NEVER ENDING

No sooner than Howie Rose had mentioned that new Mets reliever phenom Eddie Kunz had never yielded a home run in his two-year professional career, Chase Headley hit one into the Flushing night. Some things you need to keep to yourself, Howie.

Well, this is the Majors, and Kunz's feat had been achieved in what is quite aptly called the Minors. Looking at the Mets lineup lately, there appear to be more players that belong in the latter rather than the former, and even though the entire Padres team should be toiling in the Pacific Coast League, they still beat the Mets 4-2.

Jody Gerut repeated his feat from his previous at-bat off Aaron Heilman and homered on the first pitch from Petey to make it 1-0. Brian Giles thought that looked like fun and hit an even longer homer one batter later to make it 2-0. The Mets answered with a triple by Danny Murphy, who may be a fugitive of Boston's Irish mafia a la "The Departed", and a David Wright grounder mishandled by second baseman Edgar Gonzalez. New York tied it at 2-2 in the 5th when Murphy, who patiently waited for Jose Reyes to steal second, smacked a single into right to score Jose. I was driving back from my brother's house in Rhode Island when this happened, and it was right about then that Howie Rose opened his big fat yap about Eddie Kunz.

I arrived at my hotel right about the time the Padres took the lead for good. Pedro Feliciano had relieved Petey in the 7th with Luis Rodriguez on third, and nearly escaped from the jam after striking out Gerut. He got Giles to ground to third, but Wright botched the play and Rodriguez scored. I didn't hear what happened because of the static on WFAN, but after hearing that Wright made yet another error, I wasn't surprised. I tried to follow the rest of the game on ESPN GameCast, but the crappy hotel internet connection wouldn't allow it. The first thing I did when I got up morning was to check the line to see if Kunz had in fact given up a homer. Nice one, Howie.

Man, I can't wait to get home. Red Sox Nation is totally screwing with my Mets fandom mojo. The Phillies of course won, so now we're three back again. We finish up with the Padres with an afternoon game before hosting Florida over the weekend. We need this game, Johan. And Eddie Kunz has now allowed a home run in EVERY GAME he's ever pitched in the Majors. There, I said it.

MEDICAL BILL

Uh-oh. Billy Wagner is on the 15-day DL with arm problems. They still beat the atrocious San Diego Padres last night 6-5, but only because Aaron Heilman wasn't allowed to blow his first chance to finish a game in Billy's absence. Scottie Schoeneweis had to do the honors after Heilman allowed yet another multi-run homer, this time a three-run job by Jody Gerut. Even so, Jerry Manuel has proclaimed Heilman the closer for the indefinite future. We are doomed.

In better news, Fernando Tatis hit two homers last night, and we needed both of them, plus a couple of tack-on runs driven home by Danny Murphy and Nick Evans. Meanwhile, while guys making near the minimum win games, Omar is probably trying to figure out how to pay Luis Castillo even more money.

The Phillies were smoked by the Marlins, so everybody moved up a game. We're two back, with two left against the Pads. The Phils have a three-game set this weekend with the Pirates, who have exchanged the Jolly Roger for a white flag for 2008 after some high profile trades, but then have to travel to the West Coast. We get Florida at home, a makeup game with the Bucs, the Nats in Washington, and then a series at Pittsburgh. Now, if we had a closer, we could maybe make up some ground. You have to know Omar is thinking, "Is Armando Benitez available?"

BROCKTON BLUES

I go to Brockton, MA, and the Mets start sucking again. Here's the rundown:

Monday: Mets take a 3-2 lead into the 8th, and Joe Smith and Scottie Schoeneweis decide that they don't want to win today. Five runs later, the Mets don't.

Tuesday: Good Oliver shows up and stymies the Marlins, Mets win 4-1. This will be the last good Mets game for a while. I'm still waiting, in fact.

Wednesday: Marlins 7, Mets 5. Mike Pelfrey gives up a 5-spot in the 4th, and the Mets never quite recover.

Friday: Oh, brother. The Mets load the bases with none out against the Ed Wade Dis-Astros in the 7th with the score tied at 3-3 and fail to score. The Dis-Astros load the bases with none out in the eighth and Aaron Heilman gives up a granny to Mark Loretta.

Saturday: Daddy Wags craps the bed against his former team, giving up two runs in the ninth to blow a 4-2 lead. Houston wins it in the 10th, 5-4.

Sunday: Randy Freaking Wolf and four relievers shut out the Mets 4-0 to give Houston their first Mets sweep in 15 years.

I need to get home soon, apparently. The Mets find themselves three games back and in 3rd place behind Florida. San Diego comes to town tomorrow. We have to beat them, right? Right?

BYE, ALBERT, AND DON'T COME BACK

That would be the rampaging Albert Pujols and his Bat of Doom, of course. The Mets would have a three game sweep of the Cards if not for Albert, but then, a lot of things would be better for the Mets if not for Albert.

I'm in Red Sox Nation for a business trip (I cleared customs with only the obligatory hour wait on the tarmac at Logan), so we'll dispense with the usual prose and go to a quick game recap.

Friday: Mike Pelfrey goes seven and allows only one run in a convincing 7-2 victory. Delgado and the Other Reyes went deep.

