Benson, Mets take opener. Plus: A blind taste test

A couple thoughts on last night's game:

Benson's 2-RBI base hit was not the from the pitcher-trying-not-to-embarrass-himself playbook. It was not a bloop, bleeder or flare. It was a frozen rope single, the kind Edgardo Alfonzo used to hit all the time back in the day. Timely, too.

Victor Diaz in right field: Boy, I don't know. He was charged with an error in the 9th inning after he overran Tike Redman's single, turning it into a double.

"Overran" makes it sound a lot better than it looked, though. It was if he was running towards a completely different baseball, much further towards center field than the actual one, until he realized it (too late) and reversed course so violently that his feet almost came out from under him.

I hope Mike Cameron saw it, unless laughing is too painful in his post-operative state. That Diaz barely managed to remain upright is the only thing that kept him off SC/BBTN.

Time to play "Name Those Mets":

Player A: 351 AB, .259/.326/.444
Player B: 111 AB, .261/.328/.441

That's about as identical as two hitting lines get. Player A is Mike Piazza, and Player B is Ramon Castro. This is pretty unfortunate. I was in favor of the Castro signing, but I didn't expect or want him to challenge Piazza for offensive supremacy. That's just bad news.

Those batting lines could diverge quickly, but the current picture suggests that, considering the defensive chasm between the two (Piazza CS% update: 12 for 81), the playing time distribution going forward may have less and less to do with keeping Mike fresh.

Last night's game filled me with optimism, as wins often do. Our boys have 44 more games to play, they're 3.5 out of the wild card this morning, and right now they've got the Pirates at home. The outlook isn't all that bad.