Perfecto!

An easy win was just what we all needed after that horrific series in Philly. Tim Hudson gives up five homers all season and the Mets promptly smack two to get out to a big lead and John Maine gives the gift of innings by going seven and allowing one earned run while striking out eight.

Marlon came up big swinging on the first pitch in the top of the ninth to break the game wide open with a bases clearing double. Heilman lowered his ERA to 3.29 and has a 2.52 ERA since the break.

Of course it is not all perfect as the Phillies kept pace and won and remained two games back. Taking this Braves series is huge for many obvious reasons but the Mets are going to need a little help to create some breathing room and it looks as though they are going to get a boost from Pedro Martinez who is now slated to start on Monday.

Pedro and the addition of all the call-ups to help alleviate some of the strain on the bullpen are all excellent things. One thing that has kind of irked me was that it seems as though Phil Humber is only getting the call to the bigs because of his last two starts. Really? I know he has been up and down all year, but if they are basing any call up on their last two starts that is kind of perplexing.

They should be calling him up because he is a hard thrower who can potentially have a big impact out of the bullpen. With not many relievers that any of us implicitly trust and way to many appearances by Guillermo Mota, it would seem the Mets should be anxious to be able to add as many arms that can help.

At this point, Mota would be a useless addition to the post season roster unless something drastically changes for him. It is not that his stuff looks bad as we have all discussed before, but his pitch selection has been flat out horrendous. The other day when he got Howard to swing and miss badly on two outside change ups, wouldn't it stand to reason to give him another? Up 1 and 2 on Howard he gives him meatball of a fastball on the outer half and it gets destroyed.

Whomever's fault his pitch selection is needs to start doing a better job. But since I do not anticipate that happening, Mota needs to take a backseat to Humber or whomever else so the Mets can see who can contribute meaningfully to this team down the stretch and into the playoffs. Right now, only Feliciano, Heilman, Wagner, and Smith (if his bicep tendinitis actually turns out to be bicep tendinitis) would get the nod from me to pitch in the playoffs and Willie needs to utilize September to figuring out what other reliever or two will be able to help this team.

Of course the Mets will have a starter headed to the pen come playoff time barring any injuries, but I would expect two more to make the team and one of them possibly being Shoe as a left handed specialist and one more. One place the Mets could feel comfortable is the bench. With four really good hitters off the bench and a balanced four hitters, the Mets bench depth is second to none.

It is clear the Mets have the most well rounded team on paper, but we have all been reading a lot about the complacency of this team. It is though they think they are going to waltz in September without incident, but it is time they wake up and start playing with more urgency. The Phillies are and there are two teams out West that might have something to say about the Wild Card coming out of the East.

* * *

Simply classic.

Heck with this, the best comment of any commentator of the day was Kay, who said something about Joba Chamberlain like this, and I am paraphrasing, "there is this NEW stat out there that a lot of numbers guys follow nowadays, called WHIP".

Oh my, poor Michael.

And Rob - please - the fact that Suzyn Waldman is our radio broadcaster more than "makes up" for the quality in NY.

The Yankees have some decent color commentators on the YES network, but their play by play guys on the TV and radio are horrific and Waldman is very irritating.

Mmmmmmm...optimum flavor.

#1 reason I should not be allowed out in social settings....

On Thursday I went out to imbibe some delicious alcoholic beverages. My friend gets a text from a girl he had met on Wednesday which read something like this:

You are awesome! For Labor day, BBQ or Central Park perhaps?

Note the enthusiasm she exhibits in regards to him as a person. So I ask, "can I text her back"? He mistakenly agrees to my proposal and reply is the following:

Sure! You bring the rubbers and I'll bring the pain!

Her reply:

fuck off!

You have got to respect Jimmy Rollins.

"You don't know until you get there," Rollins said. "We've been good the last couple of years. We are in it a lot earlier this year than the past. But until you win that one big game, nothing has changed. We know we are never out of a game if we get a good pitching performance.

"When it comes down to the seventh, eighth, ninth inning, a team has to put us away. It isn't like we're just going to walk away because they have a two-, three- or four-run lead. But until you get over the proverbial [playoff] hump, nothing has changed."

Fuck yeah K Law.

Kirby: (ny, ny): Keith- love your work. You and Neyer are the best. Who's YOUR choice for NL MVP as of right now? And who do you think the BBWAA will ultimately select at season's end? David Wright has been absolutely silly of late.

