This time, Mets avoid the trap, continue to rake

Wednesday night's game against the Tigers was the classic trap game that the Mets, in recent years, always seemed to stumble into.

They get a win in the first game of the series, and face a less-than-impressive starter in game two, knowing that the opposition's ace awaits in game three.

The Mets won game one on Tuesday, then faced Phil Coke in game two, the ex-Yankee of the 1-7 record, with Cy Young candidate Justin Verlander (who was drafted by Detroit one spot ahead of the Mets, ugh) going in game three. The middle game was the winnable one, the one that would clinch the series win.

In the past, the Mets would find a way to botch this scenario, then inevitably get throttled by the ace in the final game and lose the series.

So it was great to see them hammer Coke the way they did, the offense continuing not only to hit but to hit with two outs, something they couldn't do at all in April. And pile on runs, which came in handy when the Tigers kept scratching and clawing to stay in it, until the relentless of the Mets offense — did I just type that? — became too much to overcome.

Angel Pagan had a huge night, as did Daniel Murphy, who had two, two-out, two-run singles. Of course Jose Reyes had another multi-hit game, what else did you expect? Guy is hitting EVERYTHING. Turner and Tejada also had two hits each, and Ronny Paulino, batting FOURTH, had four hits and four runs scored.

I hope Terry Collins had some time to take a ferry to Ontario for some casino action, because everything he does is coming up gold right now.

Jason Bay was 1-for-2 but drew four walks and made an incredible diving catch in left early in the game to keep the Mets comfortably in front. He also had two steals as the Mets continued to run at will on the bases, this time against the ineffective Victor Martinez.

What more can you say about how this team is playing now? They have scored a franchise-best 52 runs and amassed 69 hits in the last four games, with an RISP average of .484. Good Lord.

Enjoy the ride.

Signs of the apocalypse, or of better things to come?

You would think that hitting two grand slams in one game (in consecutive innings), when your team hadn't hit one in two years (while allowing 18 to the opposition) would exorcise plenty of demons.

Toss in the fact that one of the blasts was delivered by Jason Bay, who needed a hit like that more than anyone else on the roster, if not in the league, and Tuesday night's demolition of the Tigers could be viewed as a season-altering event.

We'd like to think so. After singling the Rangers to death, the Mets busted out the big lumber, hitting three bombs to give R.A. Dickey a month's worth of run support. The Mets chased starter Rick Porcello and then hammered Daniel Schlereth for the two grand salamis. That'll inflate the old ERA.

And what more can you say about Jose Reyes? How about this: Ty Cobb. Reyes has 98 career triples and 360 steals. The only other player in history to reach those numbers as fast as Reyes? Cobb. Wow.

I'll say it now. Pay the man. Sure, teams are valuing him on a career year that may never happen again, but understand that Reyes is entering the prime years of 28-32. That's five seasons. You're going to want Jose Reyes in his prime for five seasons. Yes, health is a rosk, but anyone can get hurt. He's healthy now, and has been healthy before (153-plus games a year from 2005-08).

And what's he worth to the team from a marketing standpoint? Many, many dollars. What is he worth to the soul of the franchise? To the fans? It's priceless.

Keep Jose.

The buzzards are circling. Again.

It figures when the Mets need to rattle off some home wins — against an AL team that's sub-.500 — the team coming in happens to be red-hot.

The Angels took two of three, and after a much-needed day off, the Mets dropped the opener of their series against the A's Tuesday night. Dillon Gee was due for a stinker and boy, was it bad. He's shown a lot of guts thus far, and we'll see how he bounces back. I have every confidence he will.

On the plus side, Jason Bay looked tremendous, crushing a homer and adding a triple in a three-hit night. Keith Hernandez, a couple of games back, said that breaking out of slump often doesn't require hits as long as you're making solid contact. With Bay, it seems to be a confidence game, so if Tuesday night marked not only the first day of summer but the the beginning of a new season for him, that would be huge.

