The Mets are what they are, and no one knows what that is

I get it, and I don't get it.

I understand why the Mets didn't make any trade deadline moves, if you're telling me every other team wanted players like Jon Niese, Josh Thole or Ike Davis. You don't trade those guys unless you're getting someone tremendous in return, and there really wasn't anyone like that out there.

What I don't get, however, is how a team like the Dodgers, in front office disarray with an ownership divorce coming up, is lauded for being bold, while the Mets are considered out of the running.

The Dodgers are a game better than the Mets in the Wild Card race and even further out in their division.

The Mets are in limbo, for sure, and perhaps they are doing the right thing by not dealing away prospects when their grip on the playoff race is as tentative as it is right now.

But then again, Ted Lilly was dealt with Ryan Theriot for Blake DeWitt and a couple of minor leaguers. I find it hard to believe that the Mets couldn't come up with a similar package.

Prospects are just that — prospects. Somehow the Phillies, over the last year, have traded a dozen prospects but held onto the best ones. They've been to two straight World Series and are in position to make another run.

These Mets prospects must be awesome.

But how many of them do you thing will make it to the majors, let alone star for the Mets? Jennry Mejia? Maybe Fernando Martinez if he can ever stay healthy? Brad Holt? Wilmer Flores?

The elephant in the room is money, and there have been many reports and rumors that the Mets cannot spend any more. The Madoff thing has been hanging over the club, and the Mets — while having a top-five payroll and signing Jason Bay to a big deal — have certainly looked like a team that won't spend an extra dime to improve their chances of winning ballgames.

Omar Minaya's track record has been consistent. Big moves in the off-season, nothing significant during the season.

I'll take him at his word that deals can be done after players clear waivers. But now that it looks like Brett Myers is going to sign an extension with Houston, and Lilly and Jake Westbrook are gone, I expect nothing to be done, even though acquiring another starter has been a screaming need since spring training.

The Mets are going to the dance (or not) with what brung them, and that means Hisanori Takahashi in the starting rotation. He did extremely well on Saturday night, and maybe he and R.A. Dickey can keep it up. Maybe Manny Acosta becomes the hot hand in the bullpen.

Maybe Carlos Beltran's walk-off sac fly sparks his resurgence. Maybe Jason Bay comes off the DL and hits like crazy for the final six weeks.

Lots of ifs and maybes, which is what the season has been like since March. We should be used to it by now.

Hang this loss on Manuel? He didn't have much of a choice

So why did Jerry Manuel have Pedro Feliciano pitch to Albert Pujols in the 13th inning with runners on the corners and two outs?

Did he have a choice?

Yes, it's Pujols, Mr. MVP. But the guy on deck, Matt Holliday, is pretty good, too, and already had a homer and three RBI in the game. Plus, walking Pujols to load the bases means a single by Holliday scores two runs, not one, and you already had a force at second. Both players are right handed, and after Feliciano were two more lefties, Valdes and Ollie.

Having Feliciano pitching to either Pujols or Holliday is a tough task either way, but remember there were two outs and Pujols could barely run to first base or jog out to his position. The guy was hurting. He would have been removed from the game had LaRussa had other options available to him.

So do you load the bases for a healthy Holliday, or pitch to a hurting Pujols hoping to get one more out?

Again, did Manuel have a choice?

His critics and the media will surely jump all over him, but the reality is the outcome was mostly decided by the six runs Johan Santana gave up in the first. Credit Santana for gutting out another 4 2/3 innings and stopping the bleeding, credit the bullpen for keeping the Cards scoreless til Pujols's single in the 13th, and credit the Mets for coming back, scoring four in the eighth, two on a pinch hit single by Ike Davis and two more on a homer by Angel Pagan.

But you can't credit them with a win. Just another tough loss, another one-run loss, another loss on a night when the Braves and Phillies won.

Production matters. Votes of confidence don't

"That's baseball."

Sabermetricians hate those two words. They'd like to think they can measure, infer, interpret, calculate and estimate every aspect of baseball so that the game makes sense.

