Unhappy Recap: Marlins 8 Mets 1

The choke is complete.

Tom Glavine absolutely choked in this game. He had the worst performance of any pitcher ever, in a game of this magnitude. In the history of baseball, no pitcher has ever done worse in such an important game. Horrible, just horrible. If Michael Vick owned the Mets he would have electrocuted Glavine.

Glavine was scared. I don't want to hear anything about his previous big game resume. He was scared in this game. He refused to throw strikes and sulked and pouted when Joe West didn't call his pitches strikes. They weren't strikes. Glavine got behind almost every hitter and yes, there were some bloop base hits, but it was all his own doing. I know he has to live on the corners, but once the strike zone is established by the ump, he refuses to change his style to it, he just throws the same pitches, and bitches when the ump calls them balls.

So the game was basically over after the top of the first inning. But the Mets showed comeback but just couldn't get it done. In the first inning Ramon Castro blasted one deep to left with the bases loaded, he thought it was gone, but it was caught. In the second David Wright struck out with two men on. And Paul LoDuca in his last at bat as a Met (probably), hit a check swing roller to the pitcher with the bases loaded in the third. After that the Mets gave up.

The bullpen was actually excellent in this game and if the Mets had just gotten one more hit in each of the first three innings they might have had a chance. But once again the Mets situational hitting failed them, and they died a horrible painful death.

Unhappy Recap: Nationals 10 Mets 9

So close, but yet so far. A stirring comeback fell just short for the Mets after the first 8 1/2 innings went exactly according to recent form.

Tom Glavine turned in a stinkbomb of a performance, allowing 3-run homer to Austin Kearns in the first inning.

And each time the Mets chipped away with a run, Glavine allowed another. And like most Mets pitchers he only went 5 innings forcing Randolph to put to much trust in a bullpen that deserves none.

Carlos Muniz gave Willie a scoreless 6th but walked the first two batters in the 7th before giving way to Jorge Sosa. With two outs Sosa failed to cover first on a groundball to Delgado which should have been an easy out. The next batter singled in two runs.

Aaron Sele came in for the 8th and allowed one run in each of the 2 innings he pitched, making the score 10-3 entering the bottom of the 9th, when the patient began to kick.

LoDuca singled, then Newhan struck out, then 6 straight Mets reached base. Gomez walked and Reyes hit a 3-run homer to right, his second homer of the game (he led off the first with one), his 12th of the year, his 4th career multi-homer game.
Castillo singled to right and then Manny Acta went to his closer Chad Cordero. Wright singled and Beltran walked, then the red hot Moises Alou ripped a double to right field to drive in all 3 runs and make the score 10-9.
Jon Rauch came in for Cordero and Endy Chavez came in to run for Alou. Carlos Delgado was up, the Nationals used the overshift on the infield yet Delgado refused to try to slap one to left field. He got tied up by inside pitches then struck out. And for some unknown reason Endy Chavez tried to steal third. He was safe, but only because Ryan Zimmerman fell down. Paul LoDuca flied out to end the threat.

Now it's too easy to say that if Sosa had covered the base and cut off two runs the Mets would have won 9-8. The Nationals would have played the 9th much differently had the lead been smaller. But the Mets had a lot of other chances in this game. The Mets hit into inning ending double plays in the 4th, 5th, 7th and 8th innings. In the 5th and 7th Wright did the honors and in both cases two men were on. Two on, one out, no runs, twice. That's where the Mets lost this game. And in the first inning when Glavine got killed.

Unhappy Recap: Marlins 8 Mets 7

Devastating. I'm too hurt right now to go into great detail about the game, but it's been like so many others recently. The Mets got good hitting, took an early lead, then the starter blew it. Then they came back and bad defense and bad relief pitching and bad luck and bad managing cost them the game.

The Mets gave Tom Glavine a 3-0 lead which is a good way to get him to give up 4 runs, which is exactly what happened. And he only went 5 innings which forced the Mets to go to their horrible bullpen.

But the offense wouldn't be stopped, in the bottom of the 9th inning they loaded the bases and got four runs, thanks to Marlon Anderson. And no thanks to Jose Reyes who struck out (a double play would have been better).

