Jerry

Game 45 - Mets

Braves 4, Mets 2

Record: 22-23

Sadly, I'll just defer to Jerry's comments in my last post and (swallowing pride) what he said before the season. Over at the Wheelhouse, Jerry ranted -- not as vehemently as he is wont to rant about Sidney Crosby or my hypocrisy, but still -- that the Mets were old, broken-down, and overpaid by dozens of millions. I bright-sided it, blocking out downside with my "upside-only blinders" (available at the Shea concession stand), and now here we are.

Everything we type here seems to get prefaced or appended with caveats, disclaimers, and concessions, and this will be no different. For the record, the Top 5 Phrases Typed at MLC are:

5. "That said"

4. "Considering that"

3. "It's still early"

2. "Lotta ball left"

1. "Keep it clean, TJ"

So we're not chicken littling it here, and there's still every chance, or at least a puncher's chance, that the stars will shine and the old guys will stop limping off the field in the middle of the game with some ridiculous injury that they say will keep them shelved for a couple of days only to be placed on the DL for the second time this season. It's just that Omar's latex paint job on the outside of this purported battleship is starting to wear thin, and beneath it the letters PT are showing through.

It takes more than Albert Einstein Bobblehead Night to smarten Mets fans up, but it's happening. Slowly, perhaps in part via well-thought-out blogs like Metsblog.com, the focus of Mets' fans ire is going from the players to the manager to the general manager who constructed this squad. While nobody's immune -- or faultless -- here, it is meet and right so to do.

Omar Minaya has been answering question about whether Willie Randolph is on the hot seat; he had to know that without a turnaround the day would soon come that the target would change and the question would be directed over his head. Welcome to that day.

That said / considering that, it's still (kind of) early and there's definitely still a lotta ball left. We'll sit back and watch whether the Mets can blow Jerry's (keep it clean, TJ) prognosis out of the water.