Saturday: Hail to Albert, and to Skip Schumaker, whoever he is. Skip had six hits and Albert had five in a 14-inning thriller. Albert's final hit may still be in low earth orbit. He hit it off an exhausted Aaron Heilman in the 14th to give the Cards a 10-8 win. The Mets had erased two earlier deficits of 4-0 and 8-5, so I can't complain much. Just too much Albert.

Sunday: Our somewhat less formidable answer to Albert, Johan, went the route and the Mets whupped on Kyle Lohse for a 9-1 laugher. Fernando Tatis hit his second homer in two days. I suppose we have to give Omar his due here. Fernando Tatis would not have been my first, second, or 867th choice to replace Moises Alou.

We start up with Florida, who is hanging in there in the division race. Philly took two of three from Atlanta to stay one back, and now gets to beat up on the Nats. After that, Albert will be the Phillies' problem, and they can have him.

FIRST PLACE, BARELY

We should be three games ahead. We should be three games ahead. We should be three games ahead!

Sorry, I can't get that thought out of my brain. I realize that this is self-defeating and not helpful in any way, but still, WE SHOULD BE THREE GAMES AHEAD! Ok, never mind.

The Mets won game three against the Wife Beaters with a clutch two-out, two-run double in the 8th from my new best friend, Carlos Delgado. Dude is raking. Yeah, I know, I called him an embarrassment and washed up. It was just my motivational techniques! Well, it would be if he read this. The Good Oliver Perez showed up as well yesterday afternoon, yielding a solo homer by Jayson Werth as his only major blemish in seven and two-thirds innings. Wags was sharp again to get his 26th save in a 3-1 final.

The Cards come to Shea for three games starting tonight. Their pitching staff is looking pretty ratty, and they just fell behind the Brewers in the wild-card race. It's as good a time as any to see them, although they will have Phat Albert. They'll throw Kyle Lohse on Sunday, who the Mets couldn't touch the last time they faced him. This will make tonight's and Saturday's games critical. We have some guy named Brandon Knight (another Baseball Witness Protection Program player?) pitching on Saturday. He was torched pretty good while he was with the Yankees back in 2001 and 2002, but he has a 1.60 ERA this season with the Zephyrs. I'm not sure why he is a better option than Tony Armas, Jr., but Jerry Manuel has a 14-3 record in his last 17 games, so I suppose we should trust him.

And, also, we should be three games ahead. Really.

TGIW

As in Thank God It's Wagner, and not the rest of the Gang Who Can't Get Anybody Out When It Counts (GWCGAOWIC?). I feel somewhat better this morning, although I can't help but think we should by all rights be two games ahead right now and gunning for a sweep.

Jose Reyes did the major damage with a well-timed three-run homer off Ryan Madson in the 6th that broke a 3-3 tie. The Chief Wife Beater himself, Brett Myers, started and was wild, walking five and hitting Carlos Delgado. Maddeningly, the Mets kept letting him off the hook, scoring only two in the first even though Myers had walked the bases loaded and then walked in a run. The Phils answered immediately in the 2nd with back-to-back solo homers off starter John Maine by Shane "Annoyin' Hawaiian" Victorino and Geoff Jenkins. The Mets wasted a great opportunity in the 3rd when they loaded the bases with one out, but could only score one after Marlon Anderson struck out. They were lucky to get that one when Jimmy Rollins bobbled a grounder by Damion Easley that might have been the third out. Maine lasted seven and pitched well, staying around long enough to get the W after Reyes' homer.

I can't completely excoriate the Non-Wagners (much easier acronym), since Scottie Schoeneweis and Joe Smith were spotless in the 8th, aside from a prudent walk to Pat Burrell. Billy looked completely healthy in getting three quick outs in the ninth. I'm assuming he's available for this afternoon's game. Oliver "Two-Face" Perez takes on the Methusalah of the Delaware Valley, Jamie Moyer, to decide who walks away in the lead. It's probably best that I will be following this on my BlackBerry, although it may not be good that my BlackBerry is so easy to throw.

TIN METS

Why, oh, why, Lord, am I doomed to root for a team with no heart?

So, what if Billy Wagner is hurt? Come on, Duaner, show some nutsack and get the 5-6-7 hitters for the Phillies out for crying out loud! Instead, each one of them singles, and then Joe Smith gets a slow grounder from Pedro Feliz that Jose Reyes apparently wasn't thinking could ever possibly be hit to him, and he forgets that Shane "Flyin' Hawaiian" Victorino is on first. Reyes stops to think for a few seconds, straining his pea brain, then steps on second base well after Victorino has arrived, so now nobody is out. YOU'VE GOT TO GET ONE OUT! Then, So Taguchi, who is on the Phillies roster for one reason only, to torment the Mets, gets his first pinch hit of the entire season (thanks for pointing that out in advance, Gary Cohen), by driving a Pedro Feliciano pitch over Endy Chavez' head to tie the game. Endy, he's facing a lefty who lives on the outside of the plate, don't you think maybe he might want to go to right? So why are you playing right behind second base? I see the Phils added three more after that. I turned it off in disgust before that inevitability occurred.

