One. Tonight, Manny threw out a runner at the plate, and as he was running to the dugout, did the "windmill" arm motion. Remy referred to this as "Manny loosening up the arm." But I've been watching Manny, and he's been doing this a lot, either when a runner doesn't attempt to score on a ball hit to him, or when he throws a guy out at a base. I think he's mocking the third base coach "waving him in" sign. But I could be wrong.

[One-A. (added 11:12 PM) During post-game, TC watches the replay of the above play, and shows he's been influenced by Remy's call: "Manny loosening up the gun," TC said, quite sure of himself. I still say Manny's gotta be mocking the waving in of the runner! Who's with me on this one? My further proof--they showed Manny actually loosening up his arm during tonight's game, and he does it clockwise (if you look at your right arm while winding it). But when he does this mocking motion, he goes counterclockwise--which is the same direction the coaches arm would be going from Manny's perspective in the outfield.]

Two. A Ray of Devil hit a dong right off the "496" above the Monster. And it made made me realize that, terribly, I hadn't to that point visualized Manny hitting a homer (preferably his 500th) off off those numbers! So that's what I'm rooting for now. Specifically, a ball that hits the numbers and makes the 499 fall on its own, revealing the 500. Though it would be crappy if, say, only the middle number fell off, sending Manny back to 409.

But he needs four dongs tomorrow if he wants to get 500 on this homestand. After tomorrow, we hit the road for 10 days.

With our win tonight, we're 2 games up in the east.