Maine does enough while the Offense finds it's Stride

This was a good game last night and it's encouraging to see progress in the Mets game. They are hitting the ball better and are getting more innings from their starters, and the bull-pen is carrying it's weight too. These things are needed if the club is to succeed this year.

John Maine got his 1st win tonight and pitched into the 7th inning. Although I was yelling at the TV in the 1st inning, John settled down and pitched well enough to settle me down. I wish SNY would show more overhead shots of home plate. It would help with my blood pressure if I could see if the Umps were squeezing the pitchers or not. Maybe it's just the angle from the center field camera, but it looks like the umps are squeezing John this year. It seems that pitches over the corners are being called balls instead of strikes. And you can see John getting annoyed at times last night. Whether that was at himself or the Umps, I don't know. His fastball was working in the mid 90's and his change-up and slider were there too. He got hurt with his change-up on the homeruns and that's a common thing. Just ask Johan what happens to change-ups left over the plate. As he gets better control of it, I think he'll be even tougher to hit.

The offense has finally shown signs of waking up. Granted it's playing the Nationals, but improvement is still there. Ryan Church continues to hit left-handed pitching and Jose seems to be coming around at the plate. The home run by Church was CRUSHED. It hit of the billboard in the back of the bull-pen. I think with Church in the 2 hole the Mets are improving their offense. As long as he continues to hit, Jose' is going to see better pitches. With Ryan's power bat behind Jose', he's more likely to get strikes to hit. No one wants to walk Jose' when it could mean a quick 2 runs scored. Jose' hit his 1st homerun, and it may have been due to Ryan being behind him in the order. Castillo is also showing signs of life at the plate. I believe that the 8th spot is working well for him. He's more inclined to swing the bat, and he cleared the pitchers spot 3 times last night. That's a huge offensive benefit. If the Mets can lead off the next inning with Jose' and not the pitcher, it allows more run scoring opportunities to occur. Besides, it's hard to get out of a hitting slump if you're always looking to bunt. And Castillo needs to hit for the Mets to have success. Castillo told Willie that he needs 1-2 days off a week because of his knees. And we have him for 4 more years? Lord help us. And Delgado is lost again. He was 0-4 with 2 strikeouts. He's now batting .245 He now has 11 strikeouts and only 5 RBI. And Guinness thinks he's one of the best players on the team? I'm glad we don't have more players like him.

Defensively, the team is going well. They are taking care of the ball and not causing the pitchers to work out of jams that should be outs. Too often this year innings have been prolonged by errors. David continues to work on his throwing and Jose' is keeping things simple in the field. Sometimes he gets too fancy, and loses the ball around 2nd base. Any ball hit to the outfield is almost an automatic out. Ryan and Carlos are so smooth and comfortable in the field. And Ryan has a cannon for an arm. I doubt there will be many runners testing his arm this year. Pagan is also doing well in the field. He gets to ball quickly, and knows his way around the corners of Shea. Too bad Witless Willie is sending him to the bench when Alou' returns.

Here's hoping the Figueroa fairly tale continues tonight. Nelson pitched very well his last time out, and has shown he's a valuable asset to the team. I hope he goes 7 innings again and the Mets swat the Nats back to DC.