After a very good road trip, the Mets are now 1-3 on this homestand and need to get things going. The .500 mark is now three games away, and with the July trade deadline getting closers every day, the media buzzards are circling.

Every day there is a story about Reyes, really saying absolutely nothing new. He won't negotiate a new contract until after the season? No kidding. He's been saying that since November.

And then there are the stories like "Mets must trade Wright," or "Mets success could cost them in the long run."

Really, guys? Ian O'Connor is the new Wally Matthews, and that is not a compliment. And Adam Rubin, again, should be covering another team. Somwhere. Anywhere but Flushing.

The Tao of Mex

If Keith Hernandez started his own religion, how many followers do you think he'd have? I'm guessing a lot, certainly more than those rapture guys. I mean, who are you going to put your faith in? An 80-year-old radio show host who'd already been wrong about the rapture (and was wrong again)? Or an All-Star first baseman who won a World Series in 1986 and shared the MVP in 1979 (when he should have won it outright)?

Exactly.

He has an uncanny ability to see the future, like when he saw a catcher call for a changeup, said, "Are you kidding?" and then seconds later, David Wright blasted a homer to deep left.

Almost everything Keith says is gospel.  He speaks of the fundys in such a way that they should be carved into two stone tablets.

He's also a big fan of Strat-o-Matic, which I spent many hours playing as a child, my bedroom a monastic retreat, the quiet broken only by the rattle of dice on cardboard. (You know that question, if you could invite anyone over for dinner, living or dead, who would they be? I'd pass on dinner and invite Keith, Jerry Seinfeld and Len Dykstra over to play Strat-o-Matic. Four-team round robin tourney, using a combination of old-timers and modern players. That would be sweet.)

Hernandez sees all, knows all. So who better to comment on the travails of Jason Bay? Yet even in Keith's infinite wisdom, he cannot solve the puzzle of Bay.

He's quick to point out he's never been in a slump this long, so it's baffling even to him. He's said in the past that the only way out of a slump is to hit your way out, but he agrees that days off, at this point, is probably the best thing for Bay. Maybe they should go further and send him to Aruba for a few days to really clear his head. Anywhere but a ballpark.

You look at Bay, there's nothing physically wrong. He still plays defense, runs hard. He's reportedly killing it in batting practice. But the coaches aren't feeding him a steady diet of sliders and breaking balls. Bay's problem, to my untrained eye, is rooted in a combination of poor pitch recognition and plunging confidence. It's become a death spiral.


Jason Pridie filled in for Bay Thursday night and did well, at the plate and in the field. The Mets chased Yovani Gallardo and Jon Niese tossed another gem as the Mets' starters continue to post quality starts. That's four wins in their last five games and seven of 11, as the .500 mark is once again within grasping distance.

Maybe Bay needs a return to Pittsburgh to snap him out of his trance. Something's gotta give, and now Lucas Duda is up for Nick Evans.

Speaking of batting practice, Keith made a very interesting point (does he make anything but) about how players take batting practice these days with the coach close to the plate, maybe 50 feet away, as opposed to throwing back from the slope of the mound. He noted that Barry Bonds popularized that approach because it improved bat speed. Keith's feeling is that BP should be relaxed, and be about getting loose, and not be so results-driven.

Amen.

No no-no, but a great start by Gee as Mets head to the Bronx

Just a few days ago, the first installment of the 2011 Subway Series looked dead on arrival. Mets players were dropping like flies, and the Yankees were losing games while seemingly falling apart at the seams.

But now both teams come into this weekend's tilt at the House that George and His Spoiled Kids Built on winning streaks, and while the Mets will still be without three starters, it's the kids who are stepping up and keeping the team from sinking.

A two-game sweep of Washington saw consecutive shutouts, with tremendous starts by Jonathon Niese and Dillon Gee. Sure, the Nats are a terrible offensive team, but Niese and Gee were on their games and delivered the kinds of performances the Mets are going to need, particularly when they're shorthanded at the plate, as they currently are.

Then again, when you have Justin Turner, what more do you need? Turner knocked in the only run, his 12th in his last 10 games. Incidentally, the Mets are 9-4 in their last 13 games.

