Game #52: Mets 9, Phillies 5

Jose Reyes arriving at third with a first-inning triple, the first of his four hits on the day. (NYTimes.com)

The best part about baseball is how one afternoon can erase a week's worth of pain.

The Mets racked out 17 hits, including two triples from Jose Reyes, en route to a 9-5 series-ending win over the Phillies.

The Good Stuff:

• Still think he isn't worth Carl Crawford money, Mr. Unspeakable Owner? Already having a standout series, Jose Reyes exploded for a 4-5 afternoon, scoring once, driving in another, and cracking 2 triples. Mr. Excitement now leads the National League in hits (76), doubles (17), and triples (8, three ahead of the next guy), and is hitting a career-best .335 with an on-base percentage of .382. The best part? 227 at-bats and just 19 strikeouts. For year's we've wondered what Reyes would be like when fully developed, and now, at age 27, he's just that. I think he turned out well, how about you? I don't know what kind of say David Einhorn will have as minority owner, but perhaps he'll be willing to invest in Jose Reyes and keep him where he belongs: playing shortstop and blasting energy through Citi Field.
• Josh Thole had his best outing of the year, going 3-4 with a double and driving home 3 runs. Also contributing in the offensive column were Justin Turner (2-5 with yet another RBI), Daniel Murphy (3-5, with 2 runs and an RBI), Angel Pagan (2 runs and an RBI), and even Jason Bay (2-5 with 2 runs).
• Yes, Philadelphia didn't put their best lineup on the field this afternoon, but Jon Niese still delivered a fantastic outing, letting in just 1 unearned run on 5 hits through 6 1/3 innings, walking 4 and striking out 6. His team had won him the game by the end of the 2nd, but he did a good job of not overlooking his opposition and taking care of business.

The Bad Stuff:

• It didn't make a difference today, but the bullpen's struggles made the score closer than the game was. Taylor Buchholz allowed 3 runs in 1 1/3 innings of relief, and Pedro Beato let another one in in his 1 1/3. Three straight games now the bullpen has regressed back to its April stages. Hopefully it doesn't do a complete time warp in this next week. The bullpen's high performance is one of the reasons we're only 4 games below .500 instead of 4 + a lot more under .500.

Final Analysis:
This wasn't the best weekend, and we've still lost 3 straight series, but the Mets leave this game with a smile on their faces, victors of the day in dominant fashion. As I've said before, even if you lose 90 games, you still win 72. Today, the Mets won. It feels good.

It also feels good that we have another whole week to refresh ourselves at home. The not-as-hapless-as-years-past-but-still-pretty-hapless Pittsburgh Pirates and rival Atlanta Braves make visits to Citi Field, and with a little luck, New York could be back near the .500 mark by the time Monday, June 6th rolls around. Crazy as it is to believe, it's still not over, Mets fans.

MM