ANALYSIS THROUGH TWENTY WEEKS

MOST IMPRESSIVE: Not really impressive, because it's what the Mets were supposed to do coming into this past week, but they cleaned up against Washington and Pittsburgh to take over first place. With a lead in Monday's game, the Mets could end the day 2-and-a-half up on Philadelphia. The Mets always said they were through the tough part of their schedule - they didn't have to go west again, while the Phillies just completed a 2-5 west coast swing. Things don't get too much tougher for the Mets this week, with Atlanta and Houston coming to New York - but both of those teams have given the Mets fits in the recent past.

BIGGEST SURPRISE: I haven't spent much time writing about Daniel Murphy, but what a breath of fresh air. Besides the fact that he's 17-for-41 (.415 avg.) since being called up, he's been doing everything right. I put him in "Surprise" rather than "Impressive" only because I didn't hear a mention of him before he was called up. Maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention....but you'd have thought I would have heard something. FYI - he spent most of the year at Binghamton (AA), playing third base. And perhaps that's why he wasn't talked about very much - because he's behind David Wright on the organizational depth chart. But he's made a seamless transition to the outfield and solved the Mets' outfield problems. Good job all through the Mets organization for making that work.

LEAST IMPRESSIVE: There's no reason I should fear a comeback by the other team (especially when it's the Pirates) when the Mets take a 7-1 lead into the 9th inning...but because of the bullpen, I do. They hit that hot streak right around the All Star Break, and it looked like everything was better...but it's even worse now, without Billy Wagner, than it was at any point of the season. Problem is, people talk like all the problems will be solved when Wagner comes back - I still don't see him coming through in clutch situations.

And while we're on the topic - the Mets pulled the trigger on the Luis Ayala deal. (I commented on this deal when it looked dead last week.) It will cost them Anderson Hernandez, who didn't look like he had what it takes to be a major leaguer, so it might not end up being too costly, but I don't love the move. It's an extra arm out there, though, so I guess that can't hurt.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: I know he's having a decent season, but I just wish Carlos Beltran was more explosive. He's hitting .272, with 17 homers and 82 RBI. I mean, that's OK - he'll finish with 25 homers and 100 RBI, probably...but I want him to be doing 30+ homers and 110+ RBI every year...plus hitting .300. He's overpaid. That's the bottom line. And I will continue to be disappointed in him because of his salary, unless he puts up exorbitant numbers.

MOST IMPRESSIVE: I feel like the St. Louis Cardinals have gotten by this season on smoke and mirrors. They've fallen back a bit (7-and-a-half games behind the Cubs, but only 2 behind the wild card-leading Brewers) - but they're still good enough to be leading the East or West divisions. Their bullpen is a disaster, they don't have a tremendous lineup, they have injuries to key players - but they're having a great season.

BIGGEST SURPRISE: I know I spend a lot of time in this part every two weeks talking about the Tampa Bay Rays, but they deserve it. But the biggest surprise for them is that they're getting production from Rocco Baldelli, which is a nice story. He's suffered from a weird fatigue that no one's really sure about, I guess, but his career was in jeopardy. It's nice that he's come back, and it's also nice that he comes back at a time for the Rays when they're getting decimated by injuries - so he could play a key role in this big season they're having.

LEAST IMPRESSIVE: The Seattle Mariners are having an awful season, and it doesn't look like things are going to get better out there anytime soon. They want to break up the team, but I guess their asking price for their players is too much, and teams are unwilling to deal with them. That can't do too much for team chemistry...and it can't really help a team improve.

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT: Tom Glavine is back on the DL, and may face career-ending surgery. I still hold a grudge against Glavine for the disaster that was the final game of last season, but I never wish injury on someone. What this makes me think, though, is that maybe he was hiding something that was more serious than he knew. Because he really hasn't been the same Tom Glavine since. And the Braves have to be disappointed that he's given them nothing this year...as so many of their players have.

SHUTTING DOWN FOR THE SEASON...OR FOREVER?

Yikes. Two Braves posts in a row. I hope they don't take away my Mets fan card.

I felt, though, that I had to comment on the John Smoltz situation. Earlier this week, Smoltz announced that he was going to have surgery on his throwing shoulder, ending his season. The speculation is that this might be too much to come back from, and it might have ended his career as well...but Smoltz says he wants to come back.

What bothers me about this is that it sort of messes up what could have been a great story - Smoltz, Greg Maddux, and Tom Glavine all retiring at the end of this year, and all (in theory) going into the Hall of Fame together in five years.

This brings up a couple of things. First of all, yes, I think all three are Hall of Famers. Whether or not they are all first-ballot Hall of Famers is debatable, but I agree with others (most notably Tim Kurkjian, I think) who say that the voters will have a "sense of the moment" and put all three in together if the opportunity presents itself.

And, obviously, it's still possible. None of the three has said this will be their definitive last year, and it's still possible that even if Glavine and Maddux retire, Smoltz will not be able to come back.

The sad thing is, I hate to see Smoltz go out like this. Unlike the subject of yesterday's entry, Chipper Jones, I've never hated Smoltz. I've always sort of respected him, while hating the team he's played for. Part of the reason is because he's never been absolutely dominant over the Mets - they've gotten to him over the years. It was Maddux and Glavine who killed the Mets, Smoltz was a once-in-a-while killer...but beatable. Even as a closer. So it's too bad that he couldn't return this year and finish out from the bullpen again, or go out a winner as a starter.

It's like the Mike Piazza situation, which I haven't had a chance to comment on yet. It's one thing to retire unexpectedly after an injury, it's a whole different story to have your retirement cross the wires quietly. (Was there even a press conference? I never saw any video, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen. This came right during my busy point of the year.)

But neither guy, both of whom are headed for the Hall, was able to go out on his own terms. And that's always a sad thing. Hopefully Smoltz will make it back and be able to gut out another year, at least. Piazza wasn't even given a chance.

NOT BAD FOR STARTERS

As far as the Mets are concerned, I don't think Opening Day could have gone any better. And on a personal note, all it took was for the games to count for me to be into the season. I was on board just about after President Bush threw out the first pitch at Nationals Park.

First of all, one of my favorite stats that gets brought up every year at this time (nationally, too - not just on the Mets games) is the Mets' success on Opening Day. In their history, the Mets are 30-17 on Opening Day. That ranks among the best, percentage-wise. So the Mets improved upon that with their win over the Marlins.

Johan Santana, obviously, is the other extremely good news. You couldn't have gotten a better start (OK, a no-hitter would have been better. Here's how desperate I am for one - it's always on my mind. I convinced myself on my ride home from work that it would be ultra-dramatic if Santana's Mets debut was a no-hitter. And then he got through the first 1-2-3, and I was convinced it was going to happen. It didn't. 161 more tries for the Mets this year.) - 2 runs in 7 innings - with 8 strikeouts. This is going to be a fun year.

How about this, too - David Wright - 2 doubles!!! I love it. The first was also pretty clutch - with the bases loaded, he broke the game open.

