Ive been away all weekend and I've been following the Mets, and of course I am estatic when i saw the Mets swept, after each game I was celebrating.

I noticed that the Phillies beat the Braves in all three games, but the consequence didnt click in until I saw the standings a few minutes ago.

THE PHILLIES ARE ABOVE 500.

Not that I am really concerened, but now they are two games behind the Braves in 2nd, and 6.5 games out over all.

So now does Chipper complain more about the Interleague scheduel?

The start of a three team race?

This weekend also established that the Mets are starting to build a cushion, but this year that means nothing. Intereesting Weekend all the way around.

For the third time this year, the Mets will face Smoltz and for the third time this year, Glavine will be pitching for the Mets.

We all know that Delgado is slumping, but he had a good game last night, and he has some success agaisnt Smoltz, boasting a .344 average with four homers.

The traffic light for Green is Green when it comes to Smoltz, with a .522 avg in 23 AB. (That was a horrible attempt at pun).

On the Wright watch, he has a .250 average agaisnt Smoltz, 8 hits in 32 AB, and two homers.

Beltran has not had that much success agaisnt Smoltz, he has 6 hits, 2 homers, and .222 average.

Why does last night's win feel good? Or really, why does it feel good in a different way?

Because it was a frustrating loss for the Braves, thats why.

That first series agaisnt the Braves this year, I feel that both games the Mets lost were frustrating losses, 5-3 and 3-2, where they left a ton of players on base and in scoring position.

Last night was pay back, as Perez was able to keep those runners on 2nd and 3rd from scoring. The Braves also had like 4 or 5 leadoff hits. its a good feeling to give that frustration back to the braves

Tonight the Mets will face James, and hopefully fare better than they did agaisnt Davies.

In his one start agaisnt the Mets this year, James lasted 5.1 innings, and allowed 6 earned runs. In that game, he allowed 3 homers (Castro, Easily, Reyes) which is half the amount of homers James has allowed this year.

In his carear agaisnt the Mets, he has pitched 16.2 innings, and has allowed 13 runs, 5 homers, for an ERA around 7.

With all of this, the Braves get the Vegas line for tonight.

Perez's first start this year was agasnt the Braves, where he went 7 innings and allowed 1 run. Then he went and had a bad start. Eyes will be on him to see if he can pull 3 consecutive good starts. The Mets won that game 11-1.

In his carear agaisnt the Braves, Perez is 4-3 with over 50 innings pitched, with an ERA around 3.25.

The Mets are taking there 2.5 game lead into Atlanta, facing the Braves. The Braves, who are in a bit of a struggling streak right now, have won 4 of the 6 games aganst the Mets this year.

One of the strong points of the Mets last year was their dominence over the Braves.

If the Mets sweep, which is not necessary, they will have a winning record agaisnt the Braves, but its more important to just keep winning series.

Jorge Sosa will face the Braves for the second time in his carear, as the Mets will try to hit Davies, who has owned them in one start this year.

Well not necessarily own, he did allow two solo shots, and the Mets left a ton of batters on base that day.

Tonight is the first game in a series of games that should be fun, with Perez going tomorow and another Glavine/Smoltz matchup on thursday. AND ALL OF THEM ARE ON TBS! WOOOO OUT OF MARKET MARKETS!

David Wrights Homerun yesterday was hit the opposite way...and against the wind.

Texas leads the majors with homers in May, 31 of them, and has 61 on the year...and they are in last place in their divison.

So they are now saying that Sosa has homered in 45 different parks because he homered at Disney's wide world of sports.

On mlbtraderumors.com, there is a report that Billy Bean would bring Ricky Henderson back for one game in September as long as it not harmful in anyway to the team

D. Easely has hit 7 homers in 74 AB so far this year.

Between the years 97-99, each year Easely having more than 527 AB's, he hit 22, 27, and 20 homers repsectivily.

He only had two other seasons between 92 and 07 where he had more than 10 homers, 2000 and 2001 where he hdad 14 and 11.

From 04-06, he hit 9 homers each year. He had over 180 AB's each of those years.

In 2004, he had 223 AB, roughly 3 times as much as this year, and 9 homers, and if he hard around that many AB's this year, he should have around 21 homers, which would be the first time since 99 having over 2000 homers. Any way you look at it, he is having much better year than expected.

