Starting Lineup

1. Jordany Valdespin – RF
2. Daniel Murphy – 2B
3. David Wright – 3B
4. Ike Davis – 1B
5. Lucas Duda – LF
6. John Buck – C
7. Rick Ankiel – CF
8. Ruben Tejada – SS
9. Jonathon Niese – LHP

Game Notes

The Mets (14-23) now have a season-high six-game losing streak for the second time in 2013. They have lost 14 of 18 to drop nine games under .500 this early in a season for the first time since May 13, 2001, under Bobby Valentine (also 14-23).

Terry Collins is frustrated, but remains hopeful. “It’s no secret. I mean, I don’t have a lot to say. We beat this horse to death here all week. Outside of a few innings, we’ve been in every game in the last week. We just can’t finish them. We cannot get a big hit. We cannot get a big out. We cannot make a big play when we need to. It’s a combination of things that has just happened. And that’s what happens when you’re going bad. And we’re going bad. And we’re going to get out of it.”

Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy has eight hits in his last 13 at-bats, quickly putting behind him a dreadful 0-for-17 slump. ”It’s tough to explain,” Murphy said. “Once you start feeling good and then you have some success for it, it just lends to more peace and less anxiety.” Murphy is hitting .280 on the year, with two homers and 16 RBIs. He is batting .358 on the road this season, the fourth- best mark in the National League.

Game Preview

The Mets and Cardinals play the final game of the series this afternoon where the Mets try to avoid losing 7 games in a row, a 4 game sweep and try to break out of this terrible offense funk. Last night Marcum wasn’t bad. He allowed 3 runs, 2 earned over 6.2 innings but the only run support the Mets had came from a 2 run homer by Ankiel. Besides that the Mets were completely flat again. Niese will try to play stopper as he goes up against Wainwright.

Jon Niese is 2-4 over 8 games this season with a 5.93 ERA over 41.0 innings of work. His last two starts have been some of the worse in his career as he allowed 7 ER over 4.1 innings and followed that by 4.0 innings 8 ER in his last outing. Last year he had one start against the Cardinals and it was quite good as he pitched 6.0 innings of shutout ball striking out 10 batters. The Cards have the following numbers against Jon:

Wigginton 4-10, 2 2B
Holliday 2-10
Molina 2-8
Jon Jay 3-7, 2B
Freese 0-6
Beltran 1-3

The Mets will finish off this series against one of the figures of lore in Mets nemesis history: Adam Wainwright. Wainwright is 5-2 this season over 8 games with a 2.30 ERA while pitching 58.2 innings and a Major League leading 2 complete game shutouts, including his last outing. That last stunning performance was the follow up to a weak 5.1 innings, 5 ER outing. Last season he was not effective against the Mets going 0-2 in as many games allowing 12 ER over 11.1 innings the Mets have the following numbers against Adam:

Wright 1-9, 2B
Byrd 3-11, 2B
Buck 1-8, HR
Davis 2-7, HR
Baxter 2-6
Duda 2-4, 2B, HR
Murphy 3-6, 3B

Let’s Go Mets!

Lately, it seems the only thing the Mets excel at is finding ways to lose.

Shaun Marcum had his first quality start as a Met, going 6.2 innings allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits while walking one and punching out three. He threw 96 pitches, 65 of which for strikes, however fell to 0-4 on the year in easily his best effort for the Amazin’s this season.

After matching goose eggs with the Cardinal’s young phenom Shelby MIller, things got rocky in the bottom of the fourth. With Matt Holliday on first and two out, Jon Jay roped a double to Mike Baxter in right that went to the wall. Seeing that he didn’t have a play on Holliday, who came around to score, Daniel Murphy threw to third and pinned Jay in a run down. Apparently giving up, Jay stood almost still in front of Wright for a routine play to tag him. Wright went to lay the tag on, but dropped the ball. As it skidded into the infield, Jay was able to safely make it to third base, costing Wright just his third error on the year. Tony Cruz would follow up with a knock to make it a 2-0 ballgame.

Looking overmatched at the plate, the offense was completely anemic against Miller who did not have his best stuff today. He held the Mets off the board through 5.2 frames before being relieved by Randy Choate for the last out of the sixth. In the seventh against Seth Maness, John Buck got himself on base with a one out single, setting the table Rick Ankiel. On the seventh pitch of the at bat with a full count, Ankiel took a 90mph sinker deep to center to tie up the ballgame at two. Maybe the Mets luck is finally starting to turn around right?

Wrong. In the bottom half of the frame, Marcum got the first two outs but got himself into trouble with runners on first and third. After which he was lifted for this year’s go-to lefty, Scott Rice. Rice came on to face the former-Met Ty Wigginton, and on the first-pitch of the at-bat, threw a breaking ball that careened off John Buck and to the backstop, scoring the lead run in Daniel Descalso.

After the end of the seventh, the life was sucked out of the Mets. Carlos Beltran walked to lead off the eighth. Matt Holliday grounded into what would be a routine double-play, but the throw from Murphy sailed into the home dugout, allowing him to go to second. Allen Craig would also be walked to create a nice opportunity for Yadier Molina, who came through with a base hit to drive in the insurance run and make it 4-2.

After the wild pitch from Rice, the offense showed little fight as they went down 1-2-3 in both the eighth and ninth to end the game.

John Buck had a nice day at the plate, but a horrible one on the basepaths as he was doubled off on a Ruben Tejada liner that was caught, then made a boneheaded steal attempt, resulting in the slow-footed backstop being picked off at second. That plus the key wild pitch, and it was overall a night to forget for Buck.

The offense continues to be ice cold. Ike Davis and Lucas Duda both had 0-fers in this game.

The Mets just aren’t playing good baseball, it is as simple as that. They are giving opposing teams extra outs with sloppy D and giving away at-bats with an inept lineup.

Two positives to take away from this one however was the encouraging start from Marcum, and the solid offensive effort by Rick Ankiel.

The Mets have now lost six-games in a row for the second time this season and are 8-18 in their last 26 games. They now have the third worst record in baseball at 14-23, nine games under .500. Only Houston and Miami are worse.

Jonathon Niese (2-4, 5.93 ERA) opposes right-hander Adam Wainwright (5-2, 2.30) in the series finale on Thursday at 1:45 PM. The Mets look to avoid a four-game sweep at the hands of the Cardinals which last happened in 1982 when Keith Hernandez played for St. Louis.

Starting Lineup

1. Mike Baxter – RF
2. Daniel Murphy – 2B
3. David Wright – 3B
4. Ike Davis – 1B
5. Lucas Duda – LF
6. John Buck – C
7. Rick Ankiel – CF
8. Ruben Tejada – SS
9. Shaun Marcum – RHP

Game Notes

The Mets scored four times in the sixth inning last night. It was the first time in eight games the Mets had plated more than three runs. New York has scored three or fewer runs in 12 of their last 17 games.

