I am normally a glass half-full person, but after yesterday’s loss and the Mets pathetic showing in their series at Shea against the Washington Nationals, I’ve had it. I’m dumping the glass.

This team has no heart. Yup, I said it… NO heart.

Wags, DWright, Moises, Johan, Mainer, Ryan Church and Brian Schneider are the only ones on this team who have shown they are gamers; so let’s get that out of the way. I’d even put Nelson Figueroa in there.

However, guys like Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes, and Oliver Perez aren’t getting it done. Reyes has become a shell of his former self and has reverted to that pre-2006 player than hacks at everything. He had a week and a half where he appeared to be getting on track, but now he’s off again.

We all know that Delgado has been hit or miss; it’s been mostly miss this year. I can’t say I’m too surprised after last year’s swoon. He told everyone that would listen in the spring that he broke down everything this off-season and re-taught himself how to hit. Unfortunately, his re-teaching has made Carlos Delgado into Wilson Delgado.

The most disappointing person, to me, is Carlos Beltran. He was very boastful in the spring, telling reporters that the Mets were this year’s team to beat. They sure are (as my Phillies fan brother keeps telling me); teams just keep beating them and beating them.

Beltran has done absolutely nothing this year, aside from his spring declaration. I especially enjoyed watching him yesterday; he swings at the first pitch with runners and first and third and two outs. Perfect opportunity to hit in the clutch and work the count; of course, that didn’t happen.

I’ll keep it short on Perez. I have zero confidence in him when he’s on the mound. Someone, anyone want to tell me where the passion is? Where is the hard work that this team was built on when Willie Randolph took over as manager in 2005?

I know Gary Grund has called for an overhaul of the coaching staff, but I can’t put all of the blame on Willie and Co. Is he the one that hits a wall in the 4th inning? Is he the one that can’t play fundamental baseball? The answers are no.

Sure Willie will take the fall, but you can blame Reyes, Beltran, Delgado, et al, for his ouster.

There will be some that believe that since it’s May 16 that there is plenty of time. It’s an excuse. This team is running out of time… and fast. Losing two of three, or getting swept by the Yankees, and

Billy Wagner said it best after Thursday’s game:

“We’re not earning our money.”

That is an understatement.

I know it was a tough night but it was a tougher day for Scott Schoeneweis. Late last night on his Mets Blog for the NY Post Bart Hubbach reported that Schoeneweis who is a testicular cancer survivor, was rushed to the hospital by ambulance yesterday morning and was hospitalized for seven hours. Adam Rubin of the Daily News has more on Schoeneweis who took some over the counter medication because he felt flu like symptoms that are going around in the Mets clubhouse:

Schoeneweis thought that medication might have been spoiled and complicated matters since it “tasted like moldy towels.”

At one point, he said, his arms turned blue and his hands were numb. He called an ambulance at 7 a.m.

“I thought I was going to die,” he said.

Doctors thought at one point he had appendicitis, but ruled that out when they pressed the area and Schoeneweis wasn’t in intolerable pain. Turns out Joe Smith had the same symptoms, only far less severe, in L.A. during the most recent road trip. “Joe’s the carrier,” Schoeneweis good-naturedly said.

So, Willie Randolph basher’s be aware that he had few options coming out of the bullpen last night. Plus, Rubin points out that Aaron Heilman over his previous six appearances, he had allowed one run and four hits in 7 1/3 innings.

Check out the rest of Adam’s blog where you’ll find notes on Mike Pelfrey, Fernando Tatis, and Jose Reyes who was summoned into Randolph’s office for a chat with the skipper before batting practice Wednesday.

Johan Santana has a policy of not speaking to the media between starts and because of the many places I’ve read about this in the past and now recently here and here. I personally think it’s in his best interest to shelf this policy. It’s just making unnecessary enemies in the media.

Joe D from Dugout Central, like me, was very impressed with John Maine sticking up for his fellow teammates, calling John “Rambo” in his latest post. Check it out.

Well, obviously the Mets have to score some more runs. You can go elsewhere to read about how terrible Aaron Heilman is/was I’m so sick of the topic. So lets hope they get the split today with the “Bush League” Nats and then beat up on our crosstown rivals this weekend. Lets Go Mets!!

