Another Win and the Magic Begins

Yesterday the Mets had another solid victory over the Brewers to give them a relaxing three game lead over the second place Phillies. I will talk about yesterday's game but I want to talk more about the playoff race and other matters. The first inning of yesterday's game was highlighted by a Delgado RBI single, a Ryan Church grand slam, and a Brian Schneider solo home run. The grand slam was obviously big for the Mets but it was even bigger for Church who has been struggling to get on base since his latest return from his post concussion symptoms. Church had been saying that he was just looking to get up to bat and crank one to get the feel back and try to retain the performance he had at the beginning of the season prior to his injury. Oliver Perez had a solid outing with five strikeouts. He allowed a solo shot to J.J. Hardy, and the Brewers scored their only other run on a Corey Hart RBI double. Perez went 6 and 2/3 but one number that he would like to go down is the five walks he surrendered yesterday. Not as much so in the second half, but in the first there were many occasions were Perez would lose control and blow away a great game stemming from two walks. Early on, with Perez, after allowing a hit or two and a walk, the wheels began to fall off immediately and the decision seemed to be lost. But, in his last few starts, Perez has proven himself to be a solid number two pitcher in the rotation. If he keeps it up and can help the Mets get into the playoffs, the odds of the Mets resigning him will definitely be heightened. However, don't be surprised to spot Perez missing next year, as it is likely he will be asking for a pretty hefty raise. The Mets would win yesterday's game 9-2 and after a Phillies loss to the Nationals, the Mets finally got their magic number of 20. As said best by Yahoo.com "The magic number represents the combination of wins by the leading team and losses by the second-place (or tied) team that would clinch the division title."

Beginning on Friday, the Mets open up a three-game series with the trailing Philadelphia Phillies. This series is one of the most important of the whole season. If the Mets were to win two of the three games, their lead would over Philly would be four games. The Mets would be in great playoff position with a four game lead and only 17 games left in the season. If the Mets were to either drop or split the first two games of the series, they will throw out ace Johan Santana on Sunday to face the Phillie's #1, Cole Hamels. Santana who has been the stopper this year when the Mets begin to skid is coming off one of his best starts of the season in which he pitched six innings, allowing two runs and striking out 10 batters. 

As the games left in the season begin to dwindle down, we must not alo forget that this is the last season at Shea Stadium. After the conclusion of this season, the Mets will play all of their home games right next door at their new stadium, Citi Field which looks to be in great shape. The down side to the new stadium is the large plummet in seat numbers. The approximate number of fewer seats in Citi Field will be around 12,000. This will surely make ticket prices go up, especially if the Mets make the playoffs. It's sad that not all fans will be able to experience the new home of the Amazins. The rocketing MLB ticket prices are not right, but let's just be happy we aren't Yankees fans(Sorry to all Yankee fans reading this). No matter how much the Mets single game and season tickets go up, there is now way to beat the Yankees. It's absolutely absurd how much ticket prices are going up for the Yankees, a team that most likely will not qualify for the playoffs. A team that blew millions of dollars on pitcher Carl Pavano who is one of the biggest wastes of money is sports history. I recently checked out what tickets were going for at Yankee Stadium for the final game ever played there. My jaw dropped. Fans are trying to sell BLEACHER SEATS for $20,000! What I tell you next is clearly a joke by the seller, but one fan is selling his/her tickets for $999,999. With that kind of money, you could probably by two decent tickets for every game the Yankees play for about the next 15 years.

Well, I'd say I rambled on for a good chunk of time in the last paragraph. As for new posts, expect a minimum of two a week, but check every two days. That's it for Mets Baseball, keep reading to stay up to date with the New York Mets, the MLB, and anything else that pops into my mind. Thanks.