But in the bottom of the 9th Pedro Feliciano gave up a leadoff single. Then Willie overmanaged and went right to Jorge Sosa who pitched two innings the night before. Billy Wagner was not available due to back spasms, and Mota, Heilman and Joe Smith had already pitched. He was relying on Sosa and Sosa only. Feliciano should have stayed in, right lefty nonsense be damned.

Sosa gave up a double, then an out for a run. Mets were ready to trade another out for a run, and they would have had a 1 run lead with 2 out and no one on but after making a diving stop David Wright committed a horrible throwing error which cost the Mets the game. After a lucky bloop double the Marlins tied the game on a groundout.

The Mets were dead at this point and had to trot Sosa out there for another inning. he promptly gave up two hits and lost the game.

While all this was going on the Phillies rallied back from a 6-2 deficit and beat the Nationals. The Mets magic number is 9 with 10 to play meaning if they can split which seems unlikely they'd need Philly to lose 4 times. The Mets playoff hopes are looking very dim right now. They need to win at least 2 of the next 3.

Unhappy Recap: Philles 3 Mets 2

The Phillies mastery over the Mets continues as the Mets bullpen continues to suck against them.

This time it was Aaron Heilman who blew the game, and for the second time this year it was his poor defense that did him in. With the game tied 2-2 Heilman came in for the 10th inning and allowed a leadoff single. The next batter tried to sacrifice. He should have been out when he popped up a bunt in foul territory but DiFelice dropped it (I think it hit him in the face) and he was charged with an error for prolonging the at bat. Then the bunt was fielded by Heilman who turned and fired to get the lead runner and threw the ball right into centerfield. The Phillies sacrificed again and with 2nd and 3rd and one out Dobbs hit the game winning sac fly.

Heilman has been in 71 games (probably too many) and he's lost 7 of them. That means he's lost 10% of his appearances. I know he also has 7 wins, but a few of those he vultured, he earned all his losses.

But it never should have gotten that far because the Mets should have won the game in the bottom of the 8th. Milledge was hit by a pitch but forced at second on a bad bunt by Gomez. Gomez made up for it by stealing second, and he went to third on an infield hit by Reyes. Then Castillo struck out and after Wright was hit by a pitch, Beltran struck out.

Beltran is batting .196 with runners in scoring position and 2 outs.
Alou is batting .100 with runners in scoring position and 2 outs.
Delgado is batting .173 with runners in scoring position and 2 outs.
LoDuca is batting .170 with runners in scoring position and 2 outs.
Wright is batting .213 with runners in scoring position and 2 outs.

That's the number one reason the Mets aren't better this season. They do not consistently get the big 2 out hit.

Another good pitching performance by Tom Glavine was wasted. He allowed a 2 run homer to Chase Utley but nothing else. It was the first homer he had allowed in 57 innings.

The Mets absolutely have to have one of the next two games against the Phillies. They have now lost 6 straight to the Phillies and scored exactly 2 runs in 4 of the last 5.

Happy Recap: Mets 3 Astros 1

Tom Glavine pitched a great game, perfect through 5 and 1 hit through 7, but he got a little unlucky in the 8th. He was taken out after two hits (one solid, one bloop) and then Heilman came in and the Astros got another bloop single which tacked a run onto Glavine's account. But Heilman roared back to strike out the side and preserve the lead.

The Mets got their run one at a time in the 3rd, 4th and 5th. First run came on a David Wright home run (he is on fire) then LoDuca doubled in a run and the last run was a Castillo run (walk, steal, to third on groundout, score on wild pitch).

Billy Wagner ended his streak of 5 appearances with a run by pitching a perfect 9th for his 31st save.

This game took only 2 hours and 18 minutes to play.

Happy Recap: Mets 3 Braves 2

The Mets really showed some championship heart this weekend by coming into Atlanta and sweeping the Braves after the diastrous series in Philadelphia. I will officially declare the Braves dead for this season.

The Mets came off a crushing series and handled the Braves in 3 games, allowing only four runs.

Tom Glavine fought back after giving up a run in the first inning on two hits and a walk. He might have gotten out of it had Wright come home with the ground ball hit by him, but only 1 run was good enough, and it was the only one he would allow.

