“She says it's all gonna end and it might as well be my fault”

“She says baby
It's 3 am I must be lonely
When she says baby
Well I can't help but be scared of it all sometimes
Says the rain's gonna wash away I believe it” – Matchbox 20 “3 AM”

Overall Record 37-37

Week 12 record 4-2

Well where the hell do I start on Monday? Here’s what I saw. Jose Reyes led off the first with a walk and got to second on Luis Castillo’s ground out. Reyes then took off for third and was safe by a mile, but the throw from Jeff Mathis made it to left field scoring Reyes. Beltran then homered to right center field to make it a 2-0 lead. Then I went to bed. I wake up to the news that Willie Randolph, Rick Peterson, and Tom Nieto have been fired. Why Tom Nieto? I don’t even know what a first base coach really does but apparently he didn’t do it well. So I assume the Mets lost. Then I watch the highlights. Not only does Beltran hit his second home run of the game (20% of his season total) but the Mets score 4 runs in the 7^th inning for insurance in a 4-3 game, and #48 comes in to an 8-6 game with runners on first and third and strikes out Vlad the Impaler and Torii Hunter. I immediately flip to other stations to make sure this all isn’t a weird dream. Billy Wagner gets the save and the Mets win 2 in a row improving to 5-1 in interleague play. Luckily I have given up trying to figure out this team and organization so I can look at the whole situation and laugh. This is definitely a strange day in Mets history.

“Gangstas get on the field…ladies get on the bus.” – Jerry Manual.  Thus begins the new era for the Mets. For comedy alone I am already a huge Jerry Manual fan. In a weird way I think Jose Reyes did Manual a favor in the first inning. After an infield single, Reyes reached for his hamstring. After a pitch to the next hitter, the trainer and Manual came out to check on Reyes. He apparently felt a twinge and eventually would be fine, but Manual was not taking any chances. He called for Easley to pinch run. Jose Reyes pulled out his best Roger Dorn impression and refused to come off the field. He eventually left throwing his helmet and untucking his shirt before going to the clubhouse. He would later apologize to Manual but the message was sent. Later Manual would tell the media he would “cut” Jose Reyes if he had to. Wow. By the way, Johan was very average this game and his defense did not do him any favors. John Lackey looked dominant and the Mets dropped Tuesday night’s game 6-1.

Maybe Wednesday is the new turning point of the season. The Mets scored 3 times in their first 4 at bats thanks in part to Jose Reyes and a Carlos Delgado solo home run. The good Ollie left in the 4^th for bad Ollie. The Angels scored 4 runs over the next to innings and the score remained 4-3 until the top of the 9^th inning. In comes K-Rod going for his 254^th save of the season. Reyes hit a 1 out single and moved to second on a wild pitch. With 2 outs, David Wright came through with the clutchest of clutch single to left field scoring Reyes. After a scoreless 9^th from Duanar Sanchez Easy E goes yard in the 10^th followed by Billy Wagner’s 2^nd save of the series as the Mets escape Anaheim with a 5-4 win. It feels good to go into a 1^st place team’s park and win a series.

After Thursday’s off day the Mets start a 3 game series at Coors Field vs. the Rockies. Colorado has actually been playing solid baseball of late winning 11 of their last 15 and coming off a sweep of the Indians. After a Jeff Baker 2 run homer in the bottom of the first inning, the Mets stormed back for 5 runs in the 2^nd led by a 2 run home run from Carlos Delgado. The Mets also got consecutive 2 out RBI hits from Jose Reyes, Endy Chavez, and David Wright. John Maine battled for a solid 6 2/3 innings and was bailed out of a 7^th inning jam by Joe Smith. The Mets win their 3^rd straight series opener 7-2.

On Saturday Pedro took the hill and looked sharp through 4 innings. Unfortunately those 4 innings were followed by the 5^th. The inning started with back to back home runs from Garrett Atkins and Brad Hawpe.5 of the next 6 hitters would get hits off Pedro and with the blink of an eye his day was done. Claudio Vargas once again did a nice job in relief, but it was too late for the Mets. Ubaldo Jimenez pitched 8 strong innings in a 7-1 win for the Rockies.

