The Mets completed a 3 game sweep of the Phillies today, putting a big red cherry on top of a 9-1 road trip. The bullpen carried them through the 7th, 8th, and 9th innings with Aaron Heilman, Duaner Sanchez, and Billy Wagner throwing 1-2-3 innings in each.

The Mets made history as the only team ever to win 8 straight road games scoring a run or more in the first inning in every game. The
1939 Yankees did it seven consecutive games. The Mets were 1 shy of setting a franchise record for wins on a road trip.

Jose Reyes singled to start off the game and scored off Endy Chavez's double to set the record. David Wright piled on and hit his 14th home run of the year in the first inning, a three run shot giving the Mets another early lead on their trip by a score of 4-0.

Traschel struggled giving up 2 runs in the second another 2 in the 5th off a Pat Burrell home run. Carlos Beltran hit a sac fly in the top of the inning to give them a one run lead, 5-4. That would be all the runs the Mets would need because of an outstanding performance by their bullpen.

The game was a sellout, with 45,102 fans, the largest of the season and
second-biggest in the three-year history of Citizens Bank Park.The largest crowd at
Citizens Bank Park was 45,449 for a game against the Mets last June
23. Thousands of Mets fans were in attendance while
Philly fans tried to drown out chants of “Let's Go Mets!” with
the familiar chant of “E-A-G-L-E-S!”

Beltran has a hit and RBI in eight
straight games. Country
singer Tim McGraw, son of former Phillies and Mets reliever Tug
McGraw, threw out the first pitch.

The Mets now lead the Phillies by 9.5 and the Braves by 12.5, who play later tonight.

Its tough not to get too giddy right now the way the Mets are playing. I listened to the game on WFAN at work and had to contain myself as Wagner made the final out. Its truly a great time to be a fan of this team and its not too often we get to experience dominance like this, i'm not quite used to it, and still a bit gun shy about it. I guess when the smoke clears and the summer begins to wane, i'll be able to truly enjoy this. I think we will all remember this road trip when we look back at this season as the week the Mets really began to assert their will.

I was only 10 years old back in 1986 when the Mets last won a World Series but I can remember the same feelings I had then come rushing back now. Its really something special to have them all over again 20 years later.

The Mets are what you might call “En Fuego” right now. It may be too early to say they are pulling away from the pack, but they certainly are not making it any easier for the rest of the NL East to catch up. The Mets have reached 41 wins and gone 18 games over .500. The only other Met teams to reach 40 wins this quickly were the World Champion 1986 Mets and the 1988 team that lost to the Dodgers in the NLCS, which is also the last time the Mets have held a lead this large in the NL East this late in the season.

The Mets have been scoring early, 21 first inning runs in their last 9 games, and often, a total of 73 runs, on this road trip. Tonight was no exception, they quickly moved ahead in the first with Paul Lo Duca slapping a double and Carlos Delgado slapping another one to drive Paulie in for the first run. Wright then singled to score Delgado giving the Mets a 2-0 lead. The Mets have now scored in the first inning of 7 consecutive games on the road, all of them wins, that ties a Major League record set by the 1939 Yankees.

Jose Reyes had 4 hits, and every Mets starter had a hit and scored a run, a total of 16 hits for the team.

El Duque started the game but was lifted after the rain delay, in the 4th inning. Darren Oliver earned the win, pitching 3 innings and giving up 1 run. The bullpen pitched a total of 6 innings of 1 run ball. The Mets bullpen now has 16 wins, the most in the majors.

Carlos Beltran was walked in the 3rd with the bases loaded to score the third run and David Wright launched 13th homer of the year to the opposite field in the 4th, making it a 4-0 game. The Mets blew it open in the 5th when Lastings Milledge knocked in a single to score Endy Chavez who had hit a triple over Rowand's head that appeared on a path dangerously similar to the one he broke his nose on earlier this year. Reyes then stepped up and hit a triple of his own to score Lastings Milledge and take a healthy 6-0 lead. Myers appeared to glare at Bobby Abreau who misplayed Reyes' ball as he walked off the mound.

Julio Franco joined the party in the 8th with a double that drove in Jose Valentin. Lastings Milledge should have also scored on the double but was not running full speed and was inexplicably watching the path of the ball with 2 outs when he should have been simply running on anything. Willie Randolph was spotted talking to Milledge for a good couple of minutes after the play was over and did not appear happy with his young slugger.

