Sometimes, it looks so easy that you wonder why it was every so excrutiatingly difficult.

Jose Reyes made running the bases look like a videogame as he turned a bloop single into a run, and The New York Mets rode John Maine’s arm  to an impressive, series sweeping win over the Oakland Athletics, completing their first sweep at home of the season with a 10-2 victory on Sunday afternoon.

You just knew the Mets weren’t going to let this one get away. After Reyes led off the game with a bloop single that he successfully stretched into a double, the ensuing error caused by the pressure on the A’s right fielder, Jack Cust, allowed Reyes to speed around the bases when Cust overthrew second base. That was all John Maine needed as he began the game with four scoreless innings en route to his eigth win of the season.

This is the game which leads you to believe the Amazins have returned to mid-may form. Everything was clicking, from the offense, to the pitching, and even running the bases. The bottom of the lineup produced more than the top, and the Mets, who have had an awfully difficult time winning the third game of a series, just had more energy than the Athletics.

It’s also good to know that the Mets have someone to put at first base besides Julio Franco, in case Delgado’s numbers at the plate don’t improve. Shawn Green looked adequate at the position, and may be much of a defensive liability in the infield as long as the Mets outfield can nurse itself back to health. It’s nice to see Randolph finding a way to keep Green in the lineup on getaway day, when he normally gives his starters a day off.  It showed he really wanted this victory, and that sentiment obviously permeated through the dugout.

Next up for the Mets are the struggling Cardinals, who the Mets should pounce on, if the rest of the season in any indicator. St. Louis still hasn’t recovered from the thrashing at the hands of New York at the beginning of the season, and there is no reason to give them new life now. Let’s hope the Mets take advantage.
I apologize in  advance, as there won’t be any updates during the week. I’ll be camping with my future brother-in-law for his bachelor party. Expect a new update on Friday. Until then, lets go Mets!

We may be seeing more of Ramon Castro in the lineup for the next few days, and not because Willie Randolph or Omar Minaya had anything to say about it.

With Paul Lo Duca’s doing his best Jack Nicholson in the Shining impression in his shin guard flying outburst last night, he probably will have to serve a suspension of some sorts, which means Castro will finally get some much needed at-bats. It’s about time.

After Castro struck out while innocently wandering into Lo Duca’s 02 count, all Chewy did was stroke a ninth- inning double and chug home with the winning run to end the game long stalemate against the A’s. With Endy Chavez on the DL for quite some time, there’s no question who the Mets best bat off the bench is. It’s Castro, even though the guy looks like he is running in quicksand.

The Met’s backup catcher hits as a starter, hits as a backup catcher, and hits a pinch hitter. He can handle the pitching staff, and plays with an enthusiasm that lights up the entire Mets dugout. With how tense the Mets lineup has been, it’s a crime that a bat like Castro’s is wasting away on the bench, simply because the Mets only carry two catchers.

The way I see it, the Mets have two options. They can keep sending up the likes of Easley, Franco, and Newhan in key spots, or they can instantly improve the bench by making a simple move. They can find a third catcher, either in the system or off of waivers, that can handle a pitching staff, so their best hitter off the bench can finally get some at-bats.

The Mets bench, which has been a strength in recent years, has been mediocre at best. Does anyone have confidence in the current crop of inexperienced youngsters and over-the-hill veterans? Castro has been hitting, and more importantly getting clutch hits, for three years, even when the rest of the lineup is struggling. I suspect you’d only get more of the same if he got more AB’s. He is anything but a liability defensively, but lets face it, the Mets aren’t hurting on defense.

The Mets have been searching all year for the late inning spark off the bench.  Instead of adding another bat on the trade market and coughing up some more Kazmirs, all Randolph has to do is look right under his nose. Find a third cather, and the Mets will find some more wins.

I wanted to reserve judgement after Friday night’s impressive victory. Yes, the Mets got timely, two-out hitting, a Beltran homerun from the right side of the plate, and an impressive performance (finally) from Tom Glavine, but very often games like these in the midst of a slump are more often an anomaly than a sign of turning the corner. Sometimes, a slumping team will face a pitcher who just doesn’t have the stuff that night, and A’s rookie pitcher Lenny Di Nardo certainly could have fit that description. While we’re all hoping that the Met’s offensive explosion wasn’t simply the result of a subpar pitching performance, the jury is still out.

Last night, the Mets earned a very gratifying, one-run, walkoff victory. While all Met fans are happy that the Mets finally won a series in June, I’m not ready to exhale. Until the Mets can prove they can light up a proven stud Major League ace, I’m not confident that this offense is where they need to be. Joe Blanton is certainly not an ace, and while he did have his curveball dancing last night, there’s no excuse for the Met’s offensive futility. From the way the last month has been going, it would suprise no one to see a content Mets team pack it in today and give a game back to Oakland, especially with Willie Randolph inevitably giving three or four starters the day off.

