Steady As She Goes

It is not really a shocker that the three best teams from a pitching perspective are the Diamondbacks, Braves, and Cubs. They are just annihilating other teams in regards to run differential and are getting it done on the offensive end as well.

The Mets are in the second tier of pitching talent sitting fifth in ERA+ with a 106 behind the Phillies, which is rather surprising to me. What else is rather surprising is the fact that the ace by far of the Mets staff has been Johan Maine.

Name     ERA+
Maine    145
Santana  123
Pelfrey   98
Perez     96
Figueroa 79

I have been under a rock for a bit so I really had no idea John Maine was doing so well. In fact, it is even more of sad commentary that I had no idea because he is on my fantasy team, which is making a hard charge towards first place and all others in my league should be wary of the impending doom that is about to befall them.

Mike Pelfrey has actually made some nice strides this year slightly outperforming Oliver Perez and you really have to say that this team is looking pretty solid right now from a rotation standpoint with Pedro Martinez making his way back. Five 100+ ERA+ guys in the rotation for the second half? Nice. That could really be the catalyst that finally pushes this team to the top of the NL East.

Scary trend.... Johan has 11 homers in 60 innings and the other four starters 14 homers in 166.1 innings. Let us hope he can squash his staggering homerun totals in short order. He is on pace for an amazing 40 dingers after moving into a nice pitchers park which hurts righties and into the NL. He certainly has been very good so far, but I think we all were expecting Cy Young worthy and he is not even sniffing that at this point.

* * *

I have forgotten what it is like to have Pedro on this team anymore. It is hard for me to take these things seriously, but eventually he is going to stay healthy enough for a nice string of starts.

Speaking of injured pitchers, where the hell is The Duque?

Interesting.

METS AREN'T REALLY AMAZIN'

As they arrive in Atlanta for a four-game series, the Mets (22-19) are coming off a two-game sweep of the Yankees and are just one game out of first place. But tensions are high, with closer Billy Wagner calling out his teammates last week and Carlos Delgado, still hovering at .230, being dumped into the seventh spot in the lineup.

Last I checked the Braves were behind the Mets. Their run differential is pretty and all, but Smoltz may not see the mound again in 2008 and Chipper is good for about 30 games on the DL. Temper the excitement down there.

Ted Berg lays it down.

People claim that the players don't care enough to win. Nonsense. Go try to find a player in the Major Leagues who doesn't want desperately to win every single game he plays in. You won't. You don't make the big leagues if you don't care.

Is that 100% true? I mean, no one wants to lose, but there are surely people that want it more and some people that are just not effected as much. Maybe I am crazy here, but I think some people are more emotionally invested in winning and losing than others. I think it is obvious that these guys want to win a shitload more than they want to lose, but I think there are varying degrees of desire.

All in all, a good article that dishes out some perspective, but this team makes it really hard to keep perspective when the manager is crying racism and they cannot put some room between themselves and a .500 record.

Bobby V. may not have had the smoothest ride here and I might not want him managing my team, though I would take him 100 out of 100 times over Willie, but it would be great to see him back in the bigs. The man can beat any ump in a quiz of baseball rules and he really should be given a chance somewhere. His style would be perfect for a young and burgeoning team.

Oh my, my, my, how two little games can change perception.

The Mets offense put on a display in both games against the Yankees, coolly beating their two best pitchers while providing a glimpse at just how potent the team can be when everything is humming.

"We worked the count a little bit, drew some walks," third baseman David Wright said. "We didn't try to do too much and went the other way."

This was the strategy Wright outlined against Yankees ace Chien-Ming Wang and their No. 2, Andy Pettitte. The Mets' execution was flawless. They combined for 18 runs and 22 hits, mashed four homers and drew eight walks.

If they can remain patient, they can blast Glavine out of the water and that would be good for my soul.

Vargas and Nellie Figs have been pleasant surprises so far. You really cannot complain about getting the type of output that they have been giving as the 6th and 7th pitchers.

Teixiera would be great, but he is going to cost a lot of cash. Mike Carp certainly makes me feel better hitting .338/.389/.537 in Binghamton, but he needs to take a few more walks for me. Luckily enough, Nick Evans is hitting .291/.356/.557 and Dan Murphy is hitting .329/.369/.482. I would not like to rely on one of those guys, but if you tell me all three can go after it and the best man wins, I would be OK with that.