Happy Recap: Mets 7 Rockies 0

Mike Pelfrey is now 6-0 with a 2.26 ERA over his last 9 starts. That's an incredible run for a guy who some people had been writing off at the beginning of this season. And if you remember, he pitched the last game of the Willie Randolph Rick Peterson era, pitching poorly but getting the win. In 5 starts since then he is 5-0 with a 1.38 ERA. Even though it seemed he was pitching better before that point, I have to think Dan Warthen has at least a little something to do with that.

The Mets have allowed only 4 runs over the past 6 games, and the 7 hits let up in this game was actually a disappointment.

And the offense once again contributing their fair share as well as an early 3-run homer by Beltran pretty much sealed the deal.

Carlos Delgado also contributed another home run, his 17th, to tie Wright for the team lead.

Hopefully the Mets can continue this in the second half.

Happy Recap: Mets 3 Rockies 0

This is getting ridiculous now. The bullpen has now pitched 18 1/3 innings without giving up a run. That's about 17 1/3 innings more than we normally expect.

Mets pitchers have allowed 4 runs and 13 hits in the last 5 games. That's incredible. 3 hits 4 games in a row followed by a 1-hitter (the 33rd in franchise history).

I guess there might be a little worry about Pedro because he says he hurt his surgically repaired shoulder (though he says it happened because of his injured groin) which could land him back on the disabled list, but things are going too well right now to even worry about it.

Fernando Tatis got another key RBI when his easy grounder pushed through a drawn in infield after Beltran stole third base. That steal was key in setting up the run.

Reyes homered and the Mets tacked on another and that was more than enough to continue this incredible winning streak.

Happy Recap: Mets 2 Giants 1

Another day, another big home run by a bench player, and the Mets now have a 7 game winning streak, their longest since 2006.

Damion Easley is batting .422 in his last 13 games, while filling in for Castillo, including this huge game-winning home run in the 8th.

I guess those people who wanted to put Oliver Perez in the bullpen can stop complaining about him now. I knew the Mets should have resigned him then when his value was low. But hopefully he can keep this up and earn himself a big contract from the Mets in the offseason. Even Ollie haters among Mets fans would love to see him pitch well enough to get paid millions in the offseason.

I also don't want to hear anymore complaints about poor tough luck Santana. In Perez's last 3 starts he has given up 2 runs in 20 innings (0.90 ERA), and he has 1 win to show for it. In fact over his last 7 starts he has 5 games in which he allowed 1 run or fewer, and he has only 2 wins in those 5 starts. Every starter is the victim of lack of run support at times, especially those who pitch for the Mets.

The bullpen continued its hot pitching, tossing 3 more scoreless innings, but it wasn't so easy this time. Aaron Heilman struck out Tavares and Barmes to strand the bases loaded in the 7th, then Pedro Feliciano came on to get out of a bases loaded jam in the 8th. Billy Wagner cut through the Rockies for the save and the Mets are on a roll!

Happy Recap: Mets 3 Rockies 1

I think we are witnessing the maturation of Mike Pelfrey. Over his last 5 starts he has a 2.76 ERA. He is made 14 starts this year, he's allowed 2 runs or fewer in 8 of them. That's a very strong ratio. Of the 7 starts when his ERA for that start is 3.00 or lower he is only 3-1 taking one very tough luck loss and 3 tough no decisions.

The bullpen pitched great on this road trip, allowing only 2 earned runs in 18 1/3innings. And those two runs came in the last 2 games and didn't really affect the outcome. Now the bullpen sunk Willie Randolph by blowing four games in a row. Is this recent stretch just the natural reversal of fortune, poorly timed (for Willie Randolph) or is it indicative of some kind of change in philosophy or attitude by Jerry Manuel that is helping them perform better? I hope Manuel's presence is the impetus for the improvement but I think it may only be temporary.

Jose Reyes led off the game with a triple for the second day in a row, that's always fun.

Carlos Beltran blasted a 2-run homer (he is really starting to come around).

And that was all the Mets need to cap a very successful, if tumultuous road trip.

Unhappy Recap: Rockies 7 Mets 1

It seems like we've been waiting for three years for Pedro to come back from injury. And now he finally is back, and he's terrible. I don't want to hear that he had four good innings, he got bombed. No one expects him to be anywhere near as good as the old Pedro but he needs to be as good as Maine and Perez to be a solid 4th starter. And right now he's not even as good as Pelfrey.

The Mets got a run off Ubaldo Jimenez in the first on a Reyes triple, then nothing. Literally nothing. The next hit didn't come until the 8th inning. And Jimenez was 1-7 coming into this game.

At least for once the pitching and hitting sucked in the same game, usually it's one or the other. But the bullpen pitched decently well, 3 2/3 with only one run allowed.

