A Pitching Match-up for the Ages

Last night was tremendous victory. Floyd hitting a grand slam, Piazza adding to his all time homerun record for catchers, Trachsel giving up 3 runs and STILL Getting the victory, Bottalico going two scoreless innings, my boy Moreno going another shut-out inning, and finally, and perhaps the most important, the Mets continue to add insurance runs late in the game. I feel like this team is starting to play with some confidence. They are not backing down to the top pitchers and taking them down, which is good, because we have a few more top tier pitchers coming down the pipe.

Yes, the Glavine vs. Johnson masterpiece is nothing compared to what is going to take place tonight at 7:05 PM. Our very own James Baldwin takes on Houston's favorite son (or I guess second favorite son to Clemens) Andy Pettite. If you thought Glavine's masterpiece against Johnson was impressive, you should be in for a treat tonight. Part of me wants Baldwin to get reamed so he will be gone from my life forever, and the other part would want to see an easy game, Mets win 7-3 and see the Mets continue to roll and be giant slayers. However, there is a happy medium. He gets shelled and the Mets, in turn, shell Pettite. I must admit, the Mets are finally getting some key hits of late. Their offense has been looking better and I've seen some things that I've they have not been doing this season with any consistancy.

We have seen stolen bases, as well as people stretching singles into doubles, and basic fundamental baseball and hustle. All this stuff adds to a more productive offense and pressuring the opposing pitcher, which is a change from the early goings. Also, we are seeing some intensity. A huge change from last year in watching Alomar sullen all the time, Danny Garcia plays balls to wall from start to finish. That type of play in infectious. It rubs off on everyone. The Mets need to play hungry. They are the butt of many, many jokes and it would be nice if they stand up for themselves, and show everyone that they are a good team.

Mets are 2-0 with Cliff Floyd back. Let us see if they can win out the rest of the season (knocking on wood).

News Notes:
Leiter will definitely miss his next start. He does indeed have tendonitis and has gotten a cortisone shot for the injury and is due to make his next start against Colorado. Mr. Met wonders if his game where he threw almost 130 pitches has anything to do with this. I guess we will never know.

There is news on the Grant Roberts front. He has cleared waivers and is expected to report to AAA Norfolk within 72 hours to begin to try and find out where is fastball has gone. However, it is not that simple:

The Mets and Grant Roberts are feuding over surgery for the reliever, who cleared waivers yesterday after other teams apparently were scared off by his shoulder problems. Roberts was getting wheeled into the operating room in Cincinnati to have his frayed labrum examined when the Mets ordered the procedure stopped, said an insider. "We expect Roberts to report to Norfolk within 72 hours," the team said in a written statement.

I can only say good luck Grant, as he is a personal favorite and I would like nothing else than to see him succeed.

Vidro signs! I think this is good news for baseball. Expos become more enticing to buy, and if they can sign Cabrera as well, it will indeed help baseball get out of this quagmire.