ODDS AND ENDS

Seeing as how I'm not sure when the next time I'll be able to update will be (keep checking back - you never know when it'll be - it'll be a fun surprise!), a couple of the more time-sensitive issues that I've been meaning to get around to:

-From winter ball, some good news. Anderson Hernandez discovered his stroke. After hitting .246 in the minors last season, and .152 with the Mets, the second base prospect hit at a .287 clip during the winter ball season. He also hit .310 in 6 games of what I think is the equivalent of the winter ball post-season. We'll watch to see if he carries that type of hitting into spring training. I think that would be important because I'd much rather see Anderson Hernandez and his glove at second than Jose Valentin, who I don't feel so good about as the Mets' regular second baseman this year.

-The Mets did not tender a contract to Victor Zambrano back in December, making him a free agent. There were rumors the Mets would re-sign Zambrano at a later date, but he ended up signing with Toronto. That officially makes the Scott Kazmir trade a disaster (as though there were any doubt), and if Zambrano comes back strong from Tommy John surgery with the Blue Jays, look for lots more criticism headed Rick Peterson's way. I feel Peterson could be doing a better job for the Mets...at least, the Zambrano thing was a huge failure on his part.

-On the subject of Peterson, he was one of seven coaches the Mets locked up under contract this off-season. Peterson got a three-year deal, third base coach Sandy Alomar, bullpen coach Guy Conti, hitting coach Rick Down, and bench coach Jerry Manuel all got two-year extensions, and newcomers Howard Johnson (first base coach) and Tom Nieto (catching instructor) got one-and-two-year deals, respectively.

HoJo beat out Gary Carter (among others) for the first base coaching job. Remember, Manny Acta has left the staff to be the Nationals' manager.

-Finally, another Blue Jays connection: John Thomson also signed with the Blue Jays, after receiving overtures from the Mets as another possible arm for the pitching staff. And after he turned down the Mets because he didn't want to pitch to Paul LoDuca or for a team with Cliff Floyd in the outfield. Wow. Talk about taking shots. I don't remember LoDuca having a response to that, a little surprising, since he can be a hothead.

Floyd, though, shot back, saying from Cubs camp last week, "From what I've seen, he's not one of the greatest pitchers in the game. It didn't really affect me in terms of my pride....People who talk a lot seem to always be on the short end of the stick. I wish him the best of luck. Hopefully, his luck can change in Toronto because it didn't change in the National League." Nice job, Cliff. Well said.

Thomson did make 9 starts for the Mets, incidentally, in 2002, going 2-6 with a 4.31 ERA.

FLASHBACK: I've mentioned many times how my mom is cleaning out lots of my old stuff as my parents renovate their house. Recently, I got a bunch of stuff, and I just went through some of it today. Among the books were a few years' worth of the old Topps Sticker Yearbooks. I remember my brother and I competing over stickers to fill every page. Fun stuff. Surprisingly, the price was just 35 cents. And I was going through the 1987 edition, and came across the 1986 World Series page. Thought it was a good excuse to use the new scanner at the House sponsored by DirecTV. So here it is:

OFF TO A GOOD START

The Mets started off this important stretch on the right foot on Tuesday night in Saint Louis. THE GREATEST BALLPLAYER WHO EVER LIVED, Jose Reyes, contributed, blasting a 2-run homer off Jeff Suppan in the 3rd inning. Then, a great sign, when Xavier Nady singled home a run, making it 3-0, and making him 2-for-his-last-2 with 2 outs and runners in scoring position (he had been 0-for-17 on the season in such situations going into Sunday's game).

The Cardinals tied it off of Tom Glavine after 6, and Glavine was going to leave the game with a no-decision, when the Mets rallied with two outs in the 7th, and Paul LoDuca singled home Reyes, who had walked and then stolen second base. So the Mets put Glavine in a position to move within 19 wins of 300...and more importantly, win an important game for the team, when this happened:



So hopefully the bullpen doesn't blow the win on the team, or for Glavine. Bad enough for me this was an 8pm start - a rain delay makes it impossible for me to do a post-game blog. Good night.


ZAMBRANO/KAZMIR: Scott Kazmir won again for Tampa Bay on Tuesday night, beating the Chicago White Sox, 10-7. The final score doesn't show how well Kazmir pitched - the Devil Rays gave up 6 runs in the 8th. Kazmir gave up just 1 run in 7 innings, striking out 8. Kazmir is 6-2, and his ERA is 2.73. I've kind of held my tongue for a while now on this whole Kazmir thing. I've been waiting to see a little bit of panning out...but Kazmir looks really good (and now it's not just when he pitches against Boston). And the Daily News reported Tuesday (and there's a VERY good chance this is a bit overblown) that Zambrano's surgery was more intense than they expected, and his career could be over. At the very least, it would be a risk for the Mets to even take him back next year. It's frustrating, because my thought was maybe Zambrano could contribute something, even if it was out of the bullpen, to the Mets' success. But the way it stands now (and this doesn't look like it's going to change) is that they got absolutely nothing for a legit pitcher. Who knows if Kazmir would be as effective in the Mets rotation (or if he'd be in the Mets' rotation right now...or if he'd be pitching this well, not having had the time to adjust to the Majors, like he did in Tampa), but he couldn't be worse than Zambrano, and at the very least, the Mets could have dealt him somewhere else and got someone worth a prospect like Kazmir. What an awful trade.

THE KID'S KIDS: A rainout for St. Lucie on Tuesday night. So the 14-5 loss to Dunedin will sting for another night. It should be noted, though, that Dunedin does lead the other division.

FANTASY UPDATE: The What If Mets are 20-19...and they're not picking up wins against the Twins and White Sox like I thought they would - splitting with both teams. But the last game was a 2-0 complete game shutout for David Cone. 3 games are next against the Cubs, who have been awful. I need to win all three. Jerry Koosman is the question mark - he'll start game one against Chicago - he's 0-5 right now. Then I have Seaver and Gooden - I should easily win those.

BEAT THE STREAK: Craig Biggio was facing a pitcher who had never beaten the Astros on Tuesday night. But Jamey Wright beat the Astros, and Biggio didn't get a hit, so back to no games for my streak. I'm going with Nomar Garciaparra on Wednesday.

WEEKEND RECAP

Sunday: Braves 13, Mets 3 (NYM: 21-10, ATL: 13-18)

Another weekend sweep of the Braves in sight, another hardy beating by Atlanta. But it's OK, because the Mets still have an 8-game lead in the division.

The problem is, the problems are starting. Victor Zambrano tore a ligament in his elbow on Saturday, and will miss the rest of the season. Here's the problem with Zambrano's elbow. This has been bothering him for a while now. A couple of the other players knew about it, but no one in management knew. And two pitches before Zambrano came running off the mound, mid-inning, in pain, he looked Willie Randolph in the eye and told him he was OK. Even though, on Sunday, he told the media he was not OK at that point. There are going to be major consequences because of Zambrano's stupidity.

• The most important consequence is that the Mets are in a hole with their rotation. In the past few weeks Brian Bannister, his replacement, John Maine, and Zambrano have all gone down with injuries. Bannister is almost eligible to come off the DL, but the Mets don't want to rush him back from his hamstring injury. Maine went on the DL just before Zambrano, with a finger injury, and Zambrano is out for the year. Jose Lima was just OK replacing Zambrano (5 runs in 5 innings...but this was not an ordinary outing - more on that later), and he'll probably get another start. The Mets are also big on Jeremi Gonzalez, who has been back and forth between majors and minors the past couple of years. It does not look like the Mets are going to mess around with their bullpen - they like the roles everyone is in there, and they won't be pulling guys out of the pen (like Darren Oliver or Aaron Heilman) to fill in for the injured starters.
• I call Zambrano stupid because while the Mets were concerned about his hamstring all this time, he was having elbow problems, and he kept his mouth shut. The Mets would never have let Zambrano go out there if he had said something, because they don't want to jeopardize his health. The problem here is that Zambrano was already on the verge of losing his job, just because of the whole fact that he was underperforming, and he was the guy they traded Kazmir for....but he still should have said something.
• Zambrano is supposed to be ready to come back by the beginning of next season. But the wild card is that this is an elbow Zambrano has had trouble with before - so it's not automatic that he will respond well to a second surgery. Also - do the Mets even want him back? Everytime he pitches, he carries with him the label "disappointing Mets trade". And now, does Randolph trust him? Zambrano lied to Randolph's face about his health, so why should Randolph believe anything Zambrano says in the future? He's opened up quite the can of worms.

