Dickey and Reyes are good. True that - DOUBLE TRUE!

It was a lazy Sunday in the Gasparino household. A late pancake breakfast. Kids playing outside, Mom grading papers, Dad spraying ant killer and throwing out trash. After lunch we took a drive to do some quick shopping. I'd planned on DVRing the Mets game and watching it after the kids were asleep, as usual.

We were on Jericho Turnpike headed for the Walt Whitman Mall at around 3 o'clock when my buddy Mike called. His company has tickets behind home plate and a client backed out at the last minute. Would I like to go?

Damn right I would!

By 7:30 I was at the rotunda, looking forward to seeing R.A. Dickey try and give the Mets the series win over the Braves. And what a game we saw (well, the first 8 innings, anyway).

Dickey was superb. Eight innings of four-hit ball, the only blemish a solo homer by Met Killer Brian McCann. Otherwise, we saw some pretty futile swings out there by the Bravos.

When you chase Tim Hudson in four innings, you know you're doing something right. Jose Reyes was the firestarter yet again, leading off the first with a single and scoring on Carlos Beltran's double, Beltran himself scoring on a sac fly. In the second, Hudson walked Reyes to face Justin Turner with two out and two on and Turner delivered the opposite-field hit, scoring Pridie. Reyes came home on a wild pitch that never came close to the backstop.

He's fast.

Reyes had an RBI double in the fourth, and at this point the "KEEP JOSE" chants were cropping up left and right. Ruben Tejada also made a terrific catch at second.

Of course, with sunshine comes rain. Beltran fouled a ball off his ankle and left the game. X-rays were negative but we'll see how that goes. Dickey gave way to Manny Acosta in the ninth and he promptly walked the leadoff man and then a double one out later. In came K-Rod (with a five-run lead) to face pinch hitter and slap hitter Deonis Hernandez, and of course he homered to left.

Two strikeouts later, we put it in the books, and closed out an eventful 10-game homestand at 5-5. A trip to Milwaukee, Pittsburgh and Atlanta follows.

Thanks again, Mike. Great seats, great company, and an always enjoyable Mets win. And it was helmet night, so the kids got a treat as well. A true win-win.