Starting tonight the Mets face a pivotal stretch in their season. The next twenty one games in June could determine what GM Omar Minaya does in regard to the make up of the team and may be a make or break point in the season. If the Mets hold steady and come together as a team it would serve as a great foundation for a strong run come August and Septemeber when the team is healthy. If the Mets falter though, their confidence could tank, which is something that could linger for the rest of the season, even when the team comes back to full strength. A hole dug now just might be where they lay their 2009 coffin.
The good news is of the next twenty one games, thirteen are at home. The bad news is the Mets face some stiff competition. Starting with the first place Phils, then the Yankees. A bit of a breather with the Orioles, although at Camden Yards, then back for the Rays, Cardinals, Yankees at home before facing the Brewers in Milwaukee to end the month.
Over the next twenty one games, I will be happy if we go 11-10. Anything more without Reyes and Delgado has to be a bonus. If we can stay at .500 come the all star break I still feel like this team will be in great shape when Reyes returns, especially if Omar can make a key addition or two. If we fall apart now though, the season could easily slip far out of reach quickly.
Loading ...
I agree… .500 over these 21 games is definitely acceptable in my book. Unfortunately though, I don’t think we can use the “lets just tread water while we deal with these injuries” approach… break it down, and the only injured player right now that we should expect to give our team a boost when he returns this season is Reyes. I don’t think we can expect Delgado, Putz or Ollie Perez to really pick us up too much later this season (although it would be nice). In other words, we almost need to expect this team to be our team til the end, which means we need to find a way to win consistently with them. We’ll find out if that’s doable during this 21-game stretch!
You’re probably right about Omar making a move sooner than later…I trust him enough…Its so difficult as a fan looking in to know all the intricasies in trying to work a deal…But if you look at it, right now Livan Hernandez is our #3 pitcher, pretty crazy
I wasn’t even talking about needing to make a trade, but i don’t necessarily disagree. I just meant that the media seems to be saying that the Mets just need to get by while they fight through injuries, but besides Reyes, I don’t see any big injuries that will go away later in the season… in other words, are the Mets going to get that much better this season than they are now?
Hey good luck against those incredibly awesome Phillies!
12-9 is good for me and they will still lose ground on the Phillies.
It’s going to be tough for the Mets to play .500 ball over this stretch, there are a lot of holes in the team. Omar might make a move but I don’t think they have the pieces for a blockbuster, so if it’s going to happen it’s going to happen with the guys who are on the team now. Which is not to say that they can’t still contend, because there are a lot of things to like about this team.
The Phils losing Lidge is good (if not great news for the Mets). Madson has been nice so far, and I would bet he’ll be a good fill in, but it means everybody else in their ‘pen has to move up an inning, including that last scrubby guy on the bench who they didn’t really want to use much.
Gary and Keith were talking about the Mets situation the other night, and while they were both concerned about all the injuries, Keith basically summed it up with something like: “Don’t get too down Met fans. I know you live and die with every game, but it’s a long season and there’s lots of games left to be played.”
Lidge blows this season, he is a head case… i think him getting hurt is a bad thing for the Mets.
It would have been impossible to Lidge to keep up his perfect record. Not too worry, he’ll peak at just the right time. The Phillies bullpen will hold up just fine until then.