The rest of the weekend wasn't so bleak. Both Friday night (Happy Birthday to my sister!) and Saturday afternoon the Mets came from behind to hand the Braves disappointing losses. And Saturday, with Randolph wanting to rest both Duaner Sanchez and Billy Wagner* (I can't believe he's gone this long without an asterisk...he clearly deserves one), Jorge Julio got the save. It wasn't the easiest save, but he got the save, and that's progress. It's also progress that Randolph would trust Julio in that type of situation, and get a positive result.

Also, Carlos Beltran* has homered in 3 consecutive games. It's not 2004's post-season Carlos Beltran yet....but he's certainly better than the 2005* edition.

The Mets have an off-day Monday, then they head to Philadelphia for 3.

FROM THE MOUTH OF THE WIFE: I forgot to mention this - but remember earlier in the week when Willie Randolph got thrown out of a game for arguing a called strike three call against David Wright? Well, the cameras kept cutting back to Wright in the dugout, steaming. Keith Hernandez (or Gary Cohen, I forget who) says, "And David Wright is hot. He's HOT in the dugout." The Wife, without missing a beat, says, "Yeah, he's hot." But I'm OK with it.

ALSO KEEP FORGETTING TO MENTION: When we were in San Diego, the Padres batters, like most other teams, come to the plate with their own music playing. Adrian Gonzalez, playing 1B that night, has by far the best music in the Majors when he comes to the plate. Not sure what it was that was playing, but it was catchy. And, since it was a 14-inning game, we heard it 6 times! He's only 23, so hopefully he keeps that music throughout his career. If the Padres are on TV, and they're home, and you have a chance to watch, and Gonzalez is starting - try to catch one of his at-bats. That's my public service announcement for the day.

THE KID'S KIDS: The St. Lucie Mets are expanding their lead in the division. They beat Fort Myers on Sunday, 9-6, to improve to 19-10 on the year. They're now up by 2 games over Palm Beach.

Elsewhere in the minors, Boof Bonser took the loss as Rochester lost to Pawtucket, 5-2. Bonser gave up 3 earned runs in 6.2 IP, striking out 6, walking 3, and giving up 8 hits. His overall season stats are still impressive - he is just 2-2, but he has a 1.87 ERA. Still better than a lot of the Twins' major league pitchers.

FANTASY UPDATE: The What if Mets are back to .500...but it was a battle. They're 6-6- Dwight Gooden is 2-0, and leads the league in strikeouts. Robin Ventura is amazing, at the plate, and I think I may have figured out a way to tell if my guys are going to beat the opponent. I feel pretty good about the way my lineup is right now. I'm playing the Phillies for the next 4 games - my first division opponent. 6-6 is relatively good in the league - but I'm in the toughest division - including the Nationals/Expos, run by Kevin from Wilmington, who started 0-1, and rattled off 11 straight wins. So I'm wondering if he's really good, or if the teams he played are really bad. I'll find out when I play them, I guess. That can't happen soon enough - I'd love an 11-game winning streak.

BEAT THE STREAK: This will be controversial - David Wright was my Sunday pick, and he was hitless until his last at-bat, when he hit a fly ball that the center fielder dropped. It was ruled a double. So my hit streak is at 3. But I don't know what will happen when, in the coming days, that is turned into an error, which it has to be, and Wright's hit is taken away. I wonder how that affects beat the streak. Anyway, Monday, I like Vernon Wells' career numbers against Jeff Weaver, so he's the pick.

I stayed up way too late Sunday night, and I'm paying the price right now. So I can't stay up and write once the Mets end (they're headed to the bottom of the ninth tied at 1 with Washington right now). I'll have a write-up tomorrow night.

Victor Zambrano pitched really well, and the bullpen has been great so far. Hopefully the Mets end it here.

I'm also mad because Seth McClung pitched awesome tonight, somehow, and Michael Young didn't get a hit, so it's back to the Beat the Streak drawing board. I'll start with Jose Reyes tomorrow night.

Other news of note: Tim Hudson pitched a one-hitter for the Braves against Colorado, in Atlanta. The only hit he gave up was to the opposing pitcher.

I'll have more on Tuesday night.

11TH - OURS

Mets 9, Giants 7, 11 innings (NYM: 14-7, SFG: 11-10)

The Mets came back, took a lead, blew a lead, then took a lead again on Wednesday afternoon in San Francisco. In the end, they headed to Atlanta (after an off-day Thursday) with a win, but it could have been costly.

Brian Bannister gave up 3 runs in five innings, and also drove in two runs during a 2-for-3 afternoon at the plate. But it was after he doubled in the top of the sixth, when he was running home to score the go-ahead run, that he came up lame, barely able to make it down the third base line with the Mets' 4th run, with a hamstring injury (big credit to Bannister, though, for gritting it out and getting across the plate despite the pain he was in). Bannister left the game immediately (replaced by Aaron Heilman). I'll keep you posted on when he will come back - but the Mets are having hamstring problems - first Carlos Beltran* and now Bannister. I'd hate to see Bannister be out long - first of all, because the Mets aren't deep in pitching, and secondly because he's fun to watch pitch. I think the latest I heard is that Bannister would be re-evaluated in Atlanta.

Billy Wagner blew a save in this game but all 3 runs he gave up were unearned, coming after a David Wright error with a man on and 2 out in the 9th. After the error, Wagner gave up a pinch-hit, 2-run homer to Barry Bonds (number 711 career), but the Mets got clutch hits from Chris Woodward and THE GREATEST PLAYER WHO EVER LIVED, Jose Reyes, in the 11th to win it. The Mets also got great work from the bullpen - particularly Chad Bradford and Darren Oliver, in extra innings.

14-7 is the Mets record. That's good for a .667 winning percentage. That's 2 wins every 3 games. The Mets have the potential to keep that up all year. That's scary...for other teams.

MAILBAG: I almost don't believe my eyes - after about 2 years away from the site - Steve from New York is back in the inbox!!! And we welcome him back with open arms:

"Johnnymets -

As you know, I am a long time Mets fan and am used to them making terrible trades. Clearly, Kazmir for Zambrano is very close to top of the list. What is driving me crazy is that everyone in NY sees that Zambrano is horrible except for Randolph and Peterson. What are the two of them smoking? How much longer can this follishness continue? While listening to WFAN earlier today, I learned that the Mets are planning the weekend rotation to be Martinez - Glavine - Zambrano, Fri - Sun respectively. Normally, Sunday's game would be pitched by Trachsel, which is his 5th day. As most Mets fans know, Trachsel does well and likes to pitch on his 5th day. Instead, the Mets braintrust has decided to push Trachsel back a day, instead of skipping Zambrano all together, (which they would have been able to do because of the day off).

What are your thoughts and how long can the Mets fans let this nonsense go on?

PS - The FAN was saying that one of the reasons, besides stupidity could be that they want to keep Zambrano away from the Shea crowd as long as possible. That might be the smartest thing they have done all season (however, it will probably be to the detriment of the team)

PPS = If Bannister can't start on his next scheduled date, do the Mets bring Heilman from the bullpen for a start?

Steve"

Steve - The way I see things with Zambrano right now is, the Mets can't win every game. So Zambrano is that equalizer, allowing them to lose every fifth day or so. (I'm only partly kidding there.) I've said it before - this is the year where the Mets learn whether or not Rick Peterson's work with Zambrano will pay off. (So far, not so good.) I couldn't listen to WFAN today, obviously, but I did get the Mets game on SNY. And Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez were saying that Steve Trachsel will pitch on Sunday, on his regular fifth day, and Zambrano would just be skipped. I'm not sure who's right - them or 'FAN, but now Bannister's injury throws a wrench in things, if he ends up being out for a while.

I do NOT think Heilman should be thrown in for a fill-in start. If he's going to be starting, I agree with what Hernandez said on SNY - it shouldn't be a permanent thing. The thing is, the way Duaner Sanchez has been pitching, I'd rather see him take over Heilman's role, Zambrano be a permanent reliever (where I liked the way he looked last year), and Heilman starting every fifth day. I think that's the best the Mets could do.

Thanks for writing, Steve! Keep it up.

