CAUSE FOR CONCERN

The Mets put John Maine on the 15-day DL Monday with the bone spurs and sore shoulder that have been bothering him for a while now. He might be out for the season - if he makes it back this year, I wouldn't be surprised if he pitches in relief.

So there's a couple of problems here for the Mets - not the least of which is that their rotation is weakened without Maine. I know he hasn't been great this year - but when healthy he's solid. And he showed in 2006 that he is a clutch pitcher in the post-season.

There are legitimate worries about the rest of the rotation. Oliver Perez is still way too inconsistent. He's been pitching well lately, but you never know when that will end. Pedro Martinez* isn't the Pedro Martinez of old...every time he starts it looks like he's working too hard to get out six innings with only three runs allowed. Whoever replaces Maine will be young and inexperienced - most likely right now Jon Niese - but the Mets will finagle things so they won't need that rotation spot for a week or so. Mike Pelfrey has been great - I'm actually least worried about him.

Johan Santana, though, I'm a little worried about. I know I was among those calling for him to go deeper into games. But I'm not sure he's that type of pitcher. I just worry that he's throwing too many, against his will, because he's succumbing to the media pressure of New York City. And I worry that he's going to hurt his arm, and the Mets will be left with no one come playoff time. Maybe I'm worrying too much. But Santana has never been the type to go deep into games...and this great stretch of games that he has pitched seems out of the norm for him (innings pitched-wise). As great as it has been, I hope he's doing it because he can...not because he feels he has to because of the bullpen.

Finally, this is actually the opposite of a 'cause for concern' - more of a cause for celebration. I've been meaning to write it for a while, but haven't had the right forum. So I'll just throw it out here now:

Carlos Delgado has been on fire for about two months now. And the key, it seems to me, is his willingness to go the other way. Every time he has a multiple-hit game, it seems like a couple are going to left field. Monday night he hit an opposite-field homer. I'm not saying all of his homers are going that way - but enough have that it makes you think that's the key. I wonder if it is the work of hitting coach Howard Johnson, or if he figured it out for himself. Either way, he's been the most valuable Met since early July.

SAVE ME

I'm furious with the Mets right now. Furious.

There is no way they are going to win anything this year with the bullpen pitching the way it has been. And it's the most frustrating thing in the world to watch.

Aaron Heilman gets the bulk of the blame for Monday's loss to the Pirates, but the problem right now is that it's not just the 9th inning that Mets pitchers can't close out - it's any lead at any time. The Mets had a 5-1 lead going into the seventh inning, and right away gave back 3 runs, making it a one-run game. There is no way that game should have been a one-run game at any point after David Wright's 3-run homer in the first inning. (The offense can get some of that blame too - the Pirates tried to give the Mets a blowout win every which way on Monday.)

So after the game, Jerry Manuel talked about the fact that he had to make immediate changes to make things right. Here are my thoughts:

1) Eddie Kunz will be the closer. Manuel said he didn't want to have to put Kunz in that role so soon after coming up. You know what, the way the other dopes have been pitching, I don't care - Kunz should have been used in that role right away. It's what he did in the minors, he should have continued in New York. It's second-guessing at this point, but Manuel should have had Kunz in there from the beginning.

1a) I'm at the point where if Kunz can't do the job right away, and option 2 (below) doesn't work out, call up Brad Holt or some other minor league fireballer who can close the door. Just temporarily. The Mets are killing themselves here.

2) When John Maine comes back from his injury (possibly Wednesday), he will probably close until Billy Wagner gets healthy. I think this is an intriguing possibility, and if Maine is successful, I think it should be his permanent spot. He can be spotty as a starter, and ends up throwing too many pitches. I think he'd be ideal as a closer - and could solve the Mets' problems there for a while.

3) Johan Santana needs to go deep into tonight's game. It's the Washington Nationals, theoretically the Mets should win big (theoretically). Santana needs to step up and throw a complete game shutout.

4) I know there isn't a wealth of relievers available in the major leagues...but surely Omar Minaya could do better. The only person he seemed to be interested in at the trade deadline was the Nationals' Luis Ayala. 60 hits in 54 innings. And 21 walks. He's 1-8 (the losses are the only stat you can blame on the fact that he plays for the horrible Nats) with a 5.93 ERA. If Minaya makes that move through waivers (there are no indications he is still pursuing Ayala), it would be rubbing salt in this open wound.

Let's end on a positive note - David Wright is on another doubles tear - 3 in 2 games. I don't know that he'll break the team record, but he's creeping up there, and of course, continuing his assault on the all-time record:

WRIGHT (2008): 32 Doubles
TEAM RECORD: 44
WRIGHT (career): 173
ALL-TIME RECORD: 792

ALMOST AS PERVASIVE AS STEROIDS

Not too long ago, had you asked me what cribbage was, I would have responded, "That's bed time at the 'House Sponsored by DirecTV'":

Wow. I can't believe how clean that room looks in that picture (from before The Baby was born). It's a disaster right now. Nevertheless, turns out there's a different kind of cribbage, and it's sweeping the Major League Nation. It looks like this:
It also involves cards, and at this point, that's all I know about the game of cribbage. But I'm going to learn more, because I think it's becoming cool.

I got the first hint of cribbage in relation to baseball when I heard that my favorite manager, Terry Francona (2 days in a row!), plays it before almost every game. I think it was a habit/superstition thing where Francona played Dustin Pedroia in cribbage before every game last season.

Then, it was reported that the game has made its way into the Mets clubhouse.

Before I get into that, a word on John Maine. It was also reported that last week was the first time John Maine had ever used the internet. He didn't even know what it was used for until last week. I like Maine, and I think I'm liking it even more that he's kind of an aloof space case. (And the good kind of aloof space case - the one whose actions don't affect the rest of the team.) He spends his days (when he's not throwing, which is four out of five days, for the most part) doing crossword puzzles and throwing around big vocabulary words. He also proclaims himself the best chess player in the clubhouse now that Paul Lo Duca, Shawn Green, and Mike DiFelice are gone. Although Aaron Heilman insists he's a challenge.

Which brings us back to cribbage. Heilman says he'll beat Maine at his game (chess) this year. But apparently, Heilman's game is cribbage. So speculation out of spring training is that Heilman will gladly take on all comers in cribbage....but I don't think everyone knows the game yet.

Well, I think that's about to change. I suspect, once this becomes more and more common knowledge, cribbage is going to take off like Texas Hold 'Em a few years back. And I'm getting in on the ground floor. And I know exactly who I can learn the game with and practice against - Dave in Brighton. He excels at stationary sports. I wouldn't even be surprised if Dave in Brighton already owns a cribbage board (or whatever it's called).

MEET THE METS - JOHN MAINE/OLIVER PEREZ

A preview of the 2008 Mets, presented in the expected batting order, followed by pitching rotation, followed by impact bullpen/bench players. Today we focus on starting pitchers John Maine and Oliver Perez.

2007

MAINE: 15-10, 3.91 ERA, 180 K's, 75 walks, 191 IP

PEREZ: 15-10, 3.56 ERA, 174 K's, 79 walks, 177 IP

I think these two merit having a preview written about them together, because I think so much of the Mets' success this year hinges on the two of them performing well. Also, I thought it was eerie how similar their stats were last year.

Bottom line - if the Mets get 30 wins out of these two again, they're not going to miss the playoffs. It just won't happen. The question is, can the Mets get 30 wins out of Maine and Perez?

