Setting Pace

Surely you heard the news today that iPods can disturb the rhythm of your pacemaker.

I wonder if there's scientific proof that watching Aaron Heilman pitch can do the same?

Heilman made a 5-2 game into a 5-4 game with one swing of the bat, but settled down in time to hand the ball to Country Time Billy Wagner for a six pitch save in a one run victory over Jeff Suppan and the Brewers.

Aah, Jeff Suppan. The Mets scored four runs off of him in the fourth inning, and of course the inevitable question popped in: "Where was this in Game 7?" But at least Suppan is having a somewhat decent season. You know what really depresses me? It depresses me that Jeff Flippin' Weaver, who basically shut the Mets down in Games 1 and 5 in last season's NLCS, is 0-6 with a 14.32 ERA. Do you know how bad that is? His last start for Seattle saw him give up six runs in five innings...and his ERA went down! Now, Weaver is now on the disabled list for Seattle, and is a candidate to be either sent to the bullpen or released upon his return.

The same Jeff Weaver we couldn't hit in the playoffs last year.

That's depressing. It's about as depressing as thinking that Heilman has turned the corner with sixteen straight outs, but then he gives up a home run to J.J. Hardy to make things more difficult.

But let's look at the bright side:

• Heilman did straighten out in time to get three outs before getting that third run
• David Wright and Carlos Delgado both cranked home runs (Delgado's to the opposite field) to hopefully put them or keep them on the road to recovery. Damion Easley also hit another home run which turned out to be the winning run (thanks to Heilman).
• Jorge Sosa was good again for the Mets. The home run bug hit him in the fifth and sixth as Geoff Jenkins and Prince Fielder touched him up. But between the two of them and J.J. Hardy, we're not exactly talking about giving up long balls to Rafael Belliard, Frank Taveras, and Buddy Biancalana. This is a good Brewers team, which brings me to the next point:
• This is a good Brewers team. (Redundant? Redundant? Redundant?) This was the series known as the litmus test for us and for them. The Mets took round one, which is huge considering tomorrow's pitching matchup (Ben Sheets vs. Mike Pelfrey) doesn't exactly inspire a lot of confidence.

So sit back and enjoy a cold brew tomorrow (that is, if alcohol hasn't been banned from your clubhouse yet) and enjoy a game that would merely be the foam off the top if the Mets can pull off the win.