The Mets won the series today, beating the Phillies by 4-2. Ollie Perez (2-0) will take the win, going 5.2 innings walking four, striking out seven and giving up four hits. Old Man Moyer takes the loss. That is not to say it was a one man show. The Mets used six pitchers in relief and did pretty well considering Citizens Bank Park being so small. Show gave up a home run to Chase Utley and Carlos Ruiz drove in one off Heilman. The Mets scored their runs off a 2 run homer from Jose Reyes and a 2 RBI double by David Wright.

Tomorrow, the Mets go for a sweep in this series, five straight wins against the Phils and sixth overall. The game will be broadcasted on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball at 8:05pm. The Mets will send RHP Mike Pelfrey (2-0) to the mound to face off against RHP Adam Eaton from the Phillies.

David Wright has just reached his milestone 100 career home runs. Congrats Davey! Now lets keep it up!

In his first home start, Johan Santana will take the loss as the Mets fall to the Brewers in game 2 of the three game series. Santana gave up 3 home runs while striking out 5 in 6.2 innings of work. The Mets bullpen, by the grace of the baseball gods, did not give up any more runs and only allowed one hit through the next 2.1 innings of work. Brewers pitcher Ben Sheets will take the win, going 7.2 innings with only 5 hits and 3 runs.

On the bright side, one of those runs came from a 2 out solo shot off the bat of David Wright, leaving him only one home run away from reaching the milestone 100.

Tomorrow the Mets will face the Brewers in the rubber game of the series. LHP Oliver Perez will take the mound against RHP Jeff Suppan. The game is scheduled for a 1:10pm start.

Providing the weather holds up (Oh Di Martino, where are you?) the Mets (4-4) and their beloved canine fans will take on the Milwaukee Brewers (6-3) at Shea. Starting for the Mets will be RHP Nelson Figueroa who was 2-2 during his 8 appearances this spring. Facing Figueroa tonight will be LHP Manny Parra who is currently 1-0 with a 3.38 ERA.

And now your starting lineups, courtesy of David Lennon’s blog for Newsday:

METS

• SS Jose Reyes
• LF Angel Pagan
• 3B David Wright
• CF Carlos Beltran
• 1B Carlos Delgado
• 2B Damion Easley
• RF Ryan Church
• C Raul Casanova
• P Nelson Figueroa

Nothing terribly remarkable about this line up except the absence of Brian Schneider. I did think that Castillo was going to make an appearance tonight but I guess not.

The game is scheduled for a 7:10 start and it only seems to be misting at Shea. As always, head on over to the Hot Foot Bleachers to discuss the game with the Hot Foot writers and another fans.

Oh! And in honor of today being Dog Day at Shea, I invite all of you to share picture of your pets showing their Mets pride.

Metsgal’s dog Gwen sporting some Mets gear!

Matt Cerrone at Mets Blog reports that the Mets have signed RHP Claudio Vargas to a minor-leauge deal. According to Cerrone, Vargas will head down to extended spring training, then join the Mets Triple-A team in New Orleans.

Vargas was released from the Brewers last month.

According to Adam Rubin’s blog at the Daily News, Pedro Feliciano was not available to play in today’s game vs the Phillies. Feliciano arrived in the 7th inning, Rubin notes, adding:

Feliciano had permission from the Mets to go home to Puerto Rico for a family issue after Sunday’s game in Philadelphia. His 6 a.m. flight from San Juan to JFK was canceled, and he had to be re-routed through Orlando. Mets security picked him up at the airport, but couldn’t get him to the ballpark in time to contribute.

Well that answers some lingering questions about why Willie did not use him today. We certainly needed the help. I was at the game and I didn’t see him warming up at all, so I assumed he was unavailable.

Hat tip to Dew at the Bleachers for the tip.

Weather permitting, the Mets will have their first match-up today against the Braves at Turner Field. The game is scheduled for a 3:55pm start and will be the nationally televised Game of The Week on FOX and can also be heard as always on WFAN.

Here is today’s line up, courtesy of John Delcos at his blog for the Journal News:

• SS Jose Reyes
• 2B Luis Castillo
• 3B David Wright
• CF Carlos Beltran
• 1B Carlos Delgado
• RF Ryan Church
• LF Angel Pagan
• C Brian Schneider
• RH John Maine

Pitching Match-Ups:

Mets: RHP John Maine will take the mound for his first regular season start. Maine was 3-1 in 7 starts this spring, leading all NL pitchers with a 1.53 ERA.

