METS 8, DODGERS 4

Welcome back to New York, Joe Torre. Hope you enjoyed getting beat by the Mets! The Dodgers are in town and Joe Torre got a nice ovation from the Shea crowd. But David Wright hit TWO two-run home runs which put LA away. It got close when a 6-0 lead became 6-4, but in the 7th inning, Chavez and Schneider had RBI singles to give us some insurance runs. Not that I saw it - too busy watching the season finale of LOST!

WP: Claudio Vargas (2-2)
LP: Brad Penny (5-6)

METS 7, MARLINS 6 (12 innings)

Best ending to a game all year! The Mets have never come back after losing in a game through 8 innings... until tonight! Losing 5-4, in the bottom of the ninth, ENDY CHAVEZ hit a home run to tie the game. But it almost looked for naught as Alfredo Amezega homered for Florida in the 12th. But then in the bottom of the 12th, we came back... Wright walked, Beltran singled, and then FERNANDO TATIS smacked a double to left field, driving in both runs. Mets Win! They mobbed Tatis on the field and it was obvious what a huge win this was for them. For weeks, they've been struggling against teams' bullpens and come-from-behind wins were impossible to attain. But tonight they did it! And now the postgame show is on and Darryl Strawberry looks like a pimp in that suit... Finally, I want to give some credit to Aaron Heilman. After sucking hard all year, he pitched two perfect innings tonight with four strikeouts. Good for him.

WP: Duaner Sanchez (1-0)
LP: Justin Miller (1-2)

METS 5, MARLINS 3

Did Keith Hernandez do something to piss off Gary Cohen and Ron Darling? While Gary and Ron were in the booth, Keith broadcasted from the front row, directly behind home plate. He said he was doing it to get a unique hitters perspective but I wonder! Anyway good news - the Mets actually won tonight! They jumped ahead with three runs in the first and Santana did the rest pitching seven strong innings. That's why we got Johan - to end losing streaks. Little did we know that we'd be having so many of these losing streaks! The Mets lineup also nearly looked like a minor league one. Delgado and Schneider had the day off and Church is still out with his injury. So the 5-8 hitters were Easley, Tatis, Castro and Evans. Whatever gets the job done - Tatis and Castro were both 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs each. With Billy Wagner's save, he moves into sixth place on the alltime list with 368, passing Jeff Reardon. Next milestone - Dennis Eckersley's 390!

WP: Johan Santana (6-3)
LP: Andrew Miller (4-4)
S: Billy Wagner (10)

MARLINS 7, METS 3

We're dying here. A loss to the first place Fins now puts us 6 and a half games out. On Memorial Day. With the loss, Pelfrey goes to 2-6. Didn't he start the year 2-0? Only bright spot came from the struggling Jose Reyes who hit two home runs. Oh and Heilman pitched two innings of relief without actually giving up any runs. What's more - a "Fire Willie" chant broke out at Shea. Didn't New York just go through this with Isiah Thomas and the Knicks? While Willie met with ownership this afternoon and retained his job, the future is still unclear. When asked if the Wilpons told him that he'd definetely remain manager the rest of the season, Willie responded, "No, they didn't say that."

WP: Ricky Nolasco (4-3)
LP: Mike Pelfrey (2-6)

ROCKIES 4, METS 1

Aaron Cook pitched a complete game, only allowing four hits and one run. The Mets offense stinks and if it costs Willie his job then it is to blame. Maine pitched pretty well against the Rockies B team but we still lost two out of three in the weekend series. This was hardly the defending NL Champions (no Holliday, no Tulowitski, no Hawpe, no Barnes) but they still beat us. Now we're 2 games under .500, 5 and a half games behind the Marlins. Coming up is a home series against Florida and that could make or break the season. Either the Mets reverse course and make up ground, or bury themselves even further. What will it be boys?

WP: Aaron Cook (7-3)
LP: John Maine (5-4)

METS 9, ROCKIES 2

The losing streak finally ends. A five run first inning for the Mets must have really put Willie Randolph at ease. Beltran had a 3-RBI double, and was then followed by RBIs from Castro and Evans (in his first MLB at bat). Later on, Wright and Delgado homered. Along with seven strong innings from Claudio Vargas, it was a well played game. But is that enough to save Willie's job? He's meeting with the Wilpons soon and the bosses will surely put him on the spot to defend the team's performance. Speculation is running rampant as to who will replace him. Jerry Manuel? Lee Mazzilli? Bobby Valentine? Gary Carter?

