Feast or Famine

This is what you get with Bobby Parnell. Lately, it's been a lot of famine, but here now are a couple of scoreless outings sprinkled in. He's been more up and down than Oliver Perez in his heyday.

Brian Stokes put up a crooked number for the third time in the last four outings. Crooked numbers are good for batters, not pitchers. Give a Mets pitcher the eighth inning and he wilts under the pressure. Elmer Dessens, anyone? In defense of Stokes, this outing was not completely his fault despite giving up two. Angel Pagan continues to prove he is not deserving of a starting position in the major leagues by not calling a popup that Jeff Francoeur and Luis Castillo were waiting for him to catch. There's more to a player than the numbers. Perfect example.

Watching Alex Cora talking to Mike Pelfrey in the dugout continues to show why the Mets have to bring this guy back. Intangibles. Alex needs to spend more time with Angel.

How can we forget about the player of the game, Cory Sullivan? A homerun to start the scoring, a beautiful catch in left, an intentional walk (forget for a moment Omir Santos was following him in the lineup), and another single in the inning that broke the game open.

8th Inning Help Wanted

OK, maybe that's not fair to Brian Stokes, who has been very consistent all season and really has had only a couple of stinkers, today included. However, you have to think Elmer Dessens (Elmer Dessens!) is knocking on the door to take over the 8th when the Mets have a lead. After all, he probably has been in more high-leverage situations, being the closer in Buffalo. Eh, the Bison's record stinks, maybe there were not that many high-pressure situations for him.

How about Pat Misch? Seven innings of one-run ball. Ollie, so far we don't miss you. It could be a while if we ever do.

I thought the Mets were coming back for sure in the 9th when Omir Santos led off with a walk. If Santos is walking, you know things are going your way. Unfortunately, Carlos Marmol, Chicago's Wild Thing, found the strike zone and quickly dispatched the Mets after that.

A Winning Streak

Oh, and there was a baseball game last night. After the soap opera that was the afternoon, it was good to just watch a game for a change. Good for the Mets that they did it in dramatic fashion.

Fernando Tatis came up with the bases loaded and one out in a tie game in the 8th, double play city. But the Rockies forgot that Tatis was also Mr. GrandSlam. He hit his eight career slam, and it was on an 0-2 pitch.

The bullpen was solid. Four shutout innings, two by Brian Stokes and one each by Pedro Feliciano (who faced righties, and got them out!) and K-Rod (who threw only 11 pitches!) shut the door.

The ball was flying out of the big ballpark today. We have not really had many of those nasty, humid days in the city. Maybe some power numbers creep back up as the dog days descend upon us and 2/3 of the next month is played at Citi.

In one second the Mets have three runs in a game, the next they have seven. I'm still amazed. Word of warning: my 1-5 record this season is in play tonight as the Mets go for four straight. And the dreaded weekday afternoon game, which the Mets are winless when I attend the last couple of seasons? That's scheduled for this Thursday.

5-5 Trip

If you were told the Mets would go 5-5 on the long road trip just completed, you would take it. It was against three of the best home teams.

Omir Santos shocked everyone with a go-ahead two-run homerun in the 9th inning off Jonathan Papelbon on Saturday. After issuing a leadoff walk, Papelbon had struck out David Wright and Jeremy Reed. It was over. He was blowing everyone away. Santos saw that he was throwing nothing but dead-red, looked for it and nailed it.

J.J. Putz can thank his defense for his second save of the season. Every ball was hit hard. We need a few outings of dominant J.J. before we can restore our faith in him.

Ramon Martinez had the game of his life defensively. He still has no arm and needs to replaced at shortstop ASAP.

Mike Pelfrey settled down and was on cruise control after a rough first inning. No case of the yips in this one.

Papelbon blows his first save of the season, and over in the Bronx, Brad Lidge blows one for the Phillies. The Mets and Yankees really helped each other out on Saturday. However, there was still a part of me that was disgusted the Yanks came back with a dramatic 9th inning victory. I can't help it, no matter what the standings say. It's May, for crying out loud. I know, I know, but what if we lose by a game in the standings...

Sunday was a different story. Tim Redding looked like the Steve Trachsel he initially reminded me of in that first inning in L.A. Failing to get the final out in the 5th, he handed the ball to Sean Green, who in one pitch managed to blow a Met lead.

Brian Stokes has come back to earth. 1.1 innings, 6 hits and 5 runs. Yikes. Hey, the ERA is still a respectable 2.89.

Ramon Castro hit a pop up to left field that was a homerun. Only in Fenway park.

David Ortiz is on the interstate with a .195 batting average. Amazing. OK, now it's time for Big Papi to heat up.

Braves 8, Mets 3

Johan Santana was brilliant again tonight. He got the loss. The boxscore says he gave up seven hits, but really, how many "hits" did he give up? The defense let him down. You had a feeling David Wright was going to bounce that throw in the first inning; it felt like he had to make that throw from the outfield when he fielded that one.

For all the questions of why Jerry Manual left Pedro Feliciano in to face lefty killer Matt Diaz, we know that it should not have ever come to that matchup had it not been for the Jose Reyes boot. That being said, do you want a Feliciano vs Diaz (who had been struggling vs anyone this season) matchup or a Stokes vs lefty pinch hitter, like Greg Norton. I'll take the former- Pedro's your guy in that spot, he's gotta get the job done. You could say you wanted to see Parnell pitch the whole inning, but what's Pedro's role in the bullpen if he does not come in to face their best hitter in the 7th, a lefty in a big spot?

Stokes and Takahashi were bound to give up a run at some point.

Derek Lowe looked good, but remember, he wanted four years. Give that contract some time.

NHL playoffs:
-When you watch two teams you despise, the best thing in that situation is to watch the visiting team win a couple of games in a row in overtime. Nothing like seeing the fans stunned. I really hate Pittsburgh, I'm kind of rooting for the lesser of two evils, the Caps, in game 7. But go Boston or Carolina in the next round.
-Roberto Luongo gave up 7 goals. Wow. Bye bye Vancouver. Still don't like you since '94.