it seems like just yesterday that fernando tatis posted a .298/.404/.553 line as a 24-year-old 3rd baseman back in '99. walt jocketty looked like a genius prying the young stud (along with decent LHP darren oliver) from the rangers for the aging todd stottlemyre and the disappointing royce clayton, and rightly so. then tatis got hurt in 2000 (hamstring, wasn't it?), struggled upon his return, and was shipped off the following fall in the hermanson/kline deal, which yet again made walt jocketty look like a genius. as an expo in his age 26-28 seasons, he struggled mightily - his .259/.339/.359 line in an injury-shortened 2001 marked his best efforts in each of the slash categories in montreal. britt reames, his counterpart in that trade, also had a rough go of things up there. yikes. must be something in the water.

anyway, with the exception of an expanded-roster cup of coffee with the regretfully bad 2006 orioles, fernando hadn't seen meaningful at-bats in the major leagues since flaming out as an expo way back in '03... until now! yes, he's back! as a met, to be specific. and in his first game after being called up, he roped a pinch-hit single to right field off the nationals' john lannan. (yes, it was a rope; i happened to be watching on TV at the time.)

good to see you back in the bigs, fernando. here's to a long-overdue string of success, even if it is for the pond scum.