POSTGAME: Mets 7, Giants 4

The New York Mets (19-15) toppled the San Francisco Giants (18-16) last night in the first game of a four game series at AT&T Park. Bobby Parnell (2-0, 2.20), although he is credited with a blown save, also notched his second major league win as the Mets rallied late to beat the Giants.

Mets Pitching
John Maine: 6.2 IP, 7 H, 2 ER, 4 BB, 4 K
Brian Stokes (H, 1): 0.1 IP, 0 H
Bobby Parnell (W, 2-0): 1.0 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 K
Francisco Rodriguez (S, 10): 1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 K

Notables
Carlos Beltran: 2 for 5, 2B, 2 R
Gary Sheffield: 2 for 4, 2B, RBI, 2 R
David Wright: 3 for 3, 2 RBI, R, 4 SB
Ramon Castro: 1 for 4, 2 RBI

The Good:

• John Maine settled down after a rocky first inning of work. He would throw a season-high 118 pitches in the game, but received a no-decision after Bobby Parnell blew a two-run lead in the eighth.
• David Wright was a perfect 3 for 3 in the game, including a clutch go-ahead RBI single in the ninth with two outs. Despite being in a "slump" to begin the season, Wright is batting .331 with 3 HR and 19 RBI. I can't wait until he gets red hot.
• Frankie Rodriguez is still perfect in save opportunities.

The Bad:

• Ramon Castro seemingly does not know how to block balls in the dirt. Instead, he seems to just give a lazy backhand attempt at anything out of the zone. How much money is he making again?
• Bobby Parnell struggled a bit in his first appearance as the team's set-up man. Perhaps it was just jitters, or maybe the Giants just put good swings on the ball. Either way, I don't expect it to become a common occurrence.

The Ugly:

• The voice of the Giants PA announcer. Jeez, it sounds like theres a ten year old up there. How is that supposed to get the stadium hype? Just wondering...
• The umpire's inconsistent strike zone. One minute the outside corner is three inches bigger, the next minute a pitch inside the black is a ball. Make up your mind, blue.

Mets Player of the Game: David Wright (3)

I always hate having to stay up so late to watch games on the west coast. They should seriously start those games an hour or so earlier. I mean, if there is a Monday Night Football game out west one week, they don't wait until 11 PM (eastern) to start the game, do they? No. If one of the teams is from an east coast market, they should take that into consideration, especially since baseball games can easily drag out for more than three hours.

As for the game itself, I thought it was a sloppy one which we probably didn't deserve to win. The defense was shotty, yet again, thanks to the absence of Jose Reyes at shortstop. I think sometimes we get too comfortable and don't realize how good of a defensive shortstop Reyes actually is, especially compared to a guy like Cora. If Reyes was in the game last night, he would have made the play (and possibly a couple of others) on that grounder up the middle by Renteria which tied the game. Was it me, or was Cora playing very deep in the hole? Or does Reyes really have that much more range than Cora?

Either way, a win is a win and I will take it. It's always good to see David Wright come through when the team needs him to, just to shut the "Wright is un-clutch" group up. Ugh, now we've got another 14 hours until game time. Great.