Make That A Pair

For the first few days of the infant season anyway, GM Omar Minaya is looking like a genius first of all for standing pat with the rotation and secondly for not fawning over Barry Zito like a drunken yob with a fistful of dollar bills at a lap dance academy.

Either that or these defending World Champion St Louis Cardinals are slooooooow starters.



For the second night in a row a Mets starter, (the starting rotation of course, bemoaned by all humanity as the Achilles Heel of the Mets team this season) had a superb outing on the road against the Champs. This time, El Duque stuck it to them tossing seven innings of one-run, five-hit pitching and holding them down until the rescue squad of Scott Schoeneweis, Aaron Heilman and Billy Wagner could come in to nail it down. Not only that but Wagner managed to end the game on an easy peasy 1-2-3 note. How often does that happen?

And of course, for good measure El Duque, as if pitching brilliantly when it is most hoped for but least expected, threw in a bases-loaded double, his second hit of the night and the 11th of his career.

So for those of you keeping score at home, this is the first time since 1994, and yes, we'll probably hear this for the next 24 hours, but the first time in 13 years the Mets won the first two games of the season. In fact the Mets' record in the second game of the season now stands at 23-23. The way back machine hasn't finished the calculations but 7 double plays turned in two games must be nearing some sort of Mets benchmark as well.



Archie Bunker's Army's preseason shoe-in for NL MVP, Jose Reyes did the damage on the basepaths and provided the offensive catalyst in quiet times, scoring a pair of runs and stealing his first base of the season.

And yes, a second victory in a row over the defending World Champions provides a modicum of satisfaction considering we've all decided to forget about Game 7 and move on to 2007 whilst the Cardinals have as many outfield errors (two) as runs thus far. Oh yeah, ring night for the Cardinals. Rub it in, nice and smooth.

*****



And who amongst you wasn't anxiously awaiting the debut of Barry Zero last night after the winter in which he rebuffed the casual Met advances and signed with the Giants instead of the Mets, a move much maligned by those Henny Pennies who spent so much time bemoaning the Mets starting rotation?

Actually, it wasn't as bad as the Giants bullpen made it look: five innings, allowing three runs (two earned) and four hits. But it counts for losing, something the Mets haven't done yet this season.

*****

And next, for those of you with oft-chewed fingernails, comes the true litmus test of the this Mets rotation, the 3 and 4 starters, John Maine and the ever-unpredictable Oliver Perez.

A special treat in Game Three of course will be facing former Mets blown save machine closer, Braden Looper, a starter for the first time since 1997. Let's face it, he can't do much worse as a starter than he did coming out of the pen.