Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Entertainment Tonight

Game 83 - Mets

Mets 7, Cardinals 4
Record: 41-42

Last night was a Best of '08 lineup, according to my tastes. There's no accounting for taste, of course, but I thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of what I saw.

Ryan Church was back out there for the Mets -- and hitting lowball doubles again. (Sorry, the joke about my hitting the highball doubles doesn't really fit, as I was throwing back Bud longnecks. I'll work on it.) Endy Chavez was in left -- re-affirming himself as one of my favorite Mets over the last few years. When he gets some playing time, I really feel like he's a Reyes Lite -- less immediate upside, but exciting on both sides of the ball. And Damion Easley was at second, supplanting the increasingly frustrating Luis Castillo.

Ramon Castro behind the dish -- and more significantly at the plate -- kind of made the difference last night. Yeah, Schneider isn't firing balls into centerfield, but he's also not driving the ball to the gap that often, either.

A tandem of Gary and Keith in the booth filled out the evening nicely. No offense, Ronnie. Keith back in St. Louis is always going to entertain for obvious reasons, even when he calls them the "Metsies."

Tony Armas Jr. . . serviceable. And that's all you need when you get this lineup. And by "this lineup," make no mistake, I mean the one with the out-of-nowhere raking Carlos Delgado, the resurgent power stroke David Wright, the water-tight bullpen (including holds by leakers like Heilman and Feliciano), and nearly flawless defense. It remains to be seen how frequently this lineup fills my evening viewing, but I know I'll be tuning in tonight in hopes of a repeat performance.

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