This guy would love patrolling center in Citi Field

In case you missed it, there was a tremendous catch made in the College World Series opening-round game June 20 between Florida and UCLA by Florida center fielder Matt Den Dekker.

If the name sounds familiar, it's because he was the Mets' fifth-round selection in the 2010 draft, taken 152nd overall.

A three-time member of the All-SEC defensive team, Den Dekker is referred to in the video as the best center fielder in Florida history. He hit .358 in his senior year. The catch has shades of Willie Mays and Jim Edmonds.

Think he'd enjoy roaming the wide-open spaces of the Citi Field outfield?

There's a better link to the video here.

Here's another one where he steals a home run.

Welcome to the House of Fun

I haven't been to Citi Field recently, not since Opening Week (I know, what am I waiting for?) but I understand that since the Mets have begun winning at home with scary regularity, the team has begun playing "Our House" by the English group Madness.

It's a good song, it's on my iPod, but I think a better choice by the same group is "House of Fun." Because that's what Citi Field has become for Mets fans these days. A place where the team and its fans are having a ball.

It's a real fun house when R.A. Dickey is on the hill tossing his knuckleball around. Dickey baffled the Tigers for eight innings Wednesday night and improved to 6-0 in just seven starts. The guy has been flat-out incredible. One of the all-time finds for Omar Minaya. You can say Omar was lucky with this one, but he saw enough in Dickey to sign him, so give him credit.

More fun came from Jose Reyes, as always. One night after Angel Pagan missed a cycle by a home run, Reyes fell a double short, tripling to lead off the game and adding a home run in the fifth.

And who had more fun than Keith and Gary with Jerry Seinfeld in the booth tonight? And for 4 1/2 innings! Fantastic.

Since Jerry asked, my favorite Mets moment has to be the Grand Slam Single. I was there at Shea for that and for the Endy Chavez catch, but nothing will top what it was like when Ventura hit that homer. Total mayhem.

Total madness.

All sorts of tremendous

So much to enjoy today about the Mets:

1. Justin Verlander was in trouble from the start, and it just got worse for the Tigers from there. Sixteen hits, 14 runs, eight runs in the third inning after a rain delay, and the Mets routed Detroit for yet another win at home. That put the Mets 10 games over .500 with 40 wins on the season, with a 25-10 record at Citi Field.

Nice work by the top of the order — the first four hitters went 13-for-21, with 10 runs scored and 10 RBIs. And Angel Pagan, facing questions about possibly getting less playing time next month (see below), stepped up his game with four hits, one homer short of a cycle, and four runs batted in.

Niese kind of fell apart after the rain delay, but with an hour break and a huge lead that wasn't too surprising. But good work by Fernando Nieve for the win, and nice to see Bobby Parnell for an inning while Jennry Mejia goes back to the minors to start. Parnell showed flashes last season before running into the ground, but if he can be the hard-throwing strikeout guy in the late innings (and if Igarashi can bounce back), that's a huge boost for the bullpen.

2. We're spoiled as Mets fans because we have the best three-man TV booth in the game in Gary Cohen, Keith Hernandez and Ron Darling (Bobby O and Chris Carlin are excellent in the pre- and post-game as well). But it's about to get better when Jerry Seinfeld enters the booth and calls three innings of tonight's game with Keith and Gary.

I'm sure the references to Keith's apperance on the show in "The Boyfriend" episode (wow, that was 18 years ago) will get taken care of in the first inning — the magic loogie, "I'm Keith Hernandez" — but I'm looking forward to hearing some real fan perspective from Jerry. The DVR is set.

3. More Jerry: He called Steve Somers' show on WFAN Tuesday night and trashed Lady Gaga. Awesome.

4. And Carlos Beltran is starting his rehab assignment, which means he may actually be back after the All-Star break. In the lineup. Playing real games.

Sure, that means tough decisions for Jerry Manuel in the outfield, but it's safe to say that Beltran won't be rushed, maybe play 4-5 games a week, with Pagan getting a day off and Francoeur getting two days off, Bay getting a game off every week or two. Nothing wrong with that.

Like they say, a good problem to have.

5. And yeah, Kevin James threw out the first pitch Tuesday. He gets some flak in some parts but I like him. Grew up right near me in Suffolk County. "Mall Cop" was underrated.