Jason Bay had three hits, and with so much firepower out of the lineup the Mets really need him to get it going. Daniel Murphy is certainly not hitting, but his defense in these two games has been stellar. He also got a break in the eighth inning Thursday when his foot came off the bag on a throw from Turner, but umpire Phil Cuzzi called Jayson Werth out.

Hey, some breaks have to go the Mets' way, don't they?

Gee had a no-hitter into the sixth, when Livan Hernandez — in addition to shutting the Mets down on seven hits — singled with two outs. Figures.

You can see the pitching starting to come around, from Pelfrey on down; hopefully R.A. Dickey will get the memo.

And while they won't be back in time to play in the Bronx, word is that Ike Davis and Angel Pagan should be back within a week or so. Pedro Beato has already returned, and indications are that David Wright won't be out much longer than his required DL stay.

OK, so Irving Picard has a copy of a memo that he says indicates the Mets considered taking out fraud insurance. Big deal. They never did, which would have been a much more powerful indicator that the Wilpons knew something was up with Madoff. But Picard isn't letting go of that bone.

Hey, it can't all be good news, right?

Silence from the Debbie Downers

That headline is really just an excuse to post this video, one of my favorite SNL sketches of all time.


What's funny is that Jimmy Fallon, who was always the first one to lose it in any sketch (and he's the first one to do so here as well) actually ends up holding it together better than most, especially Rachel Dratch and Horatio Sanz. But you can't blame them. It is hilarious. The band's sound effects are killer. It's amazing they were even able to finish after Debbie says, "It's official. I can't have children."

And a side note: Lindsay Lohan does a great job here. Such promise she had.

I thought of this sketch because of the Mets' current winning streak, which has quieted the critics for the most part. The streak was extended Tuesday night with a 6-4 win at the Nationals, which saw savvy base running and three more hits from Ike Davis, two hits from Jason Bay, a clutch two-run double by Josh Thole and terrific work by the bullpen, from Igarashi's key out in the fifth to Buchholz, Izzy and K-Rod closing things out.

That was the plan all along, right? A solid lineup with Bay and Davis supporting Wright, Beltran finally back and contributing, Reyes getting on base? This is a lineup that can score some runs.

Chris Young didn't make it through the fifth, but the starters have been going deep enough lately that the bullpen was rested, and now they seem to have settled into their roles, at least for now.

Bottom line, this team can compete and win. But we still, almost daily, hear someone somewhere mention who's going to be traded if and when the Mets fall out of contention. Whatever.

And BTW, they never did catch that anthrax guy.

Boom Goes the Dynamite

Can we relax now?

Are we all off the ledge? Good.

The cranks and the media will remind us that the Mets are still four games under .500 and disaster is probably always looming around the corner, but screw them. A four-game winning streak is a four-game winning streak, and it happened at home, something the Mets really needed after starting so slowly at Citi Field.

Which the Mets have turned into a bandbox, by the way. It's a small sample size, to be sure, but Citi Field currently has the third-highest home run rate in the NL, even better than Citizens Band Breaker One-Nine Park in Philly.

David Wright — what can we say? Two more home runs today (Jason Pridie had the other Mets homer) and he's tearing it up again, which I doubly love since he's also on my fantasy team.

Jason Bay has come back in a big way and his presence was felt immediately. He and Ike Davis homered in Saturday's 6-4 victory, and Davis hit a bomb on Friday as the Mets scored two in the seventh and two in the eighth (scoring late — gotta love it) in a 4-1 win, the first win in the three-game sweep of the D-Backs.

Timely, solid hitting has been a factor in the rejuvenated Mets, but the pitching has come around big-time. Mike Pelfrey, five hits over seven innings on Friday night and he was in command. Dillon Gee, six innings, five hits a walk and five Ks for his second win, earning him a spot on the roster when Chris Young was activated Sunday. Nice work.

Perhaps best of all was Jon Niese today. Seven innings, six hits, two earned runs, two walks and three Ks and he was throwing hard.

