"Betting on your favorite Major League Baseball team? You might want to reconsider if it has to cross three time zones to play. A new study shows that MLB teams that travel such distances to play a game could have up to a 60 percent chance of losing."

I found this intriguing because since the beginning of May, the Mets have played:

3 games in the Mountain time zone
3 games in the Pacific time zone
14 games in the Eastern time zone
3 games in the Mountain time zone
7 games in the Eastern time zone
7 games in the Pacific time zone
6 games in the Eastern time zone
3 games in the Pacific time zone (now)
3 games in the Mountain time zone
and then back to the Eastern time zone, where they'll stay for a while. They've also made four shifts of two or three time zones without an off day and will make a fifth this coming Sunday night.

I don't know whether this is abnormal or whether it's a frequent occurrence since the MLB switched from a human-generated schedule to a computer-generated one. To me, though, it seems like frequent cross-country trips (especially combined with the long stretch without an off day between 5/20 and 6/8) could be a factor in the Mets' inability to find any kind of a rhythm or get any momentum built up in recent weeks.

"Willie Randolph got a vote of confidence Friday from General Manager Omar Minaya, but that did not stop the sharks from circling.

On "The Mike & Murray Show" on Sirius Satellite Radio, the former Met Gary Carter campaigned to replace Randolph. Carter, a Hall of Famer, is the manager of the Orange County Flyers of the independent Golden Baseball League."

Intriguing. I'm not sure whether those in the know consider the Kid to be a potential MLB manager, but it's tough to deny that he had enthusiasm and passion in spades.