ELSEWHERE AROUND THE NL: Some sweeps worth noting. The Reds beat the Washington Nationals, completing a 3-game sweep, behind a 1-hitter by Bronson Arroyo. I don't want to pat myself on the back, but I did say I thought Arroyo being traded by the Red Sox would light a little bit of a fire under him. He's now 4-0, and has pitched brilliantly.

The Brewers swept the Braves. The Mets have been struggling a bit lately (1-2 vs. Atlanta, 2-2 vs. the Padres), but it's nothing compared to what the Braves have been doing. They're now 9-12. The Mets need to twist the knife a little bit this weekend in Atlanta - a place where they haven't had much success in recent years.

Finally, the Cardinals swept the Pirates, but Jose Hernandez hit a homer off Jason Isringhausen in the top of the ninth inning to tie the game. (The Cardinals won in the bottom half.) I'm telling you - the Cardinals bullpen is flawed this year. That will eventually cost them.

FROM THE AL: This stuff about Kevin Mench is great. I've always liked Mench - I always used to pick him up as a spare outfielder whenever I used to play fantasy baseball with current baseball players. He got off to a very slow start this season - 0 HR, 0 RBI in his first 10 games, I think. Turns out, he was wearing uncomfortable shoes - they were too small for his feet. So he misses five games, switches shoes, and has been on fire. He hit a grand slam Wednesday, and has homered in six consecutive games. What a riot.

THE KID'S KIDS: St. Lucie Mets manager and Hall of Famer Gary Carter has his work cut out for him. The Mets' 2005 first round pick, pitcher Mike Pelfrey, who has been pitching very well (winning Monday night) has been promoted to Double A. Managing in the minors has to be very tough with all of that roster upheaval due to promotions, demotions, etc.

On Wednesday, Carter's Mets scored five runs in the bottom of the ninth (awesome managing!) to beat Jupiter, 5-3. The win makes the Mets 13-6, and vaults them into first place.

Other Kid's Kids (and Dmitri Young's brother): Delmon Young, Devil Rays prospect and current Durham Bull, threw a bat at a home plate umpire after being called out. I'm not sure how the bat was thrown, or how the umpire is doing. This was a replacement ump - the minor league umpires are on strike - as a matter of fact, another replacement ump was involved in an incident with the Norfolk Tides, the Mets' Triple A affiliate, when Victor Diaz collided with him at first base. The collision forced Diaz to miss four games.

SNY PROGRAMMING: For the first time, during Wednesday's Mets game, I saw an SNY programming commercial showing that the Mets would be showing lots of Classic Mets games from 1986 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of that team. They should show classic games non-stop - instead of that drivel they call "Daily News Live". I'm psyched, needless to say.

PIC OF THE DAY: I need to write some stadium reviews from the West Coast - Thursday is a Mets' off-day, so that looks like a good time to write them, but for now, enjoy this pic from our trip:


I do believe the Padres have the least intimidating mascot in the Majors. Although, Padres fans could probably make a good counter-argument......

BEAT THE STREAK: I picked David Wright because he owned Jason Schmidt, but the Giants went with Matt Morris instead. Wright finally doubled in the 8th, to keep my streak alive - now a 5-gamer. I'm going with the history again on Thursday - Mike Lowell, a career 6-for-13 hitter against Paul Byrd.

NATIONALS' DISASTER

Mets 13, Nationals 4 (NYM: 7-1; WAS: 2-8)

The Mets are rolling right now, so it's not a stretch to throw in the ol' Happy Fan-O-Meter, indicating the Mets are on their way to the World Series. It should also be noted that the way the rest of the National League East is playing, the Mets will clinch the division by July. (By the way - I'm not going to apologize for the Mets having a seemingly easy division this year - it's been impenetrable in recent years - they deserve this break. Also, it remains to be seen if they can beat the Braves - we'll find out about that next week.)

I didn't TiVo the Thursday game - it was the last day of school before spring vacation, and I figured with the students going to music class at the end of the day, I'd have plenty of time to follow the score. By the time I logged on, the Mets were up 4-0, and had hit 3 homers. They cruised to the 13-4 win, and Victor Zambrano is now 1-0 on the year. If Carlos Beltran* is playing angry (at the New York fans), then he'd better stay angry for the next 6 years. Future Hall of Famer David Wright hit career homer number 44 (#3 on the season), and Cliff Floyd might finally be heating up, as he hit his first homer. By the way, those three homers all came in the first inning. Carlos Delgado also added a homer in the third inning.

The only negative out of this game was Jorge Julio, who came on in relief and gave up a homer in his one inning of work. Rick Peterson better get to work on him. Darren Oliver, who barely made this team, gave 2 innings of perfect relief after Zambrano left (Zambrano was the first Mets pitcher not to go 6 innings this year - but it was his first start in a long time).

The Mets swept the Nationals in Washington - and if the Nats weren't mad at the Mets before this series....they sure are now. The Mets return home and will face the Brewers this weekend. It's to the point with the Mets where I don't mind seeing them lose once in a while, because I don't see this team hitting a prolonged losing streak at any point in the year.

OTHER TEAMS: The Braves are struggling - losing two out of three at home to the Phillies. And Chipper Jones is on the DL. They'll make some sort of run this year - but things are looking bad for them. And earlier this week I mentioned the bullpen troubles the Cardinals have been having. Jason Isringhausen gave up another go-ahead home run again on Thursday - this one to Carlos Lee of the Brewers (the Mets' next opponent) in the 11th inning. They lost, 4-3. Lee had some game - in the bottom of the 10th, he saved the game by robbing Juan Encarnacion of a game-winning 2-run homer, and making a jumping catch on Jim Edmonds to end the 10th. He climbed the wall on the Encarnacion play - it was great.

CORRECTION: I watched a bit of the Angels-Rangers last night, and - of course - Vlad Guerrero got a hit. It was his 39th straight game against Texas with a hit - I had said 37 going into last night's game. Sorry. I shortchanged Guerrero. I used to dislike Guerrero when he was in the same division as the Mets - I love watching him play now, though.

THE KID'S KIDS: The St. Lucie Mets beat the Jupiter Hammerheads, 3-1 on Thursday night. They're now 6-2, a game back of Brevard County. Good for Hall of Famer Gary Carter - a strong start to his season.

BEAT THE STREAK: I have a modest 2-gamer going right now, and I've picked players all the way through my return from vacation a week from Sunday. Hopefully when I come back I'll be on a 12-game hitting streak.

VACATION: I'm very psyched that in 19 hours I'll be on a plane to California. First stop, San Francisco - I'll be at the A's-Rangers game on Sunday. Then it's L.A. - Dodgers-Cubs on Wednesday. We finish our week in San Diego, and we'll be at the Mets-Padres game on Friday night. If we pass an internet cafe or something, I'll try to do a post. Otherwise, I'll be back a week from Sunday - maybe the Mets will be up to 13-1 by then.

TOE-ING THE RUBBER

Pedro Martinez* made his first spring start on Sunday, and the results were more than encouraging. Pedro* went three scoreless innings against the Orioles, striking out 2, and Victor Zambrano finished the shutout with six scoreless innings. Hence, the Mets-Fan-O-Meter is in good shape. I realize the Fan-O-Meter did not look good at all in the upper right corner of the page, so the Fan-O-Meter will probably appear next to the daily posting, and I will work on something else for the upper right, where the Mets logo is now. One last note on Pedro* - it looks now like he will be the starting pitcher in the third game of the season, with Zambrano going in game 2.


HEILMAN/BANNISTER: There are reports that the Mets have made up their mind to have Brian Bannister be the fifth starter, and Aaron Heilman resume his out-of-the-bullpen role from last year. That's fine with me, because I think Heilman was great in relief, and will continue to be great in relief, and it's probably best for the team. I just hope Heilman doesn't get mad and let it affect his performance, because he has pitched well enough this spring (as has Bannister) to earn a starting spot.

2ND BASE: With the second base job appearing to be Anderson Hernandez's now that Kaz Matsui is not available in the early part of the season, I just hope the Mets don't go after Tony Graffanino. Graffanino was put on waivers by the Red Sox. The Mets don't need to muddy up that second base position hunt any further with an outsider - they have plenty to choose from between Hernandez and Jeff Keppinger.

WAGNER: Billy Wagner is back to throwing a baseball, and the stiffness in his finger is going away, as expected. He should be OK by the start of the season.

One week until Opening Day. This is going to be a very busy week for me, but I'll try to give a season preview when the roster decisions are all made.