Starters going deep helps the bullpen, which has also looked good lately,

My God, is this the same team that was so doomed just a week ago? Yes, it is the same team. A team that hasn't panicked, that despite what the haters say has plenty of talent. That hit some rough weather in the early going and has come out of it intact, with the look of a team that could and should be competitive, which is all we expected, wasn't it?

Take a deep breath now, Monday's an off day, then on the road for Washington and Philly (again).

Aaaahh. That's better.

Keeping things in perspective

It was my son's birthday this weekend, so between the preparation, the party, a dek hockey game and a baseball practice, there wasn't much time to pay attention to the Mets, which considering how things have been going lately, that probably wasn't a bad thing.

That was certainly true on Saturday, when a second consecutive doubleheader sweep established a new rock bottom for the season. So it helped that on the day the Mets sunk to new lows, my son scored the game-winning goal in a shootout, going top shelf, where mama keeps the cookies. He couldn't have been happier, and I was pretty excited myself.

It helped keep things in perspective.

I caught some of the post-game Saturday night and Bobby O talked about how the Mets aren't doing the little things and it's killing them. I agree to a point — Daniel Murphy trying to steal third was mindless — but then they showed a graphic of how poor the Mets' pitching and hitting have been during the losing streak.

Bad pitching plus bad hitting — when you're going that badly, you can't overcome the mistakes that everyone makes from time to time.

And if Terry Collins managed Sunday's 3-2 victory like it was game seven of the World Series, so be it. As early as it is in the season, that was about as must-win as you can get in April. Give credit to Dillon Gee for coming up big when others (we're looking at you, Big Pelf) have not, and depending on how fast Chris Young comes back, maybe Gee has earned a longer look.

The Mets return home for the Astros and the Diamondbacks this week, and if you're looking for signs of hope, how about this:

• The Mets are 1-6 at home, which isn't going to continue
• Jason Bay is coming back
• So is Ronny Paulino
• You have to figure Pelfrey and Dickey will start to get back on track
• Jennry Mejia has been pitching lights-out, and was even considered as a call-up

Hey, you've gotta start somewhere,

Home opener at Citi Field: Perfect timing

A few things to note as the Mets get ready for their home opener Friday afternoon at Citi Field:

• Plenty of good seats available. I was looking on StubHub today and you can get 2 seats in the second row of Promenade Reserved behind third base for $24 each. On Opening Day. You can get seats in the Promenade Club for less than $50. And better seats if you want to fork over bigger bucks. I'll be honest, if my son didn't have a dek hockey game at 6 o'clock, I'd have bought tickets and gone.
• Home field advantage. We've heard how the Yankees have already sold 3.5 million tickets this season and the Mets only a million. No surprise there. And across baseball, attendance so far is down. Less than 10,000 a game in Cleveland? Only 18,000 in Miami for a weekend series against the Mets? Digusting. So don't be surprised if the Mets aren't drawing big numbers this weekend. With the economy and recent history, it's understandable, and I'm not one to go to a ton of games. But I'm thinking that this season, I'm going to try and go more. You can get good tickets for a reasonable price, and let's face it, the team could use all the support it can get. Hopefully I'm not the only one who feels this way and is ready to make Citi Field a true house of horrors for the opposition.
• What else can I tell you? Oh, yeah, Jason Bay hit off a tee today. Nice!
• Um... let's see... uh, Carlos Beltran is still healthy.
• And, yeah, the Phillies scored 21 runs in two days, and Jon Niese followed Mike Pelfrey's implosion with a stinker of his own, and David Wright struck out when the Mets had a first-inning chance to do damage. But hey, like Terry Collins said, a 3-3 road trip ain't bad leading into the first homestand of the season.

It's Dickey Time!

Mets' hitting virus has passed. We hope.

When you have a virus, what does the doctor say?

Plenty of rest, plenty of fluids, and let it run its course. Antibiotics and medications do nothing when you have a virus.

