So while taking a few minute break and clicking around, I came across an excellent website talking about how the Mets have had no no hitters in their 46 year history. The site updates every game and has a legitimate count of how many games the Mets have played without a no hitter (pretty cool that someone has the actual game count).

In any case, while clicking around nonohitter.com, I came across a very interesting fact. While it is common knowledge that the Mets, Rockies, Rays, and Padres have never had a no hitter, none of them hold the longest streak by a franchise without a no hitter. That record is actually held by the Philadelphia Phillies who went 57 seasons without a no hitter between 1907 and 1963.

Just another easy thing to use against those silly Phillies fans.
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According to numerous reports, Moises Alou could be back with the team as soon as this weekend. He went 3-3 in a rehab game over the weekend.

As you all know, he is recovering from a hernia suffered during Spring Training. We'll have to wait and see if he actually returns this weekend. Read More...

I know it’s hard to root for this team being how they are not even a .500 team so far and we are all still wondering if the effects of the 2007 collapse are with the team. However, there is something that’s been alarming. And no it’s not the Marlins and Royals in first place (yeah I know, wow). It’s the fact that some of you Mets fans decided to actually boo none other than Johan Santana at his last start on Saturday, who is widely considered the best pitcher in the game of baseball today.
Why did Mets fans do this? Well, there could be a few reasons for this.

1) Paranoia Paranoia Paranoia. What do I mean by this? Well let’s go through the high priced free agents or players required via trade who were supposed to save the Mets one way or another. I’ll just name a few because I know you are cringing reading this. Names such as Carlos Baerga, Roberto Alomar, Jeremy Burnitz (the 2nd time around), Bobby Bonilla. Ok I’ll stop. Names like this remind us of how a high priced free agent or traded pickup was supposed to save us, but ended up being a total joke. Granted, none of these guys were pitchers, but several of them were All-Stars at some point and were expected to be the same for the New York Metropolitans.

2) High entitled expectations. Since 1997 when the franchise “turned” the corner so to speak, we have expected the World Series crown. While the 99 teams and 2000 teams made runs, they fell short in the end leaving us for hope in the new century. However, since 2000 we have only made the playoffs once and we all know how that ended. Thus, when a favorite of ours fails, we get hard on them because we expect nothing but the best. Its almost the Yankee fan mentality which is a shame.

3) Perfection. While this leads off from my second point, we expect the big free agent names that are not going to be busts for us (Mike Piazza, Johan Santana, Pedro Martinez etc) to be perfect in every way. I am sure there are some people out there who booed Mike Piazza if he didn’t get the game winning hit every time out. Unfortunately, Johan is still human and we need to realize that even he (“our savior”) will have a few bad games.

So there you have it Mets fans. While some may want to sit there and boo when Johan doesn’t pitch 7 innings give up 2 runs on 5 hits. By no means am I condoning this behavior and in fact I am totally 100% against any type of booing for Johan. Johan shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same sentence as some of our free agent busts, but it was a straight up analogy. Hat tip to Global NYM member Mike Rossi for the writing ideas.

Oh and if some of you were wondering, Brian Bannister is 3-0 for the Kansas City Royals with an ERA under 2. Argh.

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Baseball is finally back! Its great to finally be able to say that as it has been a long off season full of rumors, injury reports and the like.

Judging on how the first 3 games went, it looks to me as if the Mets are taking this season much more seriously and are much more hungry out in the field. They are not expecting to be in first place and know that they must earn every win.

Reyes has seemingly forgotten about his horrible second half of 2007 and started off hitting .333 through 4 games along with David Wright and Carlos Beltran getting started quickly as well.

However, with the offense clicking, the Mets suffered a key injury with Pedro Martinez tweaking his hamstring and going on the disabled list. This was expected to happen sooner or later and hopefully this will be the only thing that Pedro will run into this year.