Marlon Byrd had a double and two-run homer for the Mets Tuesday night, and hopes the team can finally begin to generate some offense after breaking a string of scoring three runs or less in their seven previous games. “It’s been tough for us,” he said. “We’re still working and we have to stick to our approach. We know we can score runs. We did in April. We just have to get back to that.”

Dillon Gee saw his record fall to 2-5 after allowing nine hits and six runs, five earned, in four innings of work. “I don’t know what’s going on,” he said. “I didn’t feel all that bad tonight. I’m a ground-ball guy and I think seven ground-ball hits got through. I don’t know what else to do. That’s what I’m trying to do. It seems like a recurring thing right now that every single one of them finds their way through.”

Justin Turner made his 14th career start at shortstop Tuesday and didn’t make an error, though he appeared to dive over a ball hit by Pete Kozma in the third inning that resulted in a run. Turner was taking the spot of Ruben Tejada, who is hitting .229 this season.

Shaun Marcum will make his fourth start for the Mets, still seeking his first victory. He also has never won a game in St. Louis, in his home state, having not earned a decision in two career starts at Busch Stadium. His last start came last September, for the Brewers, when he gave up first-inning home runs to Matt Holliday and Carlos Beltran. Marcum grew up and graduated from Excelsior Springs High School, near Kansas City, and then attended Missouri State in Springfield.

Josh Edgin will join Triple-A Las Vegas, according to Binghamton Mets beat reporter Lynn Worthy of the Press & Sun-Bulletin. Edgin is no longer with the Binghamton Mets team and is will join the 51s tonight.

Relief prospect Jack Leathersich struck out four over 2.0 scoreless innings for Binghamton (AA) vs. Akron to earn his first win of the year…Leathersich has struck 33 over 17.2 innings in 13 appearances. He has a 2.0 4 ERA (four earned runs/17.2 innings) with three holds and one save.

Game Preview

For the second time this season, the Mets have lost 5 games in a row. Last time the streak went to 6 games and hopefully the Mets bats and Shaun Marcum can prevent that from happening tonight. Last night the Mets bats seemed beat against the rookie pitcher until the 6th inning when they scored 4 runs in the inning. It was the first time since May 5th they scored more than 3 runs in a game and the first time since May 1st that they scored 4 in an inning. Gee and Carson made it difficult last night as well as they allowed 5 and 4 each early on. Tonight Marcum will face off against Shelby Miller.

Shaun Marcum is 0-3 to start off his Mets career with a 8.59 ERA. He hasn’t been pitching deep into games and overall he hasn’t looked effective on the mound at all allowing hit after hit after hit. Last year he faced the Cardinals once allowing 4 ER and 8 hits over 5 innings of work. The Cardinals have the following numbers against him:

Wigginton 4-17
Holliday 4-14, 2 HR
Jon Jay 7-14, 2B
Molina 3-12, 2B
Freese 2-10, HR
Beltran 1-6, HR

The Mets bats will look to build off of the 6th inning yesterday as they go to battle with Shelby Miller tonight. This year Miller has been 5-2 with a 1.58 ERA over 45.2 innings while striking out 51 batters – Harvey-esque stats. Last year he came in relief against the Mets allowing one hit and no runs over 2 innings of work while striking out 4 batters. The Mets have the  following numbers against Miller:

Baxter 0-1
Duda 0-1
Davis 0-1
Murphy 1-1
Tejada 0-1

Where would this team be without Matt Harvey?

Is it safe to say that as of this moment, the only proven and legit core player under the age of 30 this team has is The Dark Knight of Gotham?

I like Jon Niese a lot, but is he a core player? Or just an number three pitcher who plays the role of an ace on a very bad team?

I quickly threw some numbers into a spreadsheet and I can’t believe how appalling the numbers are once you take Harvey out of the equation.

Two of our top three starters have ERA’s of 5.93 for Jon Niese and 6.13 for Dillon Gee. Our number four starter, Jeremy Hefner has got them both beat with a 4.28 ERA. You may recall me saying back in January that he would be a sleeper and best choice for fifth starter? (Hey Alex68, remember this? Underrated????? SMH!!!)

Then you have the pitcher who was supposed to help replace R.A. Dickey‘s innings in Shaun Marcum. The Mets gave marcum a guaranteed $4 million dollars and in return he’s already missed one month and since his debut is averaging 4.1 innings in three starts and has a team worst 8.31 ERA.

Mets pitchers are now officially the worst in the National League and second worst in the Major Leagues. And that’s with Matt Harvey who is in the top five in over a half dozen pitching categories.

That’s kind of embarrassing, wouldn’t you say?

Gee has been the latest starter to deliver an abysmal performance after allowing six runs and nine hits against the Cardinals last night in 4.0 innings.

“I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t even know what to say, really. I didn’t feel all that bad tonight”, said Gee after the game. “Physically I feel great. There’s nothing going on there. I don’t know. I’m kind of lost.”

You don’t say?

Gee and Co. is partly why the Mets bullpen has been as abysmal as it has. They are burning through arms at an unprecedented rate. Six weeks in and already eight transactions related to the bullpen alone. And it’s not as if it was a great bullpen to begin with. It was put together with sticks and Krazy Glue.

So while everyone is piling on when it comes to the Mets offense, the truth of the matter is that this team is quite atrocious on all fronts. Take a look at the evidence:

METS PITCHING RANKINGS

METS HITTING RANKINGS

That stinks to high heaven. It’s a shock to the system to even look at those awful, awful numbers.

I can tell you right now that Zack Wheeler and Travis d’Arnaud alone are not going to fix that. In fact I think it’s a sin that those two are being setup for an unfair amount of undue pressure, as if trying to stick in the majors wasn’t already challenging enough.

On Wednesday, Sandy Alderson seemed concerned that Wheeler is being looked upon as some sort of savior and he admitted to Mike Francesa that he wasn’t. But the fact that both he and d’Arnaud will be walking into this disaster is going to be something to behold and I don’t mean that in a good way. I wonder how they will handle it, and God forbid if they don’t produce immediate results and hit the ground running.

The other day on Twitter I tossed out the suggestion of just letting both of them stay at Triple-A and don’t bring them up unless this team turns it around. Losing is contagious. I know you all know that. If this is what those two kids are going to walk into, I’d rather wait and call them up in September.

At least in September they can come up without the pressure of having to carry a team that was poorly constructed. It’s bad enough that Matt Harvey has had to deal with this. I totally feel sorry for that kid. On any other team, but the Mets, Harvey would probably be 8-0 right now.

