OFF TO A GOOD START

The Mets started off this important stretch on the right foot on Tuesday night in Saint Louis. THE GREATEST BALLPLAYER WHO EVER LIVED, Jose Reyes, contributed, blasting a 2-run homer off Jeff Suppan in the 3rd inning. Then, a great sign, when Xavier Nady singled home a run, making it 3-0, and making him 2-for-his-last-2 with 2 outs and runners in scoring position (he had been 0-for-17 on the season in such situations going into Sunday's game).

The Cardinals tied it off of Tom Glavine after 6, and Glavine was going to leave the game with a no-decision, when the Mets rallied with two outs in the 7th, and Paul LoDuca singled home Reyes, who had walked and then stolen second base. So the Mets put Glavine in a position to move within 19 wins of 300...and more importantly, win an important game for the team, when this happened:



So hopefully the bullpen doesn't blow the win on the team, or for Glavine. Bad enough for me this was an 8pm start - a rain delay makes it impossible for me to do a post-game blog. Good night.


ZAMBRANO/KAZMIR: Scott Kazmir won again for Tampa Bay on Tuesday night, beating the Chicago White Sox, 10-7. The final score doesn't show how well Kazmir pitched - the Devil Rays gave up 6 runs in the 8th. Kazmir gave up just 1 run in 7 innings, striking out 8. Kazmir is 6-2, and his ERA is 2.73. I've kind of held my tongue for a while now on this whole Kazmir thing. I've been waiting to see a little bit of panning out...but Kazmir looks really good (and now it's not just when he pitches against Boston). And the Daily News reported Tuesday (and there's a VERY good chance this is a bit overblown) that Zambrano's surgery was more intense than they expected, and his career could be over. At the very least, it would be a risk for the Mets to even take him back next year. It's frustrating, because my thought was maybe Zambrano could contribute something, even if it was out of the bullpen, to the Mets' success. But the way it stands now (and this doesn't look like it's going to change) is that they got absolutely nothing for a legit pitcher. Who knows if Kazmir would be as effective in the Mets rotation (or if he'd be in the Mets' rotation right now...or if he'd be pitching this well, not having had the time to adjust to the Majors, like he did in Tampa), but he couldn't be worse than Zambrano, and at the very least, the Mets could have dealt him somewhere else and got someone worth a prospect like Kazmir. What an awful trade.

THE KID'S KIDS: A rainout for St. Lucie on Tuesday night. So the 14-5 loss to Dunedin will sting for another night. It should be noted, though, that Dunedin does lead the other division.

FANTASY UPDATE: The What If Mets are 20-19...and they're not picking up wins against the Twins and White Sox like I thought they would - splitting with both teams. But the last game was a 2-0 complete game shutout for David Cone. 3 games are next against the Cubs, who have been awful. I need to win all three. Jerry Koosman is the question mark - he'll start game one against Chicago - he's 0-5 right now. Then I have Seaver and Gooden - I should easily win those.

BEAT THE STREAK: Craig Biggio was facing a pitcher who had never beaten the Astros on Tuesday night. But Jamey Wright beat the Astros, and Biggio didn't get a hit, so back to no games for my streak. I'm going with Nomar Garciaparra on Wednesday.