The Mets now take a commanding 8.5 game lead over the Phillies and a 12 game lead over the Braves who lost to the Marlins earlier in the evening. The Mets look to sweep the Phillies tomorrow and head home to face the Orioles this weekend. The Mets appear to be on top of the New York and maybe even the entire baseball world, having completed a highly successful road trip, going 8-1, 2 wins short of a franchise record for wins on a road trip. In that span, they have hit 13 homers, 73 runs scored, 110 hits, and 27 doubles…..and theres one more game left tomorrow.

The Mets emotions were on full display tonight, as they made two fine plays to end Phillies threats in tonights games, both times punctuated by animated fist pumps by the Mets, not shy to show how much they wanted to win this one. David
Wright homered, and the Carlos brothers, Delgado and Beltran went back
to back and belly to belly.

Billy Wagner snagged his first save in Citizens Bank Park since leaving the Phillies. David Wright got the fist pump parade going after snaring a ball fired down the line by Pat Burrell to start a double play. After the play Wright, Chris Woodward, Delgado and Wagner pumped their fists in celebtration, Wagner pointing his finger to Wright in the process to acknowledge the web gem. In the eight, a strike em out throw em out ensued to end the inning, and Paul Lo Duca walked off the field with a fist pump of his own.

Tom Glavine was shaky and left in the fifth for his shortest outing of the season, earning a no decision. Chad Bradford came in and enduced two outs to escape a bases-loaded
jam in the inning Glavine was removed, and the Mets took advantage of three errors to
score five times in the sixth.

The Mets are now 17-5 in the first game of a series, 7-1 on this road trip, 17 games over .500
(40-23), and extend their lead to 7.5 games over the Phillies and 11 games over the Braves. The Mets also own the best record in the NL, the Tigers lead the Mets for best record in baseball by percentage points.

The Mets take the first game of their west coast trip against the Dodgers after Alay Soler pitched the best game of his young major league career. Soler took at 3 hit shutout into the 6th inning, before surrendering a run off a Willy Aybar homer.

That would be he only run Soler would give up, he left the game after pitching 7 innings walking only 1, and striking out 7. It was truly encouraging to see Soler excel against a good Dodger lineup, giving Met fans hope that they finally may have found a savior for the back end of their rotation.

Jose Reyes got the Mets off to a quick start, hitting a homer to lead off the game, his 6th of the season. Two batters later, Carlos Delgado piled on with a 2 run homer, driving in Carlos Beltran who reached on a single, to give the Mets a early 3-0 lead.

Lastings Milledge drove in the Mets 4th run in the 6th, with Cliff Floyd and Jose Valentin reaching ahead of him off back to back singles to start the inning. Delgado, Beltran and Milledge were all 2 for 4 for the night. Milledge is 6-for-19 with four RBI in six games since his
promotion from Triple-A Norfolk on May 30.

Pedro Feliciano and Chad Bradford gave the big dogs in the bullpen the night off for a much needed rest, sitting down the Dodgers in the 8th and 9th innings. Soler earned his first win of his major league career and the Mets get to bring their pair of aces to the mound to take on the Dodgers over the next two days.

The Mets win a wild one 8-7, with David Wright driving home the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning. Paul Lo Duca had 4 hits, including 2 doubles. Endy Chavez came up big, knocking a double to lead off the ninth, after being substituted into the game when Xavier Nady took a pitch in the back. Nady ran the bases but was lifted by Willie in the next inning.

Reyes failed to lay a bunt down in his first two attempts and decided to line a single to left center instead to drive home Chavez and tie the game at 7. Lo Duca stepped up and drove his fourth hit of the game to right to move Reyes over to third. The D-Backs walked Carlos Beltran intentionally and Carlos Delgado continued to struggle, striking out with the bases juiced but David Wright was there to pick him up driving a big hit to left center, driving home Reyes to win it.

Steve Trachsel struggled, getting his rhythm screwed up by two rain delays, and gave up 4 runs in 6 innings. Aaron Heilman struggled as well, giving up a 3 run homer to Chad Tracy and blowing a 2 run lead. Duaner Sanchez picked up the win, pitching a scoreless ninth.

