Mets 5, Pirates 1

Now things are getting interesting. With this victory, the Mets are now just two and a half games behind the Wild Card leaders, a title currently shared by the Houston Astros and Philadelphia Phillies. The Mets still trail their entire division, but the four teams battling for second place are as tightly bunched as ever. And if the Mets defy their nature and get hot, they could move up in the standings very quickly. They've got at least six games left against each divisional opponent, and will play the weakest team of the bunch, the Washington Nationals nine more times with six of those meetings occurring in New York. The Mets currently have the fourth-best home record in the National League, which is why they're still in this race despite having won fewer road games than all but two NL teams. The Mets are as likely to lose five in a row as win five straight, but with the way the other contenders are playing, there's still room to hope in New York.

So how did the Mets get so close to the consolation promised land? Well, this time it was a second consecutive surprisingly good performance from Tom Glavine. He lost his last start on Thursday, but may well have won it if not for The Collision, and pitched well in any case, allowing two runs in seven innings. This time out he was even better, as a solo home run allowed to former Met minor leaguer Jason Bay in the first inning was the only blemish on his record. Glavine lasted seven innings and gave up nine hits and one walk while striking out two batters. He didn't get into much trouble at all until the eighth inning when he allowed a bunt single and a double to the first two batters and was subsequently relieved by Aaron Heilman. Heilman got out of that second-and-third-with-no-outs jam without allowing a run to score and went on to earn his first major league save with two excellent innings of work. He struck out four batters and didn't allow a base runner.

As for the Mets' offense, the middle of the order really got the job done on this night. Carlos Beltran made his return to the lineup and had a bunt single, two walks and two runs. Cliff Floyd drove Beltran in in the first inning and after that, the Pirates decided they'd had enough of him. In the fourth inning, after Beltran bunted his way on and stole second, the Pirates walked Floyd to get to David Wright, making one wonder if budget cuts have led the Pirates to get rid of not only all of their advance scouts but also cable television service which might have allowed them to catch an episode of Sportscenter every now and then. The three previous occasions on which Floyd had been walked to get to Wright, the Met third baseman had responded by driving in at least two runs. He ran that streak to four after a wild pitch moved Beltran and Floyd to third and second by smacking a single to left. So how did the Pirates respond to this turn of events? Well, the next time Floyd came to bat, in the sixth inning, there was a man on second as Miguel Cairo had doubled. So they walked Floyd again. Wright didn't drive any runs this time, but he did draw one of his two walks in the game. Jose Offerman then drove in two runs with a single. Beltran, Floyd and Wright each had two walks in the game and Floyd had two singles while the other two each had one.

Tomorrow, the Mets go for their second consecutive sweep of a National League Central opponent. Victor Zambrano (6-9, 4.16) goes for the Mets. He will be opposed by rookie Zach Duke (5-0, 2.13), who even the Pirates probably wouldn't be dumb enough to trade for Zambrano.  ¶ joe | 12:26 AM |