a game of contrasts, this is

Game 96: Mets 4, Dodgers 1
54-42 for the season
1st place in the NL East, 3.5 games ahead of Atlanta

The way one game played between two teams can be the practical opposite of the game those same teams played the night before is one of the best things about baseball-- it's what makes it fun to watch, every time it's played. These last two games between the Dodgers and the Mets have been a shining example of this Fact of Baseball.

Last night: 22 total runs.

Tonight: 5 total runs.

Last night: at the end of the 7th, 20 runs had scored.

Tonight: 2 runs scored at the end of the 7th.

Last Night: Glavine saw 4 batters in the bottom of the 3rd before being taken out of the game, having given up 6 runs on 10 hits.

Tonight: Oliver Perez struck out 8, and went 7 and 1/3 innings, and allowed only 1 run on 6 hits.

Tonight's game was a beautiful display of National League baseball, in contrast to last night's slug-fest. While I enjoyed watching as the hits kept on rolling last night, I enjoyed watching tonight's very good starting pitching and good relief (for the Mets, anyway) much more. This isn't at all surprising, of course. I'm a National League fan, and so it's a chicken-or-egg situation: do I prefer the defensive, pitching-centered game to the offensive, hitting-centered game because I've been a Mets fan all my life, or have I been a National League fan all my life because I prefer the defensive game? I suspect it's the former, but there's no way to prove it.