Good Morning Mets Fans!

The Mets have dialed 6-1-1 under "interim" manager Jerry Manuel.

That is, a 33-21 record and a .611 winning percentage. It equates to 99 wins over a full season.

The never say die Mets have won their last 5 games, all on the road, and now stand 2 games up on the Phils and 3.5 up on the Marlins.

In last night's 7-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates the main contributers were a strong start by Pedro Martinez, the athleticism of Jose Reyes, and a balanced offensive attack that featured hits by 8 of the 9 starters and a bomb from Ramon Castro.

The Mets starting pitching staff is really stepping up its game, and Pedro is looking better and better with each start. All 5 starters are healthy and pitching well.

Future Hall of Famer Martinez is 1-1 in August with a fine 2.59 ERA. In his last two starts he has thrown 13 innings while surrendering 2 earned runs.

In last night's outing he didn't have his good fastball, but he always has his brain and experience--he deftly worked all four corners of the strike zone and changed speeds beautifully.

"It's starting to come along," Martinez said. "The last two outings, I've been making adjustments to get where I want to be."

"Pedro was outstanding tonight," said Jerry Manuel, "He kept them off balance, got big outs when he needed to and threw a minimum of pitches. That was impressive. We need that type of effort going forward."

Jose Reyes led off the game with a homerun off Pirate starter Zach Duke, then tripled in his second at-bat to score Pedro from first base.

Reyes is absolutely going to be a part of the MVP discussion. He is hitting .346 on this road trip and has played a major role in the winning streak, both with his bat and his glove.

NL Offense and Where Jose Ranks:
1st in Hits
1st in Triples
2nd in Stolen Bases
7th in Batting Average
10th in Doubles

Ramon Castro continues to prove his worth as the best backup catcher in the Game. He went 2 for 3 yesterday with a long homerun that put the Mets up 6-0.

But it wasn't all a bowl of cherries, primarily with the bullpen. Eddie Kunz struggled after a long layoff. It would be nice to see what he could do in back to back games.

Otherwise the bullpen was fine. Stokes and Feliciano both looked strong, and the single Joe Smith gave up was on a ground ball.

Billy Wagner's elbow is sore. He is throwing and the forearm strain is gone, but he is stiff and in some pain. Sounds like it will be a week of careful rehab and then we'll see. He is getting examined today.

Johan Santana on the hill against former Yankee Jeff Karstens--should be a good one.

Enjoy your coffee!

Scoreboard
Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
N.Y. Mets (67-56) «	3	1	0	0	0	2	0	1	0	7	11	0
Pittsburgh (55-68)	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	4	13	0

Player of the Game

New York

P. Martinez	IP	7.0
	H	8
	ER	1
	BB	1
	K	4

New York Mets
Hitters	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	LOB	AVG
Jose Reyes, SS	5	1	2	2	0	0	4	.305
Nick Evans, LF	4	0	0	0	0	1	1	.243
Endy Chavez, LF	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	.272
David Wright, 3B	5	1	1	0	0	1	2	.292
Carlos Beltran, CF	5	1	1	1	0	1	1	.270
Carlos Delgado, 1B	5	1	1	0	0	1	2	.260
Fernando Tatis, RF	3	0	1	1	1	0	0	.302
Damion Easley, 2B	4	1	1	0	0	1	3	.267
Ramon Castro, C	3	1	2	2	1	1	0	.270
Pedro Martinez, P	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	.148
a- Daniel Murphy, PH	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	.421
Brian Stokes, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.667
Eddie Kunz, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Joe Smith, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Pedro Feliciano, P	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
Totals	37	7	11	7	3	6
a-walked for P. Martinez in the 8th
Batting
2B - Carlos Beltran (31, Duke)
3B - Jose Reyes (14, Duke)
HR - Jose Reyes (13, Duke), Ramon Castro (7, Duke)
SH - Pedro Martinez (4)
RBI - Jose Reyes 2 (53), Carlos Beltran (81), Fernando Tatis (36), Ramon Castro 2 (23), Daniel Murphy (9)
2-OUT RBI - Fernando Tatis (7), Ramon Castro 2 (17), Daniel Murphy (3)
Team LOB - 7
Fielding
DP - Wright-Easley-Delgado, Easley-Reyes-Delgado

New York Mets
Pitchers	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR	ERA
Pedro Martinez (W,4-3)	7	8	1	1	1	4	1	4.96
Brian Stokes	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	3.38
Eddie Kunz	0.1	3	3	3	0	0	0	13.50
Joe Smith	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	4.25
Pedro Feliciano (S,2)	0.2	0	0	0	0	0	0	3.57
HBP - Pearce (by Eddie Kunz)
WP - Pedro Martinez (1), Eddie Kunz (2)
Pitches-Strikes - Pedro Martinez 95-64, Brian Stokes 12-9, Eddie Kunz 17-7, Joe Smith 5-4, Pedro Feliciano 8-6
Ground Balls-Fly Balls - Pedro Martinez 8-7, Brian Stokes 2-1, Eddie Kunz 1-0, Pedro Feliciano 1-1
Batters Faced - Pedro Martinez 28, Brian Stokes 4, Eddie Kunz 5, Joe Smith 1, Pedro Feliciano 2