Another month bites the dust tonight, big Sphere keep on turnin’. Roger Clemens was eligible to re-sign with Houston on the first day of May, and on the last day of the month he finally announced his return. I just wrote this story for MLB.com listing 22 ways you can jump back into Rocket Fever, and an MLBlog made the top 10. You may have noticed on the MLBlogs homepage that we are stringing together all the posts that address Clemens, so weigh in or comment here if we need to include you in that panel.

There were a couple other much quieter but still significant moves today, including Dayton Moore becoming only the sixth different GM at Kansas City (huge) and a swap that sent Phil Nevin and $ to the Cubs for Jerry Hairston Jr. Time for those month-in-review posts here at MLBlogs.

It’s a great pitching matchup tonight with Brandon Webb and the D-Backs at Pedro and the Mets, and Kellia is liveblogging so be sure to keep her company.

Buck Canyon over at Vote for Vernon Wells! can’t be too unhappy with the first AL All-Star balloting update that was released today, but you can probably see why he has the personal campaign going due to the alluring nature of "The Rivalry." Vernon Wells, who went deep three times for the first time in his career last night, is sixth and within early striking distance of the top three spots, which predictably includes marquee names Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon so far. Having looked over both leagues’ balloting updates in the past two days, there is no question that "names" are going a long way in the early going…and blogs are tailor-made for grassroots campaigning if you’re supporting someone like a Jason Bay who has to make up a lot of early ground.

Either way, you get up to 25 online votes (per account) in addition to those ballpark ballots. The best way to make a difference is to vote.

CALLING ALL SPHEROIDS. Would you like to have your MLBlog featured here? Click the Spheroids category link to the right here, and look through the previous ones. Just answer any of those nine questions and email us your responses. We’ll gradually roll them out and point more people your way.

With one Hammer in view for Barry Bonds, another Hammer has just weighed in. What do you think of MC Hammer’s post about society at large? This will be interesting.

Welcome a couple of new A’s fans, The Bullpen Baker and Diamonds Are A Girl’s Best Friend. We actually spotted the former’s Google blog and invited her to The Show, and voila. The MLBlogosphere is supposed to feel like a ballpark, and one thing we certainly didn’t have was The Fan Who Bakes Cookies For The Pitchers In The Bullpen. 

We’re eager to see what MLBloggers have to say about the National League All-Star Balloting update that was just released. AL is up next, and Buck Canyon definitely will not be happy if Vernon Wells isn’t among the top three in the AL outfield. Make sure you watch "Sweet Vernon Wells" in case you missed it, well worth a few minutes. And don’t forget to use all 25 online votes! . . . Since the Cards and Astros comprise the entire starting NL infield so far (except for catcher), good time to mention that Lisa and Rachel are liveblogging womano-a-womano tonight. Looking forward to that one.

MUST READ:

Whether you are an existing member of the MLBlogs Active Roster or just visiting here and thinking about having your blog called up to The Show, please enjoy Aditi Kinkhabwala’s excellent story about MLBlogs that was published by the Bergen Record over the weekend. Thanks to John at The King’s Game for passing along the link earlier today. This graphic below also was part of the presentation for those who read the print version, and I’ve made the links active here:

***
         
Fast facts
            
mlblogs.com started with 30 bloggers. Now more than 1,000 bloggers rip, remark,
rant, reminisce, record and reiterate daily.
            
They’re a diverse lot. Everyone from MC Hammer, to a New York City cabbie, to
the Mets’ David Wright posts on mlblogs.com.
            
Be heard. mlblogs.com provides an officially affiliated platform for self-styled
pundits everywhere. So, the cabbie’s words ring as loudly in cyberspace as
Wright’s.
            
What’s a blog? In case you’ve been off the planet for the past few years, a blog
is a collection of thoughts published on a Web page.
            
***
            
Sampling the site
            
From sabermetrics to the stars, just about anything is discussion fodder for
bloggers on MLBlogs. You can find a full roster on www.mlblogs.com, but here’s a
sample of some unique musings:
            
raymond.mlblogs.com/ Raymond, the Devil Rays’ mascot
            
bestblog.mlblogs.com/ a New York City cabbie
            
snaggingbaseballs.mlblogs.com/ the collector of nearly 3,000 baseballs
            
reverendredbird.mlblogs.com/ a chart-savvy Midwestern clergyman
            
groundskeeper.mlblogs.com/ MLB’s head groundskeeper
            
davidwright.mlblogs.com/ Mets’ third baseman
            
bruce.mlblogs.com/ a baseball author in Cooperstown
            
baseballheckler.mlblogs.com/ resident funnyman
            
mchammer.mlblogs.com/ MC Hammer
            
fantasy.mlblogs.com/ a self-professed fantasy expert
            
whitesoxpride.mlblogs.com/ the club’s VP of communications
            
tommy.mlblogs.com/ Tommy Lasorda

I have been progressively adding to this post through the long weekend, so keep checking the bottom to find the pulse of the MLBlogosphere. Add your comments! . . . .

