We are in that rough stretch of the season, where the Mets take a West coast swing during the school year. It's a tough trip for the Mets, no doubt, because of all the miles, but it really wreaks havoc on my routine.

Anyway, since I won't be writing about the game, I thought I'd give my two cents on the Roger Clemens thing. First of all, I confess to letting my thoughts wander today to the idea, and the way the announcement was made. That was pretty cool. I did imagine a little bit what it would be like to be at a ho-hum Mets game, and then suddenly have an announcement of that caliber. Not that Roger Clemens was becoming a Met, mind you, but something that newsworthy being announced during a 7th inning stretch. It would be pretty amazing. Glad Yankees fans had a chance to enjoy something like that. It's only been 7 whole years since they had a world championship or something big to celebrate.

The other thing that I noticed about the Roger Clemens thing is that it was kind of surreal. I have a lot of schoolwork to do (should be doing it now), so I couldn't focus on the games much on Sunday. But I was switching around right before the Mets started, and I saw the Roger Clemens press conference:

This wasn't the angle I was watching it from, but I needed an illustration. It didn't seem real...it seemed surreal. I wasn't sure it was really happening, but I saw the "live" bug in the corner of the screen, and said, it must be true...they can't joke about something like this. But I was thinking the whole time I was looking at the press conference that it might be fake - I half-expected Buster Olney to pop out and ask fake questions, a la Steve Phillips:

Anyway, I hope Clemens fails hugely. But I needed to get that out there.

OTHER THOUGHTS: It's very upsetting to me that I barely mention David Wright in good terms anymore. He is having an awful start to the year, but it's magnified because that means his awful numbers are his actual stats. Here's what I mean - in the past, Wright's slumps have been disguised at the end of the year, so when he hit .239, his average dropped from .300 to .280, still good. But this year, when he's hit .239, his average is .239. And in the past, when he hit 2 homers in 30 games, that means he only had 26 for the season, instead of more. Now, he just has 2 homers, and it sticks out like a sore thumb. I still firmly believe that Wright will bounce back...he's just digging himself a deeper hole to have to come out of. What also upsets me is that the Southern Bureau is quickly losing all faith in Wright's ability to come back...and there's nothing I can do or say to get that faith back. The only way it will happen is for Wright to start hitting.

BEAT THE STREAK: Speaking of hitting, I'm still at 12 games after Manny's day off (back-to-back with an off-day, gotta love it). Albert Pujols and the Cardinals are just getting underway. Hopefully I'll have a 13-gamer on Tuesday, when it's Ivan Rodriguez against good ol' Horacio Ramirez (now with Seattle).

METS FINALLY LOSE IN ARIZONA

Diamondbacks 3, Mets 1 (NYM: 19-11, ARI: 17-16)

For the first time since my honeymoon (three years ago), the Mets have lost to the Diamondbacks in Arizona. For those of you who don't know (before I get into Sunday's game), The Wife and I went to Hawaii after we were married, May 8, 2004. The Wife decided, though, that on the way out, we could see a ballpark, at Arizona, and see the Mets there at the same time. Long story short, I loved Arizona, the ballpark was just OK, but the Mets lost, 12-8. They lost the next night, too. Then they won the third game of the series....and hadn't lost in Arizona since...until Sunday.

The Mets played well, especially when you consider it was a step up from spring training for them - Endy Chavez in center, David Newhan in left, Ruben Gotay at second, and Ramon Castro behind the plate (various players resting, and Moises Alou still out with a bad knee). Poor Mike Pelfrey, he must have been cursing Willie Randolph that so many starters were sitting on a night he was trying to build on a good outing his last start.

Again, Pelfrey put himself in a hole early. He gave up a run in the first, and after the Mets tied it in the 4th, he gave that run right back. He also gave up the third run, giving up the three over five-and-a-third, and getting bullpen help to only give up the three. A decent outing, but he could have been better. Pelfrey took the loss, he's now 0-4 - I'd still rather have him out there, though, than a Chan Ho Park. (Jorge Sosa I'm not sure about, after his great start on Saturday.)

The Mets are still not getting the offense from the guys they need to hit. David Wright's average is down to .239. I thought he'd heat up in Arizona, but it seems he's cooled down even more. You can't blame anything on Jose Reyes, he's been on fire all year. Carlos Delgado has shown signs lately that he's breaking out...but not much power from him. The Mets need to start hitting, because I don't think Shawn Green will keep this up all year, and Moises Alou is not going to be able to play every day.

The Mets move to San Francisco next, where Oliver Perez gets the series started against Barry Zito on Monday night. You thought 9:40 starts were bad, I might take the next few nights off for schoolwork, and not write after the 10pm games.


Radisson Hotels Johnnymets.blogspot.com Player of the Game: He wasn't dominant, but he was effective, and he got the outs when he needed them. Livan Hernandez held the Mets to just one run on six hits in 7 innings, walking three and striking out three. This makes Livan and El Duque the first half-brother combo to be named johnnymets.blogspot.com Player of the Game.

WHAT A STEAL!: Jose Reyes stole his 19th base on Sunday.

