Overall Record 44-44

Week 14 record 4-3

Well the next eight games should tell us a lot about this team. It should, but who the hell knows with this team day in and day out. Regardless they play back to back 4 game series on the road with the wild card leading Cardinals and NL East leading Phillies. The ever inconsistent John Maine starts for the Mets tonight vs. Kyle “I have the worst agent ever” Loshe. Loshe who has revived (actually it was never alive…I guess I should say vived) his career with the Cards was stellar again against the Mets holding them to an unearned run over 7 innings. Not that it really mattered as John Maine showed up to the park with nothing and lasted all of 4 innings giving up 5 runs (3 earned). He was helped out by a pictured perfect 5 hole error by Luis Castillo in the 2^nd. The Mets defense made 3 errors in total making this game completely unwatchable by the third inning. The Mets fade out of June with an ugly 7-1 loss at St. Louis. They head into a new month of Mets baseball with their second straight month of 13-15 baseball.

As bad as June ended, July started out with a bang. It didn’t look promising at first as newly recalled pitcher Tony Armas Jr. struggled early in his Mets debut. In the bottom of the first Rick Ankiel crushed a 2 run home run to right field for an early 2-0 lead. The Mets scored a run in the second led by whom else but Ryan Church with a single, a Carlos Delgado double and an RBI groundout from Damien Easley. The Cards struck right back in the second with a Sip Schumaker RBI double. Then the Mets bats really came alive. They started peppering balls all over off overachieving starter Todd Wellemeyer. The Mets offense was led by Ramon Castro who tied the game in the 4^th with a 2 run double and knocked in a run in the 5^th pushing the Mets lead to 6-3. Tony Armas settled down to throw a respectable 6 innings of 4 run ball. David Wright crushed a solo home run to left center for the Mets final run in a 7-4 victory in game two of the series. One scary moment came in the 8th when Duanar Sanchez took a line drive off his leg which ricocheted over to David Wright for the final out. Sanchez was down for some time before finally waling off the field. The moral of the story, I still wish bad things on Yadier Molina.

Wednesday Night provided another 2008 heart breaker courtesy of your New York Mets. The impressive thing that made you think maybe the Mets were taking this one was their ability to keep coming back. Pedro Martinez puts them in a 4-0 first inning hole and we are thinking game over. Yet the Mets score 3 in the third on RBI’s from Beltran and Easley. They get a break in the 4^th and Reyes ties the game in the 4^th. Pedro give up the lead again and the Mets come back to score 3 more times in the 7^th as Easley and Tatis come up with big hits. My eyes must be deceiving me. However, as always timing has not been good for the Mets this season. The bullpen was finally on a roll and then they go out and blow this game thanks to Pedro Feliciano and 9^th inning man Carlos Muniz. Yeah…Muniz in the 9^th…not good. Endy Chavez almost made another home run saving catch vs. the Cardinals which would have prompted a fan to snap and shoot Endy where he stands. Maybe it’s better he didn’t catch that ball as the Mets drop a brutal 8-7 game to the Cards.

Needing a win to split the series the Mets send out their number 2 guy to the hill on Thursday. No not Maine…not Pedro…not Perez…yes I am talking about Mike Pelfrey. The prospect is finally starting to live up to his potential. Granted, the Mets come out and spot him 9 runs in 3 innings, but Pelfrey goes 7 strong allowing only 1 run and striking out 6. He was even in the middle of the 6run 3^rd with a 3 out RBI single that was followed by a bases loaded triple from Jose Reyes. Big Pelf can do no wrong. Mets fans get the rare chance to sit back and enjoy a game as they tae care of business 11-1. They go 2-2 vs. the Yankees, 2-2 vs. the Cardinals and now open a four game set with the Phillies. Win 3 out of 4 here and I just might get suckered into believing in this team again.

Friday Night: Are you kidding me??!! Happy July 4^th Mets fans. The Mets bats go limp against the dominance J.A. Happ and Chad Durbin. Santana gets yanked after 8 innings and 95 pitches. I can’t write about this. It’s too soon.