PIRATES PUT UP THEIR DUKE

Pirates 5, Mets 0 (PIT: 52-69; NYM: 61-59) 7.5 GB East, 3 GB Wild Card

There's one thing (and I think just one thing) that Mets fans and Red Sox fans have in common. When they see a rookie pitcher pitching against their respective teams, they just want to run and hide. Enter Zach Duke. The Pittsburgh phenom has been lights-out since his call-up before the All-Star break, and he gave up just two hits to the Mets in 7 innings of work on Thursday as the Pirates beat the Mets, 5-0.

The game was on WB11 in New York, so I was relegated to Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh to watch this game. Awful broadcasting. Just awful - more on that later. Anyway, I don't think those broadcasters deserve to broadcast games involving an impressive youngster like Duke. They were horrible. I actually wasn't too impressed watching Duke. He obviously was good - he shut down the Mets - but he was doing it by mixing speeds and keeping the Mets off balance. Every now and again he'd blow one past a hitter, but he wasn't what I expected...I guess that's the point I'm trying to make.

So Victor Zambrano got the loss - he was streaky. He got into the typical jams, then pitched himself out of them, but he was very wild. He hit Jason Bay twice, and Brad Eldred another time. This is where the horrible announcing comes in. They're both in the booth talking about whether or not Duke should go out the next inning and hit the first batter to send a message. The first batter would have been Zambrano (who, down 4-0 in the sixth, was clearly going to be lifted for a pinch-hitter), and this was after Zambrano hits Bay for the second time, his third hit batter overall. Now, anyone who broadcasts Major League Baseball games should know that Zambrano has control issues. But these guys are debating this point, then one of them says, "Wow. Zambrano hits A LOT of guys!! I guess he's not doing it on purpose." Yeah, bozo, the Mets are trailing, there's no history between the two, and Zambrano is intentionally throwing at Pirates. And Zach Duke should ruin the gem he's pitching to retaliate for nothing, and perhaps spark a brawl that will end up getting him hurt. Idiots.

Speaking of hurt, Carlos Beltran* showed his first tentativeness in center in the second inning. On a fly ball to left-center field, Beltran* circled the ball, which came straight down on the warning track in front of him. I think he was afraid of running into Cliff Floyd, who was heading towards the ball also. That could be a problem down the stretch here. But Beltran* continued his aggressiveness on the basepaths - stealing a base, and legging out an infield hit.

The shame of this loss is that everything that needed to happen for the Mets on Thursday night went their way. The Phillies and the Nationals split their day-night doubleheader, with the Nationals getting two late runs in the second game to come back and win. The Dodgers beat the Braves, so the Mets could have gained ground in the division. And as I write this, it looks like the Brewers will beat the Astros. (The bad news is that the Marlins moved another game in front of the Mets by beating the Padres.)

Here's another impressive thing about Duke - he's now 6-0 (the Pirates have lost a couple of the games he's started, but he has gotten no decisions) and either one or two wins short of the best rookie starts ever by a Pirate. Just FYI.

Pirates piling on: Jason Bay robbed Ramon Castro of a home run in the eighth inning - the ball might have hit the top of the wall, but it was going to go over.

The Nationals, coming off the doubleheader split, come to town for three this weekend beginning Friday night. The Mets, considering the fact they didn't sweep the Pirates, NEED to get at least two out of three, and a sweep would be better.

ELTRAN*'S: Beltran* went 2-for-4, but he's not really killing the ball. He legged out a dribbler down the third base line that didn't roll foul late in the game, and he got the second hit off of Duke (he only allowed the two) on a liner up the middle. He also stole third. Seems like Beltran* is starting to heat up...

30-for-105 (.286 AVG.), 3 HR, 15 RBI, 22 Runs, 8 SB

WRIGHT WATCH: The doubles hunt is slowing. Wright needs to heat up again. He was 0-for-2 with a walk on Thursday.

SECOND HALF: 10 SEASON TOTAL: 32 TEAM RECORD: 44

WRIGHT NEEDS 12 DOUBLES IN THE TEAM'S FINAL 42 GAMES TO TIE!!

THE KID'S KIDS: Looks like more rain in Florida. Still 32-15 after another rainout. 9-and-a-half games up. I forgot to call Port St. Lucie today - but I will try on Friday. I was busy cleaning up the lawn and yard.

METS HAVE WRIGHT-ZAMBRANO

Mets 6, Cubs 1 (NYM: 57-54, 6.5 GB [3 GB W.C.]; CHI: 54-57)

I suspect loyal followers of johnnymets.blogspot.com took advantage of the national exposure the Mets received this weekend (FOX on Saturday, ESPN on Sunday) and watched the Mets, not needing my daily blog updates. If not, here's a quick recap.

Sort of last-minute, I attended Friday night's game between the Mets and Cubs - which featured the return of Nomar Garciaparra and Kerry Wood from the disabled list for the Cubs. The wife and in-laws were treated to a 9-5 Mets win. The most important part of that game was the fact that Tom Glavine gave the Mets 8 innings, providing rest to a much-overworked bullpen after the disastrous Milwaukee series.

Saturday, the Mets sent down Kaz Ishii and called up Jae Seo, and Seo again dazzled (as he always does in his start after a call-up). The Mets beat Greg Maddux, 2-0, and David Wright doubled. The bullpen pitched particularly well - Roberto Hernandez struck out Triple Crown candidate Derrek Lee on three pitches, and Braden Looper pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for the save. I missed this game due to a matinee showing of Mamma Mia with the wife and the in-laws.

Sunday Night Baseball. Mets-Cubs. The Mets finish off the sweep with a 6-1 win. Another strong outing by the starter - Victor Zambrano goes eight innings, giving up just the one run. He bounces back nice from his disaster against the Brewers where he gave up about seventeen homers in two innings of work. The Mets again got to double digits in hits - ten in all. Three of the hits belonged to Cliff Floyd, who homered, and Future Hall of Famer David Wright had three RBI. THE GREATEST BALLPLAYER WHO EVER LIVED, Jose Reyes, continued his quest to best DiMaggio, extending his hitting streak to 20 games. And, dare I say it, Carlos Beltran* may be coming around. Beltran* was just 1-for-3, but he made things happen when he got on base. He reached on an error by third baseman Aramis Ramirez in the first inning, an error caused by Beltran* busting it down the line on the routine grounder. He came around to score from first base on a single by Floyd. Good stuff. His next at-bat he walked, and scored on a Wright sacrifice fly. Then he singled to right, and scored on a Wright fielders' choice. Of course, in his final at-bat, Beltran* grounded into a double play, and was booed by the crowd.

A big sweep by the Mets. We're really going to see what the Mets are made of coming up. After an off-day on Monday, the Mets go to San Diego. This is the beggining of two West Coast road trips in three weeks. The Mets exposed the Cubs these past three games - the Cubs made a run to get to .500 coming into the series, and the Mets swept them. The Cubs are done. The Mets now have to avoid any big losses, and show they're for real by winning out West. The Padres and Dodgers are two beatable teams. Then the Mets come home to face the Pirates and Nationals before going West again to play Arizona and San Francisco. All very winnable. It's put up or shut up time for the Mets. And there's no better way to get that all started than with Pedro Martinez* on the mound Tuesday night.

A couple of comments about the Shea experience. First of all, Sunday night was Pedro* bobblehead night, and I didn't get a bobblehead. The Mets are the only team that holds a bobblehead night and gives them only to the kids in attendance. Tonight I think I realized why - they give them to the kids, and then have a ton left over for all the employees. And I get screwed. One of the few things the Mets do that really ticks me off.

Also, I can't stand how baseball crowds are so dependent on "scoreboard noise" to make noise at ballgames. I'm guilty of it sometimes too - you just don't make noise sometimes at the game unless the scoreboard is telling you to "GET LOUD" at certain points in the game. Of course, at certain points in the game the crowd is getting loud anyway, because there are two strikes on a batter or whatever, but too often the crowd will be sitting quiet, then the scoreboard flashes the sign when the pitcher is looking in for the catcher's sign, and then the crowd roars, and then it dies down all before the pitch is even delivered. At least if the crowd is going to respond to "scoreboard noise", sustain it through the pitch to rattle the pitcher. I get bothered by that - I long for the good old days when the crowd decided when to "GET LOUD".

Also, Mets "fans" are now trying to chant players' names during at-bats. For instance, "Mike Pee-ahh-zaaa". Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap. "Mike Pee-ahh-zaa." Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap. It's a blatant rip-off of when the Yankees fans do their stupid little roll call in the outfield. I hate that and I hate the people in the stands at Shea who are trying to do it with the Mets. Get your own ideas.