Oh, this was a team effort all right. Endy Chavez has to be blamed for a lot of it, but he wasn't the only one. Chavez ran the Mets out of at least two runs on two separate bone-head plays. The second one was much worse than the first one. On the first one, with none out in the 3rd, Endy had singled to move Reyes to second. David Wright then hit a double that Chavez had almost no chance to score from first on, but he was waved around by Luis Aguayo and was out by ten feet. You can kind of chalk that one up to aggressiveness, because it was early in the game, but he should have stayed at third. In the second episode, in the 7th and again with none out, Endy hit what should have been an easy triple but missed Aguayo waving him to third and ended up with a double. Wright then hit a sharp single to right field, and Endy once again had zero chance of scoring, but as if to try to make up for his earlier two blunders, he and Aguayo gave it another try, and this time he was out by about 15 feet. You knew those two runs would be significant, and they were.

We suck. And we don't even have as much will to win, fire in our belly, intestinal fortitude, call it what you will, as a bunch of wife beaters. Have fun in the Playoffs, Philly. You want it more, so you can have it.

SPLIT-CINNATI

The Mets went 2-2 in southern Ohio this weekend, which was good enough to stay in a first place tie with the Wife Beaters. Here's a quick recap of the weekend's games:

Friday: John Maine gave up four runs on two hits, three walks and a hit batsman in the 5th, and the Mets couldn't solve Bronson Arroyo for the second time this season, as they fell 5-2.

Saturday: This was a close, back-and-forth affair until the 7th, when Pedro Feliciano got pounded by Jay Bruce, Jeff Keppinger and Adam Dunn, and Aaron Heilman chipped in by allowing a crushing triple to Joey Votto. The Reds won easily 7-2.

Sunday: The Mets got out to a 4-1 lead in the 4th, and with Mike Pelfrey on the mound I was feeling pretty good. Then in the bottom of the 4th, Marlon Anderson let Ken Griffey Jr.'s pop fly drop in for a ground-rule double, Brandon Phillips singled in Griffey, Ramon Castro threw one into center field on a steal attempt to allow Phillips to go to third, Dunn hit a sac fly, and Edwin Encarnacion jacked one into the left field seats, and it was 4-4. Just like that. Both teams added a run, with the Reds' tally coming on an impressive upper-tanker by Phillips, also off Pelfrey. The game went to extras, and Reds reliever Bill Bray, which sort of rhymes with "Bad Day", had one. He gave up an instant double to start the inning to pinch-hitter Robinson Cancel. Jose Reyes tried to bunt him to third, and catcher Javier Valentin almost collided with Encarnacion trying to field it, allowing Reyes to beat it out easily. It looked like the Reds were going to
get a break when Argenis Reyes hit a sharp grounder right to Encarnacion. Since Cancel had to hold at third, Encarnacion decided to try for the force at second, but threw the ball away into right field, scoring Cancel and sending Jose Reyes to third. After a David Wright intentional pass, Carlos Beltran hit a fast-dropping liner to right that Griffey caught but that left him in no position to make a throw as Jose scored. Daddy Wags struck out the side in the bottom of the 10th for a 7-5 Mets final.

Both the Mets and Wife Beaters now have identical records of 53-46, with Florida a half game back at 52-46. Florida has a remarkable -25 in run differential, compared to our +35 and Philly's +75. We play Philly for three at Shea starting Tuesday, then host the Cards. Philly hosts Atlanta after us, and the Marlins host Atlanta but then have to travel to Wrigley to play the NL leading Cubs for four games. This week is a critical chance to establish some separation from our rivals, but given the way the rest of the season has progressed, I'll be content with a tie or a lead of any kind when it is over.

O ME OF LITTLE FAITH

I have a confession to make. Bless me, Mets fans, for I have sinned. I turned off the game last night right after the immortal Javier Valentin hit that bases-clearing double to put the Reds up 8-6. "Shit!" I said, to my cat and two dogs (the wife is visiting family, and she doesn't typically watch with me anyway). "There goes the streak. Nice going, Schoeneweis and Heilman!" And then, I clicked the red "X" in the corner of the Firefox window and disgustedly went to bed.

Yeah, I know, Crash Davis said that a player on a streak must respect the streak, and that goes for fans as well. I should have stayed up the extra half-hour to watch the rousing 9th inning comeback. I see that David Wright hit a two-run bomb to tie it, and Carlos Delgado put us in the lead with a double, and scored on Fernando Tatis' double. All of this came off the normally reliable Reds closer, Francisco Cordero, who had his worst outing of the season. Dammit! I wish I had seen that.

I had only been absentmindedly checking in on the game periodically from the beginning. I was listening to an audio book that I bought so that I could participate in an online book club. Every so often, I'd minimize iTunes and see what the score was. It started out well, with Delgado hitting a two-run homer in the 4th to give the Mets a 2-0 lead. The next time I checked, it was 5-2 Reds. Wow, back-to-back homers, a double and a triple off Johan. The Reds can definitely hit. No wonder they got rid of Josh Hamilton for some pitching. The Mets quickly made it 5-4, and then 6-5, and I thought, "Ok, the bullpen has been stifling of late, looking good." I finished the book about then and headed up to the Man Cave to watch the rest of the game.

