Mets' Fans Should Be Feeling Rocky Mountain High

Despite a tumultuous week for the New York Mets’ organization, one that made the housing market look somewhat stable, Mets’ fans should be smiling on Monday morning for both obvious and forgotten reasons.

Sitting in front of a television during Sunday’s 3-1, series-winning victory at Colorado, I couldn’t help but turn my frown upside down as I enjoyed CW11’s broadcast.

First, the obvious. With a relatively all-around sound effort on Sunday, the Mets capped a 4-2 road trip with another series victory. Starting pitcher Mike Pelfrey continued to blossom, winning for the second time out and looked good doing so (reminder: this would have been victory number three in a row if Billy Wagner didn’t flush Pelfrey’s eight-inning gem down the toilet on June 11). Carlos Beltran launched a two-run, third-inning bomb with a swing that was reminiscent of the 2004 postseason. And the Phillies did their part too, losing their fifth straight (loss No. 10,000-something) and watching their lead on the Mets shrink to 3.5 games (2 GB in loss column).

In revealing both his potential and mettle through 5.2 scoreless innings at hitter-happy Coors Field, Pelfrey also reminded us about the forgotten. The first reminder came in Colorado’s half of the second frame after second baseman Damion Easley botched a potential double-play ball to give the Rockies men on first and second with no outs.

Pelfrey promptly induced a taylor-made 5-4-3 double play off the bat of Yorvit Torrealba to quell the threat. Yorvit Torrealba. Remember him? The man that left four runners on base yesterday and struck out looking to lead off the ninth inning was a signature away from being Pelfrey’s battery mate this season rather than the easy out he was this past weekend.

Mets’ GM Omar Minaya has made moves of all different varieties – good, bad, and downright awful -- since taking the reigns at Shea in September 2004. He brought us Pedro Martinez and Carlos Beltran, two overpriced players that are worth it in the long run for various reasons. He added Billy Wagner, and more recently Johan Santana. He discovered two 15-game winners in John Maine and Oliver Perez when their former teams were ready to toss these promising arms into the scrap heap.

But, remember, he also traded Brian Bannister for Ambiorix Burgos and topped that deal by sending steady reliever Heath Bell to San Diego for Ben Johnson (not to be confused with the English playwright that brought us the ever-great “Volpone”).

So, as I watched Pelfrey work out of a two-out, two-on jam in the fourth inning by forcing the light-hitting Torrealba to fly out harmlessly to left. I was thankful for the deal that never got done, and I’m sure Minaya was too, considering this catcher would have drawn more comparisons to Mackey Sasser than Mike Piazza.

Torrealba agreed in principle to a $14.4 million, three-year deal with the Mets in November 2007, but the Mets backed out at the 11th hour, citing a failed physical.

What exactly happened remains a mystery, but I’m not complaining. Before a 2007 campaign that saw him hit a whopping .255 over 396 at-bats, Torrealba had spent seven seasons at the major league level and played no more 66 games in any of them.

Aaron Heilman may be the only one wishing the Torrealba deal had gone through since the Rockies’ backstop would have provided the Shea boo-birds with another target.

Those boo-birds, myself sometimes included, can’t say boo tonight though thanks to the fact that our beloved ball club returns home with some life. Our promising young right-hander, who once had a habit of driving us mad, notched two straight road victories. Our centerfielder, who proclaimed the Mets “the team to beat,” looks poised for a mid-summer explosion. And Yorvit Torrealba won’t be behind the plate tonight at Shea when Mets’ fans are treated to a pitching delight.