Glavine then got the run back himself with a bases loaded sac fly that could have been a lot more, but Andruw Jones tracked it down.

David Wright stayed on fire by slugging his 25th homer of the year to give the Mets a 3-1.

Glavine, Sosa and Heilman held the lead and turned it over to Wagner. The fact that he gave up a run again was troubling, but he did nail down the victory which is all you can ever ask for from a closer.

And this was a huge victory. A three game sweep in Atlanta, that didn't seem possible on Thursday afternoon after the Phillies losses.

Just an incredible turn of events for the Mets, and it saved the season.

Unhappy Recap: Phillies 4 Mets 2

I don't want to hear anything about bad luck costing the Mets this game. In the 8th inning there was a home run, a walk and a throwing error before any of that other stuff happened. That other stuff being a 30 foot roller that just stayed fair and scored the tying run. And the other infield hit had no impact on the game.

The fact is, the bullpen sucks. They keep getting killed, every game in the last 8 runs have been scored while a relief pitcher was on the mound (in one game they were charged to Maine, the only one in which the pen wasn't charged with any runs). The bullpen is awful, every pitcher is responsible, including Wagner, and if it doesn't turn around the Mets are not going anywhere.

And the offense is not off the hook either. Three straight games of scoring only 2 runs. That's a real good way to earn a 3 game losing streak. The only runs were scored on a 2 run blast by Delgado. But lest we think he is coming out of his slump, he reminded us how ineffective he's been by striking out with 2 men on and 2 outs in the 8th inning.

Tom Glavine was awesome and he deserved better.

13, 17, 13, 7, 8, 15, 13 & 12. The number of hits the Mets have given up in the past 8 games. 6 games over 12, the Mets lost 5 of those.

Unhappy Recap: Padres 9 Mets 8

Two of the best closers in baseball blow saves in the same game, only two nights after they each gave up runs in the 9th inning.

It started off as a vintage Tom Glavine performance. A steadfast refusal to throw strikes, followed by a bunch of hits, some narrow escapes and eventually a lot of runs. Glavine allowed 6 runs, 11 hits and 3 walks in only 5 innings.

But the Mets almost bailed him out with a monstrous 6-run 6th to take a 7-6 lead. Helped along by two walks and an error the Mets cleared the bases with a 2-run single from Green and a 3-run homer by Marlon Anderson.

The bullpen of Schoeneweis (1 inning) and Feliciano (2 innings), two guys who haven't been overworked held down the Padres for 3 innings.

But Wagner, who still on balance has been good (only 3 blown saves), gave up 3 hits and a walk to start the 9th inning, turning a 7-6 lead into an 8-7 deficit.

But the Mets showed some heart tying the game with hits from Reyes and Castillo, then a stolen base and a sac fly by Wright. I love Castillo now. He has that ability to fight off the pitcher's best pitches and dump a single just into the outfield. And speed kills. Without the stolen base by Reyes the Mets might not tie it up. Hoffman then walked the Carloses and got Alou with the bases loaded to send the game into extra innings.

But Aaron Heilman quickly dampened that enthusiasm by allowing a home run to Adrian Gonzalez. He's now allowed 8 HR this year in only 66 innings.

Two runners on in the bottom of the 10th but the Mets couldn't push the run across.

A very exciting series against the Padres too bad the Mets couldn't get 2 out of 3.

The bullpen is emerging as a major trouble spot.

The starting pitching has absolutely sucked as well, compounding the bullpen's problems.

But the offense has been humming along, scoring at least 5 runs in 11 straight games, but the Mets are only 7-4 in that stretch.

Happy Recap: Mets 6 Nationals 2

No carryover from the previous night's disastrous loss.

Tom Glavine pitched an effective if not spectacular game. He had runners on in almost every inning but managed to go through 7 innings with only one run.

The Mets also had a ton of baserunners in this one, 8 hits and 10 walks.

The scoring got started by Damion Easley who hit his 10 home run of the year in only 191 at bats.

Jose Reyes added a Reyes Run (walk, steal, third on bad throw, score on hit) in the third inning.

Moises Alou homered after the Nats had scored a run. Alou now has 9 homers in 182 at bats, a little worse than Easley.

