New York Mets Need to Start Playing the Way They Know How

Box Score

The Mets lost last night to the Dodgers, 5-1.

Oliver Perez went six innings, giving up five runs in the process.

In a postgame conference, Willie Randolph was quoted as saying, "I thought he pitched pretty well...I thought his line looked pretty good."

Pretty good? Pretty good, Willie? You think five runs in six innings is 'pretty good'? What standard do you hold your players to, mediocrity at its finest? Gimme a break...I get mad when I see these kinds of things from Willie, because it confirms what everyone thinks; he is too complacent.

Right now, there is one shining star in the Mets' offense, and that is Ryan Church. No offense to Church, but when he is currently the best of the best in an offense containing David Wright, Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, Luis Castillo, and Moises Alou, then we have some problems.

Yes, Church is surprising everyone with his play, which is great. He is hitting .310 by the way, but when you have six of your eight starting players hitting under .280, then something is wrong.

It begs the question, "WHAT IS GOING ON OUT THERE!"

This is silly. For a team with an offense like this to be two games over .500...don't even get me started on the bullpen. Sosa and Schoeneweis pitched scoreless innings last night. Good job guys, way to get it done...IN A GAME THAT MEANS NOTHING AND IN WHICH THE METS ARE LOSING 5-1! HOW ABOUT CLOSE GAMES, WITH JOHAN LEAVING WITH THE LEAD!

I'm sorry...I got upset...

The point is, these guys are not performing like they are capable of. This is the Mets' starting lineup, with their batting averages:

Jose Reyes SS—.263
Ryan Church RF—.310
David Wright 3B—.274
Carlos Beltran CF—.221
Moises Alou LF—.186
Carlos Delgado 1B—.216
Brian Schneider C—.295
Luis Castillo 2B—.231

The numbers do not lie folks. Alou gets a pass because he just came off the DL. It's interesting how the only two players above .280 are Nationals that we got in the offseason.

It is time to play ball guys. "It's only May" is not something I am happy about saying.