I HOPE THE METS ARE AS DISGUSTED AS I AM

I hope the Mets were watching the Phillies celebrate last night.

I hope they were hoping for another Tampa Bay comeback, so that it made it all the more upsetting when Brad Lidge got the final out.

I hope they stayed tuned to the trophy presentation.

And I hope they were thinking, "That could just as easily be us."

It's not them because something is lacking with the Mets right now. You want to talk about a Phillies drought? Well, their drought is now 0 years, after they erased a 28-year deficit. And the Mets are going on 23 years without a championship. And I'm pretty ticked off about it.

The problem, as I see it, is that I don't think many of the Mets are as mad. And there are a lot of things the Mets need to do this off-season to put themselves in the position the Phillies see themselves in right now.

You may be surprised at some of the suggestions I make this off-season. Or you may not - because one of my suggestions is similar to the drum I was beating last off-season.

So that's still to come. For now, 2 thoughts on the Phillies' championship:

1) I don't know that Mets fans will ever see as dominant a performance as Brad Lidge submitted for the Phillies in 2008. We came close with Armando Benitez in the 2000 regular season, but he was never a big game pitcher, and we knew it wouldn't continue into the post-season. Closer has never been a position of strength for the Mets - once they shore that up, perhaps their championship drought will end. (And maybe they have the answer already in their organization. Again, a topic for another day.)

2) Phillies fans are indeed classless. I didn't really think they were living up to their reputation as awful fans lately - they were into the championship run. Then the Phillies brass accepted the trophy from Bud Selig, and congratulated the Tampa Bay Rays on their great season.....and the fans booed. Horrible. They lose like losers, and now they win like losers. Way to go, Philly fans.

GIANTS 3, METS 0 - 8TH INNING

I am paying the price today for extra innings last night. I just can't handle late nights during the school year, no matter how much I think I can. Luckily, I only have a week left to worry about that.

As it stands, though, I have to turn in, with the Giants leading 3-0. No matter what happens tonight, I will not be updating the site. I do feel the Mets have another comeback in them, but if they do tonight, I'll see it from the bedroom.

Barry Zito was pretty impressive tonight, making the Mets look silly at the plate. Most of his strikeouts were without the Mets even lifting the bats off their shoulders. But he's now out of the game, so there's another reason to expect a comeback.

Tom Glavine right now stands to take another loss. His chase for 300 is almost as long as Gary Carter's chase for 300 home runs. I might have written about this in the past - but Carter took FOR-ever to get his 300th home run. I remember one of my first forays into stat-keeping was marking the events surrounding the milestone...and the accompanying home run draught.

P.S. - That was back when 300 homers was still something of an accomplishment. Especially for a catcher.

A MINUTE ON MOTA: Wednesday night marked the return of Guillermo Mota to the Mets after serving a 50-game suspension for steroids use. It's hard for me to believe that 50 games have already gone by. I was not crazy about the Mets re-signing Mota with this suspension going on...but I guess this is the way things are going to be now.

Having a daughter has definitely helped me put things like pro sports in perspective. I still enjoy watching the games, and writing about them (and soon, talking about them), but a lot of stuff is leaving more and more of a sour taste in my mouth.

Mota was booed by the Shea crowd when he came in to pitch in the 8th. That's good. He actually pitched well, too.

JOHNNYMETS RADIO SHOW: It's coming soon - I'll let you know when. There seems to be a problem with me hosting a show during the prime hours of the evening. I don't want to make it a late night show, because I want listeners to call in, so I'll have to figure something out. I'll keep you posted.

COMMENT ON THE COMMENTS: I can't believe I forgot about the Benitez jinx on Tuesday night. Glad The Wife didn't. She was up in bed, asleep, with the Mets on. I never made it up, because as I was about to go, the game looked to be ending, one way or the other. And I never factored in the jinx. She's lucky I didn't go up there and wake her up.

BEAT THE STREAK: Edgar Renteria had a big day - 4-for-5, I only needed a 1-for-5. And Nick Swisher had a hit late Tuesday. So I'm working on a big 7-gamer here. Matt Holliday is my choice for Thursday.