The Mets have now won 13 straight home series openers, dating back to
last year. Jose “The Stach” Valentine, also affectionately referred to as “The Mouse” by
the Hot Foot, drove in 3 runs and hit a homer in the 6th inning. He might be
making a case to start more often in place of the struggling Kaz
Matsui, as Willie Randolph recently noted he would be making a platoon position for the time.

Cliff Floyd stayed hot, hitting a blast in the 6th and is 10/28 with 3 homers, 6 walks and 4 RBIs, batting .357 since May 20th.

In a thrilling, draining, and ultimately satisfying 16 inning marathon the Mets came back 3 times to beat the Philadelphia Phillies. Coming back from 2-0, 6-2, and 8-5, then tying it in the 9th inning off a 2 run homer by Jose Reyes at 8-8 then taking it all the way to the 16th innning where Carlos Beltran finally ended it hitting a walk off blast to right field an estimated 450 feet away.

A bit of credit must go to Phillies reliever Ryan Madsen who threw 105 pitches in relief, five more than Phillies starter Gavin Floyd, holding the Mets at bay for 7 innings from the 9th through the 16th. The Mets bullpen did a spectacular job as well with Jorge Julio, Duaner Sanchez, Billy Wagner, Chad Bradford and Darren Oliver combining for 9 innings of scoreless relief. Oliver did the bulk of the work, pitching the final 4 innings, allowing only 2 hits, striking out 3.

Paul Lo Duca was unable to hold on to a great throw from right field by Endy Chavez in the fifth inning, allowing the Phillies to extend the inning and David Bell to hit a 3 run homer. Ryan Howard was unable to fielded a grounder cleanly in the eighth, allowing the Mets to extend the inning and Jose Reyes to hit a 3 run homer. Karma was clearly on the Amazin's side.

Carlos Beltran over-slid second base in the 11th, but he appeared to get back to the bag before the tag. He could have scored the winning run on Wright single that came after he was caught. 

Reyes nearly missed his second home run and a walk off special in the 12th but it was caught against the wall in right. The game took 5:22 to play and ended at 12:33 a.m. When asked if this was his greatest moment as a Met, Beltran responded…

Wright on the dramatic win…

Wright homered in the second inning and Cliff Floyd crushed one in the fourth. Floyd was hitting the ball with authority all night, prompting Gary Cohen to think he had launched a walk off to dead center but was caught near the warning track. Reyes saved the game in the 13th, when he snagged a Bobby Abreu's liner and doubled off Jimmy Rollins at second to end the threat.

Xavier Nady was a late scratch from the lineup
because of lower back stiffness.

The Mets take the rubber game of the series and take round one in a thriller down in Flushing. Billy Wagner earned redemption from his poor performance on Saturday and bounced back to set down the Yankees with a one run lead to work with in the 9th.

David Wright and Carlos Delgado went back to back and belly to belly with two monster blasts in the 4th, after letting the Yankees take the lead in the top half of the inning. Wright monster shot literally left the park and fell into the parking lot.

Glavine won his fifth straight, pitching seven innings and allowing just 2 runs. He is only the second 7th game winning in the NL. Aaron Small pitched in place of the injured Shawn Chacon and was tagged for 4 runs in 4.1 innings.

On a wacky play in the aforementioned fourth inning, Bernie Williams led off with a high popup, and the Mets watched it drop
no more than 50 feet from home plate between first baseman Delgado and
catcher Paul Lo Duca. Bernie ran all the way to second for maybe the strangest double of his career.

The bases loaded, Jeter slapped a ball to the left side of the infield that Wright and Reyes both seemed to misplay and saw roll into shallow left. Wright and Delgado made up for it with their back to back bombs soon after. Wright's blast was estimated at 445 feet, one of the longest Wright has hit in his three-year career.

The Mets were able to get out of quite a few jams. The Yankees stranded 15 runners. Kaz Matsui and Jose Reyes turned a great double play in the fifth, and Jeter grounded into an inning-ending DP with two on in the sixth. Aaron Heilman escaped a bases-loaded jam in the seventh when Kelly
Stinnett bounced out.