The next week will be a key time for the Mets as division play heats up with the Braves and the Phillies. I would hope the fire that we have seen with the Mets continues because we all know how the games with the Braves and Phillies could go. In my opinion, winning 4 of 6 games this early could set the tone very nicely for the Mets. The hitting will have to continue and the bullpen, even though Matt Wise already blew one game, will have to stay in tact and pitch to the best of their abilities.

Hopefully, with what we have seen so far, things will continue nicely.

Until next time...
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Kaufman’s Korner

Hello all and welcome to another edition of Kaufman’s Korner.

First, I would like to take the time to apologize for not writing since the day before Thanksgiving. I have been in the midst of graduating, moving, starting a job etc so I haven’t had the time, or urge to write. But now that I have settled in, I plan on writing a little bit more often.

In any case there are a lot of things to talk about. The Mets acquiring what many consider to be the best pitcher in baseball for a few high end prospects, some questions the team has going into the 2008 season, and a few basic predictions by yours truly as of this moment.

We all lived to talk about the Johan Santana saga. Nearly 6 weeks long, 20 trade proposals deep, rumor mill spinning more and more everyday, the Mets finally pulled off what many consider to be the biggest trade since Mike Piazza showed up in May of 1998. I think it is a great trade especially since the Mets got to hold onto what I believe are the top two prospects they have; Mike Pelfrey and Fernando Martinez. Pelfrey showed signs of coming around at the end of last year, and while Martinez hasn’t had an at bat above AA has one of the highest ceilings of any prospects in baseball. While I do believe that at least 2 of the prospects the Mets gave up will pan out to be solid ballplayers, the Mets did what they had to do to get a big name pitcher.

Johan Santana brings to the Mets 93 wins while just entering his prime, and has pitched at least 200 innings every season since becoming a fulltime starter. Pitching in the American League, he typically would win a minimum of 15 games a year while having an earned run average of around 3.50. Quite incredible considering that if you transfer that over to the National League-a typically weaker hitting league-you can possibly be looking at 18-20 wins with an earned run average at least a run lower. Imagine what that can do to the Mets record? These typical statistics not only make us say “Tom who?” but it takes a lot off a bullpen that you can expect to be worn down if Pedro Martinez throws a lot of pitches, Oliver Perez decides to not throw strikes, and El Duque is on vacation etc.

Now over the past few months Omar Minaya has made a few small moves before the big blockbuster of acquiring Johan Santana. He has signed Matt Wise, Ricardo Rincon, and Ruddy Lugo; all low risk high reward bullpen pitchers. Could these guys take the place of someone like Scott Schowenweis? That’d be amazing, yet doubtful. So while the rotation has a huge upgrade with Santana and a fully healthy (or so we think) Pedro Martinez at the top, the bullpen is still a question and could lead us to those antacid pills that we knew so well last year.

As far as the offense goes, we all know that Paul Lo Duca walked to the Nationals. So we acquired Brian Schneider to platoon with Ramon Castro at catcher; and Ryan Church to play everyday right field. I think Church will be a scrappy player who will give 110% in the field and at the plate. I see this trade panning out very nicely for the Mets, although another I question whether Ramon Castro can handle a full time catching schedule, and if Brian Schneider can hit .250. Other than that, we should see the same typical lineup, with hopefully more production from Carlos Delgado.

Now I will make a few basic predictions of what I would like to see happen.

1. Carlos Delgado will have a bounce back year. I don’t see Carlos Delgado having a year like last year, since his wrist was a major problem with his hitting last year. I believe he will fill in nicely at the number 5 spot and settle into the “secondary” RBI producer role well behind Beltran and Wright.

2. The bullpen will not lead Willie to talk about “Mama days”. I really hope this is true. If we can get a steady 7 innings out of our pitchers, give the ball to Heilman or Sanchez in the 8th inning, and then Wagner in the 9th, it will take a load off the middle relievers. Thank goodness Mota is gone.

3. Johan Santana will win 18-20 games. This is what this guy is getting paid to do. If he gets the run support, expect him to strikeout and set down a lot of lineups 1-2-3.

