Mets Out Of First For First Time In A Year

The Braves have knocked the Mets from first place in the NL East for the first time since 5th April 2006.

And the bullpens, it would appear, have made all the difference.


wonder what bird David Wright is scoping out over the first base line?

Whilst Aaron Heilman was busy blowing the 13 consecutive scoreless inning perfect record of the pen this season by giving up two runs in the 8th to ruin El Duque's second straight masterful performance, the Braves bullpen, the scourge of the NL last season having blown a league-worst 29 saves in 68 chances, is now a league-leading 5-for-5 in save opportunities.

On the other hand, rather than handing out accolades to the Braves bullpen we could ask of the batting order why they went 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position on Sunday after leaving 14 baserunners on the Saturday? Or hey, what's up with the 9 strikeouts? Carlos Delgado, are you listening? 3 K's and 3 men left on base all by yourself! Yeah, you with the .165 batting average. Thinking again about taking that time off from Spring Training just for the birth of a child? For shame. Where's the team spirit?


less dropped balls still means a loss...

But let's remember only six games have been played so far and the Mets have won four of them, all on the road. I believe if you'd been offered that scenario to start the season on the road against the Cards and Braves and win four of six, well, you'd be quite satisfied, wouldn't you?

What we can be satisfied by is the outstanding starting pitching to date because even in these two losses both Glavine and El Duque were outstanding. Duque threw six strong innings yesterday and save for the leadoff homer, gave up only one other hit and no runs.

In fact, in the six games to date the starting pitchers for the Mets have tossed 38 1/3 innings and given up only 23 hits. A 2.11 ERA to date. How's that for an Achilles Heel? And you want to know something else funny? Save for Heilman's obese 7.71 ERA, the rest of the bullpen is still on a scoreless streak. 11 2/3 scoreless innings outside of Heilman.

Now if the hitting will get in order, well perhaps the Phillies bullpen will solve that problem...