The good folks over at Church of the Fonz baked a awesome cake for today’s birthday boy John Maine. John is 27 today. Maine pitched a gem yesterday and now he gets to celebrate his birthday on a off day. Party hearty John but be careful we need ya.

John Maine is experiencing some tightness in his right arm, the reason behind his early exit (that and a lot of pitches). According to the team its nothing serious. Via John Delcos:

“I could have gone out in the sixth and I wanted to, but it’s still April and there’s no reason to take a chance. I’m OK.”

Hopefully its just a little soreness for a busy day, and he’ll be good to go after some sleep and a Tylenol, or whatever major league baseball players take after throwing a lot of pitches. Especially with Pedro awhiles away and Duq a complete mystery, John Maine more than anything will be a key to make this rotation a success.

Phil Mushnick sports media writer for the NY Post has been doing this type thing for years. Now Neil Best from Newsday’s Watch Dog Blog takes his first stab at it. Neil submits Michael Cera of “Juno” fame and the Mets P John Maine.

You think Jennifer Aniston agrees with Neil?

Forty-four degrees Fahrenheit ain’t exactly baseball weather. That’s one thing I learned attending the Mets’ eighth home game of this season, their 45^th and final season at Shea Stadium. Yes, Citi Field looks amazing. The bricks have that brand-new pinkish-red quality, as if they’ve yet to be rained on. And the whole complex looks as though it will be sprawling in an inviting sort of way—more a collection of neighborhoods (The Rotunda, The Concessions, The Park Itself) than a cylindrical stand-alone entity like Shea.

But on to the game itself. I was still finding my seat when my man John Maine walked the first batter of the game, Cristian Guzman. Then Guzman went in motion and Met-killer Ronnie Belliard poked a single through the hole. Was that a hit-and-run, or just a straight steal where the batter happened to swing? It looked like the latter from the third base-side field box, although my perception of the play might have been tainted by my knowledge that Manny Acta manages the Nationals.

After Maine got out of it only allowing one run, I went on a food run (pretzel for my girlfriend, dog for me). I missed Jose Reyes’s at-bat, but I returned in time to see Ryan Church hit one a long damn way. “I guess he can hit lefties,” I said as he rounded the bases. The stadium blared “Whoop, There It Is.” I flashed back to painful high school dances.

Maine continued to look scary in his subsequent trips to the mound. Our old friend Lastings Milledge (more on him in a minute) looked to be robbed of a home run by a gust of wind, as he absolutely crushed a two-strike fastball and it ended up short of the left-field fence. Then the next guy, Austin Kearns, really crushed one and no wind could’ve kept it in the park. I’m not gonna lie, I thought we were in for another long night. Leave it to Reyes and Carlos Beltran to come to the rescue. I’m not letting Maine off the hook, though. Four walks, one home run, and at least two near-home runs? Against the Nationals? Not good enough, my man. You’re a better pitcher than that.

I heard some of the booing I’ve been reading about. My take is that most of the people who booed Met players last night, during a victory, were idiots—or at the very least, soulless, mirthless sad sacks. For example, after Beltran hit the three-run homer, Carlos Delgado followed with a strikeout. A few people booed. The Mets had just taken a three-run lead with a mammoth home run, and people booed the next batter. How bad does your life have to be that you can’t enjoy a home run long enough to avoid booing the next guy who comes to the plate? Worse than the booing, however, were the people who cheered when Milledge was hit by a pitch, and cheered louder when the trainers came out. I can understand booing Lastings (though I applauded when he came to the plate), but how does a person become so morally bankrupt that he cheers when another human being has possibly broken his hand? I think some of the “fans” who come to these games think the players are fictional characters.

But I am not a despairing blogger, so enough about the bad fans. There were plenty of great fans at the park, and this was a great win for this team. Reyes looked fantastic, and Joe Smith looked like a legitimate major league reliever, coming in and striking out Ryan Zimmerman with two on. I don’t see how we send that kid down when Matt Wise is ready to come off the DL. And finally, you gotta love Beltran’s basket catch to start the ninth (another ball that appeared to be knocked down by the wind, by the way).

Let’s try to stay above .500 the rest of the way, shall we boys? Let’s go Mets!

The Mets (7-6) defeated the Nationals (4-11) by a score of 5-2 tonight at Shea. John Maine (1-1) got the win for the Mets, going 6.2 innings, and allowing two runs on five hits.

