I’m back from my hiatus for the summer which felt like I visited most of the United States. I spent my summer mostly in New York and Tampa, but also made some stops in Kansas City, St. Louis and Minnesota. What can I come back and say about the Mets but I told you so. This team is stuck in the mud with its current management. It has been a long year and really a very long four years since game seven of the 2006 NLCS.

Instead of complaining and focusing on the negatives (which I plan on doing sometime in the near future), I ask are you still here? The Mets are seven games back of the Wild Card as we get closer to September. Crazier things have happened and can the Mets get hot in time to get back in this thing. I, for one think this team is dead but after watching tonight’s game, seeing timely hitting, an offense who comes back and a walk-off hit, I cannot totally throw in the towel. The excitement of the team following a win shows me that these guys still believe, so why not me too (at least for now.)

From attending games at Citi this summer, listening to WFAN and watching SNY, along with my friends opinions I find few people who seem to have any confidence. So I’m asking you are you still watching and hoping for a YA GOTTA BELIEVE miracle to make those ever so elusive playoffs.

Now that the 2010 trade deadline has come and gone with the Mets making zero moves, it’s painfully obvious what course they have decided to take. With this said, now that the Mets have decided upon a course, it is absolutely imperative that they stay the course.

I’d say the biggest problem that this fanbase has with the team currently is that the franchise seems to be a rudderless ship and there is absolutely no plan. Not only doesn’t there seem to be a plan from season to season, there seems to be no idea exactly what this team is trying to accomplish in the long term. This is what happens when you employ a lame-duck manager and GM tandem. It’s like the entire organization is on pause until that stuff gets sorted out.

As much as I wanted to see the Mets strengthen their squad, I was terribly afraid of Omar being given the keys to off load the kingdom. Considering what was out there I think it was wise to stand pat. As a team we need to admit that the last several seasons have been a abject failure and take our medicine. They are choosing to do that by developing youth and I personally like this decision. The only problem I have is when ticket sales are down even more next year, are the Wilpons going to show the patience and wisdom to stay the course, or will they put pressure on whomever is their GM to do something flashy? The Mets have a habit of acting-out to get attention, often making moves to make the most noise, but not garner the most wins.

The real kicker is that had they have a plan last year, they would not have made some of the moves they made. By choosing to build through their farm system and develop their own talent, they have in essence turned the brand new Jason Bay contract into a bad one. Lets be honest with ourselves, the Mets aren’t front runners for winning the division next year either, so when exactly are they planning to make that run? When you figure that out you start to wonder what type of player Bay will be and how much he will be being paid? Same unfortunately could be said for the likes of K-Rod and even Johan Santana. By the time the Mets have reloaded and are ready to make a run, will these players be poised to help them? Or will they be contractual anchors much like Perez and Castillo are today?

That’s another thing too. Now that they have basically waved the white flag on this season, Luis Castillo and Oliver Perez should never see the light of day in a Mets uniform again. Do not make us fans have to suck up the rest of the season, that’s bad enough, but to actually witness these guys rack in their bags of cash while doing absolutely nothing except to constantly remind us of horrible mistakes by the front office. I don’t care if you cut them (I wish you would) but they should never play in another game for us. Recall someone from the minors and give them a shot to show what they might be able to do.

Jose Reyes continues to look like the player we all fell in love with as he came up huge tonight with a double to start a rally in the 8th and tacked on an RBI in the 9th. In the 8th, Pagan followed Reyes’ double with  a 2 RBI hit to put the Mets up 3-0 and lock up the Mets 7th consecutive road victory and 8th win overall. Hisanori Takahashi threw 6 more shutout innings against the Yanks to give the Mets their 3rd victory in 4 games this year in the subway series.

It was nice to see the Mets beat a real team on the road as this was there first test after beating up on the O’s and Tribe. However, beating up on those bad teams can increase that confidence and the Mets continue to roll. Now all we can hope for is the Mets to pick up another win in the Bronx and clinch a great road trip. Big Pelf and Phil Hughes should give us a great game tomorrow in which could be a battle between future #1′s in New York. A great story to unfold tomorrow for sure….LETS GO METS!

When the Mets hit the road after winning two of three at Citi Field versus San Diego, one thing was pretty clear at 8 and 18 on the road, they would need to start winning road games in order to compete for a playoff spot. The Mets have responded by beating bad baseball teams, sweeping both Baltimore and Cleveland to up that record to 14 and 18. Yes, we cannot get too excited about beating terrible baseball teams, but good baseball teams take care of business against teams like Cleveland and Baltimore and even better teams sweep those lousy teams.

The Mets now have won 7 in a row and are 10 games above .500 for the first time this season. The Mets have trimmed the fat off this team and certainly now have team chemistry. I get spooked when I hear about them talking about John Maine and Luis Castillo’s returns. As long as this team is hot, you cannot touch the roster, crap, even Beltran can take as long as he wants to come back with the way Angel Pagan is playing.  I think the Mets need to think about how well they are playing and how excited everyone seems and the chemistry this team is playing with before making any changes.