I don’t know if this is rock bottom, but heaven help us if it isn’t and it continues to get worse.

As the Knicks were getting pasted in Indianapolis, the Mets did their part to put New York sports fans in a gloomy mood in tonight’s 10-4 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals. It was the Mets’ fifth straight loss to drop them to eight games under .500. Since Jordany Valdespin’s tenth-inning grand slam, April 24, beat the Dodgers to go to 10-9, the Mets have gone 4-13.

ON THE MOUND: The Mets needed innings from Dillon Gee, or more to the point, effective innings. Instead, the Cardinals got to him for six runs through three innings. … Robert Carson gave up a three-run homer to Carlos Beltran. He also gave up a homer to John Jay.AT THE PLATE: So much for the decision to go with Ike Davis and Lucas Duda back-to-back in the batting order. Terry Collins attributed his move to the match-up against John Gast, who was making his first start. Didn’t he know Gast would be pitching tonight? More importantly, this juggling of Davis – because of an unproven pitcher such as Gast – speaks loudly of Collins’ confidence in Davis. … John Buck prevented total embarrassment with a RBI single. … Marlon Byrd hit a two-run homer.

OLD ACQUAINTANCES: Carlos Beltran was a one-man wrecking drew offensively and defensively for the Cardinals. In addition to a couple of nice plays in right field, the former Met Gold Glove All Star went 3-for-5 at the plate incuding the back-breaking three-run homer, four RBI and two runs scored.

WHEELER INJURED: Zack Wheeler will come to New York to have his right clavicle examined. After three straight strong starts, Wheeler complained of soreness in the area. He’s expected to miss at least one start.

BY THE NUMBERS: 6: Homers given up by Carson in 8.1 innings.

THEY SAID IT: “We’ve gone through a bad streak and it’s two weeks long. … We have to play better. We have to coach better. We have to manage better.’’ – Collins on this miserable stretch.

ON DECK: Shaun Marcum (0-3) will start against Shelby Miller (5-2) on Wednesday.

Starting Lineup

1. Justin Turner – SS
2. Daniel Murphy – 2B
3. David Wright – 3B
4. John Buck – C
5. Lucas Duda – LF
6. Marlon Byrd – RF
7. Ike Davis – 1B
8. Juan Lagares – CF
9. Dillon Gee – RHP

Game Notes

WFAN Mets beat reporter Ed Coleman has reported that shortstop Ruben Tejada is in Terry Collins’ doghouse and that is why he is out of the lineup and Turner is playing short. That’s all he said. (Hat tip to Leroy)

Veteran outfielder Rick Ankiel went 0-for-3 with a walk and scored a run in Monday’s series-opening loss after signing with the Mets earlier in the day. The Mets signed Ankiel in an attempt to jumpstart their sputtering offense, particularly from the outfield position. Ankiel hit just .194 with 35 strikeouts in 62 at-bats over 25 games with the Astros this season before being designated for assignment last week. In making his Mets debut in center field Monday, Ankiel became the 10th player to appear in the Mets’ outfield in 2013.

Over the club’s last 11 games, Mets starting pitchers are 1-5 with 5.68 ERA (40 earned runs in 63.1 innings). Overall, New York starters are 8-15 with a 4.35 ERA (94 earned runs in 194.1 innings), ranking 21st in the majors.

On Monday, Terry Collins vowed to keep Ike Davis in cleanup spot until he breaks out of his slump. “He’s our guy.” Three days later he’s batting seventh.

The Mets optioned Andrew Brown to Las Vegas and moved Jenrry Mejia to the 60-day DL in order to clear a spot for Ankiel. Mejia will continue to pitch in the minors uninterrupted. Until early June, though, he will not count against the 40-man roster.

The Mets have signed right-hander Matt Fox out of York in the independent Atlantic League. He will work out of the Triple-A Las Vegas rotation. Fox, 30, was the 35th overall pick in the 2004 draft by the Minnesota Twins. His lone four major league appearances came in 2010, with the Twins and Boston Red Sox.

Frank Francisco was examined Monday in New York for continued elbow discomfort. He was diagnosed with a strained flexor pronator tendon in his right elbow and was advised to refrain from throwing for 72 hours. He may then attempt to resume activity. Bottom line: He is making $6.5 million this season. And he likely will not contribute anytime soon.

David  Wright is hitting .433 (13-30) with RISP, tied for third-best mark  in the National League. Daniel Murphy is hitting .500 (5-10) with runners in scoring position and two outs this year, tied for the fourth-best mark in the National League.

Mets OF prospect Matt den Dekker will return to baseball in a few weeks as he continues his comeback from a broken wrist. Catching prospect Travis d’Arnaud, who fractured the first metatarsal in his left foot four weeks ago, has an exam scheduled for Friday in New York. He hopes to be cleared to shed an immobilizing boot and begin weight-bearing activity.

Game Preview

The Mets try to correct the ship tonight in St. Louis and break their four game losing streak. Last night the Mets and Cardinals each  got 3 runs early and then things fell silent until the Cards were able to get to the Mets pen for 3 runs. Meanwhile the Mets were able to do nothing against the Cardinals pen thus locking in a loss in the opener. Tonight Dillon Gee will try to play stopper as he goes up against John Gast in his major league debut.

Dillon Gee is 2-4 with a 5.55 ERA on the season over 7 starts and 35.2 innings of work. After a couple of poor starts in a row, Gee allowed only 1 ER in his last outing, but was only able to stay in the game for 5 innings. Last year he made one start against the Cardinals where he allowed 3 runs, 2 earned over 7 innings of work. The Cards have the following numbers against Gee:

Freese 3-6
Holliday 1-6, 2B
Molina 0-6
Beltran 0-4
Craig 1-2
Descalso 0-2
Jay 0-2
Wigginton 1-2, HR

The Mets bats will try to break out of their collective slump tonight against John Gast in his major league debut. Gast, the left hander, is 3-1 this season over 7 games allowing 5 ER over 38.2 innings in Memphis. When you run the numbers, that’s an ERA of 1.16. In those 38.2 innings he allowed 15 BB and struck out 35 batters. Last season in Memphis he was 9-5 over 109.1 innings and 20 games with an ERA of 5.10.

Let’s Go Mets!

Starting Lineup

1. Mike Baxter – RF
2. Daniel Murphy – 2B
3. David Wright – 3B
4. Ike Davis – 1B
5. Lucas Duda – LF
6. John Buck – C
7. Rick Ankiel – CF
8. Ruben Tejada – SS
9. Jeremy Hefner – RHP

Game Notes

The Mets signed Rick Ankiel and is in the lineup starting in centerfield tonight and batting seventh. Ankiel, 33, was released by the Astros last week after hitting .194 with a .231 OBP in 25 games. Ankiel hit five home runs and drove in 11, but struck out 35 times in 65 plate appearances and walked only three times. Andrew Brown was optioned to Triple-A Vegas to make room for him on the roster.