While I don’t think his ejection was intentionally self-induced, it was refreshing to see Paul Lo Duca so animated and passionate, even though he probably did earn himself a suspension. It was clear that Lo Duca lost his cool and the frustration floodgates blew open, but maybe Paulie was showing a little veteran savvy. Lo Duca is too smart of a player not to realize that throwing shinguards is a no-no in the commisioner’s book, but there was probably a little method to his madness. You’ll never see an outburst like that from the Randolph, even when the team sorely needs a jolt. Maybe Lo Duca was just throwing himself in the fire in order to light a spark under his team. It worked last night- lets hope the success continues, because one thing is for sure- the offense needs to give this pitching staff more than one run an outing.

Another series, another chance to turn the losing train around. Tonight the Mets host the Athletics for the first time since Reggie Jackson came into Shea and dominated in the 1973 World Series. I hope the Mets can finally string together a cosistent, series long offensive attack, because nothing is worse for a slumping team than an early deficit.

Although the Mets are fortunate enough to miss Danny Haren’s spot in the rotation, the A’s recent history of dominating pitching performances and the Met’s recent offensive woes might spell further disaster from the boys from Queens. Although every Met slugger has shown signs of breaking out of slumps, they aren’t doing it cohesively. Beltran had a great night on Wednesday and Delgado belted a homerun on Tuesday, the Mets have yet to string together the massive hit barrage that will loosen up the dugout.

It has gotten to the point where every night, every analyst calls every game a must win - and tonight is no different. Now that the Amazins have almost completely given up their lead in the National League East, they are going to have to find a way to consistenly win series for the rest of the year- especially with more than one team riding on their coattails. Even if Omar can bring a legitimate ace to the rotation, it won’t happen until  the deadline is fast approaching - especially with Lastings Milledge, perhaps the Mets most tradeable commodity, just beginning to get close to playing shape.

In short, the time is now. The Mets need to work better counts at the plate, and the middle relief needs to find a way to hold a lead. With Lenny Dinardo on the mound, tonight is a great night for Tom Glavine overmatch a weakened Athletics lineup that might itself missing Milton Bradley’s potent bat, if not his attitude.  Glavine really needs to earn number 296 tonight to quell the whispers that he is over the hill, or no amount of Jose Reyes dancing to reggaetone in the dugout with calm the edgy Met faithful.

This kind of game is getting really tough to take. Granted, the Mets lineup was facing the ace of all aces in Johan Santana on Tuesday night, but this chronic anemia that this not-so-amazin offense is suffering from is making Met games tough to watch.

Remember the show Married with Children, where shoe salesman Al Bundy would come painstakingly close to happiness, only to be hit with a cold dose of reality by the end of the half hour? Well, watching Met losses this week has been like staying up late for an episode of Married with Children. You watch the show because you are rooting for Al to succeed, whether by winning a million dollar lawsuit or running away with Vanna White. In your heart of hearts, you know every episode ends the same, with an unhappy Bundy realizing that he is an aging man with a disfunctional family, yet the show was popular partially because we always rooted for Bundy to defy the odds nevertheless.

This is what Met losses have come to, one long inevitable, nine-inning demise. Anyone who has been following the Mets lately knows as soon as any opponent gets a multiple run lead, the game is over. Yet, like a train wreck, I couldn’t get myself to change the channel. It’s like one, long, painful, slow death, three out of five nights a week.

You see, when the Mets suffer, I suffer. Food doesn’t taste as good, it’s harder to get up for work in the morning, and seven o’clock Eastern time is just not as exciting as it was a month ago. A month ago, nothing could go, nothing could go wrong. The Mets bring up Sosa, and he quickly grabs six wins like they were pieces of candy on the ground that had just fallen out of a pinata. Shawn Green and Moises Alou get hurt, and the Mets plug in Endy Chavez, who can do no wrong in this town. The wounded Yankees limp into town, and the Mets stomp all over them for two days, laughing all the way. Even when things went wrong, adversity seemed to roll off the Mets backs like freshly shaven hair buzzed from their heads.

Now, 6 losing series later, line drives are falling into the oppositions gloves, and killing rallies. Every time a Met pitcher is in a big spot, it seems that the other team’s slugger comes up bigger, and belts a momentum changing homerun. The other team’s pitcher, no matter who he is, seems to always be ahead of counts, and we are regularly treated to dugout shots of gloves being thrown and more F-bombs than an Andrew Dice Clay standup. When did it reach this point?

It obvious the Mets are trying, and maybe too hard. Remember when all was going well, and every inning was like a coiled spring of unlimited run scoring potential? It didn’t matter where you were in the lineup, any Met could smash a tape-measure homer or two run double. Then you would take a glance into the Mets dugout, and whether or not the Amazins were up or behind, we’d see a jubilant dugout with Jose Reyes dancing or working on his secret homerun handshakes, Carlos Delgado smiling and chatting away, and even the occasional Pedro Martinez appearance. Sometime along the way, the dancing stopped, and the smiles faded.

