Wright then took Penny deep on a 2-0 pitch, putting the Mets ahead 2-0. An inning later, Wright took Penny deep again, making it 6-0.

"Everybody goes through it," Penny said. "I'm feeling good now, so I think it's just a matter of time before I get out there and turn it around. I just need to work harder between starts and work harder on the things I need to work on."

Penny insists there is nothing wrong with him physically, and manager Joe Torre said the fact he seemed to have slightly better command in his two previous starts was enough to back up Penny's claim that he is fully healthy. But if his problems aren't physical, what are they?

"It's between the ears, a lot of it," pitching coach Rick Honeycutt said. "You still have to make good pitches, but when you're not thinking about a lot of things, you're just seeing the mitt and continuing to pitch. If a guy gets a hit, you just say you made a mistake, or maybe you didn't make a mistake and the guy just hit a good pitch. Either way, you forget it and move on. But when things are going bad, you start seeing this" (Honeycutt held his hands far apart) "instead of this" (he held his hands close together).

METS 8, DODGERS 4: The Dodgers didn't wake up offensively against Claudio Vargas until the fifth inning, by which time they already trailed 6-0. Although they mounted a furious rally from that point, scoring three in the fifth on home runs by Jeff Kent and Blake DeWitt and another run in the sixth on an RBI single by James Loney, the Mets bullpen staved off the rally. Dodgers relievers Scott Proctor and Joe Beimel gave up a run each in the seventh.