ELTRAN*'S: 26-91 (.286 AVG.), 3 HR, 16 Runs, 15 RBI, 4 SB

WRIGHT WATCH: No doubles Sunday night, but one on Saturday.

SECOND HALF: 7 SEASON TOTAL: 29 TEAM RECORD: 44

THE KID'S KIDS: No games on Sunday in the Gulf Coast League. As the season draws near an end, the Gulf Coast Mets are 6 games in front, at 25-13. August 25 is the last day on the schedule. I will keep you posted on wheter there is a post-season.

CAM DO

The Mets game is still going on as I write this, but I need to go to bed, and I wanted to weigh in on some things.

First of all, Victor Zambrano was awful Tuesday night. He gave up 4 homers to the first eight batters, and couldn't make it through the second inning. Aaron Heilman, Jose Padilla, Jose Santiago, and Roberto Hernandez were awesome in relief, giving the Mets a chance to get back in the ballgame.

Ramon Castro played great - he got the Mets to within 7-6 in the 7th (following David Wright's 30th career homer) and then Marlon Anderson got his 1,000th pinch hit of the season, tying the game at 7. The Mets just battled and battled in this game - it definitely has the potential to be a turning-point type of game.

Hernandez gave up the go-ahead homer to Geoff Jenkins (his second of the game) in the top of the ninth, and then after Wright struck out against Derrick Turnbow, the least clutch hitter of all-time shed his moniker. Mike Cameron is a brand-new ballplayer. I think he's been bothered by trade rumors for a very long time. He's happy to still be in New York, and it's showing on the field. He needs to stay as hot as he is right now, and play like he played when he came of the DL at the beginning of the year - and he needs to play at that level for the rest of the year. Incidentally, that was the first run Turnbow had given up since June 23.

I may overuse the preface, THE GREATEST PLAYER WHO EVER LIVED in referring to Jose Reyes. But let's revisit why he is THE GREATEST PLAYER WHO EVER LIVED. Reyes causes things to happen. He sparked the Mets when he first came up, and last year when he came back from his injury. This year, he's gotten better as the year has gone on. He's fifth in the National League in hits. Whenever he gets on base, he scores, and he's always in the middle of Mets' rallies. The offense revolves around him. He's also very clutch. His speed causes pitchers to balk. Sure, he doesn't walk a whole lot - but he gets a lot of hits. He's got the greatest arm in the history of the game (OK, that might be an exaggeration, but he's got a great throwing arm). The Mets need to make the playoffs so the entire country can get an extended look at THE GREATEST PLAYER WHO EVER LIVED, Jose Reyes.

The game's going to extra innings, so I'm going to go. ELTRAN*'S and WRIGHT WATCH will return tomorrow, but you only need to know Wright homered instead of doubled, and Beltran* blew a bunch of opportunities to drive in runs early in the game...he hit the ball hard, but he's 0-for-4 right now.

THE KID'S KIDS: Mets split a doubleheader with the Marlins, losing 4-1 and winning, 5-2. The Mets are 23-11, 6 games up.

DODGERS DODGE BULLET

Dodgers 6, Mets 5 (LA: 44-52; NYM: 49-47, 4.5 GB- pending ATL)

Nobody's going to believe this, but I had a strong feeling the Mets would come back when they were down 6-2 after five and a half innings. Well, maybe you will believe that, since the comeback never fully materialized.

But that's the thing about this Mets lineup - it has the ability to overcome big deficits at any point in the game when the players are swinging the bats well, and they came up just short on Friday night.

I didn't see this game, but followed it on GameCast...but Victor Zambrano didn't have it...and Heath Bell relieved him, giving up one inherited runner, which proved to be the game-winning run. But all six runs were charged to Zambrano - not a good outing, especially with a 4-game winning streak on the line.

So the Mets trailed 6-2 going into the bottom of the sixth. (Doug Mientkiewicz had hit a 2-run homer in the bottom of the fifth - the Mets were actually down 6-0 in the game.) But the top of the lineup was due up in the sixth, and you knew if they could get it going, the Mets had a shot. So THE GREATEST BALLPLAYER WHO EVER LIVED, Jose Reyes, singles, then the least clutch hitter of all time (he cost the Mets later), Mike Cameron, singled, and Carlos Beltran* homered, and suddenly it was 6-5. But the Mets got no closer. But the point is the lineup is potent, and because of that, the Mets aren't out of many games.

Incidentally, ex-Mets killed them in this game. Jeff Kent homered, singled, and doubled, and Jason Phillips had an RBI and run scored.

It really is too bad the Mets couldn't win this, because the Nationals lost again - 14-1. The Dream Ride is over - actually, it's come to a crashing halt. The Braves started at Arizona after this post, so it remains to be seen if the Mets lose ground on them. But the Nationals are sliding. Before their demolition to the Astros, Jose Guillen and a couple of other players took a 300-foot tape measure out to the field at RFK to measure the dimensions of the ballpark. Turns out, the numbers on the wall are shorter than the actual measurements. Guillen says he writes down every shot he hits to the warning track at RFK, and says he should have 29 homers this year. He says it doesn't bother him....but you know it does. Talk about turmoil....and I'm sure we haven't seen the worst yet from Guillen.

I forgot to mention the past few days, and hopefully someone reads this so it doesn't go unnoticed, but the Pirates have a rookie pitcher named Zach Duke who made his debut, I think, on July 7th (right around there, anyway). He won again Thursday night, and has only allowed a couple of earned runs in his 4 or 5 starts, and he's striking out a lot of batters. Keep an eye on him.

ELTRAN*'S: Beltran* went 1-for-4 with that huge homer, so his 2nd half numbers are: 8-31 (.258 BA), 2 HR, 8 RBI, 3 Runs, 0 SB

WRIGHT WATCH: David Wright's 1-for-3 was a double, so: 2ND HALF: 3 SEASON TOTAL: 25 TEAM RECORD: 44

THE KID'S KIDS: The Gulf Coast Mets won, 7-3 over the Dodgers, so they're 17-8, 3 games up.

KAZ-UALTIES OF WALKS

Phillies 6, Mets 3
(PHI: 40-38, NYM: 38-39; 7.5 GB, pending outcome of Washington's rain delay)

The Mets have an interesting combo in Victor Zambrano and Kaz Ishii. They both battle wildness, but they're both very capable of pitching themselves out of jams. Zambrano won praise for his pitching lately - there have been write-ups about how well he's doing, and how he's progressing, after Tuesday night's win, and people have been comparing him favorably to the year Scott Kazmir has been having...starting to think it might not have been a bad trade. Mike Piazza says Zambrano is wild to catch, because he gets himself into so many jams, but he says it's amazing how he pitches his way out of it.

All this is to set up the fact that "pitching yourself out of jams" is not going to help you play good baseball - because sooner or later, you're going to be just cruising through the first three innings, and then walk the first three batters in the fourth, and then you're going to give up a 2-run single, and a 3-run homer, and your team is going to be down 5-0 before they can manage to get a hit off the opposing pitcher, and then your team is going to lose. That's the long and short of Wednesday night's game, and start, by Kaz Ishii. Ishii did strike out Thome after loading the bases, so he did get himself within a groundball of getting himself out of the jam, but he still walked three straight batters. It's not the first time this season - it had better be the last. This loss is entirely on Ishii.

Changing gears - last night I mentioned my arch-nemesis Kenny Rogers breaking the pinky on his non-throwing hand throwing a hissy fit after a bad outing. Well, another hissy fit followed on Wednesday before the Rangers' game - Rogers attacked cameramen on the field in Arlington. He pushed one guy, then ripped a camera from another guy, threw it to the ground, and kicked it. Apparently, he has a huge temper, and it's becoming more apparent why Rogers couldn't cut it in New York, with the Mets and the Yankees. However, I do NOT remember him showing this much emotion after HE WALKED IN THE WINNING RUN IN THE 1999 NLCS. Probably because that game doesn't reflect in his personal stats.

Interesting fact from the Rangers-Angels series - Vladimir Guerrero has at least one hit in all 30 games he has played against the Texas Rangers. I think that's phenomenal. One more game this series Thursday afternoon in Arlington.

