NOT WHAT WE HAD IN MIND

Cardinals 6, Mets 3 (NYM: 24-16, STL: 26-15)

The Mets turned in a 3-6 road trip, making 1-2 stops in Philadelphia, Milwaukee, and St. Louis. Now they have to face the Yankees, and then the Phillies again....the difference being, they'll be at Shea Stadium. They need to take advantage of that and find their winning ways again.

The bad news is, we might yet have to suffer with Jose Lima some more. (Lima gave up 5 runs in 4 and two-thirds on Thursday afternoon.) Brian Bannister hurt his leg again during his rehab stint with Norfolk on Thursday. Sounds like he pulled something trying to cover first base - but they're not sure if he aggravated his injury or if it's just that the muscle isn't used to the work, after the time off. More information should come out Friday.

Some of the Mets' bats are waking up - Jose Valentin homered on Thursday, after getting very hot last weekend, and I feel like Cliff Floyd is ready to break out (he doubled off Jason Isringhausen in the ninth inning Thursday). And the Mets got the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning, after threatening but failing to come through in the ninth Wednesday night. There have been encouraging signs...but the Mets need to put up some W's, fast.

AROUND THE NL EAST: The Mets again got help from the Brewers, who beat the Phillies Thursday, so the Mets still lead the NL East by 2 games. The bad news is that Atlanta beat the Marlins again, so they're now just 3 and a half games back of the Mets.

THE KID'S KIDS: The game I mentioned last night turned into a 7-inning final somehow. The Mets lost to Dunedin, 3-2. Oh - it was the second game of a doubleheader, from the rainout the previous night. The Mets won the earlier game, 1-0. Must have 7 inning games for doubleheaders. The Mets are 23-15...with Thursday night's game too late for this edition. (I'm taking advantage of the early Major League game, and going to bed at a normal time.)

LAST-PLACE LASTINGS: Lastings Milledge again led off for Norfolk, and went 1-for-3, with a double and an RBI, lifting his average to .281. The Tides lost to Toledo, 8-2. (Anderson Hernandez is playing shortstop for Norfolk, by the way.) For the season, in 40 games, Milledge has 9 doubles, 2 triples, 3 homers, and 11 RBI.

FANTASY UPDATE: Not a good day for the What If Mets. Not only did I lose 2 out of three, but the second loss was 20-0. What a disappointment. And I don't know what I could have done differently to make it any closer. Not even 19-0. I just don't know. I'm only a game over .500 again, 5 games out of first, and 2 games ahead of 4th place in the division. And I have to face Randy Johnson, then Curt Schilling, then Randy Johnson and the Diamondbacks in the next three on Friday. This weekend will feature some great symmetry, though, when my What If Mets play the What If Yankees, while the real-life Mets play the real-life Yankees. It's like back in 1994, when the Rangers and Knicks were both playing in Washington, one day after another and they were staying at the same hotel, and there were shots of the players as one was checking in and the other checking out. Sort of.

BEAT THE STREAK: A 2-for-4 for Miguel Cabrera, and I have a 2-gamer. I'll go with Ryan Howard against Matt Clement on Friday.