Time Out

That was not awesome. After losing games two and three to Atlanta, the Mets have a day off today before heading to Washington, for what will hopefully be a more successful three game set.

It looks almost certain that the JRWV (Jose Reyes Walk Vigil) will continue past the 100 AB mark, as he's now strode to the plate 96 times without disrupting the perfect symmetry between his batting average and OBP. I'm thinking a pitcher will have to bean him for a disparity to emerge, or possibly an IBB in a situation where an opposing manager takes his chances with Matsui, who is becoming to extra base hits (2 in 70 AB) what Reyes is to free passes.

Victor Diaz has cooled slightly, but he remains in that 4-digit OPS territory from which it is extremely hard to demote a player. As much as keeping Victor would improve Willie's options off the bench, it really doesn't make sense for a 23 year-old with plenty of things (defense, not grounding into double plays, etc.) that could use everyday work at Norfolk.

Looking at the division, the Marlins and the Braves are back on top, the Mets and Nationals are "hovering" at .500 (two and a half games behind the Dodgers for the wild card!), and the vultures have begun circling the Phillies.

It's hard to understate the importance of these developments. It's no fun losing, at home no less, to the Soggy Bottom Boys, but nobody in the NL East is looking significantly better or worse than was expected of them. The Phillies are 10-12, which is apparently disappointing enough to provoke this lead on the MLB front page at ESPN:

Larry Bowa and Joe Kerrigan aren't around to blame any more yet the Phillies remain an enigma. Jayson Stark wonders if they may have already blown their best shot at a World Series.

C'mon. I can't think of too many things in baseball less enigmatic than a 10-12 start, even though they're lucky to have done that well (pythagorean record: 8-14). Thome has been in a deep sleep, and even short of a vintage Jim Thome year, there's plenty of room for improvement there. Abreu and Rollins haven't come flying out of the gates either, but Abreu rarely does, and it's not yet May 1. If Brett Myers keeps doing anything ressembling what he's doing now, it's just gravy for the citizens of Citizens.

By the way, why do so many columnists love Larry Bowa, or at least like defending him after the fact? He may not have been to blame for the perfomance of his pitching staff last year, but if you're going to act like Bill Parcells with less charm, you'd best get the job done.