Down, Down, Down....

Ted Berg tried to lay some perspective on us the other day and I said it was really hard to keep perspective with this team and they did not take too long to prove me right. Really right. I have tried to be optimistic for the most part, but right now, that is hard to do.

"It's not acceptable," Randolph said. "This is not the way we want to play baseball. We need to get on a streak and play more consistently. We're better than this. No one's happy with where we are and how we're playing."

It is hard to point fingers at one person or one cause, but this team just does not have it. They have talent, but they do not have it. What is it? Good question. However, it is clear that this team lacks focus and losing to Glavine and three overall to the Braves is utterly ridiculous. The inability for this team to step up is extremely frustrating.

Keeping things in perspective is just not possible because it looks like this team is just losing control. They are almost as close to last place as they are first place and truly a .500 team in every way. You do not need to be a genius to look at their roster and recognize they have talent and you do not need to be a genius to see that this team is simply not playing up to their potential.

With less than 30% of the season played, there is time to turn things around, but time is running out quickly.

* * *

If this goes down, I will be piiiiiiissssed.

18. METS. New York has the financial wherewithal to spend as much as any team does on the draft, but it apparently will stick to slotting once again in 2008, even if Hosmer is still on the table. The Mets need a catcher for the near future, and Castro has convinced scouts he can handle the defensive responsibilities and produce at the plate. New York has checked out Friedrich, but it's unlikely he'd get this far.

I mean really. Who cares about the Commish? He cannot do anything and your farm is pretty barren. After Omar made overtures this past off-season about abandoning slot, I would be very disappointed if they passed up a better player so they do not piss anyone off.

If they pass up Hosmer? Utterly ridiculous and why this team will never get over that next hump. You simply cannot pass up a gift like that and they better step it up on all fronts.

Would Pedro retire to be with his parents? Would Omar give him a Clemens-esque deal to keep him going another year or two?

Just in time for the summer to keep the boys cool.

This sweat-absorbing, friction-fighting wonder powder will keep you gloriously dry and comfortable during everyday manly activities...like chainsaw juggling.

Tim Marchman does a great job making a case for Jose Reyes to not be the scapegoat.

It is true that Reyes's game went into notable decline about a year ago. From last July 1 up to the beginning of last night's game against Atlanta, Reyes hit .268 AVG/.334 OBA/.414 SLG with 61 steals in 81 tries; over the preceding year, he'd hit .322/.383/.510 with 73 steals in 90 tries. Many explanations have been offered for this: that Reyes has been sulking over his contract, that he was ruined by Rickey Henderson's brief stint as the Mets hitting coach, that he lost his mojo after ceding to demands that he stop acting so exuberant on the field, etc.

Pedro's dad is not doing well.

Pablo Jaime, 78, is suffering from an inoperable brain tumor, and Martinez said recently that his father does not have long to live.

"His dad's not doing well and had a seizure," Willie Randolph said before the game. "We'll just see what happens when [Pedro] gets back [from the Dominican]. All the other stuff in terms of pitching is on hold."

Pedro should really put baseball on hold and tend to his family. The Mets success does not hinge on him so he needs to do what he feels is right.

Joel Sherman pens a good piece about Willie.

I am not foolish enough to believe race still does not motivate repugnant feelings. But I do think sports have more of a meritocracy than most environments, and that the great divide between love and hate is winning and losing. Again, Willie, look to your Knicks past: The city did not love DeBusschere and Bradley more than Reed and Frazier. The whole team won, and the whole team is remembered fondly. Just like Bernie Williams and Paul O'Neill will be from those champion Yankees for which Randolph was a coach.

There is racism out there, but sports to me was always kind of different. If you are winning, no fan gives a shit who is from where or is what color.

Randolph lived these New York moments, and constantly brags he is a New Yorker and understands how things work. But most days it seems he just showed up from Ames, Iowa. His self-awareness is poor, and that is hurting him way more than the color of his skin or what angle SNY cameras are shooting him. He thinks of himself as a tough, been-there, seen-that kind of guy. But his sensitivity and lack of savvy reveal the opposite.

He tried, for example, to backtrack off the critical statements he made about race and SNY by saying he thought he was off the record with the reporter. Even if I believed Randolph (which I don't), he should know reporters grant off-the-record requests to gain the truth, so being off the record would only make you believe Randolph's harshest assessments (not his current spin) most.

Willie just does not get it and should not be managing this team. Especially so after grasping for straws and attacking the fans. Really? The fans?

"If you look at my body of work since I've been here," Randolph said, "I'm proud of that, because prior to that Mets fans were hiding. You couldn't even find them ... The season's just starting and you're booing my guys already? You're booing your team?'"

Mets fans were hiding? Interesting statement. Mets fans are not hiding anymore because of Willie's body of work. Sound logic, right? I am really glad he spouted his mouth off with such madness because it only makes everything I have been saying stronger and he just validated a lot of things that I thought.

I think at times he can be immature and stubborn and these articles truly outline that. If the Mets want Willie to be their leader, so be it. However, it is a mistake.

Torre feels bad for Willie and no one is arguing that this job is not extremely difficult, but not everyone can do it.

Losing Church would be very, very bad. The Mets need him to be healthy and performing.