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.
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