Overall Record 19-16

Week 6 record 3-3

The Mets continued their 6 game road trip with a series against the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Mets just never got going on this night. Oliver Perez up to his old antics gave up a lead off homerun to Rafael “DUI” Furcal. Later in the inning everyone’s favorite Jeff Kent ripped a line drive of the stomach of Perez. He recovered to throw him out and “toughed it out” (take that Billy Wagner) to stay in the game. Good thing he did. If not, who else would have given up 5 runs on 3 homers in 6 innings. The turning point of the game in my mind came in the top of the 2^nd inning. Down 2-0 and with 1 out and Beltran on first Delgado laced a double in to the right field corner. It appeared that Beltran would have a very could chance of scoring but Sandy Alomar held him up at 3^rd. Brian Schneider and Luis Castillo were unable to push a run home against Dodgers Starter Chad Billingsly and the Mets offense never got going from there. Final score Dodgers 5 Mets 1.

Tuesday was a night of missed opportunities. The Mets were peppering the ball all over Chavez Ravine in the first four innings. Ryan Church hit a solo home run in the first inning to give the Mets an early advantage. In the second, Pagan, Schneider and Castillo hit consecutive singles to give the Mets a 2-0 lead. Nelson Figueroa attempted to sacrifice the runners over but dropped the bunt to close to pitcher Hiroki Kuroda. Kuroda however nearly threw the ball out of the reach of 3^rd baseman Blake DeWitt and everyone was safe. Jose Reyes came up and ripped a single to give the Mets a 3-0 lead with no outs and the bases loaded. Ryan Church came up with the opportunity to blow the game wide open, and honestly, I think if the Mets could chose anyone at this point to hit in this situation it would be Church. However Church tapped a check swing ground ball back to Kuroda who started a 1-2-3 double play. David Wright struck out and even though the Mets scored 2 runs, I did not have a good feeling. After the Dodgers got a run back in the 2^nd on a Juan Pierre RBI single, the Mets fired back in the 3^rd. After Moises Alou reached on a Blake DeWitt error, Carlos Delgado singled to center. Alou seemed uncertain about trying to take third but turned on the jets and made it with a head first slide. It was ugly. Then the unthinkable happened. After Pagan hit into a fielder’s choice leaving Alou at 3^rd, Pagan tries to steal second. As soon as Martin throws down Alou takes off for home. Chin-Lung Hu, impressively with 2 body parts in his name, triple clutched before firing home. The throw was not in time as Alou slid head first under the Martin tag. The 41 year old Moises Alou stole home. The lesson as always…pee on your hands. Spirits were up, but after a 2 out walk to Figgy of all people to load the bases, Jose Ryes left them full on a ground out to short. The Mets had 4 runs but already had stranded 6 runners in 3 innings. Sure enough the Dodgers scored 2 in the 3^rd and 2 in the 5^th on a Blake Dewitt 2 run inside the park home run of all things to take a 5-4 lead. The Dodgers bullpen would go on to pitch 5 2/3 scoreless innings and strike out 11 Mets including Luis Castillo looking with the go ahead runs on base in the 9^th for the victory. I am just thankful this game was played in Pacific Time zone and I went to bed after the third.

Wednesday was a getaway afternoon game and the Mets left with a pleasant taste in their mouths. Not much to say here other than total domination in the Mets 12-1 victory to give them a 3-3 west coast trip. The Mets scored 4 in the 1st and 6 in the 5^th on the way to victory. However, even with all of the runs the star of the game was John Maine who took a shutout into the 9^th before running out of gas. Duanar Sanchez recorded the final two outs to finish off his former team. Maine was one of 4 Mets with 2 RBI’s and 4 others knocked in a run. The win almost made you forget about the first two games of the series…almost. The Mets have the next 7 at home against the Reds and Nationals and anything less than 5-2 will be a disappointment.