A few other thoughts from around the league's Opening Day:

-The Brewers-Cubs game was ridiculous. Scoreless into the 9th, then Kerry Wood gives up 3 runs in the top half. Eric Gagne counters by blowing the save and giving up 3 in the bottom half (a 3-run homer by Fukodome, just to make it more interesting). Then the Brewers won in the tenth, giving Gagne a so-undeserved win. Gagne and Wood - both reclamation projects off to a rocky start.

-Exciting news from the world of DirecTV - I think (I haven't proven this, but I'm pretty sure) I now get both telecasts on the baseball package. For instance - today's Mets game, since it was on SNY and FSN Florida, would have been given to me on FSN Florida, because the Marlins were home. But I had both feeds. And there were two channels dedicated to most of the games. So I think if the games are available on both feeds this year, they'll be offered on both. Woo-hoo!

-Early returns on the Wireless Scoreboard are positive - a few flaws, but overall good.

-The game on Sunday night at Nationals Park reminded me that Washington, D.C. is the ballpark trip for the year. Again, The Wife's idea. And she's pregnant, but she'll go for a 6-hour car ride. She's a special one. After seeing the park on TV, I'm excited for that. We'll be going Memorial Day Weekend.

-Seems to me that C.C. Sabathia is notorious for being handed big leads and then blowing them. I think he loses concentration. I think he needs to pitch in tight games.

-I love that the Mets have Mike Pelfrey starting this weekend in Atlanta. I think he'll have a good season, and he's pitched well against Atlanta recently. So he'll get off on the right foot. Plus, it's against Tom Glavine. I hope the Mets destroy him.

A very exciting day. I'm just so happy I came around in the excitement category.

A PIECE IN PLACE

I was very happy to hear that the Mets re-signed Luis Castillo, so at least second base is solidified for the Mets. It's a 4-year deal for Castillo, who is 32 years old right now. That's pretty good all around.

Castillo is a smart ballplayer, his intelligence at the plate stands out to me. He knows what to do in all situations...just a good hitter. The Mets need more folks like him.

It was a big day for free agents. Mike Lowell re-upped with the Red Sox, it looks like Mariano Rivera is re-upping with the Yankees, and Tom Glavine went back to the Braves.

I hate the way things ended with Glavine. I hate that I'll remember him with the Mets as the man who got rocked with everything on the line on the final day of the season instead of the man who won his 300th careeer game with the team. I hate that he's now going back to Atlanta. I hope the Mets hang an 8 on him every time he pitches against them from here on out.

Incidentally, this morning on ESPN Radio, when they were talking about GM's who need to make moves, Omar Minaya's name came up as someone who needs an ace, and someone who says he will get a number-one - or -two starter this off-season. And for the first time I heard Jose Reyes' name come up in something other than pure speculation on my part. Just throwing it out there, for whatever that's worth.

FANTASY: The fantasy NASCAR season came to an end Sunday. What started as a whim to pass the time between the Super Bowl and spring training turned into a weekly obsession and lots of fun. I really enjoyed it...finished 4th out of 12 or so people.

Playoffs in fantasy football are looking bleak as of last weekend.

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.

Congratulations to Tom Glavine on career win number 300. It was a really nice moment to witness as a Mets fan, and as a baseball fan. It was nice to see Glavine smiling at the end of the game in the dugout - it was like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders - and certainly this was a long time coming. Figure in his Mets career he's easily had 10 wins taken from him, certainly more, by the bullpen, or lack of offense. His last start, even. So he should be sitting at around 310 or more right now. But it's nice that he finally got to 300, and now the Mets can shift their focus to the march towards the post-season.

300 wins is a significant accomplishment. You need to be durable, which Glavine certainly has been, you need to be a little bit lucky, you need to be very good in order to take advantage of the luck, and you have to stick around for a long time. You don't back your way into 300 wins. There are some great names among the 23 300-game winners. But what's more significant is the names that aren't on the list - showing just how exclusive this club is.

It's very hard to be a dominant young pitcher and have the staying power to win 300 games. To wit: Dwight Gooden - no less than 15 wins in each of his first 5 seasons...but a total of 192 career wins (of course there were other distractions in his career - but that's another pitfall of early success, and another impediment on the way to 300).

You can be a good pitcher throughout your career, and still not come close to 300 - see: Orel Hershiser - 204 career wins.

How about being one of the most dominant pitchers of any era? Sandy Koufax, maybe? A short career resulting in just 165 wins. Bob Gibson? A longer career, netting 251.

All this to say, this is a very difficult thing to achieve, and it's even tougher to achieve in Glavine's era - with 5-man rotations and excessive use of the bullpen. And there's the question: Will anyone else reach 300 career wins? Randy Johnson is 16 wins away, but he's very hurt and he's 43 years old. To enter the club, you need to average 15 wins, if you play for 20 years (Glavine's in his 21st). That's ridiculous consistency. I'm not sure if any of the young pitchers playing now have that type of consistency in them....and I don't think many of them are able to stay healthy for as long as they need to in order to reach 300.

Barry Bonds will pass Hank Aaron - but he'll be passed some day. What we saw Sunday night out of Tom Glavine might not happen again in our lifetimes. It was a special achievement. One with a touch more history than I think we're all realizing right now.

MAGIC NUMBER: I don't think it's too early. We're looking at a magic number of 47 (that's Mets wins combined with losses by, right now, the Phillies and Braves), with 51 games remaining in the season.

SLOWNESS: While The Wife and I were watching our chances in the 'New Baseball Pool' slip away this weekend (a Cardinals sweep by the Nationals), we saw Dmitri Young get nailed at the plate by a good ten feet on an excellent throw from the outfield...but also a poor decision by the third base coach. The Wife's take? "Man, I'm faster than him." The Wife, it should be noted, is one of the slowest people I know.

MATCHUP: The Mets play the Braves at Shea starting Tuesday night - Oliver Perez owns the Braves, he pitches Tuesday against '60's folk artist Buddy Carlyle (really - that's the Braves' pitcher's name).

GLAVINE GETS ROCKED

Yankees 11, Mets 8 (NYM: 37-29, NYY: 34-32)

I feel like I have a lot on my mind this evening, first and foremost, that I hope my students don't view me as a "rakish nerd". (See comments from yesterday.) Or, for that matter, a rakish anything. (Actually...just looked up 'rakish' - I've been called worse.)

Right behind that, though, is Tom Glavine. Everything I read mentions the fact that "Glavine is still stuck on 295 wins", "Glavine is still searching for win number 296", "Glavine has his second consecutive rocky start". I feel like we're missing the bigger picture - how about the fact that Tom Glavine is just 5-5 with a 4.67 ERA. That's more than just Saturday's start against the Yankees, and last week's start against Detroit. Sure, Glavine has had a couple of starts this year where he should have gotten a win, but either the team couldn't score runs or the bullpen hurt him (the same situation he's faced throughout his Mets career), but he's also hurt this team. Saturday's game was a typical Tom Glavine loss - he gives up a bunch of runs, but the Mets keep coming back and putting him in a position to win....but he keeps giving the lead right back. You pretty much see this pattern developing by the third inning when he has games like this. (OK, perhaps I'm overreacting - I'm looking at Glavine's last 10 starts, and the numbers aren't bad....but he seems to have had more bad starts than just the past two against the Yankees and Detroit.)

