9/20/07 - Marlins 8, Mets 7…10 innings.

When November rolls around and all the champagne has dried up and all the ticker tape has been swept off the streets, all the championship teams share the same common denominator-They win close games. They push, and get pushed back. They slip and fall, but they get back up stronger. They refuse to lose.

We see that perserverance in one National League team. I’m sad to say it’s the Phillies, and not the Mets.

Philadelphia won’t catch the Mets in the division. I think deep down, every Met fan realizes that. They haven’t caught the Mets all year, even when it seems inevitable that they are going to. They are an imperfect team with woeful starting pitching that will undoubtedly stumble for a couple of games in the home stretch, but they fight. The Phillies have moxie, passion, tenacity.  This year’s amazin’s don’t.

This whole season has been one giant, symbolic parallel to Carlos Beltran looking at strike three in Game 7 of last year’s NLCS.  This team is far from complacent- it’s clear that everyone in that dugout wants to win bad- but for one reason or another, they haven’t come out on top in tight games all year long. That doesn’t bode well for the playoffs, where you can’t go into a weeklong slump only to rebound a week later.

It’s silly to blame Randolph for leaving Sosa in an inning too long, or the Mets bullpen for walking batters, or Jose Reyes for striking out yet again with the bases loaded. The bottom line is, these Mets have found a way to break your heart in every way imaginable this year, and although I’m not a big believer in karma, I’m starting to believe that the boys from Queens are a little more aware of their fallbility.

All I know is it is a good thing I’m moving to Bristol, because I can’t stomach another Yankee parade through the city if they stomp over the Mets in October.  I really hope I’m wrong about these guys.

I’ll try to get my act together with the posts for the pennant race.

One of these days, Shawn Green is going to dive for a ball and have it land in his glove.

Luckily, it didn’t matter on Thursday, as the Mets, perhaps because of the Red’s mere futility, won their first game after the All-Star break, holding onto a 3-2 lead despite only scoring one run after back-to-back home runs from Jose Reyes and Ruben Gotay led off the 1st inning with back-to-back home runs.

In it’s first game since firing hitting coach Rick Downs, hiring Rickey Henderson and replacing aging bench player Julio Franco with young outfielder Lastings Milledge, the Mets were looking to shake up it’s woefully inconsistent offense. It looked like it worked, as Reyes and Gotay drove hanging curveballs from Bronson Arroyo over the right field wall.

After the dramatic offensive explosion, however, the Mets could muster only 6 hits and one run, and needed every bit of Orlando Hernandez and the Mets bullpen to secure a victory. Hernandez earned his fifth victory of the season, going six innings and allowing just two runs on three hits.

The Mets were able to hold off a Reds threat in the ninth inning, as Brandon Phillips got caught in a rundown after he tried to reach third base on a routine ground ball to Jose Reyes. Phillips had led off the inning with a single off of Billy Wagner.

So far, the addition of Milledge to the roster seems to be paying off, as he is a much needed reinforcement to the Mets wounded outfield. A seemingly focused Milledge hit the ball hard in his first two at-bats and scored the winning run in the fifth with a terrific hook slide into home plate to avoid the tag from Red’s catcher David Ross. If Milledge can jump on the early count fastballs he will undoubtedly see and avoid any off the field distractions, he could finally live up to his ceiling-less potential.

While Franco’s presence in the clubhouse will be missed, baseball roster spots are always a numbers game, and the Met’s needed more legitimate threats off the bench. Bringing up Milledge and Sandy Alomar Jr. will give Willie Randolph much-needed flexibility in the late innings, especially since Ramon Castro has proven to the Met’s most consistent bench player.

Sometimes, it looks so easy that you wonder why it was every so excrutiatingly difficult.

Jose Reyes made running the bases look like a videogame as he turned a bloop single into a run, and The New York Mets rode John Maine’s arm  to an impressive, series sweeping win over the Oakland Athletics, completing their first sweep at home of the season with a 10-2 victory on Sunday afternoon.

You just knew the Mets weren’t going to let this one get away. After Reyes led off the game with a bloop single that he successfully stretched into a double, the ensuing error caused by the pressure on the A’s right fielder, Jack Cust, allowed Reyes to speed around the bases when Cust overthrew second base. That was all John Maine needed as he began the game with four scoreless innings en route to his eigth win of the season.

This is the game which leads you to believe the Amazins have returned to mid-may form. Everything was clicking, from the offense, to the pitching, and even running the bases. The bottom of the lineup produced more than the top, and the Mets, who have had an awfully difficult time winning the third game of a series, just had more energy than the Athletics.

It’s also good to know that the Mets have someone to put at first base besides Julio Franco, in case Delgado’s numbers at the plate don’t improve. Shawn Green looked adequate at the position, and may be much of a defensive liability in the infield as long as the Mets outfield can nurse itself back to health. It’s nice to see Randolph finding a way to keep Green in the lineup on getaway day, when he normally gives his starters a day off.  It showed he really wanted this victory, and that sentiment obviously permeated through the dugout.

Next up for the Mets are the struggling Cardinals, who the Mets should pounce on, if the rest of the season in any indicator. St. Louis still hasn’t recovered from the thrashing at the hands of New York at the beginning of the season, and there is no reason to give them new life now. Let’s hope the Mets take advantage.
I apologize in  advance, as there won’t be any updates during the week. I’ll be camping with my future brother-in-law for his bachelor party. Expect a new update on Friday. Until then, lets go Mets!

I don’t know whether it was the Met hitters enjoying some home cooking, a pregame pep talk by Willie, or simply just Carlos Silva leaving fat pitches over the plate. It doesn’t really matter, because sometimes a pitcher grooving fastballs is all it takes to break the dam of tension that has been progressively building with every runner left in scoring position.

The funny thing about a omni-lineup slump is that usually, when one or two guys break out, the floodgates open. As unfortunate as it has been to have two of the best hitters in the National League looking clueless for the past month, once they regain form the rebound effect is enough to carry an offense. Delgado suddenly looked comfortable every time he was at the plate last night, and Beltran hit the ball hard in all of his at bats before finally breaking through with a clutch double in the eighth.

John Maine, who has really been solid all year (12 of 14 quality starts), also rebounded nicely, finally working ahead of batters and breezing through a talented, if not balanced, Minnesota windup. Fans can only hope this was a sign that Maine has regained command of his sneaky tailing fastball, and not just a product of the Twins hitters unfamiliarity with him.

With Chavez on the shelf for what could be a lengthy period of time, it was nice to see Ricky Ledee pickup a key two out-RBI and a homer, if for no other reason than to put some pressure on the starting outfield to start producing.

Tomorrow’s game against the much heralded Johan Santana might not be an automatic loss. Although he has been cursed with a lack of run support, Santana has not been the dominating pitcher that he was the past two seasons. Maybe the Amazins can sneak a run or two off of him and ride Jorge Sosa’s hot hand on the mound.

Watchout, Mets fans; Lastings Milledge is back on the field and beginning his rehab in the Minor Leagues. Forget the need to bring him up and buttress the paper thin outfield; I’m just hoping this means that his album is finally finished. I Can’t wait to see the work of LMillz hit the shelves.