The Mets: In The Breakdown Lane

RA Dickey, who tonight all by himself is supposed to stop a 6-game losing streak

Your ever optimistic bloguero hoped he wouldn't have to write this. He hoped that somehow the Mets would remain in contention, that they would gather their mysterious forces as they did earlier in the season and end up in the playoffs, that the scrappy, come-from-behind team without many big stars would surprise and delight the fans, and most important delight your Bloguero, but alas, apparently not. It looks like the Mets have caught up with themselves. The gloom is back. The fans are shaking their heads.

Last night the Mets lost their sixth in a row, their longest losing streak of the season. They looked utterly horrible. They are now one game over .500, 8 games back in the division and 6 in the wild card race. Usually, you count a team out when they are 10 games behind in the division. That might be the case by the weekend. And tonight? They've been fading. Rapidly. They have evidently lost their spark. A team meeting on Wednesday night netted nothing. Insufficient inspiration. The bullpen is a shambles. And the offense has been timid. And tamed. It's not necessary to name all the names. Andrew Keh writing in the Times had this lede this morning:

The Mets began Wednesday with a meeting to discuss the importance of maintaining a standard of hard work, high energy and individual accountability during this vital stretch of games. Their day ended in disappointment hours later, after nine innings of the sort of uninspiring play that helped precipitate the meeting in the first place.

You can now hear the Mets' desperation. Somebody let the air out of their tires. They've lost it. Soon you will be able to see the empty seats in Citifield. And after that, entry will again be $1. Maybe there will even be beer bargains. Mighty Terry Collins, the Man of Mystery, who's been remarkable until this skid, told the AP this about tonight's RA Dickey start:

"I'm sure R.A.'s going to give us a good game tomorrow because that's what's going to crack this thing. This game, as you can see by what they do, is on the mound. If we continue to pitch, we'll win our games," Collins said.

So it's already "this thing" that has to be "cracked." Terry C isn't shrugging it off. Nope. He might as well admit he's stymied. In other words, it's that substantial. It's durable. It's heavy. It's now an "it." It is really an incipient death rattle. And as if that single bit of telling rhetoric isn't enough to convince your Bloguero that the Mets are going to continue losing because they can't really win with the team they have, not when it counts, there's that other pregnant phrase the Manager used. "If we continue to pitch." Ooops. That hurts your Bloguero. You mean there's some other possibility? Like that starting pitching is completely shot also? That the starting rotation is going to be shelled by the opposition? What if they continue to have pitching breakdowns? And if the bullpen continues to suck and to give away narrow leads late in games? And if the offense continues to sputter until too late? And if the miserable seasons of Jason Bay and Ike Davis continue? And if, and if, and if. What a horror.

No. Your Bloguero is a great optimist, but once again, the writing is now on the wall for the Mets. Yes, your Bloguero will watch this evenings game and hope against hope that something changes for the Mets. The Nationals are very, very tough, and they have shellacked the Mets in the last two games. Is there any reason to believe that with little or no offense RA Dickey, all by himself, can give the Mets a win? Doubtful. And even if he does, what comes next? The team has as many holes as Swiss cheese, and management is trying to figure out whether it can escape spending money to stay in the race. By the end of the series in Washington, that is, your Bloguero fears, going to be painfully clear.

Put 2012 in the books. It's over. It was fun while it lasted. It was really great to believe there was an inspiring story at Citifield. But it now has run its course. There is no joy in Metsville, the mighty Metropolitans have all struck out.

The Mets At The Halfway Point

The Man Of Mystery

What a surprise. After a dreadful year in 2011, the Mets, everyone including your Bloguero said, were going to be terrible in 2012. They had after all traded away two of the best players on the roster, Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran. David Wright remained but he was striking out constantly. Johan Santana was injured. They were in financial distress because of Bernie Madoff. And this collection of nameless nobodies was destined to win at most 75 games, everyone said. If that. Maybe that was too optimistic. Anyway, they were going to be at the bottom of the division. They were going to be terrible. And nobody was going to watch them. And Citifield would remain empty.

