Blah, Blah, Blah

Overheard tonight in Midtown, amidst the chaos of a steam pipe explosion in the near vicinity of (but fortunately not affecting) Ballclub HQ, Manhattan Bureau:

M2M's Doorman (a rabid and devout Mets fan): You know who's looking good? The Yankees.

M2M: Oh, sure. Beating Tampa Bay and Toronto is great.

I wish the Mets had the ability to beat up on teams like that. Winning 3 of 4 from Cincinnati is nice, and a good step in the right direction, but then, as Cincinnati went and swept Atlanta, the Mets muddled through three games in San Diego and their Dog Track, losing two of three and not looking especially sharp in the process. Not to damn it all; Tuesday night's win was probably the most complete victory we've seen out of the Mets in weeks. But the Mets looked simply lifeless against Wells on Monday, and Wednesday saw a clutch, game-tying, 3-run HR from David Wright gone for naught (and when he hit it, I was already planning my post praising Wright); the frenetic late comeback thwarted because Joe Smith failed to get out a .211 hitter.

Certainly, no harm, because Atlanta and Philadelphia continue to muddle along as well, but the Mets need to grab a toehold somehow and string a few victories together, because one of these teams has to get a clue at some point, right?

Right?

This stretch gets no easier for the Mets, who are now back, mysteriously, to Los Angeles, where they really looked great last month, coming in like a Mess and leaving like even more of a Mess, being swept and really humiliated in the process. Back then, I made some sort of thinly veiled effort back then to try to invoke past spirits to spur on the team. No such words can be used now. Just win a game. Hell, I'd be pleased with a split at this point. But this is a 4 game series and the Mets just have to show some life out there. The stretch against lowly Pittsburgh and Washington isn't until next week, but it would be nice to see the Mets act as if they were playing teams like that this week.