Uncanny

What an emotional rollercoaster... Actually, that's not quite right. Rollercoasters go up first.

This is more like a slingshot, watching the team being pulled incrementally down to 0-3, 0-4, and finally 0-5, only to have some cosmic Dennis the Menace let go and send them hurtling back to five hundred, and at least one game farther, with more momentum than any 6-5 team should ever have.

How encouraging must it be for Willie and the Rich Boys to have already faced what could, God willing, be their worst losing streak of the season, and then turned right around and leapt within one game of the division lead?

I'm generally skeptical of intangible influences on team performance, but given the horrendous showing of the 2004 team, the "New Mets" (an annoying but accurate moniker) could ill-afford to fall too far back in April. Happily, now there's no particular reason to think they will.

I believe, as ya 'gotta, that the 2005 Mets are good enough to make the postseason. If the distribution of W's and L's falls in such a way as to convince observers and maybe some players of this, then I'm all for it.

Plus, Miguel Cairo aside, they are not cashing in on any improbable Brian Roberts-type power surges. Rather they've been counting on, and receiving, the expected elite performances of Martinez and Beltran, while still waiting for Wright and Piazza to rake a little. I would argue that even during the win streak they have underperfomed offensively, and that bodes well.

I did not have the pleasure of watching Heilman's gem. He couldn't have picked a better time to uncork what was far and away the best performance of his major league career. It could very well be the (authoritative) announcement of his arrival in the previously unfamiliar fraternity of quality major league starters. I'm rooting for him to prove himself as a late bloomer whom the Mets were wise not to give up on, but he's still got some serious proving to do. At the very least, he's earned the right to have his name written without a snide hyperlink... for now.

Meanwhile, Pedro may not be done yet.

** Sunday Game Update **

Marlins lead 2-0. Matsui has looked terrible on two defensive "plays" at second: the first an ungloved grounder and the other a high throw to Mientkiewicz that ruined a tailormade DP. It's getting hard to refute the argument that Kazuo is a liability rather than an asset, in the field and at the plate. Cairo may not be great, but he may deserve the job.

Burnett is dealing. Marlins now lead 3-0, and the streak appears to be in jeopardy. Unless of course they're just waiting for the 8th inning again.