Just 24 hours ago, the Mets were facing the possibility of entering the playoffs shorthanded.  Suddenly, they had caught a bad beat. Gloom and doom pervaded the blogosphere and the traditional outlets. After enjoying a fairly charmed season, outside of a few late nite restaurant runs and a couple of alleged trysts with people other than ones wife, they went from having a stacked deck to playing without their pocket aces.

What a difference a day makes.

Lets recap, shall we?

The Mets today formalized their plans to build a $800 million dollar stadium. In other words, its a done deal. Sign, sealed and delivered.

Tom Glavine's mysterious blood clot will not require surgery, and will be cured with baby asprin. He will return in 5 to 10 days, instead of ending his season or possibly his career as some feared.

The Mets added Shawn Green to their arsenal, bolstering an outfield that lacked the punch it previously had with Cliff Floyd and Xavier Nady as its bookends.

…and the cherry on top, the ex-President watched the Mets come back from a 6 run deficit with the help of the Carlos Bros, with the MVPeeveist Carlos hitting a walk off home run on the first pitch of his at bat.

24 hours later, the future went from uncertain to certifiably sublime.

A lesson learned by the Foot in Vegas this weekend is that sometimes its better to be lucky than good. The Mets got a little bit of both, and after all, what would a season be without a little Mets magic?

I was upset by two things yesterday. News that Duaner Sanchez was potentially lost for the season in a freak taxi accident (what is it with Mets and taxis? can we get these guys an armored truck for transportation?) and losing a favorite player of mine in Xavier Nady. However, my rational side reminds me that Endy Chavez is a vast improvement over Nady defensively and combined with Lastings Milledge, the Mets likely will not lose much offensively without Nady. To top it off, the Mets add a proven set up man in Roberto Hernandez who arguably was the Mets MVP in 2005. Bert compiled a 2.60 ERA last season and currently holds a 2.90 ERA.

Duaner Sanchez was outstanding in the first half of the season but was more human as the midterm neared. If he is able to return for the playoffs, the Mets will have a ridiculously deep bullpen to ride them through October. If he isnt, they still have a solid set up in Bert.

I will miss seeing X as part of this special season, his contributions will not be forgotten. However I am excited to see the Lastings Milledge era begin again, hopefully with some lessons learned from his first time around.

The talk in the Bleachers last night after the Mets loss quickly turned to the supposed unfairness that interleague play creates for certain teams. If you look closely at the schedule, we all play the same teams for the most part. Atlanta plays the Yankees and Orioles as well. The Phillies played Boston, the Yanks and will play the O's then the Jays.

The Marlins catch a break and face the Devil Rays, but lets be realistic here. The Mets have a healthy lead and they should be playing the class of the AL in the form of the Yankees, Red Sox, and Blue Jays. If the Mets have any postseason aspirations, they are going to have to show they can hang with the big boys. Beating up on weak NL opponents will help pad their numbers but it doesn't do much for building up experience with the type of competition they will need to beat if they plan on making a run at a World Championship.

The stakes have been raised. The time has come to prove that they're not just a bully taking lunch money from underclassmen in the schoolyard of the NL East. I have no problem with the Mets bus pulling into Landsdowne and picking a fight with someone their own size. As far as i'm concerned, the Sox are the biggest test the Mets will face in the regular season and possibly the postseason.

Stop whining about uneven schedules and the fact the Mets and Sox play in leagues with differerent rules and are on an uneven playing field. Excuses are for losers. Play the game. Just win. You want to be the best, you need to beat the best, no matter what the circumstances are.

This is the biggest series until the postseason. Don't let anyone try and tell you different.

Bob Raissman in today's New York Daily News accuses the Mets front
office of muzzling SNY from trying to rain on their parade of praise
for their newest rookie phenom, Lastings Milledge.

SNY hosts Daily News Live on their network, which may have played some part in the network curling the ear of the New York paper.

Raissman
goes on to paint Milledge as a bad kid who has a horrible past and is a
hot dog, and the Mets trying to perpetuate a myth by protecting
Milledge.

What does
Raissman expect the Mets to do? Celebrate the fact that Milledge made
some mistakes when he was young, that he plays with enthusiam that some
opponents find distasteful? I'm all for telling the truth, and it has
been well documented in the local papers. Keith Hernandez even acknowledged
Milledge's flair for drawing attention

Does
Raissman expect Keith to recite every detail of Milledges' personal
problems? Should we look into Raissman's closet and see what skelletons
show up there as well? What exactly is Raissman looking for? What would
please him in terms of the Mets handling of Milledge? I'd really love
to know.

I was of the opinion we should wait for Pelfrey to develop but how many more times can you roll out Jose Lima and John Maine or Gonzales? Pelfrey at his worst has to be an improvement over any of the three. Minor league track records can be deceiving, as many times pitchers are not necessarily out there to win games but to work on certain pitches, test out scenarios, etc…

I'm not saying its time to promote Pelfrey, but I wouldnt exactly treat him as a non-option this early. Its worth considering with the state of the backend of the Mets rotation becoming a sure 2 losses every 4 days, on top of that putting more pressure on the top of the rotation.

The Mets face perhaps the most feared hitter in the major leagues in Albert Pujols as they enter a three game set with the Cardinals. Two Mets pitchers are among a short list who have yet to surrender a home run to the prolific slugger, Tom Glavine and Billy Wagner. Unfortunately, Puljos has good numbers against the Met pitchers he will be facing this week. Against Glavine, he is 9-17, Trachsel he is 4-9, Lima he is 6-16 with a HR. Small samples, but a history of success in those limited appearances.

So should the Mets simply walk Pujols if the opportunity allows? It is my opinion that Pujols should be treated as Barry Bonds in his prime, you can let him beat you or you can simply put him on base and pick your poison elsewhere. Cliff Floyd tends to agree with me, quotes courtesy of The New York Times…

Glavine had this to say regarding Pujols…

Randolph thinks theres an achillies heel the Mets can attack upon…

So, the strategy should be to force Pujols to go after the outside pitch, but if at all possible, don't awaken the sleeping giant and simply put him on. Its frustrating for fans to see great hitters intentionally walked, taking away from the drama of the confrontation, but the Mets are in no position to take Pujols lightly in a series that finds them precariously perched atop the NL East.

The Mets should DL Carlos Beltran and give Lastings Milledge a chance to play centerfield while Carlos figures out whats wrong with his hamstring. He can take his time, heal up all he wants, and let this young phenom show us what he's got. Lastings is making AAA look like single A, he is ready to make the bump up.

I think playing Milledge could light a fire under Beltran, seeing this young player playing centerfield, doing the right things and getting big hits. I think motivation is a powerful tool and Beltran could use a bit of it right now.

The Mets are showing some cooling off in the offense and could use a spark in the form of Lastings. The only downside is bringing Milledge up now speeds up his arbitration, but I think its a small price to pay for a team with a fairly flexible budget like the Mets.

Give the kid a shot, you have nothing to lose but Endy Chavez, which isn't exactly a bad thing.