Ollie Ollie Ollie!

Well, coming into the weekend, a lot of people, myself included, were a tad worried about the pitching match-ups. The Brewers were hot, and we had Sosa, Pelfrey and Perez going against Suppan, Sheets and Capuano. Of course, the Mets took 2 of 3, and smacked around Capuano a tad.

Friday, Sosa made it easy for Willomar to keep him here. Another good start, 6.2 innings, 4 hits, 2 runs. Pedro Dos got him out of a jam, Herr Midol gave up a 2 run HR, but the Mets had a 3 run lead, so no problem. Billy pitched another 1-2-3 inning for his 9th save in 9 tries. DW and Delgado took Suppan deep, Easley hit a homer in the seventh. Only 7 hits, but 5 runs showed they made the hits count.

Saturday unfortunately went about as well as expected for Mike (who now gets to enjoy lovely NOLA as he attempts to work on his control). The weekends have been a tad busy for Ed, whatwith the two little ones, so I dont get to see many afternoon games. It was 4-3 the last I had heard, the next update it was 12-3, and the bullpen had imploded. Pelfrey did not do too much apparently to keep himself in NY, so he was sent down and Carlos Gomez was called up to help replace Moises Alou, who has a bad quad to go along with his aching knee. Pelfrey has had problems with his slider in past starts, this time it was OK, but the fastball was staying up in the zone, so it is back to NOLA to work on that. Pedro Dos, Joe Smith and The Show all got racked, in the case of Pedro and Joe, the first runs given up all year. Smith gave up 3 on a grand slam. Welcome to the bigs kid. Don't worry about it. As for the Show, he had done well as of late, so hopefully this is a blip.

Yesterday, Capuano vs. Perez. Ollie walked the leadoff hitter after a 9 pitch battle, but cruised form there. He gave up a hit in the 4th, and nothing else until the 9th. By that time, he was staked to a 9-0 lead. The Mets jumped on Capuano early, putting up 3 in the first on a 2 run HR by Easley (his second in 3 days), and a run scoring single by Castro, which drove in DW (who is now hitting 262, methinks the slump may be done). In the second inning, Carlos Gomez, making his first start, laced a double down the left field line, and scored on a single by Easley (who had 4 RBI on the day). Perez kept dealing, showing no ill effects from his implosion on Monday in San Fran. In the bottom of the 8th, Gomez singled, stole 2nd, and scored on a Perez single. Jose Jose Jose followed with a triple, scoring O Pea, Easley drove in Reyes with an infield single, and Beltran hit a two run shot, making it 9-0. In the ninth, Perez retired Fielder, but gave up a solo shot to Hall, and that was it for him, as the crowd gave him a standing O. Aaron Heilman gave up a single, but then retired the last two batters.

So, we are now 36 games into the season, the Mets stand at 23-13. They took 2-3 from the team with the best record in baseball. Delgado and Wright are heating up. Smith broke his cherry, and will hopefully learn from it. The record by the way is the same as it was at this point last year. Not too shabby. The problem is the Braves are right with us, whereas last year, no one was.

Big week this week. Four against the Cubs, as Uncle Cliffy returns to Shea. I hope Cliffy isn't hurt if he doesn't get a round of applause. I think fans may be confused over how to treat a guy who bashed his former manager who gave him every shot to play. Then, the Yankees this weekend. I've said this a lot lately, but this is a statement week. The home record is poor, and we have 7 left on this homestand. Going 5-2 would be nice. But I would love to get more than that. The Cubs are struggling a bit, as Zambrano is not pitching all that well. The question for the Mets is who gets the start in Thursday? Is it Sele? Or do they call up Vargas? If they call up Vargas, I gotta think Lino Urdaneta goes down to NOLA, unless they DL Alou, who thinks that may have to happen. They need to keep Gomez here, as they need the depth. And he showed some nice flashes yesterday. Poor Lastings, what a bad time for an injury.

Then there is the weekend series against the struggling Yankees. You know they are going to come to play, They are 8 games back, and cannot afford to fall further behind, much less lose to the Mets. The Boss wouldn't like that very much. More on that later in the week.