Schneider showed some unexpected power tonight, Church got us a clutch hit, Nieve was solid again, and it was good enough for us to move up to just 2 games behind the struggling Phils, who've lost 4 straight. Nights like tonight are the times you wonder why the Mets can't just do this every night! Tonight we made it seem not too difficult to pull off a win vs. a great team, while we just lost a series to a poor team. What can I say, we're a weird team.

He's not going to win Cy Young, but this Fernando Nieve is 2-0 for us so far and has exceeded expectations. He was a starter with the Astros a few years back and did allright. For a Mets rotation that has lost some key people, having minor leaguers like Nieve, Niese, (didnt realize that their names are just 1 letter different until just now haha), and Figueroa ready to come up and help us out in a pinch is reassuring to a team as injury plagued as we are. Keep up the good work Fernando!

PS- Speaking of Fernando, F-mart was sent back down today in favor of Nick Evans, the 1B/OF we experimented with last year. Hopefully he can do a little better than fmart did and have some more position versatility as well.

We needed a strong start last night because the bullpen has been shaky lately so having a guy go at least 6 innings was a big help. Parnell is coming back down to earth at the wrong time so it looks like Jerry Manuel will continue to go with Sean Green in the 8th inning. For me the most notable perfomances last night were from Daniel Murphy (3 hits) and Ryan Church (a big late RBI). If those guys can get and stay at least warm it relieves some pressure of Beltran and Wright having to do it all offensively.

Nothing frustrates me more than seeing the mets continuosly taking the 3-1 pitch  for a strike. In the 8th inning today Castillo was up and on the 3-1 pitch was offering to bunt, that's right folks, 3-1 nobody on one out and your team is down by a run and what do you do try and bunt, pull the bat back and hear the umpire call the pitch a strike! Then bottom 9 mets down 2 at this point, Alex Cora, who has been doing everything right does the exact same thing! Keith Hernandez talked about it a few games back when someone took the 3-1. You're ahead in the count! Use it to your advantage! Even little league players know that you take 3-0 and swing 3-1 or 2-0. With a struggling lineup as is why would you make it even harder to score runs?! Howard Johnson needs to address this and get better at bats out of this lineup.

The same old Mets showed up yesterday to play the Rays. In a way it's a good thing because that means we get quality starts from Johan Santana, which is a relief after his last few outings. But it also means that Santana gets little offensive support.

The mets really need to win the game today, if they can win a series against the defending AL champs then that is great.  They really need this win.  Santana had a great start yesterday, even though he got the loss.  I'd rather see him pitch great and lose then pitch horrible and win.  Although pitching great and winning would be even better!  How come the Mets can never ( except for that brief stretch ) score runs when Santana is pitching?  

This game against the Rays continued a terrible streak of series losses. The Mets have lost four straight series to the Phillies, Yankees, Orioles and Rays. The Mets are 6-12 in June. That is an ugly record. It could very well get worse now that Carlos Beltran is DL'd. I only hope that the remaining squad can gut it out and at least play sound baseball until we start getting some regulars back on the team.