Saturday: After rain washed away Friday night’s game, the Mets would play a day/night double header on Saturday. I was frightened by the prospect that Santana would start the night game ruining my first Johan live experience, but luckily I was spared Big Pelf. 6 of us attended the Saturday matinee including Karen, Downer (co-worker and that is his actual last name), Jeff (friend who works at Marquette...1^st game at Shea), his friend Anthony, and Jordan…also his first game at Shea. Johan didn’t have his A-game but he was effective enough with the Mets bats. Thank you Matt Belisle who continued to be Matt Belisle today, unlike Bronson Arroyo later that night. Lots of offense provided by the Mets and we were treated to back to back appearances from the apple thanks to Carlos Delgado and Brian Schneider. Speaking of Carlos’, welcome back Mr. Beltran. I somehow excluded him from my bottom 5 last week and had him slotted for the #1 spot heading into Saturday. Beltran had a double, triple and 5 RBI’s Saturday afternoon to lead the Mets to a 12-6 laugher at Shea. The nightcap wasn’t so kind to the Mets. I should have seen this coming as I just dropped Bronson Arroyo off my fantasy team earlier this week, mainly because he sucks. For one night only we had shades of Arroyo 2006 and of course it comes against the Mets. Big Pelf actually held his own for 6 innings yielding only 2 runs to the Reds (better than Johan this afternoon). The Mets bullpen continued to be the Mets bullpen…especially in the 7^th/8th innings. I saw a stat this week that the Mets have given up more runs in those innings than any other team in baseball this year. Aren’t stats fun? After a scoreless inning by Aaron Heilman…yes…you read that correctly…Duanar Sanchez continued to struggle in the 8^th. 4 of the first 5 hitters he faced singled and before you know it the Mets are now down 4-1. In the 9^th, Billy Wagner came in for some work and gave up 3 unearned runs thanks to consecutive errors by David Wright and Carlos Delgado. The Mets would not score again so the runs were meaningless, but the Mets continue to look for a bridge to Wagner in the 7-1 loss.

Sunday: Looking to take the series from the Reds, the Mets sent good Ollie to the mound for 5 innings, and relieved him with bad Ollie in the 6^th. The Mets lit up rookie flame thrower Johnny Cueto early on. Jose Reyes led off with a hard single and was immediately brought home by Castillo who ripped a triple to right center field that narrowly eluded the gloves of Ken Griffey Jr. and Ryan Freel. Castillo was knocked in on a double from Carlos Beltran and Moises Alou would add a double of his own to give the Mets a 3-0 lead. Ollie was locked in through 5. How locked in? He walked and stole a base in the 2nd and got a bunt base hit in the 4^th. I can’t make this stuff up. In the 5^th, Carlos Beltran and Ryan Church hit back to back BOMBS with the wind blowing in to give the Mets a 6-0 advantage. After Bad Ollie gave up 3 in the 6^th, the Mets came right back with 2 runs in the 6^th all with 2 outs. Big Show, Smith, and Feliciano combined for 3 scoreless innings for an 8-3 series clinching win for the Mets.

One more note from this game – The Reds batted out of order in the9th inning. How does that happen? In the box score it will go down as Corey Patterson groundout to catcher unassisted. However, Patterson never even saw a pitch. The Mets might have been able to get 2 outs if Willie had waited until Patterson hit out of order afterwards, but we can’t be sure as the umpires struggled enough coming to the first decision. This is a team I remind you that Rick picked the over for this year.

5 Up:

#1 Ryan Church: Can you tell I am developing a man-crush on this guy? In the 6games this week he hit .333 with 3 HR, 4 RBI and 5 R. It is almost surprising when he doesn’t come through in a big spot. Just another ho hum week out of Church.

#2 Carlos Beltran: His batting average is still under .240 but this week he hit .381 with 1 HR, 8 RBI, and 5 R. The 8 RBI were all this weekend vs. Cincinnati. Suddenly the Mets have RBI guys in the middle of the order with Beltran and Church hitting 4/5.

#3 John Maine: He pitched 8 1/3 innings on Wednesday in Los Angeles in a game the Mets really needed. Maine is now 3-1 in games after a Mets loss. Santana/Maine could be a dominant 1-2 punch for the next 7 years…I’ll try to stop getting ahead of myself now.

#4 Carlos Delgado: With a single late in yesterday’s game, Delgado extended his hitting streak to 9 games. Being able to let him hit 7^th makes a huge difference in this lineup. This is all of course courtesy of Ryan Church. Delgado hit .368 this week, and while the power totals aren’t back yet, production in general is huge for the Mets.

#5 Scott Schoeneweis: That’s right, the Big Show is cracking my top 5, and I even looked up how to spell his name correctly. Show’s ERA this year is 1.50 and he has not allowed a run in 14 of 16 appearances. I am not saying I trust him any further than I can throw him, but praise is definitely deserved considering how the bullpen has pitched this year.