The Mets are 5-8 on the road this year, including winning two of their last three road contests. The Mets are 1-3 in one-run games on the road this year and are 3-2 in the first game of a series on the road.

New York dropped a 3-2 decision to the Pirates yesterday. The loss snapped the Mets three-game winning streak in one-run games. The Mets are 4-7 in one-run decisions this year after going 20-22 in 2012.

The Mets have scored three or fewer runs in six straight games and in 11 of their last 15 games. Overall, the Mets are averaging 4.44 runs per game, the fifth-most in the NL and the 13th-most in the majors. They are hitting .175 (7-40) with RISP over their last six games and are fifth in the NL and 13th in the majors with a .259 (68-263) batting average with RISP.

Over their last ten games, Mets starting pitchers are 1-5 with 5.81 ERA. Overall, New York starters are 8-15 with a 4.35 ERA, which ranks 21st in the majors.

Lucas Duda hit his eighth home run of the season yesterday It was Duda’s 33rd game in 2013. The outfielder didn’t reach eight home runs until his 50th game last season. Duda is tied for sixth in
the National League with 21 walks.

David Wright is hitting .313 (10-32) with three home runs this month. The Mets third baseman is tied for seventh in the NL with a .340 batting average vs. righthanders. He is third in the NL with a .417 on-base percentage and tied for second with 25 walks.

Game Preview

It would be best to imagine the last several days didn’t happen. Really.

After winning the opener on Thursday night, the Mets then dropped three straight to Bucs thanks to a variety of reasons, but mainly the offense. Because the baseball gods by nature are cruel, the Mets will now take their anemic bats to some of the best pitching in the National League. If you have been watching the broadcasts this past weekend, then you already know the Mets will be paired up against righties for the vast majority of the upcoming week, therefore yesterday’s line up is probably what we can expect. Tonight Jeremy Hefner gets the start against Lance Lynn.

Hefner hasn’t been as bad as you might assume. On the season he is 0-4 (ouch) but has a 4.63 ERA over 35.0 innings. In his last three starts, he has a 3.00 ERA over 21.0 innings, mostly due to allowing 4 ER over 6 last time out. Recently it has just been bad luck Jeremy as things slightly break against him out there. Hefner has never faced the Cardinals and the only batter he has seen on the team is Ty Wigginton who is 2-4 with a homer against him.

The Mets draw Lance Lynn who is 5-1 over 7 games with a 2.72 ERA over 43.o innings. The season started out rough for him but in his last 4 games he has pitched 28.0 innings with a 1.29 ERA. Last season he was 0-1 over 5.1 innings against the Mets where he allowed 5 hits, 3 runs, 2 earned. The Mets have the following numbers against him:

Murphy 1-5
Duda 0-3
Wright 1-3, 2B
Byrd 0-3
Davis 1-2

Let’s Go Mets!

Jim Beauchamp (pronounced “Bee-chum”) was one of these players, and after kicking around the league with the Cardinals, the Astros (including some games as a Colt 45), the Braves, the Reds, the Astros again, and the Cardinals again, he wound up his career with the Mets, seeing a little action in the ’72 and ’73 seasons. A right handed hitter, he fulfilled the role of OF/1B, usually getting into between 35-50 games a year, primarily as a bat off the bench. He wore uniform No. 24 at the start of his Met career but swapped it for No. 5 when future Hall of Famer Willie Mays joined the team following a trade during the ’72 season.

He was a country boy, a French Okie, as he called himself, from the tiny town of Vinita, Oklahoma, a town that today boasts a population of around 6,000, parked in the northeast corner of the state about 30 miles from the Missouri border.  As a ballplayer, he pretty much embodied the term “journeyman,” as his peripatetic resume demonstrated. As a Met in 1972, he started 29 games, mostly at first base and chipped in with five home runs for the season. Two of those homers came on a special night.

August 21, 1972 was Beauchamp’s 33rd birthday, and with the Mets facing lefty Jerry Reuss of the Astros that night, Jim was given one of his rare starts, playing first base and batting seventh. The Astros were featuring a hot shot young center fielder in those days by the name of Cesar Cedeno, a 21 year old revelation with speed, power, and a great glove-sort of a right-handed Bryce Harper of his day.

Jon Matlack started for the Mets, looking for his 11th victory.  Matlack would end the season with 15 wins that year, and become the second Met to be named Rookie of the Year, joining Tom Seaver. On this night he pitched well, hurling a complete game with 8 strikeouts, but along the way had somewhat less success holding off Cedeno who homered in the 6th to tie the game at one-all, then doubled in the 8th after the Mets had taken the lead to knot the score again.

The 7th inning go-ahead run for the Mets had come via a long ball off the bat of Jim Beauchamp. Now, heading into the bottom of the 9th tied at 2 apiece, the Mets would face Jim “Sting” Ray, a right hander who was starting his second inning of relief. When Ray retired the first two batters, it looked as if the game would be heading to extra innings. But after John Milner coaxed a walk, Beauchamp swatted his second homerun of the night, deep into the left field bullpen.

Afterwards, on Kiner’s Korner, I remember him telling Ralph that he thought it would be nice if “just once, I could be the hero.” To my ears, his Oklahoma twang made the last word sound like “hee-row.” In my eyes he was. Happy Birthday, Jim.

Previous Mets Memorable Moments

Willie Comes Home

Rusty and the Rundown

Jesse and Roger in the Outfield

Now that we are just about a week out from Opening Day, let’s take a more detailed look at what the Mets will be up against this season. With the new league format in which there are 15 teams in each league, the Mets will have interleague play spread out throughout the year, starting with the Twins the second week in April. In total, the Mets play 20 interleague games, 19 games against each team in the division, and 66 other games within the National League.

To gauge how difficult the Mets’ schedule is, I compiled the 2012 winning percentages and pythagorean winning percentages (what their record should be based on their runs scored and runs allowed) from the 2012 season, and broke down the results month-by-month.

The Mets will start off the season with a very easy schedule, probably their easiest month of the season. With all the injuries right now, they may not be able to capitalize on the easy opponents early, which would make it very difficult to get above .500 for the first time since 2008. Their April opponents had a .476 winning percentage and .479 pythagorean winning percentage, both significantly worse than any month the rest of the season.

Once May starts, the schedule gets a whole lot tougher. During the month of May, the Mets play some tough teams like the Reds, Cardinals, and White Sox. From then on, with the exception of August, the schedule is very, very tough. August is a bit different, as the Mets get to play the Padres, Royals, and Rockies.