Now, not far behind Glavine in my mind is the fact that this game was one of those 1pm Saturday games, so I had no chance of watching it. I still don't understand the TV rights on Saturdays...and it's not fair to people like me that they play 1pm games on Saturday if they're not going to allow those games to be put on the 'Extra Innings' package.

The Mets lost this game despite taking separate leads into the bottom of the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th innings, but Glavine gave all of those leads back. The Mets have now lost 8 out of 10...but they are still high achievers. I was switching channels before bed on Friday night, and caught the Mets on 20/20 on ABC. Of course, I stopped. They were doing a report on luck/superstition, and mentioned the Mets' shaved heads from their trip out to San Francisco. The reporter said that people who have such superstitions usually have a higher intelligence, and are usually high achievers. Consider my worries about the 2007 season over. It would be nice, though, for the Mets to take this series.

David Wright extended his hitting streak to 17 games in the loss. I only half-caught it during Friday night's game, but there's something about this hitting streak being the third 15-game hitting streak of Wright's in a certain amount of time, and he's the only guy in history to do that. But I'm not sure what he did/is doing. Also, I think David Wright is a better hitter when he's not on a hitting streak. When he's on a streak, he gets a dinky hit once a game to continue it. When he's not on a streak, sure, he'll have an 0-fer, but he's more consistent, if that makes sense. I won't be sorry when this hitting streak comes to an end.

Finally, on Saturday's game, I'm mad at Carlos Beltran. The Mets rallied in the 9th against Mariano Rivera. They loaded the bases, scored twice, the second run coming on a 2-out single by Jose Reyes, batting right-handed against the righty Rivera (Reyes also stole 2 more bases). Beltran, representing the go-ahead run, popped up to end the game. Wonderful.

Ray's Pizza johnnymets.blogspot.com Player of the Game: A-Rod had a homer, but Derek Jeter hit the go-ahead homer and was 4-for-5, so I give the honor to him. Jeter was 4-for-5 with 2 RBI, 2 runs scored, and he stole a base. Jeter's homer came in the 4th inning, with the Mets ahead, 5-4. He put the Yankees ahead to stay, at 6-5.


ONE MORE NEGATIVE NOTE: I feel like it's been one negative thing after another this week - no hot water, the car crash, the Mets losing...and I'm usually a positive person. But one last (probably) negative thing before I get back to positive things, with the winning streak the Mets are about to go on beginning Sunday night. The tie clip I mentioned in the Friday posting, which I have clearly been wearing incorrectly for the past three years, has been misplaced. I think I lost it on the last day of school, when I changed clothes at school and was cleaning up the classroom. I have no idea where it ended up. I'd be sad if I can't recover it.

CUBS FIGHTING AGAIN: I don't know if I've ever weighed in on baseball brawls before. The Cubs-Padres fight got me a little riled up on Saturday, so I'll weigh in now. Yes, they're exciting, they get the blood pumping, like all fights usually do. The Wife absolutely loves them. But in the end, they make me sad. I think this dates back to a fight between the Mets and Cubs in the early 90's, when Rico Brogna got tossed into the brick wall behind home plate by (Cub) Turk Wendell. Brogna went on the DL with a shoulder injury shortly thereafter, and was never the same when he came back. I always blamed it on the fight. So I get a little upset when I see them now.

I also think most of the fights are silly and contradictory. I feel like the players of today have no business defending the 'honor' of the game. With so many of them tied up in steroids, and I'm sure so many more looking the other way, that's the first thing. Secondly, supposedly this brawl started because a couple of guys had a problem with Alfonso Soriano looking too long after a homer he had hit. I just think it's hypocritical to throw at someone for that these days - are you going to throw at every single batter? Everyone poses after they hit something...even if it doesn't leave the park. Everyone shows someone else up throughout the game. It's disheartening, but if you're going to get upset at one person for it...get upset at everyone who does it.

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.

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.

SHOULD IT REALLY BE THIS DIFFICULT?

Mets 6, Nationals 2, 12 innings (NYM: 14-8, WAS: 8-16)

It took 12 innings, but the Mets managed to pull out a win against the Nationals on Saturday night. They need to get these wins against Washington, but they're getting tougher and tougher to come by. The Mets still trail the Atlanta Braves by a half-game in the division, and while it's too early to worry about that too much, it is important to note that the Braves are beating the opponents they should be beating - the Mets are not having the easiest time with teams like the Nationls.

The Mets were without a hit for the first five or so innings of this one - and their lack of offense ended up costing Tom Glavine a decision, leaving him at 7 wins shy of 300 in his career. (Jerome Williams gave the Nationals six innings of one-hit ball.) However, the Mets avoided being pinned with a loss with a run in the top of the ninth inning against the Nationals' shaky closer, Chad Cordero. Trailing 2-1, with runners on first and second, pinch-hitter Julio Franco lined a single to right field to tie the game at 2. The Mets might have won the game in the 9th, too, as Jose Reyes ripped one right after that, but Robert Fick made a nice play at first base to end the inning.

The mini-rally came a half-inning after Aaron Heilman stood to lose the game, giving up an RBI double, really, the only big blemish in his one-and-two thirds innings of work.

Glavine kind of got cheated out of this win, by the way. The Nationals' first run came after a bad call at first base - the Mets turned a double play, the runner at first was clearly out by a step, but the umpire called him safe. The first base ump, Tony Randazzo, had a horrible game. This call resulted in an argument that saw Willie Randolph ejected from the game. The runner came around to score on a double, so Glavine really should never have given up that run.

The Mets finally broke through with 4 in the twelfth, and it was nice to see. The first two runs came on a double by Carlos Beltran, who has been quiet lately, but came through in the clutch here. That was followed by an intentionaly walk to Carlos Delgado, and then David Wright, with the bases loaded, hit a 2-run single through the left side - a nice, solid hit. Remember all those times when teams would walk Cliff Floyd to get to Wright, and I always wrote how I think he takes that as an insult? I think it's a good thing they walked Delgado to get to him Saturday night - maybe that woke up whatever has been sleeping inside Wright.

The rally in the twelfth made a winner out of Aaron Sele, who pitched one-and-a-third scoreless innings. I forgot to write this earlier in the week, but Sele got beat up pretty good in the Wednesday afternoon game against Colorado, so it's nice to see him come back and have a good outing.

The Mets wrap up the series with Washington Sunday afternoon - John Maine against Jason Bergmann.


Coca-Cola johnnymets.blogspot.com Player of the Game: I realize this flies in the face of my logic of last week, that in order for the Mets to have won their previous extra innings game, they needed to get to extra innings first, therefore the player should be Julio Franco. But it's my decision, and I'm giving it to Carlos Beltran, who got the go-ahead runs home in the twelfth, and I'm comfortable with this decision. Beltran was 2-for-5 on the night, with the two RBI and a run scored.