Then you have Tuesday's game against the Cardinals, where the ice-cold Mets went up against a red-hot Adam Wainwright, who was having one of the best months of July in the history of the game.

The Mets were reeling, shut out four times on an 11-game road trip. They couldn't hit the broad side of Jessica Simpson. Jerry Manuel and his coaching staff, especially hitting coach Howard Johnson, were the subject of all kinds of media speculation. The Phillies passed them in the standings. They were falling further behind in the division and wild card standings. Things looked bleak.

So what happens? The Mets bang out six runs in five innings off of Wainwright and roll to an 8-2 win.

That's baseball.

The only thing that makes sense is that the game was at Citi Field, and at this point we should just enjoy the home wins and not question why the Mets are so good at home and so awful on the road.

Home runs by Francoeur and Reyes helped, as did two hits each by Beltran and Castillo. Jon Niese also chipped in with six innings of one-run ball for his seventh win of the season.

Whether the win jump-starts a Mets resurgance remains to be seen, but one thing it did prove is that performance counts.

Not media speculation, not votes of confidence from the front office, not coaching changes.

The talent must produce. That's what matters most.

That, and getting another starter (Ted Lilly or Brett Myers would be just fine, thanks) so that Takahashi can move to the bullpen.

Because if we're asking the talent to produce, we'd like to see the GM and ownership produce as well.

Mets' hitting virus has passed. We hope.

When you have a virus, what does the doctor say?

Plenty of rest, plenty of fluids, and let it run its course. Antibiotics and medications do nothing when you have a virus.

The team hitting slump that the Mets hopefully broke out of Friday night is exactly like a virus. It comes in from out of nowhere, and no matter what remedy you try (extra batting practice, less batting practice, lineup changes) you just have to let it run its course.

Viruses come and go. You're sick for a while, but eventually you get better. Same with hitting slumps. It's bad while you're in it, but it doesn't last forever.

Team slumps are worse because a couple of guys stop hitting, and while they're pressing to end their slump their teammates start pressing to do more to make up the difference, and before you know it the shutouts are piling up. Ron Darling mentioned this in the booth on Thursday night, that it's amazing how all team hitting slumps are alike.

Which is why the renewed talk of Jerry Manuel's job being in jeopardy is laughable. If he was doing such a great job before the slump, wouldn't you want him around after it's over? Can't he just weather the storm? It's been a bad road trip, but the pitching and defense have been fine. If he was being praised just a couple of weeks ago, why would you fire him just to "shake things up?"

Hopefully, the bases-clearing double that secured the Mets' 6-1 win over the Dodgers will eradicate the horrific slump that dropped Jason Bay down to the seventh spot in the order. Bay had a terrific night, not only at the plate with two hits, but he made a highlight reel catch at the fence in left, smashing his face against the gate latch. Ouch. Lots of hockey references after that one.

It was a great defensive game by both clubs. Angel Pagan made two sliding catches in right and Carlos Beltran added one in center. The beneficiary was Johan Santana, who was brilliant yet again. Joe Torre helped by pinch-hitting for an equally effective Vicente Padilla, but he didn't have much of a choice at the time. The Dodgers are having as much trouble scoring runs as the Mets.

We'll see if the Mets can use this win to take the series and build some momentum, not only for the upcoming homestand but for the rest of the season.

As for Bay, remember his great numbers from last season were generated by two hot months. He's yet to have one hot month this season. When he does, and when Beltran gets going, runs won't be as hard to come by.

Alex Cora is mad as hell... and he should be

Fans hate it when players appear to care less about winning and losing than fans do. Hate it when they see the first baseman yukking it up with a baserunner, hate it when guys in the bullpen are seen chatting across the fence, hate it when they see players in the dugout smiling or laughing when the team is losing.

For the most part, it's a misplaced emotion. Fans will always believe that they care more about winning and losing and the team than the players because they are more emotionally invested in the team, and that investment is completely irrational.

Fans have have lived through the ups and downs over the years and have formed strong opinions on how the game should be played, how the manager should manage, who the front office needs to acquire. They base their lives around the schedule, live and die with every pitch, but benefit directly in no way from the team's success except in the joy they derive from seeing their team win.

