Moon Men Walking

I'm frustrated.

I'm frustrated with the Mets' inability to put together a decent winning streak. I'm frustrated with our inability to win games Pedro starts (although last night, of course, he didn't deserve to win). Most of all, I'm frustrated that we haven't been able to run away with the N.L. East.

Perhaps this isn't fair, but for about a month and a half I've looked at the Mets' overall record as a product of two distinct periods.

Period 1 was the happy two weeks to start the season. From April 3 to April 17, the Mets were the best team in baseball.

The starters were solid, the hitting was timely, the relievers dominant. In short, everything was clicking. The Mets were 10-2, 8 games over .500 after just 12 games.

Period 2 is everything after. From April 18 to June 7, the Mets' record has been 24-21, 3 games over .500.

Last year, Willie Randolph was fond of saying that it was as if his .500 team was caught in a perpetual rendition of "the Moonwalk".

I felt at the time (and still feel) that this description left a lot to be desired, but Willie elaborated sufficiently so as to convey his meaning.

What he meant was his team always seemed retread the same ground over and over again. They would win 3 games, lose 2, win 1, lose 3, win 1. What you're left with if you add that up is 5 wins and 5 losses. An even .500.

Over the past 45 games, the Mets have been slightly better than that. They've played .533 ball. But I can't help but recall Willie's "Moonwalking" analogy from last season.

In 2005, the Mets rose to 4 games over .500 about 5 times without ever surpassing it until a run in late August pushed their record to a season-high 8 games over.

In 2006, 12 is the new 4. The Mets have been chronically unable to reel off a string of victories and catapult themselves above 12 games over .500. I feel like every day for the past month the Mets have been between 9 and 12 games over the break-even point. (Maybe we were 13 games over, once. We were definitely never 14 games over, that I know.)

It's been frustrating. Now yes, it's also been understandable. The Mets have had injuries and uncertainty in the back half of their rotation. They've played some tough teams.

But aspects of it all have been difficult to watch. The aforementioned inability to win games Pedro starts. Inconsistency from virtually everyone in the lineup. Jose Lima. Jeremi Gonzalez. Wagner's meltdown against the Yankees.

The Mets look to me like a team in need of a spark. I hoped that Lastings Milledge might provide that spark when he was called up. He may still do that (it's been less than a week so far), but so far the Mets have been pretty much the same team they were before he arrived.

It all got me to thinking.

I spent the summer of 2004 writing for a newspaper in the little enclave of Western Massachusetts where my college was. Yankees-Red Sox was everywhere.

Early that year the Red Sox got off to a fast start, but by the time the summer came around, their inability to make a move in the standings or in the win-loss column began to frustrated my friends and acquaintances who were Sox fans.

No matter what they did, they always seemed stuck at 10 games over .500. On the day of the trading deadline, the Red Sox were 56-46, 8.5 games behind the Yankees.

You all know what happened from there. A series of deft deadline moves by Theo Epstein and Co., a hot August and September, an improbable comeback in the ALCS, and a no-show by the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series added up to Boston's first championship since 1918.

Am I saying the Mets need to go the route the Red Sox did and make a dramatic trade? Of course not. Every situation is different. But like those Red Sox, the Mets need something to kick start them.

They've been a slightly better than average team for a month and a half. We're fortunate that neither the Phillies nor the Braves could take advantage of our lackluster play, but we're equally unfortunate that we couldn't take the opportunity to bury either of them when we had the chance.

I'm willing to see what the next couple weeks bring. We've imported El Duque and called up Alay Soler. Steve Trachsel pitched well his last time out. Carlos Delgado is showing flashes at the plate.

Maybe things are starting to come together, no matter what the box score last night looked like. But if two or three weeks from now we're still sitting 9-to-12 games over .500, still doing the moonwalk, well, it might be time to consider something a little more drastic.

- A.F.O.M.G.