UPDATE - METS WIN

Mets 5, Giants 4, 12 innings

There are not many events worth turning the computer back on for - but this win is one of them. Right after I logged off, the Giants scored in the top of the 12th to take a 4-3 lead. Omar Vizquel barely beat a Paul LoDuca tag on a groundout to first base. But you can't ever give up on the Mets, so I stuck around, watched the bottom of the 12th.

First of all, the closer was Armando Benitez. The Mets had gotten to him already this year. Then, he walks Jose Reyes. That's always a recipe for trouble. With Endy Chavez at the plate, Benitez balked. This one was questionable. But Reyes took second, then Chavez bunted him to third, so there was one out, man on third, for Carlos Beltran. Beltran grounded up the middle, but the second baseman was playing in, and fielded it for the out. We needed a fly ball there, Carlos.

But that was forgotten quickly, because Reyes danced down the line, and induced ANOTHER balk by Benitez! There was a clear flinch this time. So the score is tied, 4-4. Benitez is definitely rattled. Then he proceeds to give up a game-winning homer to Carlos Delgado, and the Mets win, 5-4. Pretty outstanding.

The Mets are a tough team to beat...and they don't go down easily.

Tough call on the player of the game - but I think it's got to go to Jose Reyes. The easy award would be Delgado's, for his two homers, and if I gave out co-awards, he'd share it. But this is the Blog Talk Radio johnnymets.blogspot.com Player of the Game award, and it goes to Jose Reyes for the things he did to create this win.

Great win for the Mets.

METS TAKE TWO OUT OF THREE IN SAN FRAN

Mets 5, Giants 3 (NYM: 21-12, SF: 17-16)


The Wife's jinx on Armando Benitez is alive and well. For those of you unfamiliar with the jinx: Back in the early stages of The Relationship, I took The Wife and my brother to a Mets game. Armando Benitez came in. It was against the Reds. I told The (future) wife, this guy throws hard. He threw hard, and Ken Griffey, Jr. hit it hard - the Mets lost, 2-1. (I think Benitez entered a tie game that day.) From that day forward, Armando Benitez was a wreck to watch, especially in the playoffs, and the commond denominator seemed to be The Wife. She was a jinx on him. Whenever she was in the room, he blew a save...so she learned to leave when he entered games.

The jinx seemed to reverse itself when Benitez was on the Marlins, and had incredible success against the Mets...but it's back.

The Wife, The Baby, and I went for a walk when the Mets and Giants were in the bottom of the 8th inning. We went for a shorter walk, me thinking we'd be back in time for extra innings. But we were back in the top of the 9th - bases loaded, one out, David Wright at the plate. Benitez went to 3-1, and then Wright, sitting fastball, ripped a 2-run double to left. Beautiful, and the Benitez jinx still works. It was great to see Wright come through in a clutch situation. He had a good series - hitting .384, with 3 doubles - maybe he's starting to come around.

Delgado has also been struggling, and he came through in a clutch situation. Delgado hit a solo homer into the water early in the game (4th inning), and he tied the game late with an RBI double. Ruben Gotay also hit a solo homer, in the third.

John Maine had a rocky start - 3 runs, 6 walks, in 6 innings. When I was listening on the radio on the way home, Howie Rose was saying Maine had a lot of trouble locating the ball. But he avoided the loss, so he's still 1-0. Scott Schoeneweis, Aaron Heilman (who got the win), and Billy Wagner (8th save) shut down the Giants the rest of the way.

After losing the two out of three to the Marlins early last week, the Mets had a nice road trip. They went 5-2 in Arizona and San Francisco. They have Thursday off before hosting Milwaukee this weekend. Orlando Hernandez might be back Friday night. I heard that about a week ago, I think.

AT&T johnnymets.blogspot.com Player of the Game: I wanted to give this to David Wright for driving in the go-ahead runs, but Carlos Delgado put the Mets where they needed to be. Delgado was 2-for-5, with a solo homer and an RBI double, 2 RBI total, scoring once.




