So Jason Bay finally decides to sign with the Mets for a deal that is 4 years and averages around 16 mil/season. And I ain't mad about it. I'm one of those who actually preferred getting Bay over Matt Holliday because he would be the cheaper option and while he hits for a lower average; everything else is about the same. Some of the positives I take from this move:

1) The OF is now set with him, Beltran and Francoeur. Last year in Boston, Bay did have a perfect fielding percentage and recorded 15 assists. Now yes, Citi is a much bigger LF than Fenway is, but this will certainly be an improvement over the adventures of Daniel Murphy or Angel Pagan out there defensively.

2) He's a legit clean-up guy that we can insert right in-between Beltran & Wright. Placing back Wright at his natural #5 slot will allow him to do what he does best, and that's to drive runs as opposed to feeling forced to get everything all at once. Bay doesn't hit for the best average (career .280) but adding someone who can get you 25-30 HR, 100-105 RBI and a career .376 OBP is what the doctor ordered.

3) I know this is simply an intangible, but Bay thrived under the pressure for playing for a big-market team for a year plus out in Boston...so that should be no problem for him.

4) While this isn't solely about Bay...to those who talk about players who are afraid to play 81 home games at Citifield remember the only reason why we were last in HRs last year is BECAUSE OF THE TEAM WE WERE FORCED TO FIELD. Did it affect the Phillies, Marlins, Braves, etc? No. How about Mark Reynolds, who decided to have a personal home run derby here? No.

The best part about this is that all the pressure is gonna be on the Phillies now to deliver as being the heavy favorites to not only win the division, but the NL as a whole. The Mets if they remain healthy this year, get Pelfrey & Ollie's heads right and continue our strong bullpen pitching from last year can keep up easily. Not making too many changes in the roster this year might actually be a positive, as there is a better chance to build team chemistry which has been lacking the past few years. Now we need a 1B (I'm with the LaRoche idea 100%) and we should be fine. Read More...

99 Games into the 2008 season, your 2008 New York Mets are tied with the Philadelphia Phillies at 53-46 for first place in the NL East. It appears all the pre-season talk about whose the "team to beat" and the return of the "Turnpike Series" rivalry is finally panning out and living up to the hype.

On Tuesday the Mets will come home to Shea and play a 4 game set with the Phils, in what may be one of the most important series' of the year thus far.

The Mets are 7-3 vs the Phillies this season.

by the way... Philly Sucks Read More...

If the Mets can finish out the season 6-4, the Phillies will have to go 7-2 just to tie us for the division lead. Read More...

As the old saying goes, to make the playoffs, all you have to do is play .500 ball against your division rivals, and beat up on the second division teams. The Mets will need to use this lesson the next week and a half.

After a disappointing series loss to the division rival Atlanta Braves, the Mets will spend the next three series facing three of the worst teams in the National League with a series at Shea against the Marlins, before traveling to Pittsburgh to face the Pirates and to Washington to face the Nationals.

It is incredibly important that the Mets (for lack of a better word) "beat up" on these pathetic teams, in order to get back to winning and opening up their minuscule 3 game lead over the Philadelphia Phillies. This is especially important with the Phillies and Braves playing each other this weekend.

The Mets have to win at least 6 of the 9 games in this set of bad teams, in order to maintain a safe lead in the NL East for the immediate future. This should be easily doable for the Mets despite their heartbreaking loss to the Marlins in the opener of the series. With the return of Carlos Beltran, the Mets lineup is finally back to full strength, and should have a series of bad starting pitchers to face over the next 8 games.

The Mets still have 7 games remaining with the Phillies, and 6 games remaining with the Braves, so every win from here on out (including those against the second rate teams) will be crucial. Read More...

It's official ladies and gentlemen; Braves fans have reached the level of Yankees fans when it comes to living in the past. The problem is, Braves fans are just cheap Yankee fan knock offs when it comes to living in the past.

As many of us fellow Mets fans know, the fans of the New York Yankees are notorious for living in the past. No matter how much better we are in the standings then them, or how many times the Yankees get swept by the Rockies, Yankee fans will come back with the same proverbial excuse: 26.

Well fear not fellow Mets fans, because now our other favorite team to hate, the Atlanta Braves are pulling the same garbage. How, you might ask, can the Braves, a team that has won a mere three World Series titles in its 125 plus year existence pull of a stunt like this? Well my fiddle/steel player in my country band is a Braves fan, and he owns a shirt that just irks me to no end. Apparently the Braves now make shirts that brag about how they won 14 straight division titles. Now don’t get me wrong, 14 straight division titles is highly impressive, but is it something you shouldn’t be bragging about when you only have one World Series to show for it. At least Yankee fans are bragging about winning the World Series, at least they have some validity, but Braves fans are bragging about winning a measly division title. Not just any division title though, but the National League East. Let’s face it, save for the Mets and Marlins being good a couple of years, the NL East was a cakewalk. Look at the Braves playoff statistics over the years of their division run:

1991: Lost to Twins in WS
1992: Lost to Blue Jays in WS
1993: Lost to Phillies in NLCS
1994: Strike
1995: Won World Series over Indians
1996: Lost to Yankees in WS
1997: Lost to Marlins in NLCS
1998: Lost to Padres in NLCS
1999: Lost to Yankees in WS
2000: Lost to Cardinals in NLDS
2001: Lost to Diamondbacks in NLCS
2002: Lost to Giants in NLDS
2003: Lost to Cubs in NLDS
2004: Lost to Astros in NLDS
2005: Lost to Astros in NLDS
2006: Bitchsmacked by the Mets in regular season

In the glory years of Maddux, Smoltz, Glavine, and Avery the Braves were a force to be reckoned with. But in this decade, the Braves division titles were basically a waste of a playoff spot. Yet, Braves fans (who don’t even attend their teams playoff games) have this need to rub the number fourteen in my face. Well I always give them this stat back. Since the Mets existence, we have won more World Series titles than the Braves, only one less pennant, and we have each beaten each other once in the NLCS. I think those stats line up very well in the Mets favor over all, and it basically renders the Braves obsession with the number 14 useless.

JD
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