Maine Attraction

NY Mets 6, Colorado 1 AP Recap

They say it's better to be lucky than good. However, it's best to be lucky and good. John Maine is just that. He's good alright, last night pitching 7.2 innings and allowing just one run to lower his season ERA to 1.71. But he's also been lucky in that the 6 runs the Mets put up behind him last night was the least run support he's gotten all season. They had been averaging 10 runs in Maine's previous 3 starts, and they would be undefeated in his appearances if Maine had given up 3 times as many runs in any of his starts. Atta Boy John. Keep it up.

Jose Valentin's 4 RBI night should be commented on. He just owns Buchholz. In his career facing him, he's got 2 HRs and 7 RBIs in just 3 career ABs against him. Bizarrely, the last time the Mets faced Buchholz he was with the Astros, and John Maine started against him. Maine shut the Astros bats down (complete game shutout), and the Mets cruised to victory behind HRs from Valentin and Delgado.

Speaking of Delgado, he's finally off the schnide with his 2-run shot in the 7th. It was one of his trademark lasers of the facing of the mezzanine by the Mets bullpen. Very nice to see him striking the ball the way we all know he can. I think he's starting to come around. David Wright, on the other hand, continues to struggle mightily. He now has a 4 game hitless streak following his franchise record 26 game hitting streak. Even worse, he's looked terrible in that span. Honestly, he didn't look great during his hitting streak either. He did line one out to right last night, which was the first ball he's hit hard in about a week, so maybe he's starting to come around. And, I'm just not going to talk about Burgos' near meltdown, I'm in too good a mood right now. The pain in my eye has begun to dissipate.

Jose Reyes had the rare 0 for, but still managed to steal 2 bases bringing his league leading total to 12. He's shooting for 80 this year, and I think he should certainly be able to do it if he keeps his OBP up (currently at .438). It will be nice to erase the name Roger Cedeno from the Mets record books.

Our outfield continues to rake. Green is currently our least productive outfielder hitting a measly .333. Beltran is at .351 (he took home NL player of the week honors last week), while Alou flirts with .400 at .397.

And in other good news, the Fish beat the Braves last night which, coupled with our win, puts us back in first place. And, we've got an opportunity to make some hay this week with 2 more against the Rockies, followed by 3 at RFK, followed by 3 at Shea vs. the Fish, before a long west coast trip. The Mets send El Duque to the mound to face Aaron Cook, who, despite a deceptively low 4.00 ERA, in winless in his last 9 starts. El Duque had his best start of the season last time out with 10 Ks after getting some early run support. So how about some early runs and a blowout tonight. After all, you can't sweep a three game series without winning the first two.

Let's Go Mets!!!