Camp Day Fun

Too bad that was the last one. The Mets seem inspired to play in front of such vibrant colors representing the various camps in the stands. However, they are still brittle as they are any game this season. Down goes Jon Niese, down goes Gary Sheffield. There's no comment on this right now. It was past ridiculous when Luis Castillo went down the stairs.

David Wright is just not going to charge the mound. At least he could've said something to the pitcher who just missed his head, a retaliation for Pujols getting hit earlier in the game. Maybe it was the presence of so many kids. Doubt it. David is Mr. Nice Guy. He'll make friends with everyone who reaches third base, and against the Mets, that's a lot of players who reach third base.

The DVR will be in full swing this week as the team goes West. It's not worth staying up. Hell, they should be honored I'm recording the rest of the game to watch it the next morning.

Can't Have It All

A six game winning streak. A four game sweep of a team in front of us in the Wild Card hunt. A gem by Jon Niese. All pretty much extinguished with a David Wright strikeout followed by yet another botched delayed steal of home in the first inning.

That was the chance for the Mets. It was a chance to jump out in front early and give the sagging Rockie confidence another Flushing blow. They've lost like 20 of their last 22 here. Put them down early and they stay down. If Pagan somehow scores, maybe the Mets squeak out another run and have a bigger lead than the 1-0 lead they held for a little over an inning later on.

As it is, you have to be happy to take three out of four. Now comes yet another four gamer, vs. Arizona. Winning these series is tough. Winning them back to back is tougher. I'd like to be confident coming off Livan's last start in Houston, but the prospects of Livan-Ollie-Pelfrey-Redding? in the next four makes me think we are not winning three of four again.

See what happens when you give Castillo a day off? 0-for-3.

I kid.

Flash in the Pan

No, I'm not talking about Jon Niese, who pitched well last night. Niese had been on a roll in his last several triple A starts and was ready for a promotion to the big leagues this time around. This kind of pitching could be something we should get used to seeing, unlike that of remove-the-S-and-place-a-V Nieve. I'm talking about the Mets offense.

10 runs? Three homers? David Wright finally has come to the realization that Omir Santos passed him in the homerun department and does something about it. Can we see more of that please? Also that play late in the game where he made a nice pickup on the backhand- and then actually fired the ball to first with authority instead of lazily flinging it over. More of that, please.

Despite pitching in a non-save situation, an issue with most closers, K-Rod's ERA has now climbed over 2.00. It's only going to get higher folks.

A win overshadowed the decision to put Gary Sheffield on the DL, when he insisted he was fine. The Mets now have 13 pitchers to 12 batters on their roster. The insanity continues.

Mets 7, Pirates 3

The winning streak continues. Fears of yet another let down against an inferior club were erased with one swing of the bat by Carlos Delgado, launching a three-run blast that busted this one open in the 8th inning. The odds were not in Carlos' favor. He was facing a lefty with a release point that came from behind his back, a pitcher who lefty opponent batting average was 1-for-a lot this season. It was good to see. Carlos had been strugging with the hip and you were concerned that he was going to go back to second half 07/first half 08 form.

Congrats to Bobby Parnell, who earned his first major league win. Did I already say I like this kid? Who doesn't, the way he throws.

Does Jeff Karstens look like he's related to David Weathers?

I like Nyjer Morgan. OK, there's a little bias there because I picked him up for my fantasy team earlier this season, but looking at him play for the first time, I was impressed.

Great job by Jon Niese. 6 innings, 2 runs, 5 strikeouts, 0 walks- what more can you ask? You wish you could get that kind of outing by Oliver Perez. Give the kid another chance against Atlanta in the dreaded mid-week afternoon home game next week, especially since that was the team in which he had his best outing in his few starts last season.

Can't do anything about that misplayed fly ball between Beltran and Church. What are the odds both guys could not pick up the ball?

JJ, you're up 5 runs, let them hit it.