On another note, earlier this season he had his 5000th AB.

I'm also working on another project that I thought I would have done by today but It doesnt look like that. Its the composition of a winning team, trying to correlate different offensive stats and wins.

So its 42 games into the season.

So far the Mets have stolen as a team 50 bases in 59 chances. Thats a team average of around 85%. It also means that the team is stealing an average of 1.19 bases a game.

In the power department, the Mets have 43 Homers, thats an average of 1.02 a game.

The Mets have had 413 hits this season, an average of 9.83 per game, They have also had 212 RBI's per game, which is 5.04 per game.

Enough with that Math, on to tonights game. For the yanks, they do not have more than a few players with more than 4 ABs agaisnt Maine, and Posada has a homer. No one has faced Clippard, for the Yanks

A big stage for Clippard tonight. The Mets already have the colors for the Empire State Building. Lets Go Mets

After the game yesterday, I was with a Yankee fan (a yankee fan in Maryland? No way). So, like I said yesterday, I was doing a lot of trash talking, especially because we just picked up a copy of the Daily News which ranked Reyes better than Jeter...and I happened to be wearing a Reyes shirt.

For tonight, there were will be a lot of eyes on Jeter. Jeter is a carear .360 agaisnt Glavine, including two homers.

Yankees.com is claiming that Rasner is ready for the Mets because in his last outing, he had to pitch with Ichiro on base. (alluding to Reyes and everyone else on the Mets who runs). Rasner has been pitching long relief for the Yanks, with an ERA around 3.28. The only Met who has really faced him would be Easely who is 1-2 agaisnt him.

In other news, the Nationals cooled down last night, as they were beaten by the Orioles, who are no where near great themselves.

The Oriole fan in me hates saying this, but, lets go redsox...

This was a quote on Mets.com today from Scott Schonewies:

"Friday is the biggest game in New York, Saturday's the biggest in the nation and Sunday's the biggest in the universe."

That gets my blood flowing, I live for rivalries

Delgado has a .362 agaisnt Pettite, and has 10 walks. Pettite has a 3.39ish ERA agasinst the Mets. Perez has faced the Yanks twice in his carear, once a Padre once as Pirate.

Some other numbers, the Mets are 80-83 in interleague play, and 22-32 agaisnt the Yanks. Piazza and Floyd both have the most amount of homers in Interleague Play, 8 each. Lieter holds the victories, ERA, and strikeout records.

So I got home around the time the top of the ninth was starting. Since it was the cubs, I thought there was a good chance that the game would be on WGN, and it was.

So at first I was depressed, because the Cubs were at bat, and up 5-1. But I am optimist, so i had hope for the bottom of the ninth

AND IT WAS AWESOME.

No need to go over details, now for another ancedote

I was in Bmore City earlier today, and I passed Camden Yards. I went in because why not, it looks awesome game or no game. I started talking to one of the ushers, we were obvisily talkin about the back to back 2-1 style games teh O's dropped.

We agreed that for Orioles fans, they at least have teh Yankee misery to take pride in..which is really sad.

I know some people dont like the hype around the Yank/Mets series, but I love this series. I have a lot of close friends that are Yankee fans, and for years, especially in 2000, we had a lot of trash talkin, so I love this time of year

There were not many people during the offseason that were excited with Green coming back to play Right Feild. Afterall, that half year with Nady went extremely well, and he seemed to be a real good surprise player.

This year I have been following Nady, because he is on one of my fantasy teams. So this might be surprising (but from the point of this article, you probably have already figured out the answer):

Who has more homers, RBI's, hits, and average?

SHAWN GREEN!

Who has one more homer, five more RBI's, 21 more hits, and hitting around 80 points higher than Nady.

I do not expect this all season, but its a nice cycle to be in right now, especially with the rest of the offense waking up.

Tonight the Mets will bout with Hill, who was and still is a very strong starter for the Cubs this season. He had a lot of trouble in last start, but I do not expect that to continue, and he should be good tonight. He did not play the Mets last year. He has one start agaisnt the Mets where the Mets hit him up for 7 runs over 1.1 innings. Reyes had 2 AB during that start and had 2 hits, and 2 SB.

