HOME WRECKERS

Mets 8, Phillies 3 (NYM: 80-49, PHI: 65-65)

Sunday's rainout was rescheduled for Monday at noon. Everywhere I looked, I saw that the Mets and Phillies would be playing the makeup game (which was supposed to be on local TV in New York) on Channel 11. So I was resigned to not watching the game on Monday, the last day of my summer vacation. Just for the heck of it, though, on the off chance there was a mistake, I turned on SNY at noon, to make sure I didn't miss anything. And the game came on.

The only explanation I can think of is that this is my reward. I worked very hard all summer, preparing the nursery for the baby, instead of being lazy and sleeping until noon. Fate has shined kindly upon me. So though there's no one in the crowd at Shea, and though the weather is kind of crappy, I can't think of a better way to spend my last day of summer vacation, before getting back to the school year Tuesday.

To cap it all off, the Mets crushed the Phillies, 8-3, finishing off their 9-game homestand with an 8-1 record. The game was pretty much decided in the third inning, when the Mets touched up Jamie Moyer for 6 runs, keyed by a throwing error by Phillies catcher Chris Coste. The thing about the error, though, was that it was manufactured by the Mets. To wit:

Endy Chavez led off the inning with a single, and John Maine bunted. Coste tried to throw out Chavez at second, but his throw was off line, and everyone was safe. It's Chavez's speed that caused that error. The rest of the inning was manufactured as well. Jose Reyes followed with a bunt base hit, loading the bases. Paul LoDuca hit a run-scoring single, aided by Reyes shielding Ryan Howard from the ground ball, 1-0 Mets. After Carlos Beltran grounded into a fielder's choice (the out at home), Carlos Delgado singled up the middle, scoring 2. 3-0, Mets.

Then one of the more strange events in baseball occurred - David Wright hit a grounder over third base. It appeared to hit the bag, but I'm not positive it did. Third base umpired Randy Marsh called it a foul ball, then after the Mets complained, and the umps conferred, and about 5 minutes passed, and Charlie Manuel was ejected, Marsh overturned the call, Wright was sent to first, Beltran was sent home, and Wright had an RBI single. 4-0, Mets.

Shawn Green crushed a double to right, making it 5-0, and Chris Woodward hit a sac fly to make it 6-0. And the game was over, for all intents and purposes.

John Maine went 6-and-a-third, giving up 2 runs, and Roberto Hernandez again pitched well, coming on in the seventh with two men on and getting two straight outs. Maine is now 4-3, and pitched very well after getting torched by Saint Louis in his last start.

I wonder if/hope the overturned call is one of those crazy things that gets a player going during a slump. David Wright is now hitting .294 (.241, 2 HR since the All-Star break), but everyone is rooting for him to break the slump. He even got help from a teammate in the seventh inning, and I think this is a sign of the type of team chemistry the Mets have. In the seventh inning, the Mets led, 7-2, and Carlos Beltran stole third base, so he's on third, with Wright up. Wright hit one really hard, but like most of his contact lately, hit it right at the left fielder. So the left fielder catches it, and isn't too deep, but Beltran tagged up and scored. Maybe I'm reading too much into it, and he would have done this anyway, but I think Beltran was trying to get Wright an RBI, and also keeping another hitless at-bat off Wright's records (a SAC fly doesn't count as an at-bat). That's what I think. And that's what I'm going with.

The Mets start a road trip Tuesday night in Colorado, where the past couple of years they've pretty much dominated. Tuesday night is Steve Trachsel against Byung-Hyun Kim. This is an eventful road trip because Tom Glavine is scheduled to start Friday in Houston, and Pedro Martinez* is eligible to come off the DL on Wednesday (though I don't know when he will). The other thing about this road trip is that it's full of 9 o'clock and 8 o'clock starts, so there will be late finishes. I will be writing this week, but not post-games. School is starting, and I need to get into the habit of going to bed right after the games. So I can't write then. Maybe I'll write during games, maybe I'll do next-day recaps. Not sure. But just be aware of that.

MAGIC NUMBER: The magic number is now 18, and this is what I think of when I put "18" and "Mets" into the search engine of my mind. So this is what I use to represent the Mets' magic number. Philadelphia is now a game and a half in front of the Marlins, so there's a chance before the end of the week we'll have to start watching the Marlins' scoreboard. The Marlins finish a series with the Brewers on Monday, then go to Saint Louis. The Phillies are in Washington starting Tuesday. The Mets need to win to decrease the number, because I don't think they're going to get much help in the magic number department from the Nationals.

ROCKIES START: The Mets will see Kaz Matsui when they start their series with the Rockies (remember, they traded Matsui for Eli Marrero early in the year), and after spending a lot of time in the minors, Matsui has been up for Colorado the past week (he came up after the Rockies visited the Mets - the Rockies didn't want Matsui to be with them in a most-likely hostile New York). In 5 games, Matsui is hitting .471 (7-for-17), with a double, stolen base, and 5 runs scored. He's been playing mostly shortstop, and hit leadoff for the Rockies in their last three games. So we'll keep an eye on that in the upcoming series.

WILLY OR WON'T HE: New Feature. We can't ignore Willy Tavares and his 30-game hitting streak. I'll update as much as I can, depending on early start times and at what point of his games he gets hits. (And by the way, despite the title of this new feature, I strongly feel that he won't.) (Also, by the way, not having to do 'Beat the Streak' anymore really lifts a huge weight off my shoulders.)

THE KID'S KIDS: The St. Lucie Mets dropped three out of four to Daytona this weekend, so they begin play Monday a game-and-a-half behind Daytona for the second-half division lead. There's only about a week-and-a-half left in the season, and the Mets have some make-up games to take care of, including a doubleheader with Palm Beach Monday and Wednesday.

In Monday's games, Palm Beach beat St. Lucie in Game 1, 6-2. That win pulled Palm Beach into a tie with St. Lucie for second place, a game behind Daytona. Palm Beach also won Game 2, 4-1, and Daytona lost 8-1. So right now, Palm Beach is tied with Daytona for first place in the second half, and the Mets are a game back. (Brevard County is next closest, 7 games back, so we only have to worry about the top three.)

ALFONZO'S COMEBACK: Another 0-for-3 for Edgardo Alfonzo (he was also 0-for-3 on Sunday) - his average is now .246. And I missed something somewhere, because Lastings Milledge was leading off for the Tides...did he get sent down when the Mets acquired Shawn Green? I'm going to look it up now.....I guess he was sent down last Thursday or Friday, when Brian Bannister was activated. Sorry for missing that.