Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda, Didn't

All Mets early, all Phillies late. Where have we seen this story before?

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Like so many other series' against the Phillies the past couple years, this one felt like a missed opportunity. After stranding 16 runners and blowing a 4-1 lead in an extra innings loss on Wednesday, the Mets blew a 3-1 lead and lost in extra innings on Thursday.

The makeshift Mets played the Phillies close this weekend, and in a lot of ways the teams seem evenly matched. From everything we've seen, there's little reason to think this season won't come down to the wire the same way the last two have.

The difference between the teams is power. The Phillies have a tremendous amount of it and the Mets have an embarrassing shortage of it. When Mets-Phillies games go into extras, the Phillies have a decided advantage.

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I don't know what the answer is. I don't know whether the Mets have the chips to trade for a middle of the order slugger; after losing John Maine to the DL, they might not even consider that their top priority, reasoning that the return of Delgado and Reyes will provide all the boost thye need. And I mean, jeez, our rotation now features Johan, Pelf, Livan, Tim Redding, and Nelson Figueroa/Jon Niese. That's not a playoff rotation any way you slice it.

That's getting ahead of ourselves though. For now, the Mets are still in second place, still within striking distance of first and the Wild Card.

But the Mets are at a show-me kind of moment. The season's not young any more, and there are 44 games until the trade deadline. The Mets, bruised and battered as they are, need to find a way to win games like the last two. They had their chances to step up against the Phillies. They coulda won this or they shoulda won that... well, they didn't. And here we are now, losers of 2 out of 3, 4 games out of first.

We just need to do better.

- A.F.O.M.G.