BACK AND BLOGGER THAN EVER

Mets 6, Yankees 4 (NYM 36-37, 7 GB; NYY 37-36)

Nineteen wins and twenty-two losses later, here we are. Nothing's really changed. Tom Glavine's still horrible, and the Mets are still hovering around .500 (though lately it's been on the wrong side of that number).

But things are starting to look up. Everything went the Mets way on Friday night in the Bronx, as the Mets beat the Yankees, 6-4.

It didn't start well - Pedro Martinez* (the asterisk remains due to Pedro's brush with injury shortly after my last posting) gave up a leadoff homer to Derek Jeter. It was the second inning where the Mets showed what a little aggressive ball can lead to.

The first two batters reached, setting up a sacrifice bunt situation for Doug Mientkiewicz. Mientkiewicz dropped a bunt down the third base line that stayed fair and was perfectly placed, loading the bases, instead of leaving men at first and second. The next batter was Ramon Castro, and he hit a sac fly, tying the game at 1. Then Jose Reyes hit another sac fly - except Bernie Williams dropped it! The Mets took the 2-1 lead, and you knew things were going their way. The Mets added another sac fly in the inning - tying a record. Reyes' was ruled a sac fly, and he reached on the error, in case you were wondering.

Cliff Floyd homered off Mike Mussina in the third inning, after Mussina hit him with a pitch in the first...and Carlos Beltran* (the asterisk remains because I think we all expected a lot more from him at this point) homered in the fifth. 8 of Beltran*'s 9 homers on the season came in games Martinez* has started. Unreal. Beltran* also made a leaping catch against the centerfield wall in the 8th...or maybe it was the 7th.

Pedro* was very good. He gave up two runs in eight innings, striking out 3. Incidentally, it's the lowest strikeout total he's had in a game where he's gone eight innings. Pedro's now 8-2.

Here's the only sore spot of the night - Braden Looper, giving up a 2-run homer, 3 hits, in the ninth inning. It wasn't a save situation, but that's the problem. Anytime it's not a save situation, Looper is a lock to give up at least a run. The joke here would be he's a lock to give up a run in save situations too, but that hasn't been the case lately. Sometimes he makes it exciting, but he's converted 15 of 17 saves on the year. I guess the point is, he just better not cost the Mets a game if he comes in and they're up 4 runs or more.

A sweep of the Yankees would be huge this weekend. Two out of three would still leave the Mets a game under .500. I'll try to keep writing after each of the games. Things should settle down for a little bit these next few weeks.

Signed,
the newest 4th grade teacher in Sudbury, Massachusetts