I hope you enjoyed reading this edition of Kaufman’s Korner. Until next time…
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Hello and welcome to another edition of Thursday Thoughts. This time it’s the Turkey day edition. I got a few things to comment on this week so lets get right to it.

GUILLERMO MOTA IS GONE! Hallelujah. One piece of crap out of our bullpen. In return we got Johnny Estrada who has trouble getting along with teammates and threw out a career low 8% of baserunners last year. He might not even be a Met come opening day depending on arbitration. But all I can say is that Mota is gone and its one less pitcher Willie’s gut can go to.



See ya Tommy G. While it was great having you for 5 years and you pitched some great games for us, that last game you pitched for us this season left us with a bitter taste in our mouths. You belong in Atlanta, but don’t expect to do too much being 42 years old. I hope we can hammer you and make you give up 8 runs in the first inning in one of your starts.


While the rumor mill continues I think the Mets need to sign 2 solid relievers and acquire a starter. Easier said than done. Id expect that at least 2 of our top prospects will be dealt for some type of pitcher that will help us out. Honestly I don’t know who, but Id expect the Mets to pull the trigger on a pitcher of some sort in some way.



Until next time..hope you all had a good turkey day



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After a few weeks of a layoff, I'm back with some Thursday Thoughts. There's been a few interesting tidbits to come out of Major League baseball over the last few days. Those topics include Arod, Torrealba, and our good friend Mr. Barry Bonds.

Torrealba:

First, the Mets have come to an agreement with Yorvit Torrealba, formerly of the Colorado Rockies, on a 3 year 15 million dollar deal. Being a Paul Lo Duca supporter, it hurts me to see the Mets not re-sign him. He was a vocal leader on this Mets club. It’s a shame the Mets didn’t want to bring him back but they had to do what they felt was necessary.

Torrealba is about equal in the amount of production that Paul Lo Duca would have brought to the table. Last year he hit .250 with 8 homeruns and 47 rbis. What does scare me though, is that he played in a career best 113 games last year, when normal catchers usually play 130-140 games. However, Ramon Castro has just signed a contract so that he and Torrealba will work as a platoon at the catcher position. I think the platoon will work out great, but I will still miss Lo Duca.

Arod:

Why the hell did he opt out? Jeez. I really thought he was going to leave the Yankees, but apparently they are going to work out a monster contract. Here is to more drama from him and hearing how he and Jeter don’t have sleepovers and whining about how he can’t hit in October.

Mr Barry Bonds

Finally indicted. Its about time. That guy has to be challenged on all his homeruns over the past 10 years. I really hope he goes into the hall of fame with that asterisk. It’s a shame what he’s done to baseball. I am not going to comment more, because I think we are all sick of talking about him.

Til next time..

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It was the day a lot of us were waiting for. We all knew that A-Rod had until 10 days after the World Series to “Opt out” of his huge contract and claim himself as a free agent. Well sure enough around 10:15 last night, conveniently in the middle of Game 4 of the World Series, everyone in the baseball world got word that it was true. Mr. Rodriguez is now a free agent.

With that being said, there has now been wide speculation on where he will go. Obviously there are very few teams who can afford a contract that he will be asking for, roughly 30 million a year for at least 7 years. Brian Cashman, General Manager of the New York Yankees, has repeatedly said that he will not negotiate a new deal with A-rod should he opt out of his current deal. Well, only that remains to be seen. Could it be the Cubs who play in a big market and looking to do anything at this point to snap the “Curse of the Billy goat”? Could it be the Red Sox who could let World Series MVP Mike Lowell go and decide that they want A-Rod instead? I can leave that thinking up to you, the reader. However, here are some reasons why the Mets will NOT have A-Rod on their team next year.

Number 1: The 24-1 effect. Remember what happened last time A-Rod was a free agent? He had outrageous demands which created a 24-1 effect. I doubt the Mets need anymore egos on this team being that they already had someone who had one of their worst seasons proclaim “Sometimes we are just so good, we get bored”.