I think a couple of things are working in the Mets' favor. One is the point I've been beating you over the head with for the past month or so - with the addition of Johan Santana, instead of facing other teams' second and third starters, Maine and Perez will be facing the third and fourth starters, and they are better than those pitchers. There are not many teams who have formidable opponents for Maine and Perez. So call factor one the 'Steve Trachsel Factor' - Maine and Perez will get wins for just showing up. I'm going to go out on a limb and say Oliver Perez leads the league in run support this year.

Another reason you can expect them to do even better than last year is the fact that Brian Schneider is behind the plate. From all I've been hearing about Schneider's ability to handle pitchers, I've really built him up to be some sort of Supercatcher. But he has to be able to help Perez keep his head on straight when he starts to lose his control. And John Maine has shown an incredible ability to focus when the games/season are on the line, so maybe Schneider can force him to think like that on a normal day in July in addition to late September/October.

The last positive I'll list is that there has to be some sort of comfort level for these guys now. Both backed up the promise they showed in the 2006 post-season with very good 2007 seasons. They've proved they belong here, and that they can hold their own. Other than the pressure of pitching every fifth day in the New York spotlight, the pressure's off.

The warning signs are the same they have always been. Can John Maine avoid throwing 100 pitches by the sixth inning? Can Oliver Perez find his release point so he isn't walking 9 batters a game? I think the best thing for each of these guys is that last year, while it was ridiculously successful for both of them, was also a learning experience. They learned on the job, and they didn't suffer for it. That can only lead to a better 2008.

PEREZ ALREADY 1-0: Worth noting - On Friday, Oliver Perez was granted a salary arbitration win, meaning he will earn $6.5 million dollars this year (the club was offering $4.725 million). The odds were stacked against Perez - this was the first salary arbitration hearing the Mets lost since 1992.

THE DAY AFTER

This is all very strange. The Mets are usually the team that comes back - they're not the team that totally collapses. Sure, sometimes they don't complete the comeback, for whatever reason, but it never happens that they're that far ahead, and then it's all gone. They might make it exciting, and closer than it should be - whether that's over the course of the season, or in an individual game...but there's never been anything like this - and on nowhere near as grand a scale.

There's plenty of blame to go around - and you really have to look no further than Jose Reyes' .197 average in September...or, of course, Tom Glavine's implosion on Sunday. (Or for that matter, his last three starts, in which the Mets were 0-3, he had an ERA of 16.55, and gave up 25 hits in 10 and a third innings against the Nationals once and the Marlins twice.) (By the way, I know it sounds like I'm scapegoating...but that's because that's exactly what I'm doing. It's not my fault that the Mets lost this division lead.) I don't put a huge amount of blame on Willie Randolph, but he factors more towards 'guilty' on the blame scale than 'not guilty'. Rick Peterson tilts the scale big time. Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado are somewhere in the middle - but their seeming indifference is unsettling.

The people in the clear, as far as I'm concerned, are David Wright, who carried this team as much as one person possibly could (and for the second time in his career finished with 42 doubles, two off the team record), John Maine, who had an outstanding first half, and a decent enough second half, and came up huge in a situation where almost everyone else came up short, Moises Alou, who I'm shocked I'm ending the season speaking positively about, Luis Castillo, who always gave 100% (and the man to his right on the infield could learn a thing or two about that), and Lastings Milledge, whose maturity, as I've mentioned before, was notable this season. He appeared to be a good teammate also. I've also got to say this - I've had about enough of Billy Wagner's mouth - search for his comments to a magazine (I know -real sketchy details here) - either the New York Times Magazine, or the New Yorker. He burned bridges on his way out of Philadelphia, and he's not going to be making any friends in New York with comments like that (although they were about Rick Peterson, who should be on their way out).

I hate to sound like my dad, master conspiracy theorist, but I have a couple of thoughts on why the Mets didn't seal the deal:

One is a total, absolute conjecture - I think that in a few weeks, we're going to hear about huge off-the-field issues with this team. I don't know whether they'll be personal problems, or in-house fighting - but this was a team with a bunch of individuals - not a team atmosphere like last year. That could have been because most of the last part of the season was surrounded by so many losses, but it appeared that there was never unity. There were whispers that Julio Franco was to blame early on, but it seemed to continue when he was gone. It's hard to imagine huge personal issues going unnoticed in New York, after what happened last year with Paul LoDuca, but I think there might have been a couple of things that were under the radar that affected everyone's play. Or maybe a bunch of Mets got wind that they're significantly involved in the steroids mess.

Two, not totally unrelated to my first theory - Remember the first day back from the All Star Break, the Mets released Julio Franco and fired Rick Down, then hired Rickey Henderson? At the All Star Break, the Mets were 48-39. Since then, 40-35. It's not much of a difference, but the Mets just played differently, and looked less inspired. They were more prone to long losing streaks, longer stretches of uninspired ball. At least it seemed that way. If my dad would have mentioned this, I would have laughed, or gotten angry. But I think his thinking is rubbing off on me - what kind of a coach could a guy like Henderson, who dogged it a lot, be? He probably affected the outlook Jose Reyes had on the game...or maybe the team rebelled after Franco was released. Or maybe Howard Johnson is not a good coach. I don't know. I'm grasping at straws here. But I'm just throwing those couple of things out there.

I hate that the 2007 Mets will always come up now when collapses are brought up. It's probably how Yankees fans feel about the 2004 post-season...and the 3-0 series lead. And I hate that there will be events that will make this season stand out - Tom Glavine's 300th win, Moises Alou setting a team record for hitting streak with 30. I hate that the Mets still haven't won back-to-back division titles. I hate that Jimmy Rollins turned out to be right.

What now? Well, for one, I'll be rooting against the Phillies. I can't root for a quicker exit from the post-season (some say root for the team that beat you, so you can say you were beaten by the best. I say misery loves company.). I like the play-in game that's happening as I write this - I'm going to go watch that. And then I'll just root for new matchups - that's why I like the Diamondbacks, Padres, and Rockies all possibly coming out of the National League. I'll try to update a couple of times during the post-season. Or maybe pretty often - who knows? I do know that the other part of yesterday, the Jets' loss to Buffalo, signaled the fact that I won't have much interest in football season this year.

NOT DEAD YET

I really can't believe that it's come down to this, but here we are. John Maine stepped up big-time on Saturday, going 7-and-two-thirds no-hit innings, before giving up only a dribbler to third base...one infield hit (along with a career-high 14 strikeouts), as the Mets beat the Marlins, 13-0. Talk about sending a message...although I would have much rather had those 13 runs spread out over some of these other games.

Later on Saturday, the Washington Nationals held on to beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 4-2, to force a tie once again atop the National League East standings. I've always had a soft spot in my heart for the Nationals franchise, deep down, because of the Expos roots and the affiliation with Hall of Famer Gary Carter. With Saturday's win, and if they can pull out a win on Sunday against the Phillies, I will forever root for them whenever they are not playing the Mets.

So on Sunday it will be Tom Glavine versus Dontrelle Willis in New York, while in Philadelphia, the Mets will be hoping Jamie Moyer continues his season-long struggles against Jason Bergmann.

On Saturday, the Mets earned for themselves a chance to play themselves in to the post-season. All they have to do is win, and they will either go straight to an NLDS series, or play a playoff game on Monday against the Phillies. I don't even want to think about the scenarios if they lose...but there is potential that they will still have a one-game playoff with a loss.

John Maine showed us his big-game ability in the post-season last year. He proved he's a big-game pitcher again on Saturday - stepping up big-time when the Mets needed him. Now, facing another seemingly elimination game on Sunday, the Mets have Tom Glavine on the mound - they can't do much better than that.