Here come the Mets bouncing back again. At least they are resilient. John Maine’s right arm was fine; however he had to leave the game with a cramp in his left arm. Humina what? That’s a new twist. The Mets trailed 4-3 heading into the 8^th inning. The Mets scored 3 in the 8th highlighted by a huge pinch hit 2 run double by Brian Schneider and get this…they get 3 insurance runs in the 9^th inning. Who is this team? The 9-4 win gets them back to .500 for the week and an opportunity for 4-3 for the week.

Good Ollie makes an appearance for the 2^nd straight start. He dominates left handed hitting lineups. The Yankees and Phillies are prime example of this. Ollie hangs on to a 1-0 lead through 7 strong innings. The bullpen gets shay in the 8^th before the rain came. Almost 3 hours later (why can’t they just cancel the game for once??!!) #48 comes out and gets out of the inning. Beltran hits a huge 2 out single in the 9^th for yet ANOTHER insurance run and here comes our lone all star to shut the door. Somebody forgot to tell Jason Werth this. 2-2…and we go to extra. I admit, I gave the Mets no chance to win this, but extra inning stud Fernando Tatis hits a 2 run home run to left center field in the 12^th, and Joe Smith completes a 2 1/3 scoreless inning appearance for the Mets win. I would feel much better about a 2-0 win, but the Mets fought hard this week. Throw out Monday night and they played 6 pretty good days of baseball on the road against 2 playoff contenders. Here is the challenge to the Mets. WIN TONIGHT. Win tonight and Mike Rupp will be a believer again. If not, I’ll just go back to being an innocent bystander to this 2008 season

5 Up:

#1 Mike Pelfrey: My hat is off to Big Pelf. I am a fan. 4-0 with a 3.05 ERA over his last 7 starts. The Mets are 6-1 in those games. Meanwhile Johan Santana has a 248 ERA over his last 6 starts and he is 0-4 and the team is 0-6. Go figure.

#2 Good Ollie: He gets the #2 spot for the second straight week, for having his second clutch start vs. a Mets rival in 2 weeks. In honor of Ollie’s consistency, he retains the #2 spot on 5 up.

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#3 Mets Catchers: Ramon Castro provided the pop for Tony Armas on Tuesday and Brian Schneider came up with a huge double on Saturday. You can credit them as the most important players in those 2 games. When is the last time we got that from the catcher position? Unfortunately for Schneider if Castro is Shrek, that makes Brian Schneider “Donkey.”

#4 Jose Reyes: He hit .303 with 2 2B, 2 3B, 3 SB, 4R and 4 RBI. It was a solid all around week for Reyes in which he played very mature defense.

#5 Fernando Tatis: TA-TIS!! Clap Clap Clap! TA-TIS!! Clap Clap Clap!

5 Down:

#1 Pedro Martinez: He better turn it around or Mets fans are going to be calling for Claudio Vargas.

#2 John Maine: No more excuses Johnny. Pitch like you should or go on the DL. He has been lousy for a month now.

#3 All-Star Billy Wagner: My father is agreeing with Beningo and Roberts that you are worse than Benitez. If that’s not a wake up call…

#4 Jerry Manuel: Carlos Muniz in the 9^th inning of a one run game. Taking out Santana after 96 pitches vs. the Phillies. I feel a new game show coming on…What is Jerry Thinking?!

#5 Carlos Muniz: ½ innings 3 runs and a loss. Something tells me he is going to add to those frequent flier miles between NYC and New Orleans very soon.

Looking back at Mets history:

July 4, 2003

Current Record 37-47

Overall Record 66-95

Mets 7 Reds 2

The Mets celebrated Independence Day at the Great American Ballpark with a 7-2 victory over the Reds. Tom Glavine pitched a gem going 7 innings allowing only a solo home run to Jose Guillen in the victory. The Mets took a 2-1 lead into the 7^th inning courtesy of RBI’s from Cliff Floyd and Vance Wilson. Raul Gonzalez pinch hit to drive in Super Joe McEwing with a single and later in the inning Reds fans were treated with an early dose of fireworks courtesy of a Jeremy Burnitz 3 run blast making 6-1. Stormy Weathers made things interesting in the 9^th, but in the end Jose Guillen’s 2 home runs would be the only offense for Cincinnati as the Mets take the opener of a 3 game series which they would go onto sweep from the Reds.

