Yankees 5, Mets 2
Mets 7, Yankees 1
Yankees 5, Mets 3

Defense was the story of the weekend. This series featured one blowout bookeneded by a pair of close games in which sloppy defense played a significant role. The Mets' infielders weren't the only ones kicking the ball around, as the Yankees committed three of the series' seven errors. But the Mets' blunders were the ones that wound up deciding the first and last game of the trio.

Victor Zambrano pitched another crappy game on Friday, walking six batters in just five and one-third innings. He also gave up four hits and struck out four. For most of those innings he was able to keep the abundant base runners from scoring. After five innings the score was tied at one. But after Zambrano loaded the bases with only one out on a single and a pair of walks, things fell apart.

Zambrano very nearly got out of his own mess again, but a potential double play ball to Kazuo Matsui was blown so thoroughly that he didn't get any outs. The next batter hit another grounder but this time it was defensive wizard Doug Mientkiewicz who erred, and another run scored. Zambrano exited after 108 pitches, relieved by Heath Bell. Bell, good pitcher that he is, struck out the next two batters to end the inning quickly. He added another strikeout in a perfect seventh inning.

Matsui's defensive disaster was especially unfortunate given that he'd been having a good game up to that point. He drove in the Mets' first run with a double in the fourth, bringing home David Wright, who reached both first base and home plate as a result of errors by Derek Jeter. If there was a silver lining in this game, it was the amusingly bad play of Cap'n Clutch, who, in addition to the two errors, went hitless in five at bats and struck out three times, leaving six men on base. Sadly, the Mets' offense wasn't too much more effective. Jose Reyes doubled and scored in the seventh, but that was the extent of it.

Roberto Hernandez gave up two more runs in the ninth inning and had to be removed after just two outs. He gave up three hits and a walk and didn't strike out anyone. Hernandez got off to a terrific start this year, but one has to wonder if the forty year old can really handle the workload he's being asked to endure. Friday was the third straight game he'd entered, though the Mets did have Thursday off. He would get into all three of the games in this series, with less than stellar results.

Saturday was a much happier day for the Mets, in almost every respect. First of all, they wore the blue hats again. And, perhaps more importantly, they got both good pitching and good hitting. Kris Benson came through with his second consecutive very good start, though he wasn't too efficient in doing so. He lasted just six innings on 106 pitches. But he didn't allow a single run and gave up just three hits and three walks. He only struck out three, but that was enough to get the job done.

The Mets' offense got to Randy Johnson early, smacking three hits in the first inning, though they failed to score a run. Three more singles in the second added up to one run. The third was another three-hit, one-run inning, this time with a double by David Wright doing the damage. Benson exited with a two-run lead after allowing a hit to start the seventh inning and it was then that The Legend of Mister Koo was born.

Dae-Sung Koo relieved Benson in the seventh. Alex Rodriguez was caught stealing due to some pretty bad base running and then Koo struck out the next two batters to end the inning. Then he led off the next inning. In his first major league at bat last week, Koo stood about as far back in the batter's box as possible and promptly struck out looking. This time the Korean lefty came to the plate to face Randy Johnson, so fearsome a left-handed pitcher than neither of the Mets' lefty every day players started the game. And Koo proceeded to smack a double to the gap in right center. And then, when Reyes bunted Koo over to third, Koo noticed that no one was covering home. So he sprinted for the plate, did his best to slide around a lunging Jorge Posada, and scraped his fingers across the tip of the plate to score the Mets' third run of the day. Some may say that Posada tagged him before he touched the plate. I say that none of the television replays were definitive and the umpire had about as good a view of the play as anyone could. Whether he was safe or out, the crowd fell in love with him, a sellout crowd shouting "KOO!" He may not be an elite reliever, and Willie Randolph may not always use him in ways that make sense, but on this day, a folk hero was born. Mister Koo made Randy Johnson and the Yankees look silly.

All told, it didn't really matter much whether Koo was safe or out, as the Mets scored four more runs on the day. The next batter to the plate after Koo's mad dash, Miguel Cairo, took Johnson deep for his first home run of the season. And in the eighth, the Mets added three more runs on a David Wright's second double of the day and a triple by Jose Reyes. The Mets had fifteen hits on the day, five for extra bases, though they only drew one walk. The only real downside to this game was that both Matsui and Carlos Beltran left with minor injuries.

Sunday's game was a lot more like Friday's without a lot of runs but with some bad defense deciding things. The Mets got off to a quick three-run lead, thanks in part to some bad Yankee fielding. With runners on second and third in the bottom of the second, Pedro Martinez grounded a ball to third that Rodriguez botched, leading to one run scoring. Reyes drove in another with a single. And Cliff Floyd's twelfth home run of the year provided the third run in the next inning.

Meanwhile, Martinez was shutting the Yankees down. He had a rough first inning, throwing thirty-one pitches to get out of it scoreless after allowing two hits and a walk. Then he really got going, retiring thirteen batters in a row before allowing a leadoff single in the sixth. Questions about his parentage were lain aside as he lasted seven innings and struck out six while allowing just one run on four hits and a walk. He left with a 3-1 lead. He had thrown only 99 pitches and was still pitching very well, but given his recent hip trouble, removing him after seven seemed like a perfectly reasonable move.

Sadly, The Legend of Mister Koo took a hit on this day, though it was hardly his fault. He got the first batter he faced to fly out, but a Tony Womack grounder to third was bobbled by Wright and then Reyes blew the turn on a possible double play for another error and Koo left with two runners on and only one out. Then Hernandez came in and things quickly went to hell. After a double steal moved the runners to second and third, he got Rodriguez to pop out in foul territory. But then a single by Hideki Matsui tied things up and a double by Bernie Williams put the Yankees on top. Koo might have gotten through this inning with ease if not for the poor defense behind him. Hernandez had no such excuses as he gave up the lead. Mike DeJean gave up another run on two hits and two walks.

If you ignore the defense, the Mets played pretty well this weekend. They got a couple of very good pitching performances and one great offensive show. Sadly, the defense counts in the standings, too, and it cost the Mets this series. Three of the Mets' four errors were from guys who are either very young or learning a new position. Mientkiewicz's error was pretty inexcusable given that he's batting sixth in the lineup every day despite the fact that he's hitting .203/.308/.361. I question whether his defense has enough value to warrant his starting every day to begin with, but if he's not going to be just about perfect with the glove, he really serves no purpose on this team. The Mets' other options may not be ideal at this point, but I still think it's time they start exploring them.

Tomorrow, the real big games get going, as the Mets begin a series in Atlanta. The second-place Braves are 24-19 on the season, 1.5 games out of first, and just as many ahead of the fourth-place Mets, who are now 23-21. Kazuhisa Ishii (0-2, 3.96) starts the first game for the Mets. He had a solid return from the disabled list last week, allowing one run in six and one-third innings and at this point he does not qualify as the worst pitcher in this rotation. Horacio Ramirez (2-3, 4.69) goes for the Braves.  ¶ joe | 11:27 PM |