TUESDAY'S RESULT

Monster.com johnnymets.blogspot.com Player of the Game: Tempted as I was to give it to David Wright (again) - 2 doubles and an RBI - I have to give it to Tom Glavine, who gave up just one run (a Barry Bonds homer) in 7 innings, striking out five, giving up 7 hits and a walk, and picking up career win number 294. I saw none of this game, so I really have nothing further to comment on.


MONDAY'S RESULT


PacBell johnnymets.blogspot.com Player of the Game: Bengie Molina had 2 home runs and 5 RBI in a 9-run fifth inning against the Mets in the series opener. Oliver Perez gave up 8 of the 9 runs, but only two were earned - he was hurt by a couple of errors. Molina's line - 2-for-3 with a walk, 5 RBI, 2 HR, and 2 runs scored. (Those Molina brothers have caused the Mets a lot of problems in the past six months or so.

HAIRCUTS: The Mets apparently bonded on Tuesday by shaving their heads before the game, with Tom Glavine shaving his head after the game. As far as I know, the only person who didn't do it was Jose Reyes (who has a 14-game hitting streak, by the way). On the radio, Howie Rose was talking about Jay Horwitz's newly-shorn head, so I can only assume some front office folk also were involved in the fun.

BEAT THE STREAK: Albert Pujols screwed me over on Monday, but Ivan Rodriguez and Jose Reyes have me back at two games. No worse feeling than coming back from 1 game after building a 12-gamer. I have Miguel Tejada on Thursday.

WORKING OVERTIME

Giants 7, Mets 6 12 innings (NYM: 33-22, SF: 29-27)

For the second straight game, and third time in four games, the Mets went to extra innings. It was the tenth time this year the Mets have played an extra-innings game (by my count), and I think now the Mets are 6-4 in extra innings games (again, just my count). This is going to cause some wear and tear on the bullpen - and I think the Mets are going to start paying for it this week. Back-to-back extra innings games, and now a trip out west to play Los Angeles, Arizona, and then back east at Philadelphia. I'm not expecting the best road trip....but maybe the Mets will show how good they are and come away with a winning record. (This is the last tough road trip the Mets have this year - at least as far as mileage goes.)

As for the game, this was an exciting one (which I didn't get to see - more on that later). David Wright hit two homers - he's now up to 10 on the year, and 51 career, and continues to swing a hot bat. (He's now hitting .330..and getting much national recognition. Apparently this week 'The Sporting News' is comparing him to A-Rod.)

The Mets blew a lead in this game, but also came back a couple of times. The most dramatic was after the Giants took a 2-run lead in the 10th inning, then brought Armando Benitez in to close it out. Jose Valentin homered with one out, to make it 6-5, then with two outs, Lastings Milledge hit his first career homer, tying the game. (Milledge was 3-for-4, with 3 RBI, raising his major league average to .267.) Pedro Feliciano got tagged with the loss by giving up the final go-ahead run in the 12th (althoug Heath Bell gave up the hit that scored the run - Bell has been pitching very well since his call-up to replace Jorge Julio out of the bullpen. Not too many of the bullpen guys pitched well on Sunday.)

A rough series for the Mets against the Giants. They lost the series-opener (the first game of the doubleheader), which should have been a warning - the Mets hadn't lost the first game of a home series all season. (They had won 10 straight this year, 13 straight overall. I hate seeing streaks like that end.) Now it's off to the West Coast - let's hope for good things.

MEDIA-RELATED NEWS: First of all, I was wondering why Howie Rose was doing the Mets' game on SNY Saturday (the second game of the doubleheader) - I thought Gary Cohen just had some scheduled time off. But apparently Cohen was taken away from the stadium before the game with appendicitis. I'm not sure how long he'll be out for...but I heard a bit of the Mets' game on the radio on Sunday and Ed Coleman was filling in for Howie Rose...so I guess my services won't be needed. How about two Mets figures with appendicitis at the same time, though? (Xavier Nady and now Gary Cohen.)