The team hitting slump that the Mets hopefully broke out of Friday night is exactly like a virus. It comes in from out of nowhere, and no matter what remedy you try (extra batting practice, less batting practice, lineup changes) you just have to let it run its course.

Viruses come and go. You're sick for a while, but eventually you get better. Same with hitting slumps. It's bad while you're in it, but it doesn't last forever.

Team slumps are worse because a couple of guys stop hitting, and while they're pressing to end their slump their teammates start pressing to do more to make up the difference, and before you know it the shutouts are piling up. Ron Darling mentioned this in the booth on Thursday night, that it's amazing how all team hitting slumps are alike.

Which is why the renewed talk of Jerry Manuel's job being in jeopardy is laughable. If he was doing such a great job before the slump, wouldn't you want him around after it's over? Can't he just weather the storm? It's been a bad road trip, but the pitching and defense have been fine. If he was being praised just a couple of weeks ago, why would you fire him just to "shake things up?"

Hopefully, the bases-clearing double that secured the Mets' 6-1 win over the Dodgers will eradicate the horrific slump that dropped Jason Bay down to the seventh spot in the order. Bay had a terrific night, not only at the plate with two hits, but he made a highlight reel catch at the fence in left, smashing his face against the gate latch. Ouch. Lots of hockey references after that one.

It was a great defensive game by both clubs. Angel Pagan made two sliding catches in right and Carlos Beltran added one in center. The beneficiary was Johan Santana, who was brilliant yet again. Joe Torre helped by pinch-hitting for an equally effective Vicente Padilla, but he didn't have much of a choice at the time. The Dodgers are having as much trouble scoring runs as the Mets.

We'll see if the Mets can use this win to take the series and build some momentum, not only for the upcoming homestand but for the rest of the season.

As for Bay, remember his great numbers from last season were generated by two hot months. He's yet to have one hot month this season. When he does, and when Beltran gets going, runs won't be as hard to come by.

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:

Could it have ended any other way?

I'm definitely a glass-half-full Mets fan, and this site is dedicated to not getting sucked into the negativity that seems to surround the Mets 24/7.

That said, I was less than confident with K-Rod on the mound Sunday night.

A run-scoring double by Derek Jeter, an RBI groundout and ridiculous infield single on a chopper by Mark Texeira (who can't buy a hit otherwise) -- all against Frankie Rodriguez -- brought up A-Rod against K-Rod with two outs in the top of the ninth, the Mets holding onto a  6-4 lead that had been 6-1 when the inning started.

The count went to 3-1 and I was sure K-Rod was going to walk the bases loaded. Then a foul ball to make the count full, followed by two more foul balls. This was excruciating. This was the Mets.

Finally, Frankie fools A-Rod with the breaking ball, a swinging strike three, and the Mets win the game and the initial installment of the Subway Series, 2 games to 1. Joy and hope had returned to Flushing, where the Phillies would be starting Tuesday -- a Phillies team once again without Jimmy Rollins, and one that would not be featuring Roy Halladay this time around.

Thankfully, the series win over the Yankees should quell some of the anti-Manuel rumors, but that will only be temporary, unless the Mets go on a monumental winning streak. What is important is how the starting pitching performed against the Yankees and how the offense has improved.

Johan Santana was brilliant for almost eight full innings, one day after Mike Pelfrey shut the Yankees down, which came a day after Hisanori Takahaski stepped up with a strong outing in a 2-1 loss on Friday.

Takahashi and R.A. Dickey each pitched well enough to earn second starts against the Phillies, and they will be matching up against Jaime Moyer and Joe Blanton, respectively. Those are winnable games for the Mets, as is the Thursday game featuring Cole Hamels against Pelfrey.

The end of the Phillies series, coming on the heels of the Yankees series, has stood out all along as the first real landmark of the Mets 2010 season. The Mets will be 48 games into the season after this series is over, and will either be just above or a bit below .500. Considering their struggles -- and thanks to the mediocrity of the National League -- that ain't bad.

