Just what the Mets needed: As their team bus pulled into Pittsburgh Wednesday night for today’s makeup game with the Pirates, they were greeted not by smiling bellhops at the Westin Hotel, but by that city’s annual convention of furries — Anthrocon ‘09 — which celebrates those who enjoy dressing as animals. If you’ve seen “The Shining,” how can you forget the scene in which Shelley Duval breaks in on two people in mouse costumes in one of the hotel rooms? That still haunts my dreams. Yep, furries.

All of this pretty much freaked out SNY broadcaster Kevin Burkhardt, who encountered several furries at the hotel and has been tweeting about it all day. But for real hilarity, take a look at this transcript of a conversation between Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez during the game on SNY just a couple of hours ago: Read more…

The Mets have now played six games in their new ballpark, Citi Field, and while it looks like a very nice stadium from what I’ve seen of it on television, Mets fans do have some complaints about the place. No doubt the price of a ticket to attend a game there is one of them, as is the team’s 3-3 record there so far. But a major theme amongst the faithful seems to be the lack of Mets history around the ballpark.

That’s something Dwight Gooden tried to help with when he visited the stadium for its first game. While hanging out in the Ebbets Club and at the suggestion of one of the fans, Doc took out a Sharpie and signed a blank gray area of the wall next to the bar, writing “Doc Gooden 84 R.O.Y., 85 Cy Young, 86 W.S. Champs.” The Mets were not amused.  They didn’t spend $632 million on the place to have players sign the walls.

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• Seems the WNBA is becoming more like its big brother league everyday.

• Keith Hernandez doesn’t have time to respect the Reds’ Hall of Fame.

• Fans won’t be chanting for Melky Cabrera if he keeps this kind of play up.

• No wonder the Cubs were doing so well - they cheated in the MLB Draft!

• The Baltimore Ravens draft a four-year basketball collegian who hasn’t played football since high school.

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Former Cincinnati Reds shortstop Barry Larkin was inducted into the franchise’s Hall of Fame prior to Saturday’s game against the New York Mets. A member of the Reds for all 18 years of his baseball career, Larkin had a lot of people to thank for his success during his speech Saturday night. Too many people, if you ask Keith Hernandez.

During the broadcast, the former first baseman who works alongside Gary Cohen as the voices of Mets baseball on SportsNet New York said, “Barry Larkin said everything in his speech, except I thought he was going to extend (George) Bush’s tax cuts.” That’s the kind of line you get out of Keith when Jerry Seinfeld or Larry David isn’t writing his material.

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS called Hernandez and Cohen, who joined in on the rant, “condescending and petty.”

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Major League ballplayers aren’t putting up with media criticism anymore. Not soon after the Rangers’ Milton Bradley went looking to rough-up a Royals announcer, the Mets’ Jose Reyes almost came to blows with color commentator Keith Hernandez.

The NEW YORK POST reports that an on-board scuffle was hastily avoided on the team’s charter plane last Sunday night, as the shortstop & SNY analyst “were close to exchanging punches until others stepped in.”

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