Saturday-Sunday:

Happy Memorial Day Weekend, everyone. As you can see on the panel of the MLBlogs.com homepage, we decided to celebrate this time of year with the 2006 Baseball Blogging Backyard BBQ. Maybe you’re at a cookout or the lake, but you just can’t stay away from that Typepad text field. This is your place to kick back with friends and blog about whatever you wanna — baseball, Indy 500, DaVinci Code, graduations, weddings, and your favorite Memorial Day memories from the past or even the reason it’s celebrated in the USA. And if you’re in Canada or Venezuela or points beyond, then thanks for the indulgence and join the party because it’s one giant Sphere.

Saturday night update: I want to squeeze in a quick thank-you here to my grandpa, Woody Groomer, back in Indiana. He fought in World War II and tonight I am sure  is jitterbugging at the VFW back home as he does most nights. He’s in his late 80s now and even though he only recently had to stop driving tour buses he acts like he’s in his 20s. Never liked sports much and will battle you for the last piece of pie. Thanks, Kapa.

Biggest delivery of the day. Curt Schilling? Derek Lowe? Justin Verlander? Barry Zito? No to all of the above. It’s all about Shiloh Nouvel Jolie-Pitt.

Special props to our friend John Nemo over at The King’s Game for that recognition of his revolutionary blog by the St. Pete Times. . . . Matt at Diamondhacks has a good summation of Brandon Webb’s dominance so far. . . . More blog congrats are pouring in for 2,000-hit man Derek Jeter from places like Red Sox Nation Daily and Baseball & The Boogie Down Bronx. . . . Buck Canyon has a case of Gold Jock Syndrome. . . . Straight A’s needs a few good brats and burgers at the Baseball Blogging Backyard BBQ — and an About page. Who has your favorite About page, anyway? The White Sox Guy has one that comes complete with newsletter signup. . . . MLB.com Cardinal beat writer Matthew Leach has a name you have to know in his latest post at Obviously, You’re Not a Golfer. . . . Strangest comment so far was from a troll who ragged on me for writing about what people are blogging. Fortunately trolls are few and far between at MLBlogs.

Welcome to our newest MLBlogger: Slightly Ahead of the Curveball. Great URL for our weekend theme, too. . . . Update at 10:34 pm ET: Welcome also to Ben Heller, one of our fantasy writers at MLB.com. . . . Be sure to
check out the photos from GABP just posted by Reds broadcaster Steve Stewart over at The Bad Boy Blog. Here’s a thumb of one of them that just seemed fitting for the MLBlogs festivities this weekend.

It’s official: A "Boof" is in the win column for the first time in Major League history. . . . Jason Bay is making a strong and legit run at a starting spot at home for the All-Star Game. Will he get the wide support? That’s five consecutive games with a longball, and he also took away a homer tonight in this marathon against Houston. Who’s your starting NL outfield so far? It’s definitely a down year if you scan the ballot and are looking for three no-brainers. Pretty wide-open. . . . Chris Burke is thinking right now: 18th inning. . . .Take heart, Halo fans. Little Weaver definitely has arrived. . . . Bet this is the first time in baseball history that a team (Detroit) has been at .714 while a player (actually two now) is at 714.

Go, Danica, Go.

Recently Updated Photo Albums:

• Blue Jays Photos
• Yankees 15-4 Royals
• Me stuff! =)
• Other Stuff
• Ballparks Tour
• Photos of Zack
• Miscellaneous Cardinals Related Images
• Cards V. Nats, 29Apr06
• Autographs
• Shea Stadium
• Ballparks Tour
• Other Stuff
• Fenway Park
• Miller Park
• May 5 Sox vs. Toronto

Congrats to Lisa of For Love of the Astros for making the right call and traveling to Pittsburgh for Saturday’s game. She just happened to bump into the longest game (18 innings) ever at PNC, and even though her beloved ‘Stros lost, that was the right call. And speaking of the ‘Stros, sadly we are sorry to see that our friend ‘Stros Bro has just announced his retirement from MLBlogs — everyone try to talk him out of that decision, because, well, Roger Clemens has done so more than once.

