It's My Fault

It's my fault. I'm sorry.

After I wrote about how John Maine deserved to be in the Mets postseason rotation, he went out and tossed a real stinker in Cincinnati Wednesday afternoon. He started out by giving up another HR to Brandon Phillips, who seems to just own him, in the 1st. Then, he followed that up by grooving one to hotshot Rookie Joey "Fuhgeddaboutit!" Votto, who whacked it out for his first Major League hit. And only downhill from there.

It was pretty typical of Maine's bad outings. He missed high and outside, and got killed when he did get the ball over the plate. It seems like this has been his big downfall all season. When he can hit the corners and mix in his slider, he's been great. But when his fastball starts drifting, it's been bad news and yesterday's game was a prime example.

Meanwhile, the Mets were again stymied by a pitcher they had never seen before, another memorable name mixed in with the Bucket Brigade Reds pitching staff.

Overall, you can't be too thrilled with ending this road trip at 5-5, but then, considering how things started out, I suppose we should all be thrilled with a .500 record here.

What Comes Around...

Meanwhile, down in Atlanta, where our two most favorite teams were doing battle, it was the Phillies throwing down the Epic Choke Job against Atlanta. The mighty bullpen tandem of Tom Gordon and Brett Myers somehow managed to piss away an 8-2 lead in the 8th inning, and coming away with a 9-8 loss. I only saw this on Sportscenter, but it appears that the Braves began by getting around 8 straight bloop singles off of Gordon in the 8th, and then following that up by loading the bases in the 9th against Myers after 2 were out, and then Matt Diaz (who I am officially sick of—toss him in the Hated Pool with Larry and Andro) hitting a long 3-run double to win it, setting off a giant kazoo blowing party down in Dixieland, and keeping the Mets lead at 5 games. I guess I should be happy about this, but then, how can I be happy watching the Braves celebrate?

A recycled comment. Both those teams can eat themselves.

The Drive For Five

For the eighth time this season, the Mets entered a game with a chance to win what would be a season high five games in a row.

For the first time this season, the Mets managed to succeed in winning their fifth game in a row on Tuesday night in Cincinnati.

It's about damn time.

The game was not without its drama, as Perez seemed to unravel in the 4th and 5th, losing control, losing composure and almost losing the game completely. But tonight, the Mets would not be denied; not on a night where Paul LoDuca somehow managed to cram what for him is about a month's worth of HRs and RBIs into one magical night, as he smacked a pair of 3-run HRs in Cincinnati's tiny Great American Ballpark Steroid Park #3, where the Mets have plated 10+ runs for the second game in a row, against a team mostly devoid of Major League-quality pitchers.

Meanwhile, Atlanta and Philadelphia continue to beat up on each other, as they have swapped victories in the first two games of their three-game series. I'm not sure who exactly to root for more. Conventional wisdom says to root for Atlanta since they are further behind, however rooting for the Braves comes as easily to me as chewing on glass. This as compared to rooting for Philly which is as easy for me as drinking fermented Yak bile. So let the two of them beat each other up while the Mets keep winning. They can both eat themselves.

As the season continues to wind down, we have been hearing more and more about which pitchers the Mets will carry in the postseason. Gary, Ron and Keith were discussing it on SNY tonight and Howie and Fritz were talking about the same on WFAN. Even Homeboy and the Little Guy were discussing it this afternoon (on a rare day when I was coerced into subjecting myself to them).