Mike Pelfrey got the ball on Sunday and while he was a bit wild, he managed to throw 5 2/3 scoreless innings for the Mets. Over the past 5 games Pelfrey has pitched to a 2.78 ERA. The Mets got a big break in the 1st inning. With runners on 1^st and 3^rd and 1 out Pelfrey threw a ball 4 wild pitch. As Ramon Castro went after the ball Jeff Baker hesitated at 3^rd and finally decided to try and score. Needless to say he was out by a mile, and the Mets went from bases loaded 1 out at best to 1^st and 2^nd with 2 outs. Pelfrey got out of the inning and settled down from there. On offense, Jose Reyes led off with a triple for the second straight game and would score on David Wright’s infield single. In the 3^rd Carlos Beltran sent a Greg Reynolds pitch sailing into the second deck to give the Mets a 3-0 lead. Duanar Sanchez and Billy Wagner threw scoreless innings again as the Mets won their third straight series by a score of 3-1.

5 Up:

#1 Jerry Manual: For starters he just became the manager of the Mets. His quotes have been out of this world and the team is 3-2 under his regime. Who am I kidding? He got this for the whole “gangstas” quote.

#2 Mike Pelfrey: Big Pelf was 2-0 this week and as I noted earlier has been great in his last 5 starts. Now the bullpen and offense are actually allowing him to get wins. He is actually looking like he could remain in this rotation for more than just this season.

#3 Carlos Beltran: He hit .333 for the week with 3 HR/5 RBI/4 R/2 SB. A good week for fantasy baseball and real baseball. The power numbers have been down for Beltran this year and the Mets really need the home runs from the Carlos’.

#4 Billy Wagner: As terrible as Wagner was last week, he has rebounded to get saves in his last 4 games only allowing 2 base runners over 4 innings. Hopefully the worst is over for Billy Wagner.

#5 Damien Easley: I don’t know his numbers for the week but Easy E came up huge on Wednesday night. Clutch hits = 5 up.

5 Down: Ollie

#1 Willie Randolph: What…to soon?

#2 Marlon Anderson: How does this guy keep getting in the line up? He is hitting .185. I think the pinch hitting magic may be gone from Marlon’s bat.

#3 Pedro Martinez: I know it was one start and really only one inning, but for the first time in a while it is a tough week for 5 down. I am still keeping my fingers crossed we get him for Friday night’s 7 pack game of the year vs. the Yankees.

#4 Johan Santana: He hasn’t had that signature Johan moment this year, but that’s o.k. I really wish he went out and dominated vs. Anaheim on Tuesday but the week worked out well regardless. Here’s keeping my fingers crossed for 2 wins this week against Seattle and the Yankees.

#5 The Wilpon Family: A change needed to be made and leave to the Wilpon’s to screw it up and leave Omar Minaya out to dry. They aren’t quite the Dolan’s, but that only means they might have a soul. As Rick always says “I love this team, but I HATE this organization.

Looking back at Mets history:

June 23, 2003 (off)

June 22, 2003

Current Record 33-40

Overall Record 66-95

Yankees 7 Mets 3 (11 innings)

It is always a pleasure when you can look back at Mets history and a find a game in which John Franco and Armando Benitez both record blown saves.  This pretty sums up the 2003 Mets. The Mets took a one nothing lead off of david Wells in the second thanks to a Cliff Floyd solo blast to lead off the inning. In the top of the 5^th, the Yankees scored their only run off of Tom Glavine on a Bubba Trammel RBI groundout scoring Hideki Matsui. The Mets immediately respond in the bottom half of the frame on a Jose Reyes sacrifice fly scoring Vance Wilson. The run was helped out by an error from Jason Giambi earlier in the inning. The Mets brought in John Franco to start the 7^th. Hideki Matsui immediately turned a Franco delivery into a solo home run tying the game at 2. However, the Mets strike back in the 8th on singles from Roberto Alomar, Ty Wigginton, and a RBI single from Jason Phillips to give the Mets the lead for the 3^rd time today at 3-2. Enter Armando Benitez in the 9^th inning. Here is what transpired.