AMAZING pic by Mollie in her latest Photo Album. It’s the one of Al Pujols at the plate. What’s amazing about it? Think of everything happening in the composition. The ball has just left Chan Ho Park’s hand. Pujols is at the toe-touch position. It is the ultimate mano-a-mano in sports, all in a millisecond. Just take a look at her full-size image and appreciate it. The backstop screen actually adds a cool effect and is not disruptive. And by the way: That could have been the matchup at the end of the World Baseball Classic, if not for Japan beating Korea and Cuba beating the Dominican Republic. So here it is, courtesy of Mollie, whose day job is making movies for you.

Clear skies and DP is on pit row . . . time to liveblog Indy and Baseball >>

Update from Indiana on Woody Groomer, my grandpa who fought in World War II. Just double-checked his age and he’s 89. Last night he and his latest "new girlfriend" danced at the Eagles. You are only as old as you want to be. Sixty-two years ago he and the Allies were shooting at German soldiers who were fighting for Adolph Hitler in the largest land battle the U.S. Army ever has fought to date. The numbers of WWII veterans are dwindling by the day, and one day they will all be gone. On this Memorial Day Weekend, he’s still jitterbugging. Salute.

1:30: DP unscatched after first crash, now running 14th. Great telemetry graphics by ABC for this edition of The Greatest Spectacle In Racing; looks like they pull 3 Gs when they’re in the turns, and it’s zero on the straightaways. The temperature is 90 at Indy, so expect a lot of talk about "marbles" between now and the 200th lap. DP will lose 5-6 pounds today in the cockpit.

Hafner just took The Gambler deep and Tribe has 3-0 lead after uno. Detroit is riding its longest winning streak since the 1984 glory days. We’ll find out a lot more about them now. The Yanks and Red Sox are next up at Comerica after this one. . . . Welcome to the Mets, El Duque: A four-spot by your teammates before you even take the mound. . . . The Bombers are batting around in the first inning. Take a look at the Gameday live box score: The first four Yanks have lines that start 1-1-1.

1:46: Yankees entered the day with a 280-275 lead over the Indians as 1-2 in MLB for team homers. Damon made it 281 in the first AB today. . . . What is the best trophy in pro sports? Am partial here of course to the World Series trophy with all of its pennants, but they are all distinctive in their own way and the Stanley Cup of course is probably the one most steeped in lore. But looking at the Borg-Warner trophy that awaits DP hopefully today, you have to admit it’s pretty hard to top a trophy that has the winner’s face on it.

1:57: Past the quarter mark at Indy. Wheldon looks like a repeat racer right now, but it’s a long last 150 laps, especially at 90 degrees. Adventure lies ahead. Marco Andretti almost lost it just now. What’s harder, hitting the fastball or doing this? That’s been a big argument. I’ll still take the mano-a-mano like you see in Mollie’s photo above, but this is phenomenal athletic concentration happening right now at the Brickyard. . . . Great "Secret" commercial with DP in the simulated racers side-by-side with kids — only wish it were The King next to her instead of Al Unser. . . . The Side-By-Side on ABC is great if you love Indy. Can you tell that your friendly neighborhood blogwatcher grew up in Indiana and went to Time Trials as a kid?

2:00: DP is up to ninth.

2:02: Great post by our friend Cory Humes over at A New Pirates Generation. He went to the history game at PNC last night and got home at 2 am. . . . Mad Dog is liveblogging the Yankees game. . . . Kellia is on a doubleheader rant. Good to see she’s rooting for DP, too! . . . CRASH. Tomas Scheckter just lost the back of his car. That’s the second caution. It’s blocking pit lane, too. Replay shows he just spun it coming out of the turn, on the rumble strips. Amazingly no one hit him. DP made it through the second incident of the day.

2:07: Looks like something might have been thrown from Scheckter’s car way up into the crowd. That doesn’t look good. . . . Replays show it was a piece of the wreckage left on the track and then hit by a car doing 120 mph — that piece was just launched. Update on the fan: Walked out on his own power and appeared to be OK. Great news. You want a foul ball in the stands if you’re at a baseball game. You don’t want a launched piece of wreckage in the stands if you’re at the Indy 500. Not even The Baseball Collector would want that.

2:15: Quick poll: How many people would like to see the Side-By-Side that ABC is using in the same way for a big MLB event? Would you want to see the infielders taking warmup throws or the bullpen pitcher throwing? It probably only applies to an event like Indy or the World Cup, but thought I’d ask. Commercials were actually invented for the purpose of creating a break in the action, such as game shows or TV episodes. Baseball has natural breaks, not so with Indy.

