Can the Mets get the band back together (without K-Rod)?

So I took a week off from the blog, for a couple of reasons. One, after the Subway Series the Mets went to the West Coast and, frankly, I can barely stay awake to watch the games than blog about them afterwards. Plus, we were away for most of that week, and then there was the All-Star break, so I figured I'd just take a breather and come back with a post after the midsummer classic with a look toward what the second half of the season could bring.

I didn't have to wait long for the first gift.

Within an hour of the conclusion of the All-Star game (won by the NL), the Mets dealt Francisco Rodriguez to the Brewers for cash (later reported to be $5 million, or what he's owed the rest of this season) and two players to be named later.

This shocked absolutely no one since we all knew there was no way the Mets would be paying K-Rod his $17 million salary next season, which would kick in once he finished 21 more games. Sandy Alderson did what he had to do, and dumped the salary, and really, if either of the two prospects the Mets pick up ever make the big-league club it would be a bonus.

So next year's payroll will not include the $17M for K-Rod, nor the $19 million made by Carlos Beltran, nor the $12M for Ollie Perez nor the $6M for Luis Castillo. That's $54 million. Considering the payroll this season was around $138 million, that's a huge reduction.

Think $7-8 million of that could go to Jose Reyes? Yeah, we think so.

The K-Rod deal doesn't raise the white flag on the season in that everyone knew K-Rod was going at some point, and the Mets do have a couple of possible closers in Bobby Parnell and Jason Isringhausen (we're thinking Izzy to Parnell is the way to go, if only because we'll find out whether Parnell really has the stuff to close).

Is Beltran next? It's likely, but with David Wright and Jose Reyes coming back in a week, it would be nice to see whether this team can hang in there. At 7 1/2 games out of the wild card with 71 games left, there's still plenty of time and plenty of fight left in the dog. And it seems that there is a chance that Ike Davis could be back, and then maybe Santana in August. The Brewers are going for it, and they're just 2 1/2 games ahead of the Mets. Fans (this one at least) aren't ready to concede anything just yet.

The team is on the precipice, though, and it will be a challenge to win the series against the Phillies as shorthanded as they are. Certainly, Alderson has to think long term, and dealing K-Rod and possibly Beltran, who will not be back in 2012, are moves for the future.

But we're still in the present. Terry Collins, like coach Norman Dale in "Hoosiers," doesn't worry about who's not in the lineup. His teams compete regardless of who's starting.

"My team is on the floor."

That team hasn't had Davis or Wright in a long while and has been surviving without Reyes for more than a week and they are still in the mix. Can we let this team play it out? Sure, we could get a couple of players for Beltran, but no top prospects for a rental.

Why not let Beltran honor the rest of his contract and enjoy his final resurgent year in Flushing, and see what happens when the band is back together?

Again, 71 games left. Nine against the Braves and six of those at home.

Collins has talked all season about guys getting the opportunity to show something. Turner and Murphy have taken advantage. Parnell is about to. The Mets as a team can do the same.

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Just a note about the video up top. I wanted to use the scene from "The Blues Brothers" where they tell Mr. Fabulous at the Chez Paul that they're getting the band back together, but that and most other clips from the movie on YouTube have embedding disabled. So I found this one, which is a great song, but you'll notice at the end that it was recorded off the TV in some foreign language (Spanish or Italian, I think).

Everything old is new again

Terry Collins, at age 62, qualifies for a senior discount at just about every restaurant and movie theater in this country. But when the National League East managers get together for their regular canasta game these days, he's the one they call "Kid."

Collins may indeed enjoy an early bird special now and then, but he's got nothing on his compatriots at the helm of the other teams in the Mets' division (well, three of them, anyway). The Phillies' Charlie Manuel is 67, new Marlins skipper Jack McKeon is 80, and running the show now for the Washington Nationals is former Mets manager Davey Johnson, who checks in at age 68.

(The Braves' Fredi Gonzalez is essentially the pool boy at age 47. His role at the canasta table is to keep Jack updated on the latest from Hialeah, and fetching Charlie Manuel's gin and tonics.)

You get the feeling that the Mets set a trend with the hiring of Collins. He'd been around a while, had success at other places, but hadn't managed a major league team in a number of years. Ditto McKeon and now Davey J., who of course had a loose hand on the rudder of the Mets' 1986 World Championship team.

Johnson's hiring was particularly reminiscent of Collins', in that he was already working for the Nationals organization as a consultant and knew the players and the system well. Those qualities have certainly seemed to have helped Collins, who has had to manage a number of former minor leaguers filling in for injured starters.