SATURDAY'S GAME

The Mets extended their winning streak in Arizona to 13 games with a 6-2 win. Shawn Green is the johnnymets.blogspot.com Player of the Game for his 2-for-4 night. He homered (his fourth), had 3 RBI, and scored twice, pacing the offense.




BEAT THE STREAK: I picked Manny Ramirez for Sunday, a rare pick - I'm not sure I've picked him in a full year. Anyway, he didn't play. So I think my streak stalls at 12, and picks up again tomorrow. I like Albert Pujols against Jeff Francis.

JOHN MAINE AT IT AGAIN

Mets 5, Diamondbacks 1 (through 7 innings)

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

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

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

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

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



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


THURSDAY'S RESULT


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


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

NO WIN FOR GLAVINE

Diamondbacks 4, Mets 3 (7th inning)

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

THE OLIVER PEREZ 10K

Mets 6, Marlins 3 (NYM: 16-10, FLA: 13-14)

The Mets capped off a tough series against Florida with a win, and Oliver Perez was once again impressive.

Perez struck out 10, improving his record to 3-2, as the Mets beat the Marlins, 6-3. (I didn't see any of this game - it was a day game, and I was at school.) Every Mets starter except Carlos Delgado had a hit - David Wright continues to break out of his slump - he was 2-for-5, this time hitting from the 5 spot (he had been in the two spot the past couple of nights, I forget if I mentioned that). Endy Chavez started in left, and had a hit and 2 RBI, and Shawn Green had two more hits. Ruben Gotay started at second base.

Joe Smith entered the game in the sixth with runners on, got out of a jam, and pitched another scoreless innings (one-and-two-thirds overall), Scott Schoeneweis had a scoreless inning getting the game to Billy Wagner, and Wagner slammed the door for the save.

About the only negative I can see is that two of the runs allowed by Perez were unearned, and David Wright had two errors. Other than that, this was a big win, heading out to Arizona.

I can't give a full verdict on Oliver Perez yet...but he's had one bad start. Other than that, he's been about everything Mets fans have hoped for. And on Wednesday afternoon, he was a stopper - that is huge.

The Mets open up a series in Arizona on Thursday - nine o'clock starts, ugh. You might not hear from me until Friday night - I'm warning you now. Tom Glavine starts on Thursday against Micah Ownings. I hope the Mets bats are as alive in Arizona as they've been there the past couple of years.

JetBlue johnnymets.blogspot.com Player of the Game: Oliver Perez. Not only did he put a stop to the two-game losing streak with a great outing on the mound, but he was 2-for-2 at the plate, scoring two important runs. Perez's line - 5-and-2-thirds innings, 3 runs (one earned), 3 hits, 3 walks, and 10 K's. His ERA on the season is 3.41.

WHAT A STEAL!: No stolen bases on Wednesday for Jose Reyes.

DOUBLES: Shawn Green had his 9th double of the season on Wednesday, Jose Reyes his 10th. The Mets' single-season doubles record WILL fall this season - it's just a matter of which Met finishes with the most this year.

COMMENT ON THE COMMENTS: The Southern Bureau is a very respectable sports journalist. But when it comes to Oliver Perez, the JMDBSDC has a very strong negative and inaccurate bias, the opposite of the blind-fantasy-baseball-induced love of Oliver Perez possessed by Dave in Brighton. I think the Southern Bureau was once burned by Perez and is finding it hard to forgive. Clearly, Southern Bureau, it is time to forgive, and re-sign, and move forward.

As for Davd in Brighton, he mentioned Chan Ho Park's career earnings - that's all thanks to the Texas Rangers.

BEAT THE STREAK: At press time, the Giants hadn't even played, so we have no idea about Ray Durham. Hopefully we'll all wake up and the streak will be at 9 games. Until then, I'll go with A-Rod on Thursday. Also, mlb.com has FINALLY started their 'Survivor' game.

SLUMPBUSTERS CAN'T GET METS WIN

Marlins 5, Mets 2 (NYM: 15-10, FLA: 13-13)

This is the moment you've been expecting if you are a Mets fan...but there's encouraging news. The pitching staff has been hit by injuries, and Mike Pelfrey needs to step up after a tough loss and get you a win. He didn't come through, but there's good news out of the Mets' second loss in a row.

Pelfrey got off to a bad start - walking (and hitting a batter) the bases loaded, and then giving up a 3-run triple to Josh Willingham. After that, though, he managed to hold the Marlins to a 3-0 lead for the duration of his outing...and he settled in very nicely.

Unfortunately, the Mets were never able to overcome that 3-run deficit, and they left a few runs out on the field. Two runners were tagged out at the plate (Jose Reyes on an attempted steal of home [see below] and Carlos Delgado on a play where he could have hustled a bit more), and a couple of rallies never got as big as they should have.

The other good news (I almost don't feel as though the Mets lost, there was so much good coming out of this game) is that David Wright and Carlos Delgado showed signs of life - finally. Delgado was 2-for-4, and both hits went to left field against the shift. Unfortunately, Delgado was nailed at the plate, on an off-line throw up the third base line, where the catcher was able to tag Delgado easily without being run into - Delgado went out of his way to avoid the catcher, rather than run through him in the baseline.