Number 2: Money Money Money. With the new stadium coming and the Mets lacking PITCHING, I doubt the Mets want to throw a ton of money at one player. With Lo Duca, Castillo, amongst others, who are free agents, there are more important things to worry about than getting the best player in the game. Yes, he is the best player in the game and one of the best ever, but I am a firm believer that one player will not solve 5-6 issues.

Number 3: Let’s review what positions David Wright and Jose Reyes play. Third base and shortstop. Hmm. What positions has A-Rod played? Third base and Shortstop. Obviously, the left side of the Mets infield is taken up for the next 15 years (I sure as heck hope so). With that being said, David Wright did say during the season that he would “gladly move to Second Base” if A-Rod wanted to play for the Mets. With that being said, Dubs you are a nice guy, but Mets fans want you at Third Base, case closed.

So here you have it Mets fans, one perspective of how a Mets fan sees things. I know it will be a huge debate on our facebook group, and a quite interesting one to say the least. Needless to say, there isn’t much need, because A-Rod will not end up on the Mets next year, hell or high water.

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I dont have much to say other than:

1) Does anyone else not give two craps about Joe Torre? I certainly dont. Most Yankee fans probably dont realize they have had other managers.

2) Burgos is going to be gone all next season probably, but Sanchez might be back. That would be amazing

3) David Wright roots for good football schools..glad Rutgers is on that list Read More...

Nothing much has happened on the Mets front since their historic collapse two weeks ago. All the players went home for the winter, hopefully with a bitter taste in their mouth. I know we can talk about all the changes that should happen but nothing like that will start taking place until the free agent period starts, which is after the World Series.

I know my colleague Jersey Dan wrote a nice article on Tuesday, but I feel the need to comment on a few things he said the Mets should do. First off, Delgado is signed through next year so there is no way the Mets are going to dump him. Yes, he was downright awful at times this year. However, he still put together a 24 home run 87 RBI season. And this is a guy who was struggling all season! I will take that from a backup hitter anyway. Hopefully we can get one more year of the same, before Delgado goes sayonara.

Second off, as far as the second base position goes, I love Ruben Gotay. I think he was a decent pickup and has potential to play a few solid years everyday. However, he still needs to share the duties behind Luis Castillo. Castillo was a godsend for the Mets even with his bum knee playing in 50 of 56 games down the stretch. Castillo is only 32 (we think) and hopefully will re sign. Gotay can take the once or twice a week Castillo needs to rest his knee.

As far as the baseball that is being played right now, the Rockies have looked mightily impressive. They have tied the 1986 Mets for winning 18 out of 19 games. It’s a nice story considering they have never have made it to the NLCS. Skip Carey has been saying it’s the first time the Rockies have made the playoffs, but that is incorrect. They made it as a Wild Card team in 1995 and were promptly swept by eventual World Champions, the Atlanta Braves.

I do not support fans throwing anything onto the field; however, it’s nice to see that Arizona fans do care about their Diamondbacks. I know I was curious and looked up to see how much tickets were going for, and apparently they were as low as $20 for a ticket to last night’s game. It’s a shame I don’t have money to fly out and see a game because it would probably be cheaper to plan a vacation in Arizona then try to get a ticket in Cleveland or Boston. With that being said, if the Diamondbacks win the series and their fans don’t buy up all the tickets, look for half their stadium to be rooting against them considering their tickets are cheap and available.

The last thing that I can comment on is the Boston vs. Cleveland series. I am looking forward to two great pitching matchups in CC Sabathia vs. Josh Beckett and Fausto Carmona vs. Curt Schilling. Hopefully they can have a pitchers duel that becomes a classic similar to Pedro Martinez vs. Roger Clemens in 2003.
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Just a small town girl, livin in a lonely world
She took the midnight train goin anywhere
Just a city boy, born and raised in south detroit
He took the midnight train goin anywhere

A singer in a smokey room
A smell of wine and cheap perfume
For a smile they can share the night
It goes on and on and on and on

Strangers waiting, up and down the boulevard
Their shadows searching in the night
Streetlight people, living just to find emotion
Hiding, somewhere in the night

Working hard to get my fill,
Everybody wants a thrill
Payin anything to roll the dice,
Just one more time
Some will win, some will lose
Some were born to sing the blues
Oh, the movie never ends
It goes on and on and on and on

(chorus)

Dont stop believin
Hold on to the feelin
Streetlight people

Sums it up doesnt it. Don't stop believing. Read More...