Now the Mets put themselves in the unfortunate position of having to win the rubber game in order to take series and make this a winning road trip. If they lose they will continue to be what they've always been, a .500 team.

Happy Recap: Mets 7 Rockies 2

I was worried about John Maine after the first inning homer but he settled down and Jerry Manuel gave him tons of chances to keep working through trouble. And when he finally took him out he brought in Smith for one out, and I think he would have left Smith in for the 8th if his spot in the batting order hadn't come up.

The key to this game was Delgado's homer in the first. The Mets are a very weak psychological team right now, they can go either way, and the fact that they got right on the board after going down 2-0 was another key factor.

The Mets need more innings like the 2nd, when everyone keeps getting hits.

Monster home run by Trot Nixon.

Brian Schneider's base running was interesting in this one. First he scored from second on a single by Chavez with a perfect slide, getting his hand in just before the tag. That's a play Alomar never would have sent him on.

But then, when the Mets has bases loaded and no outs in the 7th, Reyes dumped one into right field but for some reason Schneider was bag at the bag, trying to tag up. And he got thrown out at third. I've never seen that before. It was scored as a fielder's choice meaning Reyes didn't get credited with a hit.

The Mets defense was awesome tonight as Endy Chavez, as per his usual, made an incredible running catch with a man on. Trot Nixon made a nice sliding catch to strand two runners in that same inning.

The Mets are back at .500 and need to keep it going with Pedro on the mound.

Great defense
Brian Schneider's base running.

Unhappy Recap: Rockies 4 Mets 1

Right now the Mets are a bad team. Bad teams always find ways to lose and the Mets did it again.

I know John Maine did not pitch great and like every other Mets pitcher seemingly does he threw a ton of pitches and therefore couldn't get deep in the game. But he allowed only 3 hits and he should have been out of the 4th inning but Reyes let an easy double play ball go through his legs. The next guy hit a 3-run homer and that was it.

I don't know what the hell is wrong with Reyes. He's hitting and getting on base but his head is not in the game. He was picked off again, and made that crucial error.

There's nothing else to even say about this, they just stink right now. They can't hit, they can't field, and the pitching while not terrible was bad enough to send the Mets to their 6 loss in 7 games.

With the first place Marlins coming in the Mets are in danger of falling 6 1/2 games out if they don't win the series. While it's still early that's a big hole to be in before June starts.

Happy Recap: Mets 9 Rockies 2

This game was just what the doctor ordered. The Mets got out early, kept pounding and got a good long effort from the starting pitcher.

Now they need to find a way to keep it going.

What a Major League debut for Nick Evans. Mets fans shouldn't get too excited, so many players have come up and gotten off to incredibly hot starts and not been able to continue it, but 3 doubles in 4 at bats is pretty good.

Jose Reyes continued his hit streak and he is the key to the offense. When he gets on in the first inning they have a great chance to score, and when they score in the first inning they have a great chance to win. That's something they did a lot in 2006 and will need to do a lot more in 2008.

Every starter except for Vargas got a hit, they hit with men on base, they hit home runs, this was an excellent game. But it only counts for one in the standings they really need to keep it going.

Unhappy Recap: Rockies 6 Mets 5

This is what happens with bad teams on losing streaks, they keep fight new more heartbreaking ways to lose.

You can't really fault Billy Wagner because he's been so good so far this season but it is his pattern to pick the worst possible time to blow a save.

But you can fault Oliver Perez. 8 walks and 6 hits in 5 innings. That's just awful. It's amazing he even had a chance to win that game. But once again his short outing forced Willie to use Aaron Heilman who of course lost the game.

What's amazing to me is that the Mets are losing while Jose Reyes is actually pretty hot. He's been on base 23 games in a row and over an 8-game hitting streak he's batting .343. But for the second time in this recent slump his overaggressive baserunning cost the Mets. He made a great hustle play to turn a single into a double and get himself into scoring position with no outs. But then he got picked off. And for no reason. He's not going to steal there, Castillo is going to bunt him over. Just a terrible, horrible, no good play.

You can't blame Carlos Delgado in this one because he came through with a big home run. It was only the 6th inning but it was starting to get late and the Mets absolutely needed a home run there and he came through.

But you can certainly blame Carlos Beltran and David Wright. Neither one of them is doing anything right now, especially not with men on base. I do have confidence that they will each come around. However, with 4 homers through 46 games, Beltran would have to get blisteringly hot to get to 30 homers again. I hope he doesn't have another season like 2005, 16 homers and a .744 OPS.

With Marlon Anderson out the Mets are now down 4 outfielders (Alou, Church and Pagan). I'd like to see Endy play every day in right until Church is ready then move to left while Alou's out. He should bat second and give this team some life at the top of the order.

The Mets are now counting on Claudio Vargas on 3 days rest to end this losing streak. How confident does that make you feel?

