Tuesday, April 5, 2011

So Far, Mets Far From Least in the East

You know things are going the Mets' way when a Phillies fan in Citizens Bank Park interferes with Carlos Beltran trying to catch a ball and the call goes against the Phillies. And now the Mets have beaten divisional rivals on the road three out of four.

And you know things are topsy turvy with the Subway Squawkers when Lisa goes out to Yankee Stadium to see "JoSoMo" only to say, "oh no!" when S0 is not even so-so and the Yankees blow the lead and the game.

Look on the bright side, Lisa - at least Rafael Soriano's meltdown should put a rest to that lame nickname for the bullpen.

However, if the nickname sticks, when Pedro Feliciano comes off the DL, the Yankees bullpen should then be known as AMJoSoMo (where A.M. stands for Abused Met).

As for the Mets, it's great to see them doing the abusing for a change. Picked by some to finish last in the NL East, they've beaten the Marlins two of three on the road and have now taken the first game from the Phillies. If anyone had told me that a pitcher would get knocked out in the third inning, I would have assumed it would be Chris Young, a flyball pitcher having to deal with the Phillies' bandbox, not "greatest rotation ever" charter member Cole Hamels.

Hamels probably just had a bad night and the Phillies do have an incredible rotation, but their lineup, already shaky at times last year (like when the Mets shut them out three straight) just isn't the same without Chase Utley and Jayson Werth. Utley was supposed to start jogging later this week, but now that's not happening. Sounds like the Phillies are going to be going through the uncertainty the Mets had last year when Beltran was recovering from knee surgery.

But whomever was in the Phillies' lineup, Met starting pitchers have now given up only two earned runs over their last three starts, totaling 18 1/3 IP. And, after tonight, the Mets now have a better record than the Yankees. Lisa, you need to go to more Yankee games!

2 comments:

Aladou said...

"bandbox"?

You're probably not aware, but CBP has played neutral for the past several years. There are no more runs scored, and no more HRs hit, in the Phillies home games than there are in their away games.

Uncle Mike said...

Well, I knew this would happen. Just as the Red Sox were declared World Champions in March (How's that working out, by the way?), the Mets are now the World Champions of April.

"It's a long season, and you've gotta trust it." -- Annie Savoy in "Bull Durham." Except she was played by Susan Sarandon, who's a Met fan going back to the beginning in real life, and knows better than to trust a long season. At least, she knows better than some Met fans I could mention, the ones who still thank God for John McNamara.

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