The Southern Bureau sent me a message on Friday night saying his dad was at Friday night's game, and the Mets showed no emotion. It showed on television too...the Mets looked awful. Because of blackout restrictions for the Saturday national game, I couldn't watch Saturday's game, but I was able to catch some of the radio broadcast, and it seemed like the Mets fixed whatever their problem had been. Then, there was more fire added when Jose Reyes got into it with Miguel Olivo, the Marlins' catcher. The benches emptied, the only punch thrown was Olivo trying to get at Reyes, but there was a spark. More signs of life out of the Mets than we've seen in about a month. (Dave in Brighton was at this game - almost seeing in person his second career no-hitter. Lucky guy - he saw the benches clear. Don't think I've ever seen that. He's just lucky that way.)

Also, completing what's been a good season for him, Lastings Milledge had two home runs. He has shown a lot of maturity this year (his recent suspension for arguing a strikeout call notwithstanding), and it was nice to see him contribute in such a big game - because I still think the Mets have to get someone of value for him - I just don't see how he fits into their future plans.

So it comes down to Sunday - Mets need a win, and hopefully a Phillies loss. I have to figure out a way to watch the Mets and Jets simultaneously...but I guess that should be the worst of my problems. Hopefully there will be good news to write about on Sunday night.

METS STILL CAN'T SOLVE ATLANTA

One of the most satisfying things about the 2006 season was that it seemed like the Mets had turned the tide against the Braves. Instead of going to Atlanta and getting beat, and having the Braves come to Shea and whipping them, it looked like the Mets were going to even the record a little bit.

It's now looking like last year was more of an aberration than a rule, as the Mets are now 4-8 on the season against Atlanta, dropping two out of three in each of the four series the two teams have played.

If you're looking for signs of encouragement, the games haven't been one-sided. The Mets have had a chance in almost all of them. But the fact is, they've come out behind more often than on top, and that could end up being a problem.

I honestly believe the Mets will win the division, and that their losses to Atlanta will end up giving the Braves nothing more than a little false hope. But you can't avoid the fact that these games with Atlanta are big, and could be previews of October baseball...and if that's the case, the Mets will not fare well.

Thursday's afternoon game was more of the same against the Braves this year - the Mets jumped out to an early lead, blew it (another rocky start for John Maine - one thing about him - he has these bad stretches of two or three bad starts, then comes back and is lights-out...I'd be interested to see how well he pitches very soon), then rallied at the end and came up just short.

Now, I must admit, I fell asleep and missed the very end of Thursday's game, but apparently Willie Harris robbed Carlos Delgado of a game-tying home run in the ninth inning. So, a little more luck, and the Mets could have won this game. Again, that's the encouraging thing - it's not like the Mets haven't been in these games. They also blew their opportunities early on Thursday - they ended the first inning up 1-0 against Tim Hudson, but it could have been a lot more.

Bottom line - these games against the Braves, and the Mets' lack of success therein, aren't the end of the world. But they could be one of the signs that the end could arrive sooner than we fans had hoped.

ROUGH ONE AT WRIGLEY

The Mets lost to the Cubs on Saturday at Wrigley Field, 6-2. John Maine got rocked in the third inning - he went two-and-two thirds innings. Hate to see him pitch poorly - but outings like this have definitely been few and far between. The ridiculous thing is that Maine looked absolutely dominant through two innings...and Ted Lilly looked hittable. The opposite turned out to be true.

The Mets came out on the wrong side of a call at first base in the Cubs' big inning - Ryan Theriot hit a slow roller up the middle which Jose Reyes fielded and gunned to first, but the umpire called Theriot safe. Replays showed he looked to be out. Should have been the third out...the Cubs went on to score 6. Tough break for the Mets.

The good news to come out of the game - Moises Alou is still alive and well - he hit two homers to account for both Mets runs. And Luis Castillo looked like he has a clue at the plate, which had not been the case through his first few games as a Met.

CLASSY ACT: This is the real reason I decided to write today, and you might want to bookmark this, because I'm about to say something nice about the Braves. I forgot to mention this the other day, when I wrote about Renteria's injury, and the Braves crumbling against Houston. Before the game, the Braves recognized Craig Biggio, and his 3,000 hits. That's nice enough. But they gave him a check for $3,000 for the Sunshine Kids, the organization Biggio has represented for about as long as I can remember. You may remember Biggio wearing the pin in his hat with the organization's logo - at the right. If I'm not mistaken, and sadly, I don't think I am, Major League Baseball asked Biggio to stop wearing the pin because it violated uniform code. I think he still wears it during spring training. Anyway, he did a nice job of raising awareness for the organization, and it was very, very nice of the Braves to recognize Biggio's accomplishment in that way. There. I said it. The Braves did a nice thing. Now I hope they lose the rest of their games.

SNUBBED!!

SMy opinion is increasingly insignificant these days, but here's who I think deserved to be on the All Star teams, and whose place they should have:

1) I have to start in the American League, because the biggest crock is that Manny Ramirez made the team over someone like Kevin Youkilis. The most amazing thing to me is that any manager would select Ramirez to the team in a good year - he doesn't want to be there....and Ramirez is NOT having an All-Star caliber year. Youkilis is. He's outhitting Manny in every category - trailing him only in homers, and that's by two...where Manny should be outhomering Youkilis right now by about 10 or 11. Does the American League really need 8 outfielders? This is absolutely unacceptable - I was out of the loop when the teams were announced...I don't know the reasoning here, but this is a horrendous job by Jim Leyland.

2) Yes, I understand the Mets got a few All Star starters - David Wright, Jose Reyes, and Carlos Beltran (the only one who doesn't deserve the nod). And I know Billy Wagner also got named to the team. But John Maine also deserves a spot on the team. It's hard to pick someone who should be out, so that Maine can be in, but my finger points to Cole Hamels. I like Hamels a lot...more than I should like a member of a rival team. But I don't think he's having a better year than Maine, and it's not like the Phillies are under-represented (they have Chase Utley and Aaron Rowand). Quick comparison - Maine: 9-4, 2.74 ERA, 84 K in 102 IP. Hamels: 9-4, 3.87 ERA, 116 K in 111 IP. Maine has given up 79 hits, 38 walks. Hamels - 107 (!) hits, 29 walks. Seems to me that's the wrong call.

3) I can not believe Erik Bedard is not on this All Star team. It makes me really sad for him. What more can you do as a pitcher? Brian Roberts, deservedly, made the team, as the only Orioles representative. I'm having trouble finding someone who should not have made the team instead of Bedard - but I think I'd put Bedard ahead of Youkilis, and send Ramirez home for Bedard. The most ridiculous thing is that Bedard didn't even get put on the extra five-man ballot for the fans' extra vote. Too bad...I guess his poor start to the season did him in.

Those were the ones that jumped out at me and made me a little mad. I've been off the All Star Game in recent years - but I was kind of into it last year, and I'm going to try to pay attention this year. It will be great to see Jose Reyes and David Wright playing in it this year - remember, last year, on my birthday actually, the Friday night before the game, Reyes slid headfirst into first base against the Marlins, and hurt his hand...and couldn't play in the game. So it will be nice that there are Mets who can make a difference - and maybe force Games 1 & 2 of the World Series to be played at Shea Stadium.