By the time the "Buffering..." stopped, the Reds had two men on and Aaron Heilman was doing his trademark nibbling. He walked Dan Ross to load the bases, and Manuel brought in Scottie Schoeneweis to face the switch-hitting Valentin. Scottie had Valentin looking pretty foolish early in the at-bat, but then he laid in a spinning slider that Valentin crushed to right-center. Reds announcer George Grande went into that weird high-pitched thing he does when he gets excited as everybody scored, and I sat there steaming. I momentarily debated with myself on hanging on to watch a potential comeback, but with the time approaching 9:30 pm, I didn't think I could make it, and it probably wasn't forthcoming anyway.

So, I'll do two three "Meet the Mets" and ten "Ya Gotta Believes" as penance (or is it pennants?). The Mets win puts us in a flat-footed tie, whatever that means, with the Philadelphia Wife Beaters (as I have taken to calling them) at 52-44. Man, we were two games under .500 when this thing started. John Maine takes on Bronson Arroyo and his mad licks tonight to try for 11 in a row. It's Friday, and I'm staying up all night if necessary. Unless it's 15-0 or something, of course. I'm not a masochist. Or I least I won't confess to being one here.

BREAK IT DOWN

Wow, nine straight wins. Who predicted that? Certainly not me. I've been teetering on the edge of shutting this stupid Mets blog down on numerous occasions this year due to poor play, lackadaisical attitudes, crippling injuries, and bad general management. Then, Mike Pelfrey turns into the right-handed Randy Johnson, and we're a half-game out at the break. As per the usual Mets luck, the All-Star break is timed perfectly to halt the nine-game winning streak, and all the momentum of the streak will be drained by having to watch some 10-minute schmaltzy video produced by FOX during the pre-game show. A half-hour of Jeannie Zelasko alone will make you never want to play or watch baseball again.

That being the case, what happened in the last few games? We'll do a quick recap again, because I have reverse jet lag and the home run derby is coming on.

Wednesday - The Mets clobber my Strat team pitcher Jonathan Sanchez, and Johan goes five innings until the rains come. The bullpen goes the other four after the skies clear in scoreless fashion for a 5-0 win over the Giants.

Thursday - A four-run seventh off two more guys clearly using aliases, Sergio Romo and Jack Taschner, breaks open a 3-3 tie with San Fran, and the Mets win 7-3. The bullpen doesn't even give up a hit.

Friday - The Rockies are in town, and even grab a 1-0 lead, before the Mets quickly tie it and then win it 2-1 in the bottom of the 8th. The bullpen has an epic meltdown over the previous night and gives up one hit.

Saturday - Petey starts but can only go four (yet another injury), but with this bullpen, who cares? Wait, what? Yes, the bullpen is clearly taking performance-enhancing something, and once again goes hitless. Maybe it's just the Rockies. The final is 3-0.

Sunday - Who even needs a bullpen? Mike Pelfrey is a golden god. Pelf goes eight and continues the Rockies woes as the Mets get ANOTHER shutout, 7-0. This is getting monotonous.

The Phillies have also been winning, or we would be in control of this division. They took two of three from both the Cards and D'backs after we left town. The Phils start eating their own tails in the NL East for the rest of the month. We get the Reds for four in Cincy right off the break. After Cincinnati, we play the Phillies and Cards at Shea and then at Florida and at Houston. The Phils make the full circuit: at Florida, at us, home for Atlanta, and then back on the road in Washington. After two home series with Florida and Pittsburgh, they have to make a west coast trip. I'd say slight advantage to us until after that trip, but it looks remarkably close after that, with both of us having to play the Cubs and Brewers down the stretch. It'll probably be decided by starting pitching, as it usually is. If the Phillies get one of the remaining starting pitchers available in trade, like A.J. Burnett, that might be enough. We're going to have to stand pat (because we have nothing left to trade), but at the moment, that's not looking too bad.

FLOPPIN' PHILS

This will be very quick. I'm in Hawaii and jet-lagged, and I'd rather be looking at the ocean out my window, frankly.

Friday: the Mets lose 3-2 on a 9th inning 2-out single by a kama'aina, Shane Victorino. Maybe I'll go fire eggs at his porch.

Saturday: the Mets break open a tight game with 6 runs off a suddenly mortal Phils bullpen, win it 9-4.

Sunday: Daddy Wags blows a 2-0 lead in the 9th on a Jayson Werth homer, but Fernando Tatis picks him up with a 2-run shot of his own, as the Mets prevail 4-2 in 12 innings.

Monday: Wagner nearly blows another one, but the Mets scrape by with a 10-9 victory after leading 8-0 at one stage.

Tuesday: Mike Pelfrey dominates the Giants, as the Amazins beat San Fran 7-0.

Four wins, one loss, and they should have won that one too. The Mets are now only one and half behind Philly, and only one in the loss column. The only bad news is that Ryan Church is back on the DL with migraines, likely from his two concussions.

Ok, back to staring at the ocean...