The surprise: with half of the season (81 games) complete, the Mets are 7 games over .500 and 3.5 games behind the division leading Nationals. RA Dickey, the knuckleballer and “as told to” writer, is 12-1 and an All Star. Johan Santana pitched the Mets’ first no hitter. David Wright, also an All Star, is batting .351 and has 10 homers and 51 RBIs. Ike Davis (who didn’t hit anything for the first 2 months of the season even in batting practice and was surely destined for Buffalo or A ball) and Lucas Duda (who?) both have 11 home runs. Somebody named Scott Hairston has 10 home runs. And on and on and on.

And the surprise is not just in the stats. No. This turns out to be a very scrappy team. They don't give up. They don't seem to have the egocentric psychoses of previous Mets teams. They lead the league in two out runs. And two out hits. Apparently the manager, Terry Collins, knows what to whisper in their ears, knows how to get these players to perform. Maybe he's hypnotized them. And the opposition. No matter. He's the man of mystery: they are playing for him better than anyone had the right to expect they could.

Yes, sometimes they are utterly terrible defensively. Their last game in LA was a towering disaster. You could hear the echoes of Casey Stengel yelling, “Can’t anybody here play this game,” throughout Southern California. They made stupid errors like a poor high school team, they kicked the ball around, they were awful to watch. Then the bullpen collapsed and pitched batting practice to the Dodgers, or maybe they thought the Home Run Derby was early this year. In other words, the Mets looked the way we expected them to look back in March. Losers. A team that would win 75 games. At the most. A team at the bottom of the division, always out of contention, never exciting. A team with an empty ballpark. And then last night, an entirely different team: tons of runs against the hapless Phillies, at least 5 fielding gems. Hits galore. Error free play. A team that appeared to your Bloguero's delight to be a contender.

Everybody knows that teams can collapse in the second half of the season. Just ask the Red Sox. Just ask the 2010 Mets. That could happen here. It could definitely happen here. The spell cast by Mets starting pitchers could be vaporized. Hitters could decide no longer to be fooled. There could be injuries. The hitting could slump. The fielding could again lead to frowns, crying, despair, hair pulling. Sure, that could happen. That wouldn't be much of a surprise. Or the team could be inspired by winning 44 games in the first half and win, say, 46 in the second. That would probably get the Mets into the post season. Did you hear that? did you hear what your Bloguero said?

It’s not completely a sign of dementia or rabid Metsphilia this year to say the two “p” words: Playoffs. Post season. But there’s the usual caution that comes with following the Mets: at any point all of the good things, all of the exciting things, all of the high expectations for the team could vanish, and all of the fans, your Bloguero included, could again be watching a double AA team as it attempts to compete in the major leagues. Your Bloguero hopes that won't happen. He wants to see this surprising team playing deep in September and even into October.

The Obligatory 2012 New York Mets Post

The Old Perfessor would love this.

I confess. I’ve been stalling. I've been holding out. Last year The O2011NYMP was easy. The team was terrible and their season was over almost immediately after it began in April. This year, not the same thing.

Today the Metsies are 32 and 26, 6 games over 500. And they’re only 1.5 games out of first. Johan Santana pitched a no hitter; RA Dickey is 9-1. David Wright is batting .362. Lucas Duda (who?) has 10 home runs. So the big question, the question TO2012NYMP has to answer is this: can they keep it up?

Are you kidding? Of course they can. This is a scrappy, lucky team. When you’re a scrappy, lucky team you win games you should lose. You win somehow. You avoid what should be inevitable losses. Yes, their bullpen is awful. Yes, they have no depth. Yes, an injury or two could take them to the cellar in record time. Of course. They could implode at any second (witness 2010). But with about a third of the season played and two thirds to go, they could be contenders.

