Mets Are A Tease

Just when you think the Mets are on the right track, they slip back into the mediocre club you know they are. During today's broadcast even Gary Cohen got caught up in the Mets tease of a win streak stating that they might find themselves back in the Wild Card race next week.

Wishful thinking Mr. Cohen.

The Mets had an unbelievable opportunity this week to make baseball interesting again, but instead they split the series against the Astros and failed to sweep the Pirates behind another complete game by Johan Santana. And so the Mets find themselves in no better place than where they were a week ago.

Treading water seems to be the plight of this team. They can't seem to go anywhere.

So the Mets return home to face the Marlins and soon the rest of the NL East will have their way with them.

The Mets Maine Event

John Maine owned the Houston Astros last night. He wasn't perfect, but he's grown into a top starter in the National League and headliner of the Mets rotation. With Oliver Perez on the DL, Glavine & El Duque struggling, and youngsters like Vargas & Pelfrey forced into the limelight, the Mets need John Maine. Especially last night.

The Mets badly needed a win to right this ship and John Maine's 6th inning alone was enough to boost morale. With two men on and no outs, John Maine showed a combination of finesse and power to get out of the inning unscathed. He struck out Lance Berkman on some high heat. Got Carlos Lee on consecutive fastballs, and then Loretta to pop out.

Shawn Green said it best with this quote about John Maine: "[Maine] showed that he is the biggest snub of the whole All-Star thing. He's developing into a top of the rotation guy without recognition."

Maine through an unprecedented 121 pitches. I was glad to see Willie Randolph let Maine go as far as he could. And thanks to Beltran for finally doing something in Houston. It seemed like he went 3 years without a decent hit amongst the boos in Houston.

Thank you John Maine for your first half performance. I look forward to your continued success after the All Star break.