Subway Series: Just as it was foreseen

The Mets took two of three from the Yankees at Citi Field, and the Yankees returned the favor at Yankee Stadium this weekend, a series split that gave the Mets a 7-2 road trip that vaulted the club into the Wild Card lead and within three games of first place in the NL East.

That gap was as close as a half game, but the Braves swept the Kansas City Royals while the Mets lost twice in the Bronx. Is there a catchy nickname for when the Braves and Royals face off? Didn't think so.

The Mets didn't manage a win with their top two starters on the mound, as Mike Pelfrey and Johan Santana were out-dueled by Phil Hughes and C.C. Sabathia. But having won eight in a row, it's tough to get too down on them.

Pelfrey just didn't have his rhythm against the Yankees, which I imagine would be a problem for most National League pitchers, seeing as how the Yankees take a particularly leisurely approach to the plate. And it's not just the Yankees: American League baseball, with the DH and short fences, looks like slow-pitch softball sometimes compared to the National League, characterized by bigger fields and more of an emphasis on pitching, speed and defense.

Did you see the grand slam by Mark Texeira? A fly out at Citi Field. Sire, Jose Reyes took advantage for two home runs on Saturday, but as the home team the Yankees have many more opportunities to capitalize on the embarrassing dimensions of their ballpark. Jorge Posada recently hit two grand slams — at least one would have landed in an outfielder's glove in Flushing.

As for Santana, he didn't lose the game as much as Sabathia won, shutting down the Mets lineup. You had to feel for Santana, allowing a runner to load the bases on a fielding mishap covering a bunt, only to allow the cheapie slam to Texeira a batter later. Other than that, Santana was good, not great.

Maybe he was good enough to win on another day, but then again, Santana has been great enough to win a few times this season only to come away without the 'W.'

More amusing than the games themselves was the nonsense concerning Reyes and his celebrating, or the comments made by Keith Hernandez about Cervelli's futile attempts to deke runners on base by feigning passed balls.

It's apples and oranges. Reyes celebrates when he does something well, or when his team succeeds. Lots of players do to different degrees. Yankees fans who complain about Reyes should pay attention to themselves when Joba pumps his fist or when Nick Swisher styles.

Cervelli's antics are about deception and what is and is not acceptable. The hidden ball trick works rarely, and is tried rarely. Imagine if you saw that every game. It would become extremely tiresome. Aren't we all professionals here?

What Cervelli does is akin to the hidden ball trick, and perhaps that's what offended Hernandez's sensibilities as a former MLB player. Try it once, okay. Try it again, and again, and it's like, are you kidding me with that? Leave it at the schoolyard. This isn't Little League.

More interleague nonsense coming up this week as the Tigers and Twins visit Citi Field. Meanwhile, the Mets lead the Wild Card standings, when just a couple of weeks ago they were on the fringes of the group. That's progress.

This win was worth the (extra long) wait

Note to self: When DVRing any game involving the Yankees, make sure you set the record time for more than four hours.

Here's when I ran out of recording time for Friday night's game at Yankee Stadium: Bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, one out, two strikes on Derek Jeter.

Aaaaaaaaaauuuuugh!

A 4-0 game that was humming along nicely while Hisanori Takahashi and Javier Vasquez were dealing slowed to an absolute crawl. Seriously? You can't get a 4-0 game — one that featured 8 hits for each team — in under four hours? Joe West was right. That is ridiculous.

Equally insane is the preset recording time for Mets games on SNY (on Cablevision; I wonder if it's the same on other systems): 2 1/2 hours. I know the Mets are in the National League, but how many games really get in under 2:30? Not a lot.

So I added one to the hours column to make it 10, then clicked up two on the first digit of the minutes section to 5, which set the recording time to end at 10:50 p.m. I almost always watch the games late, and when the recording stopped with Jeter at the plate the time in the real world was 12:15 a.m. Saturday. The game had been over by about an hour.

So I had to go online to find out how it ended, fearing that I would see 5-4 Yankees or something equally horrific, like a Jeter grand slam off of Frankie Rodriguez.

Thankfully, it was just strikeout Jeter, foul out on Swisher caught by David Wright and the Mets win their eighth straight, their ninth shutout (wow) of the season. Niiiiiiiiice.

