2nd Verse, Same As The First

The Mets began the 2nd half of the season much the same way it began....leaving runners on base. Going for some insurance runs late in the game, the Mets had runners on 2nd and 3rd with nobody out, and failed to score a run. Somewhere Rick Down is chuckling. Ah yes, Mr. Down. Yesterday, hitting coach. Today; scape goat. Minaya had to shake something up and releasing 68 yr old Julio Franco wasn't going to be enough. Of all the coaches, Down was the most fireable. Keith Hernandez had a 6 inning diatribe on hitting coaches, but for time's sake, I'll give you the short version. The hitting coach has little to no influence on hitters. There, that was easy wasn't it Keith?

Any win is a good win, and it's always good to start the 2nd half off positively. El Duque looked decent, Reyes played with hustle, and the Mets still suck at hitting. "Fitty Cent" Milledge made his return last night in what I think is a showcase of his talents for a trade by the end of this month. Milledge hit the ball hard and scored from first on a single (!). Franco would just NOW be rounding 2nd.

Mid-Season Time

All-Star break is here, and not a moment to soon for many of the 40+ year old Mets. Glavine, Franco, Alomar Jr.(!), et al really could use the time off for cortisone shots in their hips and other arthritic joints. It's been a weird first half for the boys in blue and orange, one in which I really, really want to label as "disappointing". But, if I were to just look at the standings without having seen a game this year and saw that we are 2 games up on the Braves, and 4.5 up on Philly, disappointing probably would not come to mind. In fact, I might actually be excited. The Braves were almost a no-brainer to be improved over last year, and the Phils are always a dangerous offensive team. Instead, I HAVE watched 95% of all the Mets' games this year and can't get over the fact of how poorly we've played since June 1st. This team has too many offensive parts to be hitting as poorly as they are. Del Gado Del-Sucks ass so far, Beltran is way behind last years production, David Wright didn't start hitting until late May, and Moist Alou hasn't been seen since he was put on the 15 day DL almost 2 months ago.

Now, let's look at this another way. Injuries have certainly hindered this team. No Pedro Martinez. No Alou. Endy Chavez has been out for a while now. Shawn Green went on the DL for the first time ever. Alou's replacement's replacement, Carlos Gomez is on the DL as well. Now we have Jorge Sosa and Oliver Perez out as well. Beltran even missed some time with injuries and probably SHOULD HAVE gone on the DL. Jose Valentin missed more than a month as well. So, the 1st half grade should probably be "Incomplete" rather than disappointing.

Bright spots:

John Maine. 10 wins in the first half of the year. Has become the new ace of this staff. Crime that he is not on the All-Star Team.

Damion Easley. Omar Minaya looks like a genius for this pick up. Valentin went down early with a tweaked knee and Easley has stepped in and provided decent defense and needed power.

Oliver Perez. This is not the same Ollie that went 0-85 last year. He has shut down the Braves 3 times and the Yanks twice.

Not so bright spots:

Injuries. The Mets got rid of Cliff Floyd because he was a 35 yr. old, cranky kneed, cranky achilles tendon having injury risk. The Mets answer for right field this year was Moist Alou. A 41 year old cranky kneed, cranky quad, cranky hip, cranky ankle, cranky elbowed, injury risk. Omar Minaya looks like a jackass for this one. (Not to mention the "pissed on hands")

Tom Glavine. Why the Mets were counting on him as anything other than a back end of the rotation guy is beyond me. Yes, it's swell he'll get his 300th win in a Met uni, but really, who gives a crap? Is this someone we want pitching or us in the post season? He can't get his change up over for strikes on a consistent basis making his 81 mph "fastball" that much more hittable.

Bullpen. Supposed to be a strength coming into the year, but is the most glaring weakness. How do you think Colorado felt watching Mota come in for Glavine, Schoenewies coming in for Mota, and Aaron Sele coming in for Schoenewies? My sons 7-9 year old team would love that pitching lineup, yet the Mets are throwing these guys out on the Major League level. Any trading to be done by the 31st HAS to address this problem.

All in all, it's been a crazy first half. The only other thing I can think of is that the Mets are following the Card's blueprint from last year:

1. Play uninspired, barely .500 baseball all year. (check. for the first half.)
2. Fall ass backward into the playoffs by playing in the crappiest division in the NL. (Check.)
3. Pray that we play the worst of the division winners in the first round of the playoffs. In this case that will be the Brewers. (To be determined)
4. Pray that the best team in the NL all year, in this case the Dodgers, has 4/5's of it's starting rotation on the DL at time of NLCS. (To be determined)
5. After squeaking by in the NLCS and advancing to the World Series, pray that the opposing team's pitchers suddenly forget how to field a ground ball and throw to any base with anything that resembles accuracy. (To be determined)

Mets have 2 of the 5 steps nailed. Just need the last 3 to fall into place to be this years "Tardinals".

PS Thank You Lord for keeping David Wright out of the HomeRun Derby.

Can't We All Just Get Along?

Hopefully the "Jason Vargas Experiment" is over. The Colorado Rockies went LAPD on him last night in an 11-3 beatdown. Rodney King even thought it was excessive. Those types of ass kickings are usually reserved for The Cardinal Fan and a cat. Vargas "earned" the start after The Cardinal Fan put Ollie on the DL and instead of walking to a pitchers mound at Coors Field, he wandered into an abandoned underground basement into Fight Club 2: The Revenge of Tyler Durden. Maybe the Mets can swing a trade for Anthony Reyes, I hear he's not busy these days. How bad did Vargas pitch do you ask? He gave up 5 hits to Kaz Matsui bad. KAZ MATSUI!!

Luckily for the Mets, they play in the worst division in baseball. After another 3 game losing streak, they still hold a 4 game advantage over the Scareds and the Cheesesteaks stay 5 behind after both lost as well last night.

El Duque and The Fogg go at it tonight as the Mets try and avoid a sweep. (To the Rockies?)

Quiz

What do you get when you cross A. a rooster B. Lance Bass? The Cardinal Fan should nail this one. Anyway, the end result of crossing those two is Heilman and Glavine who have single handedly lost the last 2 games for the Mets. Heilman came in late to Sunday's Philly game and got slapped around for 2 runs after the Mets had tied it up, including a bomb from everyone's enemy (seriously, why do Mets fans hate this guy?) Jimmy Rollins. I had an awesome post all ready to go just as soon as the final out was made but it was not to be. I shouldn't count my posts before they hatch.......or something like that. Heilman's act is growing tired and is coming close to replacing Schoeneweis as "Met most likely to get booed unmercifully". We are 29 days away from the trade deadline and would love to see Heilman NOT on our team come August. I feel the same about Schoeneweis, but no one is going to be dumb enough to take on that contract. Well, besides the Mets that is. Nevermind. Moving on.

Glavine continues to erase the "ace" label, getting shelled again last night at Colorado. Not only did he get shelled, but in the 6 run 3rd, EVERY ball was hit hard. Even the outs were smoked. It's one thing to throw a bomb to an all-star outfielder (Holliday) It's another entirely to get slapped by the opposing pitcher for 2 steaks when the pitcher had ONE career hit. Too many times this year the Mets have counted on Glavine to be their "stopper". Stop a losing streak, or to stop a losing streak from happening but he doesn't seem to have the ability or the mental make-up for that role anymore. Scary thought......he could be becoming Steve Trachsel. Well, with out the 8 minutes between pitches.

Perez and Sosa to the DL. Vargas (yuck) gets another shot tonight.