Feel Good Win on a Feel Bad Day

Chaos tried to reign supreme. Black cats everywhere--ladders positioned so you have to walk under them--broken mirrors all over--horseshoes all hung so the luck runs out.

Carlos Beltran--the man who had played the best of all the Mets in 2009--goes down with injury. His bone bruise had doubled in size, and there was no choice but to put him on the 15-day DL. He'll most likely return after the All-Star break, 3 weeks from now.

But wait, there's more.

Kid Reyes, the guy with the torn hamstring, was on his way to the hospital from treatment when the vehicle he was in was rear-ended by a fire truck driven by Madonna.

OK, it wasn't being driven by Madonna, but it did happen--there were no injuries.

Jerry had decided to give his three primary set-up men the night off.

Thankfully Mets ace Tim Redding was on the mound...doh!

But something funny happened on the way the forum--the Mets decided they wanted to play one of their best team games of the year.

And on they came--Redding pitched a workman-like beauty.

Omir Santos decided no one would get him out this night.

Daniel Murphy shrugged off his pedestrian slugging numbers and hit a homerun.

Alex Cora, who has earned the hearts and minds of Mets fans everywhere, drove in two runs.

Beleaguered Luis Castillo went 3 for 3 with a walk and scored twice.

Brian Stokes--the man who sat for 9 straight days recently--the guy who is often mistaken for a hot dog vendor by his own manager--the guy who ticket takers ask for a ticket--the guy that Johan Santana calls "my friend Freddy, the best bullpen catcher in the game"--that guy--all he did was come up at the most crucial time in the game and get Albert Pujols, the greatest hitter in the game, to hit into a double play.

After Stokes grabbed the ball and fired to second to start the double play, he cooly walked off the field to a well-deserved standing ovation.

Met fans love when a player has his "Met moment", and Stokes had his...it was also one of the biggest pitches of the year.

"I try not to think about who I'm facing," Stokes said. "I just try to make quality pitches, and it just worked out for the best tonight. I knew who it was I was facing, but I wasn't going to give in. "

It was that kind of game.

Who knows if there will be any carry-over effect from the big win, but let me say this--it was a big win, on a crazy day, and very much a shot in the arm for this team.

Great job guys....go get them again tonight.

ARod Gets His Groove On

From the department of "wow"....an inside look at hanging out with ARod and his "girls" on vacation in the Bahamas.

NY Mag has hit on an instant classic.

You can read the full story here.

It's actually pretty funny, and I encourage you to laugh along with me..

The most surprising thing is seeing ARod with a young and attractive woman (women?), and not an older hag with muscles.

So now, let's party with ARod....

A New York intern — we'll call her Jane Blonde — was on vacation in the Bahamas this weekend [Ed: We know, we hate her] with some friends from college when, suddenly, they found themselves face-to-orange-face with none other than A-Roid and his lusty ladies! Because she is an intern, we made her tell us everything, then sent her back to her cube to fact-check some New York Weddings stuff. After the jump, read Jane's timeline of how, in one magic night, she was transformed from an Intern into a Celebrity Entourage Hanger-On to a Tabloid Superstar!

10 p.m. We enter Atlantis. “A-Rod is here!” someone whispers. Or maybe they didn't whisper it. You could just tell someone was famous in the room because of the way everyone was acting. Not knowing that he has been all over the news (we were on vacation too), we are not surprised that he has jetted off to the Bahamas for the weekend — isn’t that what athletes with inflated salaries do with their time?
10:15 p.m. As we proceed from the bar to the casino floor, we notice that all the major news stations start breaking news about A-Rod’s confessing to steroid use. Awkward!
10:20 p.m. We hit the casino floor, where our guy friends are playing poker at a blackjack table nearby. A-Rod is seated at the edge of the table, alone. He is intently focused on the game. Clearly, he needs some good luck.
10:45 p.m. Eventually, we proceed upstairs to Aura, the club inside the casino. Our friends have scored a table — which happens to be right next to the corner booth where A-Rod is sitting! We wonder if, at this point, he feels like he knows us well enough to say hi? Glance at him expectantly, waiting for him to break into giant white grin that says, "Don't I know you from twenty minutes ago?" Alas. He is typing on his BlackBerry. To whom? His wife or Madonna? He is a man of contradictions.
11 p.m. He introduces himself. "I'm Alex," he says, and we die. The security guard then ropes off his table. But we are in!
11:05 p.m. Oh, but only for a moment. Two women, a blonde and a brunette, sashay over and proceed to bump us out of the immediate vicinity of A-Rod ... but not far enough.
11:30 p.m. Make small talk with "blonde bombshell," as his attention is clearly focused on the brunette at this point (see picture). She is 19, and from Virginia Beach. "What brings you to the Bahamas?" we ask, innocently. "We're here for Alex," she says. "He's going through a really hard time right now."
11:45 p.m.: After we exhaust all possible topics of conversation, a moment of uncomfortable silence ensues as we simultaneously realize we are from two different worlds. She is part of a celebrity's entourage. We, however, are merely hangers-on of that entourage.
12:02 a.m.: Madonna’s “Hung Up” blasts over the speakers.
We look pointedly at “Alex” and whisper to our new friend, "This must be awkward." She smirks and nods her head in agreement. We're bonding!
12:05 a.m.: Wanting to play second fiddle no more, she gets up to redirect A-Rod’s attention. She snags the brunette and performs a girl-on-girl dance duet involving lots of intertwined legs and shimmying. A-Rod, slouched in the banquette, looks semi-amused, insofar as his face will allow it.
12:05 to 1:40 a.m. : Continued dancing.
1:40 to 1:52 a.m.: Three-way canoodling.
2 a.m.: The three of them depart together, neglecting to say good-bye. Decide they were just caught up in romance.
Today: Am tabloid superstar!