Coming off their disastrous series (how many times are we going to say that?) with Arizona, the Mets renewed their burning rivalry with the Texas Rangers in an interleague matchup.

Friday, Mets 7-1: Crisis? What Crisis?

With Willie Randolph’s managerial career on suicide watch, the Mets came through with a routine win. We haven’t seen that in a while. “Good” Oliver Perez showed up for this one, lasting seven innings, only letting in one run and striking out eight. That’s three gems in a row by their starting pitchers. Throw in situational hitting, add-on runs and a solid performance by the bullpen. What’s going on here? Are they trying to win? Randolph even did his best Nick DiPaolo impression at his post-game press conference. I haven’t laughed that hard since Steve Phillips got fired. On a side note, a few of the outfielders had trouble with flyballs in the lights, which is odd since Art Howe was in the Texas dugout. We all know the former Mets manager doesn’t just light up a room, he lights up a whole stadium.

Sunday, Rangers 8-7: Mets Fall Short

The Mets took on Texas in an old-fashioned Sunday doubleheader. It almost felt like 1974. I half expected Bob Apodaca to start warming up in the bullpen. And it’s on Father’s Day to boot, which always brings up one of Ralph Kiner’s great Kinerisms: “Today is Father’s Day, so to all the fathers out there, happy birthday.” As for the first game of the double dip, John Maine put in a so-so performance, though he did pick off Ian Kinsler with the old fake to third, throw to first trick, which works about once a year. The bullpen melted down once again, and Brian Schneider ran the team out of an eighth-inning rally by getting thrown out at home by about 89 feet on a sacrifice fly attempt. The Rangers did all they could to help the Mets since they can’t pitch or field, but the Mets just couldn’t pull it out. Trot Nixon made his debut with the team, and went two for three with two walks.

Sunday, Mets 4-2: The Glare of Art Howe

Game two of the day saw the Mets put together another routine-like victory, beating Texas 4-2 to take the series. Pedro Martinez pitched six solid innings, to up his record to 2-0. Robinson Cancel was the star of the game as he bounced a pinch-hit, two-run single up the middle driving in the go-ahead runs. It was his first hit since 1999. And Billy Wagner ruined his consecutive blown save streak by throwing a one-two-three ninth. Damion Easley and Marlon Byrd both misplayed balls in the outfield as they lost the ball in the glare of Art Howe. In doubleheader trivia, the 1962 Mets played 30 twin bills. Yes, 30. They probably were swept in all of them, too.