Game 1: Mets 10, Rockies 3; Game 2: Mets 4, Rockies 2 (58-61, 7 GB of wild card)

An interesting thing happened on Thursday night. After the softball game, we went to get pizza and beer at the local bar (more on the softball game later), and the Giants-Panthers NFL Preseason game is on the TV. They do a score update at the bottom of the screen, and underneath the score of game one of the doubleheader, Mets 10, Rockies 3, it says "NYM: 7.5 games back of the wild card." It could be that they just needed a stat to put there, but I think of it as an omen. Especially after the big win in game 2.

Al Leiter pitched very well, but again threw way too many pitches, so he left the game in the sixth inning trailing 2-1. It was 2-1 into the eighth, when Eric Valent, our boy here at johnnymets.blogspot.com, hits a pinch-hit solo homer to tie it. Then, with a 3-2 count and one out, one man on, in the top of the ninth, who else but future Hall of Famer David Wright with the first of what will be many dramatic game-winning homers to give the Mets the 4-2 lead. Mike Stanton pitched an excellent inning and a third to get the win.

The Mets won game one big. 10-3, a typical game in Colorado. The Mets' offense clicked, and Kris Benson pitched very well. And the Mets beat Shawn Estes, who I hold a grudge against. I don't know if the Mets do, but I sure do. Here's why. (I might have written this back when the Mets played the Rockies earlier in the year...if I did, sorry, but it bothers me so much I'm writing it again.) Estes, as you all remember, wussed out of throwing at Roger Clemens in his first at-bat against the Mets at Shea Stadium after he threw the bat at Mike Piazza (it was also the first at-bat after he had thrown at Piazza's head). Estes threw behind Clemens, because he wasn't on the team when Clemens did all this stuff to the Mets, and he didn't want to nail him. (Estes did homer off Clemens, which was good, but I wanted blood.) Anyway, that wasn't so bad.......until, last season, Estes is playing for the Chicago Cubs, it's early in the year, very early in the year, and there's a benches-clearing brawl. Who's out there, swinging away at the opponent, but one Shawn Estes?! He's been with these Cubs for a month and a half, and he's out there fighting for them, but he wouldn't throw one stinking baseball at Roger Clemens to back up his batterymate while he was here in New York??! That makes me so friggin' mad. So thank goodness the Mets beat him up yesterday.

A related situation happened in game two of the doubleheader Thursday night. Joe McEwing took a beating in the game. He had at least three Colorado runners take him out hard at second base, and after the third runner, J.D. Closser, slid into him, McEwing didn't get up. He had to be helped off the field. I don't know if he'll be back at all this season. We'll see. But anyway, Braden Looper faces Closser in the eighth inning, and he drills him good. It was a tie game at the time, and Looper put the potential winning run on first base, and got ejected at the same time, but that's good teammating. Way to go Braden! Especially considering Stanton pitched awesome in relief of Looper, and the Mets won the game. If they had lost, I might have been a little pissed.

As for Future Hall of Famer David Wright, he was 5-for-10 in the doubleheader, 2-for-6 in the first game, 3-for-4 in the nightcap. The homer was Wright's 5th (en route to at least 755), and the RBI's brought his total to 15. Piazza, Jose Reyes, and Matsui might be on the DL, but maybe Wright could be the spark to lead this team to the playoffs, or at least keep things rolling until those guys get healthy. (And now that McEwing is hurt, we need one of those middle infielders back soon.) Also on the injury front, Victor Zambrano was placed on the DL Thursday with the elbow problem. I think Matt Ginter will pitch in his place on Sunday.

Would you believe the Mets are now tied with the Phillies in the standings? The Astros trailed 7-2 late in the game on Thursday, and came back to beat Philly 12-10. So the Mets picked up a game and a half on the Phillies. The Mets can pick up some more ground in the wild card race this weekend. They trail the Giants by seven games, and they have three games in San Francisco this weekend. Steve Trachsel goes Friday night, and Tom Glavine returns from his car accident on Saturday afternoon.

As promised, the softball game. So we won big, behind the pitching of my wife! That's right. She played in her first game of the season, and took the mound no less. (She usually keeps score, but we need two women on each team, and she had to be an emergency fill-in). So she pitches two innings, giving up just two runs, catching a pop-up, and recording a strikeout. She got the win. As for the third baseman, he played better. I think just one error in Thursday night's game. So I think there are just 2 games left in the season (don't expect another appearance by the wife). We're 8-2, and I would say we are definitely in the top 3 of the league. Too bad we'll never know, since there is no playoff system.

Let's go Mets!