The Mets are rolling right now, so it's not a stretch to throw in the ol' Happy Fan-O-Meter, indicating the Mets are on their way to the World Series. It should also be noted that the way the rest of the National League East is playing, the Mets will clinch the division by July. (By the way - I'm not going to apologize for the Mets having a seemingly easy division this year - it's been impenetrable in recent years - they deserve this break. Also, it remains to be seen if they can beat the Braves - we'll find out about that next week.)I didn't TiVo the Thursday game - it was the last day of school before spring vacation, and I figured with the students going to music class at the end of the day, I'd have plenty of time to follow the score. By the time I logged on, the Mets were up 4-0, and had hit 3 homers. They cruised to the 13-4 win, and Victor Zambrano is now 1-0 on the year. If Carlos Beltran* is playing angry (at the New York fans), then he'd better stay angry for the next 6 years. Future Hall of Famer David Wright hit career homer number 44 (#3 on the season), and Cliff Floyd might finally be heating up, as he hit his first homer. By the way, those three homers all came in the first inning. Carlos Delgado also added a homer in the third inning.
The only negative out of this game was Jorge Julio, who came on in relief and gave up a homer in his one inning of work. Rick Peterson better get to work on him. Darren Oliver, who barely made this team, gave 2 innings of perfect relief after Zambrano left (Zambrano was the first Mets pitcher not to go 6 innings this year - but it was his first start in a long time).
The Mets swept the Nationals in Washington - and if the Nats weren't mad at the Mets before this series....they sure are now. The Mets return home and will face the Brewers this weekend. It's to the point with the Mets where I don't mind seeing them lose once in a while, because I don't see this team hitting a prolonged losing streak at any point in the year.
OTHER TEAMS: The Braves are struggling - losing two out of three at home to the Phillies. And Chipper Jones is on the DL. They'll make some sort of run this year - but things are looking bad for them. And earlier this week I mentioned the bullpen troubles the Cardinals have been having. Jason Isringhausen gave up another go-ahead home run again on Thursday - this one to Carlos Lee of the Brewers (the Mets' next opponent) in the 11th inning. They lost, 4-3. Lee had some game - in the bottom of the 10th, he saved the game by robbing Juan Encarnacion of a game-winning 2-run homer, and making a jumping catch on Jim Edmonds to end the 10th. He climbed the wall on the Encarnacion play - it was great.
CORRECTION: I watched a bit of the Angels-Rangers last night, and - of course - Vlad Guerrero got a hit. It was his 39th straight game against Texas with a hit - I had said 37 going into last night's game. Sorry. I shortchanged Guerrero. I used to dislike Guerrero when he was in the same division as the Mets - I love watching him play now, though.
THE KID'S KIDS: The St. Lucie Mets beat the Jupiter Hammerheads, 3-1 on Thursday night. They're now 6-2, a game back of Brevard County. Good for Hall of Famer Gary Carter - a strong start to his season.
BEAT THE STREAK: I have a modest 2-gamer going right now, and I've picked players all the way through my return from vacation a week from Sunday. Hopefully when I come back I'll be on a 12-game hitting streak.
VACATION: I'm very psyched that in 19 hours I'll be on a plane to California. First stop, San Francisco - I'll be at the A's-Rangers game on Sunday. Then it's L.A. - Dodgers-Cubs on Wednesday. We finish our week in San Diego, and we'll be at the Mets-Padres game on Friday night. If we pass an internet cafe or something, I'll try to do a post. Otherwise, I'll be back a week from Sunday - maybe the Mets will be up to 13-1 by then.
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