TURNING TWO...HUNDRED: No double plays on Saturday, so it remains at 28 through 22 games.

MORE STEROIDS TALK: Apparently there is an article in (or coming out soon in) ESPN The Magazine in which Brian McRae says that steroids and amphetamines were rampant in the clubhouse of the 1999 Mets. The news that comes out of these investigations is going to be very, very disappointing to me, I just know it. McRae and Turk Wendell pointed the finger at pitchers in addition to hitters, without naming names. But consider this - Orel Hershiser was a pitcher on that team - so I wonder what he has to say about this too (I'm not insinuating he used anything...I actually doubt that he did. I'm just curious about his two cents, since he's an ESPN guy now, I'm sure they'll ask him about it.).

BEAT THE STREAK: Watch out, world. Freddy Sanchez got me a hit, so I'm at 5 games. I'm going with A-Rod on Sunday.

BRAVES OUTSLUG METS IN PITCHER'S DUEL

Braves 9, Mets 6 (ATL: 12-6, NYM: 11-6...0.5 back)

Tom Glavine - still 7 wins shy of 300 for his career. The Mets bullpen - worse than it was on Saturday. David Wright - still under the 'johnnymets.blogspot.com Beat the Streak jinx'. Sorry about that.

This was a see-saw game - and the Braves jumped out to a 1-0 lead on the first pitch of the game. Tom Glavine left a pitch up high, and Kelly Johnson jumped all over it to lead off the game with a homer.

In the 5th, Shawn Green tied the game with a solo homer off of John Smoltz. At that point, Green was 11-for-23 in his career against Smoltz. The fifth inning was exciting - after the homer, Jose Valentin had a long flyout to the wall opposite field in left, then Tom Glavine hit a roller down the third base line. Smoltz jumped off the mound, barehanded the ball, and threw a strike to first to get Glavine. It was some play. Jose Reyes reached, then Paul Lo Duca blasted one to the right-center gap, and it bounced over the wall for a ground rule double - it would have scored a run otherwise. So with runners at second and third, Carlos Beltran took a third strike -the strikeout that tied Smoltz with Cy Young on the all-time list.

In the sixth, Jeff Francoeur had a 2-run single, making it 3-1, Atlanta, off Glavine.

In the bottom half, Carlos Delgado singled, then David Wright struck out (0-for-12 since his hitting streak ended). Moises Alou singled, putting runners at first and second. Shawn Green walked controversially, and when Bobby Cox argued, he got ejected from the game (127 career, four from a major league record). With the bases loaded, Jose Valentin made it 3-2, Braves, with a single. Then, after Julio Franco pinch hit for Tom Glavine and flew out, THE GREATEST BALLPLAYER WHO EVER LIVED lined a ball down the right field line - 3-run triple, the Mets were ahead, 5-3, and Tom Glavine could win the game. (Paul Lo Duca added an insurance run.)

No way the Mets could lose the game now...they just don't lose games like this. Well, they lost this one. In the 7th, Ambiorix Burgos got two quick outs, then got a fly ball to right field. Shawn Green jumped for it, when he didn't have to (he was on the run, but it was a routine fly ball), and it went off his glove....and it wasn't ruled an error. Scott Schoeneweis came on, gave up a walk, then a 3-run homer to Edgar Renteria. 6-6.

In the 8th, Aaron Heilman served up a 3-run homer to Kelly Johnson, following an error by Jose Valentin. (Valentin has been very sure-handed, so this is the exception, not the rule. Looking dopey in right field has almost come to be expected out of Green.) All of the runs were unearned, but Heilman lost the game.

The Mets mounted a mini-rally, but came up short. With two on in the 8th, Jose Reyes and Paul Lo Duca failed to get a run home. In the 9th, Bob Wickman struck out Carlos Beltran in a 12-pitch at-bat to lead off the inning, walked Carlos Delgado, got David Wright on a fielder's choice, gave up a single to Moises Alou, then got the tying run, Shawn Green, to ground out to short.

The Mets have lost just two series this season, and they've both been to the Braves. That doesn't bode well, if only because it lets the Braves believe they still have some sort of a shot. The Braves have played better than I thought they would to begin this season...but I don't think they'll have staying power.

The Mets are now a half-game back of Atlanta, but they can do some damage this week - they host Colorado, then go to Washington. It's John Maine against Taylor Buchholz Monday night.

Kelly's Roast Beef johnnymets.blogspot.com Player of the Game: Kelly Johnson killed the Mets on Sunday. He was 3-for-4 with 2 home runs, 4 RBI, a walk, and three runs scored. Clearly he reads the blog and took offense to me saying earlier in the year that the Braves don't have anyone who can lead off for them.

CITI FIELD UPDATE: The fact that the Mets will have a new stadium soon is quite possibly the most exciting thing for me since 1986 as far as the Mets go. Every time I drive by Shea now as I head to my parents' house in Queens, there is more and more progress on the new stadium.
That was one of the things I was looking forward to in going to the game on Friday night - seeing the construction over the outfield wall. Unfortunately, I couldn't go to Friday's game. However, my sister went to Sunday's game against the Braves, as the Mets held their annual Autism Awareness Day. (My sister does fantastic work with children, day in and day out...many of the children she works with have some form of autism. Last year The Wife and I went to Autism Awareness Day with her, and we saw Tom Glavine versus Dontrelle Willis. But I digress.) My sister took a couple of pictures with her cell phone, forwarded them to my cell phone, and I was able to get them into my e-mail, and now onto the blog (I feel like Jack Bauer). So I present you with the latest visual proof that the Mets are, in fact, building a new stadium.








COMMENT ON THE COMMENTS: Please ignore the dumb postings that may end up having me discontinue the "Comments" section. Also, don't forget you can e-mail the site at johnnymetsmail@yahoo.com.

As for the Southern Bureau's comments on David Wright's homers...I can't tell you why he's not homering. I'll only say that if he wasn't hitting at all, I'd be worried. When you look at Wright's numbers since last year's All Star break, he has just 6 homers since last July. Now, he has tended to fade late in the seasons, so maybe he's made an adjustment, and is keeping himself fresher for the second half of the season/post-season. Also, Southern Bureau, maybe it just serves you right for drafting him and not allowing me to have him on my team.

BEAT THE STREAK: David Wright has to get a hit eventually, so I'm taking him against Buchholz on Monday. My longest streak so far this season has been 2 games. That's disgusting.

NOISY MOISES

Mets 8, Phillies 1 (NYM: 8-4, PHI: 3-9)

After consecutive rainouts, the Mets didn't miss a beat in playing their first baseball since Saturday. Actually, the Mets looked much better than the last time they took the field, when they lost to the Washington Nationals at Shea.

