The Good - Is Jason Bay On His Way Back?

Jason Bay’s mainly here to do one thing, and that’s to drive in runs. It’s pretty obvious that he’s had a rough year so far, not putting up the power numbers that he’s used to, and he’s a very streaky player. The problem is, we haven’t seen any of those patented hot streaks yet. The hope is that he’s going to soon get into one. In the last week, Jason’s got a double, a triple, 2 homers, and 10 RBI. A big chunk of that production, however, came over the weekend against the Nationals. He’s got a double and a RBI off of Jesus Stephen Strasburg, and that triple, and 4 RBI in yesterday afternoon’s game. He’s an important piece of the lineup, and only time will tell whether he’s about to turn it on. If he does though, an already feisty lineup will become just that much stronger.

The Bad - Josh Thole, But Let Me Explain

Call me crazy, but I’m starting to think Josh Thole is the goods. He seems to call a good game, has good, solid hands - he makes catching RA Dickey look like child’s play - and is clearly a contact hitter. Did you see his at-bat against Strasburg on Saturday? Exactly. The problem here is that Mets fans are going to get attached to him very quickly since he’s a homegrown, while Rod Barajas slowly sinks back to earth and Henry Blanco just sort of exists. He has a bit of a spark to him, which fans always love, but the problem lies in the fact that he’s probably just becoming some juicy trade bait. I’m not going to call him a hall of famer or anything, but it’d definitely be a debate as to whether to ship him off to Seattle for a Mr. Cliff Lee, who yes, is a rental.

The Ugly - What the Hell Was Going On In Puerto Rico?

Listen, I love Puerto Rico. My family’s from there, and the best vacation of my life took place there last year. But we need not ever see another Major League Baseball game in that lousy stadium in San Juan ever again. Astro-turf, or whatever it actually was, combined with the fact that a “CHARGE!” horn was played every time the Marlins got a hit - with the ball still in play - aggravated me to no end. I could only imagine what the players thought of that stuff. Oh, and by the way, Jose Reyes still isn’t starting tonight against the Reds because of his “turf-related” injury. Ugh.