Where's the Cat?

Because the Mets, like the proverbial mouse, are certainly playing around. Tonight, they were all over Washington pitching with a total of 12 runs on 13 hits.

Two pitching surprises: The Mets won via the shutout, limiting the Nationals to just 4 hits, and they used only 2 pitchers. That's right. After John Maine pitched five great innings, Brian Stokes finished it off.

In the peculiar events of the last two nights, the Mets have had 2 saves - both by different people, neither of whom is the man they pronounced as their closer yesterday (Eddie Kunz).

On the defensive side of things, the Mets have been playing much better, of late. With Argenis Reyes (instead of Damion Easley) and Fernando Tatis (instead of Marlon Anderson) each getting a bit more playing time, no-one should be surprised at the decrease in errors. The surprising part is that the Mets have not made any errors in 18 of their last 21 games. That's pretty good! Included in that was a 12 game errorless streak from July 22 to August 2.

As of this writing, the Mets are just one half game behind the Phillies. That means that if the Phillies lose tonight, (unlikely, they're winning 6-1) the Mets would be tied with them for first place in the National League East.

Quality Starting: The Mets' rotation is really looking formidable. Johan Santana, arguably the greatest pitcher in baseball (I might argue that) is 5th in the league with an ERA of 2.89. Oliver Perez and John Maine are, respectively, 3.90 and 3.97, both very good marks. Mike Pelfrey backs up the list with "only" a 4.11 ERA. That's good stuff.