Takahashi was brilliant, shutting down the Yankees again, as was Pedro Feliciano. Wright made a great slide to score the first run, Angel Pagan came up huge with a two-run double in the eighth, and Jose Reyes tacked on an RBI in the ninth.

Texeira, A-Rod and Cano? A combined 1-for-11.

Fantastic for the Mets to win the first game of the series, with two great showdowns coming up Saturday and Sunday. This is going to be a fun weekend.

Going off the rails on a crazy train

The Mets are the hottest team in baseball, winners of seven straight — the last six on the road — and nine of their last 10, a juggernaut that is 12-2 in the month of June.

The runaway train pulls into New Yankee Stadium just a half-game behind the Braves for first place in the NL East, while the Yankees begin in a flat-footed tie for first in the AL East.

The Yanks might be in first place all by their lonesome had they not lost two of three to the Phillies, but hey — who's counting?

R.A. Dickey improved to 5-0 with a win Thursday, as the Mets went 6-0 against the feeble Orioles and Indians. Mets fans would have taken 4-2 in a heartbeat, but there's no denying this team lately.

Dickey has been so good — the Mets are 5-1 in his starts — that my 8-year-old son wants to learn the knuckleball. I think he actually tried to throw one the other night in his Little League game, except the palm of his hand somehow ended up facing him, and he looked like he was flicking a playing card into a hat. The batter swung and missed, though, so maybe he's on to something.

You loved seeing Reyes clap his hands together after legging out a triple that gave the Mets a two-run lead in the eighth, and this time there was little drama with K-Rod for the save.

Expect that to change in the Yankees series, where I can't say I'd complain too much if the Mets won just one. The pitching matchups look fantastic: Takahashi vs. Vasquez is a mere appetizer followed by Pelfrey vs. Hughes in a battle of the future aces, and then Santana vs. Sabathia on Father's Day.

I know where I'll be.

No more drama, lots more wins

While Jonathon Niese was turning in his third straight start of seven innings or more and three earned runs or less — we haven't seen that since the legend that is Jae Seo — which continued the impressive string of performances by Mets starting pitchers, Gary Cohen asked Ron Darling about how the rotation was able to turn things around so dramatically.

The answer, said Darling, was less drama. And he is spot on.

Replacing John Maine and Ollie Perez with R.A. Dickey and Hisanori Takahashi served to eliminate two unreliable players from the equation and add two pitchers who throw strikes, are far more consistent, and give the Mets a much greater chance of winning when they are on the mound.

Throw in the return of a healthy Niese, who is showing us all why the team has been so high on him, and suddenly a starting rotation filled with uncertainty has become the rock on which the Mets' resurgence has been built.

Certainly, the offense has been performing as well. David Wright is smashing the ball, Angel Pagan and Jeff Francoeur are hitting, and the team is finally getting the clutch hit and scoring runners on base. But you cannot underestimate the psychological impact that consistently good starting pitching has had on this ballclub.

There's no need to press at the plate knowing that you won't need to score 10 runs to win. You play better in the field because you know your pitcher is going to throw strikes. The bullpen gets extra rest because the starters can go more than five or six innings. Everything is improved.

Niese and Johan Santana both got plenty of run support in the two wins over Cleveland, but they also both went seven innings and held the opposing offense in check.

Meanwhile, the Phillies are wondering whether Pedro Martinez can be their savior. Who's in better shape on the mound? And how has the Phillies offense done since they were nabbed with a camera and binoculars, by the way?

Again, it's tough to get too excited with five straight wins over the Orioles and Indians, but the Mets have been playing very good (dare I say playoff-caliber) baseball for a while now, going 11-2 in June. As long as the pitching is there, that success should continue, even with a tougher schedule in the next couple of weeks.

The cure for what ails you

Yes, we know the Mets hadn't won back-to-back road games in a year, and hadn't swept a three-game road series since September 2008, but it's still tough to get too excited over the beatdown the Amazins handed the Orioles this weekend at Camden Yards.

The Orioles are awful. Bad. Pathetic. They got absolutely demolished at home, and remember when tickets to games at Camden Yards were hard to come by? Those days are long gone. It seemed like there were 10,000-plus Mets fans on hand for each of the three games, making the Mets feel right at home (or at least like they were in Florida).

