The Road Trip Continues . . .

Leg one of the Mets 10 game road trip is over, and they were able to take 3 out of 4 in San Francisco. A 4 game sweep could have been possible, but the Mets could not score in last night's 2-0 loss, even though they had the bases loaded in both the 2nd and 8th innings. A great play by Giants 1B Travis Ishikawa to go home with the throw with no outs and bases loaded in the 2nd, and a GIDP by Angel Pagan in the 8th stifled both chances. But how much can you complain? David Wright going 10 for 15, with 9 RBI and 5 steals? Carlos Beltran extending his hitting streak to 11 games? Not enough to have any complaints here.

They now start a 3 game series against arguably the best team in the NL, the Los Angeles Dodgers. They are, of course, without Manny Ramirez -- if you don't know why, where were you 2 weeks ago?? -- but seem to be surviving without him. I expect to see the Mets taking 2 of 3 from the Dodgers, but if the hitting continues how it's been on this trip so far (excluding Sunday), a sweep might not be out of the question.

I actually have some extra interest in this series. Whenever the Dodgers and the Mets play each other, my cousin out in LA and I offer to buy each other a beer for each win that our team gets from the other. Considering that I haven't seen him in a couple of years, we are at 6 beers a piece. But before I see him again in August, I am planning to add an additional 6-pack (3 games this week, 3 games in July) to what he owes me!

As for injuries, it seems that Reyes will be out of the lineup for the 5th straight game, after missing the entire Giants series with a sore/stiff right calf muscle. Carlos Delgado might be out for a bit longer with his hip injury. The Mets will need to find a replacement for him, whether it's within the organization (Daniel Murphy? Fernando Tatis?) or outside via trade (Nick Johnson?)

Oh, and one final thing . . . i will post my review of the 5th game I attended on May 12th, either later tonight or tomorrow night.

Lucky Seven (and counting)

The Mets were finally able to sweep a 3-game series this year, beating the Pittsburgh Pirates by scores of 7-3, 10-1, and 8-4 this weekend. They are now at a season-best 4 games over .500 (17-13) and on a 7 game winning streak. And everyone on the team is looking like they are playing like they should be. David Wright and Jose Reyes are hitting, the starters and bullpen are holding the leads that the offense is giving them (except for Sean Green. . . grrr), and the offense is actually scoring in the later innings to extend the leads that they do have.

The Mets have 3 more games at home against the Atlanta Braves (I'll be at Tuesday's game) before heading on a tough 10 game road trip, sending them to San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Boston. With Johan Santana, Mike Pelfrey, and Jon Niese pitching the next 3 days, there's a decent chance that they could leave Citi Field on a 10 game winning streak.

A couple of things I saw this weekend that I thought were hilarious. First, Gary Dell'Abate (aka Baba Booey) threw out the first pitch at Citi Field before Saturday's game. The video is self-explanatory! (sorry, couldn't embed).

Second, Boston had a pretty busy sports night on Sunday, with the Red Sox, Bruins, and Celtics all playing games. The ending of the Celtics-Magic game actually had an effect on the Red Sox-Rays game. Watch this video and note the reaction. (sorry again, same deal here)

Finally, a kudos to my cousin Nicolas up in MA for throwing out the ceremonial first pitch before Friday's Red Sox-Rays game. He did a better job than Baba Booey.