Psych Out? Or Just Plain Psychotic?

It's amazing what teams will try these days to psych out the Mets. The Marlins came out on Sunday wearing their eye black like they were the Ultimate Warrior in the middle of a rainstorm. Perhaps they would have been better served pulling the extra head trick that Felix Unger tried against Bobby Riggs. Maybe the extra head could have been Tyler Clippard's head or Kyle Davies' head (both pitchers having looked like Sandy Koufax while facing the Mets, yet spent their next starts looking more like Sandy Duncan).

But this weekend, the Mets put away any hitches and glitches and triskadekaphobias they might have had and put away the Marlins, with the back end of the sweep coming at the expense of Scott Olsen, making the Marlins look more like the Brooklyn Brawler than the Ultimate Warrior.

Meanwhile, in Atlanta, the Braves were busy getting their heads handed to them by the Phillies, and the Mets now have a 4 and 1/2 game lead in a division that just three days earlier was slipping away as everyone wondered if the Mets going 3-6 against Atlanta spelled doom. But let's throw this out there: The Mets record against the rest of the division is 12-5. The Braves, meanwhile, are 11-12 against the likes of Philadelphia, Florida, and the Washington Nationals.

What is striking me about the recent exploits of the Flushing nine is the resurgence of the middle of the order, albeit a reshuffled deck. David Wright and Carlos Delgado have taken their rightful places in the top three on the team RBI list. And Carlos Beltran was heating up against the Fish. What made the Mets so good last season was that for long stretches, every single lineup spot was hot...or at least not in a slump. The Mets have the best record in the National League without hitting on all cylinders in the lineup. They had Reyes and Beltran without having Diesel and Sugar Pants. Now Delgado and Wright are coming around without the help of Reyes. When they're all clicking...well let's just hope the pitching holds up when that happens.

Happy Memorial Day, remember the troops, grill those burgers, and enjoy your day off.

And The Jason Jennings Award Goes To:

We are slowly seeing the return of two disturbing trends.

One is the "Troubles at the Ted". After one season of respite, the Mets have lost three in a row in the house that Time Warner built after winning the first one. It's doubtful that doubt is creeping back into the minds of the Mets about this place, but three in a row is too long a streak for a team that's 14-3 in stadiums not named "Shea" or "Turner".

Another is the infamous "S.U.C.K.M.E" theory, where the Mets famously lose to rookies and jokers. First, it was Tyler Clippard. Tuesday night's "joker" was Kyle Davies, who is slowly becoming a Met killer. Davies hadn't gone eight innings in about a year...and the last time was against the Mets too. And not only that, he sent an Aaron Sele pitch into orbit for a three run home run. It wasn't a typical pitcher home run...down the line off the fair pole just over the way...no, this was a center field blast. Aaron, you really should be ashamed of yourself.

Jorge Sosa wasn't going to go 15-0 throwing one-hitters all the time. And he had some good pitches get knocked around. But not the best timing to lose your first against the team that you really wanted to beat...and against the team chasing you. Bad timing. An 8-1 loss means that the Mets are in the position where they have to save a little face and win these next two games. It's possible with Ollie Perez (who has two stellar games against Atlanta under his belt so far this season), and Tom Glavine going. However, the Braves counter with Chuck James and John Smoltz, and it's entirely possible that they win two more as well.

Damn These Braves And Their Sunday Uniforms

Yeah, the crack staff couldn't come up with a more original title for you today. We all know that it isn't the Sunday uniforms, heck we've already lost to the Braves in their Monday-Saturday uniforms. But one would hope that if the Braves were to lose often enough in these things that look like Luden's Cherry cough drops, that they would stop wearing these loud things and burn the retinas of the entire city of Atlanta.

Ah, but these Braves fans wear rose colored glasses to lessen the effects of these stop sign uniforms, and unfortunately they enjoyed what they saw today, which was a 3-2 Mets loss at the Ted.

Deep down we knew. We knew that it wasn't going to be as easy as coming in to Atlanta, winning three straight, eating their food, dancing with their wives, and having Braves fans turn in their Sunday red jerseys and follow Jose Reyes to the home opener in New York like rats following the pied piper. Sure we were hoping for that. But deep down, with the changes that the Braves made to their bullpen (and the changes that were made to ours that were out of the Mets' control), that it wasn't going to be easy.

And we knew that the breakneck pace of the Mets offense couldn't last forever. After all, Jose Reyes can only do so much, finding a way to get on third base seemingly every trip to the plate. Somebody is going to have to drive him in. On Sunday, the Mets couldn't do it. Hence, two runs and no more. The Braves were one run better because Aaron Heilman couldn't find a way to get Jeff Francoeur, who's been known to swing at flying peanuts in the stands, out.

The Mets are in the midst of nine games which were labeled as tough. They're 4 up and 2 down so far. And guess who makes their way to Shea for the final three "tough games"? Yes, that would be the Philadelphia Phillies who, according to John Kruk, Steve Phillips, and Kevin Kennedy, are God's team. (Yes gentlemen, I'm like Evil Claus this season...I'm keeping track of who's naughty and who's nice.) The Phillies are 1-5, and are a Nationals team away from holding up the division. And that brings me to an e-mail I received from a fan who was touched by crime, and is making a connection to the Phillies:

"As a soothsayer and a talented hater, you are probably used to people coming to you with personal problems. Confident in this, I decided to let you know that my sister's car was recently stolen in downtown Philadelphia. Am I correct that this can and should be directed into hatred for the Phillies? Is it appropriate for me to encourage her to picture Chase Utley with a slim jim down her driver's side window? Cole Hamels piling into the passenger's seat for a joyride? Shane Victorino in the back, trying to talk Utley into doing burnouts in front of cops?" -B.K.

You're more correct than you know, B.K. As I was going through my Cold Case starter kit the other day, I came across a surveillance photo that was forwarded to me from one of my many moles. Turns out you're sister's car was stolen by members of the Phillies, but not who you might think. How do you think Aaron Rowand earned a living while he was out with his broken face?

As you can plainly see, Rowand is armed and dangerous with his sidekick Pat Burrell, as he does on most sliders on the inner half of the strike zone, acting as the lookout. Even with this evidence, your sister is going to have a hard time getting the charges to stick in the city of Philadelphia.

They're telling us that parking is going to be scarce at Shea Stadium for Monday's home opener. But what they're not telling you is the danger of having various members of the Phillies scour the parking lot looking for cars to jack. So remember that if you absolutely cannot take mass transit to Shea and must drive, use The Club as it is always the best deterrent to car theft by Aaron Rowand.

Happy Opening Day, y'all.