After being swept by the Florida Marlins at home for the first time since 2004, the Mets look to at least look competent this weekend as they take on the Philadelphia Phillies for the final four times this season. Last night's 13-4 loss (which I had the unenviable privilege to go to) was a microcosm of the entire season- walks, fielding blunders, poor base running, you name it it was there. While the Mets fade into oblivion, the Phillies look to protect and expand upon their 5 game lead in NL East..in which quite honestly they should be able to do with ease. Oh, and one more thing. If the Phillies win at least three out of four, they can officially eliminate the Mets from playoff contention. The Mets' tragic number stands at 6.


Pitching match-ups for the series:

Tonight: Nelson Figueroa (2-4 4.74 ERA) vs. Cole Hamels (8-9 4.32 ERA)
Figueroa's last start (L 3-5 vs. CHC): 6IP, 4ER, 7H, 2BB, 8K
Career vs. PHI: 0-0 2.84 ERA, 1.42 WHIP, .240 BAA in 4 relief appearances
Road this season: 1-1 1.32 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, .231 BAA in 3 appearances (2 starts)
Hamels' last start (L 3-4 @ HOU): 6IP, 4ER, 8H, 2BB, 6K
Career vs. NYM: 1-4 4.50 ERA, 1.63 WHIP, .318 BAA in 8 appearances (all starts)
Home this season: 5-3 3.67 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, .235 BAA in 13 appearances (all starts)

Saturday: Mike Pelfrey (10-10 4.83 ERA) vs. Jamie Moyer (12-9 4.98 ERA)
Pelfrey's last start (W 4-2 vs. CHC): 8IP, ER, 5H, BB, 5K
Career vs. PHI: 4-2 3.88 ERA, 1.45 WHIP, .273 BAA in 8 appearances (all starts)
Road this season: 4-7 6.55 ERA, 1.77 WHIP, .307 BAA in 12 appearances (all starts)
Moyer's last start (ND 3-4 @ HOU): 6IP, 2ER, 3H, BB, 4K
Career vs. NYM: 8-5 3.55 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, .261 BAA in 21 appearances (all starts)
Home this season: 6-7 6.07 ERA, 1.53 WHIP, .303 BAA in 14 appearances (12 starts)

Sunday's 1pm Game: John Maine (5-4 4.52 ERA) vs. Pedro Martinez (4-0 3.64 ERA)
Maine's last start (L 1-7 @ WAS): 4IP, 7ER, 6H, 2BB, K
Career vs. PHI: 5-0 2.54 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, .211 BAA in 9 appearances (all starts)
Road this season: 1-3 6.34 ERA, 1.65 WHIP, .265 BAA in 6 appearances (all starts)
Martinez' last start (W 5-3 @ WAS): 6.2IP, 3ER, 7H, BB, 4K
Career vs. NYM: 11-3 2.37 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, .206 BAA in 19 appearances (14 starts)
Home this season: 1-0 1.50 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, .186 BAA in 3 appearances (all starts)

Sunday's 805pm Game: Tim Redding (2-5 5.78 ERA) vs. Cliff Lee (13-11 3.13 ERA)
Redding's last start (L 2-4 vs. FLA): 5IP, 4ER, 5H, 4BB, 4K
Career vs. PHI: 5-3 3.13 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, .207 BAA in 13 appearances (all starts)
Road this season: 1-2 5.13 ERA, 1.69 WHIP, .299 BAA in 12 appearances (7 starts)
Lee's last start (W 6-5 @ WAS): 7IP, 5R (4ER), 10H, 0BB, 4K
Career vs. NYM: 1-0 0.00 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, .240 BAA in 1 appearance (start)
Home this season (CLE & PHI): 5-7 3.00 ERA, 1.27 WHIP, .276 BAA in 14 appearances (all starts)

Will the Mets play spoiler or be a welcome mat once again? How will John Maine do in his first start since coming off the DL? When Tobi Stoner spells him, how will he fare? Will Pedro Martinez continue to torment the Mets? Can Angel Pagan learn the fundamentals of base running? Will the Mets hit into another triple play? Stay tuned.
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Sunday (if all goes right) The Mets will face the man whom many (including myself) dubbed as the savior of this Mets franchise. That person being Pedro Martinez. Now obviously he didn't do much on the field but his off the field contributions made him worth the contract that the Mets gave him back in the winter of 2004.

