300!

It was a typical effort from Tom Glavine in Chicago on Sunday Night. In his 6 1/3 innings, he allowed 6 hits, 2 runs, 1 walk and 1 strikeout, and he also chipped in with an RBI single in the 2nd inning. His performance earned him his 10th victory of the season.

That 10th victory was the one we've been waiting for all season, and the one he's been waiting for his entire career. #300. And yes, the game was far from perfect. There's plenty to say about how the Mets left baserunners on in bucketloads once again, how the Bullpen (specifically Mota and Feliciano) nearly blew the lead for Glavine once again. But the Mets were not about to give it away on this night. You could sense the anticipation as the milestone drew closer and closer, and the shots of Glavine's overly-tanned wife and his overly-Milquetoast Father increased that in spite of the Mets shortcomings, they were not going to lose, and this night would belong to Tom Glavine.

It was indeed fitting that Glavine's mostly typical effort would earn him this milestone. He's done it his entire career, these impressively effortless performances. True, he can't go 8 or 9 innings anymore, and he was never going to blow anyone away. But he's made his career off of biting the corners, hitting his spots and making his pitches, and he has done that with precision for a long, long time. Always unflappable and always on top of his game at times when it was needed most. And that will define Tom Glavine's career.

Snowball Effect

With two on and two out in the 3rd inning this afternoon, John Maine induced Ryan Theriot to pop a lazy fly ball off foul off the first base side. Damion Easley, Luis Castillo and Carlos Delgado all gave chase, only to have the ball plop harmlessly foul, just out of their reach.

Harmless, yet it seemed to spell instant disaster for Maine and the Mets. Theriot then bounced a grounder to short, and beat Reyes's throw to first, scoring a run. Maine then walked Derrek Lee, walked Aramis Ramirez, hit Cliff Floyd (Why, Cliff, Why???), allowed a 2-run single to Mark DeRosa and another RBI single to Jacque Jones before being pulled after successfully turning a dinky Cubs Rally into a 6-run bloodbath and a lifeless 6-2 Mets loss all because of a foul pop that dropped.

Such are the Vicissitudes of Baseball.

The Mets probably could have been considered the fortunate recipient of such a break on Friday afternoon, when, in the 9th inning of a 2-2 game, David Wright drew a walk on a borderline 3-2 pitch from Ryan Dempster. Dempster barked at the Umpire, and then became unglued in a similar fashion, allowing an RBI double to Carlos Delgado to score DW, then was an out away from getting out of the inning before melting down and incinerating the ballgame for the Cubs, allowing RBI hits to Green, Gotay and Alou, allowing the Mets to walk away with a 6-2 victory of their own.

Again, such are the vicissitudes of Baseball.

It happens, but it becomes increasingly more and more frustrating as time passes, as Reyes flails away at pitches, as Alou comes up and blasts monstrous HRs with nobody on base in front of him, and as Castillo continues to hit the ball hard...and straight up in the air. Fortunate for the Mets that they had been able to ride their recent 3-game win streak into extending their lead over Atlanta and Philadelphia with Fridays' victory, and see that lead shrink back down as Atlanta won on Saturday (Philly still pending).

The National League is becoming more and more of a joke, as these teams that seem to constantly be barely hanging on by a thread somehow can ride small hot streaks to the top of their divisions. I mean, who are the Cubs? Who is Ted Lilly? I know these are decent teams with decent players, but each team seems to be falling into these shell games with each other. Games of chance, rather than games won on pure skill and offensive firepower. And the Mets are no different. They've won games on this road trip based on a freak Inside-The Park HR and a characteristic temper tantrum by a headcase pitcher. The bitch of it is, we all know that the Mets are better than that. We've seen and written about the failures of this team to pick each other up and bash in the heads of the lesser teams all season long. And yet, somehow, the rest of the league has failed to capitalize because they've been just as inept, or unlucky. It's a joke how easily the Mets could be running away with the division like last season if they'd only be able to drive in HALF the runners they leave on base.

But, such are the vicissitudes of Baseball. It's not always about skill or firepower. Sometimes, you just need a little bit of luck. Sometimes, it eludes you at the worst possible time and blows up in your face.

Well, hopefully that luck will turn back the Mets way on Sunday Night, on the overblown ESPN Spectacle, where I hear some pitcher is going for his 300th victory or some such nonsense. Has that been mentioned on ESPN at all? I'm not quite sure.

Give 'Em A Spankin' Sticky

Well, I'm just dumbfounded.

After I thought the Mets were basically handing Thursday's game to Milwaukee by throwing the journeyman Brian Lawrence out there yesterday, the Mets shut me up. First, Lawrence held the line, allowing 3 runs in 5 innings. Then, the Mets bats throughly beat the Brewers into submission, pounding out a season's high 18 hits in a 12-4 drubbing in the rubber game of a 3-game series the Mets really needed to take.

