What a month it has been! I was just offered an entry-level job with ESPN, so I am off to Bristol (I hope they have SNY there). My sister got married last week, and my best friend gets married in less than two months. In the next couple of weeks, I need to somehow find an apartment, move in, and plan a bachelor party.  In college, I scraped together a thesis in about 6 weeks, and there were a multitude of times when I thought I’d fail out from not completing it- that is kind of what this stretch reminds me of.

Nevertheless, I’m finally back and writing about my favorite team. If there are any loyal readers out there, I’m sorry for the long absence- I haven’t abandoned my boys, just haven’t had much computer access recently. I’m sure everyone is still reeling from how well Brian Bannister is doing in KC and trying to decipher who is the greater of two evils - Pat Burrell or Chipper Jones, but at least the Mets applied the turnicate to their season with a sweep (SWEEP!) of the Braves at Turner Field. Maybe all this team needed was a little

pressure.

Except, that is not all they are getting. We have waited 9+ long months for this, but the golden boy is finally returning, and not a moment too soon. Say what you want to say about the poise and durability of this Mets pitching staff, but the Mets sorely need Pedro.  You know it, I know it, and Willie knows it. They need him in the dugout, in the locker room, in front of the cameras, dancing with Mr. Met in between innings, smacking Jose Reyes around a little bit, or teaching Oliver Perez a changeup. He’s the ignition that starts the Mets car, and it has been unmistakenly apparent this season with this successful but lifeless Met team.

Chris “Mad Dog” Russo has repeatedly said that all you can expect to get from Pedro is a five inning start in Game 3 of a playoff series. To back this dubious claim, he points out that Martinez has barely eclipsed 88 on the radar gun in his rehab starts. Someone should tell Russo that Billy Wagner doesn’t usually surpass 92 on the gun during Spring Training, but that isn’t really the point. Whether or not Pedro was holding something back off his fastball  during his minor-league stints (And knowing Pedro, he almost certainly was), Russo should know that Pedro is the unofficial leader of this Mets clubhouse. We saw it from his first day in the dugout wearing a Met uniform, and it will be no different this time around. He injects a shot of adrenaline into anyone who comes into contact with him, on and off the mound.

When Pedro and Duque couldn’t pitch last postseason, we saw a Mets team struggle to conjure up any kind of momentum. With Martinez on the DL this season, we’ve seen a talented but underachieving team clinging to first place since the All-Star break.

On the day Pedro returned to the dugout, a team that had just been agonizingly swept by their biggest rivals in a ballpark where they never lose suddenly walked into Atlanta and smacked around their biggest nemesis in a ballpark where they never win.

Coincidence? Maybe. Chris Russo would undoubtedly tell you so. But it makes no difference to any rational Met fan. We all know that no matter what shape he’s in, as long as Pedro can still walk out to the mound and throw, this Mets team will improve prodigiously more than any five inning, game three start would indicate. So go ahead. Vote for Pedro.

I know really Randolph wants to win, just like the rest of us. I know he is a man of strong conviction, a man who believes in a steady, unwavering focus. A man who believes that every season has it’s ebbs and flows. A man who trusts the adages that patience is a virtue, everything evens out in the end, and yes, that talented teams eventually right the ship.

But something has got to give.

Willie should be admired for his unwavering loyalty, his incredible sense of faith in his veterans, his ability to not let public opinion phase him, no matter how strong or how vicious the talk radio airwives have been.

But enough is enough.

At some point, Randolph has to realize that the Mets have a real problem here. The Met’s horrid hitting with runners in scoring position has become a mental epidemic, and while staying the course can work in some instances, it is clear this problem isn’t going away.

the first question that needs to be asked is why Jose Valentin is still put in the lineup, and Ruben Gotay is not getting four at bats every game. Sure, Valentin fooled me last year, when he suddenly went from barely being able to swing the bat to suddenly scoring homeruns out Shea. The more I see Valentin, the more I’m starting to think it was a fluke. Gotay may not prove to be an offensive juggernaut in the long run, but he is lightyears ahead of Valentin, who at the moment, is an automatic out.