On Sunday, the Mets won another road series, this one against the defending AL champion Rangers. Like Saturday's win, the Mets piled up hits and scored a healthy number of runs without the benefit of the long ball. Jose Reyes continued to rake, getting four hits, including his 14th triple, and three runs. Daniel Murphy stayed hot with three hits, and he and Reyes both made outstanding plays in the field. Carlos Beltran had two RBI.

Dillon Gee overcame a shaky start and lasted six innings, allowing eight hits and two walks, and three runs to improve to 8-1 on the season. The bullpen of Beato, Byrdak and Izzy was perfect. Why they put in K-Rod in a non-save situation is puzzling since he's always terrible, and he made things too interesting before retiring the last three hitters.

Another game finished for K-Rod, who was quoted over the weekend saying he would set up for a contender. Someone should alert K-Rod (and the rest of the New York media, for that matter) that the Mets, even at .500, at 4 1/2 games out of the wild card lead, are, by definition, contenders.

You know Collins considers them contenders, and you know Davey will have the same attitude with the Nationals. McKeon has already benched Hanley Ramirez and mistaken Twitter as the name of a player's dog. Manuel? He's sitting in the catbird seat, his only worries whether Oswalt can stay healthy and what channel Matlock is on when he's on the road.

Gonzalez, meanwhile, barely looks up at the canasta game from his Nintendo DS, white earbuds blaring Arcade Fire as he wonders when these geezers are going to hit the hay so he can play Tour of Duty online without being asked to bring over a walker or light a cigar.

Actually, it was pretty fathomable

"Unfathomable!"

Hold on now, Gary Cohen, we're Mets fans. We can fathom quite a bit, thank you very much.

The Mets' habit of taking two steps forward and one step back continued Thursday night at The Ted, and of course that house of horrors wasn't going to let this team head back to Flushing with a sweep now, was it? No way, Jose.

Great comeback after Dickey didn't have it. Big homer by Hairston. A wild pitch on a strikeout in the seventh and two errors by the Braves in the eighth gave the Mets a two-run lead into the ninth, but the Mets gave it right back.

Sure, it sucks when your closer blows a save, but you could almost forgive K-Rod since he'd been perfect since April 2. So we go to extras, and how close we came to getting to the 11th.

Dioner Hernandez, who homered off K-Rod in New York, doubled off D.J. Carrasco, who was perfect the night before. OK, fine. Had Lucas Duda just allowed that ground ball to be fielded by Ruben Tejada — you know, the team's best fielder — the 10th inning is over. But no, that opens up the door for the rare walk-off balk by Carrasco, prompting Cohen's exclamation.

Unfathomable? Improbable, for sure. But hey, six out of 10 on the road ain't nothin' to sneeze at. Sure, .500 is still a game away (again), but with the Angels and A's coming to town, that homestand should (fingers crossed) leave the Mets above water. Should.

Two hits by Jason Bay, and maybe he's starting to come around. Three more hits by Reyes, who has 101 in 66 games. Wow.

Dickey and Reyes are good. True that - DOUBLE TRUE!

It was a lazy Sunday in the Gasparino household. A late pancake breakfast. Kids playing outside, Mom grading papers, Dad spraying ant killer and throwing out trash. After lunch we took a drive to do some quick shopping. I'd planned on DVRing the Mets game and watching it after the kids were asleep, as usual.

We were on Jericho Turnpike headed for the Walt Whitman Mall at around 3 o'clock when my buddy Mike called. His company has tickets behind home plate and a client backed out at the last minute. Would I like to go?

Damn right I would!

By 7:30 I was at the rotunda, looking forward to seeing R.A. Dickey try and give the Mets the series win over the Braves. And what a game we saw (well, the first 8 innings, anyway).

Dickey was superb. Eight innings of four-hit ball, the only blemish a solo homer by Met Killer Brian McCann. Otherwise, we saw some pretty futile swings out there by the Bravos.

When you chase Tim Hudson in four innings, you know you're doing something right. Jose Reyes was the firestarter yet again, leading off the first with a single and scoring on Carlos Beltran's double, Beltran himself scoring on a sac fly. In the second, Hudson walked Reyes to face Justin Turner with two out and two on and Turner delivered the opposite-field hit, scoring Pridie. Reyes came home on a wild pitch that never came close to the backstop.

He's fast.

Reyes had an RBI double in the fourth, and at this point the "KEEP JOSE" chants were cropping up left and right. Ruben Tejada also made a terrific catch at second.

Of course, with sunshine comes rain. Beltran fouled a ball off his ankle and left the game. X-rays were negative but we'll see how that goes. Dickey gave way to Manny Acosta in the ninth and he promptly walked the leadoff man and then a double one out later. In came K-Rod (with a five-run lead) to face pinch hitter and slap hitter Deonis Hernandez, and of course he homered to left.

