Like Passover, your birthday and New Years, the all-star break is a time to look back and a time to look forward.  A time to reflect and a time to put things in perspective. 

To calm down those that know me and label me the eternal optimist, I will concede that things are not perfect, Pedro is aching, Soler is in AAA, Bannister is still on the mend, we lost 7 of 8 games over the course of the last week or so, Glavine at 40 can not be expected to keep up his first half pace....blah, blah, blah.  Having acknowledged this, there is not one real fan that can rightfully be disappointed with 50 wins (and counting) and a double-digit lead at the break. 

If a baseball season can be compared to a boxing match, we enter the 7th round way ahead on points and our corner-man is very happy with us.  We have pounded away since the opening bell, wearing down our opponent and stealing the last 15 seconds of every round (8 walk-off hits, anyone?).   It is going to take a knockout from the flatfooted bum across the ring that they call the NL East to steal this one from us. 

Here is why I am excited about the second half of the season and why the recent funk doesn't have me panicking.  First and foremost, we haven't really seen this tremendous lineup at full strength.  We have won, and won often, without unleashing the full ferocity this lineup can bring to bear.  People have been on the DL (Beltran, Floyd, Nady), and Reyes, Floyd, Beltran and Delgado have all taken turns slumping, so there have been a scant number of times that everyone has been healthy and going strong at the same time.  Its going to happen in the second half and its going to be fun to witness. 

Second, it is just a joy to watch Jose Reyes and David Wright play baseball every day.  'nuff said.

Third, when a pitching staff is bleeding, speed, and power can be a very effective balm.  Yes, the starting rotation has been a revolving door, but an offense that leads the league in slugging average and stolen bases and is 2nd in Runs, Homers and RBIs can keep you close in a lot of games. 

Looking deeper at the pitching, the bad news is that we don't have 4 or 5 lights-out studs in the rotation.  We are not the Braves of the 90's or the Mets of '69, '73 or '86.   We also don't have all the fancy names that the reactionary fans out there cry for every time we string 2 or 3 losses together - no Zito, no Willis and yes.....NO KAZMIR. 

The news is not all dark:

  • Our staff is 2nd in the league in ERA
  • Our bullpen is killer
  • While unproven (or in one case old), the quartet we hope to get some solid starts from in the second half are not a terrible bunch.  Of the quartet of El Duque, Bannister, Maine and Pelfry – if even two of them step up, its going to go a long way towards filling potential late-season faltering at the top of the rotation.  I like the upside of all these guys and have not given up hope for Soler who has excellent stuff but needs to solve his too frequent deer-in-the-headlights style outings.
  • Omar is likely not finished adding arrows to his quiver 

 

Probably the biggest thing we have to be grateful for as it pertains to pitching is that the bullpen has been outstanding despite the fact that Billy Wagner has been anything but Wagneresque this year.  Can you imagine the Wagner we used to hate as an Astro or Phillie pitching for us in the second half instead of the tentative, hittable-looking guy we have been watching?  The Sandman has been untouchable for the last 5 years running so despite a rough start, it is unfair to write him off this early in the season.  The last 10 day stretch has been encouraging.  In his last four outings, he has allowed no runs, just 2 hits and struck out 6.  More importantly, he's showing some swagger again. Like Popeye after a quick spinach nosh, number 13 is starting to show signs of resilience. Can he sustain it....who knows...but we've come this far pretty-much without him.  We will be even tougher to beat down the stretch if he is the unhittable, triple-digit flamethrower we have seen every year since 2001.

 

So yes, pitching wins pennants and our staff is solid at best and questionable at worst.  That being said, I can't remember the last time I had so much fun watching baseball.  I love the youth, I love the speed, I love the old guys, the mensches like Franco and Hernandez taking the young guys under their wing.  I love having seen Milledge and knowing I'll see him again and I really love watching these guys have so much fun playing together.  You can go crunch your numbers and look for dark clouds inside the silver linings.  I will be watching David Wright crush one the other way, Carlos Beltran glide across the outfield making tough plays look easy or marveling as Jose Reyes kicks up dirt as he turns another double into a triple.  From where I sit, its good to be alive, its good to be in first, its good to be a Met fan.