Put the Brooms Away, For Now
The Mets lost like pigs to Atlanta yesterday losing 13-3 against a great performance by John Smoltz on three days rest. The Mets brought up Jose Lima to pitch but he didn't last long into the game. The game itself was a bizarre affair that included a badly called balk on Lima, a double caused by the ball hitting an inattentive ball boy (who would want that job title?) and a Lo Duca and Cox ejection.

You didn't really think they would sweep, did you? Don't complain, Mets fans. We are still 21-10 and ahead of Atlanta by eight games. The Mets now face a tough road trip. The face a real challenge this week against the suddenly red-hot Phillies, then a three-game series against Milwaukee, then a three-gamer against St. Louis. Only then do the Mets return home to face--you guessed it--the Yankees!

And the Mets face all this during challenging times of their own. Victor Zambrano is out for the season after hurting a tendon in his elbow. Meanwhile Bannister is already on the DL with a strained hammy, and John Maine is also out for a while with a broken blood vessel in one of his pitching fingers. The Mets brought up Lima, who has had some good starts as well as Bartolome Fortunato. Scheduled in this week is Pedro, Glavine and Trachsel.

The first challenge of the season then is to patch to gether the starting rotation. We're two guys short, and Willie Randolph is stubbournly refusing to consider Heilman for one of the slots.

The boys are off today. See you on Tuesday night.
- posted by Base10 @ 11:49 AM