INJURY UPDATE: Jason Vargas started for the Mets in Colorado on Tuesday night, as Oliver Perez was placed on the 15-day DL. He joins Jorge Sosa, who was placed on the DL Sunday. Mike Pelfrey replaced Sosa on the roster. A bit of an injury bug biting the Mets right now, but it's mostly so that the team is healthy in the second half. Willie Randolph says if it wasn't approaching the All Star break, or if the Mets were playing more important games, he would have asked Perez to fight through it. It seems this is working out well for everyone involved.

As for me, I am almost fully recovered from my injuries. The shoulder is still sore, but we'll get there. There was almost an emergency room scare with the leg on Friday, but we avoided that. The interesting thing is that I think I pulled my quad, or at least strained it. That's what has been bothering Moises Alou, who hasn't played since early May. I know I've got about 12 years on him, but I would have been ready to go again after my injury in about a week, maybe a stint on the 15-day DL. Just saying, for comparison's sake.

A MUCH NEEDED OFF DAY

Despite the Mets scoring first on Wednesday night, again, the Mets lost, again. This is becoming a problem. Friday begins a three-game series with the Yankees. If the Mets don't get it together for that series, then I'm not so sure this season will be the championship season I was so confident about for so long.

When the Mets and Yankees last met, May 18-20, the Mets took 2 out of three. Since that last game, when the Mets were 28-15, and the Yankees were 19-23, the Yankees have been scorching, and the Mets have not. Here's a look at the records since then:

Mets: 8-13 (including 5 losses in a row, and 9 in their last 10)
Yankees: 14-8 (including 9 wins in a row)

I'm sure there's better breakdowns, which will be all over the place, especially comparing their last 10 games each, but I'm not going to do that. I'm guessing that the Yankees' hitting numbers are going to easily dwarf the Mets', because the Mets scored just 5 runs in their 3-game series against the Dodgers. They didn't have trouble scoring in Detroit - their pitching failed them there.

Bottom line - the Mets need to stop messing around and win some ballgames, and all the better with the Yankees coming up Friday through Sunday.

MURRAY FIRED: The Dodgers fired hitting coach Eddie Murray on Thursday. Apparently this has been a long time coming, but you'd think they wouldn't mess around after the hitting the Dodgers just threw at the Mets these past three games. Murray will be replaced by Bill Mueller, a player I always liked. It was uncomfortable the way Mueller would try to squeeze his good Lord and Savior Jesus Christ into every post-game interview after mundane mid-season games...usually they save thanking the Good Lord until after the World Series. Not Bill. It was also odd how sudden he stopped mentioning Jesus in the interviews - someone either told him to stop, or he had a sudden anti-God thing going (a "Come from Jesus", if you will).

I also have very little sympathy for Eddie Murray. He was a contributing factor in some miserable early-90's Mets teams, and I'm convinced he swayed some young players to be bad people because he was that much of a bad clubhouse influence. That's what I heard years ago, and that stuck with me. I say this despite Murray's role in ending Anthony Young's losing streak...and his co-induction into the Hall of Fame alongside my hero Gary Carter.

One more piece about the Dodgers' offense against the Mets - among the disasters was that in Tuesday's game, with the Mets leading 1-0, John Maine gave up back-to-back-to-back homers to the 7, 8, and 9 hitters, with the 9 hitter being a pitcher by the name of Hong-Chih Kuo. If that's poor offense, I'd hate to see what a new hitting coach can do.

SOX APPEAL: The Red Sox and their television station, NESN, are putting on a new show called "Sox Appeal". It's sort of a reality dating show that takes place during Red Sox games. Apparently they've started shooting the show, and dates are taking place on this current homestand. I guess contestants have a couple of innings to impress their dates - I'm not exactly sure how this works. What I do know is that NESN tried to plug the show during Thursday night's Red Sox-Rockies game, and Don Orsillo and Jerry Remy were very funny describing the date. The poor guy was obviously striking out - the woman looked very disinterested. This led to Jerry and Don bashing the guy's body language, and obvious nervousness. It was entertaining television. That's what the show should be - forget about reality dating. How about reality dating commentary?

DELGADO MAINE'S MAN

Mets 7, Marlins 2 (NYM: 31-17, FLA: 23-26)

Among the many things that were missed in my time away from the site was a string of bad starts by John Maine. That string came to an end Saturday night as he held the Marlins to 2 runs over 6 innings, picking up his first win in three weeks, as the Mets beat Florida, 7-2.

Maine got lots of help early, and the Mets coasted in this one. Carlos Delgado led the way, belting two homers, continuing to smoke the ball after showing signs Friday night that he was breaking out of his slump.

The Mets have not been firing on all cylinders yet this year. Delgado and David Wright have slumped most of the year. Now that Wright and Delgado are heating up, Jose Reyes hasn't been hitting. Then there are the injuries.

I owe apologies to guys like Jose Valentin and Moises Alou, who I didn't think would be effective this year. They've been great...but unfortunately, neither has played in a while because they're both on the DL. You expect, with the age of the Mets players, that a considerable number would be spending some time on the DL this year. That's why it's important to have some depth. And now I owe Damion Easley an apology, because he has provided depth at second base, which I didn't think would be the case. And as for Alou, it's allowed more playing time for Endy Chavez, which has been great, so there's no big problems there. But now, Friday night, Shawn Green fouled a ball off his foot, and has a broken bone in his foot. So, while not being placed on the DL, now Green is out indefinitely. And his replacement was injured in the second inning of Saturday's game - Carlos Gomez hurt his foot, it looked like, running out a ground ball. He had to leave the game.

So while none of the injuries have been costly to this point, you hate to keep tempting fate. Lately, with every close call going against the Mets (did they tick off someone in the umpiring office?), and all of these injuries, it seems as though the Mets are a tiny bit snakebit. Of course, it's hard to make that argument when they're playing so well...I guess the important thing is that they haven't lost any key pieces, and I'll continue knocking on wood so that doesn't happen.

The Mets go for the sweep on Sunday in Florida as Jorge Sosa looks to continue his impressive Mets stint.

Joe's American Bar and Grill johnnymets.blogspot.com Player of the Game: Carlos Delgado, I think, is officially out of his slump. Delgado was 3-for-5, with 2 homers, and 5 RBI on Saturday night. He also scored three times, accounting for 6 of the Mets' 7 runs.


See below for the last couple of weeks' worth of "Player of the Game"s.




MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME:

A recap of the Players of the Game from when I was unable to write:

5/12 – Milwaukee beat the Mets, 12-3, just kicking their butt. This is when Mike Pelfrey was sent down. J.J. Hardy (5 RBI), gets the nod.
5/13 – Mets beat the Brewers, 9-1 - Oliver Perez (1 run in 8.1) nearly goes the distance...pulled after giving up the run.
5/14 – Mets beat the Cubs, 5-4, on a walk-off walk to Carlos Delgado with the bases loaded. David Wright (3-4, HR, 2RBI) had a bigger game.
5/15 – No one stands out in the Cubs' 10-1 win over the Mets. Aramis Ramirez, I guess (4 RBI).
5/16 – Mets beat the Cubs, 8-1, behind Jorge Sosa (1 run, 1 hit, 7 innings). Long rain delay in this one.
5/17 – Great game, of which I saw none because it was a day game. The Mets won, 6-5, scoring 5 times in the 9th inning. One of those "turning point of the season" games. Carlos Delgado (1-5, gw 2-run single) gets the Player of the Game honor.
5/18 – The Mets beat the Yankees 3-2. Endy Chavez (2-run HR) was the difference.
5/19 – The Mets built a big lead against the Yanks, then held on to win, 10-7. David Wright (2-2, 2 HR, 4RBI, 3 BB) had a big game.
5/20 – The Mets couldn't complete the sweep, losing to the Yankees, 6-2. Tyler Clippard (6 innings, 6 K, 1 run, 3 hits) shut down the Mets.
5/22 – The Braves beat the Mets, 8-1. Kyle Davies (8 innings, 1 run, also homered) took his turn shutting down the Mets.
5/23 – The Mets bounce back to beat Atlanta, 3-0. Oliver Perez (7 shutout innings, 4 hits, 5 K’s) gets another one.
5/24 – The Braves took two out of three, winning, 2-1, behind John Smoltz (7 shutout innings, 7 hits, 5 K’s).