SportsNation : (2:10 PM ET ) Wright would probably be my choice, given his numbers and his defensive value. Hanley Ramirez is having a better overall season at the plate, but he's a butcher on D, and anyway he has no realistic chance because they're in last.

D Wright getting some love....and now K Law gets on my good side by saying what I've been saying for a looooong time.

Stephen (East Greenbush, NY): Keith, I submitted this prior to the beginning of the chat, so I'll submit it (only!) one more time: , how long can a manager stick with his "closer" - til you fall out of first place? Wagner's last four appearances look like this: 4.1 IP, 11 H, 7 ER, ERA of 14.54, and three blown saves. The only one he didn't blow was a non-save 4-inning lead. Should Randolph keep running him out there?

SportsNation Keith Law: (2:28 PM ET ) Yesterday really befuddled me. When was the last time Wagner got six outs? Is that really the day to try it out, especially with him struggling to command his fastball? Why leave Heilman to rot in the pen? I thought Willie was a good pen manager last year, but it's becoming clear that he's only a good pen manager when he has a good pen.

Maybe I'm not so stupid?

Kevin Mulvey gets a long overdue promotion to New Orleans.

David Lennon muses whether or not Wright should be the front runner for MVP. Really though, I do think he should be at this point. You still hear Fielder's name a lot, but since hitting .321 in May, he has hit .258, .277, and .267 since then and for me, he looks more like your quintessential homerun masher more than an MVP. Not that it is a bad thing, but Wright just does so many more things. I thought Beltran could have won it last year with a lower average than you would like from an MVP, but he is also a Gold Glove centerfielder who contributes in so many other ways.

Joba gets a two game suspension for clearly throwing at Youklis and it really does not matter much anyway since he cannot pitch on back to back days. I still love how the front office trusts Torre so little in regards to beating up his relievers that they had to hand down a mandate on how to use Joba. Douche...

Ted Berg has a nice nickname for Mota...The Human Forfeit.

Willie Collazo should be up this weekend as well and it would be nice for him to get a look because he is not just a lefty who can get lefties out. The Mets have some guys that just might be able to help solidify this bullpen, but the caveat is they have to give them a test run. And really, it is not as if everyone is lighting it up out there and there are no innings for these reinforcements to get.

Just watching these two clips got me really fucking excited about Pedro's return.

"From 85 to 88, if I have command of my pitches I'll get anybody out. I wouldn't hesitate to say that. There's going to be days that you're going to be lit up, but those are the days that you're not making pitches, regardless of how hard you're throwing."

Surprise! Willie chose Pelfrey over Humber because of his experience.

"[Pelfrey] has pitched and has a little bit of comfort for getting ready for a start," Randolph said. "We're still in a pennant race."

I'm not making that up. He might come out and pitch well and throw strikes while attacking hitters and not paint corners. Anything is possible, but this entire myth that young kids cannot step up is irritating. If you do not give a young kid a chance to fail, how exactly do you know he cannot succeed? Instead, you would rather go with a known quantity that you will put you at a competitive disadvantage? Perplexing. I guess we know why Brian Lawrence got so many chances.

Gotay vs. Green

I did not get a chance to really go over the last at-bat of Wednesday's games, but Willie's choice of Green was a curious one. At the time Green entered the game, the booth was split. Gary was quite shocked with Willie calling Green's # and Keith sided with Willie and preferred the veteran. The top line belongs to Gotay and the bottom line belongs to Green.

Flyball: 23.8% | Groundball: 49.2% | Strikeout: 27.0% | GIDP: 1.6%
Flyball: 26.7% | Groundball: 55.0% | Strikeout: 18.3% | GIDP: 4.0%

Now at first look it seems kind of logical since contact was needed there, but that will not quite show you the entire picture. In 27 at-bats as a righty, Gotay was struck out ten times, or 37% of the time. As a righty he is batting .222/.290/.220 but as a lefty he is batting .344/.378/.516 which kind of skews his overall stats.

As a pinch hitter he is batting .280/.300/.360, which is not great, but good and he has proven he has the ability and the 'chops' (Willie's word, not mine) to be a pinch hitter. Also, I'll ignore the .390/.420/.530 line with runners on and the .400/.440/.550 line with runners in scoring position because we have talked about the myth of clutch hitter here before.

