The Mets, by the numbers: It all adds up to nothing.

While Mets fans and media are sure to continue their calls for manager Jerry Manuel to be fired after the Mets' latest loss — a 6-2 stomach punch delivered by the Colorado Rockies — let's take a look at the numbers, shall we?

15: The number of Mets retired in a row to end the game.

1: The number of hits generated by the Mets after their second batter of the game, Angel Pagan, hit a two-run homer (Jose Reyes singled to lead off the first).

11: Starts this season by Jonathan Niese where he has allowed one run or less. What a waste.

4: Strikeouts by David Wright in this game, in as many at-bats. The only player colder is Carlos Beltran. The two are the 3-4 hitters on this team.

.216: The Mets' team batting average since the All-Star break.

3: Runs per game the Mets have scored in that stretch, during which they are 8-17.

5: Consecutive scoreless appearances by Manny Acosta entering Wednesday's night game. So much for Manuel playing the hot hand.

2: Strikes, with no balls and two outs, on Todd Helton against Hisanori Takahashi, with the bases empty in the top of the eighth inning with the Mets clinging to a 2-1 lead. One strike away from handing the ball to K-Rod. But the Red Sox can tell us all about being one strike away, can't they?

So tell me again how this is all Jerry's fault?

You don't hit, you don't score runs. You don't score runs, you waste terrific pitching efforts like this one from Niese. And you don't win games.

Takahashi, who was terrific the night before in supplying the bridge to K-Rod, couldn't retire Helton after being ahead 0-2. Helton singled on a 1-2 pitch, bringing up Carlos Gonzalez, another lefty, who waved at a 2-1 slider. But Takahashi threw two more balls, walking Gonzalez.

Jerry brings in the hard-throwing Acosta, who has held hitters to a .200 average and who has been shining lately, and he immediately throws a wild pitch to put the go-ahead run at second. (That's not exactly what I call good execution.)

That leads to the intentional walk of Tulowitzki, bringing up ex-Met Melvin Mora, who quickly fell behind 0-2. One strike away once again.

A ball. A foul ball. A ball. A grand slam by Mora (which brings up another depressing number, 9, which is the league-leading number of grand slams allowed by the Mets this season). Another run after a walk and two singles.

Two times, one strike away.

How bad is the Mets offense? You can look at all the stats you want, but consider this: The Mets ' pitching leads the league with 16 shutouts. With that kind of starting pitching, your offense must be pretty putrid for your team to struggle to stay above .500.

You want to fire Howard Johnson? I personally don't think it would matter, but at this point I guess it wouldn't hurt because it can't get any worse on offense. Maybe it shakes things up. Maybe not.

Wednesday night's loss proved once again that the Mets are where they are because of a lack of production, pure and simple. The bullpen isn't always in one-run games if the hitters can provide a cushion. The margin for error isn't always so razor-thin.

It isn't about bullpen management, or fire in the belly, or heart, or leadership, or guts. It is about the talent on the roster either being able to produce, or not. For the last month, on offense, the Mets have not produced at all. And that has been killing them.

It's really not that complicated.

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.

This win was worth the (extra long) wait

Note to self: When DVRing any game involving the Yankees, make sure you set the record time for more than four hours.

Here's when I ran out of recording time for Friday night's game at Yankee Stadium: Bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, one out, two strikes on Derek Jeter.

Aaaaaaaaaauuuuugh!

A 4-0 game that was humming along nicely while Hisanori Takahashi and Javier Vasquez were dealing slowed to an absolute crawl. Seriously? You can't get a 4-0 game — one that featured 8 hits for each team — in under four hours? Joe West was right. That is ridiculous.

Equally insane is the preset recording time for Mets games on SNY (on Cablevision; I wonder if it's the same on other systems): 2 1/2 hours. I know the Mets are in the National League, but how many games really get in under 2:30? Not a lot.

So I added one to the hours column to make it 10, then clicked up two on the first digit of the minutes section to 5, which set the recording time to end at 10:50 p.m. I almost always watch the games late, and when the recording stopped with Jeter at the plate the time in the real world was 12:15 a.m. Saturday. The game had been over by about an hour.

So I had to go online to find out how it ended, fearing that I would see 5-4 Yankees or something equally horrific, like a Jeter grand slam off of Frankie Rodriguez.

Thankfully, it was just strikeout Jeter, foul out on Swisher caught by David Wright and the Mets win their eighth straight, their ninth shutout (wow) of the season. Niiiiiiiiice.