Two strikeouts later, we put it in the books, and closed out an eventful 10-game homestand at 5-5. A trip to Milwaukee, Pittsburgh and Atlanta follows.

Thanks again, Mike. Great seats, great company, and an always enjoyable Mets win. And it was helmet night, so the kids got a treat as well. A true win-win.

Do you believe in miracles? YES! But then again...

To be made a saint in the Catholic church, you have to have four miracles. That's the rules, you know. It's always been that. Four miracles, and you have to prove it. Well, this Mother Seton, now they could only prove three miracles. But the Pope, he just waived the fourth one. He just waived it! And do you know why? It's because she was American. It's all politics. We got some Italian people, they got forty, fifty, sixty miracles to their name. They can't get in just 'cause they say there's already too many Italian saints, and this woman comes along with three lousy miracles. I understand that two of them were card tricks.
— Father Guido Sarducci

I thought of this bit as I pondered whether to call the Mets' comeback win a miracle. It's really too strong a word for what happened Thursday. Sure, it was the Mets' biggest comeback since a 10-run eighth inning against Atlanta in 2000, but this was the Pirates, after all. And once Carlos Beltran smacked a three-run homer in the bottom of the third, it was a four-run game and there was definitely hope. This wasn't exactly a down-to-your-last-strike miracle. More like a really good card trick.

I give the team credit for not getting down. Maybe Terry Collins' rant the night before helped. Maybe it was the uplifting presence of Jose Reyes. More likely, it was a combination of perseverance — all four of the Mets' runs in the bottom of the sixth came with two outs — and gifts from the Pirates in the form of two wild pitches, an error and a bases-loaded walk.

Regardless, it was a key victory to get past the ugliness of the previous two games and head into the weekend series at home against Atlanta with a bit of momentum. The bullpen, this time, didn't blow the lead, thanks to fine work by Byrdak, Parnell and Izzy to set up K-Rod, who allowed one run in the ninth but held on.

Mike Pelfrey had tough luck in the first with three bloops and a bunt, but had only himself to blame in the second and third. I give Collins credit for making him stick in there and pitch through five, and Pelfrey retired the last seven batters he faced to keep the damage to a minimum, which ended up being pretty big.

Was this win a turning point? We'll find out against the Braves. Winning two of three would go a long way toward keeping the Mets' chances alive as we wait patiently for Wright to come back, then Davis in a couple more weeks. And then maybe Santana? Can the Mets hang in there that long?

Wouldn't that be miraculous?

Strength in numbers

In baseball, my theory is to strive for consistency, not to worry about the numbers. If you dwell on statistics you get shortsighted, if you aim for consistency, the numbers will be there at the end.  — Tom Seaver

Sorry, Tom, but we're gonna dwell on some tasty numbers today.

3: More hits for Justin Turner, who drove in the Mets' first run, after a double by Fernando Martinez (to whom Collins gave the start at DH).

5: The inning in which Jose Reyes made the play of the game, a diving stop of a grounder up the middle hit by A-Rod, who was gunned out by a step. Reyes went 0-for-4, but that play was worth a boatload of hits (which Reyes has, leading the league, by the way. Sandy Alderson is watching, right?)

6: Innings of four-hit ball thrown by R.A. Dickey, whose knuckler was finally knuckling.

9: Straight batter retired by relievers Mike O'Connor, Jason Isringhausen and K-Rod to end the game, striking out five in the process.

10: Wins in their last 14 games for the Mets.

11: Total strikeouts by Mets pitchers Friday night.

15: Consecutive saves for Frankie Rodriguez

17: Wins with 9 losses since the Mets opened at 5-13.

19: Straight scoreless innings for K-Rod.

22: The number of wins the Mets have this season (same as the number of losses).

23: The number of wins the Yankees have this season.
    
344: Feet (officially) traveled by Mark Texeira's solo home run in the third, a fly out at Citi Field and just about anywhere else. What a joke that park is. (Yes, Murphy's homer was just 346 feet, but down the line, that was a legit shot. Texeira's was basically a pop-up).

1,000: Approximate number of seats short of a sellout at Yankee Stadium for game one of the Subway Series. And there were plenty of Mets fans there filling the place out, as you could tell as K-Rod struck out Nick Swisher to end the game.

In the end, it's not about the numbers. It's about how this team, led by Terry Collins, has overcome the injuries to key players by stepping up as a group and being accountable. They're not waiting and wondering when the injured guy is coming back, they're plugging a new guy in there and saying, 'Go get 'em.'

It's a team of underdogs, always the best kind of Mets team to root for.

Now that the sweep has been avoided, the Mets will look to win the series either Saturday or Sunday. The pitching matchups are favorable, and you have to love the way this team is playing.

