Look Kids...Big Ben...Parliament

Is the familiar? Four game winning streak to bring the Mets one game over .500. Hopefully now they will stay there. The Mets are only 2.5 games back, not too shabby. Jae Seo's start yesterday was very reminiscent of his starts from last year. Seo went 6 innings, only giving up 1 run, got himself out of a bit a jam in the 6th, gave up a miniscule 3 hits, 2 walks (Lowell twice, they both looked semi-intentional to me), and K'd 4. He also gets Kudos for that 11 pitch at-bat in the 2nd inning. He ended up striking out, but the fans gave him an ovation after that performance anyway. Wiggy is officially out of the doghouse. He pounded a triple and single with two RBIs and is now batting .269. He has a streak of eight straight games with an extra base hit, which sets a new Mets record. On top of that, he actually does not look half bad at second base. He is showing a bit more range than I thought he would have. Wiggy and Zeile are going to make is hard for Art to figure out what to do when Reyes comes back. I'm sure that is a problem he rather enjoys. Speaking of Reyes, it was nice to see him in the dugout even though he wasn't playing. Mike Cameron found a bat that did not have a hole in it and actually hit a ball deep into left center. On top of that, he threw in a nifty catch in the 4th inning on Cabrera's drive to deep center. Mike actually has been hitting the ball a bit better of late in his quest to get back over .200.

In yesterday's game, there was a stat posted on Tom Glavine that he actually has a lower BAA each time he goes through the order. Check out these stats:

Pitches 1-15 : BAA .300
Pitches 16-30 : BAA .209
Pitches 31-45 : BAA .225
Pitches 46-60 : BAA .196
Pitches 61-75 : BAA .136
Pitches 76-90 : BAA .158
Pitches 91-105 : BAA .125
Pitches 106-120 : BAA .000

That is a crazy stat. That is truly the sign of great pitcher. When batters should be more comfortable and have a chance to get a hit after seeing him throw, Glavine just seems to confuse them.

You have to like Dontrelle Willis being used as a pinch hitter. Willis only plays balls to the wall, MLB needs more of him around.

Looks like Vladimir's back is OK. He is pace to hit 44 homeruns, 153 RBIs (9 on Wednesday), 50 doubles, and is currently hitting .357. This is by no means a complaint that the Mets did not pick him up, I doubt he would have come here as long as there were serious offers elsewhere.

A San Diego paper is also thinking what I was thinking about the Padres getting Drew so they have more leverage to go after Beltran by making Josh Barfield available.

Milton Bradley was suspended for his tirade, which was rather funny to watch. I'm glad the Mets did not pick him up. I like the team's attitude so far and they actually look like a cohesive bunch without any trouble maker crybabies. Yes, even Karim has behaved himself so far.

Pedro Martinez is hurting. His ERA is up to 4.40. He has never had a season with an ERA over 4.00 and he has not been over 3.00 since 1997. That is seven consecutive years with and ERA under 3.00, which in today's game of home run derby is damn impressive. Those days might be over since he is sporting a Glavine-like fastball which does not seem to work for right-handers as much as it works for lefties. Good thing for the BoSox Nomar is close to returning. The Yankees and their $180,000,000 payroll have not been able to put any distance between the Nomar-less and Nixon-less Red Sox. That is pretty weak if you ask me.

While I'm on the topic of putting down the Yankees, take a look at what Contreras has done in all his starts.

4/9 - 5 runs (all earned)
4/18 - 3 runs (all earned)
4/23 - 5 runs (all earned)
4/28 - 1 runs (it was earned)
5/4 - 7 runs (six earned)
5/28 - 3 runs (all earned)
6/2 - 5 runs (one earned)

See a pattern here? Maybe they should skip every other start for him. On top of that the Yankees are paying $9,000,000 for that 7.10 ERA.

Zack Grienke looks like the real deal. Rob Neyer wrote a good article about him. He only has three starts, so it is early to start laying praise on this guy, but the bottom line is that he is 20 years old (Grienke will not even turn 21 until October). That is absolutely astounding. Not many 20 year old pitchers will find much success in the majors. In his last two starts he went seven innings in both and gave up one run against Minnesota and two runs against Detroit. He only pitched 29 minor league games coming into this year and 35 minor league games in total. He is only 35 minor league games removed from High School and it appears that he will be sticking around for a bit. Not many players could boast that kind of rise to the majors, simply amazing.

Minor Notes:

David Wright (aka Mr. ) was 2 for 4 last night with a walk, a double, a run scored, and one RBI. AA pitchers must be sending Duquette emails begging them to promote him to AAA.