WP: Claudio Vargas (1-2)
LP: Jeff Francis (1-5)

ROCKIES 6, METS 5 (13 innings)

The losing streak is at five. Willie Randolph's job security is dangling. Omar Minaya flew into Colorado to express his support for his manager. But how long will that support last? The Mets are now two games under .500 and falling deeper behind in the NL East. Tonight the Mets entered the ninth inning with a 5-4 lead. They gave the ball to Billy Wagner who hadn't given up a run all season. But then Matt Holliday homered tying the game up. On the game went into extras and it was in the 13th when Holliday drove in the game winning run - this time off of Heilman. More bad news - Marlon Anderson got hurt with a strained hamstring. He goes on the DL and Nick Evans is being called up from Binghamton to replace him. Some outfield we have: Alou, Pagan and Anderson are all on the DL and Church still hasn't returned from getting bloodied the other night.

WP: Taylor Buchholz (2-2)
LP: Aaron Heilman (0-1)

BRAVES 4, METS 2

OK, seriously. What is the deal with this shit. Is it 1997-2005 all over again? Can the Mets not win in Turner Field? A four game sweep. And now the Mets have a losing record on the season. Johan Santana was acquired to stop losing streaks like this but the Mets had no offense for him other than solo home runs by Beltran and Delgado. For Atlanta, Chipper Jones has just been unstopable and tonight he drove in the game winning run. Things are starting to look bleak on the injury front too. Alou strained his right calf yesterday and is back on the DL. Church was hurt trying to break up a double play on Tuesday and while he should be allright, he hasn't started the last two games either. Now it's off to Colorado to play the NL Champs. Just win guys, just win!

WP: Tim Hudson (7-3)
LP: Johan Santana (5-3)
S: Will Ohman (1)

BRAVES 11, METS 4

No comment.

WP: Jair Jurrgens (5-3)
LP: Mike Pelfrey (2-5)

BRAVES 6, METS 1 & BRAVES 6, METS 2

How do you erase the good feeling of sweeping the Yankees? By going down to Atlanta and getting swept in both games of a doubleheader at Turner Field. Game 1 hurt the worst because of who beat us... Tom Glavine. I wanted the Mets to beat Glavine so bad but he had our number by pitching six innings and only giving up one run on three hits. The nightcap was delayed by rain but they eventually played and the result was very similar. Sigh. By losing both games, we drop to 4th place in the NL East. Curse you, Tom Glavine!

Game 1
WP: Tom Glavine (2-1)
LP: John Maine (5-3)

Game 2
WP: Jorge Campillo (1-0)
LP: Claudio Vargas (0-2)
S: Manny Acosta (3)

METS 11, YANKEES 2

Slaughter! The Mets took over Yankee Stadium and dominated on national television. The Yankees have been struggling with their pitching all year but the one guy they could rely on was Chien-Ming Wang. Not tonight. The Mets lit him up and the final score would have been even higher if the umpires had not blown a call and taken a three run homer away from Delgado. But one guy who did hit a three run homer was Jose Reyes! Church hit a solo shot also. Alou had three RBIs tonight, raising his average to .341. But the hitting explosion was only half the story. Oliver Perez was great! He was dominant in the first three innings but in the 4th gave up a two run homer to Hideki Matsui. Uh oh, I thought his usual meltdown was coming but not tonight! He righted himself and wound up pitching into the eighth inning - his longest outing of the year. Perez beat the Yankees twice last year too. (He seems to bring his A game to A-list opponents) Not that the Yankees are an A-list opponent this year. They've fallen to last place in their division - six games behind the Red Sox!

WP: Oliver Perez (4-3)
LP: Chien-Ming Wang (6-2)

METS 7, YANKEES 4

Has the clubhouse been healed? Too soon to tell but today was a positive sign. After Billy Wagner sniped to the press about Delgado and Beltran not sticking around to answer questions, he apologized and retracted what he meant. Then team meetings were held and the air was supposedly cleared. Whether or not that would impact their on-field performance remained to be seen but a big win against the Yankees is always satisfying. Even if the Yankees aren't quite what they used to be. Johan probably gave Hank Steinbrenner some regrets for not signing him by going deep into the game (7 and two thirds). Wagner picked Johan up with a four-out save and his ERA remains 0.00. Amazing. Offensively the Mets got home runs from Reyes and Wright off of Kyle Farnsworth (the Yankees version of Aaron Heilman), and big RBIs from Beltran and Delgado. So the offense seemed to be working. The Yanks got some home runs in too courtesy of Jeter, Giambi and Abreu but it wasn't enough. Tonight the Mets go for the "mini-sweep" on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball!