Bhahahahahahahaha

Ok now that that's out of my system, for the second time, the Dominican team (made up of all stars like Hanley Ramirez, Jose Reyes, David Ortiz, Pedro Martinez, Edison Volquez, Robinson Cano, Miguel Tejada etc.) lost to the team from the Netherlands (who's best players are Sidney Ponson and Rick VandenHurk, and all but three have no major league experience).

The good news of course, is that Jose Reyes and Fernando Tatis are now out of harms way and wont be over exerting himself for a pointless tournament.

The other upset is Team Italy defeating Team Canada.

I was actually kind of surprised to see the talent the Canadian team had assembled this year. Justin Morneau, Russel Martin, Jason Bay, Joey Votto, Matt Stairs, Corie Koskie, and Pete Orr are all Canadian? who knew?

But Team Canada lacked pitching talent, and lost to Italy's powerhouse of Nick Punto and Frank Catalanotto. Lets be real, the best player Italy has in that dugout is hitting coach Mike Piazza.

You know, as funny as it is to see these star studded teams lose to teams with just a few major leaguers, I think it highlights an important problem with the World Baseball Classic. The fact of the matter is, the teams with less major league players should win most of the time.

Seriously, to these single A, Japanese league and Latin league players the World baseball classic is like their World Series, it is their opportunity to show the world what they can do, and why a major league club should take a shot on them. So naturally these guys are preparing themselves from months in advance, they are giving 110% for every game. Of course they are going to beat these major leaguers who A) don't really care about the tournament, B) Use the tournament as warm up for the regular season, and C) Aren't playing 50% let alone 100%.

There's really nothing they can do to fix this problem, no major league player is ever going to put the WBC before the regular MLB season. And if they only used amateur players or minor leaguers, it wouldn't garner enough interest from the fans to even warrant having the tournament in the first place.

Of course, the Commissioner wont admit this publicly, but Major League Baseball secretly wants these teams from the Netherlands, Italy, China, Australia, Panama, and South Africa to upset the powerhouse teams. That helps to promote the sport world wide. If team USA, Japan or the Dominican won it every year, it doesn't do much to promote the sport to other countries in Europe, Africa, South America and Asia. Read More...

Although hardly mentioned by the incompetent Jon Miller and Joe Morgan on ESPN, Mets ace Johan Santana won his 100th career game on Sunday night against the Dodgers. His career record is now 100-47. According to the Elias Sports Bureau...

Only four other active (or disabled) pitchers had fewer than 50 losses at the time of their 100th career win: Mike Mussina (100-43), Tim Hudson (100-45), Roy Oswalt (100-47) and Pedro Martinez (100-49).

Congrats Johan! Read More...

Baseball is finally back! Its great to finally be able to say that as it has been a long off season full of rumors, injury reports and the like.

Judging on how the first 3 games went, it looks to me as if the Mets are taking this season much more seriously and are much more hungry out in the field. They are not expecting to be in first place and know that they must earn every win.

Reyes has seemingly forgotten about his horrible second half of 2007 and started off hitting .333 through 4 games along with David Wright and Carlos Beltran getting started quickly as well.

However, with the offense clicking, the Mets suffered a key injury with Pedro Martinez tweaking his hamstring and going on the disabled list. This was expected to happen sooner or later and hopefully this will be the only thing that Pedro will run into this year.

