8:42 – Lou Pinella is probably the most famous guy in the ballroom.

8:54 – They’re playing random video highlights on two large video screens. It’s making my head hurt

9:02 – Team roll call.  The MC is calling out the number of guys on each team’s 40-man roster after the team name.  Will anyone come in lower than the Mets 32?  … Turns out not.

9:04 – Washington picks and we are under way.

9:06: – The Pirates pluck Donald Veal, one of the more widely known names, at #4.  The Braves at #7 become the first team to pass in the MLB phase.

9:09 – The Diamondbacks scooped up James Skelton from the Tigers.  I’m sitting with a Tigers farmhand who was amused by the pick.

9:11 – The Mets select RHP Darren O’Day from the Angels system.

9:12 – Picking right behind the Mets, the Brewers select Eddie Morlan.

9:14 – We’ve hit the second pass through the MLB phase and it’s a “passing” party…. except for the Mets… who make the inspired move to pick RHP Rocky Cherry.  I like this pick.  Cherry was 0-1 with a 2.75 ERA in 30 games for the Orioles AAA affiliate in Norfolk with 40 strikeouts and 11 BB, in 39.1 IP.  In 17 IP at the big league level, he gave up 15 hits, 15 runs, 12 earned, 16 BB and fanned 15.  He throws in the low 90s with a decent slider.

9:30 – The Mets pick up Braves OF Carl Loadenthal, just a few weeks shy of his 27th birthday.  Loadenthal hit .261/.326/.291 split between AA and AAA in 306 AB between the two levels in 2008.

9:35 – The Mets pick up John Madden from San Diego’s AA roster.  The 26-year old stands 6′4″ 230 lbs.  He was 2-3 with a 3.88 ERA and 24 BB against 45 SO in 72 innings for the advanced-A Lake Elsinore Storm in the Cal League in ‘08.  He was an 8th round pick out of Auburn in ‘05.