2:20: Washington is all over the Dodgers, 7-0 in the fourth. Soriano just hit No. 18 — seems like a very likely NL starter at PNC on July 11. . . . DP is now eighth after 81 laps back at the hottest Indy ever. Track temp is 125 degrees. Scheckter is saying track conditions were "super." DP probably has lost two pounds so far. . . . Red Sox Chick just said "it’s going to be a long season." Hey, it’s always a long season. Indy is a microcosm of that — long day. . . . DP JUST MOVED UP TO SEVENTH.

2:27: Great post by our colleague T.R. Sullivan over at Postcards from Elysian Fields. It’s a Memorial Day theme and we’ll add that to the start of the blurb on the MLBlogs.com homepage. . . . DP’s crew is having some issues with the handling. But she just turned a 217 lap and is NOW UP TO SIXTH.

2:35: Indians just added another deuce, so it’s 5-0 and the Tigers’ streak is in serious jeopardy. . . . This is amazing: Marco Andretti is seventh, and his father Michael is eighth. When does something like that ever happen in sports? You think about the Griffeys playing in the same outfield. But racing 200+mph side-by-side, a father and son? Unbelievable. . . . DP JUST MOVED UP TO FIFTH.

2:39: Past the halfway mark, now at lap 104. Danica is 14 seconds behind Wheldon — but her crew told her that she is running faster than Wheldon now. Heart is racing here. It could be another unbelievable finish like last year. But there’s a lot of racing ahead. . . . DP just hit the pits at lap 106. I remember when she stalled the car RIGHT AT THIS POINT. Routine stop. She’s back on the track. Sigh of relief for DP fans.

2:43: Wheldon’s in the pits. Wow, 10-second pit. Dixon’s pit is 9.9. CRASH: Involving two cars. Wow, it’s Castroneves. He never has failed to complete every lap at Indy. This is big, he’s into the wall. That’s a big competitor for DP. Buddy Rice is the other part of the crash — DP’s teammate. So we’re under yellow and DP will be packed in with the leaders.

3:00: An unshaven Dave Letterman just told ABC that if his driver DP wins this thing, it will "turn everything upside down." Indeed. If DP wins, what will the "Late Show" be like? He should let her host a show.

3:03: Michael was worrying about Marco’s tires because he was getting crumbs under them. Yes, the first usage of "marbles" was just uttered. If it weren’t for DP, this would be THE story. . . . Don’t look now, but the Royals are chipping away after the quick six runs by the Yanks. KC has scored a run in each of the last three innings. . . . The White Sox seem to be heeding Ozzie’s words today — but Toronto just put up a three-spot.

3:08: Green flag is out again, lap 124. Wheldon, Dixon, Hornish, Kanaan, Franchitti, Patrick. Oops, DP just slid to eighth.

3:15: "Patience." That’s DP’s modus operandi right now. It’s lap 134, she’s sixth, and the air-pressure adjustment made a consistent right. She’ll have two more pits between now and what could be one of the greatest moments in sports. . . . Meanwhile, Hornish has overtaken Wheldon out in front.

3:26: Potential disaster. DP was just coming out of the pits at the moment a yellow came out for an Al Unser Jr. crash. The problem is that DP is stuck in that position a full lap down now while the caution is out. It’s about lap 150, three fourths of the way through the race, so she has 50 laps to make up a lap on guys who are flying with good machines today. Gonna be harder now. But hey, last year she stalled in the pits and still was leading after 190.

3:34: This is amazing what’s happening with Jason Bay right now. He just homered for the sixth straight game, and he now has 10 in his last 10 games. Pretty phenomenal stuff. We just mentioned Soriano as a likely NL All-Star outfield starter, and the way things are going that vote probably starts with Bay. Pirates fans should be voting around the clock and telling every friend they have to vote. Looking forward to the next voting updates. Will he be starting at PNC in front of the home crowd July 11? . . . Red Sox are up 2-0 behind Wakefield in the sixth — against a Devil Rays team still without MLBlogger Jorge Cantu in the lineup. They need him.

3:38: Still on caution. The Hornish team botched the breakway in the pits, leaving the pump in the tank, and fortunately the fuel man is apparently OK. . . . Just about to go back to green, and Jeff Simmons’ car is out, another delay. . . . Wonder what Murray Cook thinks of the grass cutting design on the track apron?

