Good Enough?

It wasn't pretty, but like any victory, I'll take it. Especially the way the past few games have gone for the Mets.

After it was a key error that turned Tuesday's game in Philadelphia's favor, the Mets were finally the recipient of a few breaks in the form of 4 Philly errors on Wednesday, which combined with 9 walks by Philly pitching, served to mask yet another paltry 5-hit effort from the Mets offense.

Jimmy Rollins and his sprained ankle couldn't save the Phillies tonight, as his replacement, Eric Bruntlett, made two errors which contributed heavily to the Mets 6-run rally in the 3rd inning, capped off by Angel Pagan's two run double.

Seems like Pagan is one of the few Mets able to cash in with any kind of regularity, lately. The meat of the order, Wright, Beltran and Delgado combined for a paltry 1-for-12 (although Wright reached on two errors and seems to be hitting into a lot of bad luck lately) last night, which really can't continue if the Mets really want to consider themselves contenders. I maintain that neither Philly or Atlanta are especially good teams, and if the Mets play the way they're supposed to (ie not like they did in Atlanta, or on Tuesday, or as they generally have since June, 2007), they would easily romp through the division. At least, that's what you'd think. But I digress. Philadelphia does just as good a job as the Mets of looking like world beaters one day, and not able to get out of their own way the next.

It could very well be that the NL East could be won by a 79-83 team. That's the way these top 3 teams have looked in the early going.
If there is a good thing to take from last night, other than the Mets finally beating Philly for the first time since last June, it's that Mike Pelfrey managed to pitch well enough to earn his first victory of the season in his first outing of the season. Though he certainly didn't dominate, and appeared downright skittish at times, Pelfrey held the line and got the outs he needed to get over 5 innings and 100 pitches, before Sosa, Feliciano and Muniz finished up. I'd like to see him spread those 100 pitches over 6 or 7 innings, but then again, I'd like to see most of the Mets starters do that. More 7 inning outings means less Scott Schoeneweis, and maybe even less Aaron Heilman, too.

I guess I shouldn't be complaining so much. I should just be happy with the win. But Philly isn't so bad that they'll hand games away every night. The Mets need to get consistent, both on offense and in the bullpen, before I'll feel comfortable.

Maine tonight, looking, I'm sure, to prove that last weekend in Atlanta was a minor hiccup.