Cliff Floyd left the game early after a diving catch that was ruled a
trap in the eight. The injury does not appear to be serious, just
discomfort.

The Mets get a much needed day off tomorrow and start an important series with the Phillies on Tuesday. The Mets enter the series with a great feeling of pride after knocking down their big brothers in the first confrontation of 2006. The Foot eagerly looks forward to sharing the back pages with you all tomorrow.

The Mets had an offensive explosion last night at Citizens Bank Park, knocking down 13 runs against the Phillies and stopping them dead in their tracks, ending their 9 game winning streak and extending the Mets lead to 4 games over them. The Mets scored early and often, netting 10 runs in the first 3 innnings.

Glavine reached several personal milestones. His 280th career victory, 4,000th career inning, 195th sacrifice bunt and 23rd consecutive start of at least six innings. Glavine also had two hits, along with six other Mets. He hit a two-run double in the third and a single up the middle in the
fifth. He also walked on four pitches with two outs in the sixth. He has been hitting well this year, 6-12. The Mets gathered 17 hits, tying their high for the season. Four Mets, Glavine included, had at least two RBIs. Paul Lo Duca had three. Jose Reyes hit his second home run of the season.

Kaz Matsui continues to impress with his improved defense, barehanding a throw from Jose Reyes to begin a double play where he again stood confidently and was not fazed by a impending collision with the runner. Anderson Hernandez continues his rehab in AAA but it is unlikely that Kaz will be removed with the elevated level of play Kaz has displayed.

The Mets look to take the rubber game of the series tonight with Steve Trachsel on the mound.

At 11:59 PM the Atlanta Braves turned into pumpkins, a minute early.
The 14th inning stretch had just been enjoyed by the fans, but it was
un-necessary at this point. The fans had already been stretched thin by
Billy Wagner, who let down the Mets for the second time this week. But
lets put Wagner aside for now and talk about the heart on this years
Mets. Stop me cause you've heard this already but this years Mets win
games they would have lost in recent years. Last night is another
perfect example in a young season of perfect examples. A team with
postseason aspirations needs wins like last night, not for what it
means in the standings but for what it does for a team's psyche. The
Mets are building confidence that if you try and knock us down, we will
get back up and punish you with criminal indifference.

Prior to tonight, Cliff Floyd must have felt like Clark Kent on a team
full of Supermen, but last night he stepped into a phone booth and
showed us the Superman who led us for the past few seasons. After
Wagner surrendered the go ahead run in the top of the 11th, Cliff Floyd
slapped the defibrilator on the Mets and smashed a ball into the right
field porch to bring the Amazin's back to life.

The Mets were down 4 runs in the seventh inning, but they fought back.
Reyes opened with his fourth single, he hit a career high 5 hits total,
and Paul LoDuca doubled. An error by shortstop Edgar Renteria allowed
one run to
score, and Carlos Delgado singled home another. Floyd's RBI single
against reliever Ken Ray made it 6-5, and Kaz Matsui delivered a
tying single.

Duaner Sanchez pitched 2 more scoreless innings and extended his streak to 21 for the year, 23 spanning last year.

In the 14th,  Beltran reached on a walk, and then took second base
on a passed ball. David Wright stepped to the plate and after a 4 hit
day to try and break out of a 1-19 slump, he deposited the winning hit
into the gap in left center field, as Andruw Jones stood and watched.

Big game, not just on paper, but for the heart and soul of this team.

Xavier Nady put the Pirates to bed last night in the seventh inning, after D Wright added a run to a thin 1-0 margin, busting the game open with a 3 run homer to make it 5-0. Jose Valentin even joined the party, slapping a single to score Floyd who was hit by a pitch. Both benches were warned after
Torres hit Floyd with a pitch following Nady's home run. Nady had 4 RBIs for the night.

Tom Glavine was phenomenal, pitching 7 scoreless innings, allowing just 3 hits and striking out 10. Glavine didn't allow a hit until the 5th inning. In the sixth, the Pirates loaded the bases and Glavine ran the count to 3-0, but he battled back to 3-2 and got Craig Wilson to fly out to end the inning.

Wright broke out of his slump, getting 4 hits after going 0-17.

