NO SWEEP

Phillies 5, Mets 3 (NYM: 28-18, PHI: 24-22)

The Phillies averted disaster by beating the Mets during an afternoon game at Shea. The Phillies jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first against Jeremi Gonzalez, the Mets tied it at 3 in the second on a 3-run homer by the suddenly powerful Jose Reyes, and then Pedro Feliciano gave up two runs in the seventh to let the Phillies win it. Gonzalez pitched OK, but he'll be sent down, as El Duque will take his rotation spot on Sunday. Heath Bell pitched well - and he's been pitching very well at Norfolk - I wouldn't be surprised if Bell takes Jorge Julio's bullpen spot.

Brett Myers pitched very well. The Mets are allowed to lose one out of every three to the Phillies - I'm OK with that. Now a three-game series at Florida - the Mets need to sweep. Simple as that. And Pedro* needs to get a win against the Marlins - finally breaking his string of no-decisions.

I didn't get to see much of Thursday afternoon's game - but I made it home in time to see the bottom of the ninth. And it should be noted that the Mets again managed to get the tying run to the plate against Tom Gordon. Even in a game where it didn't seem likely that the Mets would win, they had a faint threat of tying the game. Good signs, when that happens.

MEDIA CORRECTION: Since I was out all day, I was going to TiVo this game, and I said yesterday Mike & The Mad Dog were going to broadcast it on SNY. Turns out I forgot to TiVo the game, but as I was driving home, faintly I got WFAN on the car radio - and Mike and the Mad Dog were broadcasting the game on WFAN (which makes sense, since that's where their radio show is, and since YES carries it on TV, not SNY). So I ended up hearing a little of their play-by-play. It was OK. They did it for charity, so I guess I can handle that. But since it's always been my dream to do play-by-play, I still get a bit jealous when guys get these chances that would never in a million years fall my way.

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER DEAL: Omar Minaya said Wednesday after he traded for Orlando Hernandez that he had other deals cooking. He proved himself Thursday, when he traded minor leaguer Robert Manuel to the Reds for pitcher Dave Williams. Astute readers will remember I've mentioned Dave Williams before. (In case you're too lazy to click the link, here's what I wrote:

"BEAT THE STREAK: Back to taking it seriously, after vacation. I'm on a modest 3-gamer, after a Jimmy Rollins hit tonight (actually, 2 hits, I think). I took Alfonso Soriano for Tuesday, against Dave Williams of the Reds (formerly with the Pirates). He is bad.")

He is bad - he's been sent to Triple-A, probably to learn how to pitch. The Mets didn't give up much - Manuel was in Single-A...with decent numbers, but who knows what he'll turn into. Minaya says you can never have too much pitching. We'll see what else he's got going on.

WRIGHT IN SI: David Wright is the subject of a story in this week's 'Sports Illustrated'. Everything you hear about Wright is positive. He and Derek Jeter are two of the best people ever produced by a New York city farm system (actually, you could probably throw Bernie Williams in that category too....maybe even Mariano Rivera - although I don't know much about him as a person). Wright is just such a good person - everyone raves about how humble he is, and has stayed, even with his success. I just hope it lasts - and based on the type of person he is, and was raised to be, I think it will.

THE KID'S KIDS/LAST-PLACE LASTINGS: Both St. Lucie and Norfolk entered Thursday's action with just a game difference between themselves and their next-closest competitor. The Tides were just a game away from tying for last place, and the St. Lucie Mets were just a game up on Brevard County for first place.

St. Lucie was playing too late for this writing...I'll update them over the weekend.

Norfolk is really close to leaving last place - they beat Syracuse again on Thursday, 7-2. Milledge followed up his 3-for-6 in last night's game with a 1-for-5 on Thursday - and it was a solo homer. He's hitting .291.

FANTASY UPDATE: The Southern Bureau, owner of the What If Nationals/Expos, e-mailed me to say, "What's going on with this what if league? I win 12 in a row, lose 8 in a row, it's the same team! Nothing has changed...why are they so streaky?" I agree. Wholeheartedly. A day after winning all three of my games, I've lost all three of my games. I just had a feeling it might happen. What a pain. I go back and forth between liking this game and HATING it. Right now, I hate it. But I'm still 5 games out of first, tied for second.

BEAT THE STREAK: Ichiro didn't get a hit - Rodrigo Lopez picks today to throw a gem. Wonderful. Back to 0 again. This is the most frustrating part of 'Beat the Streak' - trying to get a streak past 9 or 10 games, so that you can actually care about it. Maybe this will be the streak that gets me going. I'll take Jose Reyes against the Marlins, since he's swinging a hot bat these days.