As for Green, he is batting .280/.330/.410 at the plate overall and .310/.360/.460 against righties. Also worth noting is that Shawn Green is batting .091/.130/.227 against Brett Myers in 22 at-bats and Shawn Green has also pinch hit only once prior to Wednesday night during this season and only ten times from '04 to '06 (though with six hits).

Given Green's propensity for hitting into double plays, lack of pinch hitting this season, and lack of success against Myers, I cannot see any conceivable reason why Gotay was not in there. Gotay at the plate does not guarantee success obviously and we will never know, but the move just did not add up from the start. It is this vexing fixation with crusty veterans that disturbs me and it is not just Willie.

It is a lot of managers that have the same problem but this specific instance is even more bizarre. Gotay has come up big for this Met team a lot this season and if he did not earn Willie's trust yet, then what does he have to do? If Willie was simply putting Greenie (as I'm sure he calls him) in to try and find him a role or get him an at-bat, then that is ridiculous as well. I am all fine with experimenting, but not in a crucial spot in the game.

Overall, I do think the Mets could have taken one of those two close games they lost with more efficient managing. Of course Willie makes the right call a lot of times, but a lot of times it simply does not work out. It seems to be he is making a lot of guesses (or using his gut as he calls it) rather then making calculated decisions as there are a lot of inconsistencies in what he does. From mind melds with starters with them telling him he is done without a conversation happening to eschewing stats to taking starters out after he sends them back out in the 7th after 1.5 pitches to whatever else, the guy is not consistent. Being predicatable is not exactly great, but Willie takes it to the next level.

* * *

The now emaciated and strangely hipster/emo looking Dayn Perry echoes what we already know. The Mets defense is tighter than Mother Mary's....nevermind. It was pretty impressive to see him pen that article as well since fielding metrics are not really popular.

The Mets are not happy with Bucknor's call on Anderson's slide into the second base.

"He didn't exactly say why he was out," Randolph said of his conversation with Bucknor. "Obviously, he thought there was some type of obstruction or something, I guess. I said it to him very plainly, 'Marlon has his feet on the base.'

"It was a good hard slide. It's baseball. I think it's because we're not used to seeing good aggressive baseball anymore."

Anderson said: "Every time I play the game, no matter if it's the first inning or the ninth inning, when I go into second base, I go with a purpose, and that's to not let the guy turn the double play.

"I played second base in this league for years, and guys would come in much harder than that and nothing is said."

First, the point was not whether Marlon could actually touch the bag. There is nobody contending he could not touch the bag. The problem was the blatant use of his hands and arms to go out of his way to push/slap the second basemen. Was it extremely hard? Probably not.

"We were very fortunate he was right on top of the play," Iguchi said. "He used his hands at the very end. That made it obvious."

I'm sure guys come in much harder, but they do not have outstretched arms blatantly pushing someone as Anderson did. His slide is certainly not the norm. Now if he kept his arms in or simply had them extended during the entire slide rather than slapping/pushing at the end, it probably ends differently.

Omar cannot find any relievers.

In related news, Phil Humber and Mike Pelfrey will be called up when the rosters expand.

Good stuff.

I might suggest taking a look at what the customers who viewed the tank also viewed and I also suggest reading the first review/comment.

The Mets capped off the Philly series with yet another demoralizing loss. I loved the fact Wagner came in during the 8th and it is good to see Willie use him like that, but the results just were not good.

Rough, rough, rough series. It will not get a whole lot easier with Hudson and Smoltz going this weekend with Pelfrey's start sandwiched in between.

Owned

Omar: Willie, the Phillies are passing you.
Willie: Do you think the Phillies are passing me in my subconscious?
Omar: No, they are actually passing you. That's happening right now.

My how quickly things have changed. The Yankees have charged back from three games down in the Wildcard to tie the Mariners and the Mets were beat up by the Phillies and are in danger of seeing a six game lead evaporate into a two game lead in four days.

Just when this team looked like they were on the verge of breaking things open, they fall back down to earth. Marlon's ridiculous slide was just the topper as he tried to break up a double play, which was apparently completely unnecessary. That slide wreaked of desperation.

There are plenty of things you can point to for the Mets struggles. Delgado's perpetual ineptitude, some bizarre calls by Willie, Reyes just looking flat out gassed, the bullpen's struggles, bad bounces, Wright's strikeout problem this series, etc. There are just too many things to point to specifically because the Mets have just been flat out ugly despite close scores.