I was reading the Daily News online today, and Bill Madden talked about how the Mets want to be buyers at the (fast-approaching) trade deadline, but they don't really have much of a farm system to deal from. But they should be able to get something for Jae Seo - he won again on Wednesday for (1st place) Norfolk, and is now 6-2. He struck out nine in eight and a third innings, and has a 1.92 ERA since he was sent down on May 5. I'm not saying he's worth a ton - but he's gotta be worth something to somebody.

Let's talk Marlins for a minute: Jack McKeon will miss the next few games because of a death in his family....but that might be a good thing for Florida. Apparently, there is some unrest there - with players tiring of McKeon's old-school ways. Also, there are big-time trade rumors surrounding A.J. Burnett (I had no idea), and the players aren't happy about that at all.

Lastly tonight, I crunched the numbers on Piazza. I drew the line at May 26. To that point, Piazza had been hitting .239, with 4 HR, 10 runs scored, and 10 RBI in 42 games. Since then, he's hitting .316 (.322 before a 1-4 on Wednesday night) with 3 HR, 13 RBI, and 11 runs in 25 games. We'll probably never see the Piazza of old again...but I'll take the Piazza of late.

By the way, the Phillies still don't scare me.

CARTER COUNT: The Gulf Coast Mets had their game against "Washington" suspended in the first inning - they trailed 1-0. Two games on Thursday, putting their perfect record on the line.

PHILADELPHIA FAILIES

Mets 8, Phillies 3 (PHI: 39-38; NYM 38-38, 7 GB)

I've said it so many times, I feel like it's my mantra...but it's not, because then I'd have a very crappy mantra. "The Phillies do not scare me." Here's what scares me: Pedro Martinez* feeling a "twinge" anywhere on his body. Depending on Braden Looper in any situation in life. (Or Armando Benitez.) Clowns and monkeys. The Mets playing at Turner Field. Monkeys dressed like clowns. But not the Philadelphia Phillies. The National League East is tight, and very competitive - but the Mets only have to worry about Washington, Florida, an Atlanta. The Phillies had their run, they're on their way to the cellar. (Incidentally, there's no way the Nationals are going to keep doing what they're doing, but that's another story for another day.)

The Mets improved to 7-3 over the Phillies with their win on Tuesday night at Shea Stadium. The Mets jumped out to the 2-0 lead in the third inning with back-to-back RBI doubles by Mike Cameron and Carlos Beltran*. I think both of them really crushed the ball, because ESPN GameCast said the doubles were hit to "deep left" and "deep center", respectively. Unfortunately, I was relegated to following the game on GameCast because I am at Channel 4. What can you do...I have to pay the bills, you know.

Victor Zambrano gave a run back to Philly, but the Mets broke the game open with 4 runs in the fifth, featuring a Beltran* triple, then RBI singles by Mike Piazza, future Hall of Famer David Wright, and "I can't believe the Mets now have" Jose Offerman. Also in the "I can't believe...." category: Brian Daubach added an RBI groundout. (I know I have a lot of Red Sox fans as readers, so I wanted to make them reminisce by including those two names.)

Mike Piazza added a 2-run homer later in the game to effectively put it away - he's really coming on of late - I might crunch some numbers to figure out at which point of the season you have to start counting his stats to see if he deserves the starting nod at catcher for the All-Star team. I'm sure since a certain date (probably earlier this month) his average is over .300 - he's been hitting that well lately. As it is, Piazza's average is up to .267 overall. That's a big climb from where he was.

The bad news - Danny Graves gave up a couple of bombs in mop-up duty. (Bombs being synonymous with homers - I have no way of knowing if they were legitimate "bombs".) He could help the Mets, but he needs to get things figured out - lots of time with Rick Peterson for Graves. That's my recommendation.

Now the words Dave from Brighton has waited nearly two months to hear -time to check the mailbag (there are a number of outdated e-mails, which we might re-visit on a slow day in the future, but we'll start with a very recent one):

"Dear JohnnyMets,

Thanks for returning to cyberspace.

Here's my question. Or a comment, then a question, really.

Doug Mientkiewicz pulled a hammie while in the on-deck circle the
other day, and he's on the 15 day DL. This got me thinking about my
favorite DL stories.

--Mike Remlinger hurt his left (throwing) pinkie adjusting his recliner
in May.
--Sammy Sosa's sneezing fit (sore back) from last season.
--Paxton Crawford (5-1 career record) lying down on a wine glass. I
read a rumor on the Internet that the injury involved a hooker and a
disagreement over Canadian vs US dollars.

What are your favorite DL stories (that don't involve David Wells)?

Dave"

Dave, you set me up perfectly. I was going to address this today, since my arch-nemesis, Kenny Rogers, missed a start because of a broken bone in his non-pitching hand suffered when he threw a fit in his last start. (Kevin Brown-esque.) And the Mientkiewicz injury might cost the Mets, beause he's the reason Jose Offerman is now back in the major leagues.

But any conversation about stupid baeball injuries begins and ends with John Smoltz. He ironed a shirt - WHILE HE WAS WEARING IT!!! I don't remember if he landed on the DL, or if he even missed a start - but it happened. That's enough. That's the big one...this might be a week-long theme, where I write them down when they come to me. Interesting point about Crawford, incidentally, Dave - thanks for bringing that to our attention.

A big shout-out to Hall of Famer Gary Carter, whose Mets of the Gulf Coast League are off to a 4-0 start. It's a 55-game season, we'll keep you posted on whether or not they stay undefeated. Thus begins our Carter Count.

TO THE VICTORS!

Mets 16, Phillies 4 (NYM: 7-7, PHI: 7-7)

It's tough to single anyone out for a great performance on Tuesday night, because everyone was great. But the headline nod goes to Victors Diaz and Zambrano, who both ranked among the offensive stars for the Mets.

THE GREATEST BALLPLAYER WHO EVER LIVED, Jose Reyes, set the tone for the night by leading off the game with a home run. It was one of a team-record 7 home runs for the Mets on the night, and one of two for Reyes. Victor Diaz also added two, and Victor Zambrano had a two-run triple in the fifth inning, granting him status as an offensive star.

Zambrano didn't have the best night on the mound, giving up a couple of bombs himself, but he finished up OK. Zambrano gave up just two earned runs in six innings, striking out 5. Most importantly, he settled down when things got rough, and kept the Mets in the game early. He loaded the bases in the first inning with no one out, but got a double play ball from Jim Thome, instead of allowing the Phillies to break the game open.

Monday night, though, was all about the Mets' offense. The Mets scored at least a run in the first six innings - knocknig around Vicente Padilla (making his first start of the year), and Gavin Floyd. Besides the four home runs out of Reyes and Diaz, Mike Piazza, Doug Mientkiewicz, and future Hall of Famer David Wright went deep. Wright's was a grand slam, and most likely proves that he reads my website. Yesterday I said Wright needed a big game to get back on track offensively, a la Milwaukee last year. What does he do? A 2-for-4 night, 3 runs, 4 RBI, and the homer. Way to go, David.

I think this game was huge for the Mets. Citizens Bank Park is supposed to be a hitter's park, and every time the Mets had been there, they didn't really light it up. I think they had some decent games there last year, but by no means anything like this. So that's got to give a team some offensive confidence. Now hopefully the Mets can take this to Florida, and then against Washington, and build another winning streak. This is a pretty big stretch, considering it's April - there's a lot of games against division opponents in a row....and the Mets are holding their own.

Time to check the mailbag:

"johnny,

Here's the rub...Im getting into the Mets this year. I really like watching Pedro, Reyes, Wright and Beltran are exciting, and I still think every Piazza at-bat is a potential for something incredible to happen.

Obviously my top priority is still the Yanks, but these New look Mets are something special...That being said...I CANT WATCH THE METS DURING THE WEEK. Time Warner and Cablevision are having another one of their pissing contests. When they first took MSG off and replaced it with NBATV i was happy, because i am one of 17 NBA fans left in the country, and being forced to watch knick games was making that fandom precarious at best. But then baseball season started, and i feel like Im missing out. Thank god for channel 11 on the weekends.

so, my question is this...You stayed in Boston, claiming its because you have a job there and a "wife". Is the real reason because you knew three years later it would be easier to see the new look 2005 mets in New England than it would be in Queens?

Justin "big house" schrager..(clarence "big house" gaines died today, and Im taking his name, dammit)"

Justin - I don't care what you call yourself, I'm just so glad you wrote!