It's not so much that Lawrence was overpowering, because he wasn't. His fastball barely touched 90, and he lived with his 80 MPH breaking balls that somehow managed to keep the Brewers off balance, save for some poor fielding behind him in the second inning.

A note on that—On WFAN, Howie Rose was busy recapping the history of how the Mets have been spoiled by slick fielding 1Bmen since the days of Keith, recounting such names as Magadan, Segui, Brogna, Olerud, et al, and he mentioned that Mo Vaughn had better range at 1B than Delgado seems to have now.

If I were Delgado, I would have walked upstairs and whacked Howie Rose in the Puss. But that's just me.

Wright's 5th inning HR started the slow, painful death for the Brews, who, by the end of the game were too busy bickering with each other than being concerned with saving face. The Mets basically hammered Milwaukee off the field on Thursday. Even my infamous colleague was impressed.

"How the hell did they manage to score 12 runs?" was his quote. This after about an hour of being berated about why the hell I write a blog about this team.

But somehow, someway, the Mets managed to find a way to make me look foolish once again for expecting imminent doom, and came away with a resounding victory as they head into Chicago, where the Cubs have had a string of success that was just about as unprecedented as the Mets have been over the last couple of days, to the point where the Cubs have taken over 1st Place in the schizophrenic NL Central. Go figure. This afternoon, we have to go up against Carlos Zambrano, who thoroughly shoved the bats up the Mets asses back in May. No easy task.

But then, what the hell makes any sort of sense with this team anymore?

Some Velvet Morning...

I wonder what my colleague will have to say about last night's game. After spotting the Brewers leads of 3-0 and 5-4 in the first two innings, the Mets bats took over and Oliver Perez settled down and the Mets coasted the rest of the way in what appeared to be a rather slushy 8-5 victory. The Mets managed their runs mostly via the longball, something mostly missing from their game of late. And these longballs came from rather unlikely sources. Castro's HR in the second, his 8th, gives him 3 more than LoDuca in about a third as many ABs. Marlon Anderson hit his first of the season while starting in Center Field of all places, spelling Milledge. Shawn Green hit his first HR in over a Month, earning himself a hearty Mazel Tov for putting the game away in the 6th.

A win is a win, and it certainly helps the Mets keep pace in front of the Braves and Phillies who keep leapfrogging each other in second place. One of them is 3 and 1/2 back, I know that.

But how long can you feel good about it? Right now, you just have to be happy with every win you can find at this point, because right now, a consistent streak of 5 or 6 wins in a row seems to be beyond this team's realm. Jorge Sosa has been removed from the starting rotation, and in his place, the Mets have called up Brian Lawrence to make the start on Thursday Afternoon.

Let me repeat that in case you think you may have misread something.

The Mets have called up Brian Lawrence to make the start on Thursday Afternoon.

Brian Lawrence.

Brian Freakin' Lawrence???

This is the best we can muster at this point? Lawrence hasn't appeared in a Major League game since 2005, and he was barely passable before that point!

This looks to be about as promising as the day Brett Hinchcliffe took the mound for the Mets in Milwaukee back in 2001.

Way to permeate the good vibes, guys. I wish you the best.

Double Play Brigade

After another sterling effort by the Mets last night in which they not only managed to squander a slim lead in the 8th inning, thereby costing Tom Glavine his 300th victory, the Mets also managed to strand about 26 runners on base over the course of a mostly miserable 13 inning loss in Milwaukee.

Luis Castillo didn't light anything up in his Mets debut, and the area that the Mets probably needed to address most, the Bullpen, went untouched, and, oddly enough, the Bullpen frittered away the lead in the 8th, thanks to Feliciano plunking Lil' Cecil and Mota allowing a screamer to Hall that took a fortuitous bounce over the wall for a Ground Rule Double, thereby only tying the game instead of giving the Brewers the lead, and prolonging our misery for 5 more innings until Brett Favre's HR in the 13th won it.

How bad was it? Here's a selection from what a colleague of mine had to say this morning:

"Let me ask you a question. The Mets have the bases loaded and one out. Who would you rather have up? Luis Castillo or Moises Alou?"

I answer with Victor Diaz.

"Well, I'd rather have Castillo. At least Castillo will hit the ball and not hit into a double play. Alou hit into a double play. Worse than Zeile! He's a double play machine!"

He follows that up with this:

"How many games will the Mets lose on this road trip? 4 of 6? 6 of 6? Who would they beat? Mark my words, once the Mets fall into second place, and they will fall into second place, that's the last time they're going to sniff first place this year. You can put that in your Blog."

With the efforts the Mets have put forth over the last week, I have a hard time arguing with him. It kind of makes me glad I haven't been able to see any of these games.