SWEEP AVOIDED

Mets 9, Orioles 4 (NYM: 43-25, BAL: 32-39)

The Mets beat the Orioles on Sunday, 9-4, to avoid a three-game sweep. There's a positive view to the weekend series, and a negative view. Let me give you both:

The negative: The Mets lost all of their momentum from their 9-1 road trip, stumbling against a poor team in their own park. Pedro Martinez* had another bad start, and the Mets bats have gone cold again.

The positive: It's 2 games. The Mets lost 2 games. They're still 9-and-a-half games up on their nearest competition.

There's actually a lot of positives still to focus on - only the most negative of Mets fans can dwell on the bad parts of this weekend. The Orioles actually played really well on Friday and Saturday, and the Mets didn't. That's the bottom line. The Mets were making the mistakes that their opponents had been making, and that the Mets had been taking advantage of. In this case, the Orioles took advantage of them. Also, a couple of ex-Mets took advantage of their first games against their former team, and hit the Mets hard. Melvin Mora had a 3-RBI night on Friday, including a big homer, and Kris Benson shut down the Mets on Saturday (setting down his final 15 straight), and hit a homer off of Pedro*.

But Sunday came, and all is right with the Mets' world again. Tom Glavine pitched well (not great - but definitely better than he had been lately), becoming the first major league pitcher to get to 10 wins. Future Hall of Famer David Wright hit a grand slam (number 15 on the year, 56 career), and drove in five runs, and the Mets got contributions from their role players, as some of the regulars were rested. And they avoided the sweep, which could have really ratcheted up the negativity.

Here's the big picture - at the end of May I mentioned that the Mets had won 16 games in each of their first two months. I said if they won 16 a month, they'd finish with 112 wins, and they'd be in great shape (understatement). It's a torrid pace to keep up, I know, but the Mets are capable of it. Right now they have 11 wins this month (thanks mostly to the huge road trip). That means the Mets could go 5-6 (which wouldn't look that great in the little picture) the rest of the month, and still finish June with 16 wins. And chances are, the Mets are going to do better than 5-6 the rest of the month.

There are some tough games ahead. The Mets will get their first look at Cincinnati, for four games at Shea (taking a break from interleague play - tough schedule for the Mets - the other teams get Tampa Bay, the Mets get the extra National League series against Cincy). Then it's at Toronto for three, and they're playing well. Then at Boston, and at the Yankees. The Mets have proved they are capable of rising to challenges in the schedule like this...but that's a tough road. I wouldn't be surprised if the Mets were 5-6 the rest of the way - but I also wouldn't be surprised to see an 11-0, or a 10-1, or a 9-2. That's how good they are.

Orlando Hernandez gets it all started against Bronson Arroyo Monday night.

DL MOVE: The Mets put Cliff Floyd on the DL Saturday, retroactive to June 7th. He still hasn't recovered from that ankle injury he suffered in LA. He's eligible to come off the DL on Thursday, but that doesn't seem likely - he might have to go to Florida to rehab it. He's very frustrated. The Mets activated Xavier Nady (sidelined since early June with appendicitis) on Sunday to take Floyd's roster spot. Look for Lastings Milledge to man left field now, in place of Floyd, with Nady taking over right again.

COMMENT RESPONSE: This from Dave in Brighton, responding to my comments about umpire warnings, ejections, etc.:

"Re: Pitcher ejections.

1. Are you calling Manny Ramirez (450 HR) a young player?

B. I disagree that umpires are right to issue warnings after the first hit batter or aggressive action. This means the other team doesn't get a chance to respond and even things up. The umpire takes away players' ability to police themselves, and then you get long-simmering feuds, like the Sox and D-Rays.

Soapbox rant over."

I like how Dave couldn't choose between the 1,2 or A, B listing option, so he mixed them together. As for Manny....he was one example. Mentally, he's young.

Dave, my point is that the umpires HAVE to do the warnings, before there's a retaliation, because otherwise it gets out of hand. I don't think the players have the ability anymore to police themselves. I agree with you, though, that the result is long-simmering fueds, like Tampa-Boston, and even like the Mets and the Nationals earlier this year (which we might see again later in the year when they play again). That's the problem - I don't think there is a good solution to this whole thing. There's going to be problems either way, and I think Major League Baseball is doing the best thing they could possibly do right now given their situation.

The other problem, which I failed to mention, is when the umpires handle this responsibility incompetently. Then warnings are issued when they needn't be issued, and the inside part of the plate is taken away from both pitchers, and the game turns into a mockery. That's another problem with it....but I'll save that for another day.

HGH FALLOUT: David Segui spoke out Sunday morning on ESPN, saying he was mentioned in the Jason Grimsley affadavit, and that he took HGH legally, with a doctor's prescription. Segui is a former Met, and that's why I'm mentioning it here. I think most of this stuff, though, happened when Segui was in Baltimore (although I don't doubt it could have happened in New York as well). To me, it sounded like Segui was trying to take a pre-emptive strike, speaking out before he could be accused. I don't think it worked too much, though - because cynics like me look at him as someone who's trying to dig himself out of a hole before he's fully in the hole....if that makes sense. I still think he was wrong - no matter if he admits to taking something or not. Many other names are still to come.

I'm not in the business of witch-hunting, so I'm not going to just throw names out on this site. But if you want to contact me, I'll talk about who I think were the biggest users - I watch all of these baseball games now, and there are certain players who just look so physically different that it's hard not to suspect them.

THE KID'S KIDS: The St. Lucie Mets get back at it on Monday against Brevard County, following the All-Star break. The Mets have a one-game lead on Palm Beach, and a 2-game lead on Brevard County.

FANTASY UPDATE: The What If Mets are starting to realize, I think, that time is getting short. They took two out of three against the Astros, and are still 7 back of the wild card. This is the time to make up ground - the Cardinals and Cubs are the next opponents, and they aren't good. It's now or never.

BEAT THE STREAK: I had a 2-gamer going, and Carlos Beltran* ended it on Sunday. So stubbornly I'm sticking with Beltran* again on Monday against the Reds.