That doesn't mean players don't care. Some clearly care more than others, but you're talking about athletes whose careers are based on competition. If they weren't competitive, they wouldn't be here. But it's a long season. A player who approached the season like the emotional roller coaster that the fans ride would be burnt out by June.

But perception is reality, and when fans see players appearing to not care, they believe it to be true. And so when the Mets dropped another game in Arizona, failing to generate any runs against Barry Enright, that was bad enough. Then we hear that Alex Cora had to yell at a group of players and media for laughing in the clubhouse following the loss. (According to Newsday, Cora yelled, "A little respect please ... They stuck it up our ***!")

That sh*t just won't fly.

That's the kind of thing that drives fans nuts, that makes them question the team chemistry now that Carlos Beltran and Luis Castillo are back in the lineup. Why are they laughing? DON'T THEY REALIZE HOW IMPORTANT THESE GAMES ARE?!

In the post-game, Bob Ojeda called the Mets out for not playing with any urgency in the ninth inning, and when you hear that from a former player, you have to take notice. But Ojeda also went on to say that when you're winning, the chemistry is always good. What it's really about is production.

Since August 1, the Mets are 5-11. In their last 11 games, they have averaged 1.9 runs per game and are hitting around .200. Their bullpen ERA in that span is above 6. The starting pitching is the only thing that's been positive (Mike Pelfrey excepted), and all that means is that good starts are being wasted by a struggling offense.

We've seen this happen to the offense before. It happens to all teams. This is just awful timing, coming on the road, with the Braves playing well, coinciding with Beltran's return and the lineup adjustments that had to be made to accommodate him. Also, the Mets offense features a lot of aggressive hitters, and when things are going bad, you get a lot of strikeouts and allow the opposing pitcher to throw less pitches and get into more of a rhythm.

That said, the Mets needed someone to kick them in the ass, and say what you want about Cora's meager production and range at second base, he is a competitor and a veteran and is respected the clubhouse. Hearing him get pissed off should send a message to the team that the time for jokes is over, that we're at the risk of seeing the season slip away.

There is a lot of baseball left. I can't see Atlanta maintaining this kind of success rate, and the Phillies are still in third (although there's a lot of chatter about them getting Roy Oswalt and maybe dealing Jayson Werth -- did you catch that, Omar?). There are many games left against those two clubs and a ton of home games in the final five weeks.

So there is time to get things together, and it has to start with the offense. Jason Bay needs to snap out of it. Josh Thole needs to stay on this team and keep hitting the way he has been. This lineup should produce, and it will.

Hopefully sooner than later.

The warning lights are flashing

Reason No. 3 for why Omar Minaya needs to acquire another starting pitcher made itself apparent Monday night in Arizona.

Reason No. 1 is that Ollie Perez and John Maine aren't going to help, and Reason No. 2 is that adding a starting pitcher has the additional benefit of strengthening the bullpen by putting Hisanori Takahashi back into the role for which he seems better suited.

Reason No. 3 is that a stronger rotation overall helps cushion the blow if one of the established starters falters. And brother, Mike Pelfrey is faltering.


Sure, all pitchers have clunkers now and then, but Pelfrey has been slipping for a couple of weeks now. Here's a scary stat: According to Elias Sports Bureau, Pelfrey is the first NL pitcher (and third in MLB) since 1900 to allow more than 50 base runners (hits, walks, and HBPs) while recording fewer than 50 outs over a span of four starts.

Since 1900. Ouch.

Everyone says he's healthy, so be thankful for that. After the game, the call was made for Pelfrey to throw the fastball more, but he's had trouble locating the fastball, so he's throwing more breaking balls, and that's what teams are sitting on. Pelfrey needs to solve his fastball problem — whether it's a crisis of confidence or an adjustment in grip, or some combination — in order to find his way out of the woods.

What concerns me more is the roster. It seems like, as well as he's hitting, Josh Thole will be sent down to catch more (since he's still developing behind the plate). There's no need for Turner to still be here with Reyes and Castillo back, so he should be sent down as well.