Many of us were ready to declare the division the Mets' as they extended their lead further than they had all season, but one devastating week could change all of that. The bright side is the Mets can make it a three game lead with a win tomorrow leaving them in a solid position, but they need to wake up. The last thing you want to do is embolden one of you rivals with a month to go. With just about a month left, one hot streak could seal it for anyone and the Mets are off to a very inauspicious start as they sprint to the finish line.

* * *

The B-Mets released their 2008 schedule! Is that really news?

Pedro will throw a side session Friday in Atlanta so Rick Peterson and Guy Conti can get a good look at him.

Also from the above link:

His major league experience, though not the results, should give him the edge over his Zephyrs teammate Philip Humber. In discussing Pelfrey, who is 0-7 with a 5.92 earned run average in 10 appearances (9 starts) for the Mets, Omar Minaya mentioned how Pelfrey’s lack of success should be viewed within the context of run support.

Talk about trying to spin the impossible.

But Pelfrey has not helped himself much, with batters hitting .298 off him and .344 with runners in scoring position.

I do not really care about Pelfrey getting the start over Humber, but it would be nice if the Mets opened their minds a bit.

Even if Humber does not start Saturday, the Mets have apparently changed their minds on whether to promote him as part of their September call-ups.

Last week, Willie Randolph said he could not foresee Humber joining the team because he did not want to use Humber out of the bullpen and there would not be space for a spot start. What changed?

Well, I should have said it would be nice if Willie opens his mind a bit. Even if Omar calls Humber up, what are the chances Willie actually uses him when he has all of those grisly vets to use? I mean, why use Gotay as a pinch hitter when you have Green to tap a dribbler back up the middle?

Yes, I know Green's hit should have scored a run, but I'm sure Willie did not envision the run scoring on a weakly hit to short. You never lose with a better hitter on the bench in a case where two hitters bat from the same side of the plate.

It looks like bad news for another Met reliever.

Ambiorix Burgos underwent Tommy John surgery, which will likely sideline him for the entire 2008 season. ... Jose Valentin will be examined in the next week to see if he can return this season. ... Damion Easley is likely done for the year.

There should be a moratorium on the Mets trading for relievers.

Would the Red Sox really try and sign A-Rod? I still think they would be well advised to bring back Lowell and upgrade the team in other areas, but it is hard to argue with pursuing him.

The Heart and Soul of the Yankees?

Since the Mets game was going nowhere fast on Monday I decided to check out the Yankee game as it was on its way to becoming the worst shut out in the history of their storied franchise on the road or some shit like that. There were a few things of note that jumped out at me while I was watching the game.

1) Michael Kaye is still an utter and complete douchebag.
2) Al Leiter does color commentary with a smattering of anger. You really get the feeling he hates Kaye, hates being there, or hates someone in his general vicinity. I am not sure if his sarcasm is an attempt to be funny, but I much preferred his early days of broadcasting as a guest on FOX.
3) Methinks Alex Rodriguez getting away from the Yankees in 2008 will have much greater consequences than a lot of people think.

Though seemingly innocuous and possibly an attempt to build up a Yankee player, Kaye was talking about how Cano and Melky are usually following A-Rod around. They get with him and work out before the game and are always talking to him trying to pick his brain.

While this discussion was going on, the cameras were on the dugout where Melky and A-Rod were talking. Sure enough, Robinson Cano comes into the screen and joins them where the remained talking for a while. Despite all the things we have read about Rodriguez and the young guys in Texas, it seems that A-Rod has become a role model for these two and someone they could impart knowledge from.

I have not exactly been studying the Yankees over the last few years and the dearth of young guys makes this harder to actually evaluate, but it does not seem like there are many leaders on the team. Sure Jeter goes out there and does his thing and is media darling, but you get the feeling not everyone is behind everyone and it has been kind of a loner atmosphere where everyone does their job on the field and that is where it ends.

Maybe things have changed and they are more team oriented, but I am not sure I see that. As for A-Rod, not only has he possibly emerged as the leader of the Yankees, but A-Rod is 1st in the AL in homers (has 28% of the team's homers), runs (15% of team's runs), OPS, RBIs (17% of the team's RBIs), and SLG, 3rd in OBP, and 5th in walks. He has carried this team for long stretches this year and without him, the Yankees would have no shot at the wild card this season.

