A Nice Week- Keep It Going!

By Jack "the hack" Mason

Okay- don't think I'm getting down on my 28-27 Mets! I am trying to be realistic- we're still only one game over .500, and it took a run of going 5-2 over 7 games with the Marlins and Dodgers to get there- but get there, at least we did, and for that I'm grateful. Excuse me, however, if I'm not jumping up and down with joy for this team, not just yet; call it a hangover from last season if you must, but that's not it. It's a feeling of dread that hangs over this team, "this year's model" if you will, one based on (really) aging players and a mish-mash clubhouse. Now, in spite of this, we are only 3.5 games out of first place, thanks to a flawed Phils' team (in spite of the MVP-like performance by 2B Chase Utley), but, at the same time, we should be taking advantage of the poor performances of our division-mates and dominating them each and every series we play them during the next 30 days. We can possibly take 5 or 6 games from the Jints/Pads during the next week, and that would bring us home with a bang! In an NL East - hell, in an NL - PERIOD!! - that is weaker than anyone thought, one strong week and we can really right this ship and run with the momentum! Don't want to put the cart before the horse (again) and get my hopes up too high- but that's what being a Mets' fan is all about, now isn't it?!

I am SOOOOOOOO glad that last night's game is over - NOT because the game wasn't incredibly enjoyable!!! It WAS!!!! But if I have to listen to Morgan and Miller again, my ears won't just bleed- they're liable to rip themselves off of my body and run away like virgins escaping the huns!!! Morgan's big "hypothesis" of the night - if the Mets hadn't made the trade that sent Scott Kazmir to the Rays (under the prior regime, without naming Jimmy D), they probably wouldn't have made the deal for Johan Santana! WHAT??? Does Joe know something WE don't??? Is one top-level lefty too many for our rotation??? What he fails to realize is this- if we DID still have Kazmir, it would have been EASIER to trade Guerra, Mulvey and Humber, as our young pitching depth wouldn't be as compromised by losing those three arms! Morgan, would the Reds have still been the "Big Red Machine" if they hadn't made the trade of Tommy Helms and Lee May for you and Jack Billingham? Lee May was a great RBI guy, and Helms was good defensively- wouldn't they have been okay with just that? They didn't settle, and upgraded their team - why would you think the Mets wouldn't make that deal even IF they had Kazmir?! Wouldn't ANYONE be ecstatic to have Santana? I know the Yankees and Red Sox wanted him a heck of a lot- but what do they know?

Let's be fair regarding Willie- if he had come out against his GM (Omar) the way that the White Sox' Ozzie Guillen did to his GM, Ken Williams, there's no doubt that he wouldn't be here tomorrow, let alone today! Guillen has, however, won a World Series, so I'm sure that fact is what kept him employed when times would have dictated his firing, due to his loose-cannon of a mouth. If Ozzie isn't fired for this, and I don't think he should be, I guess the fair thing would be to go through the rest of the season under Willie's control, and hope that his GM will still be active on the trade market- sooner rather than later- without causing such an outburst (not Willie's style, anyway!)

Thanks, David, for letting me know about those Shea/Mets DVDs - as if Best Buy doesn't get enough of my hard-earned money already!

Here's one for you- Toys 'R Us releases the McFarlane Jose Reyes figure tomorrow (Tuesday) - I think it's $9.99. Let's see- that means we can field a plastic infield of Delgado, Reyes and Wright, with Beltran in the outfield and Martinez, Wagner and Santana (in a Twins uni) on the mound...perhaps we can get broken figures of Castillo and Alou?

I don't care HOW many miles Santana lost off his fastball- he book-ended this homestand with much-needed victories, and he's the big game pitcher we've needed since early 2006 when Pedro went down! He's worth all his $$ right now, and I'm sure he'll pick up mph as the season progresses...

Man, can that Church rake?! He was a triple short of a cycle, coming off of his second concussion- hey Ryan, you DON'T get a medical discount for having a THIRD, so let's leave it at TWO concussions, okay? Man, he's even better than the 25 homer, 85 RBI, .280 hitter David predicted he'd be- dare we dream of a second 100 RBI guy NOT named Wright? Although Beltran's starting to get hot, so maybe a trifecta???

As much as Beltran has been hot for a few days, Reyes is FINALLY starting to heat up, and as we've said, and everyone's said, until we're all blue in the face- as goes Reyes, so goes the Mets!!! A hitting streak of 17 games and an on-base streak of 32 games tells us that he's definitely showing signs that the Reyes of the first-half of '07 is back, and he's on pace to hit 21 homers, with 75 RBIs, 114 runs, 57 steals, 15 doubles and 39 doubles- not too bad for a lead-off hitter, and much closer to the kind of numbers that we expect from our catalyst!

As much as I like Nick Evans, who is a dead-ringer for Kelly Leak (Jackie Earle Haley) in "Bad News Bears" he needs to go back to AA and get his time in. Why not call up AAA's Val Pascucci already? At least the guys over at Metsblog will be happy! "Cucce" has already hit 11 homers with 25 RBIs in only 32 games, and he's not getting any younger! He can play first and the outfield, and we wouldn't have to sign another retread a la Scott Hatteburg!

Gotta run- work to do before tonite's game! And, being that it's a West Coast game for a change, at least I'll get to eat dinner before the game, instead of during!!! My wife and kids will love that!!! Let's hope we pound those Giants who ALSO left NY 50 years ago...