THE MAUL OF TROY

Last night added to the growing pile of evidence that the Mets of 2008 don't have what it takes to be champions, as if we didn't know that for certain already. They took a 7-5 lead over the Cardinals to the bottom of the 8th, and lost the game in regulation on homers by nepotism beneficiary Chris Duncan in the 8th and in the 9th by Blue Jay cast-off Troy Glaus, who had also homered in the first.

Pedro Feliciano did the honors against Duncan, and Carlos Muniz (?) gave up the game-winner. What on earth is Carlos Muniz doing in a high leverage situation? It was probably because, well, he was the last and only option. Aaron Heilman, Joe Smith, and Feliciano had already appeared, and Scotty Schoeneweis is a lefty and has been terrible of late. Jerry Manuel was following the conventional wisdom of saving your closer on the road, which I think is stupid. You can't win it in the 10th if you give up a run in the 9th. I'd rather take my chances with Muniz with an opportunity to have the lead than with the game tied. Duaner Sanchez was also in the pen, but I guess he wasn't available after appearing last night. The real killer was Feliciano allowing the home run to Duncan, who was slugging .179 with ZERO homers against left-hand pitchers coming into the game. I missed the depressing doings because of a rain delay that pushed the final way past my bedtime, but, man, that must have some kind of cookie that Feliciano served up to Duncan.

The first part of the game was pretty encouraging, except for the fact that Pedro Martinez got shelled again. His career is in danger of an unsightly and premature ending if he can't get it together soon. The Mets were down 4-0 before the last cars had exited I-70, thanks to Glaus' first home run and a two-run single by Rick Ankiel. Ankiel added his second dinger in two games in the fifth to add to Petey's woes. In between, though, the Mets had once again staged a comeback to tie the game, with Damion Easley getting a big two-out single in the 3rd with the bases loaded to score two. The rain started in the 4th, and I turned it off and went to bed.

After Ankiel had made it 5-4, the Mets jumped all over the once great Mark Mulder in the 7th. Mulder had a miserable outing, giving up hits to Carlos Delgado and Ryan Church, throwing a wild pitch, and hitting Brian Schneider. That Billy Beane, he sure knows when to cut a guy loose. The Mets posted three runs in the inning, and looked to be on their way. So much for that.

The Phillies won again, and appear to be over their recent outbreak of suck. We've had that disease from the outset, and no cure is evident.

TONY, ARM US!

That was unexpected. The Mets called up retread starter Tony Armas, Jr. from New Orleans to fill in because of the Friday doubleheader with the Yanks, and he wasn't bad. In fact, I think Oliver Perez should start thinking about whether or not he likes hot sauce on his oyster po-boys.

The Mets prevailed 7-4 against the Cards, thanks in large part to Mr. Armas, Jr. He got off to a slow start, giving up a no-doubter two-run shot to Rick Ankiel in the first and another run on a Skip Schumaker double in the second. The Mets clawed their way back to a tie with a run in the 2nd and a Ramon Castro two-run double in the 4th. In the 5th, Cards pitcher Todd Wellemeyer's wheels fell off, and the Mets scored three runs on four hits to knock him out of the game. Armas, meanwhile, settled in and did not allow another run until the 6th. David Wright capped off the Mets scoring in the top of the 6th with a towering home run into the bullpen in left. Aaron Heilman, Pedro Feliciano, Duaner Sanchez, and Billy Wagner each got some solid work in to end the game.

No ground was gained in the East as the Phillies clubbed around the Braves, after sending noted sensitive man Brett Myers to AAA Lehigh Valley. Watch out, Allentown. You wouldn't like him when he's angry. Or drunk.

BEAT ME IN ST. LOUIS

I hope the Mets' plane makes it to St. Louis today. Oh, you mean they were there last night? Could have fooled me.

Kyle Lohse, who admittedly has received some Dave Duncan magic, but still, is not the second coming of Bob Gibson, stymied the so-called Mets on five hits over seven innings, and the Cardinals scored on the seemingly absent New Yorkers in each of the first five innings for a 7-1 drubbing. If it wasn't for Rick Ankiel throwing one of his trademarked wild pitches (and heaven knows, the Mets have seen that before), the Mets would have been shut out completely, and had very little to prove their presence at Busch Stadium.

John Maine had an Oliver Perez-like outing, with bad command and bad location, which meshed well with the Mets bad defense. David Wright needs to surrender his Gold Glove to authorities immediately. He caused one of the runs in the 4th by making a ridiculously conceived throw to first on an Aaron Miles grounder that even a post-knee-surgery Tiger Woods could have beaten out. The throw sailed into foul territory behind the bag, where $6 million man Luis Castillo was not backing up, allowing Miles to go to second. Phat Albert Pujols immediately bounced a single up the middle to score Miles to make it 5-0 and end any serious hopes of a Met victory. Prior to that, in the 2nd, The $6MMan, as I like to call him, let an easy two hopper by Skip Schumaker go right through his $6 million legs to allow Yadier Molina to score from second with the third Cardinal run.

The loss put us three back in the loss column behind the Phillies. We're still one behind them in games played, and will be up through the All-Star break. All the good teams are in the NL Central this year, which leaves the East and West up for grabs. If anybody can put together a 2007 Rockies-like streak at any point, the division will be theirs. I'd settle for a two-game winning streak at this point.