3:57: This is going to be good. Lap 171 of 200, DP still in sixth, and everyone has to come in one more time. . . . It’s also getting good in the Bronx. The Yankees have blown just about all of that 6-0 lead, and it’s now 6-5 with Mo coming on for the top of the ninth. It’s like the Indy 500 and the Royals are DP right now. Can the late charge happen?

4:01: DP is fifth and five seconds back. Dixon just got black-flagged, which effectively takes him out of the race unless there’s a caution, so that bumped DP up a spot. Marco Andretti, who looks like a high school freshman, is now third.

4:06: Rivera gets his 11th save, and the Yankees hold on. Doesn’t matter in the AL East grand scheme of things, except for separation from losing Toronto, because Wakefield is the man today. Big news in the AL is that the Tigers’ nine-game win streak is moments away from toast. . . . El Duque had enough support early and picked up the win in his first game as a Met.

4:09: Great pit for DP (8.2 seconds), just 12 laps to go. Not looking like it’s gonna happen for DP Nation. In fact, yellow just went out, and that pretty much seals DP’s fate; she needed green the rest of the way while these other pits were happening. . . . There are still some great storylines. Michael Andretti has never won here and the yellow helps him. Nine laps to go. . . . MLB.com Mariners beat writer Corey Brock just blogged from the Metrodome to say the M’s are swinging the bats well against Johan Santana. . . . Our friend and former Spheroid Edward at DC Daily just blogged about Soriano’s 18th homer.

4:17: That save by Rivera just tied him with Hall of Famer Dennis Eckersley for fourth on the all-time list at 390. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Royals’ 3-22 record on the road this season equals the worst road start after 25 games in American-League history (the 1904 Washington Senators, 1916 Philadelphia A’s and 1988 Baltimore Orioles each lost 22 of their first 25 road decisions). The Royals also have lost 16 of the last 17 games at Yankee Stadium (dating back to 2002).

4:19: Green is out, four laps to go. Can Michael Andretti win his first Indy 500? Get ready for a wild sprint.

4:21: WOW — the son just passed the father. Marco in front with 2 left.

4:23: What a finish. Sam Hornish Jr. dived ahead of Marco and won in the second-closest finish in the 90-year history of the event. Tough break for Danica Patrick but still a great run, finishing eighth and I believe on the lead lap. "I must have used up most of my luck last year," she told ABC, saying it wasn’t a winning car today. Tough break for the Andrettis, but still finished 2-3. Congrats to Hornish, your 2006 Indianapolis 500 champion.

6:40: This Memorial Day Weekend also will be remembered for the moment when Barry Bonds passed the great Babe Ruth for second place on the career home run list with 715. Hammerin’ Hank Aaron is 40 homers away. It will be interesting to see what MLBloggers think of the moment. How will it be remembered? What chance does Bonds have of reaching 755? MLBlogs.com is an official affiliate of MLB.com with "unofficial opinions," so have at it, baseball fans.

Monday: Memorial Day

Since the previous paragraph was written here last night, we have been letting you "have at it" by posting this adjacent panel on the MLBlogs.com homepage. The mission of this blog is to focus on the people who post here and to help you grow this community and help you gain exposure for your blog. The mission statement of MLBlogs itself is: MLB.com Official Affiliate/Unofficial Opinions. Hopefully it feels like an actual ballpark around here, where you can cheer and/or boo to your heart’s desire, because you paid for a seat to be here with many other fans (your blog is no more than two clicks away from the view of millions and millions of fans at MLB.com and all 30 club sites), and maybe to be amongst MLB personalities as well. So here’s the point. Let’s keep the BBBBBQ theme going here through the rest of the long holiday weekend. There are so many different things you want to post about, whether it’s the games being played, a trip you are taking to see Midwest ballparks, All-Star voting, Memorial Day thoughts, Barry, etc. There were probably as many posts at MLBlogs about Derek Jeter’s 2,000th hit as there were for Barry’s 715th homer. We want to reflect what you are blogging about.

Now back to the BBBBBQ. There’s a big series at Comerica between the Yankees and Tigers, and MLB.com’s beat writers for those two teams just posted to start the show.

2:47 pm: Big Unit is back to Big Unit today, but he just lost his no-hitter to Pudge in the bottom of the sixth. Randy Johnson was the last to throw one in the Majors, in May 2004. As I wrote on May 9 for MLB.com, this is the longest stretch without a no-hitter in Major League Baseball since World War II. Why can’t anyone throw a no-hitter anymore? Two years and 11 days; there have been an average of two per year in modern baseball history. There were 37 no-nos in the 1990s and there have been seven in this entire decade — as many as Nolan Ryan threw in his career. Nolan, where are you? You have to give Pudge credit, because he pushed a low-away pitch off the plate into right field.