There’s more going on here than just 2012 win-loss record, however. Every season, there are teams that see big changes over the offseason, including some on the Mets schedule. Their 2012 records won’t tell the whole story, so the Mets may have some tougher and some easier stretches than last year’s data predicts:

• St. Louis Cardinals- 7 games: The Cardinals hit their way into the postseason last year with a very short-handed roster compared to their 2011 team, which won the World Series. After losing Albert Pujols and Edwin Jackson to free agency along with Chris Carpenter to injury, the rest of the roster stepped up. After losing a few more guys this past winter, however, it looks like it won’t be possible for the Cardinals to repeat what they did last year. They failed to re-sign Kyle Lohse and lost Rafael Furcal to Tommy John Surgery. Those two alone are worth about 5 fWAR between them. Now their closer Jason Motte is hurt as well, possibly seriously. Now a .500 record seem more likely than playoff baseball.
• Cleveland Indians- 3 games: The Indians were extremely aggressive this winter, spending over $120 million in the free agent market. As Mets fans know, they snatched up Michael Bourn on a four-year deal along with Nick Swisher, Brett Myers, and Mark Reynolds. They also made a big move via the trade market, dealing Shin-Soo Choo and three others in a three-team deal, acquiring Drew Stubbs to complete the outfield, as well as top pitching prospect Trevor Bauer. The Mets only have three games for the Indians this season but what previously looked like a possible three-game sweep for the Mets could now be a sweep for Cleveland.
• New York Yankees- 4 games: The Mets meet the Yankees in late-May with a four-game series split between Citi Field and Yankee Stadium. It seems like for years, Mets fans have been saying hopefully that it would be the year the Yankees are finally too old. Well, this may be the year. Alex Rodriguez looks like he could miss the majority of the season. Mark Teixeira could miss much of it as well. For the first time in a while, they stodd pat for the offseason, which will end up really hurting them this year. They are depleted and the guys they have remaining are injury-prone.
• Miami Marlins- 19 games: The Marlins are a completely different team from a year ago. Going into last year, they had a roster with some very big names. Now, the cupboard is completely bare and the team looks terrible. Just looking at fWAR, the players the Marlins lost this winter were worth 18.5 wins last year while their additions totaled just 3.6 wins. The Marlins lost 93 games last season, but they could be well over 100 losses by the time 2013 is over.
• Philadelphia Phillies- 19 games: This is really a tough one. I could really see the Phillies going either way. They could get healthy and make a run at the playoffs, or they could slip into mediocrity and win less than 75. They are the biggest wild card right now in the NL East. The keys for them will by Ryan Howard and Chase Utley. Both haven’t been themselves the past few seasons and as they’ve grown older, their power numbers have dissipated along with their health. It also remains to be seen how much their once-great rotation has left with Vance Worley gone and Roy Halladay not pitching like himself.
  

Even with some opponents looking much worse than last season, the Mets will still have to deal with the Nationals and Braves 19 times each, which will be very tough with the improved rosters those two organizations put together. We’ll see how it all plays out. If there’s one thing the Mets have to do, however, if they want any shot at making noise in the Wild Card race, it’s play well early on.

• 2/23 Nationals – 12:10 p.m. on SNY
• 2/25 Nationals – 6:10 p.m. on SNY
• 2/27 Cardinals – 1:10 p.m. on SNY
• 3/1 Tigers – 1:10 p.m. on SNY
• 3/2  Marlins – 1:10 p.m. on PIX11
• 3/4 Braves – 1:10 p.m. on SNY
• 3/7 Marlins – 1:10 p.m. on SNY
• 3/9 Astros – 1:10 p.m. on SNY
• 3/14 Tigers – 1:10 p.m. on SNY
• 3/16 Marlins – 1:10 p.m. on SNY
• 3/17 Braves – 1:10 p.m. on PIX11
• 3/21 Cardinals – 1:10 p.m. on SNY
• 3/23 Nationals – 1:10 p.m. on PIX11
• 3/24 Tigers – 1:10 p.m. on PIX11
• 3/26 Cardinals – 1:10 p.m. on SNY
• 3/27 Astros – 6:10 p.m. on SNY

Keep it tuned into MMO as we will bring you full coverage of all the action…

By Elliot Chester

McHugh was floored. Beasley had known it was coming.

“I knew Collin had a shot when he left,” says Beasley, “and I said, ‘If any of our kids go [to the bigs], it’d be Collin.’ And the reason why is Collin’s self-worth, how he’s doing, how he feels about himself—is not how good he does on the field and how good he doesn’t do.

“He’s a winner with anybody—understand that,” demands Beasley with a surprising urgency. “His faith”—a pause, as though for greater effect—“centers him. A lot of kids go out and they struggle, and it just beats them down, and it beats them down, and they can’t put it behind them. Collin can because of the faith that he has.

“It’s amazing; I think it’s a great thing. It’s one of the reasons why I actually think he has a great chance to make it.”

IV. 

As an 18th-round draft pick, McHugh knew that his would be a long and arduous path to the majors. But his faith and innate competitiveness told him that he should jump at the chance. “I wouldn’t have a career, I wouldn’t be playing baseball if that isn’t exactly what G-d wanted for me,” says McHugh. “If I’m still playing, then there’s a reason I’m still playing.”

He played in an assortment of minor league cities that seemed lifted straight from a Johnny Cash song, from Kingsport to Savannah to Port St. Lucie to Binghamton to Buffalo—and those were just the home sites, every possible location within the Mets’ system. Life became an endless road trip of Hot Tamales, Diet Cokes and uncertainty. In the offseason, he made ends meet by working full-time at Boosterthon Fun Run, an organization that holds miniature track-style events at local elementary schools as fundraisers.

To pass the time during the season, McHugh began writing a blog entitled, “A Day Older, A Day Wiser,” a day-by-day tale of life in the minors that alternately reads like a travelogue and a cathartic exercise in creative writing much like the kind that McHugh used to do in Mike Mejia’s English 101 class back at Berry. In his blog, McHugh sounds off on arrogant ballplayers, faith, the art of pitching and pranks like “The Wet Towel,” and “The Hat Bubble,” along with everything in between.

He also married Ashley (better known as “Buzzy”) a former high school classmate whom he took on a date while home from college in 2006. After grabbing dinner at California Dreaming in Duluth and laughing along to Little Miss Sunshine, the pair struck up a long conversation in Buzzy’s driveway. “We realized at that point, ‘We are very compatible, we get along really well,’” says McHugh. “We’d grown up very differently, we have very different personality types, but for whatever reason, we connected.”