The next week will be a key time for the Mets as division play heats up with the Braves and the Phillies. I would hope the fire that we have seen with the Mets continues because we all know how the games with the Braves and Phillies could go. In my opinion, winning 4 of 6 games this early could set the tone very nicely for the Mets. The hitting will have to continue and the bullpen, even though Matt Wise already blew one game, will have to stay in tact and pitch to the best of their abilities.

Hopefully, with what we have seen so far, things will continue nicely.

Until next time...
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SNY has reported that Pedro Martinez will be out 4-6 weeks with a strained hamstring. Nelson Figueroa is now with the team and is headed to the bullpen.

-Well, this could have been much worse. I still wouldn't be surprised if Pedro returns in June but we'll have to see. Read More...

Willie Randolph was on Mike and the Mad Dog this afternoon.
-Said that Pedro was in MRI machines as they were speaking (this was around 5 p.m. this afternoon. So much for Pedro having that MRI first thing in the morning.)
-Randolph fully expects Pedro to go on the DL.
-Hinted that Nelson Figueroa will be added to the rotation. It is being reported that Figueroa is on his way to Miami (according to Metsblog).
-Mike Pelfrey looked great in the bullpen today according to Randolph. And you guys were worried.
-Said that the Mets will in no way hurry El Duque back. Yeah, cause we wouldn't want to rush an injured and aging pitcher back to the rotation.
-Randolph praised the Mets bullpen for their work in the first two games of the season.
-Reassured fans that the clubhouse is indeed emotionally intact after Pedro hurt himself. I, for one, am sick of hearing about how Pedro's injuries will cripple team morale. It's the second game of the season. If losing Pedro Martinez is crippling to anything regarding this team, it's going to be a very long season.
-He continued his praise of John Maine, even saying that Maine has a little swagger going for him.
-Duaner Sanchez may be back before May.
-Also, Luis Castillo has one leg shorter than the other. I can't make this up, friends.

Randolph of course said more but nothing earth shattering. Perhaps we'll learn more about Martinez during tonight's game. Read More...

Well ladies and gentlemen it is April in Queens, and as usual optimism is in the air at Shea Stadium. In our season opener, Johan Santana looked great, D-Dubs was hitting the ball, and all were happy in Mets world. Then yesterday came about, and we got our smack back down to reality.

Pedro Martinez trotted out to the mound for his first start of the season, and by the mid way point of last nights game cemented his place with Moises Alou as the most worthless member of the New York Metropolitans baseball squad. What we all saw coming happened in the bottom of the fourth inning at Dolphin Stadium last night in Miami. On a routine ground ball, Pedro managed to find a way to get hurt and get himself taken out of the game. Which I was alright with, because he looked like complete garbage.

So in the next day or two we will be hearing MRI results, and that Pedro will most likely miss the first two months of the season, because he is useless. Pedro then will fly down to some small minuscule Spanish island, meet up with his just as useless buddy Alou, and begin the healing process (and by healing I mean margaritas).

Now I know that most Mets fans have this awesome hard on for Moises Alou, but I for the life of me cannot figure out why. From April to July the man is harder to find then the Ultimate Warrior at a wrestling match. I don't care how good you are when you're healthy, if you only play less then half a season. That my friends is what I call counter production, and last time I checked counter production does not lead to World Championships. You know what is going to be awesome though, when Captain Useless is ready to return in July and Angel Pagan is hitting like .300 (that's right I said it) we're going to welcome him back with open arms. I have a better idea, release him, and let's just rid ourselves of the problem.

The same goes for Martinez. He is most likely going to be injured for a while now, because he is old and his bones and muscles don't heal so well. So you know what I say, deal him back to Boston and let him waste away in injured mediocrity up there. Plus his heart is still in Boston anyways (less we forget the inter league disaster of 2006).

