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.

It’s basically a tale of two pitchers. Originally a couple of “throw-ins,” one looks like he’s on his way back to relative normalcy, the other continuing to do nothing but struggle.

John Maine, a guy who is by no means a world beater, is also a guy that the Mets needed to stabilize himself after missing so much time to injury. He posted an 8.64 ERA after his first four starts, with 16 runs and 10 walks in 16.2 IP. He had lost the life and velocity on his fastball and everybody was starting to think that he was on his way to being finished. Then, his last two starts happened. Were they dominant? Not at all. Were they a bit gutsy and a lot hope-inspiring? Yes. His last two starts saw him giving up 3 earned runs in 12 innings pitched, with 15 strikeouts and 5 walks. He’s not exactly Cy Young out there, but those last two starts make you hope that he’s on his way back.

Listen, he’ll never be an innings eater - he went 6 innings both of those starts - but as long as he gives the team a chance to win, I can live with what Maine gives the team. Ideally, I still believe he’s a bullpen guy, but the team clearly isn’t inundated with quality starting pitching, so to keep him in his role is to keep hoping he can give you what he has the last couple of starts. For that improvement, he’s my Man-Crush of the Week.

Honorable Man-Crush mentions: Rod Barajas continues to be clutch, Mike Pelfrey bounces back nicely, and Henry Blanco hits the Mets second walkoff homer in as many nights.

Speaking of garbage starting pitching (oh, did I not actually mention garbage?), Oliver Perez. I - and many other Mets fans - have been calling for Perez’s contract to be eaten since last year, and he’s still here, doing nothing but—

Oh, what’s that? He walked someone else just now?

For anybody who took their mom out to Citi Field to watch the game for Mother’s Day, good for you! Also, you better make up for that with a nice dinner or something, because she hated watching this guy watch 7 batters in 3.1 innings, and let’s be honest - so did you. That the Mets even had a chance to win the game at the end was an utter miracle after that disaster. Watching Oliver pitch is like watching a car wreck in slow motion. The Giants could’ve just left their bats in the dugout, because all they had to do was stand there while Ollie struggled against the wind, and against his own footing, as he wasn’t anywhere close to the zone.

Ollie’s previous start was one that gave me zero hope, even if it was a “quality start.” That game, he went 6 innings and gave up only 2 runs and 4 walks, which for him is excellent. It gave me zero hope because from game to game, and inning to inning, Perez has shown anything but consistency. Can management just get over the fact that Perez simply isn’t a good pitcher, and that he will never, ever, ever… match that great 200+ K season he had with the Pirates. Ever. Forget Resident. He’s the damn Dog House Landlord.

Other people belong in the House with him, including David “Strikeout” Wright, Jason Bay, who’s allergic to RBI, Bengie Molina, who needs a Wahmbulance, and Jerry Manuel, who’s bullpen will have to throw with their opposite arm when their throwing arms fall off by Independence Day.

I’m going to be honest; I had a hard time deciding who to pick this week: For the first four games, it seemed as if this team was unstoppable. I even tweeted on Wednesday that I had a Man-Crush on the entire team. Everything was clicking. Then, Saturday and Sunday happened. Disasters. Demoralizing losses during which the Mets ace and who was quickly becoming the “1a” were just crushed by the Phillies. It’d be hard after those two games to pick anybody to be a Man-Crush after that. However, I’m going to roll with Rod Barajas anyway.

For the last week, during which sure, he only played 3 games, Barajas got 4 hits in 10 ABs, with 2 homers and a double. The thing is, it’s not even really about the stats. It’s more about the way he plays. For the last couple of years, we, for the most part, had to watch Brian Schneider, who was overrated defensively, and completely lackluster offensively. He had pretty much no personality (did you see his lousy car commercial?). Barajas, on the other hand, is a guy who’s easy to root for. It’s hard to describe, but a great example of why I like him is the play he made tonight on a slow roller up the first base line, a ball he chased down and threw around the runner to get him out at first.

I know that a lot of people are probably going to read this and think “So apparently we win games on heart now?” and I understand that. What I also understand is that perception’s reality, and the perception around the Mets the last couple of years was that they didn’t have any swagger, showed very little personality, and had a tense clubhouse. Now, with guys like Jeff Francoeur and Barajas, you can tell that the mood around the clubhouse is different. Will it translate to more wins? Well, we’ll see. It might, or it might not, who knows. What I do know though is that guys like Barajas are fun to watch - and produce in the meantime - and that’s why he’s my Man-Crush of the Week.

It’s funny. We were 3 games into the season and already there was panic amongst the Met fan base. And can you blame them? After an utterly lost 2009 season, the Mets needed to get off to a fast start, and so far it hasn’t looked like that was going to happen. Citi Field’s been described as a morgue by many last night, and the crowd tonight appeared to be sparse as well. The Mets needed a shot in the arm, and didn’t get one. They got 3. Here’s what I took out of tonight:

• Since John Maine’s poor start on Wednesday, the starting pitching has looked better, with Jon Niese last night, and Mike Pelfrey tonight. Pelf spread 4 hits out over 6 innings, with 4 strikeouts. The 4 walks, hopefully, will lessen in his next start.
• David Wright and Alex Cora made a couple of stellar defensive plays in the 4th and 5th innings to stop the “Natinals” from even sniffing any momentum.
• I’ll admit it. When Big Pelf fielded the grounder back to him with his bare hand and walked the next batter on 4 pitches, I thought we were about to witness another meltdown.
• 4 homers! In 1 game! And it only took 2 guys! Jeff Francoeur and Rod Barajas showed their power strokes, while Wright… well, he went into his trot, so that has to count for something. The Situation approves.
• Jenrry Mejia, in his second appearance, pitched a 1-2-3 inning to end the game. An encouraging bounceback.
• Get Mike Jacobs off the team. Also, I like Ike (Davis).
• Finally, finally… Jose Reyes is back in Citi Field. I can’t wait for him to actually take the field tomorrow. It’s going to be a fantastic sight.

The 3 shots in the arm, the performance by Pelfrey, the power hitting, and Reyes making his first appearance are what I hope helps this team find, what Willie Randolph would call, a “nice little rhythm.”