Adversity builds character- winning in May

If you were told before the season that the Mets would lose Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes, Oliver Perez, Ryan Church and Alex Cora for most of the month, you would consider it a lost month.

Couple that with Carlos Beltran missing time, while Fernando Tatis (.152 BA RISP), Sean Green, J.J. Putz and Tim Redding are having bouts of ineffectiveness and you probably think the season was over.

The Mets played most of May with David Wright and Gary Sheffield ( yes, the 40 year-old cut player) anchoring the line-up, with the resurgent Louis Castillo, all-glove Ramon Martinez, journeymen Angel Pagan, Omir Santos, Jeremy Reed, and youngsters Dan Murphy and Fernando Martinez.

But the Mets didn't have a bad month and the season isn't over, in fact, they had one of their best months ever, with a 19-9 record.

With four solid starters ( Santana, Pelfrey, Maine, Hernandez), a lock down back-end of the bullpen ( Rodriguez, Parnell, Feliciano, and Stokes), spectacular defense and just enough hitting, the Mets have found ways to win.

Are there concerns?  Absolutely.  But in taking a moment to give credit where it's due, the Mets have done an incredible job with very little to work with.

Moving forward, as players get healthy and others work through their issues, this streak might be the character builder that this team needed and the lessons learned could propel them to the next level...