Forget Playoffs for Now - Mets Lose Completely Winnable Game, 3-1

"What do you MEAN you're bringing in Manny Acosta?!"

This article on WFAN.com had me pretty steamed yesterday, and that was even before the Mets stupidly ran themselves out of two scenarios where they had two on with less than two outs and only got one run to show for it.

Playoff contenders don't consider the .500 mark as significant an achievement as the Mets' fans and announcers do, nor do they come within one game of reaching that mark before losing to the Pittsburgh Pirates.  Don't get me wrong, the Pirates certainly have some fight in them, coming within one bullpen stinker of taking three of four the last time they played the Mets before going on to win a series against the Phillies, but when you get the rare solid effort from Mike Pelfrey, one of the most mentally fragile pitchers in the Majors, you need to give him more run support than a sac fly that turns into a double play because your runner on first didn't pick up the umpire making the catch call.  

Of course that runner on first wouldn't have even been there if it wasn't for Davis and Wright being out, but that just further proves that the WFAN article was premature at best, and an elaborate shill job by the official radio network of the team trying to keep people tuning in for the rest of the summer at worst.  Nobody really knows what this team is, but you can't dub them a playoff contender as they're assembled right now, missing their starting first and third basemen, (and biggest power threats), Johan Santana not available until late July at the earliest, Jason Bay a complete black hole in the lineup, and the bullpen in shambles.  

The article does a big job praising the rotation, and it has been quite good recently, but it fails to mention that the bullpen has been absolutely horrendous for about a month, with all of the feel-good Jason Isringhausen articles evaporating as quickly as the snap in his curveball and Terry Collins absolutely terrified to use anybody except Frankie Rodriguez.  

There are more bright spots than people might have expected heading into this season, with Ruben Tejada showing great improvement since the last time he was in the majors, and Justin Turner showing that he can hit if he gets the chance, but there are too many question marks to call this team anything but what they are, a remarkably inconsistent squad that needs to get healthy before we can start making playoff predictions.  Unfortunately, the New York media has no concept of moderation, and the team must always be portrayed as either a complete mess or surprising success.  It just depends on the kind of week that they're having.