Make it stop

The Mets continue to be an extremely frustrating team to root for. This week they lost their fourth straight series to the Braves in agonizing fashion and followed it up by doing no better against the Marlins. Thanks to a ten-run outburst on Sunday, they wound up outscored by just one run in these six games, but their lead in the division will be three games at most at the end of the day. The Braves and Phillies may never take advantage of the Mets' struggles, but no team they face in October is likely to be so forgiving.

One of the major problems in the second half and this week in particular has been the starting pitching. Tom Glavine and Orlando Hernandez are each pitching a little bit better in the second half than the first in terms of ERA and each was solid this week. John Maine and Oliver Perez, however, have not maintained their first half success at all. Maine has an ERA of 6.46 in six post-break stats, more than twice his first half 2.71. Perez's ERA has gone from 3.14 in the first half to 4.33 in the second half. It's not too surprising that Maine has cooled off, given that he's never pitched nearly as well in the majors as he did in the first half of this year and he's already pitched more innings this year than he had in his entire major league career prior to this year. The magnitude of his collapse is still quite disappointing given how good he looked in the first half. Perez was able to maintain his effectiveness through 196 innings three years ago, but since then he's been anything but consistent, so his struggles aren't exactly stunning, either. Still, both were very good for much of this season and a six-start stretch isn't enough to convince me that either is a lost cause. If the Mets are going to play deep into October this year, they will need these two to get it together.

The offense did have a decent week, scoring 31 runs and hitting .281/.338/.433. It was not exactly a dominating performance, especially before Sunday, but there were some good signs. Carlos Beltran returned from the DL and hit a home run, though it was the only hit he had in ten at bats. Jose Reyes, at .360/.429/.520, and David Wright, at .333/.423/.762, both had excellent weeks. And Moises Alou, with three home runs, continued to prove that he'll hit as long as he's healthy. Unfortunately that might not be very long if Willie Randolph keeps having him start every single game. Even with Beltran back, there should be plenty of playing time for Lastings Milledge given Alou's age and injury history and Shawn Green's general lack of ability at the game of baseball, but Randolph doesn't seem to agree. Paul Lo Duca going on the DL on Sunday should also have been a boon to the offense, but Ramon Castro left Sunday's game after just one at bat with "mild arthritis" in his back. He is listed as day-to-day, but I fear the Mike DiFelice era may be upon us.

The Mets (65-52) failed this weekend in their first shot at beating up on the dregs of the National League. They will get a couple more chances in the coming week, starting with a trip to Pittsburgh where the Pirates and the worst record in the National League (48-66) await. El Duque (7-4, 3.05), Maine (12-7, 3.53) and the so-far-adequate Brian Lawrence (1-0, 4.09) will start for the Mets. Ian Snell (7-10, 3.87), Proven Veteran Matt Morris (7-7, 4.53) and Tony Armas Jr. (2-3, 6.13) will go for Pittsburgh.