Wright had a night - 3-for-4 with an RBI and 2 runs scored (both Mets runs, incidentally). Wright hit an opposite field homer (#68 career - I actually had to look that up, it's been so long), and had his fifth double of the year - a rocket off the left field wall. Finally, signs of the old David Wright.

The Mets cut it to 3-2, before Aaron Heilman gave up a 2-run homer to Willingham which took the Mets out of the game officially. I think it's time to sound the alarm and get a little bit worried about Heilman. Wright will be OK, so now let's shift our focus to Heilman and see if we can't figure out why he's not as clutch this year.

Bottom line - Pelfrey gave the Mets what they needed on Tuesday. I think he'll be even better in his next start, because I don't think he'll get off to as bad a start as he did in this one. The Mets need to find a number five (while El Duque is out) better than Park, and I think they'll be fine. But I'll feel a lot better about that statement if they go out and get a win on Wednesday.

The Mets play a day game against the Marlins Wednesday before heading out to Arizona. This week hasn't started as I had hoped - I'd really like for the Mets to go on a five-game winning streak right now. (I won't be able to watch Wednesday's game, but I'll try to write about it at night.)

Citi johnnymets.blogspot.com Player of the Game: Josh Willingham owns the Mets, and he certainly owned them Wednesday night. Willingham was 2-for-4, driving in all 5 Marlins runs, while scoring once. He's hitting over .300 against the Mets in his career.



MONDAY'S RESULT

You should know that there's a small "Heroes" addiction going on at the House Sponsored by DirecTV, and Monday night sports viewing suffers as a result (as does blog writing). So a day late and a dollar short, a quick Monday recap. Chan Ho Park started (aaaaaaahhhh!) and made us think he would pitch well with 2-and-2-thirds very good innings, then giving up a 5-spot in the third (the defense didn't help him - so he's not 100% at fault - although he's at fault for not being very good). The Mets lost to Florida, 9-6.
DirecTV johnnymets.blogspot.com Player of the Game: I am going with what I heard Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez say at the end of the game - that Randy Messenger deserved a Player of the Game nod because he shut down the Mets after they attempted several rallies. So I'll give him that nod, because I don't have anyone better. Messenger pitched one inning, throwing just 6 pitches, and I guess he was the most effective pitcher of an ineffective evening for pitchers.


WHAT A STEAL!: Only a caught stealing by Jose Reyes on Tuesday (he did get his 17th stolen base on Monday night). The caught stealing (his 4th on the year) is worth explaining, though. Reyes was on third, Wright stole second, and Reyes tried to steal home. He was thrown out at the plate. This happened in the first inning of Tuesday's game, ending a Mets threat.

MONTHLY COUNT: April came to an end with the Mets at 15-9. Not bad, but considering the way the Mets lost a few of those, and the fact that a couple came at the hands of Washington, it could have been a much better month.

INJURIES: When last I wrote, I mentioned both Jose Valentin and Orlando Hernandez were being checked out in New York due to injuries. Well, both were placed on the DL Monday. Hernandez was replaced by Chan Ho Park for Monday's start, and Ruben Gotay took Valentin's roster spot. We have yet to see Gotay - Park can head back to New Orleans and stay there, as far as I'm concerned.

The Braves are also hurting, though - they had to place Bob Wickman on the DL.

AROUND THE MAJORS: The Cleveland Indians sent pitcher Fausto Carmona down to Triple-A, and I'm not sure why (I could read an article on it, but then I could no longer speculate). Carmona struggled the past year or so as a closer, and was absolutely awful in that role. This year, I've seen him start a couple of games. He shut down the Yankees at Yankee Stadium the day that they came all the way back down 6 with 2 outs in the ninth (not against Carmona), and most recently beat Baltimore on Sunday. Now that I look at his numbers, they're not bad, but they improved significantly after his last three very good outings...still, not sure why he was demoted. Maybe we'll keep an eye on that.

BEAT THE STREAK: Jose Reyes extended my season-long streak on Tuesday night to 8 games. I'm putting it on the line Wednesday in Colorado with Ray Durham - hitting more than .400 career against Rockies starter Jeff Francis.

MAINE MAN

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

ONE BAD INNING

Nationals 4, Mets 3 (NYM: 13-8, WAS: 8-15)

All in all, Oliver Perez had another good outing on Friday night in Washington. Unfortunately, he had a rough start, and a very bad first inning, and the Nationals made that stand up to beat the Mets, 4-3.

Perez gave up 3 runs in the first, on a 3-run homer by Austin Kearns. He then settled in to go 7 innings, giving up 4 runs after the Nationals tacked on another in the sixth, and striking out 9, while walking none (the best part of his line). Perez threw 120 pitches, 81 of which were strikes. It's just too bad the Mets couldn't get anything going on offense.

