Brewers 5, Mets 4 (Mil: 15-15, NYM: 17-15)

What's going on with Tom Glavine? Back when the Mets signed him, I was bummed. I didn't want to root for him, because he's a Brave...but more importantly, I knew he wouldn't be effective with the Mets, because up until 2005, no one who ever signs with the Mets as a free agent is ever as effective with the Mets as they have been in their careers to that point. Then Glavine had an OK 2003, followed by a better 2004, and I'm thinking, nothing's going to stop him in 2005!!! He has easily been the worst pitcher on the Mets staff this year. Easily. I'm mad. After I write this, I'm cutting him from my fantasy team. I don't know what else it's going to take to get him going in real life.

I hate to begin my first posting in two weeks on such a negative note, because the Mets have done so well in the absence of my writing. They have just two losses since May began, but the problem is, they easily could have won on Sunday, completing a sweep of the Brewers and moving up in the NL East standings. But Glavine gave up 11 hits and 4 earned runs in 6 innings (lowering his ERA to 6.87), and the Mets came back to tie, only to lose the game in the bottom of the ninth inning.

The Mets tied it in the eighth, at 4, then in the bottom of the ninth, Mike Piazza (who hadn't started) came in on defense after Cliff Floyd (who also hadn't started) pinch hit for Ramon Castro in the ninth. With one out, Junior Spivey singled, then immediately stole second. I couldn't watch this game, because it wasn't on DirecTV, but it sounds like, from the AP article and Mets' quotes, Piazza actually got Spivey. The Mets pitched out, and Miguel Cairo says he tagged Spivey before he hit the bag...but the ump didn't see it that way. So after Mike DeJean got a strikeout, he gave up a 2-out single to J.J. Hardy, and the Brewers won. DeJean said the game-winning hit came on what was probably his best sinker of the year. Too bad the Mets didn't win this one.

Notes from the past couple of weeks: Whenever the Mets get hot, everyone else in the National League East gets hot. Until Sunday, everyone in the East had a winning streak of at least 2 games, and were within 5 or so games of first. The Braves crushed Houston Sunday, 16-0, but other than that game, the rest of the division lost, so the Mets just drop a game to the Braves.

In my writing absence, Future Hall of Famer David Wright cooled off, then heated up, then cooled off again. He hit career homers number 17, 18, 19, and 20 since I last wrote.

Piazza might be finally finding his stroke. At one point Friday into Saturday he homered in three consecutive at-bats. Let's hope the wind is blowing out at Wrigley, and boosts his confidence a little more.

Kris Benson is back, and so is Mike Cameron. Cameron has been on fire - I wonder if Victor Diaz's recent success helped light that fire in Cameron. In order to activate Benson and Cameron, the Mets sent down Jae Seo and Royce Ring. I wouldn't be surprised if Seo ends up getting traded now that he's shown he can still be an effective Major League pitcher. A nice showcase by him the past week and a half.

Aaron Heilman also continues to impress. With Benson on a pitch count in his season debut, Heilman came in in relief (I think he got the win) and went three innings, giving up just one hit.

I apologize for the lack of writing...I have been very busy with school. But now things should cool down a bit - I'm just looking for a job. I figured what day to get back into the baseball blog then on the one-year anniversary of my marriage. Happy Anniversary Kathy!!

I realize, as I check the mailbag, my absence was noted. I apologize:

"Dear JohnnyMets,

Where ya been? I've been doing my part -- logging on to JMDBSDC every
3-4 times each waking hour -- but I'm disappointed each time.

I had to learn about the tarp fiasco in Washington on the wires. Now when my
grandchildren ask me where I was when I learned about the Great Tarp
Fiasco of 2005, I'll have to tell them on the AP instead of on JMDBSDC.
Please return soon.

Dave in Brighton"

Dave refers to the last game in Washington, where the grounds crew did a horrendous job putting the tarp on the field, resulting in a called game in the eighth inning, when the Mets could have made a comeback. They protested, that protest has since been denied. The Tarp Fiasco was reminiscent of the Mets' first trip to Miami to play the Marlins back in 1993. Bad groundscrewing then too. Maybe it was 1992...