That’s exciting. I’m skeptical. And I'm used to everything going wrong that can. But all that comes with being a Mets fan.

Step Right Up And Meet The Mets

Your Bloguero tries to refrain from bringing up baseball and particularly the New York Mets, but sometimes even his massive restraint is overcome by circumstance. He could have written this post a week ago, but he didn't. Why? Because his natural optimism, his love of Spring, his natural cultivation of hopefulness counseled silence. Maybe, his inner dialogue told him, just maybe things will change. For the better. Alas, alas, and alack.

Today the New York Mets are at the very bottom of the National League East with a record of 5 wins and 13 losses. They have been hammered at home for two games by the Houston Astros, who at 7 wins and 11 losses, your Bloguero thought were sure to be the very worst team in the league. But, lo, your Bloguero was wrong about that.

To meet this evening's challenge of not be swept at home in a three game series by the (other) worst team in baseball, the Mets have as a starting pitcher on Chris Capuano, who has an ERA of 8.53. Allow your host to translate. This means that he is giving up about a run for every inning he has pitched, for a grant total of almost 9 in a full game, if he ever makes it that far. He has not had a complete game in recent memory. Your Bloguero is not optimistic about this evening's battery.

Nor does today's supposed return of Jason Bay in left field appear to be the Mets' salvation from this disaster. Here's what the NY Post says:

And, now, here comes Bay today; who has a chance to be yet another booby prize from the old administration. He is just a year and a month into a four-year, $66 million contract. He could not -- as Mets executives promised -- defy Citi Field's dimensions in 2010, producing just six homers in 348 at-bats. He did not play the final two months last year after suffering a concussion and strained his ribcage this spring to land on the disabled list.

In other words, the guy is an expensive question mark.

To put this aggregation of pathetic news into an appropriate context, let your Bloguero do the arithmetic. The Mets are winning .278 of their games. There are 162 games in the regular season. That is very, very many. At this rate, the Mets could be projected to win a grand total of, wait for it, 45 games, and that would mean they would lose 117 games. The Mets' worst record ever? In 1962, their first year as a franchise, the Mets lost 120 games, and finished 60.5 games out of first place. Could they beat this record this year? Maybe. Depends on whether things get any better. And that depends in turn on changes to the lineup that don't seem to be on the horizon.

Your Bloguero regrets it, but the conclusion your Bloguero draws from all of this is that the Mets's season is over. It's over, and it's not even May 1. It is completely over. Citifield's seats are going to remain empty for the rest of the year, even if management keeps the present 50% price reduction in effect all summer.

Citiifield should now be considered an outdoor restaurant theme park that provides a simulacrum of baseball.

Step Right Up And Beat The Mets

Last night's game with the Dodgers was simply horrible. Even the New York Times noted how awful it was:

The Mets arrived at Dodger Stadium in first place in the National League East. They left, after a 3-2 loss to the Manny Ramirez-less Dodgers in 11 innings, leaving Manuel wondering if he was managing a team sponsored by Chico’s Bail Bonds. The carnage included a season-high five errors — including two in the 11th, which led to the Dodgers’ winning run — one decisive base-running blunder by Ryan Church and countless slack jaws, head shakes and dumbfounded looks in a solemn clubhouse.

“I’ve never seen anything like that,” Carlos Beltran said.

And neither had anyone else. To be fair, Manuel said he had seen his former charges, the Chicago White Sox, commit five errors, not that he was boasting of that achievement or anything. But no, he had never seen a player completely miss tagging third base on his way home like Church did in the top of the 11th. That gaffe canceled what would have been the go-ahead run, ended the inning and breathed life into the Dodgers. Not that, on this night, they needed any extra help. The five errors were the Mets’ most since they committed six on Sept. 16, 2007, against Philadelphia.

