Fish Fry Mets

What started out as a possible chance to put some distance between the Mets and their division rivals has done just the opposite. The Mets lost 2-3 in Miami and are now a half game behind the Phillies with the Marlins close behind.

The Wizard of Ollie did his job Tuesday while Delgado continues to punish baseballs and drive in runs. Ollie went 6.2 innings and allowed only the 1 run on a night where he didn't have his best outing. He worked thru the night and gave the bull-pen a 1 run lead to hold and protect. Heilman stepped it up and allowed nothing and handed the ball the Billy the Kid. Wagner proceeded to set the fish down 1-2-3 while striking out 2 of the 3 hitters he faced. I guess Guinness and others will allow Billy to keep his job for another day or two.

Beltran had an RBI and David drove in his 83rd run in the 1st inning. Nick Evans had 2 hits and scored two runs, and Delgado drove his 23rd HR over the right-center field fence in the 8th inning to extend the lead to 4-1. Delgado should be player of the month after the July he's had. I doubt even Guinness figured he'd have this kind of month.

Last nights game had Big Pelf going to the mound and hoping to keep his dominance over the last month intact. No such luck. Mike was hammered early and often by the fish. I didn't like the game plan that Schneider had Mike working to. The Marlins are a free swinging HR hitting team. That to me would mean they would be all over Mike's fastballs unless Mike mixed it up some. But, Brian had him throwing mostly fastballs and the Mets paid for it. With a 1-0 lead going into the bottom of the 4th it looked like a pitchers duel was in the works. But, the baseballs started flying all over the field and off the walls with regularity against Mike. 2 triples and 4 doubles later, the Fish had 5 runs on the board and the Mets were cooked. Muniz came in and pitched well in the 5th and 6th innings, but the Fish added 2 more runs against Joe Smith and put the game out of reach. Easley hit a 3 run pinch-hit HR to get the Mets to 5-4 but they couldn't get to the Marlins before the last out was recorded. With the tying runs on base, Reyes flied out and the game was over. So the Mets continued to fight back, but ultimately they fell short.

Now they have an off day and Pedro pitches in Houston on Friday. He'll be on a pitch count so he needs to be conservative with his pitches. If he runs a lot of deep counts, he'll never get out of the 4th inning. That could mean a long night for the pen and the fans in Houston. If Pedro pitches ok, there will be no need to pitch Maine on Sunday, and risk injuring his shoulder again. With 10 days off, John should be able to rest his arm and come out slinging with no problems.