If you would have told me that the Mets would be in second place at the beginning of June, I probably would have believed you. If you had told me we’d be in second place without Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgado and with Wilson Valdez and Fernando Martinez, I probably would have laughed in your face. If you would have said that 40-year-old Gary Sheffield would be batting clean-up, I wouldn’t have believed that either. And if you said that Bobby Parnell would be your go-to 8th inning guy….yeah, you get the picture.

The Mets are hurting right now, with John Maine being the latest to bite the dust. The bright side of Maine’s placement on the disabled list is that we didn’t wait 12 days, a la Jose Reyes. Instead of him potentially having 1 or 2 bad starts, the Mets can now give someone like Fernando Nieve or Nelson Figueroa a chance.

Even with eight players on the disabled list (at the latest count), the Mets are finding ways to get it done (most of the time). It’s easy to get frustrated with the B-Mets because we’re down two starters, a power bat, etc., etc. When I found myself longing for the days of health but a legitmately bad team, I knew we were in dire straights.

We’re only four games out of the division race and it’s the beginning of June. We could be like the Nationals, who may already be pondering next year’s first overall draft pick. We’re still in the race and the great thing about baseball is that we could go on a 10-game run and be in first place.

We face the Yankees tonight at (New) Yankee Stadium. Livan Hernandez, who I truly think is underappreciated, is on the hill tonight. The Mets are 14-6 in series openers, including an 8-1 record on Fridays. David Wright and Carlos Beltran are absolutely on fire. I would love to have at least Delgado back to give us another power bat, but I’d rather not rush him. I wish Jerry would play Daniel Murphy; if Murph’s just going to keep the bench warm, then I’d rather see him in the minors, where he’s gonna be able to play every day and become a better player.

The Mets are going to be healthy again one day (hopefully soon). But for right now, I think the B-Mets are doing an okay job, even with this last series loss. So change that ya gotta bereave to a ya gotta believe!

LGM-YGB