There's more. A whole lot more. But let's leave it at that. The Mets are now playing as if this were September, when they have their now perennial, expected meltdown caused by inability to hit and missed opportunities and errors. To be sure, having Delgado and Reyes out isn't helping, but when you bring in a guy from Buffalo, that's right AAA Buffalo, 45 minutes before his first start and he then commits two errors, you're in trouble. Real trouble. Big trouble.

The only saving grace is that the game was on the west coast and started at 10:10 pm ET, so virtually nobody, including me, had to watch this fiasco.

At Last, The Mets Hire A Winner

Baseball is a game about enthusiasm and believing the team can win. It's a game about attitudes. Often, I've said that what the Mets need most is a new team psychiatrist. So I was delighted to see that, at last, the Mets have hired someone who understands baseball and who will spark this team. Someone who will prevent the now usual end of season implosion. And it's not a new psychiatrist. That person is the incredible Razor Shines.

The New York Times reports:

Razor Shines keeps 10 of his championship rings at his home in Austin, Tex. He wears the 11th, from the 2005 World Series champion Chicago White Sox, around the Mets’ complex. He will receive No. 12 in a few months.

He won that last year, as a manager in Philadelphia’s farm system, but no one here will ever see it. He knows that red clashes with orange and blue... snip . "Instead, I’ll wear the Mets ring in here next year.”

Heading into his first season as the Mets’ third-base coach, Shines followed up that prediction with a hearty laugh that has become the soundtrack to their spring training. Whether he is hitting fungoes, throwing batting practice or positioning the outfielders, Shines is injecting enthusiasm and instilling confidence with a vocal, demonstrative style that complements the more measured approach of Manager Jerry Manuel, his friend of nearly 30 years.

Watching Shines interact is like a seeing a game of verbal pepper. Don’t let me down now, David. That’s what I’m talking about, Carlos. Good Lord have mercy, José. He is continually talking, constantly moving. He jogs from station to station, bumping fists and slapping fives. Security guards get them, too.

That's right. Please, Carlos, David, Jose, Luis, Fernando, please don't let me down.

17 Games To Go, Are They Imploding Yet?

Good grief. Everybody remembers last year when the Metsies were 7 games ahead of the Philadelphia Philatelists with 17 games to go and then lost 12 of those games to be knocked out of the playoffs. The season ending string of disasters has followed Metsies fans around for a full year. Like a very old fish wrapped in today's New York Times. If you pay attention you can feel the stench in your nostrils. And now, the Official Metsies Internet site seeks to reassure me and other fans that the implosion is just not going to happen again.

What a joke. Here's the front office's ridiculous reassurance:

They don't cross each passing day off their calendars, because the Mets know they don't have to. As long as they produce and as long as they win -- in short, as long as they do everything they didn't do last year -- the Mets will make the playoffs.

They know, of course, because they've been here before. One-hundred forty-five games have now whizzed by the Mets, with precisely 17 left to play. That's the exact split that faced them prior to last September's collapse, when they hit their final high-water mark with 17 games to go. Up seven against the Phillies in the standings, the Mets won only five more games and spoiled their chances for a postseason berth.

"I think it's been a motivating factor the entire year," manager Jerry Manuel said.

Now, though on top by only 3 1/2 games in the standings, the Mets feel every bit as secure as they did last season. They seem less complacent and they're playing accordingly. They talk and act as if they're somehow entitled.

That's awfully metaphysical. And very psychological, albeit of the pop variety. In fact, it's garbage, pure and simple.

I don't want to hear any more of this nonsensical blather. It's simple. I want the Metsies to win. I won't be happy until they have numerically eliminated the Philadelphia Philanderers. And I suspect, most Metsie fans won't be either. Management should spend its time making sure that the team wins, rather than trying to con the fans into believing that all is well. To be frank, all will not be well until the Mets have clinched a playoff birth. No excuses.

MVP

Carlos Delgado

You know it's true. And, by the way, he's got 1o runs batted in, in the last 10 games. And 9runs, and 11 hits. And is batting in those games .297. This called "hot." Very hot.