The Mike DiFelice added three RBI (sac fly and triple) to make it 6-1.

The Nats got one run back off Jorge Sosa but Willie remembered Pedro Feliciano and he nailed down the game and the Mets got the win.

Unhappy Recap: Marlins 7 Mets 5

The third straight tough loss in a row, and the second game in a row that the bullpen blew.

The Mets took an early 2 run lead on a homer by David Wright. Then when the Marlins cut the lead to 1, Wright homered again to make it 3-1 in the top of the 6th.

And then the Mets blew it. Glavine who had pitched well enough through 6 innings to earn win #301, gave up a leadoff single, but when Glavine got the next batter Willie went to Gulliermo Mota. After a single by Ramirez and a strikeout, the Mets elected to intentionally walk Cabrera to face Josh Willingham. He hit a grand slam to make the score 5-3.

But the Mets stormed right back on singles by Milledge and Castro who scored on a bunt single by Reyes (and catcher's error) and a groundout by Castillo. Reyes tried to score the go-ahead run on a flyball to right by Wright but he was called out at home even though replays showed he was safe.



With the score tied the Mets should have had new life, but Aaron Heilman drained it out of them by loading the bases on two walks and a hit batsman, then allowing the hit that drove 2 runners in.

Heilman is now 7-4. 11 decisions for a relief pitcher is a lot.

LoDuca got hurt and was played on the disabled list, he reinjured his hamstring. Did the Mets rush him back because he was complaining and he wanted to catch Glavine's 300th win?

Happy Recap: Mets 8 Cubs 3

Tom Glavine gets his 300th win!

The Mets got the victory with good pitching from Glavine, good hitting from Glavine and some aggressive baserunning.

It started in the second with Lastings Milledge. With two outs and Glavine up, Milledge stole second. It's a risky play because if you are thrown out you don't "clear the pitcher" and the team is hampered in the next inning by most likely starting with one out. In his in-game interview on ESPN Willie Randolph said Milledge "wasn't thinking," but added that he trusted his guys. If Milledge felt he could definitely be safe, then he made the right play, and it created a run, when Glavine singled. Milledge also had 2 other hits in this game.

Milledge also threw out a runner to end the third, as Soriano came up lame rounding second base. I think Milledge might have gotten him anyway, but it was a bad break for the Cubs to lose their best player that way. And it hurt them in the outfield because DeRosa moved to right and misplayed a couple of balls.

Luis Castillo had his best game as a Met with four hits before leaving the game with heat exhaustion. The big thing for me was that instead of blooping everything the other (like his double in the first) way he also hit the ball hard up the middle. That's how he started the 5th inning rally, then Delgado and Green doubled to make it 3-0.

But my favorite thing about Castillo in this game was, twice on deep fly balls by Wright he took an extra base. I've never understood why players go halfway on balls that are definitely going to be caught instead of trying to take an extra base. Castillo didn't score the first time he did it, he would have scored anyway the other time, but I love to see that aggressive baserunning especially because the Mets have become an old slow team at times this year.

In the 5th Milledge led off with a double, then Reyes and Castillo singled and did a double steal (more aggressive baserunning). Wright was walked to load the bases, Delgado drove in a run on a groundout, Alou was walked to load them up again, but Green made out. But at this point the score was 5-0 and Glavine must have felt pretty confident.

Glavine gave up a run in the bottom of the 6th but Willie showed confidence in him, letting him bat in the top of the 7th. But after he gave up a one out double Willie yanked him. And that's when Glavine must have gotten a little nervous. Mota came in and allowed a single to the only batter he faced. Then came Felciano who got the ground ball and the run for out trade which was acceptable, but after that he allowed a double to Fontenot which brought the tying run to the plate. That's when Willie went to Heilman who ended the inning.

But the Mets got those runs right back and put the game away. Castillo started it off again, singling, going to second on Wright's single and stealing third. For some reason Wright didn't follow him for a double steal (it would have given him 26 steals in 28 attempts). Delgado doubled in Castillo then Alou was walked (again) to load the bases and Green struck out. LoDuca singled in a run but Milledge finally made out. The Mets added another run in the 9th (off whipping boy Ryan Dempster) after a good 8th inning by Jorge Sosa.

