NO WHEELIN', NO DEALIN', JUST REELIN'

Mets 9, Astros 4 (NYM: 53-52, 8 GB; HOU: 57-48 - Wild Card Leader)

From June 30, 2005, johnnymets.blogspot.com:

"Despite the ups and downs so far this season (and there really have been a bunch), the Mets are at .500 through June. They went 11-13 in April, 15-13 in May, and finished June 13-13. The Mets have 27 games in July, so a 13-loss month would leave them at 53-52 heading into August. I'd take it. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. I just find it interesting that the Mets have lost 13 games in each month so far...if they're going to catch the Nationals, they're going to have to have a better-than-one-game-over-.500 July. I'm not starting to believe in Washington, they've just jumped out to a big enough lead that if they start struggling right now, the Mets still need to play very good ball to catch them."

Well, here we are. Another month, another 13 losses. In July, that means 14 wins, but a wasted, wasted opportunity at the end of the month. The Mets lose two out of three in Colorado and then three out of four in Houston. They are now 3 games behind Washington, which is better than where they were at the end of June....but Washington is now in second place, 5 games behind the Braves! That leaves the Mets in last place in the NL East, 8 games out. And the Braves aren't going to collapse like the Nationals did.

So a month ago I said I'd take the Mets 53-52 at this point. I'd even say I would have taken it at the All-Star break, when the Mets headed into the break losers of two out of three in Pittsburgh. But not now. I think they should have been 55-50 right now, at least, after the way they ended their last homestand. Now it's an uphill battle. The Mets host Milwaukee, and the Brewers are playing very well right now. Then the Cubs come to town, and first of all, the Mets struggle against Chicago, and second of all, the Cubs are a desperate team, which makes them dangerous. After that it's a West Coast trip, which is baaad news. The Mets couldn't even handle a middle-of-the-country trip...and they're not a very good road team, apparently. So a West Coast trip doesn't bode well.

Here's a positive. The Mets won on Sunday, 9-4. They pounded out 17 hits, one a home run by Cliff Floyd. Maybe the offense will get going now, although if it didn't get going in Colorado and Houston, it's unlikely.

Now, more negative. The Mets did nothing to improve themselves at the trade deadline. Yes, having Manny Ramirez would have been a big headache, and I would have hated to see Aaron Heilman go. But, man, would I have loved to see Mike Cameron go. And I'd be willing to put up with the Ramirez headaches to have his bat in the lineup instead of Cameron. It would have been an awful trade for the Red Sox, smart move by them not making it. I almost think Red Sox management let out wind of the Manny trade to see how Red Sox Nation really felt about trading him. I think after the boos Friday night, they wanted to see how the fans really felt, so they got the deal going, leaked the deal, got the response they wanted which was, that's an awful deal, showed fans they couldn't really get the value for Ramirez that would make people happy, and then pulled back out of the deal. I think that's how it went down, but enough about the Sox. I guess there wasn't much out there for the Mets to do - they needed to improve first base, and nothing was available at a reasonable price.

I think if the Mets get off to a strong start in August, a deal will be made within a week. If they start losing against Milwaukee and Chicago, see ya next year. Unless they start trading away guys (I'm talking waiver deals here, by the way), not important guys, but guys like Cameron, to build up the farm system some more. I'm also glad they haven't gotten rid of Lastings Milledge. He's good, and he has a great name.

Monday's an off-day, then it's Mets-Brewers Tuesday night. Hopefully the wins start coming again.

ELTRAN*'S: HOLD THE PHONE!! A multi-hit game for Carlos Beltran*!! Talk about an awful road trip - he was booed every time he moved in Houston, and he stunk it up in Colorado (maybe anticipating a rough reception in Houston). He'd better not expect a warm welcome in New York either.
18-66 (.273 AVG.), 2 HR, 11 RBI, 7 Runs, 3 SB

WRIGHT WATCH: The one positive through this past week has been David Wright's assault on the Mets record books. Another double on Sunday...watch out Bernard Gilkey.

SECOND HALF: 6 SEASON TOTAL: 28 TEAM RECORD: 44

DAVID WRIGHT NEEDS 16 DOUBLES IN THE TEAM'S FINAL 57 GAMES.

THE KID'S KIDS: No games on Sunday. I didn't see the Hall of Fame Inductions in their entirety, but I'm sure Hall of Famer Gary Carter was in Cooperstown. His Gulf Coast Mets are now 22-10, good for a 6-game lead. We're entering the final month of the season - that six-game lead is looking pretty good. I'll let you know what the playoff picture is when I find out if there even are playoffs at that level.