Finish them!

I haven't read "Win Shares", but believe the idea is that you can divide each win into three "shares" to be attributed among 1-3 players on the winning team according to how much they contributed to the victory (if one guy does it all he can receive two or even three). I think credit for last night's 1-0 gem could be pretty evenly split among Glavine, Lo Duca, and Floyd.

Tom Glavine has been dazzling. You have to go back to 1994 to find the last season his K/9 exceeded 7, and there were only two of them. It may not stay there, but there's a trend to go along with the spike: he's lowered his ERA and improved his K/BB each year since his rather unimpressive debut with the Mets. I did not see this coming, but it's quite a pleasant surprise.

I do think it's worth mentioning that showing improvement past the age of 35 has been taken as evidence of steroid use in a lot of players. I don't think anyone would suggest that Glavine is juicing, but maybe someone should just to be fair.

Seeing the wide range of players and pitchers who have tested positive, it's obvious that the drugs aren't just for transforming early Sammy Sosa into late Sammy Sosa, and conceivable that a diminutive, aging pitcher might need chemical assistance just to keep on truckin' (I know he's not quite hippie-aged but I'm trying to make a point). I also think that the media are a lot more credulous of the "intense work ethic" as an explanation for the longevity of white athletes than non-white athletes. Again, I'm not actually suggesting Tom Terrific is slathering himself in the Clear, but he's obviously doing something right and I sure hope he keeps it up.

Lo Duca's contribution was obvious enough: his first and by far his most timely home run of the season. Not a cheap one, either. It's pretty much axiomatic that he was the difference in the game. But Cliff Floyd is the reason why Lo Duca's HR stayed the difference in the game. He made two brilliant catches in left, one diving, one sliding, that saved at least two runs.

Kaz Matsui is off to a very good start. I don't think our season rises or falls with the production we get from the keystone, but how nice would it be if there were actually some production to speak of?

In other news, the Henry Owens whispers are growing in volume. Mike Pelfrey joined Owens at Binghamton this week, and continued to put his thing down. These two are both doing phenomenal work. I'm still calling for Julio's head (and Zambrano's removal from the rotation), but there are options at Norfolk, and sitting on a seven-game division lead, the Mets should be in no real hurry to call these promising youngsters up... boy was that fun to write.

This afternoon Steve Trachsel will attempt to execute his personal finishing move on the Atlanta lineup. I've heard it takes a while to develop, but can be quite spectacular.