The Sweet Smell of .500

Does .500 have a smell?

Yes, the Mets are once again .500. It feels great. They have been actually putting more runs up this week having three games with six runs or more. Yes they may have been facing inferior pitching, but my glass his half full.

Today was slooooooooow until the fourth inning when it all picked up. Hidalgo hit a two run blast that was a no doubter off the bat. Hidalgo also added another hit later that was ripped to the third baseman and too hot to handle. Valent added a two run double in the fourth inning, Wigginton went 2 for 3 with an RBI, and Piazza added an eighth inning blast for his 15th of the year to top it all off. Traschel went six innings surrendering one run, but clearly did not have his best stuff and was lucky to come away with such a good outing on paper.

Yes Hidalgo got his first Met hit in a big way. Yes, I was and still am not sold on him. However, with his two rips, I went from being cold on the deal to lukewarm. I hope he can keep contributing.

The Mets must be reading my webpage, they did exactly what I said they needed to do. They are entering this upcoming week .500. I feel like they are going to do well in this next twelve game stretch. I'm feeling a 6-6 two weeks which will set them up for a big divisional stretch and in striking distance to do some damage. I have got to say, for some reason I feel positive about things. I like the way the Mets continually refuse to roll over and die. After a dreadful stretch between the Twins and Royals, they come home and take care of business. What is not to like? Oh, and before you read this, I hope you are sitting down. The Mets are 2.5 games out of first. The Marlins lost and the Phillies won, so they are tied for first with the Mets in sole possession of 2nd place and Reyes is back in action. Life is good for Mets fans. I cannot see how anyone can be complaining at this point. I look at the other teams in the division and I say why not?

Heilman got dinged up again against Pawtucket last night. He surrendered four runs in 5.1 innings. Despite that, Norfolk was victorious 6-5. David Wright got off his 3 game hitless streak in a big way going 2 for 4 with two runs scored, a double, a walk, and his second AAA homerun in six games. Every day that goes by, you have to like that kid more and more. The thing about him is he knows himself so well and is never content with where he is. If you read anything on him, he knows he may not be the most gifted athlete in the game, so he knows he has to work harder to become the player he wants to be. He continually tries to improve himself and is getting better and better at every level he moves up. Let us not forget this kid was playing high A-ball at St. Lucie when last season ended. Now, he is in AAA with a pretty good shot to see the big leagues very soon. A .272 hitter coming into this year for his minor league career and was rated in the top 25 of all minor league players by most minor league scouts and publications. Starting with the Arizona Fall League last year, he just put on the after burners. There were the stories that he worked too hard at home which affected his play, but whatever the reason, it has all clicked. He has batted around .350 for the AFL, Minor/Major League Spring Training, AA, and AAA combined since the end of last season which is almost 600 ABs. He has put himself into super prospect status, more so than before. You would be hard pressed to show me a better all around prospect that is as advanced as he is.

What else can you say about Yusmeiro Petit? He pitched another game in which he got into double digit strikeouts for the Capital City Bombers. He is just flat out impressive. He struck out 11, walked only one, gave up one hit, which just happened to be a homerun and is now 9-1 with a 2.10 ERA. He is just the model of consistency every time he takes the mound. Oh, the other 19 year old phenom Lastings Milledge went 2 for 4 to bring his average up to .314. Life is looking good in the minor league system.

Ken Griffey Jr. hit his 500th homerun on Sunday. He has had his share of injury problems over the last four year, but he is a hall of famer if he never plays the game again. He broke into the big leagues at 19 years old and smacked 16 homers and 61 RBIs that year. Unbelievably, he hit .300 the next year with 22 homeruns and 80 RBI's and struck out 81 times to 63 walks. Before he even turned 30 he hit over 100 RBIs seven times, over 130 four times, and over 140 three times. In his last four years in Seattle he averaged 52 homeruns and 141.75 RBIs. He was the game of baseball for the span of eight or nine years. He made eleven consecutive All-Star appearances between 1990 and 2000. He won 10 consecutive gold gloves playing center field for the Mariners between 1990 and 1999. It is a shame his body let him down after the 2000 season. He should have eclipsed 500 homeruns in 2002 and been barreling down on 600 instead of just surpassing 500. Nothing he does can take away what he did for so many years in Seattle. A lot of people today forget that and seem to miss the fact we are watching one of the best baseball players ever to step on the field.