Pen Is Mightier Than Marlins

I found it interesting that Dontrelle Willis was compared to Steve Carlton today, as Dontrelle may win the majority of the Marlins victories this season, as Carlton did for the 1972 Phillies. But Dontrelle is like Lefty in another way: Willis absolutely kills the Mets. He might kill the Mets in the same way that Pat Burrell and Chase Utley kill the Mets. That makes today's 3-2 victory over Willis extremely important...it's as if the 2006 Mets are equipped to embark on a mission to exorcise ghosts. Dontrelle, even though he pitched very well today against the Mets, was neutralized by Carlos Beltran and David Wright today. One ghost down, about three or four left to go.

Tom Glavine was also solid today, only giving up two sixth inning runs in his six innings of work today, but it was the bullpen that gave the Mets enough time to pull ahead of Florida today. In fact, today was the day we might have seen the beginnings of Omar Minaya's master plan coming together. Imagine for a moment if this was some sort of bizarre time warp, and these were last season's Mets. Could anybody in last season's bullpen knifed through the Marlins in the seventh and eighth as Filthy Sanchez cut through them today? Would Braden Looper had gotten any of the young lefthanded Marlins out in the ninth (by the same token, would Joe Girardi have left in Dontrelle Willis to hit for himself in the ninth if it was Looper in the game)?

Sanchez's two scoreless innings and Wagner overcoming some shaky defense in the ninth by three fourths of the Met infield kept the Marlins off the board, setting up the Met ninth inning, where the heart of the lineup did what hearts of lineups are supposed to do, with singles by the Carlos twins set up David Wright's third RBI of the game, a sacrifice fly (he drove in the other two on an ill advised Jeremy Hermida diving attempt which turned into a two run triple). And give Country Time Wagner credit for picking up Jose Reyes after his two out error gave Hermida a chance to knock in the go-ahead run. Anderson Hernandez recovered from a bobble of his own to get Hermida and keep the game tied.

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There's one thing I don't get about the Marlins this season...last year, when the Marlins were a viable major league franchise, Dontrelle Willis batted seventh. So how come on this Marlins squad, he bats ninth?

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Also, did you notice that Bobby Meacham, who was tagged out along with Dale Berra at home plate on the same play, is ironically the third base coach for the Marlins? And don't think he's not gun shy...he held up Mike Jacobs in the fifth inning when he could have scored...and Miguel Cabrera scored easily after running through Meacham's stop sign in the sixth on Josh Willingham's two run double. Someone has issues.

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With the Yankees opening road trip not going so well, they might want to watch out at the airport.

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Vice President Dick Cheney will throw out the first pitch on Tuesday for the Nationals' home opener against the Mets. If I were Brian Schneider, I'd wear extra padding in my mitt for that occasion. I hear Cheney's got a gun for an arm.