So let's review and compare. We have two injured Hispanic men who spend most of their summers on a beach rather than a ball field. When they play they are solid, but they never play. They are an asset to this team...how? Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the two most useless men on the New York Mets since the Greg Jefferies/Jeff Innis era. Give it up for Moises Alou and Pedro Martinez.
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As reported practically everywhere (including this website), Mets pitcher Pedro Martinez injured his left leg during the bottom of the fourth inning against the Florida Marlins on Tuesday night. Martinez immediately limped off the mound after getting the first out of the inning, a routine ground ball. The extent of the injury is unknown, but Martinez was shown limping on SNY. SNY also reported that Martinez claimed to "hear a pop" in his hamstring. He is scheduled to have an MRI early Wednesday morning.

Anything until Wednesday will be pure speculation. Pedro hearing a "pop," though, is not good. Personally, I'll be surprised if we see Martinez on the hill before the summer. We at Global NYM will post any updates as soon as they come available but don't expect anything until early afternoon on Wednesday. Read More...

Heartbroken, anger, and disbelief, are just a few of the many emotions being shown by the 15,000+ members in the facebook group after the Mets historic meltdown.

Who can really blame them? This wasn’t the ending we all planned on. Two weeks ago we held a very comfortable 7 game lead with 17 to play. We were sitting in the driver’s seat looking at the SNY pocket schedule, seeing 13 of our last 17 games against the lowly Nationals and Marlins. In a year full of injuries and so called disappointments this is when we were finally going to get it done. Guess what? It didn’t happen, but life moves on.

Though we didn’t win the World Series, there are many individual moments that us as fans can look back on and be very proud of. Watching things like the continuing development of young players Lastings Milledge and Mike Pelfrey, exciting plays like the Endy Chavez drag bunt or the Carlos Beltran catch in Houston, the scoreless inning streaks of Pedro Feliciano and rookie Joe Smith, Tom Glavine’s 300th career win, John Maine’s two near no hitters, Shawn Green chasing Hank Greenberg for the all-time Jewish home run record, the return of Pedro Martinez, etc… these are the things that when I look back on the 2007 Mets I’m going to remember.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m just as upset as the rest of you. But in a year in which 99% of us are going to call it a letdown, there are those little things that we should all take with us, that we can all look back on, and that we can all remember to put an instant smile on our faces. And if that doesn’t work? 2008 is just around the corner. Read More...

The Mets Completed the 3 game sweep of the Houston Astros today, winning by a score of 4-1. Pedro Martinez pitched well in his Shea debut, pitching 5 innings, giving up no runs on 6 hits, and walking 1 and striking out 4. He also contributed with his bat hitting a double and scoring a run in the 3rd inning.

The Mets outscored the Astros 18-5 in the three game series, and had some impressive outings from Mike Pelfrey who earned his second win of the season on Friday, Tom Glavine who took a perfect game into the 6th inning Saturday, and the aforementioned Pedro Martinez in his Shea debut on Sunday.

The Mets' Magic number is now down to 15. With the Braves and Phillies coming into town this week, the Mets will look for some redemption for last week's now forgotten sweep, one more sweet series against the boys from Atlanta, and will look to seal up the NL East.
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Despite many Mets fans pushing the panic button last Thursday night, just five days later the Mets are alive and well. Was the four game sweep from the Phillies finally the last straw of complacency? Was it Pedro's return to the clubhouse & rotation that bolstered the attitude and confidence level of this team? Everyone has their own theories and opinions; I believe it was a little bit of both. Either way, the Mets have finally won 5 in a row. They may have waited until the last hour of the regular season to find it, but this team has a pulse.

Make no mistake about it, the Mets bats are alive. If this was the lineup everyone raved about in April, then there is reason for excitement. The Mets have been quite balanced in their offensive approach in the past 6 days, with the bottom of the lineup putting up pretty hefty numbers. Since the beginning of the Atlanta series, the Mets have outscored their opponents 36-15. They have outhit the opposition 51-27, with 11 home runs. The opposition has 1 long ball, which came off the bat of Brandon Phillips, courtesy Scott Schoeneweis. The pitching has been strong; the defense has been solid despite a few spotty moments; the offense has been relentless. Put the panic button away.

