Congrats are in order

First, and most importantly, for the team for a big series win in the desert. Second, congrats to Carlos Delgado for passing Juan Gonzalez for the most career home runs for a Dominican born player. I've bashed Carlos before, but I would believe this is an important accomplishment for him. Or maybe it isn't. Either way, congrats Carlos, you've earned it. Back to the team...

This feels like a huge series for the Mets. Considering the fact that they haven't lost a game in Arizona in three years (unless Pelfrey pitches), this should be par for the course. But it isn't. This is a little more special.

Especially when you consider the pitchers they faced were 14-1 heading into the series. The team had only lost 8 games in April, and they hadn't lost a series since their opening games in Cincinnati. This is a team that had lost 3 games at home all season before the Mets beat them twice.
This series was awesome for our team. And even though the Mets lost Saturday, they scored 4 runs against a pitcher who had given up 7 runs total in his last 5 starts. This is a promising sign.

The Mets head to Dodger stadium for their next series, to face another good team. Oliver Perez takes the mound Monday against Chad Billingsley. I'm hoping Ollie gives us one of those outings that are the exact opposite of his last outing. The great starts that make last week's episode even more frustrating because he shows us his potential greatness.

I'm hoping he steps up because another series win out west would be great. After that the Mets come home to face the Reds and Nationals, both of whom are bringing up the rear in their divisions. Entering that stretch with some momentum could allow the Mets to really take a head of steam into the Yankees and Braves series that follow.

You know, the kind of roll we've been waiting over a year for.

Well that was ugly

Whats going on Big Pelf? Remember earlier in the season when I called him a stopper? I did. I may have spoken too soon.

I don't know what's going on with Pelfrey. Watching my first full game since the last FOX game, it didn't look good. I turned it off to run to the store after the 5th, and missed the only good part of the game. Not a good Saturday afternoon for the Mets.

The main problem with Pelfrey is he's trying to get cute again. Trying to nibble on the corners again. The problem is he isn't that kind of pitcher. Mark Grace (who forgot to wear his Diamondbacks hat today) put it best when he said "You got that 97 mph fastball throw it. I wouldn't be messing around with a changeup, I'd put that right in my back pocket."

This comment was made during the first of the two walks, right after the Mets had taken a 1 run lead. Nothing is worse than walks, especially two leading off an inning. It's hard to come back from that. Pelf needs to go back to throwing the heat and having his pitches put in play, instead of trying to strike guys out on the corners. You're not Tom Glavine, take advantage of it.

All in all, this was a bad loss. However, Augie Ojeda isn't going to drive in 6 runs every game, and with Johan on the mound in a Billy Fuccillo game tomorrow, we should bounce back to take the series.

And a series win over a good D-Backs team would be more than huge. It would be humongous. Lets Go Mets.

What is going on...

with the fans this year. I've talked about fans once this year already, but I want to focus on Mets fans now. More importantly, I want to offer my theory on why we are so disgruntled.

Here is what I think. We all remember 2006. It was fantastic. Carlos Beltran bounced back from a disappointing season. Pedro was pitching well until he was hurt. Wright and Reyes took huge steps forward. Cliff Floyd was still around. Duaner was lights out. Delgado was exactly what we needed him to be. Everything felt right. The team had that certain something about them.

Fast forward to 2007. Everything was flowing along rather nicely. Division lead in May. Games up fluctuated for a while, but seemed to be steady around 6 or 7. To quote Matchbox Twenty, there's an awful lot of breathing room, but I can hardly move.

This is how I felt, and other Mets fans around me felt. We were pleased, but not overly confident. I discussed this with a friend, and we both felt like things felt different in '07 than they did in '06. This discussion took place before the end of the school year in early May. We could see something bad coming, but we didn't imagine it to be this bad.

The acquisition of Johan Santana was supposed to make this go away. That bitter taste from 2007. And it did for awhile. We as fans were perfectly happy during the offseason, and ready for March 31st to arrive. When it did, it was everything we expected. Big win over the fish.

Day 2: Pedro goes down and we lose. And we haven't had that 2006/we have Johan feeling since. Instead, we have that 2007 feeling. Somethings not right, and in the end its going to hurt us. We expected to win in 2006, and this is where the problems started.

I think this is where we picked up some bandwagon fans. Fans who in the past would have jumped on the Yankee ship. However, that Yankee ship was sinking and this team was up-and-coming. Of course there were some who jumped off that ship and onto ours. If the Titanic is going down that shoddy lifeboat doesn't look so bad.

Of course, these fans expected to win. They root for winners, that's what bandwagon fans do. Most bandwagon fans are used to a few years with one team. But this Mets team only gave them one and a half years. They can't jump yet, their time isn't up. They don't want to jump off too early.

