Half Time

By Ed "In Westchester" Semlies
Posted Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Well, the season is half over. The Mets stand in first place by two games over the Braves. The last road trip started off nicely with a three-of-four series win over the Phillies, but was followed by a sweep by the Rockies and taking only two of four from the Astros. So, is it time to panic? Should Omar ship out youngsters to obtain a starting pitcher, or outfield help as the experts state?

I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say no. No big trades. No trading away of Milledge, or Pelfrey or Humber. We’ve tried that before (see Kazmir, Scott for Zambrano, Victor). When you are in a position like this, the other team is going to take everything it can. I am not in favor of giving up the future in a "win now" mentality. I am in favor of a small deal or deals for bullpen help and/or bench help; that is needed more than a starting pitcher or an outfielder. The rest of the fixes can come from inside. There is enough talent here that this team should make the playoffs without making a big time trade.

The problem is the bats, my friends. The offense is simply not scoring enough runs. We have had way too many games where the pitchers have given up only three or four runs, yet the bats have scored two runs or less. With the talent on this team, that should not happen. Thankfully, David Wright has found his groove. Carlos Delgado seems to be turning it around. Now, if we can get Beltran to do the same, we will have the big guns going, and that is going to solve a heck of a lot more problems than trading for Jermaine Dye will. The imminent return of Lastings Milledge is going to help. Now, he is not going to solve all of the problems, but he should provide some consistency in left field for a while, and another bat. He is tearing up AA right now, and it looks like he could be back this weekend. This means instead of David Newhan, we will have Milledge. Looks like an upgrade to me.

Then, we should see the return of Moises Alou, which will allow Lastings to play right field in place of Green once a week or so, as well as spell Alou as needed. On days he doesn’t start, Lastings provides a good option off the bench, providing some pop as well as some speed. Add to the mix the return of Endy Chavez, and we should have a healthy outfield, something that has been missing since May. It is no coincidence that the lineup has suffered since Alou went down. It shortened the lineup, and removed some protection from Wright and/or Delgado. (Yes, I know, protection is overrated according to some stats gurus. Psychologically though, I think it impacts a pitcher and a hitter when they know the next guy is Alou as opposed to David Newhan or Ricky Ledee.)

Pitching has been a problem as well. Overall, the starters' numbers look good, but they need to get out of the habit of giving back a lead. Glavine has done it, El Duque has as well. This needs to stop, now. Same for the pen, they need to step it up. We saw some good performances this weekend. Hopefully, this carries over to the second half. If not, Omar needs to look at some external options, or perhaps internal ones (perhaps Humber to the pen? I’m guessing he’s on an innings cap, this would help that and help the team. Imagine that curve out of the pen…) Maybe once Pedro comes back we can shift Sosa to the pen, taking over for Sele. Aaron Heilman, time to pitch. Keep your focus, enough with the long balls, just get it done.

I’m gonna put the fan hat on for a second. Now, obviously I don’t know what goes on in the locker room. For all I know, guys are getting on other guys who are not performing. But this lack of hustle (and I’m not singling out Reyes here) needs to stop. I want to see guys busting it out of the box. I want to see them trying for the extra base. And if someone doesn’t do it, I want someone to bust some shoes over it. Wagner made some comments about guys not saying “lets get #300 for Tommy Glavine”. Good point. Set the goal and go for it. Now, Billy tends to talk a lot, but in this case I support him. Someone needs to light a fire under some asses. Maybe this will do it.

The swagger that prevailed last year is not as prevalent. It is there once in a while, but not game in and game out. Guys are being thrown at with no retaliation. Leads are being blown with no comebacks. Last year, if the Mets were down a couple or few runs late in the game, you knew they would come back. This year, that feeling is not there. Teams know this. As the second half opens, it would be nice to see a beating put on the Reds. And if in one game they fall behind, a nice demoralizing comeback would help. The division is there for the taking. The team that goes for the jugular is going to take it. The Mets better be the ones to grab it.
 

Ed is looking forward to a second half that sees the Mets run away with the NL East. Come read his rants at The Blue, Orange & Green Cafe or here every Tuesday at F.U.