The Good - Pitching

It’s pretty hard to argue with the fact that the Mets have appeared to have hit their stride. Are they as good as winning 8 in a row? Probably not. The real breakthrough this year seems to be that even when they take a punch to the jaw (read: on Saturday), they bounce back with a crisp, convincing win. They’re winning series, which is what you’re supposed to do, and refuse to let a loss turn into a skid. The main reason for this consistent success is the pitching. Yes, the offense has come around and does its best to come back, but the pitching is what’s been keeping the wins flowing in. The Mets threw 2 shutouts last week, for a total of 11, best in the majors, and guys like R.A. Dickey, Jonathon Niese, and shockingly, Elmer Dessens have been pitching at an extremely high level. Dickey, whose career high in wins is 9, is on a pace to set a new personal mark this year. He’s got 6 wins already which yes, is 1 more than Johan Santana. Jon Niese, who I’ll give a pass for the “rain delay game,” threw 6 shutout innings against a tough Twins lineup yesterday. Elmer didn’t give up a run last week, and now has an ERA this year of .66. As a matter of fact, he hasn’t surrendered a run since his first appearance on May 21st. It’s hard to lose if you don’t let the other team score. Once Johan comes around (and I believe he will), and if Niese and Dickey can maintain even a semblance of this success, it’s hard to see the Mets fall victim to any sustained losing streaks.

The Bad - Is Angel OK?

Angel Pagan, hitting .302 on the year, has been a huge part of the Mets lineup this year, providing a clutch bat that fit extremely well in the #2 spot. He’s hitting .296 with 2 outs and runners in scoring position, and .429 in late and close games. The problem is that he’s been out of the lineup since the 23rd, and it seems like nobody’s sure when he’s coming back. Will he eventually be DLed, leaving Jesus Feliciano to play center field? It seems as if we’ve heard “tomorrow” 4 times already, and according to Metsblog.com, he won’t be playing tonight in Puerto Rico against the Marlins either. I feel like we’ve seen this movie a few times before the last couple of years, so hopefully this situation turns out to be different, and we won’t nickname Angel “Godot.”

The Ugly - Beltran’s Return is Making Everyone Delirious

So how about we trade Pagan now because Carlos Beltran played a little DH in Buffalo? How about we move him to 2nd base, because you can totally just do that? How about we just wait and see if Beltran is even remotely close to what he was before he was injured before we come up with one idea which I strongly disagree with, and one idea that I simply refuse to entertain because this isn’t video games? Let’s explore the other side of the spectrum now. Chemistry? Do you know what makes chemistry? Winning. And do you know who instantly makes the lineup better, deeper, and more powerful? Carlos Beltran. I can’t listen to the Joe Benignos of the world saying that they’d rather Beltran not come back and disrupt the team’s chemistry because, frankly, it’s asinine. I have no other words for it. Let’s all take a breath, and wait. He’s not here yet, and he won’t be here tomorrow, or the day after. Thank you.

Bonus: The Uglier

The Phillies were on the road this past weekend, and had to travel all the way to Philadelphia to play the Toronto Blue Jays, who had the luxury of rolling out of bed right onto a plane that flew them to the warm confines of not their park. Again, asinine.