Days Like This

What? You thought every game was going to be easy? You thought it was going to be 16-3 games the rest of the season?

Of course you didn't. You're a Met fan. And your momma said there'd be days like this.

At least my momma did. She was a Dodger fan, so she should know.

Lucky for us, Tom Glavine is making like Sandy Koufax with his eleven strikeouts in six innings, and after some Maalox moments with the bullpen, the Mets are now 8-1 after a 4-3 victory.

Certainly took long enough after an hour and a half rain delay, but the rain and mist was probably a welcome addition to Glavine's dead fish pitches tonight. It certainly wasn't a welcome addition to Bill Hall's day, as his fifth inning error allowed the eventual winning run to stay on base and eventually score on Carlos Delgado's fielder's choice.

But Glavine was the story tonight. His willingness to pitch inside is key here. I can imagine why an old man like Glavine who makes his living on the outside corner and could no longer break a pane of glass with his fastball would be reluctant to pitch inside and risk having his mistakes travel with an orbit. But once he started doing that (which was around the time I had his career dead and buried, coincidentally after a Brewers game), it's been quite Koufax-ian. And the boos that Glavine once heard at Shea have long stopped.

Speaking of boos, it was quite hysterical to hear Aaron Heilman get booed by the Shea faithful after his abysmal performance tonight in the seventh inning. I'm sure it's been weird for Met fans to witness baseball so solid that it's rare that someone on this team deserves to get booed. So the first bad performance was sure to be met with a little more gusto...especially since we weren't going to see Jorge Julio in this close game. So poor Aaron Heilman received the boo bomb. Well, I shouldn't say poor Aaron Heilman. After all, his ERA was a healthy infinity tonight.

But lucky for us, there's Filthy Sanchez. And he picked up for Aaron, and gutted through the eighth inning to get the Mets to Country Time. And Country Time got the Mets 1-2-3, with a fastball that seems to be gaining steam...much like the team he plays for.

And speaking of karma, here's why there was good karma for the Mets tonight against Milwaukee: The class A affiliate of the very Brewers that were in Shea tonight, the West Virginia Power, welcomed former Met catcher Ed Hearn tonight as their special guest in conjunction with their "Power of Donation" night. Hearn is a proponent of organ and tissue donation and his story, which most of you know, is amazing.

The good karma reached up all the way to the bigs tonight.

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One last note that's not Met related but it's hysterical so I'll mention it anyway. After a two and a half hour rain delay, the Giants and Dodgers are currently in the first inning. It is absolutely surreal to hear Dodger fans basically bombard Barry Bonds while in left field with "Barry Sucks" chants (helped along by the Dodger organist), and chants of "Steeeer-ooooids". And the Giants announcing team of Glen Kuiper and Mike Krukow aren't saying one word about it.

As you know, Barry Bonds is facing perjury charges for lying on his own ESPN show.