Secondly, I couldn't watch the Mets on Sunday, and I can't figure out why. The programming guide on DirecTV had the Mets-Giants game on channel 735, and supposedly it was on Fox Sports Bay Area. But the game wasn't coming on that channel. I was mad...but sadly, being the way that I am, I'll never complain to DirecTV, and I'll never figure out why the game wasn't on. Oh well. I did get a look at ESPN.com's much-improved GameCast.

MONTH OF MAY: I forgot to post this Friday - but since the month of May is over, it's time for the monthly record. The Mets were 16-12 in May - following up their 16-8 April. If the Mets win 16 games a month, they'll do OK this season. (That would be about 112 wins, to put that in perspective...so 15 more to go in June!)

THE KID'S KIDS: The Mets are headed in the right direction again. They beat Tampa 5-1 on Sunday (for the third straight time), and are back to a game-and-a-half lead over Brevard County. That's some good managing by Hall of Famer Gary Carter.

FANTASY UPDATE: I'm back on the outs with this game. The What If Mets dropped all three games Sunday, and are back to .500. I have three coming up on Monday now with the Giants. I'm telling you - I don't know what to do. I'm still just two games back of the wild card, so there's some hope...but I'm 11 behind the division-leading phillies. Also, I filled out a mid-season survey that the game asks you to fill out, and I was pretty critical. I hope that's not why I'm suddenly on a losing streak.

BEAT THE STREAK: David Wright was my pick on Sunday, and he got me up to a five-game streak. I'm taking Carl Crawford on Monday, hopefully we can get this one up into double digits and beyond.

TRACH-SELL

No Mets game tonight. The Marlins lost, so the Mets will pick up a half-game on them.

But the big news is the stuff I heard Buster Olney talking about on ESPNRadio this evening. The Mets are probably going to deal Steve Trachsel by Wednesday, the deadline for making waiver-wire deals.

Olney says the Mets made a very smart move (and I agree), which is that they started the process of putting Steve Trachsel through waivers before he made his start last week. So Trachsel cleared waivers (no one tried to pick him up), and then he goes out and pitches 8 shutout innings. So now he's valuable, and he's trade-able. So the Mets are (probably - Olney wouldn't say this for sure, but it's speculation) looking to trade Trachsel for a first baseman or a reliever.

Here's my take on the Trachsel situation. He probably ticked off Willie Randolph when he wouldn't go to the bullpen, and acted like the Mets were jerking him around. Randolph is big on "TEAM", and there's no "TEAM" in Trachsel. He's all about me, or at least that's what he's made it sound like while he was waiting for a slot to fit in. So Randolph is probably endorsing using Trachsel as bait for a reliever, because the Mets could use some bullpen help (although this hasn't been a big problem lately - mostly because the starters have been so good).

The other interesting note about the Wild Card chase is the fact that this is the time of year that teams play within their divisions. Unfortunately, this gives the Astros a huge advantage in the hunt for the playoffs. The Astros have just 12 games against contending teams the rest of the way - I assume they play the Cardinals about 6 times, then a couple of East teams. The Mets, Phillies, Marlins, and Nationals play about 28 of their remaining 32 games against contending teams - for the Marlins - their whole remaining schedule is against contenders. The Mets, I know have the Nationals, Marlins, Phillies, and Braves all 6 times, then the Cardinals for four, and then play the Rockies. Now, just because they're playing "contending" teams doesn't mean they're not going to win the games (and non-contenders doesn't mean they'll win - we all know the Rockies will cause them problems that final weekend), and the Phillies don't scare me, and really, the Nationals don't either. So the Braves, Marlins, and Cardinals series are the tough ones. The problem. though, is that the Astros are playing teams like Cincinnati and Pittsburgh. They do have games against the Cubs - hopefully the Cubs are in a spoiling mood - but the Astros can go on a tear here.

