That damn broom

I had the displeasure of watching the majority of the three Mets games this weekend.

Ouch.

I guess scoring at least 4 runs a game doesn't matter when you give up 6, 11, and 9.

The bad: Ramirez, Hudson, and James got beaten, but the latter two which are supposed to be better than Ramirez got lit up like Christmas trees. The Braves are now 15 back in the division and that streak is now officially dead (A sweep would have closed it to 9 back, and the tone of this post would be much different.)

The OK: Betemit was traded Friday night, for Willy Aybar and Danys Baez. Aybar might not be too much of a dropoff from Betemit and might be a good fill-in at 3B. Baez closed for Cleveland and Tampa Bay and helps the pen.

The good: Baez, got his first work today and, aside from the bloop double, gave a serviceable inning in his first outing. The bullpen is better firmed up after this move and the merciful designation of Jorge Sosa. The offense continued to perform against one of the better staffs in the NL.

While it is a three-game sweep, it is by the best team in the NL, and the next several series are against doormats (Pittsburgh) or other teams in the wild-card chase (Philadelphia, Cincinnati).

In the next 20 hours, I am hoping we hear of a trade for a starting pitcher. Or two. The bullpen is better, the offense is all right, but if the rotation can't get through the first seven innings it won't matter much. The prospects are there to use for a trade. We'll see.

There's been a lot of other moves as well. The Abreu trade made me nauseous when it came over the ticker. Blech.