You think that there couldn't be any more absurdity to Tuesday night's All-Star extravaganza? Imagine if the game had gone to the 17th inning or so, with Brad Lidge as the final N.L. pitcher already having pitched a couple of innings. The next pitcher that Clint Hurdle might have brought in was the designated hitter for the NL: David Wright.

"I told David, 'You were the last pick. I went and got you. Have you ever pitched in an All‑Star Game?'" Hurdle said. "I said, 'You wanted to be in this thing. That's all I've read, all I've heard for the last three days. You won't believe how much you might be in it here real quick.'

"He said, 'Let's go.'" (...)

Wright said Hurdle was "kind of joking around that he might need me to go out there and pitch." But the Mets third baseman said, "If he would have asked me to, I would have went out there." Did Wright think Mets chief operating officer Jeff Wilpon or general manager Omar Minaya would mind?

"Don't worry," Wright remembered saying. "They're probably sleeping by now. Nobody will know."

I don't know about that. Sometimes, Minaya is awake at 3AM. Just ask Willie Randolph.