The Mets bats were pretty quiet against Matt Chico. Jose Reyes manufactured the Mets' first run, blooping a shot into right field, over the second baseman's head, then legging that into a double. He stole third, and scored on a not-so-deep sacrifice fly by Paul Lo Duca. The Mets are never out of a game because of what Reyes does on the basepaths. In the fourth, the Mets had a chance to do some damage, with the bases loaded and one out, and Jose Valentin grounded one up the middle that could have been a double play, but the pitcher deflected it, slowing it down, and the Mets got a run out of that.

Encouraging news came in David Wright's last at-bat in the 8th inning. Facing another hitless night, and with the Mets needing baserunners to rally, Wright lined one to right field for an opposite-field double, his fourth double of the season. Maybe that will get him going - he went opposite field, it was a solid shot...he also tagged the ball early on, but was robbed by Ryan Zimmerman at third. Wright came around to score, but the Mets didn't have enough to rally in the eighth. They also did nothing in the ninth against Washington closer Chad Cordero, who usually walks a tightrope, but got the Mets 1-2-3.

Saturday night the Mets send Tom Glavine against Jerome Williams - no way they can lose another game in this series to the Nationals.

Southwest Airlines johnnymets.blogspot.com Player of the Game: Austin Kearns delivered the big blow, with his 3-run homer in the first inning. It was his only hit on a 1-for-4 night, but those 3 RBI were huge.


TURNING TWO...HUNDRED: No double plays for the Mets on Friday night, so the count remains 28 double plays (through 21 games).

STEROIDS: Not sure about many of the details with this Mets clubhouse worker who pleaded guilty to running steroids. But only bad things can come out of this. The guy worked for the Mets from 1985-1995. Lots of names are going to come out of this...and I'm not going to like what I hear.

BEAT THE STREAK: No hits yet for Andruw Jones on Friday night. I'll be looking for that first thing in the morning. I'm not sure how Freddy Sanchez has been doing so far this year, but he's 5-for-10 in his career against Saturday's Reds starter Matt Belisle, so I'm going with Sanchez.

FUN WITH THE METS MEDIA GUIDE

At the beginning of the year I received a media guide from my dad, which came with the Mets partial season ticket plan that my dad got for this year (Tuesday and Friday home games...I have yet to attend one - my sister has already been to two games...as of next Tuesday, my mom and dad will have been to their first.). (P.S. - we also got a CitiField pen.) Considering this is an off-day, I've been looking through the media guide, and here are some things I've found.

**Gary Carter appears in the Mets Historical Records section 5 times:

• September 3, 1985, for hitting 3 homers in a game (tie with 6 others).
• September 3-4, 1985, for hitting 5 homers over two games.
• September, 1985, for hitting 13 homers in a month (tie with Dave Kingman).
• 1986 - most sacrifice flies in a season (tie with Howard Johnson), with 15.
• July 27, 1986, for being part of one of just six back-to-back-to-back home run tandems in Mets history (along with Darryl Strawberry and Kevin Mitchell).
• He also appears in a section on most home runs at Shea Stadium - he's 10th on the list, with 54.

**Willie Stargell hit the first home run at Shea, in 1964, and is tied for the most by a visitor, with 26. Mike Schmidt also has 26.

**Scott Schoeneweis attended Duke University.

**John Maine attended the University of North Carolina....Charlotte.

**Philip Humber was drafted by the Yankees in 2001 but didn't sign with them.

**Moises Alou didn't play organized baseball until attending Canada College in California. How does an Alou not play organized baseball until college!?!

PERSONAL NOTE: The blog may suffer in the coming weeks. Report writing season is upon me again, and that is going to occupy a LOT of my time. Good news - the sooner I get those done, the sooner I'll get back to this. When there's a dropoff in my writing here, that means there's an increase in my school writing, and that's actually good news, because then it will be closer to being done.

BEAT THE STREAK: Hello, 3 games! Lance Berkman got me there. I may have had a rule in the past about picking Braves for Beat the Streak, but now that I'm well on my way to 57 games, there's no one I won't pick - Andruw Jones in Colorado for Friday.

ROCKY OUTING

Rockies 11, Mets 5 (NYM: 13-7, COL: 9-13)

So much for a sweep. The Rockies outhit the Mets 20-12 in an afternoon game at Shea Stadium Wednesday, preventing the Mets from picking up their third win in a row.

This was the second straight bad outing for Mike Pelfrey...and this one was much worse than his last. Pelfrey followed up his 4 runs in five innings against Atlanta with 6 runs in three innings. Both were at home, for whatever that's worth. Pelfrey was quoted after the game as saying something like, "I kept throwing fastballs and they kept hitting them. I guess I'm just stubborn." That doesn't sound like the smartest approach to me.

Overshadowed by the Rockies' 20 hits were the Mets' 12 - a third of which belonged to THE GREATEST BALLPLAYER WHO EVER LIVED, Jose Reyes - he was 4-for-5. Endy Chavez started in left field, and he was 2-for-5. Shawn Green also continued his hot hitting, going 2-for-4 with 3 RBI. David Wright continued his not-hot hitting (and I didn't even pick him for Beat the Streak), going 0-for-3.

The Mets have Thursday off, before opening a three-game weekend series in Washington. I'll try to produce something creative for the blog on Thursday.

