Expos 4, Mets 1 (47-48, 3 GB)

I'm starting to think the Mets may be no better than a .500 team. Luckily, that still leaves them just 3 games out of a playoff spot. But when you can't do better than a split against Montreal, let alone score more than a run in a game, you have to look at your team and think something's wrong.

I have a bunch of problems with Thursday's game. Here's a couple. Tom Glavine pitched great again, and again he gets nothing in return. At least he didn't get the loss. That went to John Franco, who served up a 2-run homer to Tony Batista in the 8th inning, breaking a 1-1 tie. That followed a dribbler of a base hit with two outs. I'm telling you, the Mets can't catch a break. Still, Franco can't keep giving up homers.

OK, another problem...HUGE problem. Why don't these major league baseball players run like they mean it? Good God, you just have to run hard a few times a game, will you do it once in a while?!?! Some instances, and they definitely cost the Mets yesterday:

Bottom 4: Kaz Matsui lines one to center field leading off the inning, Endy Chavez dives for it, misses it, the ball rolls all the way to the wall. Should absolutely be an inside-the-park home run, but Kaz is taking his time getting out of the box, and only ends up with a triple. The Mets go down 1-2-3 after that, so it stays scoreless instead of 1-0, Mets. I have a couple of problems with Matsui's baserunning. I've not once seen him slide into second base to break up a double play - he bails out as soon as the bag is touched. It wouldn't kill him to show a little more hustle.

Top 6: The only run off Glavine, a solo home run. The ball just cleared the wall by a little bit. Why does Mike Cameron give up on it so quick? He just stood and watched it, when I think he might have been able to catch up to it...I'm not positive that he would have robbed the homer, but he sure has done it enough in his career that I wouldn't be surprised if he did. But, oh, I forgot, he's wearing a Mets uniform now, so mediocre fielding is good enough right now.

Bottom 6: With Richard Hidalgo on first, Mike Cameron rips a double into the left field corner, with the score tied at 1. Hidalgo is being sent home, but after a few steps around third, he stops for some reason. The Expos catch Hidalgo in a rundown. They chase Hidalgo back to third. For some reason, as he's being chased back to third, Hidalgo stops, and runs back towards home. WHEN THIRD BASE IS LEFT UNCOVERED!!!! He could have easily dove (dived?) back into third base safely. But I don't know. Maybe I'm the only one who saw this. Ted Robinson and Fran Healy were too busy talking about everything else under the sun to bother to point it out. So maybe I'm wrong. But man, the Mets are killing me.

Good news: David Wright was 2-for-4, picking up his first two major league hits. His first hit was a double. He's just 2,998 hits from the 3,000 hit plateau, en route to the Hall of Fame. By the way, Wright also scored the only run of the game for the Mets. He was driven in by his co-first-ballot-inductee into the Hall, Jose Reyes. On his plaque, it will read, "THE GREATEST BALLPLAYER WHO EVER LIVED". Unfortunately, David Wright's Major League Baseball winning streak is over at 1. And the Mets are now 0-1 in games in which Wright gets a hit.

This weekend the Mets host the Braves. The two teams play for the first time since early April. If the Mets don't take the series, it might be time to spark up johnnyjets.blogspot.com.