WP: Johan Santana (5-2)
LP: Andy Pettitte (3-5)
S: Billy Wagner (9)

RAINED OUT

Becoming a Friday night tradition.

NATIONALS 1, METS 0

This cannot happen. The Mets cannot lose 3 out of 4 to the Nationals. At home. They cannot lose 4 out of 7 during a homestand to the Nationals and the Reds. And for the second game in a row, they cannot let an amazing starting pitching performance go to waste. Today, Mike Pelfrey was amazing. And he lost. Pelf had a no-hitter through six innings. He only gave up one run in the 7th when Felipe Lopez hit a sac fly to score Jesus Flores. But that was all that the Nats needed as the Mets could not score one measly run off of Jason Bergmann. Terrible, just terrible. Billy Wagner snapped again after the game telling reporters "You should be talking to the guys over there... Oh they're not there. Big shock." I fear that Willie is losing this team. If there was a bright spot it was that Luis Castillo played and got two hits so I guess a DL trip won't be necessary.

WP: Jason Bergmann (1-1)
LP: Mike Pelfrey (2-4)
S: Jon Rauch (9)

NATIONALS 5, METS 3

I have no words to describe the intense hatred I am feeling right now for Aaron Heilman. And my disgust with Willie Randolph not only for putting him into a close game, but for keeping him in way too long. Let's start with the good news though. Claudio Vargas pitched a hell of a game tonight. Six solid innings where he only gave up one run on three hits. Then in the 7th, as the game was tied at 1, Vargas walked a batter and Willie took him out. And put in Heilman. A single, a walk and two more singles later, the Nationals had a 5-1 lead. And the biggest travesty? Since Vargas walked the batter who represented the go-ahead run, Vargas is the one who gets the loss! I've had it with Aaron Heilman. Get rid of him. Or at least don't play him if the margin is any less than 5 runs.

P.S. Now I'm watching Willie's press conference and he's saying that in that situation, he had to let Heilman work through the inning. NO!!!!!!!!

WP: Tim Redding (5-3)
LP: Claudio Vargas (0-1)
S: Jon Rauch (8)

METS 6, NATIONALS 3

Before getting to the game - lots of roster news. Angel Pagan has been placed on the disabled list. Called up to replace him on the bench is veteran Fernando Tatis. Matt Wise has finally been activated from the DL and to make room, the Mets designated for assignment Jorge Sosa. Smart move to keep the red-hot Joe Smith and dump the ice-cold Sosa. And finally, the Mets called up Claudio Vargas to make the start on Wednesday. To make room, they designated Figgy for assignment. Poor guy. While Nelson Figueroa is a great story and he got off to a good start, his last few outings were pretty poor. Hopefully no other team will claim him and he'll be back. Now as for tonight's game - credit must be given to John Maine. Six innings and he only gave up two runs and two hits. The Mets have won the last six games that Maine has pitched and he lowered his season ERA to 2.81. In getting the save tonight, Billy Wagner maintains his perfect ERA of 0.00. Also, let's talk about that trade Omar made over the winter getting Church and Schneider from the Nats. Tonight Church went 2 for 4 with a game-tying home run, a game winning two-run double, and 4 RBIs total. Schneider went 3 for 4 with an RBI of his own. And Lastings Milledge? 0 for 4 with 3 strikeouts.

WP: John Maine (5-2)
LP: John Lannan (3-4)
S: Billy Wagner (8)

NATIONALS 10, METS 4

This one was close for the first few innings but then it just got away from them. Tied at three going into the fifth inning, Figgy gave up 3 runs. Then in the next inning, Jorge Sosa gave up 4 more. Ex-Met Lastings Milledge was 1 for 4 with a double, but the offensive star for the Nats was their pitcher Odalis Perez. He went 3 for 3 with 2 RBIs. Combined with over six good innings, the other O. Perez was player of the game. For the Mets, we did get home runs from Wright and Easley. Unfortunately, Easley was playing because Luis Castillo is out with a strained quad. Will he go on the DL? At least the Mets had their entire lineup healthy... for about a week. And speaking of roster moves, when will Matt Wise be activated? And who is going to start for the Mets on Wednesday? With Saturday's doubleheader and no off day, the Mets don't have a starter for that day. Looks like they'll be calling someone up from AAA. But then who goes down? Gotta love the roster drama.

