I would like, at first, to take this oppurtunity to once again say that West Coast games are evil. West coast night games, because end times of midnight are either slept through, or watched, in which case I tend to be unpleasant in the morning. West coast day games are worse. They tease you, like a girl who merely wants free drinks at the bar. Maybe you see a little skin, the eight and ninth inning after getting home from work. Just enough to get you in the mood, but you end up with not enough baseball, and dissapointment.

Anyways, the Mets won, since Oliver Perez was in the dugout and not on the field. Another nice start from John Maine, who gave up two runs, one earned, and seven hits in six innings. His unearned run came off a Reyes error in the third. But he’s keeping his walks down, and he managed to only give up one run via the error, where lesser pitchers would get all frazzled and implode. I’m still looking at you Mr. Perez. Dirty Sanchez went two, and gave up one run. Billy gets the save, giving up one hit. His ERA is now 0.38.

Aside from making his tenth error of the season, Reyes looked good. He started the game off with a double, then scoring on a Beltran double. And made up for the error via a two run homer to score Maine. Apology accepted. He finished 3 for 4 (no triples) and stole a base. David Wright got hit by a pitch, which is kryptonite to him, as he then went 0 for 4. Delgado went 2 for 4 with a double and a RBI, and Beltran went 2 for 4 with a double and 2 RBIs. The resurgence of the Carloses continues to prove a key in the Mets performing, hopefully they can keep it up. If both they and Reyes have finally found their groove, then the team will be able to handle things such as Ollie not knowing how to pitch easier.

Ryan Church overcame his most recent brain injury to assist Santana in his 100th career victory. Church joined Beltran, as the pair both knocked out a two run homerun in the third, a five run inning that also included an RBI single by Wright to score Reyes. Reyes had scored previously, on a seperate RBI single by Wright.

I have to say, its nice to see the Mets making pitchers pay for intentially walks again. It feels like old times. And by old times, I mean two years ago.

Some good hitting tonight, including doubles by Reyes, Church and Schneider. Reyes was two for five with a stolen base, Wright 3 for 4 with a stolen base, and Church 3 for 4. Church however, stole no bases. Since days ago he still felt dizzy and woozy, we will forgive him.

Also a key part of Santana’s 100th victory: Santana. He gave up the first run of the game, then settled in and allowed no other Dodger runs. He went long, 7 and two thirds, striking out six while allowing just six hits. Smith struggled, hitting Jeff Kent (who lets face it, probably deserves to get hit by pitches), but Show came in to mop up the mess. Feliciano pitched a scoreless ninth.  The recent ability of starters to go long seems to have done wonders to the bullpen.

Is Tatis having a comeback, or does a jersey with the #17 somehow channel the energy of Mex and allow its wearer to fuel a team? The one jersey to rule them all if you will.

Pelf gave up a lot of hits, but managed to keep himself out of trouble. He kept his walks down (1), his strikeouts up (6), hit not batters, no wild pitches. He even went long, going a full seven, during which he only gave up two runs. Quite a nice effort for Pelf, who’s job is in fact on the line. Pedro is chilling in NY and scheduled to go in just a few days. At the very least, this could buy him some time, possible putting the hook back around Vargas . Unfortunately for him, he gets the no decision, as the Mets took their time to score. Dirty gets the win, pitching a 1, 2, 3 eight inning, and Billy gets his eleventh save of the season and three strikeouts.

Reyes stole a base and Delgado went 2 for 4, but who cares. All thats important, was the three run rally. After being shutdown scoring wise for seven full innings, the Mets did what needed doing. Wright doubled in the lead off spot, and in an effort to remind everyone why he hits next, Beltran homered to tie it up. Well played Carlos. Well played. Rather than spoil the fun, Carlos Delgado singled. Evans moved up a base in a PR situation, Schneider got intentionally walked, and using his all powerful jersey, Tatis once again had the game winner, a single into the outfield to score Evans. As my grandmother always said, victory is a dish best served by Fernando Tatis.