Right now, with Pedro back, it would appear that the Mets would be wise to go with a rotation of Maine, ElDuque, Glavine and Pedro, start them as you will, and have Oliver Perez coming out of the bullpen. This being all fine and good assuming Perez can a) Deal with being the odd man out of the rotation after performing admirably well as a starter last October as well as all of this season, and b) Come out of the Bullpen and throw strikes and get people out. I have more faith in him to do this than several other members in the bullpen, but that's neither here nor there. It would appear that the battle would be between Perez and Maine for that final spot; certainly you wouldn't put Pedro, Glavine or ElDuque in the 'pen given their collective history in the Postseason. It could be that Maine might be more a more reliable choice from the bullpen, but then, both he and Ollie have had their moments with the strike zone over the course of the season. But then, Maine also performed admirably last October as well, and furthermore has had a better season overall than Perez has, despite their numbers being basically the same (Maine: 14-8, 3.57, 144 Ks in 27 games, 163.2IP; Perez: 13-9, 3.46, 149Ks, 25 games, 153.2IP). Both have had outings where they were completely dominant. Both have also had totally miserable starts as well. But the one thing that we have seen Maine do far more consistently that Ollie is display that little extra something, that one extra intangible to buckle down and get the big out to get himself out of a jam. We've seen Maine do this all season long, and in some pretty big games. Perez has done this less frequently. Moreover, he has a tendency to lose his composure when things go bad, and this has led to bad innings snowballing completely out of control. Now, this becomes equally frightening coming out of the bullpen in the Postseason, but then, I could easily see Perez come out of the bullpen and throw darts for an inning or two and be done before he ever had the opportunity to get into trouble.

My choice is Maine in the rotation and Perez in the 'pen. Also doesn't hurt to have that extra lefty out there to ease the burden on Feliciano and Schoeneweis. Then again, if the Mets play a team like Philadelphia in the NLCS, you might have to start Perez. It's a tough call.

Real Men of Genius

This was a big day for the Mets. Not only did Pedro Martinez make a successful return to the pitching rotation and record his 3,000th career strikeout, but Keith Hernandez managed to work the words "floozy" and "blusterous" into his pregame analysis and later to go on about the importance of the Mets "bulge" (i.e., their five-game lead over the Phillies).

Look, all I know is that my life would be a lot less complete without these two gentlemen. God bless you, Pedro Martinez and Keith Hernandez.

It's been a roller coaster of a couple weeks in Mets Land, so let's just enjoy the upswing. And oh yeah, keep on rooting for those Bravos! (For two more days, anyway.)

Hell Yeah

Somehow, someway, this guy got his wish. Just when it looked like the Mets were hanging by a thread, much the same way things have looked so many times in this ridiculous season, the Mets bounced right back, stormed into Atlanta and Kicked the Braves square in the nuts, walking out with a 3-game revenge sweep and knocking them 7 1/2 games back in the NL East.

There were so many good things that came out of the sweep this weekend, enough to almost make you overlook the one overwhelmingly bad thing that seems to be occurring (that would be Wagner's continued struggles). Primarily, the praise can go to the starting pitchers, beginning with Maine's strong outing on Friday night, wriggling in and out of jams as he has done so often, and coming away with 7 solid innings.

Saturday, the hero of the day was Mike Pelfrey, in what has to be his most successful and most gratifying game in the Major Leagues. How many of us looked at the pitching matchup on Saturday, Chuck James, a tough lefty against winless Pelfrey, on National TV and sighed. It had come down to this.

Somehow, Pelfrey shut us all up and delivered the best outing of his career in the biggest start of his career. Mixing in his fastball and his sinker like a seasoned veteran, Pelfrey looked like a totally different pitcher than the clueless rookie we had seen so many times earlier in the season, the guy who would get into jams he couldn't get out of. No, Pelfrey started out like the ground-ball machine he was all through Spring Training, and then dialed it up a notch when he got into a couple of jams in the 4th and 5th innings. He was helped by a few HRs, from Beltran, Delgado and Milledge, and by Mota and especially Feliciano at the end of the game. Pelfrey so throughly baffled and frustrated the Atlanta hitters that when he drilled Jeff "Don't call me Charboneau" Francoeur to lead off the 5th, Francoeur yelled and whined and pointed like a little bitch, trying to somehow intimidate Pelfrey and fire up his own team. It didn't work. Yes, Francoeur would eventually score, but only on a wild pitch that should have been stopped by LoDuca, and that was while his teammates were busy squandering their best opportunity of the afternoon.

