It is NOT Time to Panic

The injury bug has arrived in Queens. First, Jose Valentin, then El Duque. Now, possibly Moises Alou. Not good news of course. It sucks when you lose 1 player to an injury, much less your 2nd baseman, your #3 starter and your left fielder. But it is far from time to panic.

"But, but, but Ed, what do you mean. We lost two bats and a starter. The sky is falling. The Braves are in first place and are playing well. We lost a game to the Rockies and one to the Nationals, now one to the Marlins. Park is awful, who is going to pitch? What are we going to do?"

Well, true, we lost at least one bat and a starter (we don't know whats up with Moises yet). But please, remember last year. We missed Beltran for a couple of weeks. We missed Pedro, El Duque and Glavine for a bit each. We used 14 starting pitchers last year. And we won the division by a mile. Now, granted, the Braves are playing well, but they just lost Wickman, which shortens their pen since now they need to use Gonzalez as their closer. Do you really think Tyler Yates is going to keep it up?

Park spit the bit last night. You cannot allow yourself, as a veteran, to lose focus when you give up a hit to the opposing pitcher. Park admitted that is what happened. Man up, and throw strikes. You are a vet, not a rookie. Instead, he walks the next two batter, and Easley botches a line drive, and Reyes misses a pop up. Game basically over.

The problem for the Mets right now is not the pitching. Sosa could come up to replace Park. Or Vargas could. Pelfrey needs to listen to the Jacket. He loses it from the bullpen to the mound. Perez had the same problem, and it has been fixed. Pelfrey can hopefully do the same. Maine is going great, as is Glavine, and Perez has turned the corner.

The problem now is the bats. Does anyone really think the Wright and Delgado are going to be this bad all year? No way. Both are too good to have gone completely to shit already. It is painful to watch right now, but I think we are going to see a coming out party for both of them. David has shown some signs of life. He just needs to put it all together. Carlos is just too much of a veteran to have this continue. Once they start hitting, things will get better.

Now, if Alou is out, Endy will play. The will hurt the lineup of course, but it may help. PLD is looking bad right now. Endy will bat second, which will help the top of the lineup. Of course, Willie could move Wright there, hoping to get him some more fastballs, in the hope that will help him break out. But I'm thinking it will be Endy. Milledge is out, so he is not an option. Gomez is not ready yet people. He is not coming up. Way too young, and has not been hitting as of late. Let's not anoint him as a savior yet.

Good teams overcome injuries, especially when they have a deep team. The Mets have a deep team. Now, they have to overcome the injuries. No better time to start than tonight.