Delgado by the way, went 5 for 12 against LA after riding the bench for two days. Maybe he should just always bat angry.

For those who aren’t quite into my 17 theory, something to chew on: Keith Hernandez, the greatest Met in Met history, wore the #17, and belongs in the Hall of Fame. Tatis, in the #17, had his second game winner in a week, after being banished from baseball for quite some time, for being not good. David Wright, hit his 17th double to start the rally. Earlier in the game, Jose Reyes stole his 17th base. Joe Smith’s favorite magazine: Seventeen. Coincidences? I think not.

The Mets climbed back to .500 this evening by beating the Dodgers 8-4.

While not perfect by any means, Claudio Vargas was good enough.  He allowed four runs through 5.2 innings of work, leaving the rest of the game to the Mets wonderful bullpen.  Carlos Muniz registered a key out to end the sixth inning by striking out Matt Kemp.  Scott Schoenweis pitches 1.2 perfect innings, and got a rare plate appearance going 0-1.  Joe Smith pitched the final 1.1 innings to finish the game.  The bullpen has been truly phenomenal lately, keeping the Mets in every game and giving them every opportunity to win games.  Willie has done a solid job spreading the work around and playing match ups.

As they usually do, the Mets offense pounded Brad Penny.  The first five batters in the order all had two or more hits, including David Wright who was 2-4 with 2 HRs and 4 RBIs.  Carlos Delgado and Brian Schneider were both back in the lineup tonight after being benched against lefties the two previous nights.  Delgado even showed some life on defense, making a fantastic diving play on a ball up the line.

The Mets blast off again tomorrow at 7:10 on SNY where phenom Clayton Kershaw takes the hill against our own John Maine. 

These last two games the Mets have played with life and excitement, which naturally translates into W’s.  Willie has had the order perfectly these last few days and has managed the bullpen wonderfully.  Oh, how a few wins change everything - but if we lose and don’t build off this success then our wins are forgotten.  Let’s build off of this gentlemen, let’s. 

The Mets defeated the Marlins 7–6 in 12 innings this evening. 

As one of the announcers said, this was reminiscent of the excitement that the 2006 team had. 

Oliver Perez was dominant most of the evening, but left a few meaty pitches out there, all of which where whacked for HRs.  He gave up five runs in six innings, while striking out seven.

The bullpen was dominant, including a scoreless inning from Scott Schoenweis, and two scoreless innings from Aaron Heilman.  Heilman looked fantastic, throwing two perfect innings while striking out four.  Billy Wagner threw a perfect 10th and Duaner Sanchez gave up a run in the 12th after pitching a scoreless 11th.

The magic was on offense tonight though.  The Mets began the night with a bang from Luis Castillo hitting a 2–Run HR in the 1st inning.  With the Mets down 5–4 in the ninth, Endy Chavez did some yard work to tie the game at five.  When the Metsies were down 6–5 in the 12th, more magic was made.  David Wright walked, then Carlos Beltran hit a hard single.  With one out, the Mets were Tatis-ed!  Fernando Tatis hit a game winning single to the left field corner. 

Tonight was the first night in so long that the Mets seemed like they were enjoying the game.  There were hits, energy and vigor coming from the usually grumpy Aaron Heilman.  Jose Reyes continued to be a spark plug, and the 2006 Mets shined: Heilman, Endy et all. 

Oh, and the Mets played with a youthful vigor tonight: Coincidence that Carlos Delgado was out of the lineup? I think not…

A good old fashioned Happy Recap, just like ye olden times. Johan Santana went a full seven and got the win. He struck out seven, but also walked two and tossed a pair of wild pitches. He also hit his fourth double of the season. For the most part, Santana looked good. He did get himself into a few jams, but either pitched his way out or got assistance from some quality defense tonigth. The only real sore spot was Reyes error, his third in three games. As generally expected, Santana gave up one homerun.  Dirty and Billy each pitched a scoreless inning.