The Mets have Sosa who has two starts that went into the seventh inning. He will try to remain the last Met with no losses tonight.

Im also very interested in seeing David Wright and how he does tonight. He had a bit of a streak going, and last night he went 0-4 with 2 strikeouts. It should be a sign of whether or not Wright will work in streaks this season.

Well the Mets play the ace of the Cubs staff tonight.

It always feels like whenever the Mets play someone that is struggling, the pop out of it agaisnt the Mets.

Zambrano was effective agaisnt the mets last year. This year, he really hasnt been effective. Mainly, his problem is home runs. ENDY is 5-14 agaisnt Zambrano, and has a triple and homer. Pinella thinks the problem is the delivery, so he will be using a new one tonight.

I love games with Reyes and Chavez, the amount of speed is awesome. There is plenty of speed behind them with Wright as well. Its a lot of fun to watch.

John Maine last year had 7 innings of shut out ball agaisnt the Cubs. However, this lineup looks much different with their old guys getting protection now from some new heavy hitters. Soriano has two homers agaisnt Maine. But thats all he has agaisnt Maine in 13 ABs

Lets start off with the Nationals...who were so close to a no-no tonight. Besides Hill, Bergman is their best pitcher, so its nice to see something go right for them...well only when it involves knocking down the Braves.

So that gave the Mets control of their destiny. And they siezed it in the bottom of the ninth with a walk off walk. It is still exciting, and really demorlizing for the Cubs, which is great cause we play them tommorow.

Glavine wasnt sparlking, but he settled down after teh second inning (except for that bases loaded jam that he got out of). DWright was very good with the bat, and it just feels good to be a mets fan.

So we all know that the next 4 days for the Braves will be easy agaisnt the Nationals as they get ready for the their three game showdown with Boston. Anyway back on topic, Shawn Hill, the best pitcher for the nats, who was going to pitch on one of the days that Hudson and Smoltz was not, is now on the DL

The Nats had a legitamit shot at winning the game.

Well tonight will be filled with all sorts of reunions. First, there is Floyd who will be coming back to Shea tonight.

One of the reasons why i am so glad this is a national tv game, He is one of my favorite players for his personality and his sense of humor, and i still proudly wear his Mets Jersey

Marquis will be agaisnt Glavine, (old teamates) but i really dont care so much about. What I do care about is numbers, because i like numbers. This year, Marquis's ERA is 1.70, carear against the Mets is 3.96, however, last year, it was 5.27. One of the biggest abusers on him last year, is now on the Cubs (Floyd). Armas Rameriz is a .500 batter agaisnt Glavine.

Todays game had everything for any baseball fan. Oliver Perez went deep, 8.1, and allowed only one run off two hits. Power? Beltran sent number 8 over the wall while Easily...yeah Easly, sent #5 out as well today. (This one is my favorite) you like speed? Reyes stole #23, Wright stole #5,6, and 7 and Gomez in his debut (2-4) with his first stolen base. This game was just all around good.

To make this day even better, the Braves got pounded 13-2 by the bucs, leaving the mets on .5 games out of first. Of course now comes the really not fair part of the home stand. The Mets have to now go play the Cubs while the Braves go play the Nats.

First, the Mets will deal with Marquis, who has really flipped this year. Last year, he boasted at 6+ ERA, this year, its 1.75 ERA. hopefully the Mets can mess him up. Next the Mets get the ace, Zambrano, who has had an up and down year so far, a lot of downs, but he is bound to get it back toghether soon. Many Mets fans should remeber that last year, Zambrano started off that 11 run inning they had agaisnt the Cubs. Next up is Hill whos 2.51 ERA doesnt tell all of his story. He is one the aces of this team if not the ace. His ERA was inflated in his last start which was 5 earned over 5 innings, so this is not a walk in the park at all. Next is Angel Guzman, who has never had a win in a start, is 0-0 this season, and was also rocked last time he started.

As a team, the Cubs were doing well for a period until the Phils rocked them for a bit, and now they are trying to get back up to how they were doing about a week ago.  They beat the Phils today tho. Their starter, Lilly went 8 innings and allowed 1 run.