Braves: Returning to the mound after pitching in his 5th Opening Day start, RHP Tim Hudson will take the mound for the Braves.

As always, head on over to the Hot Foot Bleachers to chat with the Hot Foot writers, as well as loyal fans. Just watch out, rain delays get us a little nutty!

I had the opportunity today to meet with Robbi Goldberg, a West Hampton Mets fan and artist who brought the boys of the 2000 Mets team to life. I had the privilege of interviewing Goldberg, who was showing her Mets collection at the Sachem Public Library in Holbrook, NY today. Goldberg has seen some of the most amazing games of the 2000 season, and while she says its hard to choose a favorite, it’s the memory of the concrete spirals at Shea shaking after Benny Agbayani’s 13th inning home run in Game 7 of the NLDS that sticks out in her mind. Goldberg attended all of the playoff and World Series games at Shea in 2000 and also recalls being at Tom Seaver’s 19 strike-out game.

While Goldberg has never been officially recognized by the Mets organization, her and her work have been written up in several newspapers. She has never met, or had the desire to meet, any of the players. She was very clear about respecting their personal lives, but she would love to be able to show them the paintings she has done. Goldberg spent 10 days in Port St. Lucie during the spring of 2000 and snapped photos of the players that would serve as her guide for the paintings. Most of the paintings are of the players relaxing, not in mid-throw or swing. Completing nearly 50 portraits during the 2000 season, Goldberg added one more painting to her collection for this month’s show. After visiting spring training this year, a portrait of David Wright now hangs next to those immortal players.

Goldberg revealed that it was total chance that she decided to do the paintings of the 2000 team. She had no idea, no gut feeling that they would be in the World Series later that year. Maybe this painting of Wright will serve as a good luck charm to help the Mets to another World Series chance. Goldberg told the story of how her parents were at Game 7 of the 1969 World Series and were given a piece of that was ripped up after the game, which they took home and planted in their back yard.

It is very evident that Goldberg is very passionate about the Mets. Looking at her work, you are transported back to that wonderful summer. Her works will be on display from now until April 30th at the Sachem Public Library in Holbrook, NY, at which point they will be moved to the Suffolk Y Jewish Community Center in Commack, NY. I strongly recommend taking the chance to view her works, you will be not be disappointed.

.

Robbi Goldberg next to her favorite painting, Rey Ordonez. This painting is part of her series “Leaning on Their Bats”.

The following e-mail was sent out this morning, but I would like to share it for those who don’t get the Mets.com e-mails.

Our team is ready to go. That’s the message I want to send to you Mets fans as we prepare for today’s opener in South Florida. The goal this year is to make our final season at Shea something special and I think we can.

We’ve had a great spring. Our batting order certainly can produce runs. Jose Reyes has been spectacular in the field and on the bases. Carlos Beltran has recovered from his off-season knee surgeries and has been diving for balls in the outfield, while Luis Castillo is back to normal after his knee operation. I look for David Wright to once again play at his All-Star pace and we expect Carlos Delgado to have a bounce-back year. Brian Schneider adds a good defensive presence for us behind the plate, while I look for Ryan Church to play a solid rightfield.

Our line-up is intact except for Moses Alou, who should be back in late April or early May. Guys like Endy Chavez, Damion Easley and Angel Pagan can fill in for Moises until he returns. You need to have a solid bench to win and we certainly do.

Our pitching has been great all spring. The addition of Johan Santana makes our staff better from top to bottom. Pedro Martinez is healthy and hasn’t missed a beat, while John Maine and Oliver Perez, who each won 15 games for us a year ago, are perhaps two of the young star pitchers in the major leagues.

The bullpen will once again be anchored by Billy Wagner, one of the best closers in the game. Aaron Heilman, Pedro Feliciano, Scott Schoeneweis, Matt Wise and Jorge Sosa all can perform in a variety of roles for us.

Orlando Hernandez, Duaner Sanchez and Ramon Castro will start the season on the Disabled List, but should be ready to go not too far into the season.

With Orlando Hernandez on the Disabled List, Mike Pelfrey will pitch this Saturday against Atlanta. He deserves the chance.

In closing I want to say one more thing. We all hated the way last year ended for us. For 98 percent of the season we were the best team in our division, but we let it slip away. When I spoke to the team this spring I didn’t look backwards that much, I tried to look forward so we can all learn from what happened. The lesson is simple: don’t take anything for granted and don’t expect things to happen just because you think they will.

The season is here. It’s time to make it happen.

Hope to see you back at Shea in April.