When you are having trouble producting runs, you have to keep going to your hot bats. It’s mind-boggling that Randolph has let blind -loyalty get in the way of winning. Though I respect Willie’s opinion, at some point you have to get out of your own way. After all, its been widely rumored that the Rick Down firing and Franco demotion had Omar written all over it.

Willie can’t be blamed for the woes of Beltran, Delgado, and Lo Doca- nobody believes that. But it’s way too long for a third of your lineup (and most of the Met’s offensive power) to be in a prolonged slump.

Delgado and Beltran have always roller-coaster rides at the plate- they can look clueless for a month, and then carry teams on their back for two weeks. However, time has run out. The Braves aren’t going away, and the Met’s schedule is only getting harder. The Mets simply can’t keep putting this much pressure on their pitching staff.

This kind of lack of run production frustrates the starters, humbles the bullpen, and taxes the entire staff as a whole. You have to give your staff some blowout victories, where starters can throw strikes and roll outs, and the bullpen can regain some momentum. Willie is not the problem, obviously- but he has to do more to fix it. Isn’t that what a baseball manager is paid to do?
A baseball manager just simply can’t be passive in the midst of an underachieving ballclub. You can count on your hand the number of games a manager wins and loses each year because of in-game decisions. The truth is, a manager is only worth as much as he can get his team to play for him. Whether Willie has to bench some players, jumble the lineup, or start a bunch of rookies, as a manager he has to do something to change the thought process and the vibe of the team, or else you are doing little more than collection a paycheck.

There is a scene in Bull Durham where, Kevin Costner, who plays the part of Crash Davis, is asked by his frustrated minor-league manager for advice on how to break the team’s slump. “Yell at them,” Crash says.

While the manager in the dugout of those guys in the Bronx has never been a great baseball strategist, he has survived longer than any other Yankee manager because he has found a way to get his men to play for him, no matter how much controversy or distraction infiltrated the locker room.

Maybe it’s time Willie took a lesson from his mentor.

The Mets are certainly putting a lot of pressure on young John Maine tonight. The current ace of the staff needs another good outing as he tries to play the stopper role to save the woefully inconsistent Mets offense.

One thing seems certain, however. The Jason Vargas experiment may be all but over.

You have to assume Mike Pelfrey will get one more start when injured starter Jorge Sosa’s spot in the rotation comes up on Friday, and he better make the most of it. Pelfrey has had six major league starts this season alone, and while he has shown signs of promise, it’s time for him to show ample improvement.

The former first round pick has had ample time to get his feet wet in the Major Leagues. With the trade deadline looming closer and closer and the return of Pedro Martinez at least a month away, the Mets need Pelfrey to, if nothing else, keep them in the ballgame every once in awhile and keep his own trade value from plummeting any further. Once a seemingly sure thing, Pelfrey is looking more and more like the long lost fourth member of Generation K (Where have you gone, Paul Wilson?).

As bad as the starting pitching has been, the offense may be worse. Is it too much to ask for a comeback victory every once in awhile? Or even a late inning, clutch hit? I don’t know what the numbers are, but nobody in the lineup is consistent with runners in scoring position. One way or another, this needs to be addressed, and I don’t think the return of Moises Alou is the answer.

Outfielder Marlon Anderson was released by the Dodgers today, and this seems like a no-brainer for Omar Minaya. Anderson was terrific off the bench for the Mets in 2005, is a substantial improvement as a left hand bat  off the bench over Ricky Ledee. Although he’s been hurt, he’s almost 13 years younger than Franco…

Let’s hope the Mets can turn things around in field formally known as Enron. Houston is fading fast, and maybe a sweep on the road heading into the All-Star break will be enough to persuade Astros GM Tim Purpura to begin his inevitable firesale by sending Roy Oswalt to Queens.

I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m just glad no Mets pitcher will have to stare down Kaz Matsui at the plate tonight… I need some advil.

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.

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.