July 4, 2000

Current Record: 46-35

Overall Record: 94-68

Marlins 9 Mets 8

The Mets drop their third game in a row as the left handed Bobby Jones gets rocked in the 4^th and 5^th innings in a 9-8 defeat. The Mets not surprisingly hit Brad Penny hard and knocked him out early. They scored a run in each of the first 2 innings thanks to RBI’s from Derek Bell and Edgardo Alfonzo. The Mets then struck for 3 runs in the 4^th on a 2 out 3 run blast from Derek Bell. The 5-0 lead did not last long. The Marlins answered the Mets 3 run 4^th with 3 runs of their own in the bottom half on an Alex Gonzalez 3 run home run scoring Mike Lowell and Derek Lee. Thing then fell apart in the 5^th where Jones and reliever Pat Mahomes gave up 6 runs on 4 hits and a key 2 out Melvin Mora error that allowed the Marlins to score the final 3 runs in the inning. Down 9-5, Todd Zeile hit a 2 run home run in the 6^th to cut the lead in half. Alfonzo led off the top of the 9^th with a solo shot to cut the lead to 9-8. After Jay Payton and Mike Piazza reached with 1 out, Antonio Alfonseca struck out Todd Pratt and Melvin Mora to finish off the game.

July 4^, 1986

Current Record:  54-21

Overall Record: 108-54

Mets 2 Astros 1

The Mets win their 8^th straight game in a 2-1 pitchers duel at Shea Stadium. The young phenom Dwight Gooden squared off with the ageless wonder Nolan Ryan. The Mets scored in the bottom of the first. Lenny Dykstra led off with a double and advanced to third on a Wally Backman groundout. Keith Hernandez singled to center and the Mets took an early 1-0 lead. The Astros only managed 5 base runners in the first 6 innings. However in the 7^th, Kevin Bass hit a 1 out solo blast to right field to tie the game. Gooden allowed a couple of other base runners in the inning before striking out Alan Ashby to get out of the inning.  In the bottom half of the inning Rafael Santana led off with a singled and was bunted to second by Gooden. Lenny Dykstra came up and hit his second double of the game to give the Mets a 2-1 lead. Gooden finished what he started going the distance for the Mets victory.

July 4, 1969

Current Record: 44-34

Overall Record: 100-62

Mets 11 Pirates 6 (game 1)

The Mets bats explode in Pittsburgh on an Independence Day double header winning the first of two 11-6. Tommie Agee was the offensive star of the game going 3 for 5 with 3 RBI’s including a 2 run home run in the 8^th that put the Mets up 8-2. Tom Seaver went 7 and 2/3 strong innings giving home 4 runs (3 earned) and striking out 7 improving to 1- on the year.

Mets 9 Pirates 2

The Mets hot hitting continued early on in the night cap as they scored 5 runs in the first inning en route to a double header sweep of the Pirates 9-2. The Mets scored all 5 runs in the first inning with 2 outs and the big blow was a 3 run triple from shortstop Al Weis. The Mets added a run in the 2^nd and 3^rd and 2 more in the 9^th in the rout. The struggling Don Cardwell threw 7 strong innings improving his record to 3-8 on the year.

July 4, 1962

Current Record: 21-57

Overall Record: 40-120

Giants 11 Mets 4 (game 1)

The Mets get beat from start to finish in an 11-4 game one loss in San Francisco. The Giants scored 3 times in the first on a 2 run RBI triple from Willie Mays and a Willie McCovey sacrifice fly. The Mets answered with 3 runs of their own in the top of the second on home runs by Frank Thomas and shortstop Elio chacon. From there it was all Giants. Jay Hook and losing pitcher Bob Miller combine for only 4 innings pitched and 7 runs. Willie McCovey would finish the game 3 for 3 with 2 home runs and 7 RBI’s. Giants starter Bobby Bolin went the distance to move to 3-0 on the year.

Giants 10 Mets 3 (game 2)

The Mets didn’t have any better luck in the night cap of July 4^th’s double header again getting blown out by the Giants 10-3. Again it was a Willie doing major damage to the Mets, however in game 2 it was Mays. The “say hey kid” smacked 2 home runs and drove in 5 runs in the win. McCovey and Mays in the double header went a combined 7-14 with 7 runs, 4 home runs, and 14 RBI’s. Ouch.