Mets win, Pelfrey pitches well, but the cranks are still cranky

This post should really be about Mike Pelfrey showing signs of life, pitching into the seventh inning for the second time in his last three starts to help the Mets avoid the sweep Thursday, 5-2. It should be about how Pelfrey may be starting to turn things around, and how we shouldn't have been too shocked that he started off slow, considering his personality, the extra pressure of having to be "the man" in Santana's absence, and the death of his friend and confidante, sports psychologist Harvey Dorfman.

It should be about the win. It should be about Beltran continuing to hit and also play almost every day. It should be about Jason Bay coming back and doubling immediately, about Jose Reyes tripling in two runs, or about K-Rod walking the tight wire again but still getting the save and still, despite all the baserunners, not allowing a run.

But it's not.

You know I've cut Francesa out of my life, and it wasn't as difficult as I thought it might be. Well, now Joe and Evan have been cut from the rotation.

I'm getting lunch and listening to the FAN prior to Thursday's game and a bumper comes on with Chris Capuano promoting the Mets Box Office Blitz. Evan follows by saying, "Be the fifth caller — and five is probably what Capuano's ERA is going to be at the end of the year..."

Are you shitting me?

This is on the day after Capuano pitched reasonably well in a 2-0 duel with Tim Lincecum, allowing two runs in 6 1/3. But no, the Mets are losers, let's just crap on them at every given opportunity.

Of course, misery loves company, and who is more miserable than Joe Benigno? A few minutes later, they're running through the Giants' lineup and noting how awful most of the batters are, and Joe chimes in with, "Well, Pelfrey's pitching tonight so they'll probably score 10 runs."

Evan mindessly agrees, and, like clockwork, Joe adds, "Oh, the pain."

Tune into Mac and Tierney at noon on ESPN 1050, folks.

Metsblog gets into the act as well. We don't need to see the wild card standings every day. And yes, Matt, since you're asking, May 6 is too early to worry about games behind. So cut the standings update back to maybe once a week, if that? Thanks.

And I understand why there is speculation about the Giants maybe trading for Reyes. It makes sense. Reyes is going to be a free agent, the Giants' offense sucks, they have no decent shortstop, they having pitching to spare, and they were in town for three games. You could see it coming a mile away.

But beyond that, can we have a chance to enjoy the season, and enjoy Reyes, before the stories speculating on his future become incessant? Can we at least wait until June? We're starting already on May 1? Come on.

I'm also getting tired of reading about how the Mets may not want to give "too many years and too much money" on a player "who relies on his legs."

First off, if you're going to sign a star player, you are definitely going to pay too much money and run the risk of giving too many years. It's just how it goes. If you're never going to do that, then you're never going to acquire a star player. Simple as that. And make no mistake, Reyes is a star player.

Regarding his legs, it seems to me that players who rely on their legs primarily are the ones who keep their legs the longest. One of them is coaching first, Mookie Wilson. What about Rickey Henderson? Kenny Lofton? These guys were athletes and runners first, like Reyes, and maintained that edge well into their 30s, and played into their 40s.

Will Reyes? Who knows? But to flatly state that it doesn't make sense to give a 28-year-old a multiyear deal because he runs well is ridiculous. He'll be 34 at the end of seven years, and seven likely the longest anyone would go on him. Sure, you could expect some kind of decline by then, but you'd likely have some pretty good prime years in between.

I think you can take to the bank that K-Rod will not finish 55 games this year, or he'll be traded. So that's $12 million off the books to go along with the $19 million for Beltran, and another $18 million for Ollie and Castillo. That's $49 million leaving.

The free agent list isn't terribly impressive and one would think with ownership issues and new management they are not going after the likes of Albert Pujols or anyone else too expensive anyway. But this is still a New York team charging New York prices competing in the New York market with the Yankees and in a division where the Phillies added Cliff Lee to Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels.

They may cut payroll, but they can never go cheap. This ain't Oakland.

Reyes gets $11 million now. Considering the dearth of talent at shortstop, why not pay an extra $5 million or so a year to keep the guy who you already have, a player who when he plays, your team wins, who is beloved by the fans, who is the third-best shortstop in the game, who puts people in the seats at a time when you really need people in the seats?

It's almost mind-boggling. And then you get the people saying it doesn't make sense to trade Reyes unless you trade Wright, too, and bring back a ton of new players to start over.

Really? You think fans are staying away in droves now?

It's depressing, at a time of the year when none of us should be depressed. It's early May, for God's sake! But no, there's no time to just enjoy baseball, to see how this all plays out, to see whether Santana comes back, to enjoy guys like Reyes and Beltran finally playing every day, healthy.