That said, there were lots of things to like besides the sweep itself:

Mike Pelfrey battled. He's been so dominant this season that it was great to see him win despite having less-than-perfect stuff. Then again, these were the Orioles and the Mets hit four home runs and piled up 18 hits of offensive support.

The long ball. The Mets hit seven homers in the series, including the four on Sunday. David Wright hit two bombs and now has 12 on the season. He is on fire now, and you'll note the strikeout rate has dropped considerably. Anyone complaining about him now?


Jason Bay woke up. Bay went 4-for-4 Sunday to break his o-fer string, hitting a homer and a double and scoring four times. Bay's average has been fine all season despite his struggles, and he's the kind of streaky hitter who could hit a dozen homers in a month and by the end of the season his power numbers are more or less in line with his career average. That's the hope, anyway.


Chris Carter + DH = juicy goodness. With Jeff Francouer hitting so well, Chris Carter wasn't getting a whole lot of at-bats, but Jerry Manuel did the right thing by making the Animal his DH for the interleague games, and Carter has responded. He homered twice in the Baltimore series and will continue to get DH at-bats in Cleveland and against the Yankees. The way he is playing it is almost a lock that he will homer at Yankee Stadium, and his home run trot will be completed in 6.2 seconds.


Takahashi rebounded. After two bad starts, the rumblings had begun about Hisanori Takahashi's future in the rotation, but he quieted those with a strong performance Saturday. Ultimately, it may not matter as John Maine -- if he can prove himself worthy and healthy -- is better suited as a starter, which will only help the bullpen if Takahashi indeed goes back there. But if Maine can't do that, then Takahashi will get more chances to show he belongs in the rotation.

On to Cleveland, which gives me a reason to post this:

Niese isn't perfect, but still very nice

Maybe it's because Jonathon Niese was born the day the Mets won their last World Series championship. Maybe it's because Fred Wilpon made it clear in spring training how much the organization loves him. Or maybe it's Niese's Owen Wilson-esque nose.

Whatever the reason, Mets fans have generally exhibited a fondness for Niese that exceeds what he has achieved so far in his young career. Prior to his horrible hamstring injury last season, Niese had showed signs of becoming a top young starter, but from the start of the 2010 season to his recent DL stint, Niese had been simply average, and there was a thought that maybe Mets fans were expecting too much from someone with just 16 career starts.

Or maybe not.

Niese's performance Thursday night against the Padres was, quite simply, one of the best pitching performances in team history. Niese faced 28 Padres and set down 27 of them, walking no one and allowing just a third-inning double, a squibber down the right field line by Chris "Who?" Denorfia.

In a season that has seen two perfect games and one imperfect game with an asterisk, Niese came one batter short of an unthinkable third (fourth) perfect game in the same season, just 10 days into June. Because the lone hit came in the third, it lacked the drama, but there's no denying the greatness we witnessed this night.

Niese retired the last 21 hitters he faced. He walked no one and struck out six. Of his 108 pitches, 76 were strikes. He induced 15 groundouts and no one on the Padres hit the ball hard all night. The Mets gave him three runs and it was plenty. It could have been more, had Ruben Tejada not hit into a triple play. (When you can overcome a triple play, you know you've got something special going.)

There hasn't been much better in Mets history. We all know that the Mets have never had a no-hitter. Niese's gem was the team's 34th one-hitter, 26th complete-game one-hitter and 24th complete-game, one-hit shutout. The last Met to throw a complete-game one-hitter? Aaron Heilman in 2005.

In his two starts since returning from the DL, Niese has thrown 16 innings and walked only one batter, allowing one run and five hits. This is why everyone is so high on him. Niese has multiple pitches that he can throw for strikes, and if he continues to develop, he really strengthens the rotation behind Santana and Pelfrey. (By the way, Omar, that doesn't mean you don't have to add another starter. You do.)

Oh, yes, Santana. There were two games played Thursday, and Santana just didn't have it in the opener. Santana had a week's rest, and we've seen it before where Santana with too much rest doesn't have the same feel. He allowed eight hits and walked four in six-plus innings, and couldn't break 90 on the radar gun, while Mat Latos and the San Diego bullpen retired 22 Mets in a row. It would be a harbinger of things to come in the nightcap.