But for Carlos to be the MVP, the Metsies have to make the playoffs, and they have to win in the playoffs. That's much easier said than done, as last year demonstrated too thoroughly. They are, after the 9/9/08 game with the Natcionalistas, 2.5 games ahead of the Philately Philanthropists.

To win the division and make the playoffs (there's no other way to do that because Milwaukee leads the wild card race by a significant amount), the bullpen and the starting pitchers need to do what they didn't do tonight: turn off the other team's batting. Why is every call to the bullpen with this team a call to warm up the defibrillator? Goodness, the Metsies' pitching allowed the Nacionalistas, a team that has been mathematically eliminated from the pennant race, to score 8 runs on 12 hits tonight. They have to do much, much better in the remaining 18 regular season games, which, of course, include the final games at Shea Stadium.

Mets: Save The Shea StadiumHome Run Apple

And here, to help bring that about, is the on line petition. Sign it and distribute widely!

The Bullpen Makes Me Cringe

Aaron Heilman Where He Belongs: Sitting In The Dugout

The Metropolitans are 2.5 games back, tied with the Fish for second place in the NL East. The Philanderers are still in first place.

Los Mets have been playing miserable beisbol, losing 6 of their last 10. My hero, Carlos Delgado, is playing ok (25 homers, 111 hits), but the Mets are losing and they're falling behind in the pennant race. Why? The Mets bullpen is simply awful. The bullpen is not aware they are supposed to get opposing batters out. They think they are pitching in the home run derby.

In today's game, for example, Pedro Martinez went 6 innings and left the game with a 4 run lead. The Mets managed to squander the lead and lose the game to the Pirates 7-5 because the Pirates scored 3 runs in the top of the 7th inning and 3 more in the top of the 9th inning for a come from behind victory.

And who was pitching in the 9th? Aaron Heilman, whose appearance on the mound means that the Mets lead is in jeopardy, no matter how large that lead might be. Fans should scream or bury their faces in their hands when he steps on the mound. In today's typically miserable performance he gave up a walk, 2 hits and 3 runs. He actually got 1 guy out before he left the game, having pitched 1/3 of an inning. Great job, Brownie. And the rest of the runs? Those were given up by major league wannabes, Pedro Feliciano, who gave up 1, and Joe Smith who gave up 2 in the 7th. To a powerhouse team? To a team of dreaded sluggers? No. To the Pirates. The same Pirates who are 10 games below .500 and 17 games out in the Central Division. The same Pirates who will probably be eliminated from contention for anything in the next 2 weeks.

Just look at the bullpen stats for the past 10 games. They're revolting:

The figures next to each pitcher are: /Innings Pitched/ Hits / Walks
Pedro Feliciano: 6.0/ 2/ 2
Aaron Heilman : 11.1/ 14/ 6
Duaner Sanchez : 7.2 / 10/ 3
Scott Schoeneweis: 7.0 / 9/ 2
Joe Smith: 6.1 /11 / 4
Totals: 38.1 /47/ 17

What do all of these numbers add up to? It's relatively simple. They mean that either by giving up hits or walks, this bullpen has put on base 64 base runners in 38.1 innings pitched, roughly two per inning, in the past 10 games. And that, to be generous, is unbelievably miserable. It's unacceptable.

With a bull pen like this, of course the Metrosexuals cannot win. When the starters leave after 6 or 7 innings and have given the Metropolitans a 3 or 4 or even a 5 run lead, the bullpen sends in a "pitcher" to give the opposing team batting practice. And of course, the opposing team virtually always scores runs. Lots of runs. Runs to come from far, far behind. Runs to win, when they should have been counted out.

How can an opposing team not win when the Mets bullpen has a 2 base runners per inning average? Long story short: this bullpen is giving the games away despite adequate offense and despite good starting pitching.