The Dodgers are in town for three this weekend. Which of course means more stories of how these two franchises are on the rocks and doomed.

Sounds like fun.

Silence from the Debbie Downers

That headline is really just an excuse to post this video, one of my favorite SNL sketches of all time.


What's funny is that Jimmy Fallon, who was always the first one to lose it in any sketch (and he's the first one to do so here as well) actually ends up holding it together better than most, especially Rachel Dratch and Horatio Sanz. But you can't blame them. It is hilarious. The band's sound effects are killer. It's amazing they were even able to finish after Debbie says, "It's official. I can't have children."

And a side note: Lindsay Lohan does a great job here. Such promise she had.

I thought of this sketch because of the Mets' current winning streak, which has quieted the critics for the most part. The streak was extended Tuesday night with a 6-4 win at the Nationals, which saw savvy base running and three more hits from Ike Davis, two hits from Jason Bay, a clutch two-run double by Josh Thole and terrific work by the bullpen, from Igarashi's key out in the fifth to Buchholz, Izzy and K-Rod closing things out.

That was the plan all along, right? A solid lineup with Bay and Davis supporting Wright, Beltran finally back and contributing, Reyes getting on base? This is a lineup that can score some runs.

Chris Young didn't make it through the fifth, but the starters have been going deep enough lately that the bullpen was rested, and now they seem to have settled into their roles, at least for now.

Bottom line, this team can compete and win. But we still, almost daily, hear someone somewhere mention who's going to be traded if and when the Mets fall out of contention. Whatever.

And BTW, they never did catch that anthrax guy.

He's just so radickeylous

Make that an MLB-leading 18 shutouts for the Mets, thanks to R.A. Dickey's phenomenal performance Friday night against the Phillies.

Dickey threw the 35th one-hitter in Mets history, facing just two more than the minimum 27 batters, walking one and striking out seven. The lone hit, of course, was by opposing pitcher Cole Hamels, who blooped a single to right in the sixth. Figures.

It was the second complete-game one-hitter by the Mets this season, the previous tossed by Jonathon Niese. It was also the 14th complete game in MLB this season featuring one or less hits in this, the year of the pitcher.

Dickey's gem was the second straight complete game for the closer-less Mets, who will get Frankie Rodriguez back on Saturday. K-Rod reportedly agreed to anger management and will address his situation to the media when he returns.

In the meantime, for two games since the K-Rod incident, the Mets bullpen was quiet thanks to Johan Santana and Dickey, whose combined excellence gave the Mets their first back-to-back wins since June 23, an incredible stretch. The shutout Friday was necessary as the Mets scored just one run, the eighth time this month the offense has scored three runs or less.

Then again, when it comes to the Phillies, the Mets don't need more than one. The Mets have blanked the Fight-less Phils four straight times at Citi Field, outscoring them 17-0 in the process.

The lone run was knocked in on consecutive two-out doubles in the eighth by David Wright and Carlos Beltran, and wouldn't it be nice if that duo starts heating up? Jerry Manuel started a lineup of all righties against Hamels, who kills lefties, starting Mike Hessman at first.

Hessman validated the move by blasting a pitch leading off the fifth over the orange line atop the left-field wall. It was originally ruled a home run, and despite replays that clearly showed the ball hitting the railing above the line as a fan tried to grab it, the umpires — after a long 10-minute delay (which told you something was up) gave Hessman a ground-rule triple.

Runner on third and no outs? Still tough for the Mets to score. Jeff Francoeur and Henry Blanco looked awful striking out, and then Hamels walked Ruben Tejada to face Dickey, who grounded out to end the threat.

The Mets displayed great defense again, especially early, with nice stops by Reyes and Hessman. After that, the Phillies were flailing at Dickey's outstanding knuckleball, which he threw 102 times, against just three fastballs.

Amazing.

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.

This story has become tiresome

There's only so many walk-off losses a team can take, let alone its fans.

For a bullpen that has has done so well for so much of this first third of the season, it has given up more than its share of walk-off losses, making the Mets a real Jekyll and Hyde team when it comes to home vs. road.

At Citi Field, the Mets are unbeatable. On the road, not so much.

I know there will be a lot of talk about Jerry Manuel and why he allowed Raul Valdes to stay in the game with Jennry Mejia warming up in the bullpen. At what point should he have removed Valdes? Before or after David Eckstein was hit by a pitch? Because after making a good play forcing the runner at third on Jon Garland's bunt, it was one on and one out with Jerry Hairston up.

Hairston singled, and I can only surmise that Manuel was looking at Adrian Gonzalez in the on-deck circle. A lefty, Gonzalez is the most dangerous bat in the Padres lineup and Manuel must have felt that he'd rather have a lefty throwing to him than bringing in the 20-year-old Mejia in such a high-leverage situation.