What the Mets need to do is keep the mojo going, and with Jose Reyes showing some signs of life, and with Jason Bay heating up (two homers on Sunday night), maybe the Mets are ready to break out. Not like the 9-1 homestand, but really start putting things together, winning series one after another, getting a few games up over the .500 mark as we hit the All-Star break and the possible return of Carlos Beltran.

Ryota Igarashi's return could also be a big factor. He looked bad against the Yankees, but make no mistake -- if he goes back to pitching the way he was pre-injury, it lessens Fernando Nieve's workload and gives the bullpen another weapon, especially big if Takahashi remains in the rotation.

With a five-run lead in the ninth, it was the perfect time to give Igarashi some action -- unfortunately, he wasn't up to the task and K-Rod had to come in after a five-out save the night before. Had he blown the save and had the Mets lost, there was no way you could blame Manuel -- but you know there would be those who would.

In the meantime, it was not only nice to see the Mets take a rubber game and win this series, it was also nice to see the national spotlight focus on the hitting troubles of a New York player not named David Wright.

Someone should really tell Texeira that the season has started. The guy is barely above the Mendoza line. Where are his boos?

The experiment is over; time for Reyes to lead off again

It was worth a shot.

Jerry Manuel had talked about it in Spring Training, the idea of "lengthening the lineup" and batting Jose Reyes third. With the Mets' offense struggling, he made the move and it worked for a while, although Reyes himself never caught fire.

Thursday night's 2-1 loss to the Marlins was a classic pitcher's duel between Johan Santana and Josh Johnson, and it's unlikely that any lineup combination would have triggered a landslide of runs. But it's become increasingly clear that the lineup Manuel has been using with Reyes in the three hole just is not working, and placing him back atop the order would not only help rejuvenate his game, but perhaps that of one or two of his teammates as well.

There was plenty of talk about Reyes' comfort level batting third, and nothing he has done since he was dropped down in the order has shown that he can hit in that position.

Reyes is a natural leadoff hitter. He clearly relishes the role of starting the game, getting on base, and getting into the pitcher's head.

Part of the reason Manuel gave for hitting Reyes third was to put him directly ahead of Jason Bay, with the hope that more fastballs would kick-start his offensive production. The problem was that in trying to get one player started, Manuel may have negatively impacted two others — Reyes and David Wright.

Just as Reyes is a natural leadoff hitter, Wright is a prototypical third hitter — a solid combination of average, power and speed, with the ability to hit to all fields.

Manuel has to make the move back in the weekend series against Florida. The lineup should be Reyes, Castillo, Wright, Bay, Davis, Francoeur, Pagan, Barajas.

Davis has shown that he can handle pretty much anything, so there is no problem slotting him as the lefty between Bay and Francoeur. Pushing Pagan down to the seven hole serves to lengthen things a bit, a switch hitter between the right-handed Francoeur and Barajas. You could change it up and move Pagan second and Castillo eighth, but I like the idea of Pagan batting ahead of Barajas, having one last shot at driving in runs before the pitcher's spot.

Manuel thought outside the box and tried something different with the lineup, and there was nothing wrong with that. But it just didn't work.

Time to get back to basics and get Reyes igniting things once more. Maybe then Wright and the rest of the order will catch fire as well.

Swing the damn bat

My son is 8 years old and in his second season of Little League ball. It's the first year of "real baseball," where they keep track of balls, strikes, outs and runs, and where the coaches no longer pitch.

(Side note: If you ever want to test your patience and/or sanity, watch 8-year-olds pitch. Sure, there are a couple who can get it over the plate with some speed, but for the most part it's like watching someone try to kill flies with darts -- lots of aiming, lots of misses.)

Since kids pitch all over the place, the strike zone is, shall we say, liberal. So the rule of thumb is, if it's not over your head or bouncing in front of the plate, if you think you can hit it, just swing the bat.

It leads to some confusion. My son hates walking -- he has a brand new bat and wants to HIT! -- but I tell him that a walk is as good as a hit, that the object is to get on base. But then we're also telling them not to go up and take too many pitches, either, and the teenage umpires charged with moving the game along are going to call anything from the bridge of your nose to your shoestrings a strike.