One last point before I go to bed: In the two losses to the Giants over the weekend, Armando Benitez got two saves. This is getting ridiculous. I forgot, but last year, the Marlins gave the Mets fits, and Benitez was their closer. Benitez got 11 saves against the Mets last year, when he was with Florida. 11! That's the most saves anyone has ever had against one team in a season. That's ridiculous. And now he's back from the DL, and boom! two saves. What a joke. He's killed us as a Met, and now against the Mets. And the worst part about it is, as much as I cursed him as a Met, he's a really nice guy - and he's very gracious, and although he struggles with English, he grants interviews to the New York media...who have been very tough on him. It's hard to hate him. But he's doing a good job of making me feel that way towards him.

THE WIFE, PART II

OK - so upper management of JMDBSDC has told me that I am NOT allowed to turn this into a Red Sox blog for the week. I must discuss the Mets. Hmm ... that's a toughie. So I'll turn to JohnnyMets himself (since that's why you read anyway) and get his thoughts.

1) John says he's going to be really p.o.'ed if he can't watch the Mets tonight. As you recall, John hasn't seen the last two Mets games, which they've won. As you may also recall, the House Sponsored by DirecTV needs a working phone line to get full reception, which we don't have right now. However, John insists that we can get some of the games, and hopefully the Mets will be one of them. I'd better hope so, else I have one grumpy husband tonight.

2) The Mets square off tonight against Roger Clemens and the Houston Astros. This should be one exciting game, which is why it's even more important that we receive the game tonight. Will there be a beaning? A fight? Tune in to JMDBSDC tomorrow for details...

3) And here's John's insight at its best. He thinks that in the first week and a half of this season, there have been more blown saves than there have been in some entire seasons. Latest victim: Armando Benitez, who blew a 3-run lead last night. Funny, I wasn't even watching that game. For those of you who don't know the story, I am the official Armando Benitez jinx, and he blows every game I watch him play. As you can imagine, that was not a good thing when he played with the Mets. Dave from Brighton, I expect you'll do some numbers-crunching on John's theory and get back to us on that.

OK - now for the mail bag:

"Dear KathyMets,

That's too bad about the sadly misnamed House brought to you by
DirecTV. One of the most frightening perils of homeownership is being
responsible for fixing problems like that one. I hope you take good
care of the 'blog. Maybe you can spice it up with some vitriolic
anti-Mets views. Or some pictures.

Since you specifically requested some "Around the League" Sox talk...

--Is it too early to say "Renteria, gimme a break." They should change
his number to 643.

--I say Wells ends up with a 5.35 ERA. Do you take the over or under
for entertainment purposes?

--And on the Sox WS rings... Not enough bling, too much, or just right?

Signed,
Dave in Brighton"


Dave-

You raise several points. I hope I can address all of them. First of all, I am not going to fill this space with vitriolic anti-Mets views. You see, marriage is all about supporting your spouse, even if you think they're going to be disappointed every year by the teams they root for. I'll leave it at that, because if I say more, John is going to get mad. Not good for the marriage.

I'm looking into the picture thing. I'm just getting used to this blog thing, so pictures are asking for a lot. But I'll try.

RE: Renteria. It's probably a bad thing to sign the player who makes the last out for the opposing team, letting you win the World Series for the first time in 86 years. But I'm willing to give him a chance. It's only April. Early May, I'll reassess.

RE: Wells. I was vehemently opposed to signing him in the first place. What kind of drugs did Theo take after that Championship?? Signing on an overweight, 41-year-old, drunken man who gets into bar fights is not cool. I say he ends up with OVER a 5.35 and at least one barstool thrown in his face.

RE: rings. Beauties. I love 'em. Just enough bling for me.

OK - our next writer:

"John/Kathy....

Seeing the ring ceremony yesterday was great. It was good to see Lowe and Roberts come back...because they were such key parts of last year.

But a player who was a key part of the franchise is set to get a ring too, and I wonder if they'll do a ring ceremony for him...or give it to him in private. I'm talking about Nomar.

Nomar is the one that brought the fans back to Fenway when the team wasn't very good. He was the one who all the kids bought jerseys of. He's the one that made the Red Sox cool again....remember...for a long time...they were bad...and that stadium was far from sold out.

