Mets 3, Expos 1

Tom Glavine took the mound today on another cold afternoon at Shea Stadium, hoping to redeem himself after his disappointing Opening Day start. He did just that, allowing just five hits and one run over 5 2/3 innings, while striking out five, to lower his season ERA to 5.79. The bullpen was superb again, with even Scott Strickland pitching a perfect 1 1/3 innings before Mike Stanton and Armando Benitez each pitched a scoreless inning to close out the game and get Glavine his first win in a Mets uniform.

The Piazza-less Mets offense managed to get the job done again, with Roberto Alomar, Cliff Floyd and Mo Vaughn each driving in one run. Floyd had his best game of the season, going 3 for 4 with a pair of doubles. And Jeromy Burnitz cotinued his hot start, hitting his sixth double of the year and drawing a walk in 3 at-bats. Roger Cedeno had a perfectly acceptable day, hitting a double and scoring a run and he wasn't really challenged in centerfield so there's nothing to report on his defensive troubles. Timo Perez got his fifth pinch-hitting opportunity of the season, but failed to get on base. The crowd is still firmly behind him, as am I.

There were a couple of odd Mo Vaughn-related happenings in this game. First of all, he got hit in the foot by a pitch in his first at-bat, but didn't alert the umpire to this fact, and thus didn't take his base. Presumably he wanted to stay in there and hit instead of taking the easy way to first, but there's something to be said for the easy way, as he popped out and had to walk his aching foot back to the dugout instead of getting a free trip to first. And later, he left the game on the apparently unrelated matter of a mildly strain hip flexor, which is not said to be serious.

Mike Piazza will finally be back from his unjust suspension tomorrow, and hopefully Vaughn will be in the lineup to back him up. The Mets offense hasn't been scoring a lot of runs yet, but it's good to see some of the key hitters like Alomar, Vaughn, Floyd and Burnitz contributing something in the early going. Burnitz continues to be especially encouraging given his dismal play last year. Rookie Jae Seo takes the mound for the Mets against veteran Livan Hernandez as the Mets try to sweep their way into sole posession of first place in the National League East.  ¶ joe | 4:44 PM |