Unhappy Recap: Rockies 17 Mets 7

It's amazing how all these games are exactly alike. Mets take an early lead, starting pitcher blows it, bullpen makes it a blowout and Mets stop hitting.

David Wright started this game off with a 3-run homer in the first inning.

Then in the second, El Duque gave up a single and a home run, but got the next three guys out. But starting in the third, he did his best Tom Glavine impression. He couldn't get anyone out, he refused to throw strikes and he got his brains beat in. Like Glavine he gave up six runs. El Duque walked six in four innings. He even walked Todd Helton with the bases loaded on an eephus pitch. Helton actually walked with the bases loaded twice and once the game before. Three bases loaded walks in two games, that's got to be a record.

Gulliermo Mota came on in the 5th and he was awful. He allowed 6 runs including two homers and a very deep double. By that time the game was out of reach, 12-4.

El Duque threw 109 pitches in 4 innings, Mota threw 43 in 2/3 of an inning.

Todd Helton walked three times with the bases loaded in this series, the Mets walked three times.

The Rockies swept the Mets and Yankees in Colorado this year.

Unhappy Recap: Rockies 11 Mets 3

This game was like a lot of the losses from June. The Mets got an early lead, the starter blew it, the bullpen made it impossible to come back, and the offense stopped hitting.

The Mets got some luck to get to that early lead, Reyes bunted for a hit, stole second, and scored on a bad throw by the pitcher on a comebacker by Gotay. Reyes should have been nailed at third base, but Atkins didn't make a good effort to catch the throw. Then the Mets got another run when Wright got a single over a drawn in infield (it would have been an easy out with the infield back).

Then Jason Vargas went to work. He absolutely sucked. He got killed. There were several lucky hits and bloops, but there were also home runs by Atkins and Torrealba and a bases loaded walk to Helton.

Speaking of bases loaded, after Vargas loaded the bases in the 4th Willie had seen enough so he called on Joe Smith to face Ryan Spilborghs. Smith immediately gave up a grand slam making the score 10-2. This season batters are 7 for 13 against Smith with the bases loaded, and 5 for 41 against all the other Mets pitchers.

The only bright spot was Ramon Castro who homered for the Mets third run.

Kaz Matsui went 5 for 5 and now is batting .316 on the season.

Jason Vargas will probably get another start on Sunday.

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.

Unhappy Recap: Rockies 11 Mets 5

The only thing to say about this game is that Mike Pelfrey absolutely sucked.
He just got hammered. The Rockies hit everything. 20 hits in all.

Sometimes you have games like this, it's not a big deal. 99% of the teams in baseball history win at least 50 and lose at least 50.

The bigger problem is that Pelfrey doesn't seem to be ready to pitch in the majors. I don't know whether to suggest Sele or Humber, but I really think they should send Pelfrey down. Two or three more horrible starts like this could destroy his confidence.

One the bright side, Reyes had four more hits and Green had 3 RBI. But it was 11-0 at that point.

Mets must take at least 2 of 3 in Washington.

Happy Recap: Mets 2 Rockies 1

Happiest recap of the season so far. This was a great win.

I'll get to Endy in a minute but a couple things first.

El Duque pitched great. Really, really well.

This game wouldn't have been so excited if the Mets hadn't failed AGAIN with a man on third and fewer than 2 outs. Valentin led off the third with a triple and El Duque and Reyes both struck out. Inexcusable that this has happened so many times already this season.

The bullpen pitched well, Heilman and Schoeneweis and our new star, Joe Smith. Billy Wagner cannot pitch two innings. And he can't pitch in tie games.

Endy owes a debt of gratitude to Damion Easley. Endy will get lionized but you can't have one with out the other. Easley now has twice as many homers this season as Delgado and Wright combined.

Now on to Endy. I've always attempted to temper the enthusiasm surrounding a fourth outfielder, but I must say that was a really incredible play. The catch in the NLCS was great but this was a different kind of great. While Carlos Delgado slugs away when teams dare him to take a single, Endy studied the defense and won a game with his brains and his bunt.

Great teams find ways to manufacture runs. A walk, a bunt, a balk and a bunt is about as manufactured as you can get in the bottom of the 12th inning.

Happy Recap: Mets 6 Rockies 1

A perfect game (not literally) on a perfect night.

John Maine was awesome. Right now he is the most consistent of the Mets pitchers. He throws strikes, challenges hitters, really the type of pitcher you love to watch.

Jose Valentin got the Mets started with a 3-run homer and a sacrifice fly. He could have had a fifth RBI but they walked him to get to Maine with Alou and third and one out.

Speaking of Alou, he is second in the NL in batting at .397. The only guy ahead of him Colorado's Matt Holliday who along with Helton had 5 of the Rockies 7 hits.

Mets have 6 games with Colorado and Washington this week. Anything less than four wins would be a disaster, but 5 is what they really should do.