ONE MONTH CLOSER

Braves 8, Mets 5 (NYM: 16-8, ATL: 10-14)

A sweep would have been nice, but...2 out of 3 isn't bad. The Mets have to feel good about going 2-1 in a place where they haven't had any success, and more importantly, finishing a very difficult road trip (San Diego, San Francisco, and Atlanta - more difficult in terms of travel than in ability, but nevertheless) at 6-4.

The positives from Sunday (I barely saw any of this game): Carlos Beltran* homered, and Endy Chavez, moving to right to give Xavier Nady a rest (Chavez had played center in Beltran*'s stead) was 2-for-4 with a homer. Chavez's defense is awesome, but his offense is less than average.

The bad news is that this is what worries me about Steve Trachsel. According to the numbers (because I didn't see Trachsel at all - I really haven't seen him pitch much this year) Trachsel got rocked: 3.2 IP, 8 H, 6 ER, 5 BB (!), 1K. I've been saying this for about three, maybe even four years now - I'm not sure I have confidence in Trachsel in a big spot. We'll see what happens when October rolls around, but Trachsel is the first to complain when he doesn't feel he's being treated fairly (and I think that's a big part of why he was kept on schedule to pitch Sunday in Atlanta, and Victor Zambrano was moved to Monday instead), and I'm not 100% sure Trachsel deserves the kind of treatment he thinks he deserves. I like Trachsel, I think he's been good for the Mets the past few years - I just want to see him deliver when it matters. And Sunday was one of those days - the Mets could have buried the Braves (they hadn't won all week - they lost 5 in a row) and swept them at home...but Trachsel didn't pitch well.

Oh yeah - the headline refers to the end of April. The Mets went 16-8 in the month. That's pretty good - I don't have the numbers in front of me - but I remember the past couple of years it was a struggle for the Mets to have a month where they were just a couple of games better then .500. So they've definitely turned a corner. We'll see what May brings - it starts with a two-game series beginning Monday night at Shea against the Nationals.

THE KID'S KIDS: What managing by Hall of Famer Gary Carter! The St. Lucie Mets trailed 3-0 going into the 8th - but the Mets scored twice in the eighth, and twice more in the ninth to pull out a 4-3 win over Brevard County on Sunday. The Mets had lost to Brevard County on Saturday, so they're back to a half-game back of B.C., and 1.5 back of first place Palm Beach. 14-9 is the record right now.

OTHER MINOR LEAGUE NEWS: I'll be honest, I went away on vacation, and I forgot about Boof Bonser. But I still love the name. So let's play catch-up, and I'll try to figure out when his turn in the rotation falls, so I can keep updating. No surprise, though, that Bonser is still the Twins' top pitcher at AAA - he's 2-1 right now, with a 1.52 ERA. He's pitched a team-high 29.2 innings, with 26 K's. He's also just given up 20 hits....but he's walked 12. He's had a total of 5 starts, most on the team, so he must have just pitched....Nope, baseball detective failed there. He pitched a few days ago - and it was his worst outing, versus Richmond. He gave up 3 ER in 5.2 innings, on 8 hits, with 4 walks. He'll be pitching again soon - maybe even Monday. We'll be watching for it.

BEAT THE STREAK: Jeter got me a hit, so I'm up to a season-high 9 gamer. Monday I go with Michael Young, because he's the best hitter on Texas, and they're playing Tampa Bay's Seth McClung. I always find myself picking a hitter who is hitting against McClung.