Oliver Perez's stubborn ways are also alive and well. The rollercoaster ride that he is may be a ride we never get off. Despite all that you still have to like the kid and be content with 13 victories to this point. My only concern is that if he continues to walk 127 batters every outing, his hopes of being a part of the postseason rotation may not live much longer.

Many people have spent countless hours trying to compare the 2006 Mets to the 2007 Mets, which I believe is a complete waste of time and energy. Team dynamics, injuries, the competition, etc all vary from year to year. That is the beauty of baseball so to expect a replica of 2006 is absurd. As fun as last year was, I don't want the '06 Mets. The 2006 Mets broke my heart. Would you rather have a team that dominates all year, only to look a little flat in September like last year...or a team that goes up and down all year, only to peak at the right time heading down the stretch? I would take the latter. Only time will tell if that will be the tale of this year's team. One thing is for sure, we can take this team off life support. They look alive. There is a pennant in sight and October is just a calendar page away. This is the stuff baseball fans live for. And over the next 25 days , the 2007 Mets will begin to define their season. We'll see how long they can stay alive...or if they will make this a season that live forever.
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The Mets seemed down and out after being swept by the surging Phillies on Thursday, three days later, things couldn't look brighter. The Mets headed into Atlanta over the weekend knowing they had to come with their A game, and they did. Turner Field has never been kind to the Mets in the month of September, but the "new" Mets we're up for the challenge.

The Mets outscored the Braves by a score of 3 to 2 in the final game of the series on Sunday to put the Braves back an insurmountable 7.5 games with only 25 games to play.

The Mets pitching was superb, allowing only 4 runs the entire series, and keeping the Braves big bats of Chipper Jones, Mark Teixeira and Andrew Jones in check throughout the series. The Braves only got one extra base hit the entire series, which was Brian McCann's double in the 9th inning Sunday against Billy Wagner. The highlight of the weekend had to be the fantastic outing by Mike Pelfrey, who earned his first win of the season on Saturday allowing just 1 run on 1 hit over 6 innings. We hope to see more of this in the future from Pelfrey.

The hitting was equally as good, scoring 15 runs on 28 hits, with 2 home runs from Carlos Delgado, who seems to have his swing back, as well as homers from Carlos Beltran, David Wright, Lastings Milledge and Jose Reyes.

The Mets will look to keep the hot streak going, as Pedro Martinez will make his long awaited season debut tomorrow in Cincinnati, he will be faced by Reds ace Aaron Harang.
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With some shuffling of the lineup and getting everyone healthy, the Mets may finally have everything they need to play some good baseball. The bullpen will hold its own and if Beltran can stay healthy and find ways to produce, Mets fan may be able to sleep better at night.

One of the most needed lineup changes has come with Willie giving Lastings Milledge more playing time. I have never been crazy about Milledge, but it has been obvious that he needs to play. Shawn Green is probably at the end of his road, which is unfortunate, but that's the way the game goes. Milledge provides this team with much needed youth and defense, while Green has proved to be a liability for the Mets is every sense. Let me add, I really have no idea what the Mets expected out of Green is signing him last August. From '98-'02 he put up significant power numbers and have seen an incredible drop-off since. I know the Mets had a hole to fill in RF last summer, yet all he has provided is a random 4-4 day, awkward belly flops, and a flying hat. Hopefully, Milledge will embrace this opportunity to prove himself to this organization once and for all.

Yesterday I posted an update on Pedro's 2nd rehab start and although all of us have been warned some Mets fans still believe that Pedro is going to come back and be a savior for this ball club. Do not hold your breath friends...you may end up turning blue. If Pedro continues to progress, he will be at best an average pitcher when he returns. The energy that is Pedro should be a shot in the arm if he returns to New York, but he will not be a front end starter who will go deep into games. If he can provide the Mets will quality starts during the stretch run, that would be a success for this season. Expecting too much from Pedro Martinez may only be setting yourself up for disappointment.