Coors Light johnnymets.blogspot.com Player of the Game: Can't ignore Willy Taveras's 5-for-6 effort. He only scored twice and had just one RBI, but he had a couple of bunt singles that apparently sparked the team. I couldn't watch this game, by the way - it was an afternoon game, and I was at school. But a 5-hit day most of the time will merit Player of the Game honors.

TURNING TWO...HUNDRED: Still not sure what the Mets are chasing here, but it's worth noting that the Mets turned 2 more double plays on Wednesday, giving them 28 in 20 games.

WEDNESDAY: 2 SEASON TOTAL: 28

NL EAST NEWS: The Braves-Marlins game had an exciting ending Wednesday night. The Braves, and Tim Hudson, took a 3-0 lead into the ninth inning. The Marlins got three straight hits off Hudson (and his 0.60 or thereabouts ERA), and Bob Wickman came in. He gave up 3 runs, and then a passed ball brought home the winning run for the Marlins. All three runs were charged to Hudson, so his ERA went up to 1.22. It was Bob Wickman's first blown save of the year - and his ERA is still just 0.90. I'm glad Tim Hudson got three earned runs - I hold a grudge for him stinking it up last year, and single-handedly destroying my fantasy pitching staff before I finally cut him.

BEAT THE STREAK: Jimmy Rollins hit his (league-leading!) 8th homer of the season, so I have tied my season-best hitting streak at 2 games. I'm going with Lance Berkman on Thursday - he has good career numbers against Tony Armas of the Pirates.

ENDY MAKES SURE METS' FIRST EXTRA-INNINGS GAME ISN'T A DRAG

Mets 2, Rockies 1 12 innings (NYM: 13-6, COL: 8-13)

By this time last year, the Mets had played about a dozen extra-innings games (slight exaggeration). Tuesday night, the Mets played their first extra innings game of 2007, and made staying up later than expected pay off.

In the bottom of the 12th inning, with runners on second and third and two out, Endy Chavez laid down a perfect drag bunt to bring home Shawn Green, and the Mets kept themselves a half-game in front of the Braves in the NL East with a 2-1, 12 inning win.

The dramatic win was set up by some drama in the 10th. After Billy Wagner had given up a run to the Rockies in the top of the 10th, Damion Easley hit a pinch-hit, 2-out, 2-strike home run to tie the game at 1, and force more extras.

The 12 innings (and the tenth inning comeback) nearly made you forget that Orlando Hernandez turned in an outstanding start in this game. El Duque went 7 innings without giving up a run, surrendering just 4 hits, walking two, while striking out 5. He was lifted for a pinch hitter in the seventh in one of many early failed Mets rallies. They blew a lot of chances to win this game early. But that's not to take anything away from Rockies starter Aaron Cook, who also went 7 scoreless innings.

The win was the first in the young career of Joe Smith, who gave the Mets two-thirds of an inning, retiring the two batters he faced. Aaron Heilman and Scott Schoeneweis also had scoreless outings in this one.

It should be noted that in the 11th inning, with the winning run at second, David Wright had a great at-bat. He managed to work a walk, but he fouled off a few pitches, and looked the most locked-in I've seen him look all year - sort of like David Wright last year. It made me wonder if there's been something else on Wright's mind all month - because Tuesday night was the first night I really felt he looked like himself. For what that's worth. He finished 2-for-4, with one strikeout.

The Mets and Rockies play an afternoon game on Wednesday, getaway day. Mike Pelfrey against Josh Fogg.

Extra Sugarfree Gum johnnymets.blogspot.com Player of the Game: Damion Easley. Easy call here - without Easley, Endy never gets a chance. Can't do much better than one at-bat, one home run...and in a very important spot.



MONDAY NIGHT'S RESULT - Mets 6, Rockies 1

VALENTIN'S DAY - Jose Valentin earned johnnymets.blogspot.com Player of the Game honors with a homer and 4 RBI. He was 1-for-2, scoring just once - he had a sacrifice fly in addition to a 3-run homer, single-handedly lifting the Mets to a 4-0 lead by the 4th inning.

John Maine benefitted from Valentin's outing, as well as Carlos Delgado's first home run of the season, improving to 3-0 on the season, and the Mets jumped back into first place, a half-game ahead of Atlanta.

I was a bit under the weather, sorry I didn't write. I'm feeling better Tuesday night, but I'm told this bug I have could last 7-10 days. Bad headache, coupled with a nauseous feeling. It may or may not include vomiting. It did for me.

TURNING TWO...HUNDRED: I've been thinking about this all season, since the Mets turned four double plays on Opening Night in St. Louis. I finally did the math tonight. I thought the Mets were on pace to set some sort of record for double plays turned in a season. They are, if my calculations are correct. They're on pace to turn more than 200 double plays right now - the team record is 171. So there's a new feature this year, and it's called "Turning Two...Hundred":
WEDNESDAY NIGHT: 2 SEASON TO DATE: 26 TEAM RECORD: 171

**OK, there's a problem here. The Mets' media guide has the team record at 171, done twice - in 1966 and 1983. But mlb.com says the 1999 Mets had 294 double plays - reasonable, since that was a great defensive team. But mlb.com also has every 1999 team as the top 30 in double plays all time. So I think something is wrong there. I need to straighten this out before we take Turning Two...Hundred too far off the ground. I also need to get the all-time record straightened out, too, because I'm having a hard time believing the 1999 Devil Rays turned almost 400 (although they probably allowed a lot of baserunners...)

