The last two games have not been that pretty but at least they show that the Mets can win even when not firing on all cylinders.

On Wednesday the Mets were beneficiaries of sloppy play by the Phillies. Credit to the team for capitalizing on that sloppy play. Last night's game proved that Wednesday wasn't a fluke. There is no hex. The Mets can beat the Phillies anytime they want to.

Here are some of the positives and negatives on my mind after last night's game.

Positive

1. Angel Pagan has been a revelation. He puts the bat on the ball. He's fast. And he gets clutch hits. He should be in the two spot in the order even after Castillo returns.
2. Starting pitching has been strong. Santana pitched well on Sunday. Perez looked good in the opener vs. the Phils. Pelfrey was good on Wednesday. John Maine was sharp last night.
3. We've gotten good work, with a couple of exceptions, out of the bullpen. They threw four scoreless innings on Wednesday. And the final four innings were scoreless last night.

Negative

1. Aaron Heilman looks like he's auditioning for the part of Guillermo Mota. He's given up two runs in each of his last three appearances.
2. Mets starting pitchers are not going deep enough into games. Pelfrey gave five innings the other night. Before that Perez couldn't finish a complete six innings. Maine didn't get an out in the seventh last night. Between the starters and Heilman, the Mets bullpen is in danger of being seriously overworked this season.
3. The Mets hitting leaves something to be desired. The chief culprits are our biggest hope too. Jose Reyes is hitting .222 and David Wright is hitting .233. It's very hard to score runs when these two guys aren't performing well.

All in all I think that we are fortunate to be 4-4 right now. Willie has his work cut out figuring out how to fill the holes in the pitching rotation. Pelfrey will replace Duque for the time being and Nelson Figueroa is getting a shot tonight. I think the bats of Reyes and Wright will come back soon. With a questionable starter on the mound tonight's game would be the best time for that to happen.