Will it stop? Will it ever stop this season? Are you kidding? You cannot stop this by firing pitching coaches. You cannot stop this by firing managers. You cannot stop this by yelling in the clubhouse. Nothing will make this stop except sending these guys back to AA or A ball where they belong and finding replacements. Maybe the Brooklyn Cyclones or the Tri-City Valley Cats have some relievers ?

Delgado Does It Again

Carlos Delgado, My Hero

This from the Mets:

For most of this season, Carlos Delgado was mired in a slump, with no reason to believe he could resurrect his past productivity at the plate.

Now, he's about as hot as a baseball player can be. And the Mets are cashing in.

Delgado hit a tiebreaking two-run double in the eighth inning Thursday, leading the Mets to a 3-1 victory and a series win over the Phillies.

After pinch-hitter Robinson Cancel singled to lead off the eighth and Phillies reliever J.C. Romero intentionally walked David Wright, Delgado laced a pitch into the left field corner to plate both runners. Billy Wagner recorded the final three outs for the save.

Great. And if Carlos would only hustle in the field just a little bit, if he would run just a little bit harder on defense, if he would try just a little bit harder, I would be even more ecstatic. And the Mets might even look like a contender, rather than a bunch of superannuated, overpaid former stars.

100th Game Of The Season: Mets In First

Carlos Delgado. My Hero.

Tuesday evening the Metropolitans play the Philadelphia Philatelists in the 100th game of the season. The Mets are tied in first place with the Philanthropists, and both teams have identical records, 7 games over .500. The Mets are potentially a much better team than the Proctologists, but their season so far has been replete with underachieving, personality dramas, and lackluster, geriatric play. It's amazing that the team is in first place. In truth, with the exception of the last month, they've played like a third place, 4 games below .500 team.

And I have to say something about my aging hero, Carlos Delgado. I'm sorry I said mean things about him. He deserved it, but I'm sorry. In the past 10 games he is batting .471 and has had 16 hits. This is just excellent. And about time. His average is now up to .261 for the season, which gives you an idea of how extremely awful he was playing until recently. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: when Carlos plays well, the Mets win. When Carlos refuses to get his shirt dirty and swings like an old man trying to kill cockroaches with a frying pan, the Mets lose.

I'm remarkably confident the Metropolitans will play well in the second half of the season. I know they can beat the Philadelphia Pachyderms in this series. Please, Carlos, don't prove me wrong.

An Apology To The Metserati

The Aging Clean Head Himself

For some strange reason, after I wrote the Mets off and said their season was over and that I'd never write about them again until 2009, they woke up. They have now won 8 in a row and are suddenly 6 games over .500. They are in second place exactly .5 game behind the overachieving Philadelphia Philatelists. Tomorrow is the last game before the All Star break. Can the Metropolitans make it 9 in a row? Who knows? Can the Philadlephia Philanthropists not give away first place? Stay tuned.

And Carlos Delgado, my aging hero, the clean headed bellweather of this team? Since July 2, he's batting .325 with 2 honrons and 5 RBI. Much better. Much, much better. And his season average now stands at an almost but not really respectable .246. Things are improving. Maybe some time in the next month Carlos will get his jersey dirty. Then the playoffs are certain to be a lock.

And so, in fairness, I apologize to the Metseratti and the Mets themselves. I apologize particularly to Carlos Delgado. Lo siento. Mi culpa. I'm sorry. It was my fault. I was wrong about you.

I hope the team continues to play well and that it ends up in the World Series. In the possible and maybe even probable event that they don't, I'll retract my apology and write about how they stunk continually with a possible exception for their string in early July and that it was all somehow, though I love him, Carlos Delgado's fault. I wouldn't be a Mets fan if I couldn't do that.

No More Mets Stories, Maybe

Swinging. And Missing.

