Ever Seo Sweet: Mets top Nats 10-5

NB: Due to travel obligations, the summaries of Friday and Saturday's games against the Nats are necessarily short and sweet. We will return to the predictable ranting and arriving by Wednesday morning:

Saturday: Mets 10 Nats 5

With Kaz Ishii, the third Met starter of the season to enter the dark recesses of the disabled list, the Mets were swiftly running out of starting pitcher options.

Although his 0-0 record and 8.22 earned run average in three starts at AAA Norfolk would belie any chance in hell of success at the Major League level this season, Jae Seo proved the world wrong and saved the day yesterday for the Mets, pitching five scoreless innings before eventually allowing one run, six hits and no walks in six innings. With the unpredictable Ishii suffering from a strained muscle, Seo threw 79 pitches and 55 went for strikes in winning his first game of the season. Better still, he got to witness the spirit of the "New Mets":

"There are not super-huge differences that I've felt between the last two years and now," Seo said through an interpreter. "But one thing I can definitely notice is the team seems to stick together. There is some chemistry here and it seems like we're just looking to win. There are good things about this team."

The Mets are now 7-1 at home.

And maybe Cryin Mike Cameron better just stay on the disabled list because although he defence can be dodgy at times, Victor Diaz is simply eating MLB pitching up like candy. Yesterday he was 4 for 4 with two doubles and three RBIs to raise his batting average to .362 and his OBA to .492, both of which are team highs for starters.

Mike Piazza continues to make his last season as a Met a very forgettable one, watching his batting average drop to .200 as he went 0 for 4 and came to bat with nine runners on base and knocked in NONE of them.

Hamstring Jose Reyes did not play yesterday, getting a day off along with Kaz Matsui. Both are expected to be back in the starting lineup for today's attempt to sweep the Nats.

TODAY'S MENU:

WAS: RHP Livan Hernandez
• 1-2, 5.76 ERA in 2005
• 2-1, 2.05 ERA vs. NYM in 2004

NYM: RHP Victor Zambrano
• 1-1, 3.71 ERA in 2005
• Has never faced WAS

*****

Friday: Mets 3 Nats 1

As usual, Tom Glavine , who was 4-1 with a 1.60 ERA last year against the Expos, surrendered only two hits and reaffirmed his place as the all-time wins leader against the Montreal-Washington franchise with his 28th. He actually as though he really does want to reach 300 victories before he retires at the age of 50 and behind seven innings of two-hit ball from the southpaw, the Mets beat the Nationals, 3-1, at Shea as Glavine picked up his first win in four tries this season.

The Washington Post notes that Glavine leaves Nats out in cold (and imagine, the Mets have an ace that a team is "relieved" not to have to face in Pedro:

"So it was Friday night at frigid Shea Stadium, where the ghost of Cy Young past spooked the Nationals, this time in the form of Mets left-hander Tom Glavine. His two Cy Youngs came in 1991 and '98, during his glory days with the Atlanta Braves, and he entered Friday without a win this season. Against the occasionally anemic Nationals, it didn't matter."

Opposing starters in Washington's losses have combined for a 1.61 ERA.

Glavine, Smoltz and Greg Maddux, what used to be the backbone of the Atlanta Braves' infamous pitching troika, are now 1-6 collectively with a 4.29 ERA and Glavine, obviously, is the first of the three to gain a victory. Smoltz is 0-3 although he's struck out 29 and walked only 5, has 4.56 ERA. And Maddux is 0-1 in 5 starts with a 4.50 ERA.

Roberto Hernandez plunked Tony Blanco with his first pitch of the eighth on the left shoulder blade. Entrusted with a two-run lead, he then surrendered a double to Brad Wilkerson that put two runners in scoring position and you could just hear Glavine's shoulders sag at the thought of a victory flying out the window. Hernandez answered by getting Cristian Guzman on a squibber in front of the plate that Mike Piazza pounced on. He then struck out Jose Vidro and got Jose Guillen to ground to second to hand the lead to Braden Looper.