Newsday is reporting that the Mets have fired Rick Down as hitting coach and hired Ricky Henderson as his replacement.
…wow…get ready for a lot more ricky, this should get interesting…
…hat tip to James at Hot Foot or the news…

On this special midseason edition of Blogger Beat, I rounded up a veritable All-Star team of Mets bloggers to discuss how the second half may shake out, and what this team needs to get back to October.
This discussion centers around the team’s identity, or lack thereof.

On this special midseason edition of Blogger Beat, I rounded up a veritable All-Star team of Mets bloggers to discuss how the second half may shake out, and what this team needs to get back to October. This discussion centers around the imminent returns of Pedro Martinez and Moises Alou and how that may impact Omar Minaya at the trade deadline.

Toby Hyde who does a tremendous job of covering the Mets minor leagues, recently sat down with Mets RHP Phillip Humber. Check out the interview at Toby’s Mets Minor League Report.

For those of interested in watching minor league baseball tune in to the Triple-A All-Star Game tonight on ESPN2.
Mets LHP prospect Willie Collazo is the only player from the Mets Triple-A New Orleans affiliate to make this year’s squad.
The game is set to begin at 7:30 pm EDT.
…collazo is not starting the game and it [...]

John Delcos provides an injury updates for Oliver Perez, Jorge Sosa, Juan Padilla, Duaner Sanchez, Pedro Martinez, Moises Alou, Endy Chavez, and Lastings Milledge on his blog for The Journal News.

The Mets Blog Podcast will return next week, featuring an interview by Matthew Cerrone with Mets OF Lastings Milledge, who is set to return to the team tomorrow.
In five games for Class AA Binghamton, Milledge hit .435, with three home runs, including two in one game, a double, a triple and eight runs batted in.Milledge [...]

Just a reminder that you can still vote for the first and second
baseman you want for MetsBlog’s All-Time Mets 25-Man Roster. First base
vote is here and second base vote is here.
The polls will remain open until 11:59pm on July 15.
We at MetsBlog thank you in advance for participating.

amNew York’s Tracker blog reports that the MTA will soon be offering Manhattan-bound baseball fans express service after Mets games.
…outstanding…for hoboken bound folks like myself, its a relief to have the option of not having to sit through a dozen or more stops before arriving back in manhattan to get on the path…although, i’m more [...]

Newsday’s Keyboard Quarterbacks have crowned Keith Hernandez as their 2007 Mustache Madness Champion. 
The Quarterbacks write:
“With 1,575 votes, Top-seeded Keith Hernandez earned the right to call
that lady Kryptonite above his lip Newsday.com’s Greatest New York
Sports mustache. With 83.2 percent of the vote, he breezes past No. 2
seed Don Mattingly in the championship round.”

They also compiled a [...]

Eric Simon of Amazin’ Avenue posted an interview with Marc Normandin of Baseball Prospectus.
Normandin takes an in-depth look at John Maine, the upcoming trade deadline and how he feels the division may play out.…it’s easy to understand, even if you aren’t a stat head…although, i must say, everytime i see PECOTA, an acronym for Player [...]

In this special midseason edition of Blogger Beat, we check in with John Delcos, who covers the Mets for the Journal News. John was nice enough to answer a few quick questions about the state of our beloved orange ‘n’ blue.All last season, we heard the same thing; “These guys play hard for Willie.” Do [...]

Cubs blog Bleed Cubbie Blue points out the results of the last four World Series since the All-Star Game determined home field advantage:
2003: Yankees have home field, Marlins win 2004: Red Sox have home field, sweep series, two games played in each park 2005: White Sox have home field, sweep series, two games [...]

David O’Brien of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports a rumor involving the Braves and Rangers.
According to O’Brien the Braves are among a several teams interested in acquiring the slugging left-handed 1B Mark Teixera.
O’Brien notes the Braves would most certainly have to part with their top prospect, C Jarrod Saltalamacchia and another young player to acquire Teixera’s [...]

The National League defeated the American League by a score of 5 to 4 in the 2007 All-Star Game in San Francisco.
For a full recap, check out Yahoo! Sports
…first off, great job by Jose Reyes, who started the game off with a single and a stolen base, and later scored the first run for the [...]