I'm Giddy

Why you ask? Well, needless to say it's not because of the game last night.

That's probably unfair. Truth is, there was a lot to like about yesterday's game even if it ended badly.

Carlos Beltran continued to be a beast. I liked Delgado's 2-out opposite field RBI single in the first. Mr. Glass continued to score runs. But most important of all, our new-look bullpen looked sharp before Billy Wagner got served.

Look, you can't get too bent out of shape about Wagner last night. As painful as it is to witness, it happens.

My mortal enemy Matt Cerrone made a good point over on Metsblog this morning, which was that you can't really argue if the other guy beats you.

If you see Wagner beat himself, a la that meltdown against the Yankees, feel free to throw your remote, but if the other simply gets the better of him, well, c'est la vie.

More important than Wagner last night were Aaron Heilman, who managed to overcome his acute case of Major League Blues to toss a strong 1-2-3 inning in the 8th, and Chad Bradford, who is making a bid to do more than clean up Tom Glavine's 5th or 6th inning mess.

Ultimately the 7th and 8th innings belong to Heilman and New Met Roberto Hernandez (welcome back, guy -- we were sad to see you go), but it's nice to see Bradford step up.

If you told me that Bradford would come in second in a massive poll of Mets fans' confidence in our bullpen pitchers (behind the recently deceased Duaner Sanchez) I'd believe it, he's been that good, but still, it's nice to see him deliver now that the burden is greater on everyone in that bullpen.

As for Mike Pelfrey, this was a typical Mike Pelfrey outing. Sharp at times, frustratingly wild at times, good enough on the whole to give you a decent line.

I'm exposing myself once again to the anonymous poster who called me misinformed a week or two ago when I wrote that Pelfrey didn't look like a top of the line starter at this stage in his development, but I'm sticking with that assessment.

He might be better than Trachsel already, but you know that Trax isn't getting bumped from the rotation. Ditto El Duque, not at the moment anyway.

So that leaves Pelfrey in 1-D battle with John Maine for the 5th starter's spot (provided Nails' request that the Mets use a 6-man rotation the rest of the way, sent to Omar Minaya via e-mail this morning, goes unheeded).

It's really tempting to keep Pelfrey with the big club, but for now I think he should be the odd man out. I'm not completely sold on Maine yet, but I think he's more refined.

As decent as Pelfrey has been, you get a sense of how nasty he could be if he could just harness it all together. What does him in is his command of secondary pitches and his concentration. He can work on both in the minor leagues with less pressure, and doing so may be well to his long-term benefit.

But anyway, that's not what I'm giddy about.

I'm giddy because this coming Monday I will get a chance to rub elbows, schmooze, hand Yankees 2000 cards, etc. with some of my favorite Mets at the Beacon Restaurant in Manhattan.

Among the Mets appearing at the event are David Wright, Cliff Floyd, Paul Lo Duca, Xavier Nady... err, not Xavier Nady... Julio Franco's blender, and WaLuigi.

(Speaking of the X-Man, allow me to give him a hearty RIP. The guy hit 14 home runs in 76 games (265 ABs) for the New guys. That puts him on pace for about 30 dongs a year (he won't get there this year on account of his apendectomy), which is pretty damn good for a 7-hitter. Jesus Christ, we really traded this guy for a 41 year old and a reclamation project?

As a matter of fact, he might be the best 7th hitter in the National League, and at $427,000 a year, he was an absolute bargain.

But fine, I realize he was expendable, and I realize a move had to be made to shore up the bullpen after Duaner Sanchez (RIP) got injured in, but still, the X-Man was a pretty high price to pay.

From all of us here at Y2K, RIP Xavier. Your shoddy fielding, timely hitting, and awesome nose will forever live on in Y2K lore.)

At $175 a pop tickets don't come cheap, but this is an excellent opportunity. Meet your favorite Mets, cast ugly stares over at Matt Cerrone, get a buffet dinner at a nice restaurant and complimentary drinks -- there's a lot of value there.

I've got my ticket, and I'm absolutely giddy -- you can be giddy too by clicking the headline above and filling out the form. If you buy a ticket and you're gonna be there, shoot me an e-mail or leave a comment on the comment board.

Anyway, busy day at the office so I've gotta keep this brief. Last thing I'll mention -- watching Jaret Wright pitch might be the most excruciating experience this side of Steve Trachsel.

The YES broadcasting team mentioned that he averages 5 pitches per at-bat. That may not sound like a lot, but consider that (true?) Yankee Bobby Abreu leads the bigs in pitches per AB with 4.47.

Somehow, Jaret Wright does worse than that every batter he faces. Yikes.

- A.F.O.M.G.