Ah, a Beating

One day after the Mets lost Pedro to a hammy injury, they sent Ollie Perez to the mound. Of course, for many, the worry is what Ollie will we get, the control artist with the great slider and fastball, or the Ollie that walks the park and comes unglued after a miscue. Last night, we got the good Ollie.

He went 6 innings, allowing 5 hits, 1 walk, no runs an had 8 k's. The Marlins looked helpless against him (then again, this is the Marlins). Nelson Figeroa followed with a scoreless inning. Pedro Dos and Wags finished it up.

On offense, well, for lack of a better phrase, they beat the snot out of the Marlins pitchers. Lefty Andrew Miller started and got pasted. His line 4.1 ip, 8 hits, 5 runs, 6 k's and a hr allowed (to Ryan Church, who we all know can't hit lefties. Ooops.) He was followed by Matt Lindstrom, who did well in 2/3 of an inning. Lee Gardner was the next victim, allowing 5 runs in one inning, including David Wright's first HR in Dolphins Stadium after over 120 at-bats. Taylor Tankersley gave up a run, and Kevin Gregg gave up 2. Final line for the Mets offense:

13 runs
17 hits
4 walks
2 Home Runs
6 k's

Not a bad nights work. Beltran had 3 doubles, one of which was actually a home run that was called a homer, until the umps conferenced and somehow decided it hit a padded wall and flew about 40 ft in the air. Sorry guys, it hit the railing.
Wright went 3-5 with 3rbi and the homer and a double, missing the cycle by a triple. Jose went 1-3 with a walk and 2 rbi. Delgado went 2-5 with a ribbie. Pagan went 2-4, scored 2 runs and had a walk and an rbi. Church went 3-5, and Schneider went 1-2 with 2 walks.

The early returns (SMALL SAMPLE ALERT) are that the bottom of the lineup might not be the black hole we all thought it would be. Delgado still looks a little slow, but he has had some walks, and had a couple of singles. Let's make some more progress Carlos.

The top of the order is looking good. Jose is having good at-bats. Castillo as well. Wright and Beltran have been raking. Every Beltran hit has been a double this year (417 avg and 833 slg%).

So, on the day Pedro was put on the DL, and is expected to miss 6 weeks, the team came together and put in a complete performance. They travel to Atlanta today, and start a 3 game set against the Braves tomorrow night. Here are the match-ups:

Fri - Maine vs. Hudson
Sat - Pelfrey vs Glavine (on FOX)
Sun - Santana vs Smoltz (making his first start of the year after some shoulder soreness late in the spring put him on the DL).

I'm interested in all the matchups, but Saturday is a big test. Glavine is the type of junkballing lefty who gives the Mets fits. Pelfrey will be making his first start, and needs to pitch well to help allay internal and external (fans) fears about what will happen with Pedro and El Duque on the shelf.