By 2010, Buzzy would frequently join McHugh on the road while also operating Buzzy Craftery, a web service dedicated to providing home-spun goods of all kinds, and providing a healthy and loving dose of perspective. When he speaks of his goals as a pitcher, McHugh uses the first-person plural.

In late May of 2011, McHugh was struggling to the tune of a 6.31 ERA at Class A St. Lucis, when, manager Pedro Lopez called McHugh into his office after another tough outing and announced, contrary to the laws of reasonable expectations, that McHugh was headed to AA Binghamton for a spot start and maybe a stint in the bullpen. It just so happened that Binghamton had a doubleheader on the day McHugh was scheduled to make his next start, and his prior experience working as a starter and the bullpen made him a valuable commodity, enormous ERA notwithstanding.

One start turned into two, then three, then an indefinite number that eventually settled at 16 by the season’s end, the stint in the bullpen reduced to two spot long-relief efforts about seven weeks apart. In August, McHugh tossed six scoreless innings in the Red Sox Futures at Fenway game and felt, for the first time in his professional career, “like I belonged.” When all was said and done, McHugh had racked up eight wins at Binghamton and earned a spot in the Arizona Fall League, slow start at St. Lucie be damned.

After another posting a stellar 2.41 ERA in his first twelve appearances (all starts) with Binghamton in 2012, McHugh earned a promotion to AAA Buffalo and got another start at Fenway on August 18, where he shone once more, scattering five hits over seven scoreless innings in earning his second win for the Bisons. “It doesn’t really matter where you go,” says McHugh, playing down the significance of his encore at Fenway. “The talent is the most important factor, not the stadium you play in.”

V.

A few hours later and about 400 miles down I-95, the Mets eked out a 2-0 victory over the league-leading Washington Nationals for just their 11th win since the All-Star break. The victory represented a small bright spot for the reeling squad, which had raced out to a surprisingly strong first half thanks to heroic pitching from R.A. Dickey and Johan Santana and a scrappy approach at the plate that made them the third-best scoring offense in the National League by the break. However, the team quickly unraveled in mid-July, doomed by a rash of injuries, poor plate discipline and a nightmarish bullpen, to the point that even with their victory that Saturday evening, they remained nine games out of a playoff spot.

Following the win over the Nationals, things went from bad to worse, as the Mets returned home the following week and promptly lost three straight games to the Colorado Rockies, who had begun the series with a dismal 46-73 record and fielded a lineup that consisted of Carlos Gonzalez, Wilin Rosario and a host of players best described as “marginal.”

Greg Prince, a longtime fan who writes about the Mets for the popular blog “Faith and Fear in Flushing,” was among those who knew that even by the Mets’ standards for awfulness and heartbreak, this was bad.
“That was a really miserable week for the 2012 Mets,” remembers Prince, who attended the first two games of the series. “They played about as disinterested a brand of baseball as I’ve ever seen them play, and I’ve been watching them for more than 40 years.”

After watching Wednesday’s loss on his television, Prince was back at the ballpark on Thursday afternoon for his 111th game at Citi Field since the park opened in 2009, displaying the streak of pseudo-sadomasochism that often defines Mets fans. As Prince arrived with a friend at his seats in the back of Section 131, near the foul pole in left field, he did feel some small cause for optimism.

“I expected a little excitement, I guess. Because it’s fun to watch a guy make his major league debut,” says Prince.

VI.

That guy was Collin McHugh, who had arrived in New York the previous day via the MLB’s “super-convoluted” (as McHugh calls them) taxi squad rules, based on the probability that he would have to take an injured Santana’s place in the rotation. As had happened the previous year, his call-up was based at least as much on serendipity as performance: August 23, the date of Santana’s next scheduled start, was McHugh’s day to pitch.

McHugh spent Wednesday evening of the 22nd in a limbo of shifting hotels and confused communication with Buzzy, who was among those trying to decide whether she should risk it and fly up. Eventually, he got the word that he would definitely be starting and went to sleep knowing that he would toe the Citi Field rubber the next afternoon.

He rose early that Thursday morning and lingered over breakfast with Buzzy before heading to the ballpark around 10:00 a.m. There, McHugh quickly discovered one of the many perks of his newfound status as a big leaguer, one that still amazes him today.

“You have grown men and grown women cooking food for you every day and it’s just incredible,” says McHugh. “I don’t know how anybody could ever complain, even if the food is not top-notch; you have people who, their job is to cook for you. I don’t know that I’ll ever get over that.”

As McHugh went into his pregame routine an hour before the scheduled 1:10 p.m. start, 15 of his closest friends and family—Scott and Teresa, two of his three siblings, Buzzy, Cantrell (who needed an unexpected refund on his homeowner’s insurance to afford the pre-dawn flight to New York), his boss from Boosterthon, his agent, and a few others—filed into the park to watch the unathletic kid who barely scraped his way onto the JV team in 8th grade make his major-league debut. Back in Georgia, the entire Berry Vikings roster, few of whom had actually played with McHugh, piled into Beasley’s home to watch the action unfold on television. And out in left field, Greg Prince made conversation and occasionally fretted about his poor view of the man on the mound.

But by the time McHugh fanned LeMahieu for his seventh strikeout to end the fifth, Prince realized that he was watching a special performance, “maybe unprecedented in some fashion.”

Unlike so many of those watching, McHugh refused to consider the implications of his performance as the game went on and the strikeouts piled up. “When you’re in the middle of it, you just want to ride it: you’re like, ‘I don’t want to question it, I don’t want to know why it’s happening, but I’m just gonna ride it out,’” explains McHugh, who primarily utilized a live fastball that topped out at 93 mph and a biting curve that frequently clocked in the 60s and produced three swinging strikeouts.

Meanwhile, the Mets, in the midst of an historic hitting slump, appeared to be doing everything within their power not to score. In the second inning, Ruben Tejada looped an apparent single to center with one man out and Mike Baxter on first—except Baxter misread the play and was cut down at second for an embarrassingly rare 8-6 force play. The following inning, hotshot rookie Jordany Valdespin led off with a single and was promptly thrown out trying to steal second. And in the seventh, Valdespin failed to bunt Ronny Cedeño into scoring position after Cedeño grounded a base knock just past short while pinch-hitting for McHugh.

“It just added to the frustration,” says Prince. “They were getting this fantastic first-time pitching performance, and we may not win. He may not get a win.”

With McHugh out of the game, manager Terry Collins called on Bobby Parnell to keep the game scoreless. On Parnell’s second pitch, Tyler Colvin drilled a playable line drive at Valdespin in center field. Valdespin, a middle infielder in the minors, took three bounding steps towards second base before realizing the ball was over his head; by the time it reached the infield once more, Colvin was coming out of his slide at third. Five pitches later, Chris Nelson grounded a hanging 0-2 curveball past an in-on-the-grass Tejada for what would prove to be the game’s only run, leaving McHugh with a no-decision and a most bittersweet experience.