Moises Alou used to make me see red. While he was injured, his status was always the biggest mystery of the early summer. What's even better is that while we have no idea if he would return this century, the Mets tease me on the scoreboard with "Moises Alou's favorite vacation spot in the Dominican Republic." Well, that's nice Mo, but could you find your way back to NY? Thankfully he did, and I take back any anger I had towards him in June. If he stays healthy and continues to come up in clutch situations, I am officially an idiot.

Last but not least, some red flags. I still have faith in John Maine and Oliver Perez, but there is some concern regarding these 2 young arms. John Maine has never thrown this many innings, and should we get to the postseason, I don't know if we'll see the Maine of last October. Oliver Perez could be suffering from fatigue as well, yet he has some more experience from his time in Pittsburgh. The Mets do not have the luxury of rest their starters as they did last August with a 15 game lead. These kids need to dig deep and come up big for the Mets as we head for the home stretch.

We're 75% of the way there...keep the faith Mets fans! Read More...

Today Pedro Martinez pitched in his 2nd rehab start for the Gulf Coast League Mets. His pitching line was as follows:
4 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 4 K

He threw 60 pitches - 47 for strikes- while throwing an additional 20 in a bullpen session after his outing. One of his hits was a home run. I can't seem to find any news on his velocity today but I'm certain SNY will give us an update this evening.

Uncertain what the Mets will do with Pedro next. Seems that their plan may be to have one or two more rehab starts (Port St. Lucie or New Orleans) before joining the big club.

A report from ESPN regarding Pedro's start today can be found here. Read More...

Pedro Martinez is making his first rehabilitation start Wednesday for the St Lucie Mets against the Lakeland Tigers. So far word from St Lucie is that Pedro is feeling fine following his inter squad game last week where he threw 67 pitches and ready to work his fastball a bit more. Last week he topped out around 88 mph which is about where Pedro was most of the time last season while healthy. Hopefully we can see Pedro hit the low 90s. Read More...

Pedro Martinez's first rehabilitation start was rained out, so he will throw a simulated game of 45 pitches against hitters from the Mets' Gulf Coast League team on Thursday.

Martinez had been slated to pitch Wednesday night for the St. Lucie Mets against the Brevard County Manatees.

"The plan is to try to simulate as close as possible to a real game,'' Mets assistant general manager John Ricco said.

Martinez, a three-time Cy Young Award winner, had rotator cuff surgery last Oct. 5 and threw to batters on June 26 for the first time after the operation. The 35-year-old right-hander likely will be scheduled for a minor league rehab start early next week.

New York hopes to have him back in its rotation next month. Read More...

We've made it through 2/3 of the season and somehow, the Mets are still clinging to first place. I have been patient; I have not panicked; I still believe this can be a good team. There were a lot of things I could write about: Lastings Milledge, Trade Deadline Hangover, Glavine's failed attempt at 300. But today, August 1st, Willie Randolph and I are no longer on speaking terms.

I know Willie is still a fairly new manager and I respect him for what he has done with team since he came to the organization. I try to stay away from being an "armchair manager" to keep frustrations at a minimum. Frankly though, I can't listen to the speech anymore.

I realize that Willie Randolph comes from the School of Joe Torre, which can be maddening. I'd like to see a few more instances that he comes out of the dugout to go to bat for his guys, yet I appreciate that he maintains an even-keel attitude in the New York spotlight. Willie tends to be a bit of a broken record when speaking with the media after each game, which can be expected in a long season, but I cringe now when I hear "Well, we come out and get a win tomorrow."