Anyway, I thought of my son's games while watching the Mets Monday night.

Jose Reyes, in the bottom of the seventh, just swing the f*&#ing bat!

Jason Bay, leading off the bottom of the eighth, just swing the f*&#ing bat!

Luis Castillo, with one out in the ninth after Angel Pagan cut the gap to one with a solo homer to center (see what happens when you swing?) -- just swing the f*&#ing bat!

Of course, swinging doesn't guarantee anything good will happen. Bay swung in the bottom of the ninth and struck out to end the game. Rod Barajas swung with two outs and runners on second and third in the eighth and popped up.

But for Reyes, Bay and Castillo, in crucial situations like that, if it's close, you SWING!

Mets fans are, of course, especially sensitive to seeing things end with the bat on someone's shoulder, having endured watching Carlos Beltran look at a called third strike to end the 2006 NLCS. And yes, there are times when you want to work the count, make the pitcher throw some more, wear him down.

But in the situations listed above, fellas, I'm begging you -- just swing the f*&#ing bat!

And while I'm off on a rant, Oliver Perez, will you shave that chin strap beard and lose the faux-hawk? You look ridiculous, and it looks even more ridiculous because you suck.

Mike Piazza rocked the chin strap and some interesting facial grooming, but he is a future Hall of Famer and could get away with pretty much anything. For Perez to look like he does, he better have some game, because otherwise, he just looks like a dork.

That's not to say that a shave and a haircut will cure what ails Ollie, but it couldn't hurt. At least I'd hate his face less.

Another Opening Day Happy Recap

Some thoughts on today's 7-1 victory over the Marlins at Citi Field:

• That's one.
• I guess spring training ERA doesn't count for much, at least for Johan Santana.
• Love the cream-colored unis with the pinstripes. Yeah, I know, leaving the black shadow around METS doesn't make it truly retro, but they look sharp and are a good option next to the snow whites.
• Players who we wanted to see get off to a strong start did, for the most part. Jason Bay tripled, had two hits, made a nice throw to second base and showed some speed on the bases. Of course, Wright's two-run homer in the first was huge for him. Even Gary Matthews got in the act with two hits.
• I've had the toughest time spelling FRANCOEUR. Maybe it's because I didn't take French in high school. I always want to spell it O-U-E-R. Then I realized that the end is EUR, like Europe, or euro, and that part comes after FRANCO, a la Matt or John. So it's FRANCO plus EURO, minus the O. It's so easy now!
• It's fitting that the Mets are so dominant on Opening Day, now 32-17 in their history. The Mets have always been about BELIEVE, and you never have more belief in the possibilities than on opening day. It's the rest of the season we have to worry about.
• Nice work by Fernando Nieve. Maybe he can be the right-handed counterpart to Pedro Feliciano in a two-headed bridge to K-Rod, with Hisanori Takahashi in more of a long relief role. Then again, don't forget about Kiko Calero, who could be back with the club soon. Guy was dominant last season.
• I'll have more to say about this after I go to Thursday night's game, but I like what I've seen so far re: the changes to Citi Field. I never thought there was a lack of Mets-ness (or what Gary Cohen called 'Metitude'), but the additions are all positive, particularly the Shea Bridge and the old Home Run apple now out front in the plaza. Also like the gates named for Hodges and Seaver, the big banners -- it's all good, and I'm looking forward to the Mets Hall of Fame and McFadden's. The Wilpons got hammered last season by fans who couldn't grasp Citi Field as a work in progress, and they should get credit now for listening to the fans and doing it right.
• Great to see another team struggle with the fundys. May want to work on the pickoff play some more, Fredi G.
• SQUEEZE! It didn't work, but I loved the applause the effort got from the crowd. Manuel likes to run, Bay said he wants to run more, and hopefully we'll see more of this kind of play this season.
• Watching the Encore broadcast, I'm reminded once again how great we have it with Keith, Gary and Ron in the booth. Outstanding job again. We're spoiled.