I usually DVR the Mets games and watch them 90 minutes or so after they actually start, after the kids are in bed asleep. When I'm done watching, I erase them, but tonight I hesitated. This was a game for the ages, and given the Mets history, there may never be one better. Isn't it worth saving?

I erased it anyway. I'll wait for the no-hitter or the perfect game, which has to come someday. In the meantime, though, we'll remember this one, fondly.

Ike Davis just hits bombs

See? You can hit home runs at Citi Field.

Jose Reyes did. Barely. Angel Pagan almost did; another foot higher and it would have been a walk-off game-winner (alas, there are no cheapies at Citi).

And of course, Ike Davis did. But then again, Davis has the kind of power you can't teach, the kind of power that will launch bombs in any park, even the cavernous home of the Mets. He's already hit one onto the Shea Bridge, and Tuesday night's blast in the bottom of the 11th inning -- deep onto the Pepsi Porch -- gave the Mets a 2-1 walk-off victory over the Padres that extended the team's home winning streak to nine games and improved their home record to a gaudy 23-9.

Ron Darling almost called the shot on the telecast, noting moments before the homer that Davis took Padres reliever Edward Mujica deep to center field when the Mets were in San Diego a week ago. Davis had been 0-for-8 since his four-hit game Saturday, but he pulverized a changeup, allowing the Mets to celebrate the way so many teams have celebrated in Mets road losses this season.

On a night when Nationals phenom Stephen Strasburg won his debut -- striking out 14 Pirates -- Mike Pelfrey turned in a Johan-like performance, throwing nine innings and allowing just five hits with no walks and six strikeouts, the lone run coming in the first. Perhaps the most Johan-like thing about the gem was the fact that he got a no-decision, thanks to the Mets' continuing inability to do anything against Clayton Richard.

That is, until Reyes popped his second homer of the season on a ball that just made it over the orange line at the top of the wall. The hit was ruled a double on the field but overturned by video replay. Pagan's shot in the bottom of the 10th fell a foot or so short and ended up as a two-out triple (my reaction: "Damn you, Citi Field!"), but Jason Bay (0-for-5, three strikeouts) left Pagan stranded.

Pelfrey's work cannot be forgotten here. He has stepped up his game immensely this season and is pitching with incredible confidence and intelligence. Can we imagine Cliff Lee as the third starter on this team? I can.

I did get a chance to see Strasburg's first inning as a major leaguer on the MLB Network, and I have to say, the 99-mph fastball and the sharp-breaking curve had me thinking of one player: Doc Gooden. That's a name that serves as both compliment and cautionary tale, but I'm guessing that Strasburg has seen enough of "Chappelle's Show" to know that cocaine is a hell of a drug.

And unless he goes the way of Mark Prior and is undone by injury, the kid is going to have one hell of a career.

The home cookin' at Citi Field is tasty

There's been a lot of talk this season about how the Mets weren't filling Citi Field, how so many good seats were still available, how there was no buzz in the building.

Well, the Mets are doing all they can to change that, and they're doing it the best way possible -- by winning.

Because as tasty as the Shake Shack burgers are, what brings fans through the turnstiles are victories, or at least the knowledge that the home team has a good chance to win every game.


The weekend sweep of the Marlins improved the Mets' home record to 22-9, which means if the Mets continue to play that well at home, if you're considering getting tickets to a game, you can do so with the confidence that there is a 70 percent chance of you seeing a win instead of a loss.

Forty percent of the starting rotation is made up of pitchers who can be called stoppers: Johan Santana and Mike Pelfrey. R.A. Dickey improved to 3-0 with his win on Friday and gives the rotation a wrinkle that other teams haven't been able to solve.

Jon Niese made a bold statement Saturday in his return from the disabled list, throwing seven innings of six-hit ball, allowing one run and one walk with six strikeouts. He was seen in the dugout asking for one more inning, but Jerry Manuel did the right thing by getting him out with a big lead, allowing him to leave the game with confidence and ensuring that he's well-rested for his next start.

Should Niese continue to pitch as the team believes he can, that's four pitchers whom fans can feel good about paying to see. Hisanori Takahashi, meanwhile, has come down to earth, and while he could bounce back, it seems that if the Mets ever do go out and get another starter -- and there will be plenty available -- then Takahashi would be the candidate to return to the bullpen, where he began the season so successfully.

