Dodgers 8 Mets 5

For the first time since April 26, the Mets reach .500.

Perhaps lost in the excitement of Jose Reyes joining the Miami Miracle is the fact that a few days earlier, the Mets also lost Chris Capuano to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who signed the lefthanded starter for 2 years, $10M — which was about 1 year and $8.5M more than the Mets could afford.

This isn’t huge news, but it may be surprising to some

The swallows of Capistrano headed out of San Juan in late October, and similarly, it appears that Chris Capuano will be fleeing from Flushing.

Way back in 2008, I wondered if the Mets would consider Chris Capuano as a “low-risk” free-agent pickup. I wondered the same thing in 2009. Luckily, the Mets didn’t sign him either time, since he was still going through the rehabilitation process following Tommy John surgery. But, the third time I brought him up was a charm, as “Cappy” turned out to be a solid, reliable starter — and, he lived up to my preseason prediction:

Personally, I think Capuano is a safe bet to be better than Jeff Francis or Chris Young in 2011; you heard it here first.

Chris Capuano started strong, peaked in July, then

Mets 8 Cardinals 6

It took 156 games, but finally, the Mets accomplished THE MOST UNLIKELY VICTORY OF THE YEAR!!!!!!!!!! (So said Gary Cohen.)

I would not want to be in the home-team clubhouse with Tony LaRussa after this ballgame. I might prefer Chinese water torture, or peeling off my fingernails with a pair of pliers.

But, the St. Louis fans were very pleased with the effort that their boys put out.

Mets 12 Braves 2

In four innings against the Wild Card leading Braves, the Mets score double the amount of runs they mustered in four games against the previously fourth-place Nationals. Go figure.

A nice outburst, but it doesn’t really take the sting out of that four-game fold-up in Flushing.

Marlins 9 Mets 3

The game started out ugly, and got uglier with each succeeding inning.

Mets 6 Braves 0

Irene may have been on everyone’s minds, but it was Chris Capuano who blew away the Braves like a hurricane.