More e-mail:

"I know you don't like to cross-polinate your blogs, but I have to know what you think of the Jets taking a kicker in the SECOND ROUND of the draft. The second round??

kevin
JMDBSDC Southern Bureau"

The Jets had a better draft than people give them credit for. Tune in to johnnyjets.blogspot.com soon for a draft recap and season preview. I am still not pleased they let Anthony Becht sign elsewhere.

Mets go to Chicago for three beginning Monday night. I'll try to be better about writing.

NOT SO GRANDA

Reds 9, Mets 5 (CIN 2-0, NYM 0-2)

I'll start on a positive, on a night when I'm not feeling too positive. I watched this game on FSNOhio, and I have no complaints at all. George Grande (the old ESPN guy) is the play-by-play guy (I think), and he does the games with some former pitcher named Chris (I think). They did an outstanding job - not homers, very fair, very easy to listen to. Far cry (in the good direction) from Ted Robinson and Fran Healy.

Now the bad news. Tom Glavine pitched poorly - and I think he let some bad umpiring get to him. Glavine got into a jam in the first inning - first and second, no out. He gets a double play, then loads the bases. Glavine goes to 0-2 on Joe Randa. Randa takes a pitch - right down the middle - and home plate umpire Chuck Meriwether calls the pitch a ball. Unreal. This pitch was RIGHT DOWN THE MIDDLE. I mean, there are close calls...but this one was a no-doubt-about-it. So, two pitches later, Glavine gives up a 2-run single to Randa, it's 2-0 Reds, and Glavine's in trouble.

Future Hall of Famer David Wright and big mouth first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz swapped spots in the batting order Wednesday - Wright hitting sixth, Mientkiewicz seventh. Not sure why that was reversed on Monday - perhaps it's a lefty-righty thing. Wednesday night, Mientkiewicz homered in the top of the second off of lefty Eric Milton - Mientkiewicz isn't supposed to be able to hit lefties well. The aforementioned unknown color guy mentioned Mientkiewicz's recent wrist problems, and how Mientkiewicz says they're behind him, and the replay showed Mientkiewicz's wrists were clearly not a problem on the homerun swing. Then unknown color guy made a joke about Mientkiewicz getting the home run ball back from the fan and keeping it, like he did the Red Sox ball. It was well done.

In the top of the third, future Hall of Famer Wright tied the game at two with a solo home run to the opposite field (career home run number 15).

The tie didn't last. In the bottom of the fourth, Glavine again threw a close pitch, called a ball, could have been a strike - definitely should have been a strike - just as much down the middle as the pitch to Randa. That would have gotten Ken Griffey, Jr. with the bases loaded. But Griffey comes back with a 2-run single off Glavine, making it 4-2, then Sean Casey made it 5-2 with another RBI single.

The Mets got the tying run to the plate in the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings. In the sixth, Mientkiewicz hit a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded, making it 5-3, Reds. And the thing about the Mets lineup is that you feel that if one guy gets on at any time, they have a chance to score. When the top of the lineup is up, Reyes and Matsui are setting the table for Beltran*. Then it's Piazza, and Floyd, who's come out of spring training ripping the ball. Then Wright, Mientkiewicz are a pretty darn good 6-7, and in Wednesday night's case, Victor Diaz was the 8 hitter, in right field. So it doesn't seem too hard to build a rally...but the Mets couldn't on Wednesday. Beltran struck out looking at a pitch down the middle (surprised, maybe, that Meriwhether didn't call it a ball), and the Mets never got closer.

Mike DeJean came in in the bottom of the eighth inning, and a huge argument delayed the game for a good five minutes - maybe even ten. The gist of it was that Willie Randolph didn't announce a double switch before DeJean started warming up, so DeJean had to lead off the ninth inning (the Mets pinch-hit), but the delay definitely affected DeJean. He couldn't find the plate...he loaded the bases, then served up a grand slam to Joe Randa. The Mets added a couple of runs in the top of the ninth to make it a 9-5 final.