Takahashi was brilliant, shutting down the Yankees again, as was Pedro Feliciano. Wright made a great slide to score the first run, Angel Pagan came up huge with a two-run double in the eighth, and Jose Reyes tacked on an RBI in the ninth.

Texeira, A-Rod and Cano? A combined 1-for-11.

Fantastic for the Mets to win the first game of the series, with two great showdowns coming up Saturday and Sunday. This is going to be a fun weekend.

The cure for what ails you

Yes, we know the Mets hadn't won back-to-back road games in a year, and hadn't swept a three-game road series since September 2008, but it's still tough to get too excited over the beatdown the Amazins handed the Orioles this weekend at Camden Yards.

The Orioles are awful. Bad. Pathetic. They got absolutely demolished at home, and remember when tickets to games at Camden Yards were hard to come by? Those days are long gone. It seemed like there were 10,000-plus Mets fans on hand for each of the three games, making the Mets feel right at home (or at least like they were in Florida).

That said, there were lots of things to like besides the sweep itself:

Mike Pelfrey battled. He's been so dominant this season that it was great to see him win despite having less-than-perfect stuff. Then again, these were the Orioles and the Mets hit four home runs and piled up 18 hits of offensive support.

The long ball. The Mets hit seven homers in the series, including the four on Sunday. David Wright hit two bombs and now has 12 on the season. He is on fire now, and you'll note the strikeout rate has dropped considerably. Anyone complaining about him now?


Jason Bay woke up. Bay went 4-for-4 Sunday to break his o-fer string, hitting a homer and a double and scoring four times. Bay's average has been fine all season despite his struggles, and he's the kind of streaky hitter who could hit a dozen homers in a month and by the end of the season his power numbers are more or less in line with his career average. That's the hope, anyway.


Chris Carter + DH = juicy goodness. With Jeff Francouer hitting so well, Chris Carter wasn't getting a whole lot of at-bats, but Jerry Manuel did the right thing by making the Animal his DH for the interleague games, and Carter has responded. He homered twice in the Baltimore series and will continue to get DH at-bats in Cleveland and against the Yankees. The way he is playing it is almost a lock that he will homer at Yankee Stadium, and his home run trot will be completed in 6.2 seconds.


Takahashi rebounded. After two bad starts, the rumblings had begun about Hisanori Takahashi's future in the rotation, but he quieted those with a strong performance Saturday. Ultimately, it may not matter as John Maine -- if he can prove himself worthy and healthy -- is better suited as a starter, which will only help the bullpen if Takahashi indeed goes back there. But if Maine can't do that, then Takahashi will get more chances to show he belongs in the rotation.

On to Cleveland, which gives me a reason to post this:

The home cookin' at Citi Field is tasty

There's been a lot of talk this season about how the Mets weren't filling Citi Field, how so many good seats were still available, how there was no buzz in the building.

Well, the Mets are doing all they can to change that, and they're doing it the best way possible -- by winning.

Because as tasty as the Shake Shack burgers are, what brings fans through the turnstiles are victories, or at least the knowledge that the home team has a good chance to win every game.


The weekend sweep of the Marlins improved the Mets' home record to 22-9, which means if the Mets continue to play that well at home, if you're considering getting tickets to a game, you can do so with the confidence that there is a 70 percent chance of you seeing a win instead of a loss.

Forty percent of the starting rotation is made up of pitchers who can be called stoppers: Johan Santana and Mike Pelfrey. R.A. Dickey improved to 3-0 with his win on Friday and gives the rotation a wrinkle that other teams haven't been able to solve.

Jon Niese made a bold statement Saturday in his return from the disabled list, throwing seven innings of six-hit ball, allowing one run and one walk with six strikeouts. He was seen in the dugout asking for one more inning, but Jerry Manuel did the right thing by getting him out with a big lead, allowing him to leave the game with confidence and ensuring that he's well-rested for his next start.

Should Niese continue to pitch as the team believes he can, that's four pitchers whom fans can feel good about paying to see. Hisanori Takahashi, meanwhile, has come down to earth, and while he could bounce back, it seems that if the Mets ever do go out and get another starter -- and there will be plenty available -- then Takahashi would be the candidate to return to the bullpen, where he began the season so successfully.

Manuel wondered whether the team hits better at home because it presses to put up numbers on the road, but perhaps it's because the lineup is just more comfortable hitting in Citi Field's wide-open spaces. Sure, it's not easy to hit home runs straightaway, but you can still hit it out -- just ask Rod Barajas.