It's very tough to write this week's article due to the fact that all Mets fans are dealing with the pressures of being a Mets fan right now. Most of us have probably bitten our nails down, broken out, maybe even pulled out some hair. So needless to say I am not going to post a rant of what the Mets need to do over the next 4 games or make any crazy predictions. I will just leave you with a few thoughts.

1. Believe. Was it over when the Mets were two down with 3 to play in 1999? No. Was it over with 2 outs and nobody on, down by 2 runs in the bottom of the 10th inning in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series? No. Was it over when the Mets were down 3-2 in the 15th inning of Game 5 of the NLCS in 1999? No. Its not over yet.

2. Root your hearts out for whoever is playing the Phillies. I know this is a given, but maybe if we all try to adopt the Braves(just for tonight), and the Nationals (just for the weekend) as favorite teams, we can make things easier on us because if they lose, we should take it just as hard as a Mets loss.

3. DO NOT I repeat DO NOT, deal with Yankees fans or Phillies fans this weekend. Especially Yankee fans. I know they clinched and all their fans probably just came out of the closet to celebrate after not watching a single game all year, but they will just make you want to punch the wall more. There is no reason to discuss baseball with fans of these two teams for the next 4 days.

4. Have fun with this. I know we are all serious Mets fans, and we'll all be upset if the Mets don't make it. But its a part of sports. You win some, you lose some, its just a game. Hopefully we can all wakeup Monday morning and know the Mets season starts up again on October 3rd, instead of the middle of February.
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For those who worried about the Mets choking, I do have a little bit of fresh air for you. While the lead is back to 2.5 games and the magic number is only 9, the recent losing streak does have all of us worried. With that being said, I'd like to introduce some facts about the last two world series champions, courtesy of mets blog.


In 2005, the White Sox led the AL Central by 10 games on September 7, like the Mets, this season, who led the Phillies by six on the same date.

The White Sox then lost 10 of 14, shrinking their lead to just one game over the Indians as late as Sept. 24.

The White Sox were World Champions just two weeks later.

Last season, the Cardinals were up seven games over the Astros for first place in the NL Central on Sept. 18.

The Cardinals lost 10 of their final 14 games, and won their division by just one game over the Astros.


As you are painfully aware, the Cardinals were World Champions just two weeks later.


So with that being said, I'm not guaranteeing that the Mets will follow suit and just miraculously recover, and I am not saying that the Mets will choke and not make the post season. What I am saying is that if the Mets can hang on, choking in September has been a blessing in disguise for some teams and been used as motivation. Hopefully the team could use it as motivation.
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We need one of those rants again Mr Beningo. I still believe, but we need someone or something to light the Mets fire again. Maybe you can help.

Ya gotta Believe.

Thank goodness we arent playing the Phillies anymore this season. Read More...

I don’t know what hit this team, but whatever it was, it hit at the right time. Whether they all drank that "secret stuff" (see Space jam) or Pedro showing up lit a fire under them, the Mets have played their best ball in September essentially running away with the division. Since September 1, the Mets are 9-2 spreading their division lead from 2 games to 7 games.

While I like what I see there are still some things I want to see happen before the postseason is official.

Number 1: Keep Schoeneweis, Sele or Mota off the post-season roster.

The reason I say one of the 3, is because these three are dead weight in the bullpen. Chances are Schoeneweis will not be kept off because he is lefty. However, the Mets need to put someone like Pelfrey in one of their spots. Mota, who Willie loves, will probably be on the post-season roster due to experience, likes to give us all heart attacks. Hopefully he’ll get a good streak when we need him. Sele seems like the odd man out .