FOUR OUT OF SIX AIN'T BAD

The Mets may finish third or fourth, they may win only 75 or 80 games, Oliver Perez may frustrate the hell out of us, Petey may be on his last legs, Jerry Manuel may not be any better than Willie Randolph, Omar Minaya may continue to overvalue aging guys from the Dominican, the Wilpons may continue to meddle and sow dysfunction, and Luis Castillo may wear out a path with grounders to shortstop, but WE BEAT THE YANKS 4 GAMES TO 2! Suck it, Yankees!

Game 4 of the Subway Series was played Friday afternoon at The Stade, a make-up game for an earlier rainout. The Mets got out to 1-0 lead early on a gentlemen named Dan Giese whose likeness will not be appearing on any monuments, but gave the run right back in the bottom of the first. Carlos Beltran lined a two-run homer into the short porch in right in the 3rd to make it 3-1, but once again, the Mets couldn't consolidate, as Mike Pelfrey allowed a bunch of dinks and dunks for three more Yankee runs. Giese got into more trouble in the fifth, loading the bases on two walks and a David Wright single. That brought in another non-immortal, Edwar (My Parents Forgot The Last D) Ramirez. He allowed a fielders choice to Beltran, and then Carlos Delgado smacked a double that Bobby Abreu chased like a radioactive rabbit in the right field corner as two more runs scored.

Ramirez started the 6th, but gave up a single to Brian Schneider and a walk to Jose Reyes and was relieved by Ross Ohlendorf, who may not even have a uniform number for all I know. Wright singled to drive in Schneider and then Beltran walked, setting the stage again for Delgado, who hit a Mantle-like blast into the deep recesses of the right-center bleachers, possibly conking one of those "roll call" idiots right on his malformed noggin. That made the score 11-4, and the competitive section of the game was over. Delgado added a three-run shot off LaTroy Hawkins in the 8th to make the final score 15-6. He finished with a team record 9 RBI.

The nightcap at Shea was an unfortunate mess. Pedro Martinez was once again solid for a few innings, and then completely jumped the rails and gave up a total of six runs over the last two and two-thirds he was in there. Reclamation project Sidney Ponson was fantastic for the Yankees, lasting six innings and allowing no runs on five hits and four walks. Scotty Schoeneweis had another in a series of bad games and gave up the last three runs as the Yanks won 9-0.

Thanks to the wunderkind of FOX and MLB, I was unable to watch Saturday's game. Instead I was forced to watch the Cubs and White Sox, presumably because I live west of the Mississippi. Of course, I didn't watch it, because I don't care about those teams, and thus missed all the lovely advertising. Here's an idea: I paid over $100 for MLB.TV, so how about you let me watch that, and you can include all the advertising you want? There's nothing else to do between innings anyway. No, instead, you drive away the very people you want to attract with a blackout. Good job!

I listened on WFAN, and was not pleased. Once again, the Mets couldn't score enough runs for Johan Santana, and lost for his fifth straight start. It started well, with Ramon Castro hitting a titanic homer to left center off Andy Pettitte in the 2nd. That was the last lead the Mets would have, though. Santana started off the 4th with walks to Jeter and Abreu, and both players eventually scored. The Yanks added a crucial insurance run in the 6th when Robinson Cano hit a two-out single with the bases loaded to score A-Rod, who of course had also walked. David Wright led off the bottom of the 6th with a home run, but it was exactly two batters too late. If the Johan had gotten Cano out, Wright's homer would have tied it, and the Mets may not have seen Mo Rivera, but as it was, they did, and they were baffled like most everyone else is. 3-2 Yanks.

Sunday's game was on TBS, for some reason, so I got to enjoy some hi-def action for a change. Jason Giambi's mustache looks even more spectacularly 70's-porn-ier in HD. Ron Darling's pre-game chiron asked, "Which Oliver Perez will show up?" It turned out to be Gallant and not Goofus for a change, and the Yanks had no answers. Perez plowed through the Bomber order, walking none and allowing only three hits and a run (a huge Wilson Betemit homer) in seven innings. Pedro Feliciano had a 1-2-3 8th, and Billy Wagner made some hearts palpitate by allowing a leadoff single to Peter Eater Jeter, but escaped unharmed for his 18th save. Delgado hit another home run in the winning effort. The final score was a tidy 3-1.

The Phillies lost a late game in Texas, dropping their lead over Florida to one game. Despite our under-.500 first half, we're still only three out. A couple good weeks, and we could take charge of this thing. Unfortunately, Petey is a shambles right now, Pelfrey and Perez are still not consistent, and Johan is not getting any run support. The offense has been picking up, but Alou is out indefinitely, and even though it was nice to get Ryan Church back, Trot Nixon and Endy Chavez are both lousy corner outfielders on offense. Maybe we can get Xavier Nady back from the Pirates, but I doubt it. Omar has traded every decent player away, so this is probably the team that we go with in the second half.

But we beat the Yankees 4 game to 2! 2008 isn't so bad after all.

A.B.B. 130

With the Mets taking an off day on Thursday, let's focus on the Anybody But Bush race. Yesterday, Barack Obama met with former Democratic Party foe Hillary Clinton in the symbolically chosen town of Unity, New Hampshire. It's a good thing they didn't meet in Hillary's first choice, I Hate You And Everything You Stand For, North Dakota.



