Swept By the Pirates, Beltran's "Embarrassed"

Whew... that Andrew McCutchen! He's a tough one! A day after the Pirates traded their best player to Atlanta, McCutchen had a productive major league debut to help Pittsburgh complete a rain-curtailed, three-game sweep of the New York Mets with an 11-6 victory. McCutchen had two hits, three runs scored and an RBI in his major league debut.

For the Mets, Carlos Beltran (playing his first game in five days because of a stomach virus - don't worry, the Mets crack medical staff says it wasn't Swine Flu) homered and doubled off the wall. David Wright broke out of another slump with two hits and two walks for the Mets, who have lost four of five. They were swept on the road for the third time this season, but this time Beltran went on record saying he was embarrassed for the team and that the Mets are much better than they look.

Well, Mike Pelfrey's not looking too good right now. The Pirates jumped on him early with four runs in the first. Pelfrey (4-2) allowed a career-worst nine runs total and nine hits in just 3 2/3 innings. He is the first Mets starter to allow nine runs since Jason Vargas on July 3, 2007, at Colorado. Jason Vargas you say? Exactly... But of course we all know Tom Glavine WOULD have given up nine runs if allowed to stay in the Mets elimination game against the Marlins, remember?

Anyway, enough of dredging up bad thoughts. There's only one good way to look at this Pittsburgh series (besides that it's over): Wednesday's rained-out game means Johan Santana will be available to pitch the Phillie series starting next week. If that game weren't rained out, the Phillies most likely would play the 3 games at Citi Field without facing the Mets ace. And the way things are going so far this season, the Mets need all the breaks they can get!

(I mean breaks as in good luck, not breaks as in injuries... just want to clear that up)