A couple of things I noticed watching baseball the past couple of days - the Dodgers weren't wearing names on the back of their road uniforms in San Francisco. Not sure if that's a permanent change or a throwback occasion or something. (If it was a true throwback game, though, they would have been playing in New York.) And I have to admit, seeing the way the Red Sox lost to the Yankees on Tuesday made me feel a tiny bit better about the Mets' loss on Monday. Just a tiny bit. Let's check some mail:

"JohnnyMets,

You told us that you expect the Mets to win the NL behind MVP Carlos Beltran and Cy Young Pedro Martinez*. But you did not tell us how you expect them to fare against your predicted AL champion Anaheim Angels.

Wait. Let me guess. 4-0 sweep.

Dave in Brighton"

My bad, Dave. First of all, let's remember that it's now the Los Angeles Angels, and it would be a five-game World Series win.

"Dear JohnnyMets-

OK. So we've been together for five years. And you've LIVED with me for one year. So let me ask you... *how* can you pick the Yankees to win the AL East this year??? Yes, they have Johnson, Jeter, Matsui and the two BALCO boys. And yes, the Sox looked like crap against them Monday night. But honestly, do you want to continue having our house sponsored by DirecTV? Because with predictions like that, it might just be shut off and we'll have the House Sponsored by Rabbit Ears Antenna.

Sincerely,

Your Wife"

Wow. The wife weighing in. I think she meant the Sox looked like crap on Sunday. We'll keep this e-mail handy and re-evaluate in October.

The Mets-Reds series wraps up Thursday afternoon, 12:30, in Cincinnati. Mets need to come out with a win.

Marlins 6, Mets 5 (46-46, 3 GB)

Absolutely horrible. This is an absolutely horrible loss for the Mets. Scott Erickson pitched great. He definitely pitched well enough to win. Ugly defense combined with some poor relief cost the Mets. What a way to ruin July 19th, aka "Mike DeJean Day".

So I guess I'll start with DeJean. The Mets finally traded Karim Garcia, to the Orioles, for the reliever. (I should be so happy right now, but instead, I'm so sad.) DeJean's numbers, to put it bluntly, suck. I'd like to think Rick Peterson can work with him to improve those numbers, but I just don't know. Peterson has done wonders with the Mets' starting pitching, but it seems like it comes at the cost of the relief corps. So the other hope with DeJean is that he performs better in the National League than he fared in the American League.

Now to the game. A 4-0 lead!! The Mets blew a 4-0 lead! Here were the encouraging aspects of the game. Mike Piazza seems to have found his stroke. He hit the ball on the nose a couple of times. "The Greatest Ballplayer Who Ever Lived" Jose Reyes had one of his best games since he's been healthy. He also is playing very well in the field. And Erickson, again, looked great. Maybe he'll feed off the fact that he's playing important games and continue to pitch well.

Unfortunately, there won't be many more important games at this rate. The bullpen inherited a 4-2 lead, and blew it. Vance Wilson looked like crap behind the plate. I don't know what was going on with the catchers last night, but there were more balls going to the backstop than you see on the pee-wee fields at I.C.Y.P. (My little league.)

I don't want people pointing fingers at Art Howe for this one either. The man takes enough crap from enough people (including my mom). He couldn't leave Erickson in much longer - the man hasn't pitched a major league game in years. He pushed all the necessary buttons - the players just didn't come through for him. The one move which probably raised the most eyebrows - when he brought in John Franco - turned out to be one of the best moves all night. The bullpen has had its share of shining moments this year...but it needs to be perfect if the Mets are going anywhere.

If I were a betting man...wait, I am a betting man.... If I could legally bet on a baseball game in the next 24 hours, I would bet a lot of money on the Mets winning Tuesday night's game. They won't lose two in a row at home to the Marlins. The big problem, though, is that the Mets should have won two in a row at home against the Marlins.

The Braves are playing the Phillies, and beat them on Tuesday night, so for now, the Mets are chasing Atlanta, and they're tied for third with the Marlins, 3 games back.

WRIGHT WATCH: Sorry, forgot about the Wright Watch yesterday. The Tides were off on Monday, and maybe that's a good thing for everyone's phavorite phenom, David Wright. Wright's been slumping. He went 2-for-4 in his last game, Sunday, and is hitting .308. But he's just 4 for his last 17...2 for his last 12.