Baseball is a long season, with a lot of ups and downs. We all know this. With two months left to the season, tomorrow's are becoming a bit numbered. I have a hard time knowing that my team rolls over after every loss and just waits for tomorrow. If this is the message that Willie is sending, I am officially annoyed. It is okay to turn the page, but when have you reached the point of the season where you play for today? When you're in a playoff series, tomorrows are not endless. It makes me wonder about this team that has looked to the next game throughout the regular season. Assuming they make the playoffs, will they be able to turn on the ability to play like there's no tomorrow in October? I'm not so sure I'm convinced this team has that killer instinct or if they are a gang of incredible procrastinators.

Despite the prospects we do have in our system, this team is built to win this year. The division (a weak one at that) is going to come right down to the wire. It's time to win today.

On a sidenote, Pedro will thorw in an intra-squad game in St. Lucie tomorrow due to rain. I am as excited as anyone else to see his progress, yet I'm not sure if I could have actually watched SNY's coverage tonight. All year the Mets have been trying to stumble through until Pedro's return and we still cannot be certain that Pedro = instant success. I am holding my breath and hoping that he continues to show positive signs, yet I can't get my hopes up for Pedro who is still a bit away from the big club. We know how I feel about tomorrow. Read More...

By Adam Rossi

As the season rolls on and the Mets continue to fight for their second consecutive NL East title, the focus now seems to be on Tom Glavine, and when he will get career win number 300. Needing only two more victories with two and a half months left in the season, barring injury, it seems inevitable that it will occur shortly or at least by season's end. In any case, whenever a team can go into the post season and throw a pitcher out on the mound that has 300 career wins, a World Series MVP Award, and a Cy Young Award, they should feel very good about their chances. But can the Mets say that about Tom Glavine this year?

As most Mets fans know, despite being 11 games over .500 and 2.5 games ahead of the Atlanta Braves for first place, the 2007 season has been quite a roller coaster ride. While there have been many positive surprises and exciting moments, there has also been inconsistency and bad luck. The same can be said about Tom Glavine's season. So far this year, Glavine has pitched a complete game, one hit shutout (albeit a six-inning, rain shortened game), an 8-inning performance in which he allowed only two hits and one run. He has also gone at least six innings in 17 of his 21 starts. However, he's also had outings in which the Mets have given him first inning leads of 3-0 (at Detroit) and 6-0 (at Los Angeles Thursday night), and Glavine was not only unable to record the win, but not even get through the fifth inning. Thursday night the Mets spotted him leads of 6-0 after the first and 9-4 after the top of the 3rd inning, meanwhile Glavine was unable to record an out in the bottom of the 3rd inning. Against the Yankees at Yankee Stadium, the Mets handed Glavine a lead three different times in four innings and Glavine was unable to hold them (the Mets lost the game 11-8). Also, in an early April matchup against John Smoltz and the Braves, Glavine threw 114 pitches and lasted only 5.1 innings to take the loss. It seems that the recurring theme in all his less than stellar outings is that they have come against playoff caliber teams. In fact, against teams with a .500 or better record (also included are the Phillies, who are 57-58, but trail the Mets by 6 games in the NL East) Glavine has posted a 3-5 record with an ERA of 6.67. The Mets are 6-7 in those games. Meanwhile, against teams that are under .500, Glavine has a 5-1 record with an ERA of 1.80, and the Mets are 7-1 in those games. Of course it is much harder to defeat winning teams than it is to defeat team that are struggling. There's a difference, though, between losing to a good team and constantly struggling to beat them.

Come October, the Mets won't be playing teams like the Reds and the Nationals. Glavine is going to have to step on the mound and face teams like the Dodgers, who he allowed 6 earned runs in only 2 innings last night, and the Braves, who he has failed to beat in three outings this year. With the uncertainty of Pedro Martinez's health, and the fragility of Orlando Hernandez, it is essential that Glavine start pitching like the future Hall Of Famer that he is. John Maine and Oliver Perez have pitched well, but there's no guarantee they can keep it up. Maine has already showed signs of coming back down to Earth in his last two outings. The Mets need Tom Glavine to be the number one starter they thought he would be at the start of the season, otherwise, their hopes for a World Series could be in trouble.

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