I think I just threw up a little bit in my mouth...

OK, having somewhat recovered from the bitter taste in my mouth from the past two series against the Sox and the Yanks, I will now endevour to develop some sort of cognizant reasoning behind the losses.

Screw that. Basically, the Mets at this time are in a slump. Is it panic time, not really. Looking at this past week from a distance, there are two things that explain what happened.

First, the Boston Massacre (in three part harmony). The Mets ran into the hottest team in baseball, at a time when they themselves were coming off a hot streak, but had begun to falter. Alay Soler did not help matters by imploding in game 1, and Pedro, well, Pedro quite frankly stunk up the joint. I think the hip was bothering him more than he wanted to admit. This is proven by the fact he will skip his turn against the Pirates, and probably this weekend's turn against the Marlins. Memo to Omar Minaya - do not let Pedro think of pitching until after the All Star Break. You have an 11 game lead, milk it for a week, and let Pedro get healthy. He is needed for the long haul. Let Mike Pelfrey pitch a game this weekend. Tell him it is a one time shot. Hey, if he does well, send down Soler, as his time appears to have lapsed.

We now move on to the Bronx, where the boys in Blue and Orange had some issues, to be kind. Friday, nearly nothing. Now, had it been Mussina for 8 innings, I could have understood, but allowing Villone to one hit you is absurd. It was an abysmal performance by the lineup. El Duque on the other hand did quite well.

On Saturday, as appears to be the custom, the boys beat up on the Big Eunich. Hung an 8 spot on him. Mr. Tracshel pitched well (for him) and the pen did the job. The bats woke up (perhaps they gave a little rum, or sacrificed some chickens, who knows). Even Wagner pitched, and thankfully did not choke.

Last night, a nice start, for the offense. Alas, the same could not be said of Alay Soler, who followed up his "performance" in Boston with another stinker. Heath Bell showed once again why Heath Bell does not belong in the pen. Six hits and 8 runs in 2 - 1/3 is no way to earn a place on the big club son.

Now, I know Wilie has been taking a lot of heat for sticking with Soler for so long, and I agree to an extent. However, knowing Oliver was needed to start tonight, he had to make a decision, stick with Alay, or bring in Oliver and have to call up someone for today's tilt against the Pirates. I happen to agree with the move made. I do not like the move to Bell however, I would have preferred Bradford or Feliciano first.

During the game, ESPN's own Joe Morgan was letting Willie have it about his decision. Joe stated something to the extent that the Yanks are the Mets biggest rival, and he should have approaced it that way. Now, I agree with Morgan to an extent, but, the only reason they are rival's is thanks to Bud (not so Wiser) Selig and inter-league play. The Mets biggest rival Joe is the team in second place, who they may be battling for the division title, not the team that they have to play 6 times a year because Bud wanted more money in the coffers. Bragging rights are nice, but at the end of the day, it means jack squat if the Mets beat the Yanks, but miss out on the playoffs.

The worst part of this past weekend is that due to the loss, Metstradamus (a favorite of mine - check him out) is going to have to turn his blog over to Darth Marc (avowed Yankee lover) for a day, as a result of a bet. Darthy can be quite amusing, I recommend him for comic relief. (Actually, Darth is among those who advised me to start this little Cafe, telling me I seem to have some interesting things to say, well, now we shall find out.)

What are the next steps, well, quite simple IMHO
1. Alay Solar should be sent down, eclipsed as it were by John Maine.
2. Pedro should not pitch until after the All Star Break. Rest that hip Pedro.
3. Omar should be working the phones from now until 7/30, looking for a #3 starter.
4. Move Mike Pelfrey up to AAA Norfolk. Have him buzz Lastings Milledge in BP so Lastings wakes up a bit.

For additional Met coverage, check out Metstradamus, Metsgeek, Toasty Joe, Metsblog and Faith & Fear in Flushing. All are excellent reads, and cover a variety of topics.

Until tomorrow.