There are no backups for either Ike Davis or David Wright, although Alex Cora could play third in a pinch (please don't say Henry Blanco). Nick Evans should stay on the roster as an OF/1B, and Mike Hessman, a 32-year-old career minor leaguer with 18 homers in Buffalo, could be called up to back up Wright. That would leave Carter, Cora and Francoeur as lefties off the bench, with Evans and Hessman as the righties.

Or Minaya could go out and get a veteran righthanded corner infielder to replace the injured Fernando Tatis.

As for the bullpen, if Takahashi moves back, that gives them three lefties with Valdes and Feliciano, to go with K-Rod, Parnell and either Nieve or Dessens. Nieve pitched one good inning against Arizona but imploded in the second, allowing a natural cycle over a four-hitter span (triple, double, single, homer). Elmer Dessens is pitching better, so Nieve would be the odd man out.

So Omar needs a starter and a corner infielder, and the offense needs to get on track (and Arizona is a good place to start).

You can sense Mets fans getting ready to panic. But Monday was the first game since April of last year when the Mets had a lineup full of "starters." We'll see how they jell over this road trip, and if they survive the trip without getting buried, and if Minaya can make the moves he needs to make, the Mets will be in good position for the stretch run.

What, me worry?

Cheering a Brave, thanking a Yankee

The All-Star Game is always a trip to the bizarro world of baseball.

You're rooting for players who you normally jeer, because they're on the same team as your team's players, and you want your team's league to win. There are many more players on the roster, and players come in and out of the game with often no rhyme or reason.

And, oh yeah, this exhibition game determines which league gets home field advantage in the World Series, which has been won by the "home" team in 11 of the last 15 years.

This year's game was no different for Mets fans, who watched David Wright continue his All-Star dominance with two hits and a stolen base. He is 11-for-16 as an All-Star in his career.

But perhaps the highlights of the game — won by the National League for the first time since 1996 — were seeing an Atlanta Brave getting the key hit, and watching the Yankees manager sabotage his team's chances with mismanagement.

Braves catcher Brian McCann delivered the winning hit, a bases-loaded double. Here's hoping that's the last clutch hit he gets all year.

But Joe Girardi deserves a fruit basket from Charlie Manuel and the rest of the National League for his bungling of the game.

How on earth is David Ortiz allowed to run the bases? Alex Rodriguez was available to pinch hit or pinch run. That A-Rod was the only player left on the bench is a testament to Girardi's incompetence. With 34 players on the roster, and the World Series home field advnatage on the line, how do you not keep three or four players available at the end?

Tom Verducci breaks it down tremendously in Sports Illustrated, noting that Girardi selected A-Rod to the team, and claimed that A-Rod was healthy (so why not use him?) but a source says A-Rod's thumb was "sore" and that Girardi wanted "four days off for our big guy."

Meanwhile, Adrian Beltre played with a sore hamstring. Nice.

Verducci also doesn't let Manuel off the hook, noting that he pulled Albert Pujols too quickly and sent Chris Young up to pinch hit for Andre Ethier.

In any event, at least the Mets know that if they make it to the Series, they'll have the Citi Field advantage on their side!

--

A note about George Steinbrenner. It's amusing how we're reading so much about how he was the greatest owner in sports.

Don't get me wrong: The man was passionate about winning (and not losing) and spent tons of money to win. Fans love that. But remember that this was a guy who paid a lowlife money to dig up dirt on his own player, who hired and fired 17 managers in 17 seasons, who didn't see the consistent success until after he was banned from the game, when his front office started running things the right way without him.

And when they did build a farm system and develop young players, what did George do? He spent more money than anyone else, because he could.

An absolute must-read: New York Times columnist Dave Anderson's 1980 piece on the press conference announcing the "execution" of Dick Howser.

Howser was fired in November, a month after the Yankees won 103 games but were swept in the playoffs by the Royals. He was treated miserably by King George.