3:00: National Moment of Silence for American veterans who sacrificed their lives for freedom. Nice to do. Thanks again to my 89-year-old grandpa, Woody Groomer, veteran of the Battle of the Bulge in 1944, when he fought Hitler’s troops. This weekend, he went jitterbugging as usual at the local Eagles club with his new girlfriend.

3:25: More Recently Updated Photo Albums, including some nice shots from our friend Kevin over at The Player To Be Named Later:

• Cards V. Padres, 06Oct05
• Miscellaneous Cardinals Related Images
• Midwest trip
• Cardinals vs. Padres (at San Diego) 5.27-28.06
• Autographs
• Photos of Zack
• Other Stuff

7:28: OK, the hours are starting to dwindle like the sun in the East on our 5BQ. Next year I am thinking that spending the entire weekend at Indy or on a boat will be the way to go, but this has been fun to "live it" through the MLBlogosphere and try to make sure everyone’s blogs are seen. . . . Red Sox Chick is on a tear right now so clear some room in the paint. That was a really moving post about the 2004 championship, and please join her on the liveblog tonight. Post a comment here if you are liveblogging tonight as well. . . . If you were ever thinking about buying something at the MLB.com Shop, then don’t forget that you have until 11:59 ET tonight if you want to get that 15-percent off Memorial Day Weekend Sale on your total order. . . . Kellia has calmed down since the Tripleranter. You mess with Byrnesie and you will pay. . . . I miss liveblogging about DP.

7:43: Our colleague Tom Singer just wrote about players who might see 715 on the horizon, and in the course of the article he mentioned the overall "apathy" surrounding Barry passing Babe. Indeed, the comment was backed statistically at MLBlogs, where you have been blogging about pretty much everything else in an exceptionally heavy posting weekend. But there are still many fans, primarily those who were at AT&T Park, who enjoyed the moment, and for those people we have nice ways to commemorate it, such as the 715 display at the Shop. That’s why we’ve been having the 5BQ all this extended weekend — it’s been a very diverse range of blogging.

10:01: Jason Bay’s homer streak is over at six games, because he was just left on deck in the bottom of the eighth. Not that Pirates fan are complaining: 14 runs tonight. Some good things are happening in Buccoville.

10:20: TRAFFIC TIPS FOR MLBLOGGERS. Some people have asked about it. One of the most important things you can do is comment on other people’s blogs. It’s like anything else. If you want to be popular, you have to mingle and be a people person. And because you want to.

10:24: So, what did you all think of the first annual Baseball Blogging Backyard BBQ? The "5BQ" gave us a chance to showcase all of your great posts about baseball and beyond, in text, photo, video and audio formats. There was a great disparity of topics, ranging from Indy to Memorial Day observances to Barry to your teams to . . . who can remember . . . click as many MLBlogs as you can and sample the fare. It was remarkable how active this MLBlogosphere was, when past perception is that people take off for the weekend like this and then "catch up" on Tuesday. Blogs are forever. Please keep the input coming as we try to grow a great blogging community in ways you want, and thanks for making it a fun Memorial Day Weekend around here. I thank you, and my 89-year-old grandpa Woody Groomer, the WWII vet who was my inspiration on this weekend, thanks you. Everyone have a great week back at the dude ranch and we’ll get back to the Spheroids shortly (so email us your responses to the previous Spheroid questions here!).

Mark

Thanks to Michael McHugh for appearing as our MLBlogger of the Week on MLB Radio’s "Under the Lights" on Friday night. You can hear our MLB.com kid reporter by clicking the drop-down menu under the Multimedia heading on the MLBlogs.com homepage. We’ll keep this going all season to give folks a chance to talk baseball and promote their MLBlogs.

Don’t know about you, but I haven’t been able to get "Sweet Vernon Wells" out of my head since listening to that song on Buck Canyon’s MLBlog earlier Friday . Nice of Red Sox Chick to post the real lyrics during her liveblog.

Writing a Derek Jeter career-retrospective story now, so be on the lookout at MLB.com and yankees.com.

Will be looking for some of the coolest Memorial Day theme posts this weekend . . . who’s grilling?

Red Sox Chick is at it again, so be sure to join her liveblog of Rays-Sox. If anyone else is liveblogging tonight, please post a comment here.

