Mets Get Win Despite Themselves

Of course when your buried neck deep in mediocrity and every day is another drudgery of explaining to the world the reasons why you try but just can't get it done, a victory is a nice diversion.


Mets survive to struggle on another day and Duaner Sanchez, struck by a line drive, barely survives the mishap

Even one wherein your winning pitcher is a guy who probably isn't even going to stay with the team very long and you run yourself out of a potentially big opening inning with aggressive yet foolhearted baserunning.


Not even a reasonably good start will likely keep Armas with the team.

In a season of disappointments yes, we should probably cherish every little victory. A victory over your most distant wildcard rival, whose lead was narrowed to six games. A victory with a minor league pitcher starting in Tony Armas for you. A victory on the road against the team with the second best record in the National League. A victory led in part by a back up catcher in Castro, who matched his RBI total for June in one game. A victory with a rare combination of hitting from the corners; Delgado and Wright, who in their first eight appearances, had six hits, three doubles and three runs scored.


Are these the only two guys on the roster worth keeping?

Yes a victory that saw a rare, flawless performance from the bullpen when Heilman, Feliciano, Sanchez and Wagner pitched a combined three shutout innings and allowed only one baserunner.

Of course, by the end of the 1st inning the bitterness had only grown.

Reyes was thrown out at second trying to steal, killing one runner and then Endy Chavez was thrown out at home when he tried to score on a wild pitch only to see the ball bounce back short off the brick wall behind home plate. You had to be thinking to yourself losing two potential runs like that was going to be demoralising.

And then when Ankiel hit his two-run shot to give the Cards their early lead in the bottom of the 1st the temptation to simply stop listening and find something more productive to do with your time was overwhelming.

But somehow, the Mets persevered.

It's a win that keeps them on pace with the Phillies and staves off the howling rage of their supporters during this crucial, probably season-deciding road trip to St Louis and Philly.

*****

King of Understatement, Jerry Manuel on Luis Castillo, who didn't play last night: "He seems to wear out a lot easier than I anticipated,"

Pedro takes the mound tonight and who else other than me is dying to see if the rubbish theory about tipping his pitches? If this is the simple mechanical explanation that Pedro should throw 5 or 6 shutout innings tonight, I'm betting. And he'll need to because Joel Pineiro, who hasn't won since April, will be on the mound for the Cardinals. Pineiro's post-April streak likely means an inexplicably spectacular outing against the Mets. You just watch. That's how the Mets roll. Struggle against inferiority.

With June mercifully over I note the near identical stats of Wright, Beltran and, surprisingly, Delgado.

G AB R H D T HR RBI TB BB K OBP SLUG AVG
1. C Beltran 28 107 19 29 6 0 6 21 53 15 18 .361 .495 .271
2. C Delgado 28 105 14 27 8 1 6 20 55 9 21 .333 .524 .257
3. D Wright 27 104 13 29 3 0 5 23 47 14 17 .355 .452 .279

And poor Johan Santana - his June consisted of 5 starts and an 0-4 record despite a 2.53 ERA for June.

Pelfrey, on the other hand, was 3-0 with a 3.52 ERA.

Surprise, surprise: Heilman, everybody's favourite goat, pitched in 15 games and had an incredible 0.61 ERA over the last 30 days.