MARLON'S FLORIDA

Mets 7, Marlins 6 (NYM: 40-39, 8 GB; FLA: 40-37)

This was one exciting game. Fireworks night at Shea - packed house, Tom Glavine vs. A.J. Burnett, fat Tony Gwynn throwing out the first pitch...35-minute rain delay.

Here are a couple of sidelines to the action - some of which I had no idea about:
-Luis Castillo entered the game with a 28-game hitting streak at Shea Stadium - the longest ever at Shea. The streak began in September of 2001, and continues today: Castillo was 3-for-5.
-Carlos Delgado owns Tom Glavine - he entered the game 10-for-14 lifetime against Glavine - that's a .714 average. He went 0-for-3 on Friday night.

The Mets and Marlins are developing a nice little rivalry. First of all, they're very competitive. The Mets have come out on top 7 out of 10 games so far this year against Florida, but they've been close games, for the most part. I also remember the first time they met this year, there were some words exchanged when Al Leiter hit Cliff Floyd with a pitch - there were a bunch of hit batters on Friday night - including a couple that I thought were intentional:

-In the 5th, when A.J. Burnett started to lose his head (more on that later), he had a runner on third - I think he plunked Floyd intentionally (in the knee, no less), so Floyd wouldn't hit him.

-In the 6th, with Aaron Heilman squaring around to bunt, Nate Bump threw right at Heilman's head. I'm not saying that was very intentional....but keep in mind Heilman did throw a one-hitter at Florida in April.

-In the 8th, Heilman threw one under Paul LoDuca's chin. Fran Healy said there was no way that was intentional...but I think Heilman was exacting some revenge on the opposing catcher.

OK. Now let's look at the game. The Marlins took a 1-0 lead, the Mets took a 2-1 lead, then Glavine handed those 2 runs right back in the top of the fifth, making it 3-2 Marlins. In the bottom of the fifth, the Mets broke things open...for a little while.

Mike Lowell made two throwing errors on three plays (sandwiched around a sacrifice bunt). That set up an RBI double by Mike Cameron, tying the game at 3. A.J. Burnett looked like he was getting rattled, mostly by the errors, then he uncorked a wild pitch. THE GREATEST BALLPLAYER WHO EVER LIVED, Jose Reyes ran from third, and a slid head first into home. His hand just got under the tag by Burnett, and Burnett was very upset with the home plate umpire's call. He went on to hit Floyd, then walked future Hall of Famer David Wright, forcing in a run. That was all for Burnett, and the Marlins bullpen held the score at Mets 5, Marlins 3, until Mike Cameron's solo homer in the 7th.

It was the top of the eighth that the Mets blew it. Heilman couldn't get a batter, leaving with a runner on 2nd, and allowing 2 runs, making it 6-5. Roberto Hernandez got a sac fly, then a strikeout, and almost escaped the inning, but gave up a dribbler up the middle that got the tying run home. A nice outing by Hernandez - he deserved to pick up the win.

The win became his when Marlon Anderson led off the bottom of the eighth with a double over Juan Pierre's head. After a Ramon Castro sac bunt, Chris Woodward singled to center to make it 7-6 Mets. Braden Looper gave up a leadoff double to Carlos Delgado, but got Alex Gonzalez to line to Anderson (whose performance merited headlines on this site...although there were many heroes in this game) to end the game.

Very exciting stuff. A couple of excellent points by Keith Hernandez tonight - first of all, after TGBWEL, Jose Reyes, flew out in the eighth, Hernandez said if Reyes starts to line the ball, he will raise his average by about 40 points. "The fly ball is a big out for him," says Keith. He's right. Also, Hernandez pointed out that the Marlins have good averages hitting with runners in scoring position, but they can't get that clutch hit in the late innings of games....like this one.

On to other matters: The All-Star Game. I'm not sure where I saw this, I think it may have been the Daily News, but Pedro Martinez* now says he would love to represent the Mets in the game. Apparently, which I missed, Pedro* had said he might not accept an invitation to play in the game, but has since thought better of it...he now says based on the investment Omar Minaya and the Mets made in him, he feels he needs to go, if Tony LaRussa names him to the team. This is just a sign of things to come from Pedro* in future years. I guarantee, if we're lucky enough to have Martinez* representing the Mets in the All-Star Game in the future, there will be a year where he doesn't go, or opts out of playing, or something he pulled while he was with the Red Sox.

Carlos Beltran*, meanwhile, will be voted in by the fans, so he'll definitely be there. I am not as down on Beltran* as I might seem, saying he hasn't given us what we've expected. While this is true, I think he's going to start coming on strong. First of all, people say he's a big second-half player. That would be good, if true. Secondly, he wasn't playing at 100% until this past week...and he's showing that by running the bases now. Beltran* stole two bases on Thursday, and another Friday night. He's running well, and feels confident his legs are 100%.

Which leads me to another point - the Mets are so exciting to watch on the basepaths. They gave the Marlins a bit of their own medicine Friday night - the Marlins always run on Mike Piazza (who had the night off), because he can't throw them out, so the Mets ran like crazy on Paul LoDuca, who is struggling with his arm. Beltran* and future Hall of Famer Wright stole bases Friday. And the Mets have been very aggressive on the basepaths lately - they lead the NL in stolen bases.

My arch-nemesis, Kenny Rogers, got a 20-game suspension for his actions on Wednesday. I am happy with the suspension, but he's appealing, and some games will probably get knocked off. I need to clear a couple of things up, though. I said Rogers threw a fit after a bad outing, when he broke his pinky finger. He actually threw a fit because he was pulled from an outing where he was doing well, and that's when he broke the finger (on his non-pitching hand). He actually had the bad outing his time out before that, getting roughed up by the Angels. That led to speculation that he was missing his next start not because of a broken pinky finger on his non-throwing hand, but because he didn't want to face the Angels again and have them affect his statistics negatively (lending more credence to my 1999 NLCS belief). I don't know if this negative speculation fueled Rogers' cameraman attack...but it probably didn't help.

THE KID'S KIDS: The name of the CARTER COUNT has changed, because I like this name better. The best information I could glean from the web tonight is that the Gulf Coast Mets got rained out again. Every other score is out there except Mets-Dodgers. So it looks like The Kid's Kids are still 5-1.