"Smiled with the Risin' Sun..."

You would think, after a debacle like that, I would welcome these hours that ESPN is making us wait for the next Mets Braves game. But it sure feels like I'd rather be watching Mets baseball right now than writing about it. Watching the next chapter unfold. Yeah, everything unraveled last night, but I was never really upset. As all those dribblers rolled by fielders, I just nodded my head and said to myself, "Yeah, that makes sense." It's the way it is meant to be right now, and of course Met fans are sick of it. A lot of us are worrying about whether this team will ever be able to get it together, since so many of the problems will not necessarily be helped by oncoming farmhands. The bullpen is yet again a mess (even though they've been relatively solid throughout this period of loss; of course they couldn't have been solid when the starting pitching was at it's best), there are no sure-thing outfielders coming up, and the catching position is a world of hurt. Many doubt the Wilpons are in a position to take care of those needs this offseason, let alone sign our All-Stars (I doubt they won't sign them, and if they don't, it will probably spell the end of their ownership.)

Yes, the Mets look flat right now. Every one of their holes has been exposed and the losses are piling up (we fans in Queens have only seen ONE win since the All-Star break.) But these are just growing pains, folks. It's not like Rod Barajas keeps pwinging and missing (which is a mixture of trying to pull the ball and swinging.) Jeff Francoeur isn't here NOT believing in taking a walk once in a while. Robinson Cancel isn't catching (although he might be able to take it on the chin better than our current option.) Forty-year-old Gary Sheffield isn't riding the bench with the occasional start, and Jerry Manuel isn't claiming we'd be better if we had everybody healthy. This evaluation season that took off but got exposed might not be answering all the questions, but it's answering a ton of 'em. And I like what I see.

As the night grew closer to finishing and the score steadied at 3-9, only one song played through my mind.

Hang in there, guys.

The New York Mets may not be at their best right now.

But the payoff will be HUGE.

Don't Worry About a Thing.

LET'S. GO. METS.

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