The Mets of course, will face a major challenge this weekend as they go to the house of horrors that is Yankee Stadium to face the defending world champs. The Yanks, however have been hit by the injury bug and were just steamrolled by a struggling Philly team the last two games. The Mets need to take advantage while the Yankee bats are silent and get two of three in this series. Winning a series at Yankee Stadium, combined with an 8-1 road record should have the Mets flying high as they square off with the AL central’s top two teams at Citi Field next week.

Funny story involving former Met Jason Phillips right here.

It’s been a little while since I made a post. That’s not for lack of Mets watching or commentary, it’s just a busy life often times keeping me from even starting up my laptop. I apologize profusely and look to get back on track now. World Cup fever has gripped my house these days, but I find myself more often then not watching the Mets. This is quite a statement on how the Mets are playing these days.

I am starting to believe in this team. I am not trying to say I think they are going to win anything, what i mean is I think this squad with the new infusion of some youth could work. It’s not perfect by any means, and I still have a bit of a grocery list for Omar Minaya, but the core of this team is something to build on.

Much has been written about the Mets “core” over the last few years, that being the likes of Wright, Reyes, and Beltran. But I think the squad as a whole took a much different shape over the last year or so with the additions of personalities of Francouer and Davis, as well as the jettisoning of players like Delgado, Heilmans, Ollie P et all. They seem to genuinely enjoy playing right now and they seem to have a lot of fight in them.

As much as I hate to see hokey crap like the pie-in-the-face theatrics after games, it’s nice to realize that no team over the last few years would have done such things. They just didn’t seem to have any cohesion and at best had a divided clubhouse. Today they seem to be a good group that actually likes each other, and it seems to be from an influx of youth rather then an addition of experience.

The Mets still need another high end arm, and with the money they saved over the off season by not signing one, coupled with the money they are saving at first base and catcher, it’s time they plunked some of that down. I don’t want to see a gutting of the farm system for one player, but it should not be a money expense that shies the Mets away from anyone, I don’t care how deep Maddoff had his hands in Freds pockets.

They could still use a more consistent bat in the lineup, someone with a high OBP would be nice, but truthfully I don’t really know where I would put them. In fact it’s looking more and more like Beltran will actually make it back, and up till about a week ago it looked like it would be at Jeff Francouer’s expense, but now that he’s hot again I don’t know who to sit.

We rant on and on here about what’s wrong with the Mets, and ferociously point out the Front Office mistakes, but I have to say I am really appreciating the change in makeup of this team. It’s refreshing to watch people that actually enjoy playing a game for a living.

This is absolutley AWESOME! “Let’s go get a beer, Doc.” I can’t wait for Jerry to be fired.

Here’s a great link I came across: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704002104575290951780732496.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines

R.A. Dickey wasn’t too impressive to start Friday’s game but he got through the first 2 innings and then pitched 5 scoreless to finish up with 7 innings of 3 run ball. Dickey is never going to be lights out on a regular basis but what he has shown in his last two starts is that he will battle and keep his team in the game. To me, he is a good number 5 starter for this club and will definitely give you a shot against other teams 5th starters.

Dessens was also good in the 8th before Roller Coast Rodriguez made it exciting again in the 9th. When all was said and done the Mets held on for a 4-3 win over the Fish. This snapped a six game losing streak to them and improved their record to 2 and 6 against the Marlins.

The Mets obviously need to take advantage of their homestands until they show some consistency on the road. It is nice to see Bay driving the ball, Frenchy getting knocks and Reyes stealing bases. This is easily a game they could have to rolled over at 3-0. It is nice to see this team fight their way back into games and they beat up a pretty good pitcher in Anibel Sanchez. Let’s see if the Mets can get on a roll and do to the Fish what they did to us in Miami. Jon Niese will be back from the DL to take on Nate Roberson, definitely a game we need to take in my opinion, as always Lets Go Mets!!!!!!

With many umpires retiring and technology improving baseball must look into way to correct calls without slowing down the game. With Armando Galarraga’s near perfect game catching national attention it hopefully will help call attention to the atrocious umpiring that we have seen over the past several seasons.

Over the weekend, not once but twice in both NY teams game I saw the umpire call a runner safe at second on a double play when both Cano and Reyes were clearly on the base and it wasn’t even a “neighborhood play.”

I know that we cannot do much with ball and strike calls without completely slowing the game down but other calls besides home runs need to be reviewed. It is quite simple in my mind, MLB has emergency umpires usually in case one gets hurt, have him in the backroom to quickly review a play and radio his call. This eliminates the umps from having to run to the TV and prolong the game. Or the other option is have some at the MLB office in New York watching replays when buzzed in order to help correct calls, it seems like a no brainer but time will tell. It is just unfortunate that with the type of technology we have and the low rate umpires like CB Bucknor and Angel Hernandez that we have to see huge mistakes what seems like every game.

One last thing umpires, no one comes to see you, we go to see the players so be seen but not heard, we do not need you to put on a show or do anything to make a name for yourself.