Tom Glavine had another rocky start, but the Mets pulled out career win number 293 for him. Glavine walked 5 and gave up 6 hits in six innings - but he only gave up one run. He pitched out of a bases loaded situation in the third inning - after he walked the opposing pitcher to start the inning, and walked Ryan Howard with the bases loaded to give up his only run. He was in and out of trouble the rest of the way - another struggle for Glavine, but he got the win. The way I see it, the way the Mets struggled to get Glavine wins his first couple of years here, when he pitched well (not the first half of his first year, when he stunk - since then) and they couldn't score for him, or the bullpen blew it - the Mets owe him wins like these, where he can battle, but know that he'll get the run support if he slips. Turns out he didn't need the extra runs, but I think you know what I mean.

A word on the opposing pitcher, Freddy Garcia. This was Garcia's first start for the Phillies, since coming over from the White Sox in an off-season trade. Garcia had been hurt, and was on a short leash in this first start of the season. Garcia is one of the main reasons I thought the Phillies would challenge the Mets in the National League East, and now that he's back I think the Phillies are a better team. That said, this outing was not the best one to judge Garcia by, since he wasn't going to go very deep into the game, and the weather was awful (also a reason I think Glavine had to battle - he hasn't pitched in very nice weather yet this season) - but he showed flashes Tuesday night that he can be effective (6 K's in 4 and two-thirds).

The Mets bats woke up late, but early on Moises Alou sparked them. He had two home runs, both to left field, and the wind was apparently blowing in at a pretty good clip. The Mets scored runs in the 5th through 8th innings, putting the game away, but they were aggressive all night long. Jose Reyes had two stolen bases as did Carlos Beltran.

David Wright had a hit in his first at bat, so he now has a 24-game hitting streak - over two seasons. The Mets single-season record for a hitting streak is 24 games, shared by Mike Piazza and Hubie Brooks. Gary Cohen cleared up the distinction Tuesday night, saying that there is a difference between a single-season hitting streak and a streak over two seasons, which makes sense. So Wright has a 24-gamer over two seasons, but a 12-gamer to open this season. Still impressive, and perhaps becoming worthy of a Wright Watch for 2007. We'll see.

The Mets added 3 more double plays to their season total on Tuesday night. Lots of double plays means lots of baserunners by Mets pitchers. They need to cut down on the baserunners. As is, the Mets are probably on a record pace for DP's. The Phillies were 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position on Tuesday.

Wednesday night the Mets head to Florida, where the weather is supposed to be much better than what they've had recently. The pitching will be tough, though - they face Dontrelle Willis. John Maine goes for the Mets (who have shuffled their pitching slightly, in order to have Glavine go on Tuesday night).


VERIZON JOHNNYMETS.BLOGSPOT.COM PLAYER OF THE GAME: Moises Alou. He got the team going with a BOMB off Garcia in the 2nd inning, giving the Mets a 2-0 lead (the ball was a towering shot into high winds). He added a solo shot in the 6th. Alou has been a pleasant surprise thus far. I knew what he was capable of, but I didn't expect him to live up to his capabilities. Hopefully he can stay healthy. Alou has also been good defensively - and in this game, he made a headfirst diving catch, in the 6th inning, I think, to end the night for Glavine. Final line for Alou: 2-for-3 (2 homers) with a walk, 3 runs scored, and 3 RBI.

SCHEDULE CHANGE: Due to a family situation, I will not be going to the Mets game against the Braves on Friday night. My first game at Shea for the season will have to wait for another weekend. By the way, I don't think I've mentioned this, but since the Mets had a rainout on Sunday, they will have their recognition of Jackie Robinson before the game on Friday night. Willie Randolph will be wearing number 42 that night.

NOTES: Interesting note from the Mets-Phillies game. Gary Cohen mentioned that Jayson Werth (now with the Phillies, formerly with the Blue Jays) is the nephew of former Met Dick Schofield.

Also, it's worth noting that the Philly Phanatic is pretty entertaining. Whenever SNY's cameras catch him in the stands, he's doing something with the fans. And whatever he's doing looks entertaining. He doesn't seem to be too annoying - and the stuff he does is almost funny. He's always on, it seems. That's some good schtick.

ADS: A couple of quality commercials that I need to bring to your attention:

*Another great "This is SportsCenter" commercial. (Ironic that I find the commercials for SportsCenter entertaining, and not the least bit annoying, as much as they're self-celebratory, like the show itself, while I can't stand the show itself for the very same reason. Did I make that clear or confusing? I'll try again: I like the commercials, hate the show.) This one has David Ortiz, Jorge Posada, and a SportsCenter anchor (not even sure which one - he's not important though) in the conference room, and Wally the Green Monster walks by. I'm not going to say any more about it other than it's laugh-out-loud hilarious. Look for it.

*Bud Light also has some quality commercials out now, and I'm not sure if they've been on elsewhere, and I just haven't seen them (like the Super Bowl), or if they're new for the baseball season. One involved a squirrel who watches a beer for some guy, the other involves a self-filling refrigerator. Typical Bud Light fare, but pretty good.

BEAT THE STREAK: A one-game streak!!! No rainouts!! Jose Reyes led me off on Tuesday. On Wednesday I'm going with David DeJesus of the Royals. I was very impressed by DeJesus against the Tigers Tuesday night...so impressed that I picked him up for one of my fantasy leagues, even though I don't need another outfielder. All I ask is for a hit on Wednesday afternoon.

292 FOR GLAVINE

Mets 5, Phillies 3 (NYM: 6-3, PHI: 2-7)

I'm a day late with this one, so I'll make it quick. Other than when he faced Jimmy Rollins, Tom Glavine pitched a very good game in some less-than-ideal conditions.

Glavine gave up two homers to Rollins, accounting for all of the Phillies' runs, and the Mets clawed back to take a 5-3 win at Shea.

In the 4th, Jose Reyes delivered a 2-run single to give the Mets a 4-3 lead. The other offensive notable: David Wright tripled in the 7th inning to extend his hitting streak to 21 games. It's kind of a weak hitting streak, for a couple of reasons. First of all, it spans two seasons, which I never like. And in about the past five or so games, Wright has had one hit, with the hit coming in his last at-bat. He hasn't been getting many meaningful hits lately. For what that's worth.


ENERGIZER JOHNNYMETS.BLOGSPOT.COM PLAYER OF THE GAME: This award could go to Jose Reyes most nights, because he does so much to spark the Mets. It goes to him after Thursday night's game because he keyed the Mets win. Reyes was 2-for-4, with 2 RBI, a walk, and a run scored. He also stole his fifth base of the season. He was also involved in all three Mets double plays. A solid game, tame by Reyes' now-high standards, but deserving of his first Player of the Game award of 2007.


I'll be back tonight after Mike Pelfrey's season debut against the Washington Nationals. By the way, Lastings Milledge was sent down so that Pelfrey could be brought up.

I'm having trouble staying up to the end of the game. I'm going to be watching the rest of the Phillies and Mets in bed.

At last check, it was Mets 4, Phillies 3, and Tom Glavine was in line to get win number 292.

I'll be writing after the Friday game. Mike Pelfrey makes his season debut.

