Mets Week Eight: Cuban arms buildup

After a couple of bad weeks, things got back to normal for the Mets these past seven days. As usual, they beat up on division opponents, won four out of six games and debuted a couple of new starting pitchers. And somehow the Braves still gained ground on them.

The suddenly mortal Carlos Delgado had a bad week, with just two singles in twenty at bats. But the offense continued to produce, scoring thirty-two runs in six games, thanks to big weeks from several other Mets. David Wright's huge .478/.500/.870 week led the way. Carlos Beltran continued to produce, with a 1.178 OPS in these six games. And Cliff Floyd finally showed some signs of life with an 1.147 OPS that raised his season numbers all the way to .219/.320/.374. If Floyd can put up numbers resembling those of his very good 2005 this season, the Mets will have plenty of offensive weapons to survive slumps like the one currently troubling Delgado.

Of course, the more important questions about the Mets continued to concern the pitching. Both Alay Soler and Orlando Hernandez made their Mets debuts this week and each gave up three runs in games eventually won by the Mets. But Soler's outing was clearly the more encouraging of the two. Not only did Soler last six innings as compared to Hernandez's five, but he was much more impressive once he finished giving up runs. Apparently nervous about his first major league start, Soler couldn't find the plate early on and walked the first three batters he faced. That, and an error by Chris Woodward, accounted for the three runs. After escaping the first inning, Soler looked much more comfortable and effective. Hernandez struggled more consistently throughout his start and looked less likely to be a solid part of this rotation in the coming weeks and months.

Pitching uncertainties aside, the Mets keep winning. They now hold a four game lead over those damn Braves in the NL East. Up next is a series with the NL West-leading Diamondbacks, who they've beaten six times in a row. Then the Giants, from whom they took two out of three a month ago, come to town. This will probably not be the week that the Mets lose their grip on first place.