The Most Important Thing From... Game 6, Mets v. Nationals, April 11, 2010

The Mets' bullpen continued its stellar performance, allowing only two hits and two walks over four innings while striking out three. So far in the young season, the group has been excellent.

Today's performance has come on the heels of several other impressive group outings:

April 10th: 3.1 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 2 BB
April 9th: 3 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 BB
April 8th: 3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 2 BB
April 7th: 5 IP, 3 R, 9 H, 2 BB, Loss
April 5th: 3 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 BB

Hisanori Takahashi Should Be This Year's Darren Oliver

The day was October 14, 2006. The Mets were in trouble. It was the second inning of Game 3 of the NLCS. The Mets were at Busch Stadium, facing the Cardinals, and Steve Trachsel was struggling. He led off the second inning by surrendering a home run to the opposing pitcher, Jeff Suppan, which made the score 3-0 in favor of St. Louis. A walk, single, and walk later, he was out of there. Who came in to save the day? None other than Darren Oliver, one of the unheralded heroes of the Mets 2006 season.

Oliver wasn't perfect, allowing two of those inherited runners to score - but that can hardly be blamed on Oliver. What happened next, however, was something which endeared Oliver to me for life. No matter what else he did, I would always be a Darren Oliver fan.