Then Wagner came in to close this one down and present Tom Glavine with the game ball for his 300th win.

Delgado had an RBI in four consecutive plate appearances in this game, two hits, a groundout and a sac fly.

Unhappy Recap: Brewers 4 Mets 2

This was like 2 different games, the first part was a clean crisp pitching duel with Glavine trying to get his 300th win. The second part was a laborious struggle for either team to get a runner on, over and in.

Glavine pitched very well through six innings, allowing 2 hits, though he did give up 5 walks. He had about 30 friends and family with him including his wife, parents and kids who were interviewed and shown incessantly on SNY. Glavine left with the lead but the bullpen couldn't hold it.




The managerial chess match and the overuse of the bunt started in the 6th inning. Jose Reyes doubled and Castillo sacrificed him to second (bad move: too early to start playing for one run, especially when Reyes is already at second and the heart of the lineup is coming up). But that worked itself out when Ned Yost brought the infield in (bad move: you can let in the tying run, just not the go ahead run) and David Wright singled through the drawn in infield and later scored on a sac fly by Alou to give the Mets the lead.

The Mets offense struggles started in the 7th when Castillo and Wright left the bases loaded.

Heilman came on to get a huge double play in the 7th inning, but he started the 8th inning and began the Mets' undoing. He allowed a single to Hardy. Then Feliciano (who has been terrible lately) came on to face Fielder and only Fielder...and he hit him in the arm.




Willie then went to Mota to face Bill E. Hall and Hall doubled to tie the game. It could have been worse though as Mota struck out Miller with the bases loaded and one out. Then he got Graffanino.

The Brewers got the leadoff man on in the 7th, 8th, 9th, 11th, 12th and 13th innings.

In the 9th, the Brewers loaded the bases in part due to a horrible error by Delgado (who was also thrown out at home plate earlier in the game after jogging around the bases), but Lastings Milledge saved the day with an incredible diving catch.



He'd make another diving catch later in the game but that one was because he originally misjudged the ball.

Wright and Delgado walked to lead off the 10th inning but old, slow Alou swung away (bad move: a bunt would have put the winning run on third with one out), he probably couldn't be trusted to get the bunt down, and instead he hit into a double play.

In the 11th the Brewers got the first two men on but the sacrifice bunt was thwarted when the Mets got the lead runner at third.

After a single by Fielder in the 12th the Brewers got down a successful sacrifice but couldn't get the hit to drive him home.

Similar situation for the Mets in the 13th except Easley failed to get the bunt down but Alou stole second instead, but was left stranded,

In the bottom of the inning, Graffanino doubled to lead off the inning, and the next batter probably should have bunted, but instead Jenkins hit a home run off Aaron Sele to win the game.

Final word on bunting: Sacrifice bunting early in the game is usually bad. Late in the game when one run really does matter sacrificing with a man on first and none out is not a great play because you only have two chances to get one hit, low percentage. But with a man on second and none out you should bunt because the next batter should be able to drive a man from third in with either a hit or an out, about two-thirds of the time.

Willie left Billy Wagner in the bullpen for a save opportunity that never came. I hate that move. Get your best pitcher in early, worry about later later.

He used Jorge Sosa meaning El Duque will probably pitch Thursday and Maine on Friday, thanks to Monday's off day.

The Brewers pulled a similar move using Wendesday's starter Dave Bush in relief, moving up their other starters.

I was not impressed with Luis Castillo in his Mets debut. He made a couple good defensive plays but he looks lost at the plate. He has zero power and can't even pull the ball. It was like watching Julio Franco.

Ramon Castro and Lastings Milledge had a tough game, going a combined 0 for 11. And in the 13th with Alou on second they both made out.

Happy Recap: Mets 6 Pirates 3

We begin with our Keith Hernandez recap. Tonight, Keith revealed that he changed gloves every three months. He also told viewers they are lucky for the commercial breaks, because that's when the stadium blasts the music too loud. He even stopped talking at one point because the soundbite encouraging people to chant "let's go Mets!" was so loud. But the most revealing nugget is that A-Rod collects gold gloves, actually calling other players and asking for a mitt or two for his collection. Gary Cohen rightly asked if Keith charged him, because, A-Rod can afford it.

