Aaron Heilman has done a great job filling in for the recently departed Jorge Julio, hasn't he? It's just admirable, really. Why oh why does he get passed over for a rotation spot?
Thankfully, David Superman Wright came through yet again with another walkoff hit and it's all flowers and roses from here on out in this post. I won't even kill Steve Trachsel for his continued excellence in mediocrity. I'll ignore Carlos Delgado's slump in favor of admiring the renaissance of Cliff Floyd and Jose Valentin. These two couldn't buy a hit three weeks ago and last night they hit back to back bombs. Cliffy's got ten hits in his last eight games, and Valentin's swing on his homer last night looked nothing like that of a washed-up benchwarmer. Especially telling was after Valentin's big hit, Kaz Matsui came up to pinch-hit and promptly hit a weak grounder to second. The Estimated Departure Time for Metsui Flight #25 out of LGA is any minute now.
Cousin Paulie LoDuca had four hits last night and now any fan who was annoyed over the offseason that Omar acquired him over Molina or Ramon Hernandez needs to send Mr. Minaya a personal apology. This dude is solid behind the plate, solid at the plate, solid in the clubhouse, and solid in the clutch. Mikey Piazza is a first-ballot Hall of Famer and will have his number retired, accolades that LoDuca will never reach, but there's not a Mets fan out there who isn't glad we've got Dookie on our team in 2006.
Mr. Minaya did a hell of a job constructing this lineup. X-Man and Delgado, along with KazMat are slumping mightiliy, but there's still plenty of offense in this lineup to win games. Same as last month, when Floyd and Anderson Hernandez were automatic outs. Oh, and by the way, Atlanta got hammered by the Dodgers yesterday, and the Mets now lead the NL East by 4.5 games. Only the Cardinals lead their division by a wider margin. Alay Soler goes up against Miguel Batista (4-2, 4.60 ERA) tonight. The last time Batista faced the Mets, in 2003, he allowed three runs on five hits in six and two-thirds innings, and got a no-decision in the Mets 4-3 win. Raul Gonzalez was the star for the Mets in that game. Anyone remember him? Thank you, Mr. Minaya for resurrecting this team!
Lets Go Mets!
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