And the Winning Continues

"Holy hell, we're relevant again!"

Rickey Henderson

Yes we are Rickey. Yes we are indeed.

Win #10 in a row. Tied for first. What was once a 7.5 game deficit back on June 18 is now gone. Little Jerry looks smarter with each passing day. The air smells cleaner, flowers perk up. Life is good.

Even the news that El Duque had more foot pain, Angel Pagan left his rehab start with shoulder pain, and Pedro got a cortisone shot cannot wipe the smiles off the faces of Mets fans this morning. I dare to say that even a classic Wally Matthews Mets blasting column, or a Marty Noble mailbag of asshattery could not do so.

It wasn't pretty, not by a long shot. Johan gave up 5 in the 4th, erasing a 2-0 lead that Carlos Delgado provided with a homer that left the GAB. After the Mets took a 6-5 lead, Heilman loaded the bases with 2 outs, then Show proceeded to give up a bases clearing double to Valentin. It looked bleak, especially since SNY showed the following graphic:

Reds are 34-1 when leading after 7 innings

Not getting a warm fuzzy though I did hold out hope that the graphic jinx would work.

Francisco Cordero did have 4 blown saves entering the game, but had taken a loss only once. It was 8-6 going into the 9th, after the Mets went quietly in the 7th and 8th. Jose led off and struck out. A. Reyes followed with a single. DW followed with a wall scraper of a homer to the opposite field, tie ballgame. The wife was sleeping, so Ed simply raised his arms and left them like that as Beltran singled. Ed's arms got tired, so he put them down, only to raise them again as Easley singled, moving Beltran to third. Delgado followed with a single, 9-8 Mets, Easley moved to third. Fernando Tatis followed with a single, dring in Easley (3 rbi night for Tatis, as he also had a 2-run HR). Cordero was then pulled, and Bray got the last two outs.

Billy (thankfully) pitched a 1-2-3 9th, and it was over.

Now, I'm not gonna kill Santana for one bad start. What I do worry about is his inability to hold leads. This has happened a few times so far. I chalk last night up to the long layoff, especially cinsidering he only pitched 5 innings last time out due to a rain delay. I just hope that he can stop that habit. He has done better with giving up the long ball of late (though he gave up 2 in a row last night to Dunn and Encarnacion). I think many fans just expected him to be a shut down guy, and we are not seeing that consistently.

Three more against the Reds, then an off day Monday. Tuesday the Philth come to town for three games. Let's be a game or two up prior to that shall we?

One last thing, Joe Blanton? Really? Good luck with that Philly.


Just.Win.Series

LGM!