Lastings Milledge played center tonight (Beltran has a strained core. What the hell is that?) and continued to hit the ball well. Lo Duca also looks like he's breaking out of it, with 2 clutch doubles. He must be banging a teenager again. For an ace, Gorzelanny looked like crap tonight. Every thing was a meatball over the middle. Finally, he was pulled under pretense of an injury.

But the big story is that the Mets gave Glavine a big lead, and he didn't blow it. He wasn't great, but good enough to get win #299. He'll go for #300 in Milwaukee on Tuesday.

More Keith hilarity. He lost it in the 4th inning recounting Caddyshack lines. We now know that Keith considers it the funniest movie ever. And if Keith says it, it must be true. He also started texting his wife during the game, and revealed that he's too lazy to drive back out to Long Island, so he's staying in the city for the next couple of nights because the Mets are playing day games. That means he will be away from his dog Duncan for a couple of nights, which is bad. He's really starting to achieve a Phil Rizzuto level of nuttiness, which I love.

Happy Recap: Mets 13 Dodgers 9

The Mets started this game like the team we saw last year, pounding pitchers in the first inning. Reyes singled, Marlon Anderson singled, and they both scored on a double to right that Matt Kemp misplayed off the wall (a weird play Reyes thought it was going to be caught, he crossed third, went back, then retouched the bag and scored). Then Delgado walked and Castro (who continues to be so much better than LoDuca) singled up the middle. They both scored when Green singled to right field and it went right under the glove of Matt Kemp, no RBI for Green, a 2 base error. Gotay's single gave the Mets a 6-0 lead.

But of course Tom Glavine had to give the runs back in the bottom of the first. He loaded the bases with one out then gave up a single to Gonzalez to score two runs. It could have been a lot worse but Green made a great throw to nail Jeff Kent at third base.

But Glavine wouldn't let that stop him. He gave up a two run homer to Kemp in the second to allow a game that should have been a laugher to become a close game again.

The Mets got three more in the second on hits by Green and Gotay, Glavine walked and Reyes grounded in a run and Marlon Anderson drove home two runs to make it 9-4.



But Glavine once again can't stand prosperity, giving up four straight hits before being pulled for a relief pitcher.

Glavine got 9 runs of support and still couldn't get his 299th win.

Sele did a pretty decent job of shutting the Dodgers down and it not for an error by Wright he probably would have.

Carlos Delgado and Ramon Castro hit back to back homers in the 6th to put the game away.

Castro is now 15 for his last 32 with 3 homers and 9 RBI. I'm sick of Willie's loyalty to his veterans costing this team games. LoDuca is an unproductive hitter and should be benched, at least for the short term.

Hopefully the offensive explosion that began with Wright's 3-run homer against the Padres will continue and the starting pitching will settle down.

Happy Recap: Mets 2 Reds 1

Tom Glavine won his 298th game in fine fashion. He allowed two hits in 8 innings, and no walks. The Reds are a free swinging team and they don't wait for Glavine to throw them something to hit, they swing at his pitches 6 inches off the corner. The problem for Glavine was that the first hit he gave up was a home run to Brandon Phillips.

His second problem was that the Mets cannot hit with men on base:

Two men on in the first, Wright struck out, Delgado flied deep to center.

In the third Reyes singled and was caught stealing. After Gotay struck out, Beltran and Wright singled. This time Delgado hit it deep to left. But another out.

Finally the Mets broke through in the 6th when Green drove in Wright who had singled and stolen second (20th steal, 1 caught stealing) to tie the game.

The Mets blow another chance with two on in the 7th when Beltran and Wright strike out. That's 6 men left on by Beltran, Wright and Delgado.

Because the big guys can't do it the Mets got the winning run from their 7th and 8th hitters. Shawn Green doubled, and Milledge singled him home.

I know it's only 3 games but Milledge is playing great. He is providing a much needed spark - contributing to the winning runs in both one runs victories so far. I would love to see the Mets give him an honest chance this year and not try to trade him for another aging veteran.

Wagner pitched a 1-2-3 9th for the save.

The loss went to our old friend Mike Stanton.