I know tomorrow is an off day, and I know Willie Randolph has this thing about staying even-keeled and keeping everything routine, but I get the feeling things are just too tense in the Met clubhouse, and you can’t play winning baseball that way. So maybe Willie should use tomorrow to work on his dance moves, and march into the clubhouse Friday, boombox over the shoulder, and start that dance party up again. It will probably never happen, but maybe it should. When nothing else is working, it’s time to start thinking outside the box, a la Bobby Valentine and the fake mustache, post ejection routine. Hey, a little dancing couldn’t hurt, right? It worked for Emmit Smith…

Either way, something has to give. Atlanta and Philadelphia won’t keep losing forever, and even though we trust in Omar, you never know if the right trade will come along to put a jolt into this putridly woeful offense. I have a feeling the slump-buster lies within the current roster, but even if I’m wrong, at least I can go to sleep tonight knowing we won’t have to sit through another stale loss tomorrow.

I don’t know whether it was the Met hitters enjoying some home cooking, a pregame pep talk by Willie, or simply just Carlos Silva leaving fat pitches over the plate. It doesn’t really matter, because sometimes a pitcher grooving fastballs is all it takes to break the dam of tension that has been progressively building with every runner left in scoring position.

The funny thing about a omni-lineup slump is that usually, when one or two guys break out, the floodgates open. As unfortunate as it has been to have two of the best hitters in the National League looking clueless for the past month, once they regain form the rebound effect is enough to carry an offense. Delgado suddenly looked comfortable every time he was at the plate last night, and Beltran hit the ball hard in all of his at bats before finally breaking through with a clutch double in the eighth.

John Maine, who has really been solid all year (12 of 14 quality starts), also rebounded nicely, finally working ahead of batters and breezing through a talented, if not balanced, Minnesota windup. Fans can only hope this was a sign that Maine has regained command of his sneaky tailing fastball, and not just a product of the Twins hitters unfamiliarity with him.

With Chavez on the shelf for what could be a lengthy period of time, it was nice to see Ricky Ledee pickup a key two out-RBI and a homer, if for no other reason than to put some pressure on the starting outfield to start producing.

Tomorrow’s game against the much heralded Johan Santana might not be an automatic loss. Although he has been cursed with a lack of run support, Santana has not been the dominating pitcher that he was the past two seasons. Maybe the Amazins can sneak a run or two off of him and ride Jorge Sosa’s hot hand on the mound.

Watchout, Mets fans; Lastings Milledge is back on the field and beginning his rehab in the Minor Leagues. Forget the need to bring him up and buttress the paper thin outfield; I’m just hoping this means that his album is finally finished. I Can’t wait to see the work of LMillz hit the shelves.

Whether or not you’re a terrified Mets fan or not at all concerned about the current skid, one is abundantly clear. The Mets will go where the two Carloses (Beltran and Delgado) will lead them. With the Met’s starting rotation coming back to earth and the seemingly endless injuries to the geriatrically veteran position players, the Mets need Beltran and Delgado to snap out of their season long slumps. Fast.

There is no way Beltran will avoid a shower of boos tonight when he returns home from a horrific road trip tonight as the Mets take on Carlos Silva and the twins in interleague play, but I hope that most Mets fans use their head and show some class. While he may look lackadaisical, Beltran is obviously feeling the stress of a slump, and doing everything he can to snap out of it. I cringed along with every other Met fan when Beltran popped out to Rivera with the bases loaded on Saturday, and everyone knows he is softer than a temper-pedic mattress. The guy is almost always playing hurt, and unfortunately for Met fans he never plays well when he is sore.

However, as fans we should learn the lessons of two years ago, when we almost lost our Puerto Rican slugger. Beltran suffered through a mediocre year in 2005, and Mets die-hards thought it would be brilliant to boo the man on opening day. After Carlos hit his homerun to calm the disgusting display, it looked like he was ready to pack his bags before Julio Franco talked him off the ledge, and into our hearts. Remember that it was Beltran who led the lineup through most of the wonderful 2006 season.

I hope that Met fans will learn from this, and understand the personality of their team. If Beltran and Delgado are to snap out of their current funks, a barrage of boo-birds won’t be the catalyst. Both sluggers are too talented to be down for this long. They will both snap out of it, it is just coincidental and unlucky that both lost their strokes at the same time. Don’t be a fan who has to cheer the fan he booed last week.

Sometimes in baseball you have to be patient when everything seems to be slipping away. The Mets are a good baseball team, and have enough talent to win the National League. It isn’t time to juggle the roster around, trade away our stars, or jump ship just yet. Tonight that ship is the Maine, and while we all will Remember the Maine tonight, lets not jump off the Bel-train. I’d hate for him to once again resent New York again as he is carrying thefreight to November.