The Mets are 10 games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2000 season. Glavine lowered his ERA to a third best in the majors 1.94

Duaner Sanchez extended his streak to 19 consecutive innings without a run allowed. He has not allowed a single run to score this season. If you include last season, Sanchez has 22 consecutive scoreless innings.

Julio Franco made his first start of the season, going 0-4. Glavine was 1-4, now 4-9 batting this season.

Victor Zambrano had his best start of the season tonight, going 6
innings and giving up just 1 run on 5 hits. The Mets were able to win
with a little help from the Nats, when Greg Majewski threw a sure
double play ball over the head of the second baseman and into center
field to allow Endy Chavez to score from second. The Mets tied the game
in the 6th with Delgado's 10th home run of the season.

Jose Reyes was caught in a rundown after trying to stretch a double
into a triple, which he could have been able to reach if he had broken
out of the box, instead he stood a bit to marvel at his hit from the
plate. The very next batter, Paul Lo Duca, slapped a double that would
have scored Reyes to give the Mets the lead.

Duaner Sanchez pitched his 17 consecutive scoreless inning of the
season, and Billy Wagner came on in the 9th and struck out 2 batters on
6 pitches, earning his 2nd win of the season.

The wind was blowing in hard tonight, blowing back quite a few hits
that may have left the yard on a calmer night. Wright and Floyd had two
long balls drop on the warning track into the glove of the Nats, but
they battled and used a little magic to put the winning run across in
the 9th on a walkoff error.

The Mets bring up John Maine, acquired in the Benson deal along with Jorge Julio, to pitch tomorrow.

Seven games.  In the history of this franchise, the Mets have
never surrendered a pennant with a lead of this magnitude. Nine games
over .500, a mark that hasn't been met since 2000, the last time the
Mets were in a World Series. These are heady days for a Mets fan, its
hard to keep your feet on the ground when your team is playing up in
the clouds. We are all waiting for “its only April” to no longer become
applicable to what is developing here.

Exhibit A : Turner Field, Saturday, April 29th

Tom Glavine, perhaps only remaining Met who has a complex about the
Braves because he knows all too well. He's been on both sides of this
lopsided 'rivalry', which hasn't been a rivalry so much as a mountain
the Mets have yet to climb upon and stake a pennant flag upon.

It could seem to some an omen of things to come when this particuar
player puts on such a display as he did in the house of pain, a 4 hit
shutout, where he retired the side in order in the 5, 6, and 7th
innings.

Two spectacular plays in left by Cliff Floyd, who had carried the Mets
in past seasons, now being carried himself as he struggles to break out
of a slow start. Last night his glove almost certainly saved the Mets
from a loss with a margin for error so thin.

Paul Lo Duca, another player whose bat has gone cold as of late,
providing the one run the Mets would need, a home run to left. Kaz
Matsui, seemingly kidnapped and replaced by a player with guts and
purpose, continues to earn back the respect of Mets fans who put him in
a dog house so deep he had fleas. Turning two double plays, one a key
play in the bottom of the ninth allowing Wagner to escape from a
disaster we know all too well. Ninth innings in Atlanta, a stage where horrific events that
tore up Met psyches and left them with post traumatic stress seem all
too common.

Not tonight. Not this team. Not this year.

Today the Mets are in a
position not to need to win a game in Atlanta, but to want to win a
game in Atlanta. To earn a :gasp: sweep in that southern park that once
was strewn with Amazin' carnage but now smells of sweet Georgia peach.
A chance to extend their lead to :gasp: 8 games over the Bravos. But
hey Mets fans, remember, don't get too excited. Its only April.

At least for one more day.

Lenny Harris called it “The Unhappiest Place On Earth”. Mike Piazza
used to call it “Death Valley”. Last night David Wright and the “New,
New” Mets, didn't have quite the same demons in the their heads that
the ghosts of Metropolitans past had been trying to exorcise for the
past 10+ years. These Mets did not have first hand knowledge of the
carnage that had taken place in this stadium, and perhaps thats why
they may have what it takes to propel towards unseating an NL East
juggernaut.

It was a huge night for David Wright who had gone 0-9 in the opening
series with Atlanta at Shea. David smashed a bomb off Smoltz in the
fifth, and again off Reitsma in the 9th, taking a 3-2 lead and
extending it to 5-2, giving the Mets and Billy Wagner a bit of
breathing room.

