The Mets are a mess, and for once, we mean that in the best possible way.

What we mean now is that theyre a mess to figure out.

One thing is certain: The presence of Jose Reyes has fueled the red-hot Mets during their 9-1 stretch. (Getty Images) One week, people are talking about the manager getting fired. The next week, the same people are talking about this team making the playoffs.

And its not even May.

One week, you have unnamed executives popping up and saying that the Nationals have a better team than the Mets do. The next week, you find yourself asking if theres any team in the National League East that has a better chance of challenging the Phillies than the Mets.

You find yourself looking forward to this weekends Mets-Phillies series in Philadelphia, analyzing the pitching matchups, and saying that the Mets match up OK.

And then you tell yourself you must be nuts.

See what I mean about a mess?

Seriously now, the Mets just finished a 10-game homestand against three teams that in some way were considered playoff contenders. 10 games, and the Mets won nine of them, with first the Cubs and then the Braves and finally the Dodgers self-destructing in Citi Fields visiting clubhouse.

Its easy to analyze this week and a half by saying that it was more about those three teams looking bad than it was about the admitted after Wednesdays 7-3 win over the Dodgers that the last three Mets opponents seemed to be “going through a downward spiral.”

The Cubs were so messed up they had to put Carlos Zambrano in the bullpen. The Braves were so messed up that Yunel Escobar didnt tag up on what should have been a sacrifice fly. The Dodgers were so messed up that general manager Ned Colletti called out his best player, center fielder Matt Kemp.

And the Mets, the team that we thought had the market cornered on messed-up?

“The thing about our team, we appear youthful,” Manuel said.

Yes, he said youthful, even though he kind of ruined it by including catchers Rod Barajas (34) and Henry Blanco (38) as two of the reasons why.

Youthful might not be the right word, but theres no doubt that the Mets look three times better than they did a couple of weeks ago.

Three reasons:

1. Whatever Ike Davis is going to do with the rest of his career, he has more than justified the Mets decision to bring him up from Triple-A Buffalo last week. In 10 games, hes hitting .355, and as Manuel rightly said, hes already gotten quite a few big hits.

2. Jose Reyes is really starting to look like himself. Watching Reyes play this week provided a big reminder of what the Mets missed when he was out for much of last year, and for the first week of this season (and even for the week after that, when he was still playing himself into shape).

3. The arrival of Mike Pelfrey as a big-time starting pitcher has given the Mets rotation a vastly different look. With Pelfrey joining Johan Santana, the Mets finally have two top-of-the-rotation starters, allowing the other guys to fit in behind. For the 10 games of the homestand, Mets starters were 5-1 with a 1.68 ERA.

And a fourth reason:

After seeing the Cubs, Braves and Dodgers, its easy to think that no team in the entire National League looks like a wild-card favorite. Even if you acknowledge that the Mets really arent as good as the Phillies (theyre not), its easy to think that the Mets arent any worse than the teams theyd need to beat out to get to the playoffs.

Its not like theyre chasing the Yankees and Rays.

Call that a break if you want. And call it a break that the Mets caught the Cubs, Braves and Dodgers at the perfect time. “You know what, thats not our fault,” Jeff Francoeur said. “Last year, teams took advantage of playing us at times. Through 10 games, I dont think you can smokescreen anyone. Anyway, Ill take 9-1 getting breaks.”

But back to the question of how good the Mets really are.

The thing is, we just dont know. We dont have enough to judge on, because they played so much of last year without Reyes and center fielder Carlos Beltran (who is still on the disabled list now), without Carlos Delgado (who is no longer here), and also at times without three-fifths of the starting rotation.

A healthy Mets team obviously would have done better than the 70-92 the Mets finished in 2009, but how much better?

Reyes wasnt there at the start of this season, and neither was Beltran. And first base was a black hole, until the Mets dropped the Mike Jacobs-Fernando Tatis idea and went with Davis. A healthy Mets team no doubt would have started better, but how much better?

Manuel said hes looking forward to this weekends series with the Phillies, and looking forward to a chance to judge the Mets against better opposition.

“Im kind of anxious to see when were hot and the opposition is hot how that plays out,” he said.

So are we, Jerry. So are we.

Until then, were just going to keep asking your players how good (or bad) this team is.

“We just keep playing,” Alex Cora said. “You guys figure it out.”

Right now, we cant. Right now, its a mess.

A good mess.

Posted on April 29th, 2010 by admin
Filed under: MLB baseball news