Riding an eight game winning streak, including a series opening thumping of the Phillies on Friday night, the Mets had to feel pretty good about climbing from last to first in two week’s time.  But the Phils and their new, shiny ace, Roy Halladay, flustered the Mets’ hitters and their bats made short work of Mike Pelfrey’s scoreless innning streak, roughing him up for six runs in just four innings, on the way to a 10-0 rout.  If that wasn’t enough, the Mets sent their ace Johan Santana to the hill against lefty slow-baller Jamie Moyer on Sunday night, and staked him to a 5-2 lead.  But guys like Victorino and Utley hit home runs against Johan, turning a 5-2 advantage into an 11-5 loss.

My blood starts boiling when I think of guys like Victorino and Utley and how they torture us, but you have to admit they sure can play baseball.  And they went deep on one of the best pitchers in the game, even if he has lost some of his velocity.  What this all does, if nothing else, is it reminds us just how far the Mets have to go to be real contenders.  We can let the 10-0 game go, because everything was going right for 8 games.  But that game Sunday is a game we should have won and didn’t.  And it might come back to bite us in September.

Granted, many of us thought the Mets would wallow near the bottom of the division all season, and they sparked an amazing turnaround against the suddenly mediocre Braves, Cubs and Dodgers.  So the fact we’re even talking about September and the fact that the Mets sit just 0.5 games back of the Phillies on May 5 after a horrendous start is still pretty remarkable.  However, Omar Minaya needs to realize that he’s still a few steps behind the Phillies, and should bolster the starting rotation now to help keep his team in contention.  He sure owes us that much, and owes it to himself.

Quite frankly, the next month of games is going to make or break this Mets’ team, and show us all what they are made of.  I like how it started last night, with Johan absolutely fierce despite not having his best stuff.  Wright, Beltran and Church delivered homers when there had been a power drought.  And as for Johan, he ignored a bunt sign and drove in the tying run with a double down the right field line, and he also made a stunning catch of a wicked liner off the bat of Shane Victorino, doubling Eric Bruntlett off first to end the Phillies’ half of the 7^th.  He was pissed when Jerry Manuel yanked him in the 8^th—he was saying “I’m a Man!” and I could also make this out: “I’ll give you the ball, but I don’t agree with you.”  Good for him….who would want our ace to have any other attitude?

There was also a horrible call in the bottom of the sixth when Ryan Church hit a rocket that was fielded by Ryan Howard as Fernando Tatis broke for the plate (with no outs, mind you) and Howard threw him out at the plate.  But wait…..umpire Lance Barksdale blew that call about as bad as you can blow a call.  Tatis slid under the tag of catcher Carlos Ruiz, but not only that, Ruiz was bobbling the ball!  I have no idea why Tatis, nor Jerry Manuel, didn’t get in Barksdale’s face.  Even David Wright could be seen in the dugout trying to convince Manuel to do that.  Luckily, that was the same inning Santana doubled home the tying run, so it didn’t decide the game.  But still…..I’m pissed about that call, and the Mets and their fans should be too.

So Game 1 goes to the Mets, and it brought them to within two games of the Phillies.  We need at least one more win in the series to make a statement, but wouldn’t a sweep really be nice?  I won’t get greedy, and I’m just excited for more playoff-style baseball for the next month.  Let’s go Mets!