Big Series at Shea

The Mets did it again last night, they impressed the heck outta me. Everybody's doin' sumthin' - Reyes, Beltran, Wright, Delgado, but also guys like Duaner Sanchez, Ramon Castro and still another Reyes named Argenis. They came back and then held on to beat the Reds 7-5 and everybody played a part. What a nice way to come to Shea....against the team sharing the top spot with them in the NL East!

Even though Mike Pelfrey, after about a month of superior pitching, finally came back to earth, the Mets just did what needed being done to keep themselves in the game and then put some pressure on their opponents. Duaner Sanchez was my favorite last night, although Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgado made good cases for MVP’s of the game.

Big Series at Shea ! When was the last time we felt that? I mean, actually feeling GOOD about it? Johan Santana is just 8-7 this year, but you have to feel pretty confident with his matchup against the Phils newly-acquired Joe Blanton.

Then it’s John Maine against Brett Myers, and neither of them are lighting it up statistically, but I’d rather have Maine. On Thursday, it’ll be brain against brawn as the surprising old Jamie Moyer matches pitches with the brilliant but erratic Oliver Perez.

So, the Mets starting pitching will be good, the relievers have been pretty steady, all things considered, and, for once, the lineup seems pretty formidable too. For power, we have Wright, Delgado and Beltran. And a bunch of pains in the neck, led by the biggest pain of them all, Jose Reyes.

Reyes has now scored 71 runs, is batting .300 and even has 10 homers and 43 rbi’s. If triples mean anything to you, he is the all-time Met master of the triple. He’s stolen 33 bases. Yeah, Jose can be a HUGE thorn in any opponent’s side, and did I mention he’s a pretty flashy shortstop too?

Yes, the Phils have a big job ahead of them. Not that they don’t have some formidable weapons themselves, guys like Utley and Howard and Rollins, Werth and Jenkins. But are they jelling like the Mets are right now? That would be a decided NO.

I almost hate to say it. The managerial change energized these Mets. Big-time. Even though they would seem to be missing a couple of pieces. Like a couple of outfielders. But the fill-ins have been pretty amazing.

Damian Easley at second base has been steady Eddie, Fernando Tatis provides another pretty serious power threat when he’s swinging the bat well, and Marlon Anderson seems to finally be coming back to the land of the living. This new Reyes is another guy they plug in at second, in the field and in the lineup too, and he just keeps delivering.

Jerry Manuel has been a lifesaver, seemingly providing EXACTLY what these guys needed to perform as a team. You can feel the confidence boost as a palpable thing. Same guys, different level. When the game is on the line, they get tough.

One surprising statistic from Sunday’s game is the 32 men the Mets left on base. The Reds left 5 men on, yet the Mets were able to pull it out. This is a game the Mets could surely have lost in the old days. The old Mets wouldn’t have been able to overcome that much adversity.

Of course, you have to play the games. It’s great to count chickens but you have to keep performing. But you get the feeling that this team will keep it up. They’re having fun. They’re winning. Even when they aren’t at their best.

Against the Reds, it was like a game of who’ll blink first. And yesterday, after a couple of big strikeouts and Met plays in the field, it was the Reds who would bat their eyes. It was an error in the field that propelled the Mets to the victory, Edwin Encarnacion’s bad throw to second short-circuiting a potential double-play while scoring a run for the Mets.

Baseball is a funny game, a game of fine nuances that most people miss, if it weren’t for some fine analysis by guys like Keith Hernandez. There’re quite a few decisions being made on every pitch. It’s the combination of all the variables that produce the result. In the case of the Mets, those results have been very good, so they’re combining those variables really well.

It’s not just Jerry Manuel either. It’s that new pitching coach Warthen, who seems to be helping Oliver Perez especially, and it’s Omar Minaya, who’s juggling these guys in and out, Argenis Reyes and Nick Evans especially as of late.

What are some things to worry about? (I wouldn’t be a Mets fan if I didn’t worry about SOMETHING).

I worry that Santana will serve up some home run balls to those Phillies bangers, not just Howard and Utley, but Rollins and Jenkins and Werth too. And then there’s Met-killer Pat Burrell.

I worry about the Mets coming home to Shea, despite the fact that they’re 28-18 at home. I’m hoping the fans can keep their cool through any rough spots. This team doesn’t need to have any reservations about themselves. This is a team that rolls when it’s feeling it, and a bunch of booing never helps anybody “feel it”.

I worry about the Marlins too. They’re 7-3 in their last ten games and they’ve got some fearsome hitters, all young and feisty. And they just beat the Phils 2 outta 3. They have their own pains in the neck, no one bigger than a guy who has scored even more runs than Reyes, a guy named Hanley Ramirez.

And I worry that, should the Mets NOT win the NL East, they’ll have a little trouble making the playoffs. Both the Cards and Brewers in the NL Central have better records than the Mets. They may not catch the Cubs but they’ll be serious contenders for the wildcard.