MINI-SWEEP

Mets 6, Pirates 0 (NYM: 19-9, PIT: 8-22)

The Mets completed their sweep of the short two-game set with the Pittsburgh Pirates with a shutout, winning 6-0. Tom Glavine went 7 shutout innings, giving up 3 hits and a walk, and striking out 10! He's now 4-2 on the year, picking up career win number 279. Glavine's defense failed him at times (David Wright committed his sixth error), but he pitched out of a couple of bases loaded situations to maintain the 1-0 lead he pitched with all night.

The Mets were stifled by Paul Maholm (pronounced Ma-hall-um, weirdly enough), who held them to one run in six innings. But they broke through in a big way against the Pittsburgh bullpen, getting 5 runs in the 7th inning to break the game open. Xavier Nady delivered the big blow with a 3-run homer - he had a 4-RBI night. Also, David Wright's slump can officially be declared over. He went 4-for-5, and ends the night with a .302 batting average, up from as low as .275 early in the night.

Willie Randolph keeps pushing the right buttons - he decided last night to rest Nady, and started Endy Chavez, and he had a great night. Thursday night, Nady's back, and he has 4 RBI. It's looking like one of those seasons where things go right....Except for those 3 blown saves by Billy Wagner. Oh well, I guess Pedro* will have to settle for 28-0.

Friday night begins a weekend series with the Braves at Shea. By the end of the weekend, the Mets and Braves will have met 9 times already.

THE KID'S KIDS: Look who's alone in first place again. The St. Lucie Mets beat Palm Beach on Thursday night, 3-1, to take over sole possession of first place in the division. They're 17-9, a game ahead of Palm Beach, two up on Brevard County.

BEAT THE STREAK: It's always a gamble taking those power hitters. The walks are what kill me. Nothing doing for David Oritiz, so I'll try to get something rolling with A-Rod Friday night in Texas.

FANTASY UPDATE: The What If Sports Mets are 1-2 after a day of baseball. The game seems a bit random, though. I played the Reds in Cincinnati for three games. In the first game, Tom Seaver '78 beat Tom Seaver '72, and I lost 12-4. In the second game, Dwight Gooden went the full game (throwing 173 pitches - oops - I fixed my pitch counts for the future), striking out 15, in a 14-4 win. (Robin Ventura had a grand slam - pretty accurate game! Gary Carter also homered.) But I lost the last game 14-1, with Pedro Martinez (*) on the mound. I need to figure out how to get the pitching to be good. The Giants are the next opponent, on Friday.