3 Up & 3 Down: The Times They Are A Changing Edition

The Mets win a big series against the Phillies, two games to one. Pounding the Phils on Monday night, and winning a very thrilling game on Thursday night was great to see. A few words about Thursday night’s game. It featured two of the game’s best pitchers R.A. Dickey and Cole Hamels. Neither guy looked sharp, but both lasted seven innings. The Mets pulled off a great comeback in the bottom of the ninth against Jonathan Papelbon. These are the types of comebacks, or for that matter the type of games, that the Mets have not had in previous years. As I’ve said in the past, the magic is back. We can now say, the times are really changing at Citifield, and in the National League East.

3 Up:

• David Does It: A big, big night for Wright on Thursday driving in four runs including the game winning hit Thursday night in the bottom of the ninth. David has had a great first half, lets hope he does just as good in the second half.
• Daniel Murphy: It seems that not that long ago, Met fans were in a tizzy because Murph’s hitting had cooled down a bit. I said it then, and I’ll say it now, Murphy has proven to be a big league hitter. Over his last ten games Murph has been 14 for 35, a .400 average. He has also driven in 14 runs during that span. Murph’s the type of player I’ll take on my team any day, and twice on Sunday.
• Ruben Tejada: Ruben had a big at-bat in the bottom of the ninth Thursday, working out a walk with two out. But I’m putting Ruben here for the great job he’s done all season. Very quietly Tejada has made Met fans forget Jose Reyes. Tejada is solid on the field, and is currently batting .331. He’s doing a good, and it’s time to give him some props.

3 Down:

• Bullpen on the Fourth: Wednesday afternoon’s game was almost like two games in one. For the first six innings Chris Young looked great. He got into trouble late, and Terry turned to the bullpen. That’s when the game fell apart and the Phillies picked apart the Mets pen. It got so bad late in the game, I turned the radio off. Never a good thing.
• Sloppiness: The Mets are still being haunted by some sloppy play. Thursday night we saw Ike out of position on a cut-off throw. As good as the Mets have been this first half, they still need to execute every play. It’s been a recurring theme this season.
• Ty Wigginton: Is it me, or is Wigginton now a Mets killer? You really have to wonder how many times Terry is going to allow the Mets to pitch to him.

The downs are a little flimsy, but all and all the Mets are looking good these days and it’s hard to find too much to be “down” about.

The Cubs are in this weekend, and after that it’s the All-Star break. As usual, Lets Go Mets!!