Glavine Bids for 296

Tom Glavine will square off against John Smoltz tonight for already the third meeting between the two this season. Smoltz has gotten the better of his former teammate in the first two matchups, although they both pitched brilliantly in the earlier two outings. Glavine goes for his 296th win of his career as Smoltz will be going for his 200th.

Although Tom Glavine will be pitching in search of his 296th career victory (which lands him fifth on the all time list by southpaws), more importance will be placed on winning the series tonight. Until last season, the Mets couldn't buy a win against there division rivals and already this season have been on the short end of the first two series'. A win tonight will place them 3.5 games ahead of Atlanta and more importantly will make the statement that they can beat their long time foes head to head. True, it's only April, but all Met's fans know that we do not want to lose the first three series to the Braves.

Said Glavine about the milestone matchup:

"The friendship enters into it, which is different than other matchups I've had. I know he's going for a big number, but I'm going to try to do everything I can to delay it for five more days."

Mets set to start Homestand after Successful Roadtrip

The news around the majors was quite abundant this past week with the Clemens signing and that pitcher up in Boston who can’t seem to keep his mouth shut (I won’t name names). As for as I’m concerned, the Yankees can have Clemens at that much of a premium because the fact of the matter is, I don’t want him. I just don’t agree with allowing a guy to start a 1/3 of the way into the season with a clause in his contract that allows him to miss games in which he doesn’t pitch to be with his family. And as far at “that Red Sox pitcher” goes, I don’t listen to a word he says anyway because most of it is just lackluster dribble. Even his manager is calling for a muzzle on this guy.
On to the Mets. I still can’t believe they got Shawn Green and Tom Glavine to shave their heads but who’s complaining after a 5-2 road trip. If you haven’t seen them yet, I recommend checking out the size of Green’s ears.
The series with the Giants was exciting….Glavine got his 294th win, even on a night where he gave up Bonds’ 745th. Then Wright’s double in the ninth on Thursday capped off a come from behind victory to take the game and the series from the Giants.
The Mets start a tough homestand tonight squaring off against the league leading Breweres. The Cubs and the Yankees come to town after that. Jorge Sosa gets the start tonight at 7:10 pm.

Pelfrey, Mets lose in D-backs finale

The Mets were finally downed yesterday at Chase Field by the Diamondbacks by a score of 3-1. After a shaky first inning, Mike Pelfrey settled down and finished with 5.1 innings pitched allowing three earned runs. Despite the effort, Pelfrey fell to 0-4 on the season as the Mets bats just never got going.

Overall, it was a successful series where they took 3 of 4 and are now tied with Atlanta for first at 19-11. The Mets now move to the Bay area to face Barry Bonds and the Giants. New Giant, Barry Zito goes against the hot Oliver Perez tonight. We'll see if Perez can keep up his current hot streak. Game time is 10:15 p.m. ET.

Think Big Video: 1987 Mets

Haha.. This is almost hard to watch but brings back a lot of memories. As suggested on youtube, how about a 20th anniversary of Think Big staring David Wright, Paul LoDuca and Billy Wagner?

Easley Comes through Again

On a night that saw a less than perfect Tom Glavine, the Mets bats came alive in the top of the 9th to steal the win from Arizona. Going into the game, the Mets had won their last ten games at Chase Field, and the streak looked all but snapped with the Mets trailing 4-3 in the top of the 9th inning and closer Jose Valverde on the mound. Valverde had converted 10 saves already heading into last night.

However, after a rare error by former Met, Tony Clark, and a walk to Paul LoDuca, Damon Easley stepped to the plate and produced a three-run home run. This marks the second time Easley has come through with a home run in a crucial situation this season, the other coming on April 24th against the Rockies at Shea to tie the game in the 10th. He is now being labeled as "Hit man" by his teammates, a nick name that I'm sure Easley doesn't have any qualms about.

Beltan also went deep in the game for his 7th of the season. For good measure, David Wright came up after the Easley shot in the 9th with two on and hit an opposite field three run homer to make the score 9-4.

Perez, Maine find Early Success

The Metropolitans are off to a strong 17-10 start and a big part of this early success can be attributed to their starting pitching in the month of April. Opening the season, Tom Glavine and Orlando Hernandez were to be the cornerstone of the rotation, being the 1-2 starters, respectively. After that, it was highly publicized, that there were big question marks as to who would prove themselves ready for such a stage, not only in the big leagues but also in New York City where we have seen many young prospects faulter under such extreme pressure in the past.

Low and behold, in steps John Maine and Oliver Perez, the two young arms the Mets acquired in trades last year. Through the beginning of May, Maine has gone 4-0 and posted a measly 1.35 ERA and Perez has been almost as effective going 3-2 with a 3.41 ERA.

Perez, with the exception of his second start where he walked 7 batters and was ousted after 2.2 innings, has looked like the dominant young pitching prospect many scouts had touted him 4 years ago in Pittsburgh. Through five starts, he’s struck out 36 in 29.0 innings pitched, getting his fastball up to the mid-90’s at times. Some would say, Perez is like a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde type as he went 12-10 with a 2.98 ERA in 2003 with Pittsburgh and then went 3-13 with a 6.63 ERA just last year in which he had trouble finding the strike zone at times. However, after pitching a sensational Game 7 of the NLCS last year against the Cardinals, Perez seems to have found the confidence and mound presence that he had been lacking the last couple of years. We can only hope Dr. Jekyll is here to stay.

As for Maine, his recent success may also be credited to his strong post season last year where he went 1-0 with a 2.63 ERA in three games. Maine has allowed only five earned runs in 33 1/3 innings so far this season and was named NL Pitcher of the Month for April.

With an injury to Orlando Hernandez that may keep him sidelined for a while and the shaky start by rookie Mike Pelfrey, the Mets must look to the rest of the starting rotation to remain strong and keep pace with the Atlanta Braves who are off to a good start themselves. Oh, the Mets –Braves seasonal showdowns. I can’t wait until things really heat up this summer.

Not off on the Wright Foot

David Wright's struggles through April may be finally turning around. Willie placed him in the 2 hole on Tuesday where he managed to get 3 hits including his first homer of the season. He'll undboubtedly be back in the middle of the lineup but should he be? Lo Duca has proved an above average 2 hitter, especially the way in which he works the count and allows Reyes to steal bases, but I beleive Wright could do the same. Plus, late in the game when, let's say, we are down by a couple of runs and there are two out, Reyes may get a hit, and I would just rather see Wright come up than Lo Duca trailing late in the game. Plus, the way Alou and Green have been hitting, they could provide some good protection for Delgado in the middle.

Any opinions?