Now Is The Time For The Mets

  You just lost a series to the NL Champs in their home ballpark. You took one game out of three and are coming off one of the best homestands in franchise history. You arguably still don't have your best player who is set to come of the DL hopefully by the end of May. You are a game within first place. Things don't look too bad right now, wait...

   Your ace got absolutely shellacked, he looked over matched, and frankly he looked sloppy - something you rarely see from Johan Santana. You squandered away two leads in the rubber game of an important series, even though it's incredibly early in the season. Your manager decides to sit two players who earned you that recent string of wins.

   These next upcoming series are absolutely crucial for the New York Mets. There has been good vibrations all around the past week or so and a lost series in Philly isn't the worst thing right now. Before that winning streak you would any Met fan would have been happy taking two out of three from the reigning champs but now that they showed their potential there are expectations for the team, which can be good.

   Oliver Perez, John Maine, and Jon Niese must take care of business in Cincinnati. If they do then the Mets will continue to roll into that Giants series and when they get back at home it will inevitably mean good things in Queens, but if they fail to do so and Perez and Maine go out there and lay an egg it could very well send the Mets spiraling downward into mediocrity and into the bottom of the division.

   The time is now Mets, let's see if that club house is different now, if that attitude is different. A true test is coming up, will it be a pass or fail?