WINNING TRIP

Mets 4, Reds 2, 10 innings (NYM: 57-38, CIN: 50-46)

The Mets went to extra innings, but pulled out the finale of their six-game road trip, 4-2 over the Reds Thursday afternoon. They took 2-out-of-three in Cincy, following 2 out of three in Chicago, going 4-2 on their road trip. That's a very good road trip, the problem is that it could have been 5-1, because the Mets played awful after the rain delay late Wednesday night.

The only good that rain delay did was make for a very entertaining telecast on Thursday afternoon. It's fun when you consider the broadcasters have to perform during the 12:30 start after the midnight finish the night before. Gary Cohen played it professionally, Keith Hernandez played it comically, and was very funny. I can't really relate it to you - suffice it to say, Hernandez messed up quite a few times (i.e. calling for a double play situation with two outs...apparently Cohen signaled to him that there were two outs, and Hernandez told him he could tell him on the air - he's not ashamed...).

Anyway, the game followed the same recipe the Mets have used lately - they jump out to an early lead, and the other team comes back....and it's a bit of a nail-biter. And Tom Glavine gets a no-decision. The Mets jumped out to a lead thanks to Cliff Floyd's 10th homer of the year, and Carlos Delgado's first homer since the end of June - both solo shots. The Reds tied it off Glavine in the bottom of the fifth, and then threatened in the seventh - with the bases loaded, Glavine gave way to Chad Bradford, who struck out Scott Hatteberg (who rarely strikes out), then got a grounder to third. The Mets relievers did a great job in this game - 3-and-two-thirds scoreless innings. Glavine pitched very well also.

The Mets come back home for a series against the Astros beginning Friday night. Orlando Hernandez looks to rebound from his rough outing last Sunday when he goes on Friday.

By the way - the news on Pedro Martinez* is that now he's on a schedule to come back in Atlanta the last week of July - a little later than originally said. I'm starting to get a little suspicious....

DEADLINE NEWS: The trading deadline is but two weeks away (10 days, really), and the Mets figure to be active players. But the Braves jumped into the mix by acquiring Bob Wickman from the Indians on Thursday. I'm not sure how I feel about the Braves right now - they're hot, they're making a little run at the wild card. I'd feel better if they missed the playoffs, but I still feel like the Mets can beat them if they had to.

TRADING PLACES: The Mets got a jump on the trade deadline the other day, trading 2B Jeff Keppinger to the Royals for 2B Ruben Gotay. I'm a bit saddened by this. I really liked Keppinger, and thought he may be able to help the team at the major league level someday. The trade doesn't make a ton of sense to me either. Keppinger is two years older than Gotay, with one year less of major league experience, but other than that, I think Keppinger has more upside. Truth be told, I don't know a whole lot about Gotay, but I know that the Kansas City Royals have a guy in Keppinger who, once they trade Mark Grudzielanek, should take over their second base position and stay there for a while.

This year, Keppinger was hitting .300 for the Tides, Gotay was hitting .264 for Omaha. Long story short, I like the deal....for Royals fans.

THE KID'S KIDS: At the time I'm writing this, neither the St. Lucie game nor the Tides game were over, so we'll wait until tomorrow for updates on The Kid's Kids and Edgardo Alfonzo.

BEAT THE STREAK: Youkilis ended my streak on Wednesday, and because I knew Ramon Castro would be playing Thursday in the early day game following the night game, I took him just for s's and g's on Thursday. He didn't get a hit. So I'm still at 0. I need to get something started, so I'm going to go with Ichiro, versus the Red Sox, on Friday.