Game time was only 2 hours and 17 minutes. The Mets have played some very fast games recently.

Happy Recap: Mets 5 Astros 3

This game will be remembered for Carlos Beltran. He had the game winning hit and an unbelievable game saving catch in the 14th. With a man on third Beltran ran up the hill in centerfield and made a basket catch just shy of the warning track, about 430 feet from home plate. An incredible catch. Made even better by the fact that he later drove in the winning run. His experience in center field from his time playing with the Astros may have helped him with this one.

But it never would have gotten that far were it not for the bullpen. The bullpen was great pitching 10 shutout innings, allowing only 5 hits:
Pedro Feliciano did a great job in the bottom of the 9th to strike out Berkman on three pitches with two men on. But Willie didn't double switch him into the game so he only got that one batter out of him.

In the 12th Schoeneweis got in trouble by falling asleep and letting a runner steal third with one out. Then he walked a man (irrelevant!) so Willie went to Joe Smith. Smith has had trouble with first batters and he hit Biggio (grazed) to load the bases, but Smith nutted up and struck out Hunter Pence.

Then in the 14th Beltran saved the day. Smith hit another batter, than a sacrifice and a groundout but the runner on third with two outs. After a walk, Luke Scott hit one deep to center field and Beltran made the catch.

Aaron Sele pitched two good innings.

Billy Wagner spent the whole game in the bullpen, the last two innings by himself, and at the time I didn't think Willie should save him, but he did, and it worked out as Wagner got the save.



The Mets did miss a lot of chances:
In the 8th Beltran struck out with two men on and two outs. He is batting .125 with runners in scoring position and two outs this season.

In the 9th the Mets had another chance but LoDuca got thrown out trying to go to third on a single to center by Green. He shouldn't have been trying to make it. With two outs late in the game you probably need another hit anyway, so you might as well play station to station, hoping you can score from second on a single by the next guy, or a home run better still.

Top 12th the much maligned Julio Franco singled with Green on second, Green rightly stopped (he would have been nailed at home) but Reyes couldn't get the run home with an out, then Gotay made out also.

And here's what I wrote while watching the first 8 innings of the game, seems irrelevant now but this is what you would have read if this game had ended in 9 innings:

Tom Glavine doing what he always does. With Hunter Pence on first he walked Carlos Lee (almost on purpose) to get to Morgan Ensberg. Then he got Ensberg in the hole and on 2-2 threw one off the plate, then bitched about the call. On 3-2 his sinker got too much of the plate and Ensberg crushed it for a double. Then Burke hit one past the ancient Green to make it 3-0.

But the Mets got two of those runs back in the next inning on a home run by Delgado.

And Glavine did what Williams could not, he got a quick inning right after the Mets scored those two runs for him. And that was all Glavine gave up, he really settled down after that one bad inning.

The Mets tied the game on a home run by Wright but couldn't push another run across until the 17th inning. And it's worth mentioning that the game-winning rally was started with a walk by Reyes, something that has become too rare recently.



But this was an absolutely huge win for the Mets. This is the type of game great teams win. Teams that win championships look back on games like this and remember them as turning points or launching pads.

Side note: My DVR which I normally set for an inordinate length of time cut out after the top of the 15th. Thankfully I got to see Beltran's catch.

Unhappy Recap: Rockies 6 Mets 2

Everything I hate about Tom Glavine was evidenced in the third inning of this game. With one out he gave up a couple of hits (to Tavarez and Carroll) which was a problem with Matt Holliday up. Glavine started him in an 0-2 hole then he does what he always does. Instead of throwing a pitch that he might swing at (and maybe hit), to try to get a double play, or a popup, Glavine threw three pitches that were nowhere close to the strike zone. On a 3-2 count Glavine threw one right down the middle and Holliday crushed it for a 3-run homer.

He also gave up 3 more runs in that inning, the last 2 on a single down the line by the pitcher. Just once I want to see Delgado dive for a ball. I know he probably wouldn't have gotten to this one, but it was the pitcher, it was hit slowly and I just want to see the guy make an effort, even if it's in vain.

