Defeat the Empire

The best wins are when you fall behind early, chip away, get key outs, and an unlikely hero comes though. Right?

Well that happened last night at Shea. Jae Seo didn't have it, as he allowed 2 homers in the first, one of which to some new guy named Burrell. But the Kid from Kwangju battled with what he had, and got through five innings while keeping the Mets in the game.

Carlos Beltran also had one of his few good days as a Met. He hit a solo shot in the first, a single in the third, an RBI single in the fifth, and a key walk in the eighth. Beltran also had an impressive toss to the plate that nailed Kenny Lofton, and quite possibly turned the momentum around in the ballgame.

The real story isn't Beltran. It's Ramon Castro. A retread before the season started, Castro has proven now to have a knack for the clutch. Every hit he gets is a big one. Yesterday was no different, as his three-run bomb to left field in the eighth gave the Mets the lead for good, and was the Mets biggest hit since Mike Piazza went deep off of Steve Karsay against the Braves on September 21, 2001.

Castro's season numbers are somewhat misleading. He has modest, yet solid, percentages of .257/.333/.466 on the year, but his numbers in the second half and with runners in scoring position are incredible. With runners in scoring position, Castro is hitting .367; with runners in scoring position and two outs, he's hitting .286.

I hope Mike Piazza can come back this year, just because he's Mike Piazza. If the Mets are going win this thing, it doesn't seem right it would be without Mike. But as far as I'm concerned, Piazza's days as an everyday player with the Mets are gone.

Still feel free to wear the Mets cap into Cooperstown, Mike. We love you. But you've been surpassed by King Castro.

Today's Schedule

Devil Rays (Fossum, 8-10, 4.76) @ Red Sox (Wakefield, 13-10, 4.35)

Hell, Tim Wakefield leads the Red Sox in wins? That doesn't seem right. But it's the truth, and Wakey goes for his 14th tonight against Casey Fossum. Fossum actually was one of the players sent to Arizona to get Curt Schilling to Boston. Go figure; less than two years later, he's better than Schilling.

Phillies (Myers, 11-6, 3.55) @ Mets (Martinez, 13-5, 2.77)

Brett Myers has had the breakout season scouts have long predicted for him. Pedro Martinez has avoided the disasterous season the know-it-alls were predicting for him. It looks like a nice pitching matchup, so come out to Shea, will you? Lets break 45,000 for tonight's game.

Yankees (Johnson, 12-8, 4.20) @ Mariners (Hernandez, 2-1, 1.75)

An ex-Mariner ace matches up against the future Mariner ace, as Randy Johnson duels Felix Hernandez. Hernandez has been compared by the scouts to Pedro Martinez. Well, that's a little steep, but he's already outpitching another Hall-of-Famer in Johnson. Consider this: Felix doesn't turn 20 until April 8th of next year; Johnson hits 42 in 10 days.