It's OK, it's a "Land of friendly people!"

Anyway, it's Obama vs. McCain, or Hussein vs. Bush Part II, if you listen to each one of their campaign staffs. Actually, Obama probably wouldn't want that matchup, based on what happened the first time. How are they doing? Let's run down the state polls.

Alabama - McCain safe
Alaska - McCain close
Arizona - McCain safe
Arkansas - McCain safe
California - Obama safe
Colorado - Obama close
Connecticut - Obama close
Delaware - Obama safe
D.C. - Obama safe
Florida - McCain safe
Georgia - Too close to call
Hawaii - Obama safe
Idaho - McCain safe
Illinois - Obama safe
Indiana - Too close to call
Iowa - Obama close
Kansas - McCain safe
Kentucky - McCain safe
Louisiana - McCain safe
Maine - Obama safe
Maryland - Obama safe
Massachusetts - Obama safe
Michigan - Obama close
Minnesota - Obama safe
Mississippi - McCain close
Missouri - McCain close
Montana - McCain close
Nebraska - McCain safe
Nevada - McCain close
New Hampshire - Obama safe
New Jersey - Obama safe
New Mexico - Obama close
New York - Obama safe
North Carolina - McCain close
North Dakota - McCain close
Ohio - Too close to call
Oklahoma - McCain safe
Oregon - Obama close
Pennsylvania - Obama close
Rhode Island - Obama safe
South Carolina - McCain safe
South Dakota - McCain safe
Tennessee - McCain safe
Texas - McCain close
Utah - McCain safe
Vermont - Obama safe
Virginia - Too close to call
Washington - Obama safe
West Virginia - McCain safe
Wisconsin - Obama safe
Wyoming - McCain safe

Tallying up the electoral votes, that gives us:

McCain safe - 126
McCain close - 80
Obama safe - 200
Obama close - 73
Too close to call - 59

If the election were held today, Obama would win with at least 273 electoral votes to a maximum of 265 for McCain. The battleground states appear to be Virginia, Indiana, Georgia and Ohio, but Obama would win even if he lost all four and maintained his advantage in the rest of the states where he is leading. And if these polls were even a semblance of reality, which we know they are not.

I would have to conclude from this cursory analysis that Obama will have to screw the pooch pretty badly to lose this election. He has 200 safe electoral votes to McCain's 126, which is an enormous cushion. With Obama's cash advantage by way of his decision to decline public funding, you would have to believe that he will only improve his numbers in the battleground states and possibly even turn one or two McCain-close states.

Obama has to watch out for Pennsylvania, Oregon, Colorado, Iowa, and New Mexico. These are all trending his way right now, but not by much. Pennsylvania and Oregon have been going Democratic in the past few elections, but both are high in a demographic he has struggled with, working class whites. Iowa, Colorado, and New Mexico have traditionally been Republican strongholds. If he has any more of these Reverend Wright flare-ups or other gaffes, all five of these states could go to McCain.

As for McCain, the fact that my home state of Texas is only in the "close" column says a lot about his candidacy. He has a tremendous amount of work to do, and it is difficult to imagine that he is up to the task. He'll have to turn at least a few of those five states I mentioned earlier, and he'll have to win Ohio, Virginia, and for heavens sake Georgia to have any chance. I can't believe Georgia is a battleground state. That might be apocryphal, but there are a large number of African Americans in increasingly prominent positions there, so it could be true.

WRIGHT IS RIGHT

I missed all the fun, again. I was banished to our makeshift office, which would otherwise be our spare downstairs bedroom, because my wife was having her book club in the (Half A) Man Cave. Since I knew that I wouldn't be getting the 42" screen, I dawdled, watching The Daily Show, Colbert, and PTI on the DVR in the bedroom until about 6:30, and then I listened to some podcasts until about 7 pm. When MLB.TV came on on the office PC, I was expecting another disaster, but happily, I saw the 2 2 4 line for the Mets in the first three innings. I had to check RotoTimes.com to figure out that David Wright had homered twice.

Then, as if to spite me, the Mets offense took the rest of the night off, and John Maine got into enough scrapes to make me nervous. Thankfully, Aaron Heilman, Joe Smith, and Duaner Sanchez each pitched a scoreless inning and ended all hopes of a Mariner sweep. The Mets won it 8-2, and will enjoy their rare home day off today as they prepare for a four game set with the Bronx Bummers. The Yanks have been showing faint signs of life lately, winning seven of ten and settling firmly in third place behind the Rays. Pretty much like us, really. It should be a good series. Not Ana Ivanovic in tennis whites good, but close.

WORSE THAN THE WORST

Yipe. An 11-0 shellacking by the freaking Mariners. Yeah, this was surely all Willie Randolph's fault.

R.A. Dickey, it turns out, is a knuckleballer. He's a knuckleballer with a 5.77 ERA coming in who the Mets could not figure out for the life of them, failing to mount even a serious threat for the first six innings Mr. Dickey was on the mound, and merely loading the bases with two outs in the 7th. The score was 10-0 by then, so even if Jose Reyes had come through, it would have been at best 10-4. What a sad and sorry lot.