Reyes and Wright each doubled, but this game’s offense was all about the so called A- team: Castro, Tatis and Easley. Castro and Tatis each went 2 for 3 with two RBIs. Easley added a hit, RBI and a run, and Tatis was part of a double steal with Beltran. While its good to see them contributing, realistically all we did was switch it up from last night, as the front of the order notched just two hits and three walks.  The scoring came primarily in the first, after Reyes, Castillo and Wright all reached, and got brought in by Easley, Tatis and Castro respectively. Hopefully in the next game both the front and middle of the lineup hit.

The Mets snapped their skid in a strong fashion, beating the Rockies this afternoon 9-2.

Nick Evans, welcome to the Mets. Filling in for Marlon Anderson, recently DLed, Evans was called up from AA and hit three doubles. Castillo, Beltran and Castro added doubles of their own.  Castro, playing the day game, went 3 for 4.  Wright and Delgado both homered.

Offensively, over half the Met runs came quickly, as the Mets pounced on Francis while he struggled in the first. They added a few more here and there throughout the rest of the game. Its good to see them jump quickly on a pitcher like this, but this game was mostly Castro and Evans. The homerun from Delgado was nice, but as I said yesterday, his one homerun doesn’t balance out the four outs, including two down on strikes. Beltrans sole hit was timely, giving him 3 RBI’s, but likewise, 1 for 5 isn’t any more impressive with 3 RBIs than it is from Delgado’s 1 for 5 with one. If this is going to be more than one win, they need to hit more.

Vargas took the win, going long with seven full innings, giving up both Rockies runs. More than acceptable from a substitute fifth starter. Dirty Sanchez and Pedro Feliciano each pitched one scoreless, hitless inning. Pedro walked one.

Evans definitely made his major league debut in style, while Tatis showed us why he’s kept in the minors. If Evans can keep this up, once Church comes back we’ll have a nice outfield. Perhaps the two of them can provide the offensive jump start that Reyes and Wright haven’t been able to.

The Mets defeated the Yankees by a score of 11-2 tonight.

The game began smoothly, with both Chien-Ming Wang and Oliver Perez throwing no-hit ball through the first three innings. In the fourth, things got interesting.

After an RBI groundout by Ryan Church and a two-RBI single by Moises Alou, Carlos Delgado hit a HR down the line that barely nipped the foul pole. While initially called a HR by 3B umpire Mike Reilly, the umpires convened and called the ball foul. Replays showed that the ball was fair, and the ball even left a mark on the foul pole. Delgado returned to the plate and lined a single to left for an RBI, yet the Mets got screwed out of two runs.

In the bottom of the 4th, Oliver Perez allowed his only two runs of the day on a two-run HR to Hideki Matsui. Perez was consistent and solid throughout the night, almost flawless aside from that HR. He allowed only three hits and two walks over 7.2 innings while striking out four. He kept the ball in the zone the whole evening and kept hitters off balance.

After a solo HR by Church in the 6th, the Mets went bananas in the top of the 8th. Alou, Brian Schneider and Luis Castillo all registered RBIs, and Jose Reyes capped off the rally with his 2nd HR in as many games, a three run shot. The Mets tore the cover off the ball the whole night, with David Wright and Church hitting balls that were caught on the warning track in the top of the ninth.

Joe Smith got the last out in the 8th and Scott Schoenweis pitched a scoreless ninth.

I have three main comments from today’s game:

-This is why MLB should use instant replay on home run calls. fortunately we were able to score 11 runs, but imagine if it were a close game that was decided by a bad call by the umps like that.

-It was fantastic at the end of the game how loud the Mets fans were.

-Andrew Beaton’s Lucky Tube Socks > Jason Giambi’s Lucky Golden Thong

The Mets are off tomorrow but play a double-header on Tuesday in Atlanta.