BEAT THE STREAK: It's really shaping up to be one of those frustrating 'Beat the Streak' years. Ichiro got rained out. I'm struggling to get anything going. I'll try Jose Reyes at Shea versus Washington for Friday.

BOUND TO HAPPEN....

Braves 5, Mets 3 (NYM: 4-1, ATL: 4-1)

I knew the Mets weren't going to go 162-0, but I still wanted to see just how long they could stretch the season-opening win streak. I guess it was just four games. But the Mets were done in by one of the things that keyed them to their 4 straight wins - their defense.

The Mets looked all set after the top of the first, after jumping out to another 1-0 lead - this one from an unlikely source: a homer by Paul Lo Duca. Tom Glavine gave it right back, though, and you could tell by the way he was working that career win number 292 was not going to come easy - of course, it didn't come at all.

The Braves' first started with an innocent grounder to second, which turned into their first baserunner when Carlos Delgado dropped the throw from Jose Valentin. Kelly Johnson then came around to score on a grounder to short. Matt Diaz homered in the second to give the Braves the 2-1 lead, and the Mets their first deficit of the season.

In the fifth, the Mets did their manufacturing run thing, after a leadoff walk by Jose Reyes. He stole second, went to third on a grounder to second by Lo Duca, and then scored on a single by Carlos Beltran. The Mets knocked around John Smoltz, but he seemed to get the outs when he needed to.

Unfortunately for Glavine, the outs couldn't come because of his defense. After no errors in 4 games, the Mets committed two on Saturday. In the bottom of the sixth, with the bases loaded, Shawn Green dropped a Matt Diaz fly ball that allowed one run to score. The next batter, Woodward, flew out to right off Pedro Feliciano, and Green made a nice running catch, but the ball was deep enough to score a run to make it 4-2. Then Joe Smith came on and got a groundball, but it was too slow for Reyes to make a play, so the Braves took a 5-2 lead. All 5 runs were charged to Glavine, but only two were earned.

The much-improved Braves bullpen held the Mets to one run the rest of the way, though the Mets did threaten Bob Wickman in the ninth. Trailing 5-3, Carlos Delgado walked, and David Wright singled (extending his hitting streak on an otherwise horrid day - 3 strikeouts against Smoltz). With two outs and runners on second and third, Green lined one towards right field, but the ball was snared by Craig Wilson at first. A tough way to end the game, but it showed the Mets still have that ability to come back late in games, and you still get the sense that they're never out of a game.

CHICK-FIL-A JOHNNYMETS.BLOGSPOT.COM PLAYER OF THE GAME: No one really stood out in this one, so we'll go with Matt Diaz, who had a homer and lifted the fly ball that Shawn Green dropped. At least he put it in play, and you have to give him some credit for that - chances are the then-go-ahead run would have scored anyway. Diaz finished 1-for-2 with 2 RBI and a run scored.

NOTES ON THE GAME: The Braves have no true leadoff hitter, now that Rafael Furcal is gone. They also have no true second baseman. Kelly Johnson is playing second and leading off, but I also noticed this on Friday night, when Chris Woodward was the starting second baseman and leadoff hitter. That's a step back from Furcal, and Marcus Giles at second.

ALSO THE WAY I FEEL: Tim Kurkjian was guest host on Mike & Mike In The Morning the other day (I think it was Thursday), and the subject of the DirecTV/other cable providers Extra Innings packages came up. (An aside: I find the Mike & Mike show to be much more tolerable when someone like Kurkjian or Buster Olney is on for the entire show rather than the regular Mikes...but that's another story for another day.) Kurkjian said he has DirecTV, and the day he got it, he says, "was, other than the days my kids were born, the greatest day of my life." So, he said, it wouldn't be right for other people to not have the opportunity to get the package. I agree.

SNY 2007: Friday night was my first chance to see a Mets game on SNY. Gary Cohen, Ron Darling, and Keith Hernandez were in the booth, and were very good (for the amount I saw before I fell asleep). A couple of notables:
-Slightly newer, snazzier graphics.
-Good ads - one, a tribute to Ron Darling for being named best New York sports analyst (I think, I was a little fuzzy on the award). The other was hilarious - it was a cartoon of Cohen, Darling, and Hernandez sitting on the couch watching the game, and Hernandez keeps saying, "I sound great. Wow, I'm doing a great job." And Darling and Cohen end up taking off Hernandez's mustache, and the announcer says, "Watch the Mets with Gary, Ron, Keith, and Keith's mustache." Good stuff. I hope there are different commercials like that each week. Hilarious.
-Also, forgot to mention this, so might as well here - Lee Mazzilli is the new studio analyst this year. I haven't seen enough of his work to comment yet.

1986 ROUNDUP: I don't remember seeing him all last year on camera, but Roger McDowell is still the Atlanta Braves' pitching coach. They showed him on Friday night, and either Keith or Ron said, "Roger smiled a lot more as a player." I thought that was funny.

MORE BROADCASTING: Caught the Reds' games over the weekend, and Grande was doing the games. Wonder what kind of a rotation they have going there. I'll have to keep an eye on that.

A WORD ON THE WEATHER: This year is more extreme than most, but I feel like every year there's a hubbub about the season-opening weather, and moving all of the openers to warm weather cities. Now, I don't know that that's a foolproof option - I hear there's a chance of snow in Arlington, Texas, for the Red Sox game Saturday night, which is surprising to me, but I feel like this is always a controversy in April every year, and then it dies down and is forgotten. I do feel, however, that this year has been extreme, as I mentioned above, extreme not only in weather, but also in outcry over the weather. And I think there will be some fallout - especially since Cleveland and Seattle are losing a game because of the weather, and because Victor Martinez got hurt in the bad weather, AND because of the controversy on Friday surrounding the weather and the way the game was called off. I don't know how much fallout, but I feel like the situation won't die away so easily, and maybe there will be some change next year.

BEAT THE STREAK: After no hits Friday by Xavier Nady and on Saturday with Derek Jeter, I'm going with as sure a thing as I can on Sunday, with the Cleveland doubleheader. I'll take Grady Sizemore - all he needs is one hit in two games to get me started.

ANOTHER SEASON UNDERWAY....

Mets 6, Cardinals 1 (NYM: 1-0, STL: 0-1)

When you consider that the Mets played a great game on Sunday night, you also need to keep in mind that the Cardinals (defending world champions or not) are not very good. So just keep that in mind.

But that said, Sunday night's game was a great way for the Mets to kick off their season. The funny thing about the Mets productivity was where it came from. The top of the lineup was a bit late to the run-scoring party, and it was Shawn Green, Moises Alou, and Jose Valentin who played very good games for the Mets.

Carlos Delgado, RBI machine, actually did get the scoring started. He had a 2-run double off the left field wall in the third inning off Chris Carpenter. (The ball was badly misplayed by So Taguchi.) In the fourth, the Mets added a few more on a 2-run single by Paul LoDuca and another RBI single by Carlos Beltran. Lo Duca hit second, by the way, and David Wright hit fifth. It seemed to work pretty well.

