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.

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.

Throw-Ins

Everyone discusses the core of the Mets as being David Wright and Jose Reyes. Solid young nucleus who came up through our system. The Mets also have a couple of pitchers who we acquired, but still treat as guys who we developed. John Maine and Oliver Perez.

These guys will be just as important to us in the next 5-10 years, if we can keep them together. They're our guys, even though we didn't bring them up through our system. Ollie had some success early in his career, posting a 2.98 ERA in Pittsburgh in 2004. However, he was a disaster before the trade, and considered a throw-in. John Maine was also a throw-in, with the gem of that deal being Jorge Juilo.

My point is, even though we didn't bring these two up through our system, they're our guys. They made their names on our team, so we feel like we brought them up. Getting steals like this in trades are just as satisfying as promoting players through our system. They're not some high-priced guy who became a superstar on another team. Not a guy who we sold the farm for...

Not that there's anything wrong with that either. Johan is the best pitcher in the game, the kind of guy you sell the farm for. And sure am glad he's here, and would make that trade every time. However, now we need to restock our farm system.

What we need to do is continue to develop these guys, and the pitchers in our system. What we need to stop doing is trading guys like Brian Bannister for Ambriorix Burgos. I'm worried that at the deadline Omar will think we need a starter because of injuries. And who knows, maybe he'll make the right move and win a title in '08. But he needs to make trades like those with Baltimore and Pittsburgh where we get a "throw-in project" who we can build up.

So Omar, don't forget the throw-in when you make your next deal. One more young solid starter and we'll be set for a decade.