Howser went on to win a World Series with the Royals five years later, and two years after that, died of a brain tumor.

I feel like the Winnebago Man

So frustrated.

R.A. Dickey came into the game having allowed just two home runs, then gives up back-to-back homers WITH TWO OUTS in the seventh, to two guys who had a total of five home runs this season.

Dickey also had two of the Mets' eight hits and scored both their runs.

The Mets were able to get Tommy Hanson out of the game in the sixth, but then managed one hit the rest of the way against the Braves' bullpen.

Billy Wagner, of course, got the save.

The offense is flat. Jose Reyes is still hurt and batting only right handed. Jason Bay has 13 RBI in his last 11 games but went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts. He and Jeff Francoeur had opportunities to do damage but failed.

The Mets, for their final six games before the break, had Pelfrey and Santana pitching twice, with Dickey and Niese going once, and now the best they can do for that stretch — a stretch of six home games, mind you — is 3-3, and the best they can be at the break is two games out.

This is what we were worried about. Despite favorable pitching matchups, the Mets are sliding toward the break, not surging.

Somehow, the Braves — whose road unis tonight were hideous — have won 51 games. They give away multiple outs with horrific defense. Their lineup is less than scary, especially without Heyward and Chipper (who is not very good anymore, anyway). But their starters and bullpen have been outstanding.

Here's hoping the Mets win the next two, salvaging some positivity before the All-Star game, while gaining two big games in the standings.

By the way, the dude in the video is Jack Rebney. He became a YouTube sensation as "The Winnebago Man."

See how he feels? That's me watching the Mets lately.

$#@*(!

Don't mess with the Johan

Jerry Manuel made Joe Benigno a happy man Tuesday night.

Benigno, who often rails about how pitchers aren't allowed to finish games, and who has often wondered why Johan Santana has been removed from games in the latter innings, must have been thrilled when Manuel came out to the mound in the top of the ninth after Jason Bay dropped an easy fly ball to put runners on first and second with one out, only to return to the dugout, leaving Santana in to shut the Reds down.

It took Santana just two pitches to clean up the mess, and he ended up with the complete-game shutout, a three-hit gem that also saw him hit a solo homer on a remarkable 12-pitch at-bat in the third inning with two outs.

That Santana battled Matt Maloney that hard, that early in the game tells you all you need to know about the ultra-competitive Santana, who has pitched brilliantly in his most recent starts and has Mets fans believing he has worked out his issues and is ready to dominate in the second half, which he has done throughout his career.

Maybe he'll hit some more bombs, too. Santana yanked the 12th pitch from Maloney down the right field line and off the foul pole for a 1-0 Mets lead. It stayed that way until the sixth, when resurgent Jason Bay singled in two runs.

You couldn't have blamed Manuel if he went by the book and brought in K-Rod to face the righties coming up in the ninth. But given K-Rod's recent woes (his 12-pitch save on Sunday notwithstanding), and Santana's many no-decisions this season, it was fantastic to see Manuel leave Santana in, to the thunderous applause of the fans.

Of course, Santana delivered.

Jose Reyes returned to the lineup, batting righthanded against the lefty Maloney, and had two hits and a run scored.

Jon Niese looks to win the series on Wednesday, followed by a well-deserved day off before the Braves come to town, led by All-Star OMAR INFANTE!

Does K-Rod suck, and did Pelfrey melt down?

A few things about the Fourth of July weekend:

The holiday schedule was a full one, and while we went to a party Saturday I forgot that the Mets were on in the afternoon. So I was surprised to get the following text message from my brother:

'Krod sucks'

That's never good news.

Soon after, from someone with an iPhone, I got the gory details of how the Mets chased Stephen Strasburg but lost because Frankie Rodriguez blew the game in the bottom of the ninth for yet another walk-off loss.

I'm not ready to call K-Rod a problem, but he fits right in with other Mets closers of old who made you sweat. He got the save Friday night by picking off a runner at second (nice play by Ruben Tejada) and bounced back to get the 12-pitch save Sunday. His overall numbers are good but he falls in love with the changeup and has trouble throwing strikes. His pitch to I-Rod on the game-winning hit wasn't a bad one, low and away, but he had put himself in a huge hole.