Number 2: Put John Maine in the long man role replacing Sele.

With Pedro coming back the Mets are in a very good dilemma. They have 5 quality starting pitchers. Obviously, the odd man out will either be Oliver Perez or John Maine, both of whom have been very good over the season, but inconsistent at points. My personal take is that Maine should be the “long man” (cough Darren oliver) being that Oliver has shown that he can pitch 6 strong innings in a huge game (see game 7 last year). Not that I don’t have faith in Maine, but if Perez or someone else can only go 3 innings, Id love to see Maine pitch 4 innings.

Number 3: Rest the starters before the playoffs

David Wright and Jose Reyes have been iron horses and played the majority of the games this year. I want them to have a few days off before the playoffs begin. Also, with Alou, Castillo, and Beltran being fragile, they need a day or two off as well. I wouldn’t mind seeing a “B” team lineup out a few days in a row, once the Mets are officially in the playoffs.

I believe the Mets will go into the playoffs as the National League favorite. Not saying its going to be a cakewalk, but hopefully the Mets will use their head going in, so that they aren’t shortchanged on how far they go this year.

With this being said, let's beat the Phillies this weekend!
The photo is courtesy of Sal Iovine's Blog
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What a week it has been for us Mets fans. When I wrote my article last week, it probably was the lowest moment any of us have had since Yadier Molina decided to rip our hearts out in Game 7 last year.

When I wrote last week, the Mets had just come off four abusive losses in Philadelphia and only in first place by two games. I encouraged everyone to not lose faith and that this team would recover. I did not think this would occur against the Braves that following weekend but it did. The Mets ran off five straight wins after the last demoralizing loss in Philly before losing yesterday 7-0 with their “B” team out on the field.

The reason for the Mets coming together could be the rant that Joe Beningo did on Thursday after the game. The reason could have been some secret tirade in the clubhouse that none of us knows about. Personally, I think it was the realization that it was finally crunch time and that it was do or die time. They realized that they had to go into Atlanta hungry as a team and sure enough, things worked out quite nicely as we all know.

The magic number is now 19, the division lead is five games, and there are 23 games to go. I am anxiously awaiting October and playoff baseball. Nothing is set in stone yet, but things are looking good. With that being said, I will not be happy until the magic number is zero. Read More...

A shoutout goes out to Joe Beningo of WFAN who's long rant last week helped light a fire under the Mets. Since his long rant on Thursday, the Mets are 5-0 and are on their first 5 game winning streak of the season.

Maybe this is what the Mets needed all year, to hear someone go ballistic and rip the team apart to get them fired up. They know they are better than what they showed in Philadelphia, and they definitely have shown it since. Read More...

I was emailed this list by a good friend of mine, Craig D'Amico, who is a Phillies fan. Besides that, hes a good man. He got this list from thegoodphight and I thought I would share it with all of you.

0: Innings pitched by Antonio Alfonseca despite appearing in two games (3 hits, 3 walks, 4 earned runs, 0 outs).

1: Game-ending runner interference calls.

2: Walk-off wins for the Phils.

3: Stolen bases against Billy Wagner in the bottom of the ninth in game 4.

8: Walks issued by the Phillies pitchers in yesterday's win (compared to 2 strikeouts).

10.3: Consecutive scoreless innings by the Phils' bullpen (from Monday's appearance by Alfonseca through Geary's out to close out Lohse's disastrous fourth inning on Thursday).

11: Home runs by the Phils (compared to the Mets' 2).

14: Runs given up by the Mets' bullpen.

16: Outs by Jose Reyes (in only 15 at-bats, thanks to two caught stealings), compared to 1 hit and 3 walks. He had a .067/.222/.067 triple-slash line for the series.

17: Total bases for Pat Burrell (in 15 at-bats), good for a 1.133 SLG for the series.

41: Career home runs for Burrell against the Mets (4 in this series). This is the most by any player in the history of the Mets' franchise (Willie Mays is second at 40).

