"That's Awesome!"

What's the most ridiculously adorable thing you can possibly imagine? A single image that exemplifies innocence and charm and all that is good in the world? A basket full of puppies, maybe? A father teaching his daughter how to ride a bike?

WRONG. It's a catcher -- not just any catcher, but this guy -- trying to handle a horrible pitch that bounces right into his chest protector, suffering a moment of confusion before he even figures out where the ball went, finding it and getting penalized (was I flipping out? I was), then trying to demonstrate what happened to the ump by putting the ball back into his chest protector with the saddest and most bewildered look possible on his face. Oh, and then he goes out to the mound and feels so guilty about the whole thing that he bites his fingernails on the freaking field. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, but it was excellent. The call was maybe necessary but still infuriating (what was he supposed to do?? Try NOT to block the ball, knowing that if he did his equipment would be "used" incorrectly?), but his reaction was priceless. Please tell me someone (Dave??) was recording that and can send me a video.

This was pretty good, too, from the AJC writeup:

"Did the Mets lose tonight?" catcher Brian McCann asked. "That's awesome."

Awesome indeed! Also awesome last night was Mahay, who is taking the Chuckie approach to his quotes:

"I honestly didn't think about it," Mahay said of the pressure situation he entered, with runners on the corners and the Phillies having already scored three runs in the inning on four hits and a walk against Cormier.

"I was more concerned about getting loose out there. I didn't know much about [Howard]."

Maybe everybody needs to stop watching Sportscenter and just let all those guys in the opposing team's uniforms remain mysterious. Seems to work for pitchers, strangely enough, and what if Chuckie's problems this year stem directly from finding out who the more talented NL hitters are? Did the Mets or Phillies somehow sabotage his effective oblivious approach? Maybe they left a notebook with glossy pictures of guys from the league in his locker, with GOOD or BAD written over their heads in red marker?

Final bit of news this morning: Andruw may be bowing out gracefully, at least for a little while. I like the spin that the official site puts on this news: "Andruw playing through pain." Gee, Andruw, thanks! Shouldn't that be "Andruw 'playing' through pain," though?