Jason Giambi: Walk

Raul Mondesi: (after wild pitch) Flies out to RF

Hideki Matsui: Walk

Todd Zeile: Fly Ball to CF (1^st and 3^rd 2 outs)

Ruben Sierra: Walk (bases loaded)

Jorge Posada: Walk

He managed to blow the save without giving up a hit. FOUR WALKS. FOUR $%@#! WALKS!!! Unbelievable. The Yankees would go on to score 4 runs in the 11^th off Graeme Lloyd and Dan Wheeler thanks in part to a key Jose Reyes error and the Mets lose again 7-3. The Mets would go onto lose all 6 games to the Yankees this season.

June 22, 2000

Current Record: 39-31

Overall Record: 94-68

Mets 12 Pirates 2

The Mets explode with 9 runs in the bottom of the 3^rd inning and go on to win a laugher at Shea 12-2 over the visiting Pirates. The Mets got a rare pitching gem in this season from Bobby Jones who went 8 innings giving up only 1 run on 5 hits lowering his ERA on the season to 8.41. The Mets scored a run in the second on a bases load balk from Bronson Arroyo with Bobby Jones at the plate. The Pirates should have known then that it wasn’t their night. The Mets erupted for 9 runs in the 3^rd all charged to Arroyo with the key blows being Mike Piazza’s 3 run home run and Melvin Mora’s 3 run double later in the innings. The Mets went on to sweep the Pirates in the midst of a 7 game winning streak.

June 23, 1986

Current Record:  46-20

Overall Record: 108-54

Expos 5 Mets 4 (10 innings)

The Mets fell behind 4-1 after 3 innings to the 2^nd place Expos. Montreal scored a run in the 1^st and 2^nd innings then scored 2 in the 3^rd on errors by 3^rd baseman Howard Johnson and shortstop Kevin Mitchell. In the bottom of the 5^th inning the Mets came back to tie the game. Johnson atoned for his error with a solo home run to lead off the inning and the Mets cored twice more on a Wally Backman RBI single and a run scoring wild pitch from Expos starter Floyd Youmans. The Mets loaded the bases off Youmans in the 6^th inning but Danny Heap could not come up with the big 2 out hit stranding 3 runners in the inning. The score remained 4-4 until the 10^th when Andres Galarraga hit a 2 out RBI single to left field off Jesse Orosco scoring Herm Winningham. Dykstra, Backman, and Hernandez went 1-2-3 in the 10^th and the Expos held on for the 5-4 victory.

June 23, 1969 (off)

June 24 1969

Current Record: 38-28

Overall Record: 100-62

Mets 2 Phillies 1

Tom Seaver pitches a complete game gem only allowing a solo home run in the 5^th to Larry Hisle in the 5^th inning and striking out seven Phillies along the way. The Mets got their only offense in third inning off Woodie Fryman who pitched a complete game of his own. Bud Harrelson triple home Al Wies and eventually scored on a Tommie Agee single to center field. Seaver retired 8 out of the last 9 batters he faced including a 1-2-3 9^th inning for the win.

Mets 5 Phillies 0 (game 2)

Jim McAndrew picks up his 1^st win of the season in style. He tossed eight scoreless innings yielding only 2 hits along the way. The bulk of the Mets offense came in the 4^th inning. The Mets scored 4 runs on 4 hits and a key error from shortstop Tommy Harmon. Tommie Agee led the way with 3 hits 2 runs and a run batted in. The Mets sweep of the double header came 2 days after a double header sweep of the Cardinals. Their record in double headers to date went to 7-3.

June 23, 1962

Current Record: 19-48

Overall Record: 40-120

Mets 13 Colts 2

The Mets win the rubber match of a 3 game series with Houston in convincing fashion by for their first series win in their last 5 tries. The Mets big inning came in the third. Already winning 2-1, the Mets put up 6 runs on the strength of 3 extra base hits including a RBI double from catcher Sammy Taylor, a RBI triple from first baseman Marv Throneberry and a 2 run homer off the bat of Richie Ashburn. Jay Hook went the distance for the Mets as they moved to 29 games under .500 for the year.