First of all, I'm not sure what happened to all your capitalizations and apotrophes - I think some e-mail gets screwed up in my e-mail system, and I didn't want to mess with the content of your e-mail.

Secondly, I'm sorry for you. I don't know what I'd do if I was in New York right now. Luckily, my parents now have RCN, so it wouldn't be a problem for me there, but the fact remains I definitely think it stinks that I can get every Mets game 200 miles away, while someone down the street from Shea can't get any.

I am very glad to hear, though, that you're on board with these Mets. I'm glad to hear you appreciate the excitement they can generate. This is going to be a good year.

Wednesday night is another night I will be "watching" the Mets on ESPN's revamped Gamecast. Let's hope it goes as well as Tuesday night's did. Aaron Heilman tries to repeat Friday night's outing against the Marlins, this time in Florida.

AT A LOSS

Braves 3, Mets 1 (ATL 3-1, NYM 0-4)

Before we get to Friday night's game, two things. First of all, I posted on Thursday, after the Mets dropped to 0-3 against the Reds after an afternoon loss...but blogspot erased it. That's frustrating. The only thing I mentioned that was worth repeating was in that game, future Hall of Famer David Wright went 1-for-1 with 3 walks. He may have walked more in that one game than Jose Reyes, THE GREATEST BALLPLAYER WHO EVER LIVED, will all season.

The other note has to do with Friday night's game. I watched it on Turner South, with broadcasters Pete van Wieren and Skip Caray. These guys are so annoying...and they introduce the Mets lineup by saying Doug Mee-ehn-kee-wiz and Eric VAHL-ent. It's Va-LENT. I will say this about TBS and Turner South's coverage of the Braves games this year and last - they have a great running bottom line that updates scores and relevant statistics. They do a good job with that, at least.

I'm working a morning shift early Saturday morning, so I couldn't stay up too late for Friday night's game...and I don't know how much I'll watch of tonight's game. But I saw most of the action last night before I had to turn in. Another bad inning for a Mets pitcher pretty much did them in. Victor Zambrano had a rough first inning, giving up two runs, seeming to be unable to punch out the last batter...he was saved by Cliff Floyd, who made a great running catch into the left-center field gap off Raul Mondesi to keep it 2-0, Braves.

The Mets couldn't get much going against John Thomson. I refuse to believe this guy is good...he has to hit a wall soon. They made him look great last night. It could have been different though. TGBWEL Jose Reyes led off the game with a single, then was thrown out trying to steal second. I have an issue with this, because he slid headfirst, and was tagged on his foot. There's no way he was out...but oh well. Kaz Matsui then singled to center - it could have been 1-0 Mets...but instead, Carlos Beltran* grounded into a double play to end the inning.

The lone offensive bright spot was Mike Piazza's solo home run in the fourth inning - the first of the year for him and 379th of his career. That made it 2-1, Braves, and the Mets never got closer. Offensively, the Mets aren't playing too bad. They're hitting .289 as a team so far this season (as opposed to the Braves' .213), but I think the Mets are either hitting into an inordinate amount of double plays, or they're leaving a lot of men on base. Either way, things have to start breaking their way - because it's been a lot of tough luck so far this year.

Friday night, the Mets had one last chance in the eighth inning, down 3-1, but with Jose Reyes on second base (he successfully stole second this time), Matsui struck out.

Aaron Heilman makes the start for the Mets today, against Horacio Ramirez. Tomorrow, it's Pedro Martinez against John Smoltz. The Mets need a win.

Scott Kazmir knows I'm watching. He knows this is the first time I've been able to watch him since the Mets traded him to the Devil Rays for Victor Zambrano. He's been saving his best effort for tonight, because he knew I'd be watching very carefully, ready to write about what a crappy trade this was if he pitched well.

It was a crappy trade. What a crappy trade. Scott Kazmir is shutting out the Red Sox through six innings right now...pitching the best game of his short, short career. He's got 9 strikeouts, no runs, and he's given up just three hits. I really thought the Red Sox would knock him around - a lot. It remains to be seen at this writing if Tampa Bay holds on to win the game, and get Kazmir his second major league win...but Kazmir was very impressive on Tuesday night.

Other impressive nights - Kris Benson (so far) and David Wright. As I write this, Wright is 3-for-3, with his 12th homer of the year, and Benson has shut out the Braves through five innings. Back-to-back good starts for Benson - he knows free agency is right around the corner.

One e-mail to get to, which I'll print now since I don't know when I will get to a computer again (if you've been checking out johnnyjets.blogspot.com, which I know you have, you know my computer was stolen):

"Dear johnnymetsmail,
That cheesesteak story was disgusting. I just feel sorry for your wife having to sit next to you for that whole game. I loved the pictures from Philly, but I wish there were some of your beautiful wife.
The website is a great resource for Mets fans and extremely well done and up to date. However, seeing as how you live in the Boston area, I think that you should address the needs of Red Sox Nation also. Some Red Sox related features would be much appreciated.
What is you take on the Sox this year? Do they have what it takes to finally win it all. What did you think of the Nomar trade? Did it make the Red Sox better or worse? Wouldn't they have been better off to get some pitching in return? Additionally who do you see the Sox resigning in the offseason and who will leave? Who do you see those players signing with? Furthermore, what offseason moves could the Sox make to become a better team? Is Roger Clemens coming back next year?

Sox Fan From Shrewsbury"

Thanks, Sox Fan. First of all, get over the cheesesteak. Everyone needs to get over the cheesesteak. Sometimes, you just make a bad food choice when you visit a new city...and you have to deal with the consequences. But it's time to move on. As for the Red Sox questions, I think you have johnnymets.blogspot.com confused with "somecrappyredsoxwebsite.blogspot.com". This is a quality Mets site, and you should really respect that. However, considering that 100% of my readers are Red Sox fans, I will indulge you:

I think the Red Sox are quite good this year, however, I think they will fold at some point, whether it's over the final weeks of the regular season or in the post-season. I have no evidence to support this theory, because the Sox are a very good team, but they didn't do it last year, so they never will do it. That's how I feel. That team is cursed bad. The Nomar trade was great, because Nomar is a @#!$&!? #(!@##?>!. They're a better team without that jerk. Pitching in return would have been good, but the defense is improved, which sort of helps out the pitching anyway. Is it coincidence that since the trade Derek Lowe has been pitching a lot better (probably, since I think Mientkiewicz has been hurt, and Cabrera can't be making that much of a difference when Lowe's on the mound). As for the off-season, I don't know who the Sox will sign - I forgot to ask Theo the last time we spoke. But I'm 99% sure Carl Pavano is signing with the Yankees. I do think Varitek and Lowe are gone. I think Varitek will sign with Milwaukee, and Lowe will sign with the Tigers (random guesses - I have no friggin' clue). For the Sox to become a better team, there's really nothing they can do. They had a great team this year and last year, but they are just fated to never ever win. It's sad, really. And Roger Clemens is a jerk. I don't care whether or not he comes back next year. I hope someone throws a shattered bat at him.

Thanks for reading, Sox Fan in Shrewsbury, and everyone else. We'll see when I can access a computer again, but I'll try to do something again before the end of the week. I'm posting early, but the Devil Rays are on their way to a win, and the Mets are up 7-0. David Wright is now 3-for-4.

Dodgers 10, Mets 2 (60-69)

If you're still reading, thanks for sticking with me. There's not much left for the Mets this season but to play the role of spoilers. That starts with a series against the Marlins beginning Monday. The Marlins are about five games back of the wild card. The Mets can pretty much knock them out of the race in the next couple of weeks.

It seems unlikely these days that the Mets would beat anyone...but Mike Piazza should be back soon during this series with the Marlins, and Kaz Matsui should be back by the end of the week. So, if nothing else, we'll get a look at whether or not Piazza is washed up in the final weeks of the season, and we'll also get a look at whether or not the Mets have been lying to us and Matsui finishes the season at second base. (I have a feeling they mean it when they say he won't play second this year, because of what happened with Joe McEwing on a take-out slide at the second base bag. But Kaz Matsui will be at second base next year, and Jose Reyes, if he is ever healthy, will be the shortstop.)

It was a busy weekend for the Mets. First, they dealt with the Astros again. The Mets traded Dan Wheeler to Houston for a minor league outfielder named Adam Seuss (insert your Dr. Seuss Who joke here). The Mets probably made the deal to bolster the minor leagues, but I like Wheeler. The most frustrating part about Wheeler's game was that everytime he came in with men on base, he let them score. But I think he was valuable as a long reliever/spot starter. Hopefully Seuss makes it to the majors, or can be used in another trade at some point. (An ironic addition to this story - when the Astros added Wheeler, they sent David Weathers, who they acquired from the Mets for Richard Hidalgo, to the minors.)