After that nothing else really mattered because the Mets couldn't get a hit off Jason Hirsh. The only chance they had was when Hirsh hurt his ankle getting back to the third base bag in the 6th inning.

In the 8th the Rockies brought in Jorge Julio and the Mets got him for two runs, but the rally ended when Delgado tapped out weakly to the right side.

Jason Vargas pitches for the Mets on Tuesday to replace Oliver Perez who was placed on the DL.

Happy Recap: Mets 2 Cardinals 0

A pretty boring game to write about but the Mets got a break from the bad weather.



In the first inning Paul LoDuca ripped a single past the shortstop into leftfield and then David Wright blasted his 13th home run to left center. The Mets got no more hits. That was it.

But that was all they needed. The Cardinals got only one hit, Scott Rolen ripped one down the third base line, Wright made a great play to stop it but he had no chance to get Rolen at first.

Glavine's road to 297 was a lot easier than trying to get 296.

This was the second one-hitter of his career, they both came with the Mets. This counts as a complete game shutout, but had it been a no-hitter, it wouldn't have counted. A rule change several years back said no-hitters must go 9 innings.

Carlos Gomez made two really nice catches to help Glavine. The better one came against Encarnacion has he was falling back into the wall.

Anthony Reyes is 0-10 this season.

The 5 1/2 innings that were actually played took only 1 hour and 25 minutes.

Happy Recap: Mets 9 A's 1

A very good night where the Mets did everything well, got some key hits, some home runs, Glavine pitched well and they played good defense. But it was a little too much like the first game of the Twins series, after which the Mets played two more stinkers.

The Mets started it off with a Reyes run, bunt single, error and he scored on a single by Beltran. In the third Glavine of all people doubled and a sacrifice bunt and sac fly got him home. After a Green homer made it 3-1, the Mets broke it open in the 6th.

Beltran reached on an error, Wright on an infield single (which would have gone through if not for a diving stop by Ellis). Then Delgado, Green and Glavine all had run scoring hits. Then Reyes hit one deep to center that should have been a triple, but Glavine didn't slide early enough and got thrown out at home.



But Glavine did practically anything else, he tried to pitch a complete game but when he gave up a leadoff hit in the 9th Willie came out to get him.

Glavine did give up a run in the next inning when the Mets scored to make it 1-0. Then the Mets made it 2-1, and he put two men one with one out. He would have given up another run but Reyes made a great play, and turned two.

After that Glavine cruised finally getting his 296th career victory.

Carlos Beltran homered for the 9th run.

Carlos Gomez threw Nick Swisher out at third base to end the first inning.

Let's see if the Mets can take this and turn it into a streak

Unhappy Recap: Yankees 11 Mets 8

I am so sick of Tom Glavine. He cannot pitch with the lead and I am starting to think he can't pitch at all.

In his last 5 starts the Mets have scored in 6 innings. In five of those cases Glavine gave up at least one run in the very next inning, and in all those cases he ended up blowing the entire lead. The Mets have lost his last 5 starts, the first two were not his fault, the Mets scored zero runs for him in those two games, but the last three he blew, especially the last two when he got bombed. Whenever he gets comfortable he tries to get guys to swing at everything, because he's afraid to throw strikes and get creamed.

Another interesting theory is that Glavine is a master at pitching around guys he doesn't want to face and in his last two starts against Detroit and the Yankees, he faced the two best offensive teams in the majors so they have fewer weak spots in their lineups for Glavine to work to. And they take a lot of pitches because they know that have a good hitter on deck.

Three times in the last 7 games the Mets scored 7 runs or more, all three times they lost.

I'm not going to go through the individual gyrations in this game except to say that in addition to Glavine, the bullpen also sucked and that Willie should have used some of the better relievers to try to keep this one close. Schoeneweis, Mota and Sele all gave up runs.

I do want to defend Carlos Beltran for swinging at the first pitch in the 9th with bases loaded and the Mets down by 3. The Mets needed a hit there. Rivera is not going to walk in a run. He had been 3-2 on Gomez and Reyes, but that was only after starting them 0-2 and 1-2. He is not Benitez who struggles with his control. In that spot I think Rivera is going to be aggressive and the first pitch may be the best one he sees the whole at bat. But that's what goes wrong when you are struggling.