Game #48: Mets 7, Cubs 4 (7)

Carlos Beltran connects on a two-run double in the second inning. He also collects a triple in the Mets rain-shotened 7-4 win over the Cubs in seven innings. (NYDailyNews.com)

It took a vicious rainstorm and a wild pitcher, but the Mets remembered how to win a game.

A 5-run 2nd highlighted by Carlos Beltran's double gave New York the 7-4 victory over the Cubs in a rain-shortened, wild evening in Chicago.

The Good Stuff:

• After a 1st inning (Cubs up 4-1) that mirrored last night's disaster, Josh Thole started the fireworks with a bases-loaded single to knock the deficit down to 2. Then Carlos Beltran laced a 2-run double to tie the score. Beltran also added his first triple of the year in the 6th. How does that figure into your 65%, eh, Mr. Unspeakable?
• Two more runs came in in the 2nd thanks to the patience of the Met batters and one wild Cub pitcher. Justin Berg entered from the bullpen and proceeded to walk the next three batters on 12 pitches. If you do your math right, you'll see that stat line doesn't allow for a single strike. You would be correct. Cubs fans are used to putting up with more than we Mets fans do, but I gotta think even they lost their patience with Mr. Berg, especially considering those walks ended up deciding the game. Sure as heck lucky for us, though.
• Yes, that 1st inning will hurt him in the papers, but Dillon Gee more than deserved the W he picked up in this one. Pitching in Wizard of Oz- like conditions (minus the old lady on the bicycle, as WFAN's Howie Rose pointed out), Gee shook off that bad start and through the next 5 innings completely shut the Cubs down, holding them to a single and a hit batsman. Mr. Gee is definitely one of the bright spots of this season, and hopefully finance allows the Mets to hold on to him. Cause if this year is any indication, Dillon Gee could put himself in the company of Jerry Koosman and Ron Darling in New York folklore.
• Finally, remember how RISP had been the bane of the Mets' existence this season? Today they went 5-14 in those situations. Yep, that will get you the win.

The Bad Stuff:

• While they scored 7 runs, a couple baserunning blunders and leaving the bases loaded in the 2nd erased further Met opportunities. The Cubs could have come back and those missed opportunities could have stood out like blinders in the fog, but the rains came in the 7th and the umps called it a ballgame.

Final Analysis:
The front office circus can have as many rings as it wants, but when it all comes down to it, it's what happens on the diamond that really counts. And what is happening is that the Mets are still just 2 games under .500, just a couple games worse than the defending AL champion Texas Rangers. Tough as it may be, as long as the Amazin's can block out all the chaos out of their heads for about three hours a night, it will be their on-field performance we'll be talking about instead. All is far from lost.

MM