5 Down:

#1 David Wright: Yes, you are reading this correctly. The Golden Boy is #1 in 5 down this week. Wright did end up with 5 RBI this week, but he only hit .208 and just doesn’t look like himself. He is trying to pull everything and pitchers just keep working him away.  28 strikeouts and 27 walks is not what I expect to see in David’s numbers. The only reason this hasn’t been a big story is because of Alou’s return to the lineup and Beltran, Church, and Delgado’s hot bats. He carried the offense in April so I should ease up, but it is more looking at his swing that earns him the #1 spot.

#2 Duanar Sanchez: Entering a 2-1 deficit in the 8th inning Saturday night, Sanchez got peppered around Shea and you knew the Mets weren’t getting 3 runs to come back. Last week I had him in 5 down and wrote that it wasn’t an angry spot. It still isn’t out of anger, but there is some frustration. Can anyone pitch the 8^th inning for this team?

#3 Luis Castillo: Guess whose leg is bothering him again? While Luis isn’t ripping the cover off the ball, he is getting on base much more hitting 2^nd. I don’t know if Willie will hit Easley second in the order if Castillo can’t go, but the Mets were finally starting to get stability in the lineup…and now this. These legs like the rest of Castillo are only in year 1 of the 4 year deal.

#4 Oliver Perez: While Good Ollie made an appearance yesterday, Perez got roughed up again last Monday and after the Mets gave him a 6-0 lead yesterday he immediately gave 3 runs back in the next inning. Even though the Mets only went 3-3 this week, it has been tough to find 5 down.

#5 Florida Marlins opponents: Why can’t anyone beat this team? We took 2 of 3 from them to open the season and the game we lost was Pedro’s batting practice tosses before getting hurt. Will somebody beat them to knock them out of first place?! I can’t look at it anymore.

BONUS 5 UP/5 DOWN!!!

With the early production out of Ryan Church, I decided to give a separate 5 up/5 down to Omar Minaya’s trades in his tenure with the Mets. Feel free to debate in the comments section.

5 UP

#1 Carlos Gomez, Philip Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Delios Guerra to Minnesota Twins for Johan Santana.

#2 Kris Benson to Baltimore Orioles for John Maine and Jorge Julio

#3 Lastings Milledge to Washington Nationals for Ryan Church and Brian Schneider

#4 Xavier Nady to Pittsburgh Pirates for Roberto Hernandez and Oliver Perez

#5 Jae Seo to Los Angeles Dodgers for Duanar Sanchez

5 DOWN

#1 Brian Bannister to Kansas City Royals for Ambiorix Burgos

#2 Heath Bell and Royce Ring to San Diego Padres for Ben Johnson and Jon Adkins

#3 Matt Lindstrom and Henry Owens to Florida Marlins for Jason Vargas and Adam Bostick

#4 Kaz Matsui to Colorado for Eli Marrero

#5 Ian Bladegroen to Boston Red Sox for Doug Mientkiewicz.

Looking back at Mets history:

May 12 2003

Current Record 13-18

Overall Record 66-95

Mets 9 Rockies 6

The Mets win the opening game of a 3 game set and their 3^rd straight overall in a 9-6 win over the Rockies. Steve-O Trachsel gave his typical 6 inning 4 run performance and Armando Benitez picked up his 12^th save of the year. The big damage for the Mets came in the 5^th and 7^th innings where they put up 4 spots on the scoreboard. In the 5^th inning, the Mets took advantage of the long ball. Roberto Alomar hit a one out solo shot and later in the inning Cliff Floyd hit a 3 run homer off Rockies starter Jason Young (his 6^th of the year) to give the Mets a 5-3 lead. Up 5-4 in the 7^th inning, Ty Wigginton would give the Mets the insurance they needed with a bases loaded triple off Justin Spier. Super Joe McEwing would single him home for the Mets 9^th run of the game. The offensive star for the Rockies was Preston Wilson who went 3-5 with a home run and 2 RBI. The Mets would go on to lose their next 4 games.

May 12, 2000

Current Record: 17-14

Overall Record: 94-68

Marlins 6 Mets 4

After a 5-8 road trip, the Mets come home and drop the opener of a three game set with the Marlins. Glendon Rusch imploded in the 5^th inning giving up a 3 run home run to Preston Wilson (he kills the Mets on 5/12) and a solo shot to Derek Lee to put the Mets in a 6-0 hole. The Mets would fire back in the bottom half of the 5^th inning. After Derek Bell doubled home Rickey Henderson, Mike Piazza stepped up and rocked a 2 run homer which was followed by a Robin Ventura solo home run to cut the lead to 6-4. The Met bats were quieted from there on strong efforts from Armando Almanza, Braden Looper and Antonio Alfonseca who picked up his 12^th save of the season.

