Mets Pound Out 16 Hits, Beat Nats 8-2; Pedro Looks Sharp!

The Mets defeated the Nats today, 8-2, from St. Lucie. David Wright had 3 hits, including his first homer of the spring; Jose Reyes knocked in 2, and so did Marlon Anderson, in a game dominated by excellent pitching.

Pedro started, going 5 while allowing 2 runs on 5 hits, walking none and striking out 4; he was followed by solo, scoreless innings from Rincon, Feliciano, Schoeneweis and Wise, but Pedro was, once again, the main story of the day. I have to keep reminding myself that this isn't the Pedro of 2000 and the radar gun is NOT going to hit 95...however, the movement on his pitches fooled hitters all game long, and changing speeds from 68 to 89 mph along with his ball movement shows that this version of Pedro will prove to be almost as successful as verion 1.0 was!

You know, last season, all we heard about was the sorry state of the Mets' pitching staff, starters and especially relivers; what a difference a year makes! The sixth and seventh spots in the bullpen will be contested in legitimate battles between legitimate pitchers, and Pelfrey, O-Hern and (surprisingly) Nelson Figueroa are competing for the fifth spot in the rotation, and, hey, there's no Brian Lawrence or Jose Lima around, is there? Relief pitching, in one year, has gone from being an organizational shortfall to being an organizational strength, which brings renewed hope that, in this year's amateur draft, with 3 high picks, we can do likewise for other organizational shortcomings just as quickly!

We've only heard from a handful of readers who will be at Opening Day in Florida- if you are going to be there, we'd love to meet you, so let us know!!!!