Ike Davis has looked particularly comfortable, whether it's hitting a bomb to right field or racking up four hits, as he did Saturday. David Wright may have only hit two homers at Citi Field this season, but his bomb on Saturday showed that he still has plenty of pop down the line.


The major reason for the home-road disparity has been the pitching. Mets starters are allowing two more runs on the road than at Citi Field, while the offense is scoring 4.1 runs on the road, compared to 4.8 at home.

Maybe the pitchers are more comfortable at Citi knowing that the ballpark provides some protection against the long ball and are therefore more aggressive. Perhaps, with 2/3 of the season left to play, the numbers will begin to even out.

Whatever the reasons, right now Citi Field is a fun place to be. Sunday's win was particularly enjoyable, coming back from a 5-0 deficit, featuring a game-tying, three-run homer by Jeff Francoeur. Thanks also to Fredi Gonzalez for playing the infield back and allowing the GWDP (game-winning double play).

Runs may be scarce in the three-game series against the Padres, as Clayton "I have a train to catch" Richard duels against Pelfrey on Tuesday, Mat Latos faces Santana on Wednesday, and Jon "I was available in the off-season but the Mets weren't interested" Garland meets Dickey in game three Thursday.

The way the Mets have been going at home, those sound like wins.

Memorable, but not in a good way

I couldn't understand why the Mets-Padres game was a night game on Memorial Day.

No baseball games should be played at night on Memorial Day. Same with July 4th. It's a holiday. Lots of people have off from work. Games should be played during the day, not only because it's a throwback to a time when most games were actually played in sunlight, but because that's the time to have a ballgame on a holiday.

Who wants to spend their day doing other Memorial Day activities, then when the day is over, sit down and watch a game? We've got work the next day, and we're toast after spending the day at the beach/pool/park/barbecue. Who has the energy to watch a night game, especially if it's on the West Coast?

Monday's game should have been a 4:10 p.m. PT start at worst. Then, you could either watch/attend the game live, or DVR it and watch it at a reasonable hour when you're home. Instead, I was stuck struggling to stay awake for a game at 10 p.m. at the end of an exhausting three-day weekend.

So I should be glad that the Mets chose this game to implode. I didn't miss much.

I know all about regression to the mean, but I thought we got that out of the way in the 8-6 loss to the Padres on Saturday. This was ridiculous.

Did we really expect Hisanori Takahashi to do something -- three straight six-inning scoreless starts in his first three starts -- that no one has done since 1906? No, and we knew he was going to get hit at some point.

Takahashi had a chance to escape, but hung a breaking pitch that was hammered for a grand slam. He clearly didn't have his up-to-now normal stuff, having trouble locating for strikes. But six runs was surprising, as was the beating absorbed by Raul Valdes, who had been pitching pretty well. You get two of those performances in the same game, you just write it off.

More concerning was the work turned in by Ryota Igarashi, who again was hit and hit hard. He has not shown the same ability as he did before he got hurt. He needs a couple of scoreless appearances before Jerry Manuel allows him to come into a tight game late with a lead.

The road record is also a concern, but if you look beneath the 7-17 record, you'll see that 11 of those games have been decided by 2 runs or less, including 6 one-run games (with several walk-off losses). That's a bunch of close games.

Sure, close losses usually mean the bullpen failed, or the team couldn't get a clutch hit, but at least it shows they're not completely helpless on the road. Hopefully the Mets can start getting some of those to fall in the other direction, and move toward a .500 road record by the end of the season.

Pelfrey and Santana will face off against LeBlanc and Richard to try and win the series and salvage a split. Both should enjoy pitching in Petco, which should be like a home away from home.

You can't get any better than that

I believe it was Gary Cohen, in a recent Mets broadcast, who said that for starting pitchers like John Maine and Oliver Perez, "The scholarships are over." That point was repeated during Wednesday night's 5-0 win over the Phillies -- a second straight shutout -- as Hisanori Takahashi earned his first win as a starter with superb outing in his second consecutive start.

Gary, Keith and Ron all agreed that at this point, Mets starters not named Johan or Mike will have to prove themselves worthy of a rotation slot every time they go out there. Your contract means nothing. Your willingness to pitch in pain is admirable, but doesn't help win ballgames. Throwing strikes, limiting walks, putting up innings -- those things count the most.

Takahashi did just that in shutting down a Phillies lineup that has more flight than fight these days. Hernandez noted that Chase Utley looks like he's hurt his hip again -- either that or he is as lost at the plate as Mark Texeira -- and Ryan Howard was waving at breaking pitches like he was shooing away moths.