Also this weekend, the Mets signed Cuban pitcher Alay Soler. This is a deal that's been talked about since spring training. Soler is said to be 24 years old, but who the heck knows if that's true. If it is, that's a nice young pitcher the Mets got. On the other hand...we've been mis-led by the Mets international scouting staff before....(some shortstop named Kazuo).

Finally, maybe this will settle down Mets fans for a bit...or at least me. Scott Kazmir pitched again on Sunday, and pitched much more reasonably for a person making his second major league start. Kazmir gave up five earned runs in 3 innings in getting a no-decision against Oakland. His major league ERA is now somewhere around 5.62. But he's still 1-0. And Victor Zambrano is still on the DL.

(Don't forget about johnnyjets.blogspot.com. We're up and running - check it out!!)

Padres 3, Mets 1 (59-65)

Due to my being on assignment for the Jets site, I did not see Tuesday night's Mets game. I didn't miss much.

I wonder if anyone even still reads this space, since NO ONE HAS E-MAILED ME YET FOR THIS WEEK'S MAILBAG!!! That's OK. I'll postpone it one more day if you have something urgent to say. Otherwise, we'll bag it for the week.

After my "on assignment" for the Jets (which will probably get posted for Thursday, so stay tuned for that), I took in a Huey Lewis and the News concert in Westbury, New York. It was awesome! The first time I saw him, and it was great - I'm going to try to go again. Just outstanding. He played all the songs you'd hope he'd play, and they were all great. So that's why I didn't watch the Mets. And also because they are frustrating, and not very good. Scott Kazmir is 1-0. With a 0.00 ERA. Victor Zambrano is hurt. But football season's a-comin', and I have now attended a Huey Lewis and the News concert.

The Mets and Rockies got rained out on Wednesday night. They'll play a doubleheader on Thursday, and the Mets need to win both games, to take 2 out of 3. Then it's the HUGE weekend series against the Giants, with HUGE wild card implications.

So with the lack of a Mets game to write about, it's time to revisit the softball team, which I haven't written about for a long time. So we won again last night. The record is now 7-2. It must be noted that the third baseman flubbed a grounder, dropped a pop-up, and threw a ball away in the 19-5 win. He used to be flawless, making great plays, no errors at all. But now he's making all these errors, and doesn't know what to do. So he thinks maybe writing about it on his website and exposing his soul to the world might inspire him to play better defense in Thursday night's game. He'll keep you posted.

So, as promised, time to check the e-mail bag. Kevin, from Wilmington, again checks in with this:

"An off topic question...but it looks like the Mets best chances for a World Series might only happen in Cyber-World. So with the release of Madden Football....the question should be asked, why hasn't a great baseball video game been made?? MVP Baseball is ok...but its not something I stay up all night playing. The additional question....best baseball video game ever?? Tony LaRussa baseball?? MVP Baseball?? RBI Baseball?? Triple Play?? Do you have a hidden gem?? I'll hang up and listen. "

Well, Kevin, first of all, let's not write off the non-video game Mets yet. If they sweep Thursday's doubleheader.....anyway, this is something I've wondered quite often in my loser existence. Finally, EA Sports has come up with a passable baseball video game, which took entirely too long. MVP Baseball is a huge improvement over its predecessor, Triple Play Baseball. At least in MVP, you can make a double switch without the game freezing up. I'm big on stats, and you can't do much better stats-wise than what MVP offers. I actually like MVP a lot. But you're right. It's not Madden. And Madden just keeps getting better, year after year. It makes you wonder why baseball can't keep up with the advances football has made. I wonder if the baseball game is harder to make because there are many more stats and such. Anyway, as for the best all-time...I liked RBI because it was the first one to differentiate stadiums. I remember it being the first video game to have the fountains at Kauffman Stadium. And Bases Loaded was a great game, for Nintendo. And I could always be Gary Carter, or just 8 on the New York (N) in Major League Baseball, for Nintendo, which, looking back, was probably the first MLB licensed game. But MVP is the best, just because of the evolution of the game. (For the record, the new Madden is great.)

We're a little light on the e-mails today. But one final word on the Mets. Victor Zambrano was in New York today, I think, for tests on his elbow. He left Tuesday night's game in the second inning after throwing a pitch. This is a problem. Apparently his elbow never felt 100 percent even after the trade from the Devil Rays. The Mets training staff really should have checked that situation out more before giving up a big-time prospect for damaged goods. They did run tests, but obviously, it wasn't definitive enough. Not good.

Kris Benson and Al Leiter go for the Mets in Thursday's doubleheader.

Mets 11, Brewers 6 (52-55, 8 GB)

Let me begin with a couple of stat lines.

First, this pitcher's line: 5 1/3 IP, 8 H, 3 BB, 7K, 6 R, 4 ER. Pretty crappy, but good enough for a win by Victor Zambrano. He got a nice little welcome to the Mets gift. Usually the Mets hang new pitchers out to dry by not scoring any runs. But Zambrano is now 1-0 in the National League (despite a 6.75 ERA), mostly because........

......of this stat line: 3-for-5, 2 2B, HR, 2 R, 6 RBI!!!! You know who put those numbers up Thursday afternoon. None other than future Hall of Famer David Wright. If you didn't see Wright's first inning home run, turn on ESPN now, and wait for them to show it. It was a BOMB. This guy's good. His line yesterday looked like something from when he was tearing up Double-A. He's really starting to find his stroke. Watch out Pete Rose and Hank Aaron. Not to mention Tris Speaker. He's the all-time doubles leader. Or should I say, WAS, the all-time doubles leader. After hitting 2 doubles yesterday, 6 of Wright's 15 hits have been doubles. In 13 games, Wright has 6 doubles. Let's just say he plays about 150 games a year (assuming he doesn't break Cal Ripken's consecutive games streak), for 10 years. That averages out to 750 doubles in his career. And we all know Wright will play at least 20 years, if not 30. That means he'll shatter Speaker's record of 792 career doubles. We're watching history here folks.

OK. So the Mets swept the Brewers. I'm very happy about it. But if they could just hit like this against other teams, namely the Braves, it would probably feel a little better. Believe it or not, statistically, the Brewers are not a bad pitching team. They rank tenth in the majors in ERA. So you figure if the Mets could hit their pitching, they could hit others. Maybe the bats are coming around. Hope it isn't too late.

Mike Cameron sure is smoking the ball. And the Mets seem to have figured out how to hit with the bases loaded. Mike Piazza is still slumping pretty bad, so that's very worrisome. Sadly, I almost prefer to see the Mets 1,2, 6, 7, 8 hitters to the 3, 4, 5 hitters lately. Hmm..no offense, Kaz, but has anyone missed Matsui these last few games? I still feel he's one of the best clutch hitters on the team - if not THE best - but THE GREATEST BALLPLAYER WHO EVER LIVED Jose Reyes just looks so much better at shortstop.

So neither Zambrano or Kris Benson have been too impressive in their Mets debuts. I hope that means they'll only get better for the rest of the season. But who knows, this is the Mets we're talking about. But I think Zambrano was very, very nervous before this start. So maybe it's the best possible thing that he was given a 6-0 lead, almost blew it, and then held on to get a win. Maybe now he thinks he'll only get better, and he'll be more relaxed when he pitches at Shea. I'm reaching folks, but we need these guys to perform lights out, or else it's lights out on the season.

This weekend will be yet another test for the Mets. It's the Mets at Saint Louis. Here's a refresher on how the Mets did in their last series with the Cardinals. A 5-4 win, come-from-behind, when the Mets scored 2 in the bottom of the ninth to beat Jason Isringhausen. The Mets followed that up with a 1-0 loss, and then had one of their worst games of the season on a Thursday afternoon, getting pummeled 11-4. Just an ugly game. So the Mets lost 2 out of 3, but they held their own against a very good team. Now we'll see if they can beat a very good team 2 out of three. Because the Mets can't afford to lose another series the rest of the season. The pitching matchups for this series look phenomenal:

Friday: Tom Glavine vs. Matt Morris
Saturday: Kris Benson vs. Woody Williams
Sunday: Al Leiter vs. Jason Marquis

Let's Go Mets.