Seo Seo Good, He Almost Looks Like Pedro

If you blinked in the last several weeks of this season you might have missed the Freaky Friday exchange of bodies between Pedro and Jae Seo.

Last night against the Nats, rivals to the Mets in the NL East and the NL Wildcard race, Seo pitched Pedroesquely, shutting the Nats out for 8 straight innings and helping the Mets get the first leg up on the Nats with a brilliant 1-0 victory.



New York is 17-4 in series openers at home, tops in the majors.

Seo has allowed only 1 run in his last three starts over 23 1/3 innings and has a 3-0 record and a miniscule 0.30 ERA since returning from the minors to show for it. So good has he been that he is even out Pedro'ing Pedro himself.

In his own last three starts, Pedro has pitched 20 innings, allowed 10 earned runs (for a 4.50 ERA) and an 0-2 record.

We will have a chance to examine this phenomenom a little closer tonight when Pedro follows Seo on the mound and demonstrates his homemade Kimchi Bokkum bap whilst impressing us with his Korean banter in the clubhouse.

Last night of course, Seo was facing the lowest-scoring team in baseball but this again, was the kind of game the Mets routinely lose on the road. In fact, wasn't it just last Sunday on the road that Pedro had a no-hitter going into the 8th during another Met offensive lack of offence before blowing it all in a matter of pitches?

They waited until the bottom of the 7th to put a run up on the board in support of Seo. Piazza's replacement, Castro, doubled with one out and then scored when Mike Cameron's replacement, Victor Diaz, singled to give the Mets the only run they'd need. Once again, the Replacement Mets prevailed although the man who has played in the most games this season for the Mets, Jose Reyes, had a gem of a game himself.

Talk about streak hitting, Reyes had been 3 for 32 following his 20 game hitting streak and last night, broke out big-time, going four for four and stealing three bases: a terror all night who the Mets somehow failed to bring home. Reyes also helped turn the key double play of the night in the 9th to kill any Nat hopes for a rally.

*****

The win moved the Mets (62-59) to within 2 1/2 games of the lead for National League Wild Card spot. New York trails division rivals Florida (64-57) and Philadelphia (65-58) by two games, and Washington (64-58) by 1 1/2 games, while Houston (65-57) holds the lead. The Mets remain in fifth place in the NL East, but their deficit to the division-leading Braves shrunk to 6 1/2 games Friday with Atlanta's 12-7 loss to San Diego.

Seo improved to 1-7 in 11 appearances against the Expos/Nationals franchise. ... The Mets have won 13 of their last 17 home games.

Carlos Beltran has been on base 8 times out of 12 since returning from the collision heard round the world and has stolen a base in each game. It's as though the reality of almost having his season ended prematurely has inspired him.

This, the emergence of Seo and Reyes, bode well for the Mets however before anyone gets too excited, let's not forget that following this series, the Mets will be on the road for five out of the next six series' and will have to face the Braves, Marlins and Cardinals in the road trip which will define their season.