There was some fight in the Mets last night but not the kind that shows on the scoreboard. It was the kind of feistiness Mets fans had been yearning for from Willie Randolph but instead it came from the new man at the helm Jerry Manuel. Some will say all the bluster and no runs means absolutely nothing but I disagree. Pulling some emotion out of tranquil players like Carlos Beltran might light a fire that this team so desperately needs.

It may be wishful thinking but reality is tough to deal with right now so let me wish. I enjoyed seeing Beltran show that type of emotion and I like the reason he did it. Beltran explained:

“I just told him what I felt about that pitch and he came out to challenge me,” Beltran said. “But what he (umpire Brian Runge) did to Jerry was what got me ejected. I told him I thought that was weak. It’s the first time I’ve been so angry in my career. If I get punished for my actions so should he.”"That’s a weak move that he did. And being able to bump the (manager) to throw him out of the game? That’s brutal. That’s brutal.”

Manuel was tossed because he wanted to stand up for his player:

“I thought Runge was kind of baiting Carlos when he took his face mask off and began dusting off home plate as he was talking to him,” Manuel said. “Carlos is a quiet guy. I felt (Runge) did step into me. I know I didn’t step into him. “I think what instigated Carlos to continue was I think he saw the contact and I don’t think he appreciated that,” Manuel said of Tuesday night’s incident. “That’s what he said to the umpire after I left. He expressed that wasn’t a good thing to be doing and didn’t seem proper.”

Even Jose Reyes liked what he saw out of Beltran and his new manager:

“We fight for each other,” Jose Reyes said.

So, I am choosing to take something positive out last night. There are plenty of opinions flying around about the Mets and I hear and I read a lot about intangibles, chemistry, that sort of thing. Things that are hard to measure. So, lets hope that last night was one of those ‘things’, a spark or a sign that this team, like Reyes said will ‘fight for each other’, maybe that fight started last night. I sure hope so because only being happy that the rest of the NL east lost last night isn’t cutting it.

Hat tip to the Daily News for the quotes and AOL for the video.