The Yankees now have three guys on their roster in Matsui, Damon, and Giambi that are borderline useless in the field and are making about $50 million between each other in '08. I think Pettitte will be back, but Mussina, who is signed through 2008, is baked and Clemens has been OK. Even if Clemens does come back, it will not be until mid-season. Hughes has not been dominant nor appears to be able to be that difference maker just yet which leaves them with a potential rotation of Pettitte, Wang, Chamberlain, Hughes, and Mussina/Igawa/Clippard/Kennedy. Not a bad rotation, but nothing amazing.

Throw all of that on top of A-Rod's possible lost production that they simply will not be able to replace if the lose him compounded with the possible loss in leadership and the Yankees could be headed for a few years of struggling. They will not be battling it out for last place anytime soon, but seeing them not in the playoffs in 2007, 2008, and 2009 is not out of the question until they have more time to retool.

That is not a bad thing mind you. Rebuilding a team the right way can pay big dividends, but even if they wanted to do it faster, the free agents just are not there to fill in their needs and their mentality has seemingly changed anyway. Imagine the Mets opening their new stadium after three straight playoff appearances and charging to the playoffs in their stadium's inaugural season while the Yankees come off three straight seasons in which they fail to make the playoffs? Times could be a changing and it is pretty clear the Yankees need to bring back A-Rod at all costs or else things could get very interesting.

* * *

I was just perusing some stats and I checked out Barry Lamar's stats. One thing I found rather exceptional was that from 1992 through 2007, Barry only had below a 1.000 OPS once. That was 2006 when he posted a .999 OPS. That is fourteen straight years of an OPS over 1.000 for those of you keeping score at home.

Sweet Jebus... If it exists, you can fry it.

Pedro tossed six shut-out innings and gave up five hits, one run, no earned runs, and two walks while striking out four. Of course it was against A ballers again, but that is his choice which is increasingly becoming a curious one.

He threw 88 pitches and seems to have his arm strength, but as they were saying on the broadcast on Monday night, you never know where your stuff is until you use it at the higher levels. The young guys will swing at everything whereas the AA and AAA guys will be more adept at laying off some off-speed or breaking pitches not in the zone. It stands to reason that he should of moved up to face a tougher challenge instead of taking on kids again.

I know I should never question Pedro being he is one of the greatest pitchers of all time, but jumping from A-ball to the bigs is a big jump after not having pitched competitively for long time.

Lastings talking about the Braves...

"They can have our number all they want," Milledge said. "If they don't win the division they're not going to get into the playoffs, and we don't have to worry about it."

I think it is important to not let the Braves or the Phillies get the best of the Mets again so this thing is not closer than it needs to be and Tuesday's game outlines that. The Mets let an important game get away that opens the door for the Phillies and gives them some unnecessary momentum. The Phillies and Braves can certainly make things more interesting this week and I am sure the Mets are not taking that lightly.

SI's John Donovan mysteriously has the Mets ranked 7th overall, which seems criminally low. Dayn Perry has them ranked fifth.

Phil Humber picked up his 11th win on Monday in five innings of work. He gave up two hits, no earned runs, and one walk while striking out two to lower his ERA to 4.27.

Really...if the Mets are looking for bullpen help, they should give him a hard look in September out of the bullpen.

Pelfrey was pulled early and I'm not sure why. Maybe they were getting him ready for Saturday and just wanted to him to get a little tuneup since he would be going on short rest?

Here are some interesting links you have the time...

Nothing gross at all...

The hipster olympics...

Odd Man Out / Wright = Most Valuable Met

Endy is returning and the problem is there is just no where to put him. Shawn Green would seem like the odd man out adding absolutely no value anymore being he does not actually bring offense or defense into the picture and no longer has any value at first base with Jeff Conine in the fold, but it is hard to envision the Mets cutting ties with Green with over a month left of baseball.

It would seem that Lastings Milledge would take a trip to New Orleans for a week since he has options with Endy and Green playing right field until he returns. It might be a bit premature to cut Green entirely as there is still a whole lotta time to have someone go down with an injury and it certainly does not make sense to blow up any depth at this point when you do not need to.

I certainly do not want to see Milledge head down to AAA, but he can help them make a 1st place push. With the Mets firmly in control of the division, they can certainly afford to replace a guy at the bottom of the order with Endy for a week and not really lose much. We'll see how it plays out, but I assume Milledge gets sat down and gets the skinny as to what is happening and really makes the most sense.