Your friendly neighborhood Liveblog Match Assist Operator (****) wants to be your hookup for opposing-team MLBloggers who might want to liveblog "against" you on any given day. So be sure to always comment here if you are planning to liveblog, so others can create a match. Then we also can publicize it and help drive people to the liveblog duel.

Dave at Mad Dog Reports had the early word on Jeter’s 2,000th hit.

OK, time to post another Spheroid. See if you can guess which team will be represented. Right now a couple of teams have a batch of MLBloggers in line to be Spheroids, and we want to spread the wealth so please respond to those Nine Questions when you look at the previous Spheroids here.

Less than an hour until MLBlogger Michael McHugh steps up to the plate for his "Under the Lights" appearance on MLB Radio. Here’s the link, and you can email or IM the show.

Just added a new Typelist on the side here, so feel free to click those blog-search results at any time to see your frequency of visibility around the overall blogosphere. Ultimately will add search functionality here, but for now here are some "MLBlogs" search results: IceRocket | Technorati | Feedster | Google | Sphere

Michael McHugh, MLB.com’s kid reporter based in Houston, is our MLBlogger of the Week. He will be on the MLB Radio "Under the Lights" show at 10:20 ET tonight (and hopefully will talk about what it was like interviewing Barry Bonds), so you can look for that on the MLB.com homepage or catch the replay whenever it’s added to the drop-down menu under the Multimedia heading on the MLBlogs homepage. All of the previous MLBloggers of the Week are listed there, and continue to email us if you’d like to appear in a future Friday appearance to talk baseball and promote your MLBlogs.

We welcome T.R. Sullivan to the MLBlogosphere this week with Postcards from Elysian Fields. He is the seventh MLB.com beat writer to start an MLBlog (preceded in order of start date by Matthew Leach, Jason Beck, Mark Feinsand, Ian Browne, Steve Gilbert and Corey Brock), and judging by the hundreds of comments Feinsand is getting, fans love being able to connect this way with the traveling person who is closest to that team.

Maybe you’ve noticed this week that Vernon Wells definitely has a No. 1 fan . . . and a pretty funny one at that. How many of your 25 allotted Monster.com All-Star Online Ballot votes have you used up? As you can see, he wants you to vote for the Blue Jays’ outfielder. Not a bad argument; Wells is on pace for roughly a 40-120-.330 season.

It’s interesting when you look through the list of pitchers who are on 20-win pace right now and see which ones are complete surprises in that mix. Who would have thought Jason Marquis and Wandy Rodriguez would be leading the Cards and Astros, respectively, in wins? Tom Glavine is tied at the top with seven wins, but what if the Mets had kept Kris Benson to go along with him? And what if the Mets still had their former phenom Scott Kazmir?

Happy Memorial Day weekend to anyone heading out for the road and the barbecues . . .

Congrats to Taylor Hicks. Nice to have an American Idol with the same last name as a Major League Baseball owner, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him bringing his music one day to millions of baseball/music fans on MLB.com — like Jewel just did.

From one Show to another, big welcome to our two latest call-ups here in the MLBlogosphere, both of whom have a vested interest in this game now finishing at Fenway:

State of the 2006 Red Sox MLBlog Nation
It’s all about the boys in Pinstripes.

And Cub Fans is now in the game as well.

If you read David Wright’s latest entry today, then you know that he decided on a permanent name for his MLBlog: Wright Now. Shawn got the shout-out from him for being the first to suggest that one, which was among more than 650 comments (a blogosphere record?) on No. 5′s first post.

David’s latest post did not mention that the Mets’ Magic Number is now 113. Think Mets fans are excited about this season?

Don’t look now, but someone is waking up in Cleveland. Big CC just threw his second straight complete game and has four wins since coming off the DL. Did you see his diving tag at first?! The Indians had that monstrous second-half surge last year and this is the team so many people were picking to get to the playoffs in ’06. What a division.

Jesse Sanchez posts some of our favorite stuff, and that includes his glimpse into the world of someone you probably don’t think about enough.

Here are some Recently Updated Photo Albums. How’s yours?