Once Eckstein was hit to load the bases, again, you bring in a rookie righthander in that spot to face Gonzalez?

Valdes has had a couple of bad outings in a row after pitching very well. Give Gonzalez credit for coming up big with the game on the line.

The blame on this loss hangs on Frankie Rodriguez. The guy has said over and over that he needs work, and Jerry gave it to him, asking for the four-out save. K-Rod got the final out of the eighth and struck out two with a runner on second to move the Padres within one strike of a loss with -- there he is again -- Eckstein at the plate.

Sure, Eckstein delivered a 12-hop grounder up the middle and didn't exactly crush it, but a hit is a hit. Rodriguez is getting paid a ton of money to save games. He was asked to get four outs and not allow a run, and he failed.

And remember, if it wasn't for a perfect relay throw by David Wright from Jason Bay in left field after a double by Gonzalez, cutting down Eckstein at the plate, the game would gave ended in a 2-1 loss with K-Rod getting the 'L.'

Also tiresome is seeing the Mets waste great starts by Johan Santana, but every time Santana pitches he goes against another strong pitcher if not that team's ace. Santana and Clayton Richard were each far from dominant, but they did what they had to do to keep the opposition from stringing together enough hits to score more than one run.

On a night when an umpire stole a perfect game from Armando Galarraga and Ken Griffey Jr. retired, the Mets' loss was thankfully overshadowed, at least on the national level. Here at home, it was just the latest chapter in a tired tale.

Big Pelf is no illusion

Mike Pelfrey is 8-1, has won his last four starts, and -- as Matt Cerrone points out on MetsBlog -- Pelfrey is 6-0 when he starts the day after a Mets loss. Which makes him as much of a stopper as Johan Santana.

Pelfrey went eight innings for the win Tuesday night against the Padres, allowing just four hits and two walks while striking out eight. In his last four wins, his ERA is a scant 1.27, the kind of production that prompted Ike Davis to compare his ability to that of the Cy Young Award-winning Santana.

Jerry Manuel said after the game that Pelfrey deserves to be in the same conversation as Josh Johnson and Ubaldo Jimenez. Throw in Matt Cain, Cole Hamels, Jaime Garcia, David Price -- Pelfrey can hang with all of them, and the days of the Mets having no clear No. 2 behind Santana are long gone.

My gut feeling when I hear the accolades is: SHUT UP! STOP TALKING! DON'T JINX HIM! But that just comes from years of disappointment mixed with a splash of superstition. But as much as Mets fans don't want to get too high on Pelfrey, it's becoming clear that his success is no illusion, but part of a natural progression that we've been fortunate to see develop.

Pelfrey got home runs from Davis and David Wright, and Jeff Francoeur continued his surge with two more hits; he's batting close to .500 since his sit-down with Manuel a few days ago. Jose Reyes went 0-for-5 and saw his hitting streak snapped, but it didn't matter.

Frankie Rodriguez came on for the ninth inning, after Pelfrey was removed having thrown 110 pitches. The three-run lead was likened by Gary Cohen and Rod Darling as a layup, but K-Rod made it interesting, allowing three hits and a run before striking out the final two batters.

Could Manuel have left Pelfrey in for the complete game? Sure, but K-Rod has said time and again that he needs to be active and prefers more work rather than less. And 110 pitches is getting pretty close to Pelfrey's limit, anyway. Save situations have been less than abundant, so no one should have an issue with Manuel going by the book. (Although I can predict Joe Benigno will voice a problem with it on Wednesday afternoon. Write it down. Wait, I just did.)

Could it have ended any other way?

I'm definitely a glass-half-full Mets fan, and this site is dedicated to not getting sucked into the negativity that seems to surround the Mets 24/7.

That said, I was less than confident with K-Rod on the mound Sunday night.

A run-scoring double by Derek Jeter, an RBI groundout and ridiculous infield single on a chopper by Mark Texeira (who can't buy a hit otherwise) -- all against Frankie Rodriguez -- brought up A-Rod against K-Rod with two outs in the top of the ninth, the Mets holding onto a  6-4 lead that had been 6-1 when the inning started.

The count went to 3-1 and I was sure K-Rod was going to walk the bases loaded. Then a foul ball to make the count full, followed by two more foul balls. This was excruciating. This was the Mets.

Finally, Frankie fools A-Rod with the breaking ball, a swinging strike three, and the Mets win the game and the initial installment of the Subway Series, 2 games to 1. Joy and hope had returned to Flushing, where the Phillies would be starting Tuesday -- a Phillies team once again without Jimmy Rollins, and one that would not be featuring Roy Halladay this time around.

