Heading into the All-Star Break, the Mets find themselves in a good position. At 48-40, they are 4 games back of the NL East leading Atlanta Braves and a game back of the Wild Card leading Colorado Rockies. A 2-4 homestand to conclude the first half against NL contenders Cincinnati & Atlanta was a bit of a setback; but those two wins were both Johan Santana shutouts. The team is playing better than what most of the prognosticators had them at the beginning of the season (80-82) and that's been aided by some players who have produced more than we could have imagined. With that being said:

MVP: David Wright. This is a no-brainer...even though I read on some boards that it should be Angel Pagan. Wright has gotten a lot of flack for his strikeouts (his 97 is 6th most in MLB) but that easily balances out with his 102 hits, .314 BA/.392 OBP/.924 OPS, 14 HR/65 RBI/15 SB performance. The reigning NL Player of the Month has been integral in the team's "surprising" first half success and has done a superb job covering for rookie Ike Davis who bats behind him- giving Ike more pitches to hit.

MIP (most improved player): Angel Pagan. Pagan at times had shown flashes of brilliance; but that was overshadowed by consistent injuries & boneheaded decision making. However he has for the most part remained healthy, played much smarter baseball and is having by far the best year of his MLB career- far exceeding expectations filling in for Carlos Beltran at centerfield. Nobody knows if he will be able to keep with his .315 BA/.372 OBP/6 HR/40 RBI/19 SB performance because he hasn't played more than 88 games in a season but right now with Beltran returning; he suddenly finds himself no longer being the guy many considered to be the odd-man out in the OF platoon. He's also the reason why the Gary Matthews Jr. experiment bombed.

Blessing in Disguise: Daniel Murphy's knee injuries. Slated to be the Mets' opening day starter in 2010 at 1st base, Murphy twisted his knee in Spring Training on a run-down play. This forced Jerry Manuel to go with a platoon of Mike Jacobs and Fernando Tatis at first base to begin the season. With that being a fail for the ages- Ike Davis was called up from Triple-A Buffalo and while he was slated as the 1st baseman of the future; we didn't expect him to be the 1st baseman of the now. While rehabbing from the twisted knee, Murphy re-injured it and has been shelved for the rest of this season. It was a good run but with the way Davis has been playing; Murphy's time as a starter on the Mets are likely to be over even when he does return next season.

Most Important Resurgence: Mike Pelfrey. After a disappointing campaign last year in which he went 10-12 with a 5.03 ERA/1.51 WHIP/.289 BAA, I personally thought to myself that this young gun NEEDED to find himself in 2010 because it had been apparent that most of the younger pitchers around his age (Lincecum, Gallardo among others) had done so. Well, outside of the final three starts of the first half Pelfrey has answered the call. He already has equaled his 2009 win total and even has a save to his record in the 20 inning marathon in St. Louis. He has also lowered his ERA significantly (3.58) although his WHIP (1.44) and BAA (.276) are still causes of concern heading into the 2nd half. Still though, when the Mets needed to stop the bleeding, Pelfrey was there as the band-aid with 7 of his wins coming after a Mets loss.

Guy to Come Out of Nowhere: R.A. Dickey. With the Mexican Titanic (Oliver Perez) and John Maine ineffective prior to being placed on the DL, the 35 year old journeyman was recalled from Triple-A Buffalo and has been way more effective than anyone could have imagined. Mixing in one of the hardest knuckleballers ever seen in MLB with a mid-80s fastball has worked wonders for him, befuddling hitters to the tune of 6-2 with a 2.77 ERA/1.31 WHIP/.263 BAA. Everyone is wondering if and when the other shoe is going to drop...but that doubt decreases after every start. With him and Jonathon Niese holding down the back of the rotation admirably; the Mets would find themselves in boiling water without these two but particularly without Dickey's efforts.

If there's anything else I left out or if you have differing opinions, lemme hear em. And so on.