New Goals

Hey everyone, A Friend of Mr. Glass' here. I'm feeling a bit saucy today on the heels of our first home sweep of the season and the 5-game winning streak we've put together.

Look at the calendar. Today is August 11. The Mets have built a 14-game lead in the NL East with a 69-44 record. We've got 49 games left to play.

For all you doubting Thomases out there who want to believe it’s never over until it’s over (I’m looking at you, Andruw Jones), allow me to submit the latest draft of my favorite statistic.

If the Mets play .500 ball the rest of the way, or slightly sub-.500 ball for argument’s sake, they would go 24-25 and end with a record of 93-69. Pretty f’ing good, eh?

What would it take for the phighting Phils to end up with 93 wins? Just a 38-11 mark down the stretch. Sorry boys and girls, neither is going to happen. The Mets won’t play sub-.500 ball, and the Phillies won’t all of a sudden morph into the Detroit Tigers.

But that all said, we’ve started hearing the “C” word bandied about lately. Complacency. Not that the Mets have been complacent. Hardly.

But there’s still 49 games left to play and with such a big lead, you could understand that the Mets run the risk of getting a little lax as the dog days of summer wind down.

Coming into the season, we all had a series of goals for this team, but I think we can sum up the overarching goals of the season as follows:

Goal No. 1 – make the playoffs any way we could, dethrone the Braves if possible.

Goal No. 2 – win our divisional series.

Goal No. 3 – win the NL Pennant.

Goal No. 4 – win the World Series.

Goals 2, 3 and 4 remain, but Goal No. 1 has pretty much been locked up. That means we’ve got 49 games left to play without any specific goals in mind.

With that in mind, I thought I would propose a series of new goals for our Mets to concentrate on in the final stretch of the regular season.

New Goal No. 1 – Compile the best record in baseball.

Sounds crazy, right? I admit it’s a lofty goal. Somehow the Detroit Tigers have played to a 76-38 record so far this year. I don’t follow the American League particularly closely, but how on earth it’s possible I’ll never know.

I do know two things, however. One, the American League is better, statistically if not in purity of heart, than the National League. Two, the Tigers’ remaining schedule could not possibly be easier than the Mets’.

Some people would say the goal for our season should be 100 wins. I’m all for that, and I think a 31-18 mark is certainly possible the rest of the way.

But look, we’re only 6.5 games behind the Tigers for the best record in MLB, 6 games back in the loss column. We don’t play them directly of course, and that hurts our chances.

It’s important to me, A, that the Mets play hard the rest of the year and, B, do whatever they can to dispel this idea of American League superiority.

It will exist on some level no matter what, but if we can march into October saying we had the best record in baseball, National League or no National League, that makes a statement.

New Goal No. 2 – Carlos Beltran for NL MVP.

OK, OK, so I know a lot of you probably want David Wright to win it. I understand that. He’s a homegrown guy, and he’s been so clutch all season.

Look, I love D-Wright. I shook his hand on Monday and haven’t washed it since – no easy feat.

But the reason I want Beltran to win it is because it would be the final validation of how far he’s come from last year.

And how far has he come? Well, here’s a sampling of what was written on this website about Beltran in the past year.

November, 29, 2005 (Sippy Momo): In 2005, [Marlon] Anderson might have been more valuable to the Mets than Carlos Beltran.

December 29, 2005 (A.F.O.M.G.): As good as Cliff [Floyd] was in 2005, Carlos Beltran was bad… Is Beltran ever going to be worth the money we paid him? Probably not. He’s just not that absolute top-tier kind of player as far as I can tell.

I won’t argue with what Sip wrote, but my god was I wrong.

There was an article recently about how Beltran has looked every bit like the franchise player we signed him to be, and it really is true. The guy is on pace for 49 homeruns and 144 RBI, both of which would be single-season records for a Met.

Whether he wins the MPV award or not won’t change how great he’s been for the Mets in 2006, nor is it necessary in order for the fans to truly embrace him.

He may never get the same ovation that Mike Piazza got this past week, but we’ve come a long way from those words me and Sip wrote last winter, or from the first week of the season when Beltran was getting booed relentlessly (to give myself a little credit here, I never booed the guy).

An MVP award would just be the cherry on top.

New Goal No. 3 – Paul Lo Duca, keep your head above water.

For a guy who says he hates Bob Raissman, I find that I’ve given him a lot of credit on this site. I have to do so again today.

Raissman’s column about the media coverage surrounding Paul Lo Duca’s divorce in today’s Daily News hit the nail on the head. I could quote from the article (it’s available by clicking the title above), but basically it boils down to one question: Why is this a front page story?

Look, the gambling thing is legit. If Lo Duca is doing something illegal and some Mafiosi is gonna come break Paulie’s thumbs, that’s a big story.

But come on. The guy is going through a divorce. He’s got a younger girlfriend, but she’s of age and her parents were aware of the relationship. He’s not the first guy who ever got a divorce, not the first guy who ever dated a younger chick, and definitely not the first guy to commit adultery.

I realize it’s a story, but I think it’s pretty sad that the only thing keeping Lo Duca off the front page for a fifth consecutive day is the imminent threat to our way of life posed by would-be Muslim extremists.

Reporting on it is one thing, but around Day 3 I began to wonder if maybe Krista Guterman wasn’t the daughter of the editor of the Post’s college roommate or something.

So Paulie, keep your head up. You’ve been a big part of this team this year and we need you focused heading into the playoffs. Keep your chin up, guy.

* * * * *

Anyway, that about does it for me. Before I go I’ve gotta throw a quick congratulations to B.O.A.F.O.M.G. and Miss Bravisimo, who got engaged on Wednesday. I couldn’t be happier for you both.

- A.F.O.M.G.