Jose Reyes looked a little anxious at the plate - he finally got a hit in the ninth inning (and then was picked off of first base) - so maybe a little opening night jitters for him. At the plate, I think the Mets showed only a little of what they're capable of all year - they were definitely not all clicking at the same time - and they still put up 6 runs!

It was in the field that the Mets surprised - pleasantly. They turned four double plays, Tom Glavine fielded his position very well, and Jose Valentin capped a solid defensive night both personally and for the team with a diving stab on a grounder up the middle, turning a 4-6-3 double play with the bases loaded and 1 out in the eighth inning, where the Cardinals were mounting a comeback.

Other defensive highlights:
-It wasn't much, but Paul LoDuca played a squeeze bunt in the third inning perfectly, throwing back to David Wright to get the runner coming from third base.
-Carlos Beltran gunned David Eckstein at the plate on a Preston Wilson single in the sixth inning. The grounder up the middle went right to Beltran, he came up throwing, and threw a strike to LoDuca.
-To begin the sixth, Moises Alou stretched out headfirst and robbed Adam Kennedy of a base hit.

The only disappointment was that this game got a little too close for comfort at a couple of points - Glavine clearly got tired toward the end of his outing, and the bullpen wasn't outstanding - they were helped by the great defense. Joe Smith debuted, and wasn't great. Billy Wagner was his old self in non-save situations, taking forever to retire the side in the ninth.

But a win is a win - and the Mets are 1-0. Too early to start with the magic number?

DIRECTV JOHNNYMETS.BLOGSPOT.COM PLAYER OF THE GAME: A new feature here on johnnymets.blogspot.com. I'll pick a player of the game, Met or not, and post their numbers here every night. Sponsorships are subject to change. For Game one, though, the winner is Tom Glavine, who went 6 innings, giving up 6 hits, one run, and striking out 2. He definitely tired at the end, but benefitted from the run support, working with a cushion, and able to pitch out of his jam. He picked up career win 291, and is 1-0 on the season. I like unblemished records. Also, this was a gem that the ESPN broadcast showed - Glavine is now 136-0 when he has a 5-run lead (which he did when this one was 5-0). I like that number a lot.

THIS IS SPORTSCENTER: David Wright is clearly a star. He is in a new "This is SportsCenter" ad on ESPN. I saw it on Saturday night, not during the game on Sunday night. Wright is good in the commercial - he has some acting in his future. I bet he hosts Saturday Night Live within a year.

THE KID'S KIDS: Sadly, there will be no Kid's Kids this year - because there are no Kid's Kids. Gary Carter will not be managing in the Mets' organization this year - he is reportedly upset - or in the words of the Florida newspaper article I read - "Disagrees" with the Mets this offseason regarding their preferred assignment for him. (I think that means he's mad he didn't get the first base coaching job that Howard Johnson got instead.) Carter was on hand about a week ago for a Mets spring training game where his St. Lucie Mets were honored with rings for their Florida State League championship. I'll keep my ear to the ground and see what other news pops up about Carter this year, but again, there will be no regular feature.

BEAT THE STREAK: The 9th inning single by Reyes got me a 1-game streak. I'm going to try Chase Utley on Monday against John Smoltz.

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.

BACK TO NEW YORK, BACKS TO THE WALL

Cardinals 4, Mets 2 (STL leads series, 3-2)

There is no way I ever thought the Mets would be facing an elimination game this entire season. I never saw it coming. The Cardinals were nowhere near as good as the Mets this season - but their pitchers right now are making the Mets look silly at the plate.

It started right out of the gate - the Mets had a chance to jump out to a first inning lead and failed. With men on first and third, David Wright struck out on a bad pitch (actually, a good pitch - but a bad pitch to swing at). He redeemed himself with a big double later, in the 8th inning, but was left stranded, with Carlos Delgado on third, after a Shawn Green pop to center and a Jose Valentin strikeout (looking). There's about 10 other guys on the Mets' roster I'd rather see up in a clutch situation than Valentin, by the way.

It wasn't all bad for Valentin - he had the only 2 RBI for the Mets on the night, driving home the first two runs of the game in the 4th. Tom Glavine, though, uncharacteristically gave the lead right back - giving up a solo homer to Albert Pujols, then another run before getting out of the 4th tied at 2.

Glavine got into a huge jam in the fifth, (aided by Chad Bradford), but Bradford and Feliciano got out of it with the Mets trailing just 3-2. Feliciano gave up a bad homer to pinch-hitter Chris Duncan in the sixth making it 4-2.

The Cardinals have done in this series what made the Mets so successful all year long - whenever the Mets scored, St. Louis has answered right back. And some uncharacteristic events have surrounded the Mets - swinging at bad pitches, Tom Glavine throwing half his pitches out of the strike zone (80 pitches - 40 ball, 40 strikes), and Jose Reyes reverting to his old, non-getting-on-base self. He needs to start setting the table back home to get the Mets offense working.

The Mets have their work cut out for them as they return to Shea - now having to face Chris Carpenter in an elimination game. Hopefully they can get to him like they did Friday night.

I'll admit it - I'm very nervous. John Maine hasn't given me any reason to believe he'll fail, but it's different from him starting Game 1 of the playoffs - one bad pitch now and the season is over. I'm really nervous. And should there be a Game 7 (fingers crossed), it's looking like Darren Oliver might get the start. I know how great Oliver's been all season, but Willie Randolph has been reluctant to mess with his bullpen and people's roles all season - it makes me nervous that things would go topsy-turvy in the season's biggest game. But there's a ways to go before that.

MORE CARDINALS PRAISE: Man, the St. Louis defense has been outstanding. David Eckstein by himself has saved about 5 base hits that could have changed this series (either leading off an inning or with men on base) by diving around the field. Everyone else has been solid too - they're not making any mistakes in the field. (We'll see if Eckstein's hand getting in the way of his bunt late in the game Tuesday night affects the way he's playing defense - he looked like he really hurt his hand.)

Tony LaRussa even had the good sense to not find a spot in the lineup for Scott Speizio Tuesday night, even with his hot bat. He was awful in left field Sunday night, and LaRussa went with a stronger defense, which was a good move. (Although I didn't know that Scott Rolen isn't speaking with LaRussa because he started Speizio over Rolen in Game 2.)

Also, the stat that amazed me Tuesday night was that the Cardinals bullpen has made the opposition go 0-for-31 now in the post-season with runners in scoring position and 2 outs. That's incredible. They have some young arms in that bullpen that are better than I've been giving them credit for. And I think they're in the Mets heads now too. If Jose Reyes swings at another off-speed pitch in the dirt I'll cry.

SUPERSTITION: I really did all I could here. I wore the right hat - I even changed pants late in the game because I thought the ones I was wearing weren't working. I'm out of ideas. I don't know what I'll do Wednesday night.

These games are absolutely killing me on school nights.

VINTAGE GLAVINE

Mets 2, Cardinals 0 (Mets lead NLCS, 1-0)

That was awesome. Tom Glavine was outstanding. He was just dominant out there. I can't believe how well Jeff Weaver pitched - he really has been pitching well lately, but Tom Glavine was near unhittable.