Last night's 3-2 walk off, bottom of the ninth inning loss to Philadelphia might have canceled the post season for the Mets. They are now 2 games below .500, 5.5 games behind Philadelphia in the Division, and 6 games behind in the National League wild card race. The all star break is coming. Put another way, considering how they are playing, they are now too far behind to be in the playoffs. This "performance" also might have ended my writing about them. After all, what's to say about this team's repeated disappointments? How many variations are there on underachieving? frustrating? lackluster? And how many times am I going to suggest that instead of new manager they needed a new team psychologist?

Some statistics from last night: Carlos Delgado struck out 3 times and went hitless, Carlos Beltran struck out twice and went hitless. The Mets had a grand total of 4 hits. In other words, no offense. So when the mighty Johan gives up 2 runs-- if he were really as good as they claim, would he have given up only 1 run?-- the Mets lose. End of season. Wait till next year.

Mets Yet Again Threaten To Be A .500 Team

Carlos Delgado

Well, here we are again. July 4. And the Mets are one game below .500. Tonight they begin a series against the Division Leading Phillies. They are now 4.5 games behind the Phillies in the lackluster Eastern Divison. This is an important series for the Metropolitans.

Doing well in the series might close the gap and lift them just slightly over .500. And doing as they've been doing, playing hapless, inept, miserable, frustrating baseball, will go a long way to eliminating them from any playoff possibilities. Worst case scenario: the Mets could easily leave the series 7.5 games out, 5 games below .500. That would make the Phillies 10 games over .500, more than enough to reduce the Metsies to rubble and eliminate them from contention for anything. Could this Mets team make up 7.5 games in the remaining half of the season? Playing as they've been playing? Don't be ridiculous. Of course not.

And Carlos Delgado, who seems to be a predictor of how the Mets will do? Batting .273 in the past 10 games with 9 hits in the past 10 games. Saying that he's turned it around is like saying that the Iraq War has turned around. Wishful thinking.

Can I stand to watch this series? I'll try. But as soon as the Mets show me that they're not up to the task, I'm taking clicking the remote.

The Mets: Just Mediocre

Nothing To Celebrate

Like other fans of the Metropolitanitos, I thought 2008 might just be The Year. I thought they were old, yes, but talented. I thought they would make up for last year's terrible fade. I thought they'd be a playoff team at the least and maybe, just maybe, win it all. I thought they'd play hard and be exciting. Wrong. This team is mediocre, and if it keeps going the way it is now, it'll continue to play sub .500 ball through the All Star Break, through the entire regular season, until that ignominious day in September when they are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. I seriously doubt this team will make the playoffs. They're just not playing. They're below average.

There are so many things wrong it's not worth listing them. Just a highlight? How can a team score 15 runs in a day game and then play the same team at home and score 0? Don't ask. No. Let's forget the anecdotes, that will just get me disgusted. The Mets fired Willie. That was supposed to make a dramatic change. Did it? Not yet. The Mets are still 2 games below .500 at 39 wins and 41 losses. They play the Yanquis again today. More runs have been scored against them (378) than they have scored (375). They've lost 2 in a row. They are 5-5 in the their past 10. Did I say they were playing below .500? I'm afraid that this is how it goes until the end of the season. Why would it change? Why would they start playing? Nobody can imagine how that could happen.

By the way, there are 10 National League teams, including the Mets, playing less than .500 ball, and the National League East this year is terrible, so the Mets are still only 4 games behind the lackluster Phillies and the Fish and tied with the Braves. This could give fans hope, if they believe that somehow a team that is 6 or fewer games over .500 will win the division, or that the three rivals are going to continue to falter for the rest of the season. The Mets could, diehard fans might think, win the division if they turn it around soon. But, folks, that's just not going to happen. See, paragraph 1.

And my hero, the aging first baseman, former star Carlos Delgado? He of the career .278 batting average. He who hit .301 for the Fish in 2005. He who hit 38 homers in 2006 for the Mets. He had 9 RBIs in the day game on Saturday. A career day. Wonderful. But other than that game, he's been hitless since June 21, in 6 of the last 7 games, going 0 for 20. And his BA is now .230. I cannot blame the Mets' mediocrity on Carlos, but he sure is not helping things.