Then he got hurt...the media soured on him....then skewered him...then traded him....and you know the rest.

Fact is...he still gets a ring because he was on the 2004 team. Question for the house....should the Red Sox have a ceremony for Nomar at Fenway before a game?? Or...should they give him the ring in June when they play each other at Wrigley in front of the Cub fans?? Or....just ship it FedEx??

I would like to see the Fenway faithful get to say "thank you"....but I don't think that will happen.

kevin
JMDBSDC Southern Bureau Chief"

Kevin-

I sadly don't think that will happen either. I think the situation with Nomar and the Red Sox is just too bitter right now. It would be cool for the Sox to give the ring to him at Wrigley, but I think it will really come via DHL sometime this week. (Yes, not FedEx. The Sox made a big point during the telecast that the rings were shipped via DHL.)

Also, my final comment for the day: I used to be a Pedro* fan. I cheered him when he knocked Zim to the ground and threatened to pop Posada in the head. However, the fact that he says he doesn't even want his ring makes me mad. Just friggin' take it and be happy that you won the World Series! Pedro*'s whole shenanigans make me hope he stinks with the Mets. (Sorry, John)

That's it for the day - hope you're enjoying the blog this week. (Though I also hope you're looking forward to the return of JohnnyMets next week.)

LOW FIVE

Braves 6, Mets 3 (ATL 4-1; NYM 0-5; 4 GB)

Two things I can't believe I'm saying after the first week of the season:
1) The Mets are 0-5, off to their worst start since 1964.
2) Cliff Floyd has been playing some outstanding baseball this past week.

The record speaks for itself. I'll speak for Floyd. He says he's feeling better than he has in five years. He looks it. Friday night he made an outstanding running catch in the left-center field gap that saved the game from being broken open. Last night he made two throws to the plate (granted, they were three-hoppers) that nailed Chipper Jones (in the first inning), and Adam LaRoche (in the sixth inning), again, keeping the Mets in the game. He's also swinging the bat really well. Too bad, though, he couldn't climb the wall and rob Brian Jordan of a grand slam....more on that in a minute.

I really thought things were starting to break the Mets' way after Floyd threw out Jones. Chipper could have been safe (I think he slid around the tag)...but the Mets got the call. That momentum was lost in the top of the second - after future Hall of Famer David Wright reached on an error, and Doug Mientkiewicz singled him to third, the Mets went down 1-2-3. Then in the bottom of the second, Brian Jordan hit a grand slam off Aaron Heilman. Just like that, it was 4-0, Braves.

THE GREATEST BALLPLAYER WHO EVER LIVED, Jose Reyes, homered in the fifth, and the Mets actually got the go-ahead run to the plate, but Kevin Gryboski, relieving starter Horacio Ramirez, got Wright to pop out to end the inning with Atlanta up, 4-2.

In the bottom of the fifth, after Heilman looked like he settled in, retiring nine in a row, he gave up a solo homer to Chipper Jones, and the game was just about over.

I'm seeing some signs that some players are getting disheartened. Carlos Beltran hit a liner in the seventh, with a runner on, that was knocked down by the second baseman. He didn't even run it out, and there was a play at first that wasn't even close because Beltran gave up on it so early. No excuse for that...actually, 119 million reasons why there should be no excuse.

I'm getting a little disheartened too - especially since Braden Looper gave up a run in his one inning of work - he needs to get some confidence soon, or else he's going to be ineffective all year.

Another interesting piece - it seems that Willie Randolph is hitting David Wright sixth against lefties, Doug Mientkiewicz sixth against righties. I didn't realize that when the season started.