Maine openly showed his frustration when he was taken out of the game in the 7th inning, hoping he could have secured the third out. Joe Smith came in and quickly finished the job, striking out Ryan Zimmerman to end the inning. Smith now has given up just one run in 6.2 innings, earning himself three holds.

Tonight was all about the longball. Ryan Church homered off Nationals starter Matt Chico in the 2nd to tie the game at 1. Carlos Beltran and Jose Reyes then took advantage of a tiring Chico, both smashing their 1st home runs of the year into the left field bleachers in the 5th.

Joe Smith looked great in relief, going 1.1 innings, allowing no hits and just a single HBP to Lastings Milledge

Billy Wagner pitched a spotless 9th for his second save of the year, in thanks to a great catch by Beltran on a Wily Mo Pena flyball.

Matt Chico (0-3) took the loss for the Nats. Billy Wagner got the save.

The Mets go for the sweep tomorrow. Pitching for the Mets will be Nelson Figueroa. Pitching for the Nats will be John Lannan.

The Mets travel to Atlanta tonight to play the opening game of a three game series at Turner Field. Gametime is scheduled for 7:35 EST. The pitchers for tonight’s game will be John Maine and Tim Hudson. Maine went 3-1 with a 1.85 era in Spring Training. Hudson took a no decision in his opening night start against the Nats last Sunday. Lineups courtesy of Fox Sports.

Lineups:

Mets

• SS Jose Reyes
• 2B Luis Castillo
• 3B David Wright
• CF Carlos Beltran
• 1B Carlos Delgado
• RF Ryan Church
• LF Angel Pagan
• C Brian Schneider
• P John Maine

Braves

• SS Yunel Escobar
• CF Mark Kotsay
• 3B Chipper Jones
• 1B Mark Teixeira
• C Brian McCann
• RF Jeff Francoeur
• LF Matt Diaz
• 2B Martin Prado
• P Tim Hudson

Hopefully we can get some baseball in tonight.

As always, head on over to The Hot Foot Bleachers to talk Mets Baseball.

A few notes from Willie Randolph’s weekly Mike and The Mad Dog call…

• Nelson Figueroa is on standby and Willie indicated that he would likely take Pedro Martinez’s place if he is DL’ed which Willie also said is most likely.
• Oliver Perez should be the home opener starter the way things are lining up.
• With off-days they may be able to get through without needing to replace Pedro, but Figueroa is the likely starter if they do need one.
• On Oliver Perez : “I thought he had a decent spring. He had some issues with his arm slot at times. I think Ollie is oblivious from everything that goes around him”
• Willie considered putting Raul Casanova in tonight for Ryan Schneider to give him some rest but Schneider talked him out of it.
• Said Ryan Church needs to show him more from a left-handed standpoint, but he has a “beautiful” swing and just needs to get into a “nice little rhythm”
• Mike Pelfrey was “lights out” in the bullpen but has to transfer that to the game. “I think this kid is gonna be fine. His sinker is so powerful. I think this kid is gonna win some games for us”
• On John Maine : “When you look at John you can see him coming into his own. He was in the best shape of anyone in camp. He is starting to really feel himself. He got a little swagger going.”
• On last nights game : “I keep telling our guys to stay through the middle and taking small bites. Be patient. Last night we had that kid on the ropes but we took some overaggressive hacks”
• On Ruben Gotay and Brady Clark : “Gotay really is one dimensional. Gotay doesn’t play the outfield, he doesn’t play the corners. I like Gotay a lot but he didn’t fit into this team. I think Clark right now is a better bat off the bench. Clark can get on base, he can walk, he will scrap and battle. With the left handed dominance in our line up we need a Clark in there to give us an at bat.”
• On the bullpen : “A guy who could be a sleeper for us, even though he gave up the home run last night is Wise, he has a great change up, maybe the best on our staff. He struck two guys out and then he hung a change up there. Sanchez coming back, getting him in the loop is gonna help. I think he will be back towards the end of April.”
• On the Marlins : “We need to get some payback on some people and this is one of the teams.”
• On carrying “The Collapse” : “No, I put my finger on the pulse of this team early on. Everyone let it go, spring training. We understand where we been but we don’t dwell on it. We got some serious payback coming. They know what they have to do and they want to rectify it this year”