Good Morning Mets Fans!

Time for some positive vibes (and isn't that nice?)!

Half game out of first--who would have thunk it.

The Mets are exactly halfway through a 20 game stretch with no days off against the top teams in baseball--and they are 5-5 in those games.

Now it's time for the Yanks, Brewers and Philly, then one day off, and then the Dodgers and Reds.

And then the All-Star break.

The team keeps finding ways to win and hanging around knowing that keeping pace until the stars get healthy is all they need to do.

The Mets have become the little engine that could.

Kind of cool that the entire NL East plays the entire AL East this weekend.

• Mets play the Yanks
• Phils play Toronto
• Marlins play Tampa Bay
• Braves play the Red Sox
• Nationals play Baltimore

National League East
Team	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road	East	Cent.	West	L10	Strk
Philadelphia	37	33	.529	-	13-22	24-11	19-12	5-3	9-7	2-8	L 2
N.Y. Mets	37	34	.521	½	22-14	15-20	18-12	10-9	4-6	5-5	W 2
Florida	38	36	.514	1	20-20	18-16	16-10	6-13	6-8	7-3	W 5
Atlanta	34	38	.472	4	17-19	17-19	12-10	11-14	5-8	4-6	L 2
Washington	21	49	.300	16	13-25	8-24	6-27	4-7	5-6	5-5	W 1

Johan Santana once again proved that he has an incredible baseball IQ....he seems like he has a very high real IQ as well.

As Ron Blum reported in Lohud, Santana went to the video tape after the first inning and figured it out.

"My fastball," he said, "was moving all over the place."

Santana went back to the clubhouse and reviewed video following the first inning. He re-examined his mechanics. And he emerged victorious over Chris Carpenter in a sparkling matchup of Cy Young Award winners.

"I know I was going against a great pitcher," Santana said. "It was going to take one pitch or one mistake to change the whole ballgame."

Santana may have started off shaky as he kept going to three balls on batter after batter, but he finished in fine fashion.

His line on the day was 7 innings, 7 hits, 1 ER, 3 BB, and 3 K, but what he did was so much more than that.

He willed himself onward and led the team to a victory against a very good Cardinals club with their Ace on the mound.

It was an Ace outing by the man that's now tied for the NL lead in wins.

Since we're on the verge of the Mets v. Yanks series, how about a little love for Luis Castillo?

Did you know he went 6 for 12 with 3 walks against the Cards?

Do you think the Mets win 3 of 4 without that effort, especially considering only one of those hits came in the blowout win?

How about the kids!

Nervous Nick Evans continues to rake. Great job going opposite field yesterday to plate two big runs.

Nick Evans 2009 Season Stats
SPLITS	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS
Season	3	7	2	3	1	0	1	4	0	2	0	0	.429	.429	1.000	1.429
Career	52	113	20	30	10	0	3	11	7	25	0	0	.265	.309	.434	.743
Last 7 days	2	4	2	2	0	0	1	2	0	1	0	0	.500	.500	1.250	1.750
Projected	94	219	63	94	31	0	31	125	0	63	0	0	.429	.429	1.000	1.429

Fernando Martinez may not be getting many (any) hits, but he has certainly flashed the leather.

Sabathia is a tough matchup for him, but I have a sneaking suspicion that FMart hits two homeruns this weekend.

Who knows what the weekend will bring, but the Mets, at home, are a very tough team--even depleted.

If they can take 2 of 3 it will be one more huge shot in the arm for a club that continues to stay near the top against all odds.

Enjoy your coffee!

Scoreboard
Final	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
St. Louis (40-34)	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	2	8	0
N.Y. Mets (37-34) «	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	x	3	5	1

Player of the Game

New York
J. Santana	7.0
	7
	1
	3
	3