I said in my previous post that I would have been happy to see the Mets split in Washington, which they did, thanks to Sunday's effort against Craig Stammen. Eight runs in the first four innings, four RBIs by Jason Bay and three hits by a healthy Angel Pagan helped Hisanori Takahashi pick up his seventh win.

Monday's homecoming against the Reds didn't go well, but while many are picking on Mike Pelfrey's "meltdown," I can't fault him too much. It was less a meltdown than Pelfrey getting into trouble with a single, a blooper and a walk to lead off the fifth. After that it just got weird and while Pelfrey was ultimately undone, it took a terrible call reversal by the umpires and an equally bad non-strike call on Drew Stubbs to get there. Pelfrey battled — it looked as if he might get out of it with only one run across — but Stubbs and Sal Fasano lookalike Corky Miller put the inning away.

Credit the Mets for having plenty of fight in the dog by coming back to cut the 7-1 deficit down to one, with five runs in the bottom of the fifth. Alex Cora came up big with a two-run double. Fernando Nieve allowed a one-out, solo homer to Votto but then retired the next eight in a row.

Despite the loss, you have to like how things line up for the remaining five days before the break. As of this morning it's still  "undecided" against Johan Santana, and then Niese goes in game three. The Braves series will see Dickey, Pelfrey and Santana, and if Reyes can (finally) get back on the field, maybe the Mets can win four of the next five and the final two series.

And congrats to David Wright for getting (properly) voted in as an All-Star starter. Oh, ye of little faith — how's Wright doing now? In the top 10 in most every offensive category. Reyes was named to the team as well, and while Charlie Manuel did a good job in leaving off Strasburg, I'm not sure how Votto could be left off in place of Ryan Howard. Mind-boggling.

Yeah, maybe Pelfrey got snubbed, but I'd rather see him relax and recharge for what should be a very interesting second half.

San Juan hangover continues

Let me get this straight: Major League Baseball thinks it's OK to schedule a three-game series in a minor-league ballpark in Puerto Rico where the field is a bandbox with artificial turf laid down on top of concrete, where game three is a night game, and then have both teams play the next night, basically praying that it doesn't rain in a tropical environment?

And that it's also cool to move a series between the Phillies and Blue Jays from Toronto to Philadelphia for security concerns related to the G20 summitt, giving the Phillies three more home games than anyone else in the league, instead of playing that series at a nuetral site or maybe reconfiguring the schedule in some other way that doesn't give one team such an advantage while screwing the other team?

OK, just wanted to clear that up. Is it any surprise the All-Star game determines the World Series home field advantage? This league is run by idiots (or at least one big idiot).

So the Mets got into Washington at 7 a.m. Thursday, played without Jose Reyes and Angel Pagan (mostly) and gave Jason Bay the night off — and we're surprised that they only scored one run against Livan Hernandez?

Of course, Johan Santana pitched, and he did pretty well shutting down the Nats for six innings before the tying run came across in the seventh. Sure, Jerry could have sent him out for another inning, but it didn't matter. The Mets bats were spent.

This is a serious stretch for the Mets, this week-plus before the All-Star game. They stumbled in San Juan and have four games in Washington, then right to Citi Field for three with the Reds before they finally get a day off before hosting the first-place Braves for three games leading to the break.

You could see the danger of this team, probably getting exhausted, going on a slide. You wonder if and when R.A. Dickey falls back to earth. Takahashi looks like he's already started. Pagan and now Reyes are banged up.

I'd be thrilled with a split in Washington, then get home and try and win two of three against the Reds with Pelfrey, Santana and Niese. Then a day off and try and do the same against the Braves with Dickey, Takahashi and Pelfrey. It's doable, but you're getting the sense that there isn't much left in the tank and that the break couldn't come fast enough.

Maybe that's just a perception left over from the awful series in the P.R. Next year, the Marlins can play someone else.

And can the Mets get three extra home games somehow? That would be cool.