Jerry's Miracle Mets Reclaim Division Lead

Back in May this very same team was left for dead. Since the firing of Witless Willie this team is playing with confidence and purpose. The players may be the same, but the results are completely different. What Jerry Manuel has managed to do in a little over a month is a miracle. If anyone out there needed any more proof that Willie Randolph wasn't the man for this job, they must be related to Willie.

In today's game the Wizard of Ollie showed up and cast a spell over the Phillies for 7.2 innings. His only walk was an intentional one to Burrell in the 8th, and he struck out 12. Ollie is focused and pitching like a man possessed. Dan Warthen deserves loads of credit for not trying to stifle Ollie's personality. Dan listened to Ollie and worked with him to channel his energy in one direction towards the plate. The result is a confident and dominating pitcher on the mound.

Jerry and Dan have also worked on the pen and on Mike Pelfrey to improve their efforts. Tuesday's meltdown not withstanding, the pen has pitched well except for Pedro Feliciano. The defined roles seem to be agreeing with everyone but Pedro, and that may make him expendable for a trade.

The biggest change the last month or so is in Delgado. He's hitting over .400 for the month and has fought his way back to the 4th spot. It's clearly evident that Carlos had issues with Willie, or vise verse. During the whole Willie death watch Carlos was strangely silent in his support of Willie. If Carlos giving up on Willie and tuning him out helped to lead to Willie's firing, then we all owe Carlos a thank you. Working with HoJo, Carlos is becoming the power hitter the Mets have needed for months now. He's laying off the inside pitches and using all areas of the field. Today's game winning hit was a line drive into the left field corner that scored the deciding 2 runs. Beltran is not a clean-up/power hitter, and seems overwhelmed at the plate at times. There is something really wrong with a clean-up hitter that lays down bunts instead of swinging away. When Ryan comes back, I wouldn't be surprised to see Beltran hitting in the 6th hole. It seemed to help Delgado, maybe it will help Beltran.

Now the Cardinals come to town and they have to face the Big Pelf. Mike has been great the last month or so and needs to come up big in this game. I look forward to seeing Mike shatter lots of Maple bats and keep the heat on the Phillies. Who pitches Saturday is a bigger question. The last I heard is that Brandon Knight [who's on the Olympic team] would be called up. He's 5-1 with and ERA of 1.60. Other possible pitchers are Neise from AA and Stokes from AAA. From what I hear, Knight [who was in the Yankee system] is tearing up the AAA circuit. Wouldn't it be nice to see him pitch a shutout for 7-8 innings and rub it in the Yankees faces?