WHAT A STEAL!: Jose Reyes continues his assault on the Mets' record books - he had a stolen base Saturday night, his 27th of the year.

BEAT THE STREAK: Beltran got me to three games. I'm taking Jason Bay against the awful Cincinnati Reds on Sunday.

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.

JOHN MAINE AT IT AGAIN

Mets 5, Diamondbacks 1 (through 7 innings)

I'm not going to make it until the end of this one. John Maine is headed for yet another Player of the Game nod, and Julio Franco and Paul Lo Duca have homered off of Randy Johnson.

This was very reminiscent of the Mets' success in Arizona last year, which jump-started them on one of their hottest runs of the season. Before Maine even took the mound, he had a lead, and it got bigger quickly as the Mets added on.

It's now the bottom of the eighth, and Ambiorix Burgos just gave up a 2-run homer. Endy Chavez might have hurt himself trying to bring the homer back, jumping at the wall. A double dose of bad news. It's now 5-3, Mets.

It's especially important that the Mets hold on and win this one, because it looks like Jorge Sosa will be getting Saturday's start against Brandon Webb. The Mets designated Chan Ho Park for assignment, by the way. Yay.

Chili's Johnnymets.blogspot.com Player of the Game: I'm just going to go ahead and give this to Maine right now - he can't lose the game, and he did it again for the Mets. 6 innings, 6 hits, 1 walk, 1 run, and 7 K's. His ERA - 1.37.



WHAT A STEAL!: Jose Reyes stole his 18th base. He was also caught stealing Friday night for the 5th time.


THURSDAY'S RESULT


TGIFriday's Johnnymets.blogspot.com Player of the Game: I can't believe Damion Easley has two before David Wright has one, but he's been clutch. With one out in the ninth, Mets trailing 4-3, Diamonbacks closer on, two Mets on base, Easley hit a homer to centerfield, giving the Mets a 6-4 lead. David Wright added career homer 69 (second of the season) later in the inning (another three run shot) and the Mets won, 9-4 (it must be Arizona). After I wrote on Thursday night, the 7th and 8th innings just blew by, so I stayed up for the 9th. Glad I did. I went to sleep before Wright's homer, though.


BEAT THE STREAK: Vladimir Guerrero has me at 11 games. Either it's time for me to shake my jinx, or Dave in Brighton's wish will come true. I'm taking Derek Jeter on Saturday - with the offense that was flashed in the Bronx Friday night, I need a piece of that action against Jeff Weaver on Saturday (Jeter was 0-for-6 - that means he'll bounce back, right?).

NO WIN FOR GLAVINE

Diamondbacks 4, Mets 3 (7th inning)

This is sort of an experiment. I have lots of schoolwork as we head down the stretch towards summer vacation, and the Mets are playing late. So the choices, as I see them, are thus: go to bed early, miss the game, and get sleep, or stay up, watch the game, and try to get work done with the extra time I'm staying up. I chose option two, decided to mix in a blog, and believe it or not, some schoolwork is actually getting done.

Unfortunately, this experiment is coming to an end...as they get up for the seventh inning stretch in Arizona, I'm stretching my way right into bed, at about 11:35pm eastern time. I figured out what's worse than the 9:05pm starts - 9:40pm starts. Ouch.

The Mets trail 4-3, and Tom Glavine was just lifted for a pinch-hitter, so he can only lose this game - he can't win, so he'll stay at 293 career wins. The highlight of this game so far for the Mets was a BOMB by Carlos Beltran way out to center field. Not much else going on, to be honest with you.

The Mets have late starts Friday and Saturday. I have a function on Saturday night, so maybe the 9:40pm Saturday night start will actually work to my benefit then - I bet I'm home before the game ends...or at least I'll be able to listen on the radio in the car on the way home.

AWARDS: I just mentioned that John Maine should clear some mantle space if he keeps pitching like he has...I meant the end of the year, but he's already won an award for 2007. Maine was named the National League Pitcher of the Month for April. The National League Player of the Month was (my pick for NL MVP) Jose Reyes. If I heard correctly, it's the first time the Mets have swept a month since 1985, when Dwight Gooden and Hall of Famer Gary Carter did the honors.


EDITORIAL ON THE SHIFT: I am not a fan of the shift. There's a couple of reasons for my feelings. One is that I don't like the idea of leaving a whole side of the field open for someone. I understand that the shift is usually only employed against big power guys who always pull the ball, but they're also Major League hitters, and should be able to go opposite field once in a while, and should do it more often when everyone and their brother is playing you to pull. So I'm not a fan of the people who employ the shift, nor am I a fan of the hitters who can't exploit it.

Therefore, I like what happened on Wednesday night in Cleveland. Tie game, bottom half of the last inning, and the shift is on against Travis Hafner. Hafner shot it down the line the opposite way, and the Indians won the game. I don't like the shift, and I love that Hafner exploited it this way.

Also, on a somewhat related note - the other day, Tuesday, it must have been, Carlos Delgado got two hits by going the other way against the shift. Should have been ground balls to short, but no one was there. I know I'm not a manager, or a coach, or anything close to anyone with a job in baseball, and I realize the numbers must show it works, or so many people wouldn't be doing it, dating back decades, but I don't think that's how the game should be played.

BEAT THE STREAK: 10 games!! Ray Durham got a hit late Wednesday night, A-Rod got a hit in game 2 of the Yankees-Rangers doubleheader on Thursday. I'm taking Vladimir Guerrero on Friday against Chicago.

MAINE MAN

Mets 1, Nationals 0 (NYM: 15-8, WAS: 8-17)

If John Maine keeps going like this, he's going to need to clear some space on his mantle. Maine improved to 4-0, lowering his ERA to 1.35, as the Mets took two out of three from the Nationals in Washington, DC. Right now, he's one of the best pitchers...not just in the National League, but in the majors.

Seriously, I'm not exaggerating. He's fun to watch. He's just mowing batters down. Now, I know the National League is a bit different offensively than the American, but he's pitching very impressively.

All the offense the Mets needed in this game came from Carlos Beltran, who BUNTED in the first inning. It drives me nuts when he bunts. After Jose Reyes singled, stole second, and then David Wright walked (hitting second - more on that and the walk in a bit), Beltran laid down a bunt. The announcer on MASN said he was probably bunting for a base hit, but Beltran was not busting it down the line. So the problem here is twofold - 1) if you're bunting for a base hit, run faster, Carlos, and 2) swing away, for crying out loud! Anyway, Reyes and Wright were stranded, and nothing came of that.

In the sixth, Beltran got a pitch up high, and swatted it out to right. That's what he should be doing every at-bat. The Mets had a 1-0 lead, and held that lead with the help of Aaron Heilman (two-thirds of an inning, but he loaded the bases), Scott Schoeneweis (one-third of an inning, inducing a bases-loaded groundout), and Billy Wagner (recording his fourth save of the season).

