. It actually wasn't as boring as everyone made it out to be; I paid close attention for most of the first hour. Peter Gammons can make anything interesting, and I appreciated the fans' attempts to interrupt Selig's announcements, mostly because Selig looked so unbelievably grim the whole time (surprise), like he was reading from a military draft.

Why weren't they giving the French Canadian pitcher who got drafted much lower than everyone expected Brady Quinn-style grief? I personally would have appreciated many painfully awkward shots of his reaction to everyone who was drafted ahead of him, until he was finally ushered away into a secret room. But I don't think that guy even knew where he was, so the reaction shots probably wouldn't have been all that exciting. I think someone drugged all of the prospects before their interviews -- most of them reacted to questions with a combination of dull fear and disinterested confusion.

Jason Heyward, our first pick at number 14, seemed very personable and excited when he came to the field last night, despite his heavily medicated draft class. But why the suspicious look, Rent? Maybe he just found out that our new local prospect is a lifelong Yankee fan! Is that even allowed? Good luck to him, anyway.