They needed this one — badly. Now, the key is to make sure it means something by coming back and winning again tomorrow, something they have a good shot at doing if they can get the kind of performance they got from Hong-Chih Kuo his last time out — six innings, one run, three hits, eight Ks on Thurs night at San Diego — and virtually no shot at doing if they get the kind of performance he gave them in his first start — 4 2/3, two runs on five hits on June 2 at Pittsburgh. John Maine is having the season of his life, or at least of his young career, for the Mets, and he’ll be a handful for the Dodgers. … Nice to see Juan Pierre not only get on base three times, but draw two walks, just his 10th and 11th in 282 PAs this season. Although he was batting second, one of those walks led off an inning and started a three-run rally. That’s the kind of thing the Dodgers paid him all that money to do. He also stole a base and beat out an infield single on a fairly routine grounder to short. … Tried to write a nice, featurized gamer on Gonzo tonight for the late edition. Had some great quotes from him, some great quotes about him from Grady, etc, and I was going to build it around the fact he is hitting .358 (19 for 53) with three homers and eight doubles since Grady sent Kent to pinch hit for him with the bases loaded in the eighth inning on May 26 against the Cubs, something that had to have wounded the pride of such a respected veteran. But the story fell apart in a couple of ways. One, I discovered after further research that Gonzo’s resurgence actually began a few games BEFORE that pinch-hitting episode, so I kind of had to write around that. And then, by the time I got back up from the clubhouse, it was 10:49 p.m., giving me exactly 26 minutes to file. I made it on time (actually, it might have been 11:16). But after filing, I went back and read it, and some of the sentences were so long and rambling that they were almost incoherent. I hope the boys back in the office pick me up on that. These things happen sometimes when we’re scrambling to write on deadline. The subject was great, but I ruined it by overreaching and overwriting. So to those of you who pony up your 50 cents tomorrow (at least those who get the late edition), my apologies. Sometimes, we swing and miss. … Dodgers improve to 36-28 and move within a game of the Pods and D-backs.