May 12, 1986

Current Record: 21-5

Overall Record: 108-54

Mets 1 Braves 0

Sid Fernandez was downright dominant against the Braves but he would walk off ht mound with a no decision as the only run scored in the game cam in the 9^th inning. El Sid pitched 7 brilliant innings allowing only 4 hits, 1 walk and striking out 10. Fernandez gave way to Roger McDowell in the 8^th who pitched 2 scoreless innings of his own however making it interesting with 3 walk in the appearance. Braves starter Rick Mahler worked in and out of trouble for 6 1/3 innings allowing 10 base runners along the way. The Mets loaded the bases on Mahler in the 7^th but Paul Assenmacher (holy name game Batman!) induced a fielder’s choice from Kevin Mitchell before striking out Howard Johnson to end the threat. Assenmacher had no such luck in the bottom of the ninth inning. Ray Knight led off the inning with a double and Tim Teuful ended it quickly with a walk off single. 21-5…must be nice.

May 12, 1969 (off)

May 13, 1969

Current Record: 14-17

Overall Record: 100-62

Braves 4 Mets 3

The Mets attempt a 4-0 comeback at home vs. Atlanta but fall just short in the 9^th inning. The Mets fell behind 1-0 in the first inning when Ron Reed served up one of Hank Aaron’s 755 career home runs. In the 4^th, Reed fell victim to the gopher ball again this time giving up a lead off home run to Orlando Cepeda and then a two run blast to catcher Bob Tillman. The Mets would cut the lead in half in the 6^th. After Gentry helped his own cause with a lead off single, it was Tommy Agee’s turn to play long ball. The home run was the 7^th of the year for Agee and cut the Braves lead in half where it would stay until the 9^th inning. With Cecil Upshaw looking for his 8^th save, Ken Boswell would leadoff with a walk. After fly outs by Cleon Jones and Ed Kranepool, J.C. Martin singled up the middle to keep the Mets alive. Pinch hitting for Amos Otis, Art Shansky followed it up with a single of his own scoring Boswell and advancing pinch runner Al Weis to third. With the tying run 90 feet away, Bud Harrelson was unable to complete the comeback as he grounded out to third. The loss left the Mets three games under .500 and 7 games back of the division leading Chicago Cubs.

May 12, 1962

Current Record: 7-17

Overall Record: 40-120

Mets 3 Braves 2 (game 1)

May 12^th 1962 provided a bit of history for the expansion Mets, and it started with the first game of a double header where the Mets franchise got their first walk off win. The Milwaukee Braves jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the 2nd inning when catcher Del Crandell homered off Mets starter Roger Craig. Braves starter Warren Spahn helped his cause in the 5^th inning with a two out RBI single scoring 2nd baseman Frank Bolling. The Mets finally cracked Spahn in 6^th when Frank Thomas doubled home shortstop Elio Chacon to cut the deficit to 2-1. The score would remain unchanged until the bottom of the 9^th inning. With Spahn gunning for the complete game, Gil Hodges led off with an infield single. After pinch hitters Cliff Cook and Gus Bell were retired, the Mets turned to backup catcher Hobie Landrith for some magic. Landrith came through with a 2 out 2 run walk off home run and the Mets take game one of the double header 3-2.

Mets 8 Braves 7 (game 2)

That walk off feeling felt so good in game one, the Mets thought they might run their luck with late inning heroics for the nightcap. The Mets however would take the lead early in this contest with runs in the first and second innings courtesy of a Jim Hickman leadoff home run and an Elio Chacon RBI single in the 2^nd. Hank Aaron cut the lead in half with a sacrifice fly in the 4^th, but the Mets answered right back in the bottom half on a 2 run double by Felix Matilla. Down 4-1 heading into the 5^th, the Braves would take the lead on consecutive hits by Tommie Aaron, Mack Jones, and a go ahead two run blast off the bat of Hank Aaron. The team would trade runs over the next few innings with the Mets tying the game at 7-7 on Elio Chacon’s 2^nd RBI of the day. With one out in the bottom of the 9^th and Hank Fischer on the mound the Mets would sweep the double header with one swing of the bat by Gil Hodges The home run was the 3^rd of the season for Hodges, and the Mets would get their first two walk off home runs in franchise history. Craig Anderson would record the win for both games pitching in relief and it was the first time the Mets ever swept a double header. May 12, 1962 would account for 5% of the Mets win total in their inaugural year.