SNY: I haven't commented on this yet this season, but Lee Mazzilli has been doing pre-and-post-game studio work for the Mets on SNY this season. I can't comment on his performance, because I usually don't watch the pre-and-post-game studio work. The past couple of days, I've caught a bit of the pre-game shows, and for some reason, Dave Gallagher is doing the job. I haven't been too impressed...but I'm more impressed that he has remained visible enough to actually have a high-profile job like this. Dave Gallagher - I hold a grudge against him because I think he was the first Met to wear number 8 after Gary Carter. He was one of the "ordinary guys" I always think of, too, when I think of the early-90's New York Mets...Bill Pecota, Jeff McKnight, Dave Gallagher. I seriously considered naming one of my fantasy teams after him, but went with Jeff McKnight, because I really do hold that number 8 thing against Gallagher, unfair though that may be.

STERLING: God forgive me for the following: So I was listening to a lot of WFAN in New York over the weekend (Thursday through Saturday, truth be told). On Thursday, driving down to New York, I got to hear a little of Joe Benigno's mid-day show - I enjoy listening to him. They were giving John Sterling crap because of his call of the previous day's home run by A-Rod...actually, maybe this was on Friday...I'm getting my days confused. Regardless, they were making fun of the call where Sterling was saying..."An Aaaaaa-Bomb, for Aaaaaa-Rod." Now, I think Sterling is a dope, and can't stand listening to a Yankees game on the radio. But on Saturday, Benigno had Sterling on his show, and was interviewing him, and I'll be darned if it wasn't a great interview. Sterling came across as intelligent and knowledgeable. I can't believe it - it almost made me change my opinion about him. But then I started to dislike him even more, because if he's that coherent in an interview, he should be enjoyable to listen to during a game.

Also on WFAN, on Friday (I confused my days in the above paragraph, I apologize...but I know Sterling was interviewed on Saturday, when Benigno was filling in for Russo, and I know I heard the following on Friday), Mike & the Mad Dog interviewed Theo Epstein heading into the Yankees-Red Sox series. It was a fantastic interview. Epstein was great, and when Chris Russo asked him about the Doug Mirabelli trade (for Cla [Russo actually pronounced it like it is spelled, instead of 'clay', which I thought was hilarious] Meredith and Josh Bard), Epstein was honest, and called it an awful trade for the Red Sox. He went on to say that the Red Sox will never be impatient again. The intelligence and honesty that Epstein showed in this interview made me remember why I liked listening to his press conferences when I was working in TV. And showed why the Red Sox are lucky he came back as general manager.

BEAT THE STREAK: I take personal responsibility for David Wright's 0-for-15 slump. It was all because I kept picking him for Beat the Streak. He finally got a hit Tuesday night, so he's off the hook. I have a one-gamer, and I go with Jimmy Rollins to tie my season high on Wednesday.

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.

GOOD OLIVER

Mets 7, Braves 2 (NYM: 11-5, ATL: 11-6...Mets 1/2 game up)


If Oliver Perez can stay under control this season, I maintain he will be a valuable member of the rotation. Perez bounced back from his 7-walk performance in his last outing to shut down the Braves (again), improving his record to 2-1.

Perez didn't dominate - he gave up 9 hits over 6-and-two-thirds innings, but he only gave up 2 earned runs, and here's the important part - 9 strikeouts, 0 walks. We'll need to watch his control all year long.

Perez also benefitted from a comfortable lead. After being shut down by Tim Hudson on Friday night, the Mets' bats woke up again, pounding out 11 hits (10 against starter Chuck James), and scoring 7 runs. Carlos Beltran was 4-for-5, missing a chance at his first career 5-hit game, and Jose Reyes was 3-for-5. Reyes also stole his 9th base of the year. I just hope we don't ever take Jose Reyes for granted - he is THE GREATEST BALLPLAYER WHO EVER LIVED.

David Wright hit 2nd, as Paul Lo Duca is still mending, and was 0-for-4 (guess I still have the magic 'Beat the Streak' touch/jinx, killing people's real-life streaks - the 26-game streak came to an end Friday). Damion Easley started at second base, and homered. Ramon Castro homered again in relief of Lo Duca. Everyone is contributing - and the guys who aren't contributing will very soon. (Neither Carlos Delgado nor David Wright have a home run yet this season. Wright, at least, is hitting, albeit not for power. Delgado is hitting just .209.) (A secondary parenthetical thought - "projected stats" are a little ridiculous. It's funny to see that Alex Rodriguez, based on his stats to this point, is "projected" to hit 122 home runs. But it's silly to see that Delgado is "projected" to hit 0.)