There Is No Joy In Metsville, Mighty Willie's Striking Out

Will This Man Have A Job On Monday?

Last night's rain-out means that the Metropolitans have a double header today against the Texas Rangers. It's interleague play and to me not all that interesting. But there is a very interesting story line. If the Mets don't win, I think you can wave bye bye to Willie Randolph, their manager. That means, I think, that the players, who haven't done well under pressure, are under even more stress for today's games. In addition to their chronic, season-long underachieving (that's a nice way to put it), I doubt they want to be responsible for the traditional, scapegoat firing of their manager and the bad feelings that will engender, especially when the NY press's drama kings say, "Willie had to be fired because the team wouldn't play for him."

Fortunately for Willie, this do-or-be-fired test comes against a Rangers team that may be slightly worse than the Mets. But guess what? Even if Willie survives two games today, the next games are in Los Angeles against the Angels beginning on Monday night, and the Angels are 13 games over .500 and leading the American League West. The Mets never play well on the west coast after traveling at night. If the Mets play in LA the way they did in San Diego, Willie's going to be gone.

There is some reason for firing of Willie. You can find it in bookkeeping and in the standings: the Mets are 2 games below .500, they're 7 games behind the Phillies in the National League East after playing 66 games, and they've lost 6 of their last 8 games, including the sweep by the feckless Padres. Nobody with more than 50 at bats is batting .300 or more. You cannot find an explanation of why a team that has so much talent and is paid so much money is playing so badly. When that happens, the first person to go is always the manager.

And it wouldn't break my heart if Aaron Heilman, whose complete lack of control is responsible for so many of the recent losses, were fired, too.

Step Right Up And Beat The Mets

Why Is This Man Smiling?

How wonderful. Today is June 8, 2008. The Mets have lost 3 games in a row, each by the identical score, 2-1. And to what pitching juggernaut have the Mets' bats fallen so silent? To what Cy Young winners, to what fire ballers have the Mets yielded? The hapless Carmen San Diego Padres. How hapless you ask? After whipping the Mets 2-1 3 games in a row and setting up a sweep of their series with them (there's another game today at 4 pm if you can bear to watch it), the Pads are still, that's right, still 10 games below .500 and in next to last place in the Western Division. They stink. But we all know who stinks even more, don't we.

The Mets are now 1 game below .500 for this season. Did I mention that they've lost 3 in a row? to San Diego? My hero, a former slugger, the aging Carlos Delgado is now batting .237, which for him is a vast improvement over last month, but he still won't get his jersey dirty. Alas, there's no individual player to be blamed for this pathetic play. No. They all aren't hitting. They all are not contributing to the offense, leave aside whether it's "small ball" or "long ball." They aren't scoring runs. And they look simply awful at the plate.

By far the bigger problem for me is that the Mets are no fun to watch. They have no passion. They have no electricity. They are dispirited. There is no excitement. You watch until they find a way to give away the game. Maybe they give it up in extra innings. Maybe they give it up in the early going. They give it up. You can bet on it. They are the opposite of "scrappy."

If I owned the Mets I would fire a bunch of them. I'd probably start with Willie Randolph. I know, I know, it's not his personal fault, and he's a nice guy and he knows baseball. But he is the manager of this joke show. So as every baseball traditionalist knows, when you lose with a team that's not playing to capacity (that would be the Mets and that would also be a grotesque understatement), you lose your job. Why? Because nobody knows anything else to do when this lackluster lack of offense malaise creeps into a locker room populated by players who used to be able to hit. You fire the manager because you can. It's the one thing you have control over. It shows that you mean business.

Casey Stengel asked in 1962, "Can't anybody here play this game?" For the 2008 Mets, the answer is, after all, I guess not.