CRAZY EIGHTS

Cubs 8, Mets 6 (NYM: 59-41, CHI: 39-60)

The Mets have lost three games in a row, and the common denominator in those games is 8 - as in runs scored by the opponents. That's a bad stretch of pitching. I hadn't watched much of Sunday's game, or Tuesday's game, but I saw most of Monday's (Trachsel). Tom Glavine, on Tuesday, gave up 5 earned runs (8 total) in 6-and-a-third innings - and gave up 3 homers - to Aramis Ramirez, Phil Nevin, and the pitcher, Carlos Zambrano. Glavine needs to pitch better if the other Mets' pitchers are going to struggle like they are now. (On Sunday it was Mike Pelfrey with a poor pitching performance, suffering his first Major League loss.)

Still, the Mets had a chance in the bottom of the ninth (stressing the importance of those last couple of runs that put this one out of reach). They loaded the bases, and if it wasn't for a good defensive play at second base by Neifi Perez, would have tied the game, and possibly went on to win it. The Mets scored just once in the ninth, and their rally ended when Paul LoDuca popped out to second to end it (not the good defensive play - just another out recorded by Perez in the inning).

Carlos Beltran hit his 28th homer of the year in the first inning, and Endy Chavez homered in the second, staking Glavine to a 4-2 lead - which he promptly lost, giving up 4 runs to the Cubs in the third.

Some observations about the team right now:

-Paul LoDuca is really banged up. It's reminiscent of Mike Piazza behind the plate in late July - he has a thumb problem that's bothering him, and every night is taking a bad foul tip somewhere off the body.

-Pedro Martinez* NEEDS to come out on Friday and shut down the Braves. He needs to inject some life into the ballclub right now - the Mets seem mired down a bit, and they need a little spark. It would be awesome if it came against the Braves, from Pedro*.

That brings us to a mail note (thanks for e-mailing, Dave - the comments section has decreased the number of e-mails we receive...as well as increase SPAM - I had to delete that comment, so maybe the Southern Bureau's note seems slightly out of place):

"Dear JohnnyMets,

I know that the Phillies don't scare you, and based on their performance so far this season I could see why.

But what about the Braves? They're 12-4 this month (as of this writing), 12.5 back of New York in the division (but 5 GB for the wild card) with about 64 games to play, including this weekend's three-game set against the Mets at Turner Field. Thoughts?

Dave in Brighton"

I have to tell you, I don't think the Braves are a major threat. I'm not going so far as to say they don't scare me, because I've lived through the past 8 seasons or so (I've also seen them play for the past 15 years), but I think they're making this run too late in the season. I think they'll run out of steam real soon and drop out of the wild card hunt. That would be an added bonus of the Mets catching fire again this weekend - it could really hurt Atlanta.

Wednesday has the potential to be one of my greatest days of summer vacation. The baseball games are laid out in ideal fashion - the Mets have a 12:00 noon start (as well as 2 other games). There are a couple of 2 o'clock games, then 3 in the 3 o'clock hour. There's 3 in the 7 o'clock slot, and 3 in the 8 o'clock slot, and for good measure, a 10 o'clocker. Maybe I'll go pick up some beer.

THE KID'S KIDS: Another loss for St. Lucie on Tuesday night. After a win on Monday night ended the Mets' 3-game slide, they've now lost 4 out of 5 after losing to Sarasota, 6-3. The big showdown with first-place Daytona is coming up at the end of the week.

ALFONZO'S COMEBACK: 0-for-3 for Edgardo Alfonzo on Tuesday, dropping his average to .231.

MINOR LEAGUE UPDATE: I forgot to mention in my last post that another Mets' affiliate, the Brooklyn Cyclones, was involved in a 26-inning game last week. Just FYI. The game was an early afternoon start for campers, and it went on for 6 hours, 40 minutes. (Relatively quick - it was tied at 1 for a long time.) The Oneonta Tigers beat the Cyclones, 6-1, in the longest game in NY-Penn League history.

BEAT THE STREAK: This is getting exciting now - Jimmy Rollins gave me a 5-game streak, I'm going with Bill Hall Wednesday afternoon for a 6-gamer.