This has to be mentioned, but first I should say that Paul Lo Duca rested Sunday, as did Carlos Delgado, so Julio Franco started at first base. In the seventh inning, with runners on first and second, the Nationals laid down a bunt. David Wright stayed back to cover third, and Franco charged from first - he looked like Keith Hernandez. When the ball hit the ground, Franco was right on top of it, picked it up, and fired to third for the out. It was a great play, especially considering it was made by an old man.

Another fact worth noting - David Wright walked twice. He has now walked in ten straight games, thirteen total in that span. So he's not hitting, but he's getting on base. That's good that his slump isn't affecting his plate discipline. I wish I could tell you what's wrong with his hitting right now, though. Maybe his bat will wake up in Arizona.

The Mets host Florida for three games, then go on to Arizona, where the past couple of years they have absolutely caught fire. This should be a good week for the Mets - so good, in fact, that they are my choice for the "New Baseball Pool" this week.

NHL on NBC johnnymets.blogspot.com Player of the Game: For the third time this season, John Maine. He went 7 scoreless innings, striking out 8, while giving up 3 hits and walking three. He's just been fantastic all year.


TURNING TWO...HUNDRED: No double plays again on Sunday, so this item is going to be temporarily retired (I'm just not as excited about it after the confusion from mlb.com). It will be replaced with:

WHAT A STEAL!: Jose Reyes had two stolen bases on Sunday, increasing his season total to 16. I expect him to shatter the team record this season, 66, held by Roger Cedeno of those (soon) infamous 1999 Mets.

INJURIES: Jose Valentin left Saturday night's game after feeling/hearing a 'pop' in his leg. He was in New York on Sunday, not with the team, getting that checked out.

Orlando Hernandez also was in New York to have his pitching shoulder checked out. He apparently felt pain there. He was supposed to pitch Monday against Florida, in New York. It remains to be seen whether or not he will make that start.

AROUND THE MAJORS: What happened to Josh Hancock of the St. Louis Cardinals is just horrible. That's going to be tough for the guys on that team.

The Rockies beat the Braves, putting the Mets back in front of the Braves by a half game. In that game, Troy Tulowitzki turned an unassisted triple play (the second triple play of the season - the Phillies also turned one). Tulowitzki is a good defensive player - he impressed me at Shea earlier this week against the Mets. How about this, too - he hit a triple.

Brian Bannister started for the Kansas City Royals on Sunday - and pitched well. The former Met gave up 3 runs in six-and-two-thirds innings, but on just 4 hits. I thought it was his first start of the season, but it wasn't. It looks like he's made at least one other start, maybe another appearance, too.

The Dodgers and Padres are heading to the 17th inning, so that's exciting. But I just saw a hilarious Coors Light commercial in between innings - I won't describe it - just keep an eye out for it. It's about new bottles where the mountains on the label turn blue when the bottle gets cold. The key line in the commercial - "It turned blue!" Really funny.

BEAT THE STREAK: Season high continues - I'm at six games, after A-Rod's hit. I'm going with Vladimir Guerrero against Odalis Perez on Monday.

GETTING HOT IN FLORIDA

Mets 9, Marlins 2 (NYM: 9-4, FLA: 6-8)

(I'm having trouble with pictures tonight, so imagine a Mets-Marlins image here). The Mets pounded out 17 hits on Wednesday night in Florida, beating the man they had such a hard time beating for so long, Dontrelle Willis. Besides starting pitcher John Maine, the only starter to not get a hit on Wednesday was Paul LoDuca (and I forgot to mention this Tuesday, so it's worth mentioning now, that LoDuca took a foul tip off the throwing hand in Tuesday's game, and was hurt so much that he had to leave the game. Throw in an 0-for-5 on a night where everyone was hitting, and I wonder how much pain LoDuca is in.).

The Mets struck early - scoring 4 runs in the first inning, before an out was even recorded. It was pretty much over there. The Marlins apparently had a late flight out of Houston on Tuesday, and an early arrival home on Wednesday, but boy were they awful. A couple of errors in the first aided the Mets. The only thing that made this game worth watching after the first few innings was the fact that - again - John Maine carried a no-hitter into the 7th inning (although the first batter in the seventh put a stop to the thoughts that the Mets might finally get one). Maine keeps teasing us...perhaps he'll be the first pitcher to toss a no-no for the Mets. In all, Mets pitchers (Aarons Sele and Heilman finished the game) combined to give up just three hits, with Maine giving up a 2-run homer in the seventh for the Marlins only scoring. (It should also be noted that the Marlins entered the game leading the Majors with a .288 batting average.)

Offensive highlights for the Mets, on a night with 17 team hits, included a 4-for-6 night for Jose Reyes (with 2 doubles), 2-for-5, including a 2-run homer for Carlos Beltran, 3-for-5 for Jose Valentin, and a 2-for-5 night for David Wright.

The Mets wrap up the quick 2-game series with the Marlins on Thursday night before coming home for a weekend series with Atlanta. Orlando Hernandez pitches against Rick Vanden Hurk.

Programming note: Not sure if I'll be writing over the next few nights. I'll try to keep track of Players of the Game, and update over the weekend. I might be able to do Thursday night's recap...no way I can do Friday...maybe Saturday I'll be back.

(Imagine a picture of John Maine here) RED LOBSTER JOHNNYMETS.BLOGSPOT.COM PLAYER OF THE GAME: A tough night to select one performer out of so many highlights, but I'm going with John Maine - he improved to 2-0, and took a no-hitter deep into the game, and didn't implode once the no-hitter was gone. Final line - 7 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 4 BB, 7 strikeouts. Maine was also aided (because he walked 4) by 2 more double plays behind him. Also, another game with no errors by the Mets. They're off to a very good start to the season defensively.

WRIGHT WATCH (IT'S BACK!): David Wright was 2-for-5, so he has a 13-game hitting streak for the season, 25 overall dating back to last year. Over two seasons, he's still not quite halfway to DiMaggio's 56-game total.

DONTRELLE: Entering Wednesday night's game, Dontrelle Willis was 11-2 in his career against the Mets, with a 2.02 ERA in 16 games. I think the Mets started to figure him out a little last year, too....nope, I just checked, and he dominated them pretty good last year. So this was a good win for the Mets, to get to Willis like that.

ON THE SUBJECT OF NO-HITTERS: I'm aggravated. I spent so much time away from the TV this evening, and then I only had on the Mets, then the Phillies-Nationals game. No one mentioned that there was another no-hitter going on, and I never did my customary channel-switching to see if there were any possible history-making scenarios in any of the other games. Of course, that means there was. I switched on ESPNEWS, and saw that Mark Buehrle had thrown a no-hitter against Texas. I like watching the last few innings of no-hitters...I'm really mad I missed it. Then, to make matters worse, the woman who did the ESPNEWS highlights was AWFUL. So friggin' awful. She debuted on ESPNEWS a couple of weekends ago, and I haven't seen her very much...but she's SOOOOO bad. It's a disgrace that she's on ESPN. While I'm ranting, I switched to ESPNEWS in the first place so I could see Rangers (hockey) highlights - they swept the Thrashers, and not one game was on national television. Not one. Versus showed about three Penguins-Sentaors games, and a couple of Islanders-Sabres. No Rangers. I feel like writing a letter to the NHL, and saying, THIS IS WHY YOU HAVE NO FANS....Versus?!?! Come on, really.

