Mets come from Behind to Defeat Pirates Twice

7/2--Pittsburgh,PA. The Mets were down 5-0 before the 4th inning began. Going into the 9th, the Mets had come all the way back and led 8-6. Francisco Rodriguez let that lead get away, blowing his 3rd save of the season as Adam LaRoche took him deep with a man on. The Mets again showed their resiliency in the 10th when Ryan Church singled in what would be the eventual winning run. K-Rod stayed in to pitch the 10th and shut the door on Pittsburgh.

Tim Redding was not good. He was unable to get out of the 4th inning but the bullpen was good only allowing 1 more run to cross the plate before K-Rod's blown save.

Pittsburgh starter, Paul Maholm, was not much better allowing 6 runs in 4.1 innings.

Left fielder, Garrett Jones, was impressive fr Pittsburgh. He went 3-5 and only needed a single to complete the cycle.

Hopefully this game will have little effect on game 1 of the Phillies series that begins tonight. The Mets are only 1 game out of first place, believe it or not, and taking 2 out of 3 this weekend would be just what the doctor ordered.

Toights starters are Rodrigo Lopez for Philadelphia and Livan Hernandez for the Mets. Livan has given the Mets quality starts all year but has taken hard-luck losses in his last 2 outings due to the lack of offense.

I expect another solid outing from Livan but the Mets need to score some runs for him. If the Mets can manage somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 to 7 runs, they should have a good chance to win the game. On the other hand, you can never tell at Citizens Bank Bandbox.

The keys to the game for Philadelphia are Utley,Howard and Werth who is always a thorn in the Mets side. Werth is having a very good season overall as well. Those 3 guys can provide the usual power, look for the Phillies to score a lot of runs. This is key because they do not know what Lopez will provide them on the mound. Once highly regarded, Lopez has bounced around of late.

For the Mets, Ryan Church has had a great couple of days with the bat. It will be a big boost for the team if he can stay hot. Maybe with the short right field porch in Philadelphia, he can find a way to put a few over the fence. David Wright will also be important for the Mets' success this weekend. The NL's second leading hitter will be counted on to get hits in front of Church and Gary Sheffield (who can also be a power source in the hitter friendly ballpark in Philly).