doggin' it

The Mets responded last night to a Friday spanking from Willie Randolph, showing some resiliency and beating the Houston Astros 5-3 in 17 innings, one night after Willie was forced to pull Jose Reyes from the Mets' 4-0 loss for not leaving the batter's box on an 8th inning ground ball Reyes hit to third base.

Had I gotten the chance to post something yesterday, I was prepared, like many other Mets fans, to rant about Reyes' lack of hustle and how it was the perfect metaphor for the Mets' 2007 season so far. In one night, however, the Mets did something else they've perfected this year, coming up with a win just big and hard-fought enough to turn back on my on and off sense of security about a team that has been just a little bit more on and off than last year's NL powerhouse.

The Mets' 2007 season

It seems like every time the Mets do something worrisome this year, they come back with one or more confidence-inspiring victories to convince fans and onlookers that everything's gonna be alright in 2007. That late-May series defeat in Atlanta that gave the Braves a 6-3 edge in head-to-head games against us this season? No matter; we swept the Marlins the following weekend and watched the Braves get beat up in their own ballpark by Philadelphia. That time we lost 14 out of 18 at the beginning of June? 8 wins in 10 games, including 3 consecutively decisive road victories against the Phillies, did something, at the very least, to salvage the month of June and allay the fears of frustrated fans.

This week, after last weekend's "on" series against the Phils, the Mets were right back "off" again, getting absolutely owned for three games by the Rockies at Coors Field. After a bounce-back, 6-2 victory on Thursday night, the lackluster play continued on Friday, when the combination of another pathetic performance by the lineup against a mediocre pitcher (it was Wandy Rodriguez's turn to play Sandy Koufax on Friday night) and an embarrassing play (or lack of a play) involving Jose Reyes seemed to be perfectly microcosmic of the woes that have plagued the Mets this season.

But then Carlos Beltran pulled a Willie Mays-like falling catch on the Minute Maid Park center field hill out of his back pocket in last night's 14th inning, and later singled home the Mets go-ahead run in the 17th to give the Amazins' a 5-hour and 9 minute, 5-3 victory in Houston last night. In a game that got to extras in the first place because the Mets came back from a 3-0 deficit on home runs from David Wright and Carlos Delgado, the big players on the team all came up big to put the Mets in a position to win last night. What a concept! The Jeckyll and Hyde act continues.

Carlos Beltran was Jeckyll on Saturday night; Jose Reyes played Hyde on Friday

The Mets looked good last night. I feel better about 2007 than I would have had they lost the game. But the on again, off again identity will continue to plague this team until it can play demonstrably more consistent baseball. Jose Reyes was the first Met this year to stand still at home plate after hitting a fair ball, but a Mets team that with consistent hitting and more regularly-sharp play could probably be 20 games over .500 and at least 7 games ahead in the NL East has been caught standing around many times this year and had to be forced into gear.

Blue and orange kool-aid is my favorite beverage in between the months of April and (hopefully, but not usually) October, and I've been quick to dismiss the Mets' difficulties this year while playing up the fact that they've remained in first place, but right now my blue and orange kool-aid is regularly being spat up and staining all my white clothing. The gripes coming from the Shea faithful this season have nothing to do with concern over whether the Mets will remain a winning team this year.

Or at least mine don't. The Mets will finish 2007 with a winning record. More than likely, they'll also make the playoffs. More than likely, they'll also win the division, at least if the Phillies and the Braves continue to have anything to do with the equation.

But 8 winning teams go the playoffs every year. One wins a championship. And if a team that expected to go the World Series last year, had it's heart broken, and then vowed to avenge its untimely 2006 death is going to get what it and its fans want in 2007, pretty good isn't going to be good enough. This team looks like it may have first-round playoff exit at the hands of the Milwaukee Brewers written all over it.

The bottom line is that on and off won't work in October. Something needs to change.

(Photo, video courtesy of dmsjusa.com, metsblog.com)