“After the game, you’re in the locker room trying to balance those emotions,” says McHugh. “You’re like: ‘I’m glad I threw the ball well, but these guys have been battling their asses off all year and just can’t seem to quite put it together,’—it’s tough for them, because they’ve been here the whole time, and they’ve got a more full context and full perspective of what a game like this actually means.”

VII.

If the previous 24 hours had ranked among McHugh’s finest (and most unrewarded) as a pitcher, the next 24 certainly came nowhere near the new standard. In the aftermath of McHugh’s brilliant start, local radio host Mike Francesa began his afternoon talk show following the game with a furious, guttural scream-filled ten-minute explosion in which he condemned anything and everything Mets, including McHugh (who has not heard the broadcast).

“When was the last time the Mets talked about McHugh before yesterday?,” asked Francesa, overdone righteous anger winning out over the languid intonations that normally dominate his speech pattern. “Now today [they say] he did something that hasn’t been done since Juan Marichal…he’s facing a triple-A lineup! You forget one thing: they just got swept by a team that came in at 46-73.”

It was guilt by association, a logical fallacy nonetheless by and large accepted by listeners driven mad by the team’s listless play.

The following morning, McHugh was doing his routine post-start jog around a big-league stadium for the first time in his career when, as he passed by the dugout, Collins called him into his office. Confused, McHugh followed his manager and discovered an assemblage that included pitching coach Dan Warthen and several other members of the Mets brass. “Whenever a coach and the manager and front office people get together, you kind of assume the worst,” remembers McHugh.

He can recall the general thrust of the conversation: We love what you showed us yesterday. We need to make room for Jeremy Hefner to come off of paternity leave. You’ll be back in 10 days. This is what’s best for you. For the first time in his career, after the best game of his life, Collin McHugh was being demoted.

VIII.

McHugh’s Rotoworld page tells the story of his September:

• Mon, Sep 3: Collin McHugh takes loss to Cardinals
• Mon, Sep 10: McHugh blasted in loss to Nationals
• Tue, Sep 25: Collin McHugh hammered in loss to Pirates
• Wed, Sep 26: Collins believes McHugh is ‘out of gas’

McHugh did indeed return to the bigs as promised and made his next start, the first of seven more appearances, on Labor Day against the playoff-bound Cardinals. The St. Louis game would be the last time he would pitch on his usual schedule, the Mets’ recent concern for his routine apparently lost among the Merry-Go-Round of prospects that needed to gobble up those precious, useless September innings.

McHugh insists that his struggles were due to a combination of factors. “Ultimately what it comes down to is: I didn’t execute very well in a lot of those outings,” says McHugh. “You can chalk it up to, I was 35 innings more than I had been the year before, I was throwing out of the ‘pen for a while, which I hadn’t done in a couple years and don’t have very much experience doing. Or you could chalk it up to: I was just a little bit out of gas, you know, my mechanics were getting a little bit funky, [I was] battling a little bit of arm fatigue and all that combined—it just turned into kind of a string of rough outings in a row.

“I talked to Terry and I talked to Dan on a daily basis,” continues McHugh, “just kind of like, ‘Hey, what do you see, what do I need to work on?’ We watched video, we worked mechanically, and I think it kind of was their observation that not a whole lot’s changing, it looks like he’s just kind of running out of gas towards the end.”

IX.

The end, at least for now, came on October 2, 2012 in Game 161 of a lost season, when McHugh was called upon to preserve a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the 11th against the equally moribund Miami Marlins. On his first pitch he gave up a triple to ex-Met Jose Reyes, forcing him to intentionally walk the bases full. With one out, Donovan Solano poked a slow ground ball past second base to drive in Reyes. It would prove to be the final desultory loss of the season for the Mets, and the fourth of McHugh’s still-winless major league career.

It was a game filled with heartwarming storylines: The return of Adam Greenberg, hit on the head by the first pitch of his big-league debut, to the majors after seven years away. The redemption of Solano, who struck out in his first four at-bats. The quest for win number 21 by the oft-discarded knuckler Dickey.

And then there was Collin McHugh, who stoically walked off the field with an expression indistinguishable from the one he wore when walking off the mound on that briefly glorious (or maybe gloriously brief) afternoon in Flushing.

It may be the last pitch he ever throws for the Mets, especially given the team’s recent acquisitions of the reliable Shaun Marcum to fill the temporary gap in their starting rotation and of Scott Atchison and LaTroy Hawkins to provide late-inning right-handed relief. So while McHugh has, for the first time in his life, an invite to big-league camp, it’s tough to say what that will bring beyond a shot at eating up innings out of the bullpen in the most lopsided games.

In the meantime, he works out. He throws. He visits Beasley and the rest of the Vikings at Berry, checks in at Boosterthon. He tweets. He spends time with Buzzy and his family.

He waits.

X.

McHugh spent a month this offseason reading Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment and enjoyed it even as he found it “very bleak” and “kind of depressing” at times. He went to see the film Les Misérables and thought it was fabulous. Both offer tales of redemption, of second chances.

“For me,” confides McHugh, “when I see something like that, it just reminds me of my faith, of what Jesus did for me, and I’m thinking, ‘Gosh, I’m so thankful. I’m so thankful that I don’t have to live this,”—he pauses for a moment, as if searching for the right word—“subsistence life where you’re trying to get through and [do] whatever you can to make it to the next day, and make it to the next day—there is a hope, a second chance.’”

“I’m kind of a sucker for happy endings and for a nice little clean wrap-up to stories,” finishes McHugh.
There is no guarantee that McHugh’s story will have such an ending. About all that is certain is that, in less than a week’s time, he’ll be on a pitching mound in St. Lucie once more, throwing 91-mile-per-hour four-seamers that tail away from lefties.

He might yield a double, as he did to Charlie Blackmon. He might earn a swing and a miss, as he did against pretty much every other Rockie for the next seven innings.

Either way, he will get the ball back, toe the rubber once more and peer in for the sign like nothing happened. He will do this until—well, who can really say?

“Every step along the way, there has been every reason that I should not be playing anymore,” says McHugh.

Yet here he is…

XI.

This Fan Shot was contributed by Elliot Chester. Have something you want to say about the Mets? Share your opinions with over 15 thousand Mets fans who read this site daily. Send your Fan Shot to GetMetsmerized@aol.com. Or ask us about becoming a regular contributor.