When the Mets moved Takahashi to the rotation, the concern was that the move would weaken the bullpen. But if Takahashi, who was a starter in Japan for years, continues to pitch like this, then he is much more valuable in the rotation. The guy flat knows how to pitch, and the difference between him and Perez -- who does not know how to pitch, yet somehow earns $12 million a year -- is stark.

When Jon Niese returns, he also will have to show that he's worthy, although he will be given plenty of slack, mainly because there's no one else to take his spot on a regular basis. Fernando Nieve will start Saturday as the Mets juggle that last position until Niese's return.

With Takahashi in complete command, once the Mets took the lead you got the feeling that the game was in hand, even when the Mets were only up 2-0. The vibe was 180 degrees from what it is typically against the Phillies, who have the kind of offense that can quickly eliminate any deficit.

Jose Reyes snapped a long homerless drought with a solo shot leading off the third, and then the Mets put the game away in the sixth on a leadoff double by Wright, a sweet bunt for a base hit by Pagan, a stolen base by Pagan (the Mets ran wild on Brian Schneider) and a two-run double by Barajas. A throwing error by Utley (nice) allowed Reyes to come up and single in the fifth run.

Just like that, two shutouts and the series is already won. The Mets go for the sweep (!) Thursday night in a showdown between Mike Pelfrey and Cole Hamels, who had a brutal April but has pitched well in his four starts in May.

Your first-place New York Mets

Hard to believe that less than two weeks ago, the SNY broadcast team was taking calls from despondent Mets fans, panicking at the Mets losing their third straight series to start the season.

As I write this, the Mets are in a virtual tie with the Phillies for first place in the NL East, no games behind but trailing Philly by a mere 8 percentage points. That could change in the next couple of hours, as the Phils currently trail the Giants in San Francisco by a run.

The doubleheader sweep showcased the good, the bad and some ugly defense by the Dodgers, but for the Mets it was almost all good.

Johan Santana gutted out six innings on a day in which the bullpen needed to be conserved as much as possible. After needing 52 pitches to get through the first two (scoreless) innings, Santana settled down and left the afternoon opener with a 2-0 lead. The second of the two runs came on Jason Bay's first homer of the season.

The Mets tacked on two more in the seventh on a two-run single by Luis Castillo.

At some point, Mets fans and a certain blustery radio host will realize that Castillo is the least of the Mets' problems, and is, in fact, probably one of their better assets.

Two scoreless innings by Fernando Nieve and a two-strikeout ninth by Pedro Feliciano closed out the 4-0 win.

We saw the bad Ollie in game two as Oliver Perez gave up a 3-0, first-inning lead (featuring an RBI triple by the percolating Bay), but we then enjoyed the greatness that is Hisanori Takahashi.

A strikeout machine despite the fact that he rarely breaks 90, Takahashi threw 3 1/3 innings and struck out five, allowing just one run -- and allowing the Mets to regain the lead. (Ron Darling said it best; Takahaski pitches with no fear.)

Three scored in the fifth on a single by David Wright and a two-run double by Ike Davis, and the Mets piled on four more in the sixth -- the first on a throwing error on a force at home by Jamey Carroll (playing there after Rafael Furcal's hamstring injury), and the next three on a bases-clearing triple by Mr. Wright.

Wright was 3-for-3 with four RBI in game two and was 4-for-7 on the night with two walks. He looked like the Wright of old, but really, did anyone really not expect Wright to get back on track? The guy is a streaky hitter, and now he's heating up -- just in time for the Phillies series. Nice.

And the Mets' pitchers for that Philly series? Pelfrey, Niese, Santana. Feeling pretty confident with that trio.

The Dodgers have looked as bad as the Cubs and Braves did, and while all three teams have indeed played poorly, credit the Mets for playing terrific baseball, with solid defense (nice catch by Bay!) smart baserunning (Henry Blanco going first to third!), improved hitting and mostly excellent pitching.

We'll see how John Maine comes back from his injury-shortened previous start, but if he can come up strong, the Mets will be looking at a second straight series sweep and a dominant 9-1 homestand.

Dominant? Terrific? These are the words we're using to describe a Mets team that so many wanted to bury after just two weeks of play. There's a lesson in there somewhere.

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On a side note, Ryan Howard is a wonderful slugger but no way is he worth $25 million a year. Adrian Gonzalez is a better all-around player -- does he get $27 million per? That's more than A-Rod. And what about Pujols? $30 million a year? Insane.

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.