State Of The Union: The Week that Was for the New York Mets

Nelson Figueroa struggled in his final start for the Mets, but the other two starts from the back end of the rotation were phenomenal.  Mike Pelfrey was outstanding in his start against the Nationals, but came out on the short end of a 1-0 loss.  He took a no-hitter into the seventh inning, and surrendered only one run on three hits in seven and two-thirds innings of work. 

When he trusts his stuff and challenges hitters with his fastball, Pelfrey shows why the Mets took him with the ninth pick in the draft. 

Also outstanding was Claudio Vargas, who made his first start for the big club on Wednesday night, and was equally impressive.  He earned himself another start by turning in six and one-third innings of work, while surrendering just two runs on three hits. 

14 innings and three earned runs from your fourth and fifth starters is a great turn through the back end of your rotation. If the Mets keep getting outings like that, they can certainly get on prolonged winning streaks. 

Carlos Beltran has a pulse!

It looks like Beltran is finally starting to come out of his season-long funk.  No. 15 went 10 for 27 this week, with a homer and six RBIs.  More importantly, he's trusting his hands and letting the ball get deep, which can be seen by the amount of balls he's taking up the middle and the opposite way.  If he can start to pick it up, the Mets can start to get on a roll. 

Billy Wagner's Post-Game Tirade.

I'm not usually one to condone players calling each other out through the media—I think it's ridiculous and should be taken care of in-house.  That said, I thought Wagner was 100 percent right.  There is no reason why he should be standing there after a game he didn't pitch in, being asked a million questions about it. 

Granted, he is one of the more outspoken players on the team, so reporters will go to him for a good quote, and he certainly didn't let them down.  But he was right in what he said—these players need to be accountable for the way they have played, and they need to stand there and take the questions whether they go 0-4 or 4-4.

This has been a hot topic on talk radio and in the media in the past couple of days, and it was almost certainly what prompted the team meeting.  If it took Wagner saying that to get this team playing the way it did on Saturday, how as a fan can I not approve?

See? I CAN be positive!

The Bad

While there were several good things that happened this week in Metland, there were even more bad things.

A homestand to forget.

This title doesn't even do it justice.  Aside from Carlos Beltran realizing he's actually a really good player, and the two starts from the fourth and fifth starters, this homestand was the most frustrating one to date, even prompting this particular fan to write a column in the heat of of a post-game meltdown. 

3-4 against the Nationals and Reds?  Come on, guys.  Losing three out of four to the Nationals?  At home?  Inexcusable.  What's more, Pelfrey and Vargas's outtings were wasted, as the Mets' bats didn't show up for either game. 

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