By Geoff Walter / SNY.tv

 

 

The baseball season is the longest in professional sports. 162 games of grueling work subdivided into series of three to four games a piece. This is never a sprint, it is a marathon -- a cliché too often uttered around the baselines and to the pressbox as a salving balm across aching muscles and psyches mired in fatigue and slumps. You tend to hear less of it as a team is doing well, as it is treated as a caution, a warning or other prophecy of doom by players that the good times can't last forever. But we let it pass swiftly over our heads, closing off our ears and putting on blinders, already riding high on short-term successes.

 

The Mets have been in cruise control for the entirety of this season that is one-third over. Their pitching staff had been for the most part in control, and when it wasn't, the bats were there to back it up. The team stayed healthy up until Moises Alou pulled his left quad in the middle of May and Shawn Green was placed on the 15-day DL (though he's now reportedly available for the series against the Dodgers). Endy Chavez joined them on June 7 with a pulled left hamstring in a 6-3 loss to the Phillies; par for the course as the Mets were swept for the first time this year.

The team still stands three games in first place, but for the remaining month of June they will be pitted against playoff-caliber teams (including the Phillies again and a Yankee team with Roger Clemens in tow), so this is not the time to go into a slump, or sustain injuries. While everyone applauds Jorge Sosa for stopping the "skid," that does not make up for the turn south the starters have taken, as evidenced purely in the last two games this weekend against Detroit, or the bullpen's ability to now blow the lead. Carlos Delgado's bat now works in fits and sputters, Damion Easley went colder than A-Rod in May, and the rest of the lineup is showing that right now it is not capable of fully coming back from deficits, even when they score seven runs. The Mets just called up outfielder Ricky Ledee from Triple-A New Orleans. Does the behavior sound familiar? Do the names Darrell Rasner, Humberto Sanchez, Jose Veras and Phil Hughes ring any bells? Look where they are now: on the DL.

Ah, and what of the Bombers now declared, of all things, underdogs? They are in the midst of what has been deemed a renaissance by some, or they may finally be coming into their own after a shaky start, going on a six-game winning streak to give them a 30-31 record. No, this has nothing to do with the return of Roger Clemens, but he can be considered a means of continuing the good vibrations currently being felt in the Bronx by adding to the rotation. The Yankees took injuries and made moves which are now paying off; consider it the baseball equivalent of making lemonade out of lemons. Johnny Damon's arm isn't getting any younger and he needs to rest his legs so he was moved to the DH, and Melky Cabrera took over centerfield. Meanwhile, Jason Giambi is KIA three ways to Sunday because of all the controversy surrounding him, his basement bating average, and his lack of any defensive skill at first base while Miguel Cairo has been a revelation, fielding the position deftly and quickly.

Both teams' lineups and rotations were and are too good to stay down for long, so Mets fans are just now getting a taste of what the Yankees already experienced this season, although in far smaller portions. There are peaks and valleys in every season, on every team, and with every player; rarely do you have every single player firing at the same time. These things happen; the Mets will get out of their slump. In the meantime, chill out and have some lemonade.

Wanna argue with the Ref? Don't like the call? Go ahead and make your own!