Thankfully, the series win over the Yankees should quell some of the anti-Manuel rumors, but that will only be temporary, unless the Mets go on a monumental winning streak. What is important is how the starting pitching performed against the Yankees and how the offense has improved.

Johan Santana was brilliant for almost eight full innings, one day after Mike Pelfrey shut the Yankees down, which came a day after Hisanori Takahaski stepped up with a strong outing in a 2-1 loss on Friday.

Takahashi and R.A. Dickey each pitched well enough to earn second starts against the Phillies, and they will be matching up against Jaime Moyer and Joe Blanton, respectively. Those are winnable games for the Mets, as is the Thursday game featuring Cole Hamels against Pelfrey.

The end of the Phillies series, coming on the heels of the Yankees series, has stood out all along as the first real landmark of the Mets 2010 season. The Mets will be 48 games into the season after this series is over, and will either be just above or a bit below .500. Considering their struggles -- and thanks to the mediocrity of the National League -- that ain't bad.

What the Mets need to do is keep the mojo going, and with Jose Reyes showing some signs of life, and with Jason Bay heating up (two homers on Sunday night), maybe the Mets are ready to break out. Not like the 9-1 homestand, but really start putting things together, winning series one after another, getting a few games up over the .500 mark as we hit the All-Star break and the possible return of Carlos Beltran.

Ryota Igarashi's return could also be a big factor. He looked bad against the Yankees, but make no mistake -- if he goes back to pitching the way he was pre-injury, it lessens Fernando Nieve's workload and gives the bullpen another weapon, especially big if Takahashi remains in the rotation.

With a five-run lead in the ninth, it was the perfect time to give Igarashi some action -- unfortunately, he wasn't up to the task and K-Rod had to come in after a five-out save the night before. Had he blown the save and had the Mets lost, there was no way you could blame Manuel -- but you know there would be those who would.

In the meantime, it was not only nice to see the Mets take a rubber game and win this series, it was also nice to see the national spotlight focus on the hitting troubles of a New York player not named David Wright.

Someone should really tell Texeira that the season has started. The guy is barely above the Mendoza line. Where are his boos?

Enjoy the ride, people

This is the way it's going to be all season, Mets fans. Buckle up.

The team drops 4 of 5 on the road before getting back-to-back walk-off wins on homers by each catcher, then loses to the Giants on an eighth-inning homer after rallying to take a lead in a game started by Tim Lincecum, followed by a loss to a rookie pitcher, followed by doing next to nothing for seven innings before scoring eight runs in the eighth for one of the most enjoyable victories in recent memory, capped off by a another loss forged by a ninth-inning home run off K-Rod.

No one said the ride was going to be smooth one, and while Wednesday's loss -- coming as it did on the heels of a tremendous comeback win on Tuesday night -- was dispiriting, there's no denying that the vibe around the Mets is a much different one than a year ago, when the team had the same record through the first six weeks.

Then, things were falling apart. Injuries were beginning to take their toll, and by the All-Star break the Mets were a dead team walking.

Now, despite a few red flags (walks allowed, giving up late-inning home runs, not hitting with RISP) and some cold spells suffered by the likes of David Wright, Jason Bay, Jose Reyes and Jeff Francoeur (i.e., the middle of the order), there is much more optimism.

Gary Sheffield and Carlos Delgado have been replaced by players like Francoeur, Bay and Ike Davis. The catching duo of Rod Barajas and Henry Blanco is light years better than what the team had last season. The new additions to the bullpen, especially Hisanori Takahashi (and when he was healthy, Ryota Igarashi) have turned a liability into an asset.

Johan Santana, Mike Pelfrey, promising Jon Niese and a resurgent John Maine each give the Mets a chance to win whenever they're on the mound.

Fans saw no walk-off wins last season at Citi Field, and this week they got two back-to-back. Resiliency, the hallmark of great teams, is starting to appear. Tuesday's comeback was one for the ages, and featured a clutch pinch hit by Chris "the Animal" Carter, who should have made the team out of spring training and whose relentless attitude provides yet another spark to this club.

What more can you say about Davis, who went over the rail for the third time in about as many weeks for a circus catch, this time for the game-ending grab? Just incredible.

And for all the criticism thrown his way, David Wright is 5-for-10 since being ejected, is hitting .288 with an OBP of .419 and and OPS of .961, projecting to about 28 homers and 105 RBI. Awful, isn't it?

Sure, Reyes isn't hitting, but the Mets have benefited by having different players step up at different times. Davis has been excellent, and Barajas has been a revelation.

The cheating Phillies -- and I agree 100% with Francoeur that the extra three home games the Phils are getting against Toronto is "bullsh&t" -- aren't running away with anything just yet. There's plenty of talent and fight in this Mets team, enough to expect it to hang in the race for the division title for a good, long while.