Here's another positive comment about something non-Mets. Though I don't necessarily like the broadcasters (particularly the addition of Ron Gant), TBS has some added features I like this year. The first thing I noticed was a lead measuring graphic when a runner is on first base. Using the third base camera angle where you usually see the pitcher, runner, and first baseman, TBS now has a graphic marking 9 feet off the bag, and shows whether the lead is a big one or a small one. TBS also has a cable cam, a la FOX and ESPN in football, which shows some different-looking overhead shots. The baseball version of cable cam is limited because of the fair territory, but this has some potential. The shots I saw last night weren't "great", as the broadcaster called them, but they were unique. I wouldn't be surprised if other stations started using these two features in their productions in the near future.

Also, kudos to the producer/director at TBS for this: In the second inning, Brian Jordan steps to the plate with the bases loaded, and the broadcaster says, "The last time Jordan faced the Mets as a member of the Braves, September 29, 2001, here's what happened....Grand Slam off John Franco." Then, the next pitch, was Jordan's grand slam. That's the type of stuff I'm looking for in a baseball game...which is why I was diappointed no one at ESPN last Monday commented on Kaz Matsui starting off two seasons in a row with a home run (a feat I learned was matched by Darryl Strawberry in 1987 and 1988, I think).

I've been meaning to touch base on a couple of former Mets. Franco has pitched in two games for the Astros, pitching two-thirds of an inning, giving up 0 runs. Armando Benitez is now closing games for the Giants - he has two saves. And Scott Kazmir is the number two starter for Tampa Bay - he pitched five innings in his first start, giving up 1 run, 3 hits, and striking out 2.

Pedro Martinez looks to get the Mets into the win column today against John Smoltz.

Indians 9, Mets 1 (30-34, 5.5 GB)

Wednesday, June 16, 2004

First of all, I need to clarify what I wrote yesterday. I think Don Baylor will be a fine hitting coach...I just think the Mets surge Tuesday night was due more to the fact that they were facing a sucky pitcher than it was the fact that Denny Walling had been fired. The offensive explosion was no more a reflection of the firing than the blackout last night was a reflection of Don Baylor as a hitting coach. The firing of Walling though, will have a direct correlation to the firing of Art Howe, if that happens. I still like Howe, although some of the things he does leave him wide open to criticism. I just wish he'd get the Mets to go on one of those tears his A's teams used to go on...soon.

C.C. Sabathia shut the Mets down last night, but Mike DiMuro also contributed to the Indians win. DiMuro is the same umpire who called two balks on Steve Trachsel Tuesday night. Last night, umpiring first base, DiMuro called CoCo Crisp safe at first on what would have/SHOULD have been an inning-ending double play. Instead, Crisp was called safe when he was out by a half a step, and the Indians' run crossed the plate, making it 2-0 instead of 1-0. Then, in the sixth, DiMuro called Crisp safe again on a little roller. Matt Ginter threw high to Mike Piazza, but Piazza's foot clearly came down on the bag before Crisp did. Art Howe got ejected for arguing. Two close plays, but two blown calls. The final score was 9-1, but those calls changed the texture of the game...both of those happened before the game got out of hand. DiMuro will work the plate tonight...we'll see if he still acts like a pompous ass towards the Mets like he did the previous two nights.

So Sabathia was really good, but he had some pretty good defensive plays behind him. Ginter had no such luck. The Mets committed three errors (one by Ginter), Piazza should have made another play at first base, and this game could have gone the other way. What the Mets needed to do was knock Sabathia out of the game, and get to the Indians bullpen. Maybe tonight. Scott Elarton pitches against Jae Seo. If the Mets don't hit Elarton, Baylor should be fired immediately. By the way - here's an interesting fact. Ginter got the loss last night - his first major league loss. It was his 70th major league appearance...but most of the previous outings (with the White Sox) were out of the bullpen.

Tyler Yates coming out of the bullpen so far is even worse than Tyler Yates the starter. Yates pitched the ninth inning last night, and gave up 4 runs on five hits, ensuring the Mets would not be able to come back. If he doesn't turn it around he'll join a long list of bust pitchers.