And now, they give the true Mets fans, who were lovable losers, this bad reputation. We look stupid and panicky, booing everything we can. Meanwhile, the true Mets fans, some who have coped with losing for years while others for decades, are painted with the rest as "bad fans."

But we're not. We're dedicated and passionate, and we will persevere. Stay true to the orange and blue Mets fans. It's only a matter of time before we turn this thing around.

Wagner Jinxed

Billy Wagner lost his no-hitter today, losing the chance to become the first Met to throw a no-hitter for a whole season. With all of the discussion about his streak recently, the news media has to be blamed for mentioning the no-no before it was completed.

I'm taking credit for Delgado's breakout game. By implying his slump wouldn't end before Chinese Democracy was released, I reversed jinxed him into a good game. By mentioning this reverse jinx, I doomed him to another slump. So my vote still goes for Chinese Democracy.

Finally, the Braves may just be washed up. John Smoltz for sure. When you're giving up home runs to Delgado and Raul Casanova you're washed up in my mind. Just don't tell David Wright.

As of right now, we are in second place in the NL East, 1 game behind the Marlins. While we'd prefer to be on top with a cushion, we have to be happy to be in this, especially with the injuries we've sustained. Unfortunately, this looks like it could be the team we have for the rest of the year, with Alou's most recent injury.

The good news is we have had good pitching*, despite the fact that two of our five starters (Pedro and El Duque) have not pitched enough innings to qualify for a win this year. Back end of the bullpen is solid with Wagner and Sanchez.

After a month, this team seems to be in pretty good shape. Returns from injuries and a Delgado breakout will make this team a serious contender in October.

*Aaron Heilman not included

Check the Poll...

in the sidebar and vote.

Which will happen first:
Carlos Delgado breaks out of his slump

OR

Guns 'N Roses release their long-anticipated album Chinese Democracy

Whaddya think?

Delg-adios

Let me preface this by saying I never really came around on Delgado, because of his comments after signing with the Marlins. I still resent him a little for that. I'll cheer for him to do well on our team, but my bias prevents me from believing he can. With that being said...

I think its about time to dump the big slugger. Check that, the big guy who could formerly slug. So far this year, the only pitcher he could get around on was Jaime Moyer. And I think this is a move better made early than late. Maybe not right now, but a move could be coming.

As long as the team is winning we can keep Delgado around. That should be obvious. But we need to win to the tune of 5 in a row, not alternate wins and losses. If we are well over .500 we can stick with him a little longer. But if the team is hovering at .500 by mid-May then it's go time for Delgado.

I'd love to see Carp at some point. I'm probably reaching, but I really think it's a good idea. And eventually I think Carp will be up anyway. At this point replacing Delgado would not be that difficult for Carp, especially if Delgado has 2 home runs with a .223 average at that point.

And I don't care about whether or not he's ready. He better get ready. We might put him on the Wright track and bring him up to triple-a for a few weeks, and then bring him up to the bigs. Or we could put him on the fast track and bring him up from Binghamton.

It all depends on how the next month plays out. If Delgado turns it around and starts hammering the ball and Carp slumps then this point is moot. However, if Delgado's struggles continue and the team suffers, the move has to be made. But what should we do with Delgado?

We could cut him. I mean he probably wants to go back to the Marlins anyway. Looking at their record they have the best chance to win right now, which is all he really wants.

I Wish You Would Step Back From That Ledge My Friend

Ok, how to go about this. Perspective talk or the sky is falling? Hmmm, neither.

Instead, let's focus on the positives for a moment.

1. Carlos Delgado. Two hits, one of which was a home run to open the scoring. He's hit well thus far in the season, and hopefully can keep it up.
2. Oliver Perez. Willie wasn't thrilled with his performance, but I'll take any performance in which he doesn't give up any runs. Also, he got in a situation early in the game where he walked the pitcher and eventually the bases were loaded. This is one of those situations where he implodes, but he got out of it. I also saw him imploding in the sixth, but Willie took him out in a move I agree with.
3. Another note on Ollie's performance yesterday. Watching the game on Gamecast he didn't have a ball hit deep at all. I can't tell how hard the balls were being hit, but it didn't look like he was getting hammered.
4. Our starting pitching, in general, has been good, when it was supposed to be a question mark. (We'll see how I feel after the Big Pelf pitches tonight)

The bad news. We can't hit. Our leadoff hitters don't get on, we don't hit with runners in scoring position, yesterday we had some serious WTP issues. Bullpen, also an issue. Joe Smith is our only reliever who has pitched more than one inning and has an ERA under 5.4. Fortunately, it's early in the season and those ERA's should come down. Shouldn't they?

What it boils down to is it's still early in the season. But I'm sick of this "every team goes through a rough patch" talk. Quit making excuses and go out and win. When you win, you don't have to make excuses.