Quick Word

Everyone else has already gushed over last nights game, so I’m just going to highlight a few things that I liked, and could help in the playoffs.

1. Beat a Cy-Young candidate pitcher.

2. Beat a Hall Of Fame bound Closer.

3. Staged multiple come from behinds RBIs

4. Beat a former Met, Heath Bell, and didn’t let a former Met, Mike Cameron, beat us.

Oh, and this was in the Press Pass notes for today’s game. I think it’s a little silly..at least wait a couple of games.

Good Luck Charm: Since the birth of John Ricco’s daughter, Olivia, the Mets are 1-0.”

John Ricco being the assistant general manager.

Pedro and the Padres

The Friars come to town this week, followed by the Dodgers. I’m planning on being at Wednesday’s game and my usual Saturday game for game numbers 24 and 25 on the season. That’s more than Carl Pavano. This team is finally playing with some fire and energy, winning six of their last seven. I expect them to continue this stretch through these next two teams, who may be playoff contenders, but are not in the Mets class. More importantly, I think they’ll win more games than the Phillies and Braves over this six game stretch, bringing their division lead to at least six before they go play both of those two teams.

Jeff Conine is on his way, and I really could care less. I hope this isn’t a statement on how Delgado is feeling overall, because despite his 2007, I’d rather Delgado at first any day. Castro and Lo Duca healing up is another thing I’m waiting for, despite Mike Difelice doing as well as he is doing. Lo Duca was upset that he went on the DL in the first place, so I expect him to come back healthy and angry, which I suspect is when he’s at his best. Pedro Martinez is climbing the ladder, and I expect he’ll be here before we know it. He’s itching for the competitive baseball of the major leagues, and even though by the time he gets here we may be already putting the finishing touches on the division, I expect that competitive fire to come through in the playoffs.

Endy Chavez could be back as early as tonight. As far as bench impact players go, he’s a good one. He’s a fan favorite too, and maybe his reappearance is all the Mets need to start winning at home again. I’d love to finally break the 4-win plateau with some crushing victories at home over the Padres. I’d even be there for the 5th one should the game go well tonight, and with John Maine on the mound looking to redeem himself after a couple of iffy starts, I expect tonights game to be a good clean win.

Seeya Next Year Brewers

The season is now two thirds over. I’m not going to bother doing projections, as that doesn’t matter anymore. The home stretch has arrived, and the Mets are in first. All that matters from now until October first is how well they play. Now how well, or badly, they played. I still strongly believe the Mets are better than the Phillies or Braves, and we now have 54 games left and the Braves and Phillies are playing with a four loss handicap.

The Mets again haven’t been playing like last year, and I really think it’s time for people to forget about last year. Not to quite 2005 or anything, but next year is now. This isn’t the same team as last year, but that’s not a bad thing; the Mets didn’t win last year. They had a rough middle, and have only gradually recovered from that. They’re only as far in first place as they were on June first before they went into their tailspin. They’re winning though. They find ways to win when it matters, even when they aren’t playing at their best. People predicted they’d have a tough stretch against the Dodgers and Padres, and they won four of seven. Sure that’s not terrific, but it’d win the NLCS against either of those teams. This Milwaukee and Chicago trip is supposed to tough too, but they beat the Brewers two of three and four of six despite Oliver Perez pitching weakly and Brian Lawerence starting today. The only game they squandered was Glavine’s attempted 300th win and it took the Brewers 13 innings to get their only win of the series.

The Cubs are the hottest team in baseball right now, so we’ll see how the Mets handle them. Maybe facing a tough hot team will spark them to be hot themselves. The Mets have actually been getting better with runners in scoring position, with runners on third, and with two outs. They have some injuries, but no one’s going to be out all season. Beltran, Pedro, Lo Duca will all probably be back and very healthy by the playoffs. Really healthy. Beltran will probably be able to rest all his sore muscles while on the DL, Pedro will return nice and healthy and stronger than ever. Lo Duca will return, and hopefully these days off will also help him be productive. Plus I think Willie finally realizes what a commodity Ramon Castro is, and hopefully will use him more appropriately.

I was getting a little down earlier last month with the way the Mets seemed to be playing, but I feel good now. I see a lot of good in the Mets future, and I can’t wait to get my playoff tickets. As for the Braves and Phillies? Well maybe the Falcons or Eagles will still be in it this October.


Smith, Delgado, Pelfrey and the trading deadline

At first I was a little upset that Joe Smith got sent down. I know he’s been struggling as of late, but I still think he’s a good pitcher. I’ve gotten over it though, and I hope he can work on some adjustments down in AAA that will aid the Mets down the stretch. I feel the Mets need a reliever and contract situations make that tough, so if Joe Smith could be a solid playoff contributor, it would go a long way.

The trading deadline is approaching, and while I feel like we need a move, I’m not quite sure exactly what it should be. There are a lot of underachieving parts on this team, and it’s a tough spot to figure out which parts are going to come around, and which could use a backup or replacement. Should we get a decent reserve infielder that can spot Delgado at times? Do we need another decent outfield bat? Another reliever? I don’t relish Omar Minaya’s job this year, he’s got a lot of tough choices. I have faith in him though, based on what he’s done so far.

Mike Pelfrey is getting the start tonight, a game in which I’ll be in attendance. I have a strange feeling he’ll be good. He managed to pitch himself onto this team in the spring against expectation, and he is in that situation again tonight. With Sosa no longer exceeding expectation, I feel like Pelfrey could steal his spot with a gem tonight. Hopefully he’ll only be keeping it warm for Pedro, but until Pedro’s throw a game or two, It’s hard to talk about him.

Carlos Delgado is hitting .333 this July. He’s got a .394 OBP this month. Hopefully this is a turning point for him. Whatever the struggles were early, he’s looking like he might start turning it around for real. If he plays well the rest of the way, I don’t care what happened early this year. Maybe he just struggled to get into his groove, but we’re in first place, and if he keeps playing well, it’ll stay that way.

This team isn’t playing great, but that doesn’t mean they can’t. Almost everybody is having a poor season, and that just means that they all are capable of playing better. Better than four games up in the division is a good thing, and I expect that at least some of the underachievers will step it up down the stretch and in the playoffs. It’s going to be a successful year, I can feel it.