TROUBLE IN PHILLY: Apparently things are unraveling in everyone's favorite NL East city. First of all, after Tuesday night's loss to the Mets, manager Charlie Manuel got into it with a Philadelphia radio host, who wanted Manuel to fire up the team more. Manuel challenged the guy to a fight. Never good. Then, Wednesday night, the Phillies responded by going out and needing extra innings against the Nationals (I was hoping I could write that they lost to the Nats, but I need to go to bed, and it's the 12th inning.) All the more reason why the Phillies don't scare me.

BALTIMORE CLOWN: Kevin Millar is a clown. He's an absolute clown. (And I don't think I'm saying this in a negative way...I actually kind of like his attitude.) We saw it a lot when he was up here in Boston. Now in Baltimore, he's still goofing around. On Opening Day in Baltimore, a couple of weeks ago, when they introduced the Orioles to the crowd, Millar came out and did the dance Ray Lewis always does when he's introduced with the Ravens. Funny stuff. Wednesday, he was "wired" in the dugout on MASN's "Wired Wednesdays". He was DH, so he was on the bench the whole game. They showed a montage of stuff he was doing, one of which was staring down a teammate. He was sitting next to the guy, staring at the back of his head, until the guy turned around. The guy said something like, "You been staring at me this whole time? It was weird, I could almost feel it. Isn't that weird?" It was pretty funny. Keep it up, Millar.

BEAT THE STREAK: Since I'll be away, and unsure if I can pick a new guy each day, I'm going to ride Wright's streak. I have him through Sunday's game. David DeJesus had an 0-fer against the Tigers, so I'm back to 0.

ROLLINS KEYS METS WIN

Mets 11, Phillies 5 (NYM: 5-2, PHI: 1-6; Mets 0.5 GB)


Jimmy Rollins is right - the Phillies are the team to beat in the National League East - and the Braves, Marlins, and now the Mets have taken them up on the offer. The Phillies are now tied with Washington as the "team to beat" up on.

It's big talk now that the game is over, but the Phillies led this game into the 8th. The Mets had cut it to 5-4 before rallying against Geoff Geary. Moises Alou led off the bottom of the eighth with a single, followed by a Shawn Green single. Jose Valentin's bunt attempt resulted in an out at third, and then pinch hitter Julio Franco walked.

It was then, with the bases loaded and one out, that Jose Reyes grounded to shortstop. Jimmy Rollins drifted to his right, and couldn't field the grounder, allowing a run to score, and the bases to stay loaded. It was 5-5, and then there was a wild pitch, and the Mets led, 6-5. Paul Lo Duca walked. Carlos Beltran hit a sacrifice fly, 7-5 Mets. Carlos Delgado walked. David Wright extended his hitting streak to 19 games with a long double to left, making it 9-5, Mets. (Wright's third double, en route to a record, on a 1-for-5 day.) Alou singled home the final two runs, and the Mets went on to the 11-5 win.

I didn't see any of this game, in fact, I just saw the highlights on ESPN. I tuned into ESPN GameCast for the first time this year after dismissal at school, when the Mets were down 5-3, so it was exciting to see the rally. I like to think the Mets broke the Phillies for the year, but I doubt it. I will say, however, that after one game, the Phillies still don't scare me.

John Maine wasn't great in this game. He pitched 4-and-2-thirds innings, giving up just 2 earned runs, but walked six, and gave up 5 hits. He threw 104 pitches in that short amount of time. I'd say he struggled. Ambiorix Burgos also struggled, giving up a homer to Ryan Howard, and three runs in an inning and a third. Joe Smith, Pedro Feliciano (who got the win), and Billy Wagner combined for three scoreless innings.

On the Phillies' side, Cole Hamels was good - striking out 7 in six innings, giving up 3 runs, only 2 of which were earned. He's a good young pitcher.

The Mets and Phillies have Tuesday off before resuming on Wednesday at Shea. Oliver Perez tries to replicate his first start against Adam Eaton.


naturalbl0g.blogspot.com JOHNNYMETS.BLOGSPOT.COM PLAYER OF THE GAME: Carlos Delgado was 3-for-3, with a walk, and 2 runs and 2 RBI. I wasn't watching the whole game, so I don't know for sure, but it seemed to me he was in the middle of all of the Mets' action. He scored the Mets' second run in the 4th inning, with a headfirst slide around the tag of Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz. He hit a sacrifice fly to put the Mets ahead 3-2, and then had an RBI single to bring the Mets to within 5-4 in the 7th. And he scored after a walk in the 8th. Seems like a good day to me.

WEATHER-RELATED STUFF: Forgot to mention this Sunday - I know it was cold in Atlanta, but every wide shot I saw of the stands when the Mets were down there this past weekend showed empty seats. I'm pretty sure this was even the case at Friday's home opener. The Atlanta fans are horrid.

Also, the Cleveland-Seattle series never got off the ground because of snow. The Indians moved their homestand now to Milwaukee, where they'll play the Angels.

ASTROS: Brad Lidge's nightmare continues. He was officially taken out of the closer's role on Monday, replaced by Dan Wheeler (Former Met).

BEAT THE STREAK: After saying I was going to pick Ichiro, I actually forgot to log on and do it. Good thing they were snowed out. So I'm still at 0...I'm going with Andruw Jones to try to get me started against a Washington Nationals pitcher named Matt Chico.

SO FAR, METS ARE PITCHER PERFECT

Mets 10, Cardinals 0 (NYM: 3-0, STL: 0-3)

How about a three-game series where you outscore your opponents 20-2? How about if that opponent is the defending world champion? OK, they're still the mediocre, lightning-in-a-2-week-bottle-that-was-the-2006-post-season-Cardinals, but it's still an impressive way to begin the 2007 season for the Mets.

Even more impressive - three starts, 3-0 for the starters. John Maine completed a solid turn by the Mets' top three with 7 shutout innings, giving up just one hit. Maine retired the first 12 he faced before giving up a hit, and then walked a batter, before ending his outing by setting down 9 of 10. (He also pitched out of his mini-jam very well, getting a strikeout, lineout, and flyout with those two men on.

By the way - I seem to remember that Maine did this a lot last year, too, where he'd make it through the lineup once, one and a half times, even twice, without giving up a hit. Then they'd figure him out...but he's picking up this year right where he left off.

The Mets were facing their former closer, Braden Looper, who was making his first career start after 572 appearances - the third-most appearances all time before making his first start. Looper was good his first couple of times through the order, too, before the Mets got to him. In the top of the sixth, Paul Lo Duca singled, and Carlos Beltran then deposited a pitch into the right field seats for a 2-0 Mets lead. That same inning, with two outs, David Wright legged out an infield single to shortstop (he's not driving in runs in the first three games- so it was good to see him get a hustle hit - this was just a slow roller to short), then later came around to score on a Shawn Green single, making it 3-0. That run was earned by Wright, by beating out that infield hit.

The Mets then blew the game open - in the seventh, Jose Reyes had a solo homer, then Beltran hit his second of the game, a solo shot (4 RBI), and then in the 8th the Mets added 5 more to make the final score 10-0. Definitely an exclamation point to a big statement made by the Mets in the first three games of the season.

The Mets have Thursday off before taking on the Braves for three games in Atlanta. I think the Mets finally exorcised this "House of Horrors" stuff with their success in Atlanta last season. We'll see if it carries over into this year. I might take Thursday off too - these have been some late nights after the 8 o'clock starts. I'll write again on Friday, if nothing else important comes up before then.

