At least the Phillies can look forward to a good draft pick next year

It seems only Mother Nature can prevent the Mets from beating the Phillies because the Phillies themselves aren't much good at it. After two days and two nights of rain, the Mets saw the light and the light's name was Freddy Garcia. A thirteen-hit attack led by Moises Alou combined with solid pitching and good defense to give the Mets their third win in four games against the NL East favorites.

Five Mets had two hits each including Alou, both of whose were home runs. Jose Valentin had a pair of doubles and Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran each stole two bases, though Reyes was picked off of second base once. The Mets also drew six walks, two of which were intentional. Paul Lo Duca had to leave the game after taking a foul ball to his bare hand, but it is apparently nothing serious and Ramon Castro went two-for-two with a walk in his absence.

Despite the offensive outburst, Tom Glavine didn't exactly have an easy road to win number 293. He allowed just one run in six innings, but six hits and five walks meant he needed a lot help from his defense to keep the Phillies from crossing the plate. The infield obliged by turning three double plays, raising their league-leading total to twenty-one for the year. They probably can't keep up this ridiculous pace all year, but then they'll probably stop walking a batter every other inning at some point, too.

Up next, the Mets (8-4) head to Florida to face the Marlins (6-7) for a pair. John Maine (1-0, 1.54) and Orlando Hernandez (1-1, 4.00) will start for the Mets. The Marlins will send out starters from both ends of the "people you've heard of" spectrum with Dontrelle Willis (3-0, 3.32) going in game one and Rick Vanden Hurk (0-0, 3.86) taking game two. Maine and Hernandez have both struggled somewhat in limited career action against the fish, with ERAs of 4.50 and 5.19, respectively. Willis, of course, is 11-2 with a 2.02 ERA against the Mets. Vanden Hurk , on the other hand, had never pitched above A-ball prior to this year and has yet to record a decision in a professional baseball game. I would imagine his parents are still very proud of him.