MARRIOTT RESIDENCE INN JOHNNYMETS.BLOGSPOT.COM PLAYER OF THE GAME: It could very easily have been an offensive player, but you want Carlos Beltran? Check espn.com. My 'Player of the Game' honor goes to Joe Smith. His line? One-third of an inning, 1 strikeout. Why does that merit an honor? With the Mets up, 7-2, and after Scott Schoeneweis had just walked Chipper Jones to load the bases, Smith was brought in to face Andruw Jones. Smith was described on WFAN as "cool as a cucumber", never changing his expression, and he struck out Jones to end the inning and the threat. Looking at the bigger picture, Smith's ERA is 0.00 in 10 appearances. And Mets relievers have allowed just 4 out of about 30 inherited runners to score. I think Inherited Runners-Scored is just about the most accurate and worthwhile stat to judge relievers by, and the Mets are doing awesome in that category right now.

FRIDAY NIGHT

The Braves beat the Mets on Friday night, 7-3, in a dominant outing by Tim Hudson, who earned johnnymets.blogspot.com Player of the Game honors. Hudson has been great so far this year. Hudson's numbers on Friday night: 8 IP, 5 H, 2 BB, 3 K's, 0 ER. His ERA on the year is 0.62, and he is 3-0 on the season.


The Mets and Braves play the rubber game on Sunday - John Smoltz against Tom Glavine. I get the game on TBS, not on DirecTV. I'd rather a few channels before I watch the Braves broadcast, but watching the Braves broadcast is preferable to no game at all.

OTHER DOMINANT PITCHERS: Cole Hamels of the Phillies is very impressive. Last year he was very good, then had a pop in his elbow, if I remember correctly, and was shut down for a while. He's off to a good start in 2007, and on Saturday against the Reds, he pitched a complete game, striking out 15 in the Phillies win. He's a very good young pitcher who I like watching, even though he plays for the Phillies. I just hope he's able to stay healthy...especially in light of the Mariners' Felix Hernandez leaving with an elbow injury on Thursday night.

OVER THE AIRWAVES: So the rescheduled weekend in New York became a Friday overnight in Connecticut to attend a funeral. The TV in the Marriott Residence Inn had YES, but did not have SNY, so we watched the Red Sox-Yankees, while listening to the Mets-Braves. I had to play with the clock radio for a while, though, before I could tune in the Mets. What I stumbled across before finally finding WFAN:
1. Reds-Phillies (Phillies broadcast...I think)
2. Yankees-Red Sox (on one FM station, and a few AM stations)
3. Blue Jays-Orioles (Baltimore broadcast...I think)
4. Indians-Devil Rays (Cleveland broadcast...I think)
5. Finally, Mets-Braves on WFAN.

I never realized so many stations could come through on a little clock radio in a hotel room. I need to experiment with my radios around here and see if any of those can come through all the way to Massachusetts.

BEAT THE STREAK: My David Wright jinx continues until Sunday.

REELIN' IN THE FISH

Mets 11, Marlins 3 (NYM: 10-4, FLA: 6-9)

(No picture capability again) The Mets continued their hot hitting in Florida on Thursday night, banging out another 16 hits in an 11-3 win, completing a 2-game sweep.

Interestingly, the Mets did not play their cleanest game of the year - committing 2 errors, but it didn't matter. Paul Lo Duca missed the game, since the hand he hurt the other night was acting up. So the Mets shuffled their lineup. Carlos Beltran batted second, and was 4-for-6, hitting his 4th home run (and two doubles). Moises Alou hit third, and was 2-for-4, and Ramon Castro hit in the seventh spot, going 2-for-5 with a homer. Shawn Green also had a good game (2-for-5, 2 doubles). This is one tough lineup, and against a young pitcher in Rick Vanden Hurk of the Marlins, it's almost unfair. The Mets blew this game open with 6 runs in the third inning.

Orlando Hernandez has pitched well in his career against Florida, and on Thursday he went 7 innings, giving up 3 hits, 2 runs (only one earned), 2 walks, and he struck out 10, improving his record to 2-1. He was lights out after the first inning, when he gave up his two runs, not helped by an awful throwing error by David Wright.

The Mets are a half-game ahead of the Braves in the division, entering this weekend's three-game series at Shea. I'll write again either Saturday night (after Saturday night prime-time NASCAR, woo!), or Sunday after the game.

BANK OF AMERICA JOHNNYMETS.BLOGSPOT.COM PLAYER OF THE GAME: Just because I don't know how often this will happen this year, the award is going to Ramon Castro for Thursday night. Castro didn't just fill in for Paul Lo Duca, he was a big part of the Mets' offensive attack. Castro was 2-for-5, with 3 RBI, and a run scored.

WRIGHT WATCH: David Wright was 1-for-3, continuing his hitting streak. He still doesn't have a homer on the season, but he is hitting about as consistently as anyone in baseball. It's a 14-game hitting streak on the season, 26 games over two seasons.

BEAT THE STREAK: David Wright got me a hit - I'm going with his hot bat for a couple more days.

GETTING HOT IN FLORIDA

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

TOO MUCH RAIN

Until I figure out a way to superimpose Mr. Met over that cat, this image I lifted off someone will have to do.

