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.