Glavine ran into one trouble spot - in the third inning, he got hit pretty hard, but David Wright snagged two line drives to help him out. The first was the first out of the inning, the second ended the inning - after singles put runners on first and second, David Eckstein hit one headed toward left field, but Wright cut it off, and doubled Yadier Molina off second.

Glavine benefitted from another double play in the fourth, when Albert Pujols walked, but with one out, took off on Juan Encarnacion's fly to center. It was shallow, it looked like it might drop, but Carlos Beltran made a great play on the ball, and then threw a bullet to first to double off Pujols. (Everyone is making a big deal out of how good a baserunner Pujols usually is - and it's not a load of hooey - I've seen it in games during the regular season - everyone says, "He's not just a great hitter, he's a really smart ballplayer and a great baserunner." That baserunning mistake could turn out to be one of this series' turning points. I love it.)

Glavine's line - 7 innings, 4 hits, 0 ER, 2 walks, 2 K's. Plus, he's thrown 13 consecutive scoreless innings to start his Mets post-season career. Can't do any better than that.

As for the Mets' offense, I can't believe how good they made Weaver look. They hit some balls hard, but mostly he was great for his 5-and-2-thirds. His one mistake came in the sixth inning, when with two out and one on, Carlos Beltran hit a Strawberry-esque bomb to right field, off the scoreboard (!) to give the Mets the 2-0 lead which turned out to be the final score. My only problem with Beltran these days is that I think he still holds a grudge against the fans who booed him last year. He was seemingly reluctant to take a curtain call after arguably the biggest homer at Shea Stadium by a Met in 6 years. Remember, early this season, Julio Franco had to convince Beltran to go out and take a bow after a big homer, when the fans finally started cheering Beltran? Well, guess what, Carlos? You deserved to be booed last year. Remember, the fans gave you a chance, they didn't boo you from the outset - you flat-out stunk. So enjoy the fact that the fans appreciate your outstanding season now. Or play with a chip on your shoulder, if it makes you better, actually. I just want you to help the Mets win.

Again, the bullpen was great. Guillermo Mota got the huge out in the 8th, popping up Preston Wilson with 2 outs, working back from a 3-0 count, forcing Pujols to lead off the ninth with no chance to tie the game. That at-bat came against Billy Wagner, who notched his third save of this post-season (4 appearances in 4 games) with a solid ninth. He walked Scott Rolen with 2 outs, but then got Scott Speizio to pop out. When Wagner walks a guy I only get a tiny bit nervous, as opposed to past Mets relievers/closers, who would walk a guy and you just knew that was coming back to kill them.

Speaking of past Mets closers, Braden Looper pitched the 8th for the Cards, and got a nice, hearty welcome from the New York crowd.

These two teams get right back to it on Friday night. After 5 nights of no (National League/Mets) baseball, they'll make up for it with 5 straight nights of NLCS action. John Maine goes for the Mets against Chris Carpenter. I still have a hard time believing Carpenter is one of the best pitchers (if not the best) in the National League. Perhaps because I haven't seen enough of him. He actually has not faced the Mets yet this year. Hopefully they can get out of New York up 2 games to none.

UNDEFEATED: Just an update to say that the Mets are undefeated in the 10 days my daughter has been in this world (4-0). I had to explain to her at the end of Thursday night's game that I couldn't come straight to bed right after the game because "Daddy is an important sportswriter, and people depend on him to write about this game."

GLAVINE AND MAINE: There was a clever sign in the stands at Shea: "Glavine and Maine and pray for rain", a play on the old Braves saying, "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain". I really am confident the Mets will get by on decent starting pitching, their bullpen, and their bats. But, like that fan, I am most confident in Glavine and Maine. John Maine has been a great addition - I got a little ticked during the Division Series when people - Steve Phillips, Joe Morgan, and Gary Thorne, I think - said he was a throw-in in the Kris Benson trade. He really was one of the Orioles' top pitching prospects. He didn't have great Major League numbers, but the sample size was so small. I remember writing something about him after the trade because I read one of those prospect books in a bookstore one day and there were some promising things written about Maine. I feel good about him starting in these important games - and I consider him much more than a throw-in accompaniment to Jorge Julio.

One more note on pitching matchups - the only reason I will root for Kenny Rogers the rest of the way is so that the Tigers reach the World Series, and the Mets get the chance to bash his brains in. I hope the Mets beat up on Rogers good in the World Series, and there's at least one instance where the bases are loaded, and someone hits a grand slam, and as they're rounding the bases, says to Rogers, "Should have walked me like you did Andruw Jones in 1999, jerkface!" That's what I hope.

INJURIES: Cliff Floyd left Game 1 after his first at-bat. He has maintained since Tuesday, when the Mets first practiced after the Division Series, that he doesn't hurt at all swinging the bat, but hurts at other times. Watching Floyd in the field during the first inning - he's a liability, and the ball certainly was finding him (although he made each play his way). After Floyd hobbled out of the box during his at-bat, he was lifted, and Endy Chavez replaced him. The Mets still say Floyd is day-to-day. It's a shame that Floyd isn't well enough to play, but seeing the way he was out in left field - he shouldn't even be on the NLCS roster. I could see Floyd having some value in the World Series as a DH, but not in the NLCS. The best we can hope for now are some productive pinch-hit appearances, I think.

Also on the injury front, Pedro Martinez* was back in the dugout, after his rotator cuff surgery last week. He was back and joking around with the team, which at this point is more valuable to the team than his pitching contributions from June through September. Also, before the game, Pedro* told reporters that he expects to recover from this injury more quickly than he originally thought. I don't know how he knows this, but he thinks he can contribute for the Mets in the second half of 2007.

MEDIA COMMENTS: We have the Joe Buck-Tim McCarver duo on the NLCS this year. That's fine with me. I'm not a huge Buck fan, but I don't mind McCarver. I know people hate McCarver, but he's comfortable for me - I did grow up watching him as a Mets broadcaster through my childhood. But the reason I bring this up is because they are joined in the booth by Luis Gonzalez....and he is fantastic. It's rare for a player to step into the broadcasting role so naturally and be good at it - but Gonzalez knows just when to speak, and how long to speak. He always has something worthwhile to contribute. A+ job. I was listening in the car to the Padres-Cardinals series, and heard the announcers, and thought, this guy is good. When they said it was Luis Gonzalez, I couldn't believe it. Good for him...I'm glad he's on the NLCS - although I do enjoy Lou Piniella (on ALCS duty - with Thom Brennaman and Steve Lyons. I'm glad I don't have to hear Brennaman.)

COMMERCIALS: Finally, I need to weigh in on the Tommy Lasorda ads. I think they're funny, I really do. I don't hate Lasorda as much as I probably should, since he was Dodgers manager when I hated the Dodgers, but I also don't love him. I love these ads. I especially like the Cubs one, when Tommy asks the woman what the guy (in the tree)'s favorite team is, and she says the Cubbies, and he looks, and says, "Oh." That's just great.