WP: Odalis Perez (1-3)
LP: Nelson Figueroa (2-3)

METS 8, REDS 3

Happy Mother's Day! The Mets rewarded all of the moms at Shea with a pink hat, and all moms everywhere with a big win. Perez was great through five but fell apart in the sixth. The guy can't seem to go deep into games anymore. But the bullpen (Schoeneweis/Smith/Feliciano) was able to hold it down. The bigger story was that the Mets bats were alive today. For the second day in a row they had back-to-back homeruns. Today it was Beltran and Church. The bats rocked the Reds' prime rookie, Johnny Cueto, who didn't look like the heralded prospect he's supposed to be. But the oddest part of the game came in the ninth inning when the Reds batted out of order. It took about ten minutes for the umpires to sort it all out. Dusty Baker double switched one too many times and noone knew what the correct batting order was! Silly Dusty.

WP: Oliver Perez (3-3)
LP: Johnny Cueto (2-3)

REDS 7, METS 1 (Game 2)

I was this close to dropping Bronson Arroyo from my fantasy team. One more awful start and he would have been gone. But in game 2 of today's doubleheader, Arroyo pitched eight strong innings for the Reds. Either he pitched great or the Mets were just tired from scoring 12 runs in the first game. Hard to tell. Credit also has to be given to Red shortstop (and ex-Met) Keppy! Also known as Jeff Keppinger, he had five hits, driving the Red offense. The Reds didn't really break the game wide open though until the late innings. They scored two in the eighth off of Sanchez and three in the ninth off of Wagner although it was mostly infield errors that did them in. Afterward Wagner knocked over a water cooler and blasted the bullpen. Um... ok. Granted the bullpen is pretty awful at times but isn't he supposed to be its leader? At any rate the Mets' great performance in Game 1 and poor performance in Game 2 of today's doubleheader is pretty representative of their topsy turvy season thus far. And what's the deal with Florida having won six in a row???

WP: Bronson Arroyo (2-4)
LP: Mike Pelfrey (2-3)

METS 12, REDS 6 (Game 1)

I was at this game with Neil, Howie and Caren and it was a great game to be in attendance for. Johan labored but got through six innings with only allowing three runs. But the story of the first game of this doubleheader was the offense. Carlos Beltran had 5 RBIs including a 3-run triple that broke the game wide open. Carlos Delgado was 3 for 4 with a huge home run. And right after Delgado hit his homer, Brian Schneider followed it up with one of his own. The Mets scored 12 for the second game in a row. Which led all of us to remark that they'd probably get shut out in Game 2. Not quite... but close.

WP: Johan Santana (4-2)
LP: Matt Belisle (1-3)

RAINED OUT

Doubleheader tomorrow! I'll be at Game 1 watching Johan. In roster news, Ramon Castro was activated and Raul Casanova is gone. The bigger question is who will go when Matt Wise is activated soon.

METS 12, DODGERS 1

Take THAT, L.A.! 12-1... not bad. Only thing that would have been better would have been 12-0. See, John Maine is on my fantasy team and if he got a complete game shutout, that would have earned me major points. Instead he had a shut out through 8, started the ninth, but gave up a run before Willie took him out. Ah well. A minor complaint! Maine really was outstanding though and his 8 and a third innings was the most pitched this season by any starter. The offense clicked too - 4 runs in the 2nd, 6 runs in the 5th, another home run by Ryan Church (his sixth of the year). So the Mets went 3-3 on this west coast trip, and now it's back to Shea to play the Reds. I'll be going to the game on Saturday!

