Why Can't I Be Wrong?

I hoped against hope that my prognostication of Chan Ho Park's sucking would be wrong. I am not Metstradamus. Unfortunately, I'm not stupid either.

The wretched thing that is the Mets starting rotation (save for the farm boy, and Glavine) took another turn for the worse as Tsing-Tao Park spirited us away to our third loss in the last five games. I know... that's hardly Yankee proportions of late, but it still is something to be concerned about.

Why, take note of this stat: in the past week, the Mets have put up a paltry .258/.325/.378 line, on par with the career numbers of the dearly departed Joe McUseless: .251/.302/.355. You know that when you're slumping to an extent where McEwing would be a productive offensive player, you're in trouble (see New York Mets from 2002-04).

And it is high time to worry about David Wright and Carlos Delgado. These two composed half of the Mets Core Four from last year (Reyes and Beltran are the others) and it's difficult to see them playing poorly and the Mets winning.

The worst part is that Wright is a player, who, at this point in his career, you would like to see a progression from him, in both hitting for average and for power. He's 24 and a half, and yet that 6-year, $55 million deal looks like we bought ourselves an above-average singles and doubles hitter.

Maybe it was my mistake to bash Wes Helms: his .244 EqA is hardly that much worse than Wright's .263 clip. Even better, we're forced to watch the best 3Bs in the National League frequently; Miguel Cabrera and Larry Jones. Perhaps we might have all been carried away with Wright, though he just looks absolutely lost at the plate.

Worst of all, David is hearing boo-birds at Shea. He deserves them, undoubtedly, his 0 HR and 6 RBI aren't going to win the Mets any championships. Perhaps Willie should rest him... I hear that David Newhan's swinging a hot bat (2 for 13, no XBH on the year). The other David (Wright) hasn't had an extra-base hit since April 12.

There's nobody there to push Delgado and Wright: the players who would assume their positions are not only decidedly inferior, they are both on the downside of their careers. Sorry, Julio, but you just aren't cut out for everyday work.

Where does this team go from here? The Mets are lost, wandering, without much of a home (as evidenced by their 6-6 record at Shea), and in mild but present danger of losing ground in the division to Atlanta.

Factor in that Jose Valentin followed El Duque to the DL (perhaps the clubhouse oat bran was tainted), and that Moises was awfully banged up in last night's game, and that Mike Pelfrey, our top pitching prospect, and his 0-2 record and 7.90 ERA are heading to the hill, and it makes it a great night for playoff hockey.

Rangers-Sabres, 7 p.m., on your local VERSUS channel. ::Collective groan from league offices::.
Seriously, this is probably a must-win for the Blueshirts, unless they plan on going back to Buffalo down 3-2 or getting eliminated on home ice Game 5.

Maybe Michal Rozsival will do something impressive, so all the local tabs can do their best Ethel Merman impression in tomorrow's headlines.

One final thing: Ruben Gotay (!) was called up to replace Jose Valentin. If Anderson Hernandez or Fernando Tatis makes the trip up north from New Orleans, I might consider rooting for the Red Sox. They're good.

Edit: Vote in the new poll.

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