Vance Wilson was placed on the 15-day DL, and Tom Wilson was called up from Norfolk. Tom Wilson now wears number 6. He's the third number six this season. Timo Perez wore it in spring training, then Gerald Williams wore it for a day before switching to number 21, I think, and now Tommy Boy. Vance Wilson blames the fact that he had to catch 15 innings last week against Minnesota, then had to start in an emergency for Jason Phillips when he wasn't expecting it as a contributing factor towards the hamstring injury. What's the problem, Vance? You were complaining you weren't playing enough, now it's too much?

WRIGHT WATCH: Either all pitching in the minor leagues sucks, or this guy is the next Ted Williams (or Gregg Jeffries). David Wright went 2-for-4 last night for Norfolk, hitting his first Triple-A home run. He had an RBI and a run, and another double. He's now hitting a fat .583 (7-12) in three games with Norfolk. He's also struck out just twice in 12 at-bats.

****One more thing**** I forgot to mention this yesterday in the note about Armando Benitez' blown save. The save ensured that my wife's jinx on Benitez still exists. She was watching when Frank Thomas and Timo Perez homered for the White Sox.
The jinx started in 2000, when Benitez gave up the game-tying home run to J.T. Snow in the 9th inning of Game 2 of the NLDS Series against the Giants in San Francisco. (She wasn't my wife then...we had been dating about 10 months.) She switched seats before the 9th inning, and I yelled at her, telling her to go back because she jinxed him. She almost dumped me. But we persevered, through many Benitez blown saves...all attributed to her. (A few of which came with her in attendance at Shea Stadium.) Anyway, the jinx held true Tuesday night...I just wish she was watching the Mets-Marlins games in late May more attentively. We'll have to make sure she does the next time the Mets face Florida.

May 31, 2004 - The Mets are 23-26, 1 GB Atlanta, 4.5 GB Philadelphia, 6.5 GB Florida

It sure feels like the Mets got their butts kicked by Florida this weekend. The Marlins took three straight from the Mets in Florida, leaving them six and a half games out of first place, and dropping them to fourth in the division. The Mets probably want a do-over after their last four games. Well, guess what? Beginning today, that's just what they get. The Mets still have seven games against Philadelphia and Florida, and they can end up back where they were on Wednesday, or better. (Of course, they could also be worse, but let's not think about that.)

The weekend featured some great pitching the first two nights, and some bad defense Sunday. I didn't see any of Sunday's game, but I listened to most of it. Apparently Kaz Matsui got charged with a tough error, and Shane Spencer dropped a fly ball. So the Mets owe Steve Trachsel, who ended up with a no-decision, but probably deserved better. The Mets also owe another one to Tom Glavine, who got the loss on Friday night despite pitching another awesome game. And Jae Seo pitched very well Saturday night - he's been very good since his call-up...and the Mets have needed that.

I don't want to talk about it, but I need to touch on Ar-friggin'-mando Benitez. It's still just May, so I'm not totally shocked by his dominance so far (he'll have to close out some games in October to prove to me he's a better pitcher), but what Benitez is doing right now is outstanding. I really thought coming into this series that the Mets would get to him - especially with Mike Piazza facing him in a key spot Friday. But Piazza didn't get to him...no one's got to him. Benitez has retired 36 straight batters!! 36 straight! That's 12 straight perfect innings. He's recorded 20 saves in 21 chances. All very frustrating, but impressive nonetheless.

A word on Saturday night's game - a bummer. I think that was the first extra-innings loss on the season for the Mets. (I didn't actually see Mike Lowell's game-winning homer - with one out in the tenth we started watching the wedding video. It might be bad luck. Bad omen.) It's the first time I was nervous watching Braden Looper pitch. It's weird - I love watching him in save situations (rare though they may be), but in non-save situations or tie games, I'm not thrilled to see him in the game. The Mets need to get him more save opportunities so he gets his work in when they need him, and he doesn't need to be used in non-save situations.

For reasons why the Mets should not give up hope after the weekend sweep to the Marlins, they need look no further than today's opponent. The Phillies are 0-6 against Florida this year - with all six games coming in the first few weeks of the season. Philadelphia was able to dig themselves out of the hole the Marlins put them in - I'm sure the Mets will be able to do the same.