Mets Go For Seven Straight Tonight at Shea

    This time last week the Mets were 4.5 games behind Philadelphia entering their pivotal four-game series with the division leaders.  After Johan Santana gave up a 2-0 lead and Duaner Sanchez allowed the winning run in the ninth, the horizon looked bleak for the orange and blue.  However, since that devastating defeat, New York has racked up six straight wins and the Mets now find themselves just 1.5 games back of the Phillies in the NL East.  During the winning streak the Mets have scored an average of seven runs per game while yielding only three per contest, including back-to-back shutouts of the Giants on Tuesday and Wednesday.

    The Mets are now 14-9 with Jerry Manuel at the helm, after going 34-35 under Willie Randolph.  Over the last six games the Mets have shown a newfound confidence and swagger that they had been lacking since early last season.  But before we start comparing Manuel to Leo Durocher, let's remember that just six games ago the team was 8-9 under the new manager, Jose Reyes was slamming his glove down in frustration after a throwing error, hitters were not coming through in the clutch, the bullpen was blowing games left and right, and the starting pitching was inconsistent.  Sure, there is a lot to be happy about over the last six games, but it is best to remain cautiously optimistic because everything always looks a lot better during a six-game winning streak.

    In Manuel's defense, I found Billy Wagner's perspective on the managerial change very interesting.  Wagner told the following to Jayson Stark for his July 10 column on ESPN.com:  "I don't want to bash Willie, because I liked him.  But before it was more of The Yankee Way.  It wasn't The Mets Way.  There was no facial hair.  You could never have music in the clubhouse.  You couldn't have kids around.  Believe it or not, some of us in here actually like kids.  [Manuel told us to] play hard, play fearless and have fun.  You know what?  We've found out it's pretty easy to play when you stop playing for stats and just go out and play hard and play to have fun."

    Now Billy Wagner has had a habit of speaking his mind, and that has gotten him into precarious situations in the past, and since Manuel became manager neither Wagner's performance nor his stats have been too great, but he definitely makes a good point in his distinction between "The Yankee Way" and "The Mets Way."  The Mets organization portrays an inferiority complex as it constantly tries to compete with the Yankees in image and publicity.  Bringing in Randolph's professionalism and winning attitude as a former Yankees player and coach in 2005 was a great move at the time, and it certainly paid off quickly.  But the rigidity and solemnity of the Yankee tradition had worn thin and was no longer translating into wins on the field.  What is the big deal about allowing facial hair and music in the clubhouse anyway?  Frankly, the Mets starting rotation has been much more consistent since growing out their facial hair.  And I never understood how Willie could take a hard line against allowing players to grow beards, yet still permit Jose Reyes, David Wright, Carlos Delgado and others to dance and put together handshake routines in celebration of home runs.

Around The League

    It looks like the Mariners should have traded Erik Bedard when they had the chance, because yesterday afternoon he landed back on the DL with stiffness in his left shoulder.  Bedard has underperformed since the Mariners acquired him, as he has been hobbled by back and shoulder injuries for most of this season, after missing the last month of 2007 with a strained oblique.  Seattle also made headlines yesterday by cutting first baseman Richie Sexson, who has struggled for the better part of the last two seasons.  Sexson has tremendous power when he makes contact but that is his biggest problem--he is a strikeout machine.  Despite Carlos Delgado's recent signs of life I still think it would be nice to add a right handed bat who can split time at first base, but Sexson is not the answer.  The Padres seem to be shopping Tony Clark, and I would rather see him in a Mets uniform than Sexson.

    The Diamondbacks won a wild game in Washington last night 7-5 in 11 innings.  Arizona blew a 2-run lead in the bottom of the ninth and then scored three in the tenth on four straight two-out hits, but the Nationals tied it again in the bottom of the tenth on an RBI single by Willie Harris and an Austin Kearns two-run double.  Arizona scored two more in the 11th on an RBI double by Stephen Drew and a Chad Tracy RBI single, and Chad Qualls held on in the bottom of the inning to seal the deal.  The D-backs are now 46-46 and a game in front of the Dodgers in the NL West.  Los Angeles, on the other hand, lost in the 11th last night when Florida shortstop Hanley Ramirez belted his fifth hit of the game over the center field fence.  Kevin Gregg closed it out for his 18th save and the Marlins kept pace with the Mets and Phillies to remain tied for second place, 1.5 games out of first.

    The Angels and Athletics open up an important three-game series tonight in Oakland.  The A's are five games back of the Angels in the AL West and will try to improve upon a 4-6 record against the division leaders thus far this season.  Sean Gallagher, whom Oakland acquired in the Rich Harden trade, will start tonight against Jon Garland.

Games of the Week

Recap:  Wednesday 7/9  Texas Rangers 5, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 4

    There were a lot of good games this week, with Detroit topping Seattle 2-1 in 15 innings last Sunday, the Yankees coming from behind to beat Jonathan Papelbon and the Red Sox in 10 innings on Sunday, Boston edging out Minnesota in a 1-0 stalemate with a Manny Ramirez RBI single in the eighth on Monday, Hiroki Kuroda flirting with a perfect game on Monday, the Pirates scoring three in the eighth to beat the Astros 4-3 on Tuesday, and the White Sox outlasting the Royals 8-7 in a back-and-forth 13-inning game on Tuesday.

    But the best game of the week featured the Rangers scoring three in the ninth off Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez to win 5-4 on Wednesday.  With the score tied 2-2 in the seventh, Juan Rivera homered to left center, scoring Torii Hunter, to take a 4-2 lead.  The Los Angeles bullpen held off Texas until the ninth and manager Mike Scioscia brought in K-Rod, who is having a fantastic season.  Ramon Vazquez led off with a walk, but Rodriguez struck out Ian Kinsler and got Frank Catalanotto to ground out, moving Vazquez to second with two outs.  The red-hot Michael Young stepped up to the plate and singled to left, scoring Vazquez to make it 4-3.  K-Rod fell behind Josh Hamilton 3-1, but threw an unexpected curveball on the fifth pitch of the at-bat.  Hamilton must have been ready for it because he blasted it into the right field stands to win the game 5-4 in walk-off fashion.  It was Hamilton's 20th home run of the year, and he leads the majors with 91 RBI.  The blown save was only K-Rod's third of the season, and he rebounded the next day to pick up his major league-leading 36th save of the year.

Preview:  7/13  Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at Oakland Athletics

    As difficult as it is to predict a good game, the easiest way to do so is by looking at the pitching matchups.  This is a short week due to the All-Star break so there aren't many that are too enticing.  Joba Chamberlain will duel Roy Halladay at The Stadium tonight in a matchup of youthful wastefulness and crafty economy.  Whereas the veteran Halladay leads the majors in complete games with six, Chamberlain has had trouble getting past the sixth inning, pitching into the seventh only once in seven starts, due to his propensity for running high pitch counts early in games.  On Sunday Tim Lincecum will face Ryan Dempster at Wrigley Field, where Dempster is 10-0 this season.  Lincecum leads the majors with 126 strikeouts, and is second in the NL with a 2.66 ERA.

    But the best matchup of the week features two starters from the AL West.  On Sunday at McAfee Coliseum in Oakland, 27-year-old Joe Saunders of the Angels will take on Justin Duchscherer, who leads the majors with a 1.78 ERA.  Saunders (12-5) and Duchscherer (10-5) could find themselves facing one another in a race for the division  title in the second half, and both pitchers will make the trip to New York for the All-Star game after they battle it out on Sunday.

*Statistical information derived from www.baseballreference.com

**Play-by-play information derived from www.mlb.com