• Me stuff! =)
• Yankee Stadium. (May 9th game vs Boston)
• Wonderful World of Hats
• Photos of Zack
• Bisons Photo
• Cubs vs Sox 5/20/06
• My trip to Busch
• Cubs vs. Nationals-5/17/06
• Red Sox Glory-Past and Present

Thanks for the patience after a week of elusive blogging. Now it’s off to college baseball for this blogger’s firstborn, and was fun to see a high school graduation again. Some random thoughts after a week taking in America and treasured moments:

• First of all, great to see so many new MLBlogs constantly popping up. Darryl’s Twins update is the latest one. We added “Rookies” to the homepage recently and hopefully you are helping to welcome the call-ups to The Show. And how does it get any better than seeing a Major League mascot blog? Welcome back to the Sphere, Raymond. How do you type with those big hands/paws/whatever?
• Catching up here for our friend Diane Firstman of Diamonds are for Humor. She was our MLBlogger of the Week on MLB Radio’s “Under the Lights” show
  last Friday night, and you can now listen to the clip of her appearance
  by clicking the drop-down menu under the Multimedia heading on the
  MLBlogs.com homepage. Email us if you’d like to talk baseball and promote your MLBlog on future Friday nights.
• It’s going to get mighty confusing around here in the MLBlogosphere if Barry Bonds just keeps on going and threatens Hank Aaron for numero uno. What will you think of when MC Hammer blogs like he just did about Barry’s latest blast? What will Hammer Time mean? This post obviously showed how much No. 714 for Barry hit home with the former Oakland A’s batboy…site of all those wins by Rudi, Reggie, Catfish, Sal & Co.
• One of the coolest things heard on the radio while driving back to NYC from STL was all the attention the Reds’ broadcast team gives The Bad Boy Blog while they’re calling a typical Reds game on WLW 700-AM. Steve Stewart, who teams with Hall of Famer Marty Brennanman in that booth, talked about seeing sights while in Detroit, and again told all listeners to go to reds.com to see his pictures he snapped. It’s just another way that more and more people discover MLBlogs for the first time, and if you were in Recently Updated Weblogs at that time, then you could have been a direct beneficiary. It all trickles down, and again MLBlogs is the only place where you can blog and have it visible to many millions of baseball fans as a link on MLB.com, all 30 club sites, MiLB.com, MLBPlayers.com and other MLB.com affiliates.
• 
  So my high school grad won’t want this revealed, but that’s OK. He had a huge senior season at Ryan Howard’s alma mater, and in the first game of districts he had a chance to win the game with two out in the bottom of the seventh. First pitch is a classic home run swing that’s just under the fastball; that would have been No. 5 for him. Second pitch fouled out of play. Takes one for 1-2. Then he flies out to right, and suddenly the season’s over, off to Legion and college. The players meet, and my boy is crying, which he never does. I hug him, and he doesn’t say anything about the last at-bat opportunity. He just says between sobs: “Dad, this was the best bunch of guys ever.” That was one of the coolest things I ever heard him say. Remember how you felt when you suddenly realized that high school was over? (Red Sox Teen Nation, you’ll find out soon enough.) There’s something else to blog about — what graduations mean to you.
• A day before watching a graduation this past Sunday, your friendly neighborhood blogwatcher watched his 14-year-old hit his first ball out of a park on Saturday, which meant having to go chase down the ball near the trees 340 feet to left-center. He had hit three triples that just missed in the 8 am game, and this was the 10 am half of the doubleheader. The coach signed it with the distance and date for him to keep, and the next day the entrance for the 10-field facility had a big marquee sign that read in block letters: CONGRATULATIONS (SON’S NAME HERE), HOME RUN, U-14, FIELD 2. Funniest sight was him rounding second on his trot with both arms up in the air…you can get away with it when you’re 14 and not have to worry about getting plunked next AB. If you played, do you remember your first real homer?
• Be on the lookout for David Wright’s next MLBlog post, which could be in a Recently Updated Weblogs list near you in the next 24 hours. Especially eager to see if he decides on a name for his blog. You’ll recall that more than 650 people commented on his first post, so there were tons of suggestions. Getting it Wright is the working title.
• A handful of Spheroids are lined up, and thanks for the patience if yours is on deck, in the hole or somewhere in the batting order. Reminder that if you want to see previous Spheroids, just click the Spheroids category in this blog’s side panel so you’ll see only those. Thanks also to Reid and whoever else was liveblogging during this past week.
• So what are you blogging about now? Don’t forget to post a quickie comment here about your latest entry and include your URL so we can help get people over there. Tell Hammer what you thought of Barry’s shot that tied The Bambino, liveblog against someone and tell us about it, be a Spheroid, get on MLB Radio, comment on as many other MLBlogs as you can while leaving your URL, have your baseball blog seen by baseball fans. Life is good in the Sphere and out on the road. There are a lot of stars on the PA Turnpike at night, and here, too.

Mark