Manuel wondered whether the team hits better at home because it presses to put up numbers on the road, but perhaps it's because the lineup is just more comfortable hitting in Citi Field's wide-open spaces. Sure, it's not easy to hit home runs straightaway, but you can still hit it out -- just ask Rod Barajas.

Ike Davis has looked particularly comfortable, whether it's hitting a bomb to right field or racking up four hits, as he did Saturday. David Wright may have only hit two homers at Citi Field this season, but his bomb on Saturday showed that he still has plenty of pop down the line.


The major reason for the home-road disparity has been the pitching. Mets starters are allowing two more runs on the road than at Citi Field, while the offense is scoring 4.1 runs on the road, compared to 4.8 at home.

Maybe the pitchers are more comfortable at Citi knowing that the ballpark provides some protection against the long ball and are therefore more aggressive. Perhaps, with 2/3 of the season left to play, the numbers will begin to even out.

Whatever the reasons, right now Citi Field is a fun place to be. Sunday's win was particularly enjoyable, coming back from a 5-0 deficit, featuring a game-tying, three-run homer by Jeff Francoeur. Thanks also to Fredi Gonzalez for playing the infield back and allowing the GWDP (game-winning double play).

Runs may be scarce in the three-game series against the Padres, as Clayton "I have a train to catch" Richard duels against Pelfrey on Tuesday, Mat Latos faces Santana on Wednesday, and Jon "I was available in the off-season but the Mets weren't interested" Garland meets Dickey in game three Thursday.

The way the Mets have been going at home, those sound like wins.

This story has become tiresome

There's only so many walk-off losses a team can take, let alone its fans.

For a bullpen that has has done so well for so much of this first third of the season, it has given up more than its share of walk-off losses, making the Mets a real Jekyll and Hyde team when it comes to home vs. road.

At Citi Field, the Mets are unbeatable. On the road, not so much.

I know there will be a lot of talk about Jerry Manuel and why he allowed Raul Valdes to stay in the game with Jennry Mejia warming up in the bullpen. At what point should he have removed Valdes? Before or after David Eckstein was hit by a pitch? Because after making a good play forcing the runner at third on Jon Garland's bunt, it was one on and one out with Jerry Hairston up.

Hairston singled, and I can only surmise that Manuel was looking at Adrian Gonzalez in the on-deck circle. A lefty, Gonzalez is the most dangerous bat in the Padres lineup and Manuel must have felt that he'd rather have a lefty throwing to him than bringing in the 20-year-old Mejia in such a high-leverage situation.

Once Eckstein was hit to load the bases, again, you bring in a rookie righthander in that spot to face Gonzalez?

Valdes has had a couple of bad outings in a row after pitching very well. Give Gonzalez credit for coming up big with the game on the line.

The blame on this loss hangs on Frankie Rodriguez. The guy has said over and over that he needs work, and Jerry gave it to him, asking for the four-out save. K-Rod got the final out of the eighth and struck out two with a runner on second to move the Padres within one strike of a loss with -- there he is again -- Eckstein at the plate.

Sure, Eckstein delivered a 12-hop grounder up the middle and didn't exactly crush it, but a hit is a hit. Rodriguez is getting paid a ton of money to save games. He was asked to get four outs and not allow a run, and he failed.

And remember, if it wasn't for a perfect relay throw by David Wright from Jason Bay in left field after a double by Gonzalez, cutting down Eckstein at the plate, the game would gave ended in a 2-1 loss with K-Rod getting the 'L.'

Also tiresome is seeing the Mets waste great starts by Johan Santana, but every time Santana pitches he goes against another strong pitcher if not that team's ace. Santana and Clayton Richard were each far from dominant, but they did what they had to do to keep the opposition from stringing together enough hits to score more than one run.

On a night when an umpire stole a perfect game from Armando Galarraga and Ken Griffey Jr. retired, the Mets' loss was thankfully overshadowed, at least on the national level. Here at home, it was just the latest chapter in a tired tale.

Big Pelf is no illusion

Mike Pelfrey is 8-1, has won his last four starts, and -- as Matt Cerrone points out on MetsBlog -- Pelfrey is 6-0 when he starts the day after a Mets loss. Which makes him as much of a stopper as Johan Santana.