Take Wednesday's game. Although the Mets were down, 4-2, I had every confidence that they could make up the deficit, and they did. You couldn't say that last season.

If it wasn't for Roger Bernardina (Two home runs? Really?), who drove in three and saved three with a diving, two-out catch with the bases loaded, Wednesday could have been just as exciting as Tuesday.

But with these Mets, there's always a tomorrow to look forward to. Last season, there were only tomorrows to dread.

Can this count as two wins?

We all saw it. Or at least most of it. I thought I missed the end, then ended up watching the final innings in semi-disbelief.

Put it in the books. The Mets win, 2-1, in 20 innings, scoring both runs on sacrifice flies hit against position players masquerading as pitchers.

But hey, a win's a win.

I have awful luck DVR-ing games. I watched the first four innings live and then started recording, as my son wanted to play some driveway hockey before heading out to dinner for his 8th birthday. Walking into the restaurant, I noticed on the TV over the bar that it was scoreless in the seventh. We got home and played some Wii, and then I put my son to be and settled in to watch the rest of the game around 9:30 or so.

Knowing no runs were scored through seven, I watched much of those innings on fast forward 'til it hit the eighth. Then watched the Mets continue to struggle to hit, glad that Jaime Garcia was finally out of there, but puzzled as to the continued weakness at the plate against Kyle McClellan and guys named Mitchell Boggs and Trever Miller.

The hitting was awful, but the pitching was strong. Johan Santana threw seven scoreless innings -- the team's third excellent start in as many games -- and the bullpen work of Igarashi, Feliciano and Nieve was perfect. Alex Cora even came up big at first base, making a diving catch into the stands.

And then, in the bottom of the 11th, the DVR reached the end of its record time. I had no way of anticipating a couple of extra innings, so there I was, a little after 10 p.m., thinking I was going to have to catch the recap on the Internet.

Imagine my surprise when I absent-mindedly clicked on Channel 5 to see the game was still on, and SCORELESS IN THE 18TH INNING!! Are you serious?

I missed the scoreless relief work of Nieve, Takahashi and Mejia, particularly Takahashi's Houdini-like escape in the 14th inning. Offensively, I didn't miss much -- just more outs by the Mets.

How did the Mets not score seven or eight runs against Felipe Lopez and Joe Mather? Henry Blanco and Mike Jacobs should be ashamed of themselves for flying out against Lopez in the 18th. Unreal. You have to cut Valdes some slack for getting tagged out at second since he's almost never on the basepaths but COME ON, SLIDE!!

Bases loaded, one out in the 19th, and Francoeur hits a ball to left -- you can't hit a homer off a batting-practice fastball by Joe Mather? At least it scored a run. Yeesh.

Then K-Rod comes in. Whereas Tony "I am a Genius" LaRussa left himself with no pitchers, Jerry Manuel still had K-Rod in reserve (granted, he'd warmed up a few times), so this game is over, right? Leave it to a guy named Yadier -- who's had some big hits in his career -- to kill the Mets. Again. Painful.

Luckily, Mather still has to pitch. Pagan and Jacobs (finally!) single, Reyes hits a sac fly (who needs RBI hits, anyway?) and the Mets regain the one-run lead. Then Castillo and Wright shame themselves by popping up. An exorcism may be in order, or some kind of goat sacrifice. Maybe the Mets need the dwarf woman from "Poltergeist" to come into the dugout and say, "These bats... are CLEAN."

A buddy texting me wondered why K-Rod wasn't in the game in the 20th, that he should have DEMANDED the ball. Hey, not his call. He threw 24 pitches and couldn't seal the deal. NEXT. This way, he's available on Sunday.

Plus, Pelfrey was going to throw on the side anyway, not scheduled to pitch again until Wednesday. Why not let the big man get the save?

It was a little dicey, but Pelfrey closed it out, ending the game almost seven hours after it began.

Sure, the Cardinals practically conceded the game with position players pitching, and the Mets came up as small at the plate as you possibly could while still scoring twice to win the game.

But maybe this is a turning point. One of those all-hands-on-deck experiences that pulls the team together. Maybe the hits start coming in bunches after this. The starting pitching has already started to turn around. The bullpen (save for K-Rod) bounced back nicely after a tough loss Friday night.

We can only hope. It's almost impossible to judge this game because there's almost nothing to judge it against, it was so out of the ordinary.

Here's hoping we look back at this game as the moment the cobwebs cleared, the game when the Mets took their first step towards taking back the season. The game when things finally changed for the better.

Oh, and John Maine -- you're on your own Sunday, dude.