WP: John Maine (4-2)
LP: Brad Penny (5-3)

DODGERS 5, METS 4

Damn these late West Coast games. I went to bed and the Mets were winning 4-1. I woke up and they had lost 5-4. What's up with that? But at least I stayed awake long enough to see Moises Alou steal home. It was part of a double steal, but it was still pretty cool. Carlos Beltran didn't play tonight because he had the flu but the offense wasn't terrible. Neither was our bullpen. All five runs came off Figgy which is sad because Figgy is fighting to retain a roster spot when people start coming off of the DL. What killed him was the new Dodger third baseman, Blake DeWitt. DeWitt went three for four with four RBIs and his Game Winning RBI was an inside the park home run! That happened in the fifth inning, making the score 5-4, and there was no more scoring after that. Now that we've officially lost the series to LA, hopefully we can at least salvage the last game of the series!

WP: Hong-Chih Kuo (2-1)
LP: Nelson Figueroa (2-2)
S: Takashi Saito (5)

DODGERS 5, METS 1

It's always fun when the Mets play the Dodgers. Well... not always. There was the 1988 NLCS. Game 4. I was 11 years old and I was there with my dad in the top row of the upper deck. Had we won, we'd have taken a 3-1 series lead. But then Mike Scioscia hit the home run in the ninth inning to force it into extras and we'd eventually lose. Twenty years later I still remember that Scioscia home run. But then there was 2006 when the Mets swept the Dodgers in the NLDS - the clincher coming during my 29th birthday party! Anyway tonight's game? Eh. Not much to say. Funny seeing Joe Torre in a Dodger uniform though. Always liked Joe - hard to root against him when he was with the Yankees, hard to root against him now.

WP: Chad Billingsley (2-4)
LP: Oliver Perez (2-3)

METS 5, DIAMONDBACKS 2

Maybe the "Fire Willie" calls will diminish after this weekend. The Mets went into Arizona where the Diamondbacks had the best record in the NL, and we were able to win the weekend series two out of three. It was indeed a pitchers duel today between Santana and Haren but neither factored into the decision. While the Mets jumped out to a 2-0 lead and while Johan left the game with a 2-1 lead, the D-Backs tied it up in the 7th against Joe Smith. But tied at 2, the Mets broke the game open in the top of the 9th scoring three against Chad Qualls. Jorge Sosa was the winning pitcher of record and his 4-1 won/loss record is funny when compared to his awful 6.38 ERA. Sosa's four wins in relief actually leads the team! Now we go to L.A. to take on the Dodgers!

WP: Jorge Sosa (4-1)
LP: Chad Qualls (0-2)
S: Billy Wagner (7)

DIAMONDBACKS 10, METS 4

Did not see any of this game (Founders Day at Vassar!) but was catching updates on my new blackberry... which is awesome btw. This always figured to be a tough game as Brandon Webb is undefeated and one of the best pitchers in baseball. Still the Mets hung in there against him, thanks in large part to a three-run homer by Carlos Delgado in the 6th inning. The D-Backs were holding a 5-4 lead against us, and it still seemed possible that we could come back. Until the 8th when Arizona busted the game wide open against Sanchez and Schoeneweis. Five runs in that inning made the final score look like a wipeout. Offensive credit has to go to Arizona second baseman Augie Ojeda. Filling in for the injured Orlando Hudson, Ojeda went 3 for 4 with SIX RBIs. Good for him but he better not do that again tomorrow. The rubber match is a good one! Johan Santana vs. Dan Haren!

WP: Brandon Webb (7-0)
LP: Mike Pelfrey (2-2)

METS 7, DIAMONDBACKS 2

The Mets sure love playing at the BOB! Oh wait, it's not Bank One Ballpark anymore. Chase Field... that's the new name. Who can keep track these days. Anyway the Mets won their 14th out of their last 15 games in Arizona tonight and it was a nice way to erase the awful play of Wednesday. The big news is that Moises Alou returned from the disabled list! Playing in his first game of 2008, he batted fifth in the order and went 1 for 3 with an RBI single. Other highlights included Jose Reyes going 4 for 5 and scoring 3 runs... he only needed a homer to hit for the cycle. While Reyes didn't homer, Ryan Church and David Wright both did. We got off to a fast start against Arizona's Micah Owings (3 runs in the first, one more in the second) and never lost the lead. John Maine pitched six solid innings and Smith, Feliciano and Sanchez were reliable in relief. Not a bad way to begin a weekend series against the D-Backs - who currently have the best record in the National League!

WP: John Maine (3-2)
LP: Micah Owings (4-1)