The Braves have both of their aces, Smoltz and Hudson, going in their four game set with the Nationals. They will first bout with Bergman, argubly the second best on the National roster right now, with his 3.07 ERA. Hudson faces the 0-4, 6+ ERA Williams. Klye Davies will get the start agaisnt the Nationals best pitcher, Hill, with a 2.70 ERA. Chuck James gets Chicko in the last set, with 5+ ERA

This is unrelated, but earlier this week (like on monday) I checked out one of my fantasy teams, the one that I dont check daily. To my surpsie, I had 5 players on the DL. Mike Piazza, Joe Mauer, Rich Harden, Jason Scmidt, Adam Lowen (forgot that I had him). Luckily, after some moving around, My new starting rotation is Peavy, Hamels, Chris Young.

But thats off topic

Yesterday was another average to below average day to Pelfry. The good news, or the bad news depending on how you see it, is that he has more starts in the majors coming as we wait for El Duque to come back. But we have to start thinking that once the duke is back. sosa will probably stay as Pelfry will probably benefit from some time down in the minors.

And we knew that the day was coming for Feliciano and Smith to no longer be perfect...so its a good thing for them to get that off their chest.

Today should be fun to watch, (even though i techically cant because we dont get the game down here) Perez is starting and lets just hope that the Braves lose one today, even though their strength of scheduel coming up right now is a lot easier than ours.

I also just started reading an amazing book. Its not a "find" cause its already been found by Sports Illustrated, it got the book of the year award, Baseball Between the Numbers, by Baseabll Prospectus. Its really good and surprisingly, for a book about baseball analysis, its really suspensfull

EDIT

Pelfry was called back to Triple A, lets hope no Park, and hope for maybe Vargas

The orioles want pitching, MLBtraderumors.com, says that Chan Ho Park is among three pitchers which the Orioles are having internal talks about (Jason Davis and Odalis Perez are the other two)

One of the reasons that this wont go down between the Mets and the Orioles is a lack of players that the Mets would want. The Mets would want Brian Roberts, but the Orioles will not give him up, it would destroy the Baltimore fanbase. Their prospects that they would trade, Bynum and Knott, are both OF, which is something the Mets do not need. The second basemen in the system are nothing to write home about either.

It would be very nice to see Roberts with the Mets though, he would be a more consistant batter in the bottom of the lineup. Im not sure how much he will like batting towards the bottom, cause here in Bmore he IS the leadoff hitter, but hopefully he wouldnt mind to be on a contending team

Matt Cain will take the call to the mound tonight for the Giants. His ERA is really intersting because on the road, he has a 0.90, but at home he has a 5.50.

This kid is only 22 years old. Early this season, I believe during Spring Training, I talked about how the Giants locking him up for a while was a great deal. He is destined to be a shut down, over powering pitcher in the future. He jsut has to get over a few things first. His home stats are also very inflated by his last start at home, which was 7 runs in 4+ innings, I wouldnt expect that tonight though.

Green hits Cain well. In 10 ABs, he has 4 hits, including a homer.

Well yesterday wasnt such a good game. It was also yesterday, so there isnt much to talk about. My main concern is this new hitless streak Wright is on now.

Its a concern because tonight the Mets will face Barry Zito. By himself, Zito does not scare me. However, for some reason, he is very good agaisnt Beltran and Delgado. In fact, according to MLB.com, Beltran, Delgado, Green, Easily, over 63 AB, hit a .176 agaisnt Zito.

Perez, on the other hand, has not had much luck ever agaisnt the Giants. The Giants do look different this year (Alou leaving was a major shake up to their lineup and line up protection) however there are still some threats. The main one being Barry Bonds. The only reason Bonds is a threat is because, Perez, like Maine, seems to have a weakness to the long ball, and on top of that, Bonds is patient, so dependind on what Perez shows up tonight will dictate the tempo of the game. Another weak point will be Aurialla, who in 25 AB agaisnt Perez, has 3 homers. (His overall batting average against Perez though is a .240)

If you go to MLB.com, they give a pitch by pitch matchup of Bonds vs basically every Mets pitcher, its a bit obnoxious at this point.

In other Zito news, he has really buckled down his last four starts throwing a 1.65 ERA (he had a really bad start to the year).