It was also a great night for the man they call Pedro. Martinez won his 5th straight,
the second best start of his career. In 2002, he went 20-4 with the Red
Sox. Only Frank Viola and Doc Gooden have started the season with the
Mets winning their first 5 consecutive starts. He retired the first 3
innings without a hit, and his only 2 runs allowed were from a Larry
Jones home run, which didnt come until the 6th.

Jose Reyes was electric, seeming to break out of a funk he has been in
with the bat. Despite his slump, Reyes has managed to score a mind
boggling 20 runs in 22 games. Last night he set the tone, drawing a
walk, which he has done 10 times in April, a promising sign for a once
over aggressive Reyes, and later scored off a sacrifice fly by Wright
after being moved over by a solid hit by Paul Lo Duca. Reyes was in the
mix again in the 4th, blasting a triple to the gap in right center,
driving in Kaz Matsui who had singled and stole second.

KazMat has
looked like a totally different player lately, more confident and
looser than in the past two seasons. Last night, he snagged a wide
throw by Wright that should have sailed into the outfield, and he
looked real smooth doing it, whereas the last two years he looked like
a scared puppy. He has played well in the field
and contributed offensively, batting .345 in 7 games. Heres to hoping
maybe he has turned a corner.

Wagner loaded the bases in the ninth, but struck out ex-Phillies
teammate Todd Pratt and ex-Met folk hero on three pitches - his third
strikeout of the
inning, in a spot where the Mets normally would implode in past years.
The filthy one extended his scoreless innings streak to 16, building
the bridge to Wagner. He leads all of baseball with 7 holds.

The Mets extended their lead in the east to 6, and look to extend it further tonight with Tom Glavine on the hill.

Brian Bannister is known for great drama, and he provided it again today, but this time it may have ended in disaster in a thrilling, roller coaster of a game. Bannister strained his hamstring after hitting his second double of the game to tie the game up at 3 in the 4th. Initial reports are that it does not look good but we will have to wait for a full diagnosis.

Chris Woodward was the hero of the day, hitting the go-ahead double in the 11th inning, after Barry Bonds hit a game tying pinch hit 2 run homer off his buddy Billy Wagner. It is Wagner's second blown save of the season. Bonds stayed in the game and had trouble fielding Woodward's double that scored Castro. Reyes hit a single to drive in Woodward and add the insurance run. Darren Oliver worked the 10th and 11th to get the win, not allowing a hit.

Julio Franco thought he had given the Mets the final lead they would need in the 8th, hitting a double to score Endy Chavez and Jose Reyes. He then stole second base, possibly the oldest man to steal a base pending Elias Sports to check the archives.  Wright came up and doubled home Franco to put the score at 7-4, only to be tied in the next inning which was triggered by Wright's throwing error to second.

Carlos Delgado hit his ninth home run in the third, which ties him with Dave Kingman for the Mets record for homers in April. Duaner Sanchez extended his scoreless innings pitched streak to 15 innings. The Mets got help offensively from just about everyone in the lineup, putting 26 runners on. Castro and Chavez both had 3 hits. Delgado and Reyes both had a pair, and others like Matsui chipped in with key hits. Castro has produced nearly every game he has filled in for Lo Duca, batting .421 in 5 games.

Reyes stole 2 bases, extending his total to a major
league-leading 10 on the season. He's also walked seven times thus far
after not walking more than eight times in any single month in 2005.

The Mets may turn to Jeremi Gonzales, John Maine or Jose Lima to replace Bannister if he has to miss some time.

The Braves lost today to the Brewers, extending the Mets lead over Atlanta to 5. The Mets leave the west coast going 4-3, bouncing back after dropping 3 of 5. They have the day off tomorrow and will have their ace, Pedro Martinez facing John Smoltz in Atlanta on Friday.

Extra Bases : The Mets signed OF Michael Tucker to a minor league deal
and he was scheduled to report to the team's extended spring
training team in Port St. Lucie, Fla., Wednesday. Tucker was
released by the Washington Nationals on March 30 after spending
last season with the Giants and Philadelphia Phillies. He hit .239
with five home runs and 36 RBI last year…Mike Piazza homered today, becoming the 41st player to have 400 home runs and the first catcher in history to reach that mark.