WB MASON JOHNNYMETS.BLOGSPOT.COM PLAYER OF THE GAME: Again, we have to go with the starting pitcher. John Maine went 7 innings of one-hit ball...there is no more deserving candidate. Tack on 6 strikeouts, and just two walks, and you have yourself a great start to the season.

SWEEPING THE CARDINALS: I noted in my last posting how wrong I thought people were who were saying that the season-opening win by the Mets was revenge for the NLCS. (The scale is just so different between post-season and beating the team that won it all the previous season...you just can't take that title away from them.) But by sweeping the Cardinals, while they're not getting revenge, the Mets are sending a huge message. I don't think the Cardinals will be around in October, but it's more of a message to everyone - we know what we missed out on last year, and we're here to fix it. Also - I read somewhere a comparison to 1985/1986, where the Cardinals edged the Mets in September to win the division in 1985, then the Mets came back and swept the Cardinals in April of 1986 en route to the championship. That's a more accurate comparison.

BROADCASTERS: So I caught a bit of the Reds-Cubs game on Wednesday night, and I was surprised to see Thom Brennaman and Jeff Brantley broadcasting the game. Must be a lot of broadcaster shakeup around the league, what with Gary Thorne now doing Baltimore, and these two now doing the Reds. I'm not sure I'm crazy about the switch - I've never been a big fan of Brennaman, and you may remember I kind of liked George Grande. I'll have to keep an eye on the other broadcasting switches...and perhaps do a new evaluation.

BEAT THE STREAK: Vladimir Guerrero got me going again (so mad that I didn't pick him Tuesday night)...I look to A-Rod to continue it on Thursday against the Devil Rays.

THE PITCHING ROTATION...RIGHT WHERE WE LEFT OFF

When we last left the Mets, Pedro Martinez* was hurt, El Duque was out, and John Maine and Oliver Perez were forced to make starts in some of the biggest Mets games in history. Not much has changed.

At least El Duque is healthy now. The Mets rotation is one of the battles to watch this spring. Here's the sure thing - Tom Glavine begins the year as the Mets' number one guy. El Duque will be behind him (the Mets re-signed Hernandez to a 2-year deal, despite his 42 years of age, over the off-season). The Mets actually had El Duque under contract before Glavine - finally re-signing Glavine after originally declining his option. So the top of the rotation is the bottom of the age chart. Then it's likely that Maine and Perez take the 3-4 spots. That leaves quite a battle for the number 5 spot.

The candidates are Philip Humber, Mike Pelfrey (my two favorites, or at least who I'm rooting the hardest for), Jorge Sosa, Aaron Sele, and Chan Ho Park. Among others. (Jason Vargas's name comes up every now and again, and there's also Dave Williams, but he's having an injury right now.)

There are positive and negative ways to look at this pitching situation. The negative is that the Mets' two best pitchers are on the wrong side of 40, and no one is really great. But as far as I can see, that's the only negative.

The positives include:

• The Mets have depth at pitcher, something that served them well last year when they came within a pitch of the World Series. Last year the Mets started 13 different pitchers - that's a rare thing when you consider teams on the other end of the rare spectrum, suffering no injuries, would just start 5. This year, look for something in the middle - there will be injuries, but the Mets have the manpower to get through them.
• There's no Steve Trachsel. I've been down on Trachsel for years - he's had flashes of good pitching, but never showed he could do it on the big stage. When he finally got the big stage last year, he couldn't perform. So now he's in Baltimore. And the Mets have a guy like Oliver Perez in his place, who could pitch just as well (or perhaps as poorly) as Trachsel, maybe even better, and rely less on run support, and turn his career around. (Or recapture some of his early flashes of success.)
• As much as Glavine and Hernandez represent the "old", there's the potential for plenty of "new" for the Mets in the rotation as well. John Maine and Oliver Perez are 26. Philip Humber is 25. Mike Pelfrey is just 23. So there are some kids on the staff who could be the core of the Mets' rotation for years, to go along with the great left side of the infield. As a matter of fact, I think that's the biggest positive - Pelfrey and Humber could be the Mets' future 1-2. Before he hurt his elbow, the Mets considered Humber to be a future star. And Pelfery has shown what he can do at the major league level. It's exciting to watch these guys grow, and give the Mets a nice home-grown core, without the hype that can damage some youngsters.
• My final point is that come late July or August, the Mets will get a brand-spanking new Pedro Martinez*. It'll work like a trading deadline deal, and Pedro* will re-join the staff, and rejuvenate the team. At least that's the way I like to think of it. He will have had plenty of time to rehab, unlike last year, when he came back and was ineffective. It will have been a year and a couple of months since teams saw the real Pedro*. He will give the Mets a big boost heading into the playoffs, and then to look forward to '08, he will be fresher in what might be the final year of his career.

As negative as I was in my last posting, I do feel like the Mets can succeed this year. And the points about the rotation that I've laid out above are a big reason why. Another big part is the offense, which I touched on in that last posting. But for the regular season, at least, the Mets' pitching should be good enough to get by. The Mets will again win many games with their bats this year.

SHEA, SWEET SHEA

Mets 4, Cardinals 2 (Series tied, 3-3)


I asked for a little post-season drama. Now I have it. But I don't know that I really need it. Nothing's more dramatic than a Game 7 - and that's what the Mets face on Thursday night, for the right to face the Tigers in the World Series.

Game 6 was a little of everything that made the Mets such a good team all season long. I wanted Jose Reyes to set the table, get the Mets going...he got them going, but skipped the middle man by driving himself in with a leadoff homer in the first inning.

The homer came after the game's other MVP for the Mets made a key play on defense. Paul LoDuca made a nice backhand grab of a down and away pitch from John Maine with the bases loaded in the top of the 1st, saving a run. Maine then got a flyout, leaving the bases loaded. In the 7th inning, LoDuca provided the Mets with some much-needed breathing room with a 2-run single to make the game 4-0.

John Maine was fantastic in this game. He went 5-and-a-third, giving up no runs, and got key outs when he needed to. (He even made a spiffy defensive play on a comebacker by David Eckstein in the fifth - things were going his way in this game.) Maine's only mistake came at the plate, when he failed to lay down a bunt after an Endy Chavez leadoff bunt single in the third inning.

Willie Randolph punched all the right buttons, too. In the 7th inning, with lefty Chris Duncan pinch-hitting, Randolph called on righty Guillermo Mota instead of lefty Pedro Feliciano (who had given up a homer to Duncan in Game 5), and Mota promptly got the 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.

I might question Randolph bringing in Billy Wagner in a non-save situation - those are the only times I don't feel confident in Wagner. Wagner made it very interesting - letting the first two batters reach base, then giving up 2 runs before closing the door....gently.

Aaron Heilman pitched a great 8th inning, by the way, setting up Wagner.

So we'll head to Game 7. These games are killing me on school nights - I'm going to bed late, and I'm too wired to get right to sleep...I need the weekend bad. But then I'll be watching the World Series - and I won't be able to sleep after those games either.

The Cardinals are battle-tested in Game 7's - the past two years, winning one and losing one against Houston. Jeff Suppan won one, and he's going for the Cardinals in this Game 7. For the Mets, it'll be Oliver. Not sure if it'll be Perez or Darren, though. I might prefer Perez, just because Randolph has been reluctant to mess with his bullpen all year - I'd hate to see him start now. If Perez gets into trouble eary, then bring in D. Oliver, I guess. Tough call. But I think you stay with the guy who's been a starter.

Let's Go Mets.