Ok, we'll try this again. This game, they should win. Miguel Batista, who is replacing the injured Erik Bedard tonight, has an ERA of 6.26, and a 3-9 record. He lost his starting job earlier in the season and wasn't much better in the bullpen, and is only starting due to Bedard's injury. We have our #2, John Maine. Thank goodness the Phillies are still losing. By the way, the 16-2 runs-scored start to this series has put the Mets at a -8 run differential for the year, which is right what our record would indicate it should be.

FRANKLY, I COULD HAVE WAITED 38 YEARS

I made it to the Man Cave, and just as MLB.TV finished buffering and a picture popped up, there was King Felix's grand slam sailing over the right field fence. It was a replay, but I didn't like seeing it much no matter when it happened.

4-0 Mariners. And I hadn't even got the couch cushions arranged yet. Damn it! Then Felix proceeded to stymie the Mets for the next few innings. At least that I expected. The Mets did get a run and knocked Felix out of the game in the 5th on a wild pitch and a mad dash home by Carlos Beltran. Felix stood too much on the plate, and Beltran barreled into him, rolling over his left ankle. He's the proverbial day-to-day, but as Dan Patrick once asked, aren't we all?

The Mets had the inklings of a rally in the 9th off emergency closer Sean Green (not Jewish), but it fizzled when Carlos Delgado was viciously struck out by Green's replacement, Arthur Rhodes. Damion Easley also K'd, looking, to end the game at 5-2.

To recap, if King Felix doesn't close his eyes and hit a granny, that one was ours. Ok, you have to blame David Wright for booting a grounder and prolonging the inning as well, but still. Thirty-seven years since an AL pitcher has hit a grand slam, and the Mets have to be the ones to give up the next one. Sigh.

EASTWARD, HO!

The Mets completed the west-of-Texas segment of their schedule with a 2-games-to-1 series win over the Rockies. Believe it or not, we are only two games back of Philadelphia in the loss column. They have played two more games than us due to all the lousy weather in New York this year, plus they have a game in hand due to scheduling. Had we won the two rainouts that have yet to be played (vs. Pittsburgh and the Yankees), we'd be only two and a half out. Sorry about that, Willie.

As for the game this weekend, John Maine was stellar in the opener, allowing only six hits, three walks and two runs in six and two-thirds innings. The Mets rode a five-run explosion in the 2nd off Rockies ace Aaron Cook to an easy 7-2 win. The two-out hits in the 2nd inning were fairly breath-taking. Jose Reyes, Endy Chavez, and David Wright all smacked hard RBI singles off Cook when it looked like he had escaped the worst of it. I thought Cook was a goner at that point, but he ended up going seven, probably because the Rockies bullpen is a shambles. I turned it off after 4 innings and headed to bed, even on a Friday night. I am old.

Game 2 was a lowlight of the trip. Fortunately, I missed it because I didn't have the energy to go up to the Man Cave at 8 pm to tune in. We had just committed to spending about $7,000 on a home improvement project, and dropping that kind of money on something that is not going to be any fun at all is exhausting. The Mets took a quick lead on a Jose Reyes triple and a Luis Castillo sac fly, and Petey was strong for the first four, striking out four and only allowing two hits and a walk. Then the homers and singles and doubles started and wouldn't stop. Garrett Atkins and Brad Hawpe went back-to-back to lead off the 5th, then Troy Tulowitzki doubled, pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez singled, Willie Taveras singled home a run, Jeff Baker doubled home two more (you get the idea). When Claudio Vargas is deemed a better option, you aren't pitching well. Vargas did get a DP to end the inning, but the Mets had no answer for Jimenez, who lasted all the way through the 8th. The final was 7-1.

Sunday afternoon brought better things for the Mets pitchers especially. I was playing Strat and having brats at one of my fellow owners' houses, and he didn't have MLB Extra Innings, so I was out of luck. Reyes led off the game with another triple, and scored on a grounder by Wright that was ruled a hit and error after Tulowitzki threw it away. The Mets then scored all the runs they would need on a two-run homer by Carlos Beltran in the third. Mike Pelfrey is rounding into shape as a decent alternative to El Duque (and certainly one with a better future). He went five and two-thirds of shutout ball and was removed due to a high pitch count and a couple of walks in the 6th. Joe Smith finished the inning and then gave up the only Rockies run in the 7th, a Yorvit Torrealba dinger. The usual pair of Duaner Sanchez and Billy Wagner sewed up the 3-1 win.

The Mets return to Shea to play the woeful Seattle Mariners, owners of the worst record in baseball. Had it been two weeks ago, the stage would have been set for some crushing Metsian disappointment, but these look like games we should win. Johan faces King Felix tonight (I'll drag myself to the Man Cave for that one, come hell or hardwood flooring), and after that we get some guy named R.A. Dickey with an ERA north of five and then the thoroughly underachieving Erik Bedard on Wednesday. The Manuel magic will be put to the real test in the subsequent games, with four against the Yanks, four against the Cards, and four more against the Phillies. After these 15 games, we'll see what we have. Or we'll be actually looking forward to seeing the office get redecorated.