* * *
I have not had the pleasure of watching Prince Fielder, Chipper Jones, Albert Pujols, Chase Utley, etc. on an every day basis, but I have no idea how anyone could have been more valuable to a team than David Wright has been to the Mets. Sure they have their share of superstars, but Beltran has been hurt and missing for the entire season outside of April and August, Delgado has been a black hole, Alou has been hurt, the Mets second base situation was largely unsettled, Green has been useless, and Jose has been great, but not quite as consistent.

Especially of late, there have been many games Wright has simply carried the team and lead them to victory as he did on Saturday behind a great Oliver Perez pitching performance. Also, Wright has been playing sharp defense and deftly stealing basis like Carlos Beltran used to. He has a .316/.411/.530 line and is on pace for 29 homers and 35 steals and has been lights out after a homerless and disappointing April.

He is 9th in batting average, 4th in runs, 6th in steals, 9th in OPS, 10th in RBIs, 8th in walks, and 6th in OBP with a sick .411 mark. Ryan Howard won his MVP Award with stellar play down the stretch and Wright has been unconscious with a .373/.489/.585 line after the break, though without the gaudy homers totals that Howard put up. In August, he is hitting over .400 with a sick 1.191 OPS.

When it has counted most, Wright has been there the most for this Met team. Fielding wise he might be towards the bottom of the pack statistically, but he is far from a butcher and makes his share of highlight reel plays. Whether or not he gets the MVP award, the third baseman and the #3 hitter for the New York Mets should finish in the top five and has absolutely been the MVP of this Met team by far.

* * *

Jose is on track for 89 steals this season, but you get the feeling he is going for 100. With 32 more games this season and six more in August, he has already surpassed his monthly high in '07 and for his entire career for that matter. He is swiping multiple bags a game and just running at will and has had three games of two steals and one three steal game since August 15th. It is safe to say he has a green light.

As pointed in a chat on Friday, the Mariners have nine guys with fifty or more RBIs. That is extremely impressive if for no other reason than showing some consistency.

ESPN had a nice chat with Matt Murhpy, who is the Met fan who caught Bonds' 756th homer, and David Kohler, who is the President and CEO for the company who is selling the ball.

With Torii Hunter Set to hit free agency for the first time, he has to be pretty excited. The red flag is a career year at 32 to boost his value, but he should still be pretty damn valuable to whatever team picks him up, though not likely to be worth the mammoth contract he will receive.

Jerk offs...

Dontrelle Willis has had a difficult season in Florida, and there's a growing feeling that this could be the winter he is traded. The 25-year-old lefty won't be a free agent until after 2009. The Marlins would look for young pitching and catching in return. Florida may also trade lefty Scott Olsen, 23, this winter. He faces a drunken-driving charge and is due in court Sept. 10.

Talk about holding onto a guy too long. When you are so far away from competing, you cannot get caught up in trading your biggest draw. And especially when that big draw has had diminishing skills for a bit before he hit his mid 20's. GMs really need to start taking note of the Adam Dunn and Dontrelle Willis situations. If you are far away from winning and can get huge returns for a player, deal him.

Luis Gonzalez is Shawn Green.

Mark Prior is determined to come back in 2008.

El Dominator? Good nickname for The Duque. I cannot say it enough, but he has just been stupendous for the Mets this year and a ton of fun to watch. He looks like a circus act out there with some of those lollipop curves he throws that just befuddle big league hitters.

Wagner's arm is 'tired'. The guy has been spectacular all season and most guys hit a rough patch during the season. It just so happens Wagner's is happening now and the Mets should cut back on his work until he feels more comfortable. At this point, I do not see a big need to panic about Mr. Billy Wagner right now.

When you are 35 and not overly athletic in terms of your build, people wonder if you have just plain lost it. Delgado might not have, but he sure looks lost at the plate. Getting beat on inside fastballs that he is unable to get around on and he just flat out looks terribly out of sync. He is slugging less than Jose Reyes and almost on par with Shawn Green. Even Ruben Gotay has a higher slugging percentage, albeit in limited work.

I thought he came around a bit earlier, but all that has seemed to evaporated. For whatever reason, he has not been able to get himself on track this year.

Ollie was sharp on Friday regaining the form that he has had all season and that was certainly encouraging. The Mets sorely need Maine and Perez to regain some consistency as the Met bullpen does not look like they will be able to pick up the slack as they did in last year's playoffs.

The Mets climb up to #3 on Baseball Prospectus' Hit List. I tried to see what AE had them as on his power rankings, but he is slacking a bit.