One win doesn't often tell you a lot about a team. The Royals took two out of four against the White Sox, for crying out loud - that doesn't change the fact that Chicago is good, and Kansas City is pathetic.
The Mets' win on Thursday showed a lot - that the Mets are able to put losses behind them, win the games they're supposed to win, and that the Mets' offense hasn't forgotten how to swing the bats.
The Mets took advantage of the Phillies' rookie starting pitcher, Scott Mathieson, and John Maine pitched well again, evening his record at 3-3, as the Mets beat the Phillies 7-2 on Thursday afternoon.
It looked like a run-of-the-mill 2006 Mets win - they flexed their home run muscle (Carlos Delgado hit 2 homers, Carlos Beltran added another), and they came up with key RBI hits to take the early lead (Jose Reyes and Mike DeFelice did the honors). Look deeper into those run-of-the-mill things, though, and realize that these are the types of things that hadn't been happening in the first three games against Philadelphia, and really weren't happening in Washington over the weekend either (but the Mets were winning, so who cares).
Carlos Delgado has been playing awful lately - Thursday is an encouraging sign, but he needs to have that type of game consistently. And Beltran has been slumping since the Atlanta series where he had 12 RBI or so over the 3-game series. David Wright is still slumping (down to a .304 batting average after an 0-for-4 on Thursday), but hitting can be contagious. All the Mets need is for the Carloses to continue hitting, and we'll see the rest of the lineup pick it up.
The Mets take on Colorado this weekend at Shea, which could be tough, because of Colorado's pitching (I can't believe I just wrote that). Seriously, Colorado is going to present a good challenge for the Mets - and if the Mets can continue what they did in Philly on Thursday against an improved Rockies' pitching staff this weekend, they'll be OK. Byung-Hyun Kim goes against Steve Trachsel Friday. Saturday was supposed to be Pedro Martinez*'s start, but with him on the DL, I heard that the Mets might go with either Dave Williams or Oliver Perez. That's too bad - on the night the Mets will honor their 1986 World Championship, they're probably going to get rocked. I thought I'd never have to mention Williams again - you may remember the Mets claimed him off waivers earlier this year...and I wrote how horrible he is. Perez was struggling with the Pirates - but maybe he'll have one of those flash-in-the-pan great starts, trying to make an impression on his new team - he certainly has it in him - remember, he was quite effective his rookie year.
(By the way, when I heard Perez's name today, it reminded me of a fun game I like to play with baseball players: If Oliver Perez married Darren Oliver, he'd be Oliver Oliver. I love that game. One more: If Wendell Kim married Turk Wendell, he'd be Wendell Wendell. There's lots more where those came from.)
MAGIC NUMBER: Finally, we're off 32. The Mets could have been in the mid-20's after the Philadelphia series. Instead, we have 30, heading into the weekend. Philadelphia did distance themselves a bit from the rest of the NL East, so at least we can now just watch the Philly scores, and root for them to lose. This weekend, the Phillies are playing the Nationals. That might be tough for the Mets to decrease the ol' number in 2's. We might have to settle for 1's. I'll probably just be happy with Mets wins, the way things have been going, and not even worrying about Philadelphia.
THE KID'S KIDS: St. Lucie beat Clearwater, and Daytona lost to Sarasota, and with time running short on the season, the St. Lucie Mets are now a game up in the second half season. I'll tell you - Hall of Famer Gary Carter can manage. He won't be with the team at least on Saturday, possibly for the weekend, because of the 1986 reunion - we'll see how the team does without him.
ALFONZO'S COMEBACK: A start at second base for Edgardo Alfonzo, and he was 1-for-4. His average is now .272. Jose Lima took the loss for the Tides, and that reminds me - Lima better not even be considered as a possible starter for Saturday night's game.
I leave early Saturday morning for my fun weekend in New York, but I think I'll be able to write Friday night. I'll do my best.
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