343: Mets' SLG for the series (compared with the Phils' .649).

421: Phils' OBP for the series (compared with the Mets' .340).

1070: Phils' OPS for the series (compared with the Mets' embarrassing .683).

2638: Days since Billy Wagner threw 45 or more pitches in one outing (the number he threw in yesterday's game). He's surpassed 45 only 5 times in his entire career (a career of 710 appearances).

And the most important one:

4: Wins by the Phillies which equal gut-wrenching losses by the Mets. Also, exact game time (in hours) of yesterday's most entertaining game. Also, outs recorded by Billy Wagner (when called upon to get 6).

These numbers show total domination by the Phillies. Its a shame that the series came out like this..but hopefully we will have the last laugh. Ya Gotta Believe.

Well it has certainly been an interesting few weeks for us Mets fans. We thought we picked up steam in the middle of the month after winning 6 of 7 from the lowly Nationals and Pirates. We all thought that momentum continued after showing some good heart against the Padres and Dodgers by splitting those 6 important games. But then that momentum has come crashing down.

The 4 games in Philly this week were critical to both the Mets and the Phillies. The Mets had a great chance to put the Phillies away and balloon their lead to 7 or 8 games. Sure enough that didn’t happen. The Mets made it out of Philadelphia alive, but barely. Now only with a 2 game lead, the Mets have opened the door for a pennant race down to the wire with the Phillies. It is especially hard because this weekend the Mets go into their “house of horrors”, Turner Field where statistically the Mets don’t win all too much.

If there is a silver lining in these 4 losses it could be that we have seen this before and had the Mets recover. If you think back to 1999, the Mets lost 7 games in a row from the 21st to the 28th against the Braves and the Phillies. Coming out of that late season swoon, the Mets were 1 ½ games out of the Wild card with 5 games to play. We all know what happened that season, with a little thanks to the Pirates, Rick Reed, and Brad Clontz.

So now its 2007, August 31st, and the Mets have a 2 game lead up on the Phillies. They have lost 5 games in a row and heading into a series where if they lose all 3 they could end up out of first place on Monday morning. However, I have more confidence in this team than in the 1999 team. Why? Because this is a very similar team to last year, and I feel our team is better than the 1999 team. That team certainly had some great veterans on it, but this team has more pizzazz in my opinion.

With this being said, its important that we do not lose faith in this team. Paul Lo Duca said it best on WFAN while on the radio show with Joe Beningo and Evan Roberts yesterday, ““You two guys, (laughing) you should be Philadelphia Phillies fans…You guys are the biggest pessimists I have ever seen. Why do you root for this team, why are you Mets fans if you don’t believe in us (laughing), you’re unbelievable (laughing). You lose two games in the season and your season is over…Believe in your team, guys… “

Paulie says it best. Ya Gotta Believe

Over the last week, the Mets have played better baseball with the offense showing consistency and fight until the final strike. However, as its been the trend, one thing goes for the better, and one thing goes for the worse.

A very strong point of the 2006 team was the bullpen that picked up for the somewhat weak rotation. This year, the rotation is stronger, but the bullpen is weaker. If one of our starters last year were unable to go we all knew that the combination of Oliver in long relief, Bradford in the 6^th and 7^th inning, Heilman in the 8^th, and Wagner in the 9^th would would be powerful. However, this year if anyone besides Heilman (yes I am a Heilman fan, hes a 2^nd half pitcher), Wagner, or Feliciano comes in, we all hold our breath.

However, I am a firm believer that a super offense can bail out a bullpen. While the bullpen has blown games and the offense hasn’t been able to always bail them out, I believe even if the bullpen gives up 2 runs, the Mets can make a comeback. Also, since the offense shows fights, it eventually could trickle the momentum down to the bullpen. This wasnt always true throughout this season, but over the last 2 weeks this is something thats changed for the better.

So there you are Mets fans. While we all cringe on the bullpen at points that are crucial, our offense has what it takes to bail us out. It should be an interesting end of the season, to say the least.