Pelfrey went eight innings for the win Tuesday night against the Padres, allowing just four hits and two walks while striking out eight. In his last four wins, his ERA is a scant 1.27, the kind of production that prompted Ike Davis to compare his ability to that of the Cy Young Award-winning Santana.

Jerry Manuel said after the game that Pelfrey deserves to be in the same conversation as Josh Johnson and Ubaldo Jimenez. Throw in Matt Cain, Cole Hamels, Jaime Garcia, David Price -- Pelfrey can hang with all of them, and the days of the Mets having no clear No. 2 behind Santana are long gone.

My gut feeling when I hear the accolades is: SHUT UP! STOP TALKING! DON'T JINX HIM! But that just comes from years of disappointment mixed with a splash of superstition. But as much as Mets fans don't want to get too high on Pelfrey, it's becoming clear that his success is no illusion, but part of a natural progression that we've been fortunate to see develop.

Pelfrey got home runs from Davis and David Wright, and Jeff Francoeur continued his surge with two more hits; he's batting close to .500 since his sit-down with Manuel a few days ago. Jose Reyes went 0-for-5 and saw his hitting streak snapped, but it didn't matter.

Frankie Rodriguez came on for the ninth inning, after Pelfrey was removed having thrown 110 pitches. The three-run lead was likened by Gary Cohen and Rod Darling as a layup, but K-Rod made it interesting, allowing three hits and a run before striking out the final two batters.

Could Manuel have left Pelfrey in for the complete game? Sure, but K-Rod has said time and again that he needs to be active and prefers more work rather than less. And 110 pitches is getting pretty close to Pelfrey's limit, anyway. Save situations have been less than abundant, so no one should have an issue with Manuel going by the book. (Although I can predict Joe Benigno will voice a problem with it on Wednesday afternoon. Write it down. Wait, I just did.)

Memorable, but not in a good way

I couldn't understand why the Mets-Padres game was a night game on Memorial Day.

No baseball games should be played at night on Memorial Day. Same with July 4th. It's a holiday. Lots of people have off from work. Games should be played during the day, not only because it's a throwback to a time when most games were actually played in sunlight, but because that's the time to have a ballgame on a holiday.

Who wants to spend their day doing other Memorial Day activities, then when the day is over, sit down and watch a game? We've got work the next day, and we're toast after spending the day at the beach/pool/park/barbecue. Who has the energy to watch a night game, especially if it's on the West Coast?

Monday's game should have been a 4:10 p.m. PT start at worst. Then, you could either watch/attend the game live, or DVR it and watch it at a reasonable hour when you're home. Instead, I was stuck struggling to stay awake for a game at 10 p.m. at the end of an exhausting three-day weekend.

So I should be glad that the Mets chose this game to implode. I didn't miss much.

I know all about regression to the mean, but I thought we got that out of the way in the 8-6 loss to the Padres on Saturday. This was ridiculous.

Did we really expect Hisanori Takahashi to do something -- three straight six-inning scoreless starts in his first three starts -- that no one has done since 1906? No, and we knew he was going to get hit at some point.

Takahashi had a chance to escape, but hung a breaking pitch that was hammered for a grand slam. He clearly didn't have his up-to-now normal stuff, having trouble locating for strikes. But six runs was surprising, as was the beating absorbed by Raul Valdes, who had been pitching pretty well. You get two of those performances in the same game, you just write it off.

More concerning was the work turned in by Ryota Igarashi, who again was hit and hit hard. He has not shown the same ability as he did before he got hurt. He needs a couple of scoreless appearances before Jerry Manuel allows him to come into a tight game late with a lead.

The road record is also a concern, but if you look beneath the 7-17 record, you'll see that 11 of those games have been decided by 2 runs or less, including 6 one-run games (with several walk-off losses). That's a bunch of close games.

Sure, close losses usually mean the bullpen failed, or the team couldn't get a clutch hit, but at least it shows they're not completely helpless on the road. Hopefully the Mets can start getting some of those to fall in the other direction, and move toward a .500 road record by the end of the season.

Pelfrey and Santana will face off against LeBlanc and Richard to try and win the series and salvage a split. Both should enjoy pitching in Petco, which should be like a home away from home.