But then something happened.  After Mike Pelfrey won a stunning 5-0 decision in Colorado, the Mets took one game out of three with the mighty Cardinals — a marathon 20-inning contest in which Jerry Manuel clearly out-managed Tony LaRussa (with Pelfrey coming in to earn the save two days after his gem).  And then things really turned when the team brought up young phenom Ike Davis.  They took 3 of 4 from the Cubs, swept the Braves, and last night won the first two of three against the Dodgers.  So as we speak, the Mets are 12-9 and in first place, having jumped from last to first in that two-week span.

I’m not quite sure what to say.  I am baffled by this awesome start….incredibly happy, but baffled.  And it’s even more baffling to look at how the Mets are winning.  You might remember that the media, fans, and pundits from both the media base and fan base were throwing imaginary rocks at Minaya for not bolstering a weak starting rotation.  Yet, here we are 21 games in and the Mets have a 3.11 ERA, third-best in the majors.  And while they lead the league in walks with 106, they also lead in strikeouts with 170….almost one per inning!  That’s pretty amazing.

Then you look at the other side–the batting, which was considered to be more of a strength this season and at worst an improvement over 2009.  But the Mets are hitting just .237, tied for fourth worst in the majors, and have only 14 home runs, also ranking near the bottom.  By contrast, the Blue Jays lead the league with 28 homers. Of those 14, David Wright, Jeff Francoeur and Rod Barajas each have 3, and no one else has more than one.  That’s a bit troubling, but then again it’s only April and power numbers usually spike in the summer months.

So we can’t do anything now but enjoy this ride while it lasts.  And hopefully the team will continue to find ways to win as they have the last 10 days or so, and the winning ways will last for several months.

Watch football.  Well, I was gonna do that anyway, but with the Mets in free-fall, the NFL and college football seasons cannot start soon enough.

Play more golf, and hang around the clubhouse for a few beers.  No need to rush home because the Mets are on TV.

Pay closer attention to reality shows like “More To Love,” because there is nothing left to love about this Mets team.

Take the wife and kid out for ice cream after dinner, knowing that we can take our time and, if we decide to turn the game on in the fifth inning, we won’t care that the Mets are already trailing 8-2.

Not care that Fox blacks out all other Saturday afternoon games, forcing those of us in the South to watch the Braves or Cardinals.  Not care because I’d almost rather watch those teams right now. 

We can peruse the NL Standings each morning, wondering if our Mets will do the unthinkable and let the Nationals catch them from behind. 

Cut grass.  Rake leaves.  Paint the house.  Clean the gutters.  When all of that seems like more fun than watching the Mets, you know the season is over before it’s over. 

Eat cheeseburgers and drink milk shakes, getting a head start on bulking up for the winter months. 

Call my dad and commiserate about the team he brought me up watching, then turn our attention to the Giants.

Finally, we can do the one thing we have no choice but to do, and it pains me to say this in August.  Yes, we can “wait ‘till next season.”

But they don’t.  The Mets are 42-45, and there have been some encouraging peaks of sunshine through all this gloom and doom.  Remember in early May when we won seven in a row, sweeping short series against Philly and Atlanta and then a three-game set against Pittsburgh?  And remember some of those gems Johan pitched early in the season?  And taking two out of three against Boston?  And most recently, winning the last two games before the break as newcomer Jeff Francoeur ignited the team?  Those are things to look back on and try to find a spark from.

Of course, there is so much negative to look back on, too.  I remember writing about a critical stretch of games leading up to the break that had the Mets facing the Phillies, Yankees, Orioles, Rays, Cards, Yankees again, Brewers, Phillies again, Dodgers and Reds.  Well, the Mets went 12-20 in that span, a .375 winning percentage in ten series with at least eight opponents that are playoff contenders.  Very bleak indeed, but if you care to drink the Kool-aid being served by Omar Minaya and Jerry Manuel, the team is due for a rebound once guys like Reyes and Delgado and Beltran and Putz (and Billy Wagner) return. 

I’m not holding my breath, and I think this team is going to remain mired in mediocrity this season, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they made some noise in the division, either.  After all, as we’ve seen from the other side, a 6.5 game lead is not insurmountable with even two weeks left to play—and we’ve got almost three months to play.  Let’s go Mets!

Before you start throwing things at me, hear me out.  I know we’re only a few games out of first place in a suddenly mediocre division, but it’s almost looking like we WILL have to win the division to make the playoffs, because in the wild card race, the Mets are looking up at the Marlins, Cardinals, Cubs, Giants and Rockies.  And let’s face it, we are not better than the Phillies.  Two September collapses have given way to a season that’s a few losses away from being a complete disaster; K-Rod and Putz being the only real moves Omar Minaya made this past winter.  What I’m saying is, it doesn’t look like this group is going to get it done, no matter who we have coming off the disabled list. 

This Mets team is getting old, and we’re getting old waiting for them to bring us another championship, or even playoff appearance. 

Is it really all that extreme to start thinking like those Marlins teams that had fire sales?  What kind of prospects can we get for Santana, Wright, Beltran, Reyes, Church, Castillo, Sheffield, Putz and even K-Rod?  How much worse can we do by trotting out Martinez, Murphy, Evans and Santos every day? 

I’m just sick of the overpriced and underachieving product this team puts on the field.  Injuries are a fact of life, but little league blunders night after night by a major league team shouldn’t be.

So while Mets fan talk has been centered around whether or not they can keep pace with the Phillies or with whoever is leading the wild card race (the Cardinals right now), or our rapidly growing disabled list, or possible trade rumors, I’d like to offer a diversion: What will happen first in Mets’ history—a player leading the league in batting for a single season, or one of our pitchers throwing a no-hitter?

Neither has happened yet, but the idea for this column crossed my mind when an announcer brought up the fact that third baseman David Wright is currently the National League’s leading hitter (.365 as of today), and that no Mets’ player has ever led the league in batting for an entire season.  And as we’re all painfully aware, we’ve only experienced no-hitters from the batting side.  (I think as a kid I cried both when San Diego’s Leron Lee broke up one of Tom Seaver’s many no-hit bids, and when the Giants’ Ed Halicki no-hit the Mets). 

I have to say that, for as freaky as it is that the Florida Marlins have four no-hitters in less than 17 seasons of existence, and the Mets have zero in almost 50 years, I think it will happen for a Mets pitcher before someone leads the league in batting.  There now, I hope I didn’t curse it.  Further, I see Johan Santana as the guy to take us fans to that uncharted promised land (yeah, I know, not after these last two outings, but he’s still Johan Freaking Santana).  No offense to David Wright, but he’s a .314 career hitter who, despite his ridiculous lack of power (he’s on pace for ELEVEN homers), is having a career batting season.  I hope he keeps it up, but I just don’t see him leading the league this year or any other season. 

What do you all think?