BEAT THE STREAK: The rain, combined with me being awful at this game this year, has me very frustrated. I should have stayed in a dome. I hear the rain in New York stopped. Therefore, it'll be Jose Reyes to try to get me going again - he's my leadoff guy.

CAPITOL OFFENSE

Nationals 6, Mets 2 (WAS: 3-9, NYM: 7-4)

At no point this year will it be OK for the Mets to lose to the Nationals. I know it's going to happen more than this one time, but it shouldn't happen. The Mets need to rack up as many wins as they can get against Washington, because the division will be tighter this year than last, and wins against the Nationals (or more importantly, losses against the Nationals) might make up the difference in the division.

That said, it's not the end of the world that the Mets lost on Saturday, it's just disappointing when the Mets lose a game they should win. The Mets outhit the Nationals 11-8, including a 2-for-4 afternoon by David Wright, whose hitting streak is now at 23 games - one away from the team record (but it's spread out over two seasons).

Also, the Mets were in this game late, despite the score. (I should mention I didn't see any of this game - there's one annoying thing about the DirecTV/Extra Innings Package - Saturday afternoon games are blacked out because of the FOX Game of the Week. I hate that. The games that start at one are almost off the air when Fox goes on - why black it out? So I'm forced to watch Jeanne Zelasko and Kevin Kennedy for 25 minutes? No thanks. I'll just turn on the game after four and miss the top of the first inning...give me back my 1pm start.) Anyway, in the eighth, down 6-2, with two men on and no one out, David Wright apparently drove one to the wall in center, and to my understanding, Ryan Church robbed him of a homer - or at least extra bases (2-for-4 and this for Wright - starting to get hot?). Then there was a double play. So the Mets went down fighting.

Speaking of fighting...the umpires, apparently, thought there was going to be some. After giving up a 2-run homer to Chris Snelling in the 6th, Orlando Hernandez hit the next batter, pitcher Shawn Hill, in the hands. The umps threw him out of the game immediately. The way I understand it, El Duque did not want to hit Hill (though it looked awfully incriminating). El Duque protested to the ump, and then from the dugout told Hill he didn't mean to hit him, and I guess Hill accepted El Duque's apology. The Nationals and Mets have had much bad blood in the past, but I think those days have gone the way of Cliff Floyd and Jose Guillen. So this was basically a non-event, but since Hernandez got thrown out, I had to mention it.

The weather is very threatening Sunday. I give it a 0-10% chance that the Mets will actually play.


SONY PLAYSTATION JOHNNYMETS.BLOGSPOT.COM PLAYER OF THE GAME: Shawn Hill gave up a bunch of hits, but managed to pull out the win. His line: 7 innings, 8 hits, but only one walk, 2 earned runs, and 5 strikeouts. Hopefully this is the only time this year this award goes to a Washington player.


MLB 'O7 THE SHOW: I didn't think I'd ever buy another video game. Then a combination of a number of events (tax return, a trip to Best Buy, a week off from school) gave me a hankering for video game baseball. So upon arrival at Best Buy (to buy a video camera to record the things The Baby does that I will be too busy playing video games to notice), I called the Southern Bureau to find out what baseball game I should invest in. He said "MLB The Show" was a good one, but all I saw was 2K7's game. I asked the Southern Bureau if "The Show" was the EA Sports game. He informed me, as though I should have known, that EA does not do a Major League baseball game anymore, they just do NCAA baseball. So I was about to pull the trigger on the 2K7 game, with Derek Jeter on the cover, when the Southern Bureau informed me that "The Show" had David Wright on the cover. Hold the phone. But the game was nowhere to be found. Here's how the conversation goes:

Southern Bureau: "Johnny, you gotta get the game with David Wright on the cover."

Johnnymets: "Yeah, I know. But then I'd have to go to another store. I don't think The Wife will want to do that. I should just get this one."

Southern Bureau: "Go to another store, come on. Didn't The Wife sign a marriage contract or something that says she has to do stuff like that?" (It should be noted that the Southern Bureau is not married.)

Johnnymets: "I think I've pushed that envelope about as far as it goes."

Turns out there was a Toys 'R Us across the parking lot, so I ran over there. They didn't have the game either. I convinced The Wife to allow me one more stop, and they had the game. So I've played it, and I'm already 0-3. I've figured out all of the game play, it's hard, but I'm getting it. The rosters are good (solid Triple A roster - Pelfrey, Humber, Milledge), there are good stats, and even all-time records, which I love. Stupidly, though, I still insist on playing games when I'm on the phone. This has never been a good idea. And as a result, El Duque took a 4-0 lead into the 9th inning in the third game against St. Louis, heading for my first win, and he proceeded to let three guys get on, then a grand slam, then a homer to Pujols to win it. Oops. Never, EVER talk on the phone during a video game. Very frustrating. But it's a good game.

BEAT THE STREAK: I have to wait and see with Piazza later on Saturday, and I'll try to avoid a weather problem on Sunday. Hopefully the weather will be past Pittsburgh, and I'll go with Jason Bay in a doubleheader.