Sunday, it was the old pro, Glavine, coming up with his second brilliant outing in a row, outdueling his golfing buddy Smoltz in a tense 3-2 victory that was made even more tense by Billy Wagner's near meltdown in the 9th inning. Glavine on the mound was certainly good, and pretty much clamped down on the Braves following a shaky first inning, but Glavine also helped with his bat, drilling a long sacrifice fly in the 2nd inning that could have been a 3-run double were anyone other than Andro Jones patrolling center field.

The big blow on Sunday was supplied by David Wright. Wright, wearing his socks high as he usually does in Afternoon games, was also sporting a rather spiffy looking pair of shoes that appeared to resemble spats moreso than cleats. Whatever they are, they certainly helped enough as he drilled the first pitch he saw from Smoltz in the 5th over the wall in dead center field for his 25th HR, providing the difference in the game.

A word about Wright, if I may. Yes, we've all had our gripes about Wright this season. I've written several tongue-in-cheek posts about Wright's Matinee Idol status. We all worried that he might have been toasted after his strong showing in last year's HR Derby; that he may have permanently ruined his swing after he struggled and went homerless through April. But Wright has made a complete and total turnaround since that low point when he hit his 1st HR, way back on May 1st. Not only has he been hitting with power, he has been hitting with absolute and total authority, raising his average to among the best in the league, and driving in runs in bucketloads. And he has been doing so very, very slowly, and very, very quietly, to the point where I noted to El Guapo last week that Wright has almost come from out of nowhere to put together what could turn out to be his finest offensive season to date. While the Mets were slumping, Wright hit. When the Mets were hot, Wright hit. Last week, in Philadelphia, when the Mets couldn't buy a damn bit of luck, Wright hit. He's clearly emerged as a leader on this team, and as a player who is certainly capable of living up to the hype placed upon him in New York. With that comes the spoils, and he's certainly a handsome guy who can take his pick of any woman within a 50-mile radius. But he as well as anyone knows that he's got to back it all up with performance if he wants to keep this status, and he's done just that.

No, he can't do it alone. He's just one man on a team of 25. But I'll take my chances with him on this team any day. And this weekend, he rose up when he needed to and made sure that the Mets would come away with the sweep when the absolutely needed it the most, and, as the Marlins helped us out by taking 2 of 3 from the Philly Mirage, these victories proved to be even more important as the season winds down.

Stand Up, Delgado!

Sometime last April, El Guapo and I attended a Mets/Brewers game on a Friday night at Shea Stadium. It was a rainy night, and the game ended up being delayed for a couple of hours. When the game finally began, we decided to move around to better seats, since what was the point of sitting in UR43 when there were better, drier seats to be had. We sat somewhere around UR11, near a group of young, probably inebriated gentlemen. As the Mets took the field, this is what they were yelling:

"STAND UP, DELGADO!"

Yelling in derision of Delgado's decision to not stand for God Bless America while playing for the Toronto Blue Jays. El Guapo was not amused. We left those seats and found others.

Well, Delgado stated that he would stand for God Bless America when it was played.

Friday night in Atlanta, Delgado stood up in a different way. A way much more important to the Mets cause and in a way that he had done far too infrequently this season.

In a game where the Mets needed it most, Delgado stood up and delivered a mighty blow, one that broke the ice against a tough pitcher in Tim Hudson, gave the Mets a lead that they hadn't had in quite some time, and sent them on their way to a victory that they absolutely had to have.

Speaking of standing up...

The last time John Maine took the mound in a game with this sort of pressure was last October 18th at Shea Stadium. That night, Maine delivered a solid outing enabling the Mets to come away with a much-needed victory.

Friday night, he may have outdone himself. Maine had been scuffling quite a bit in his last few outings, barely being able to pitch himself through the 6th inning, and sometimes not even being able to get that far. But on a night when the Mets needed it most, when the Bullpen, already suspect and depleted, needed a break, Maine delivered one of the finest outings of his young career. With 8 strikeouts mixed in over 7 innings in which he kept a potent Braves lineup in check, Maine not only righted his own ship, he also gave the Bullpen a break, bridging the game straight to Heilman, and then as the Mets put the game away in the 9th, to Schoeneweis. With this outing, Maine earned his 14th victory of the season and further solidified his reputation as a pitcher who we can count on to come up big in a big game.