Mets Close First Half With an Optimistic Sunday

Another gem for Johan puts a bow on the first half

It's funny how a few months can change everyone's perceptions.

If you asked a Mets fan in March whether he'd be happy if the team was 48-40 and four games out of first place come the All-Star break, you would have gotten an unqualified yes. If you asked the same question to the same Mets fan on Saturday night, with the Mets having lost four out of five games at home and facing a possible sweep to the first-place Braves, you'd likely have gotten an affirmative response tinged with some negative thoughts about the way things were looking for the future.

Fact is, things have gone awfully well for the Mets to this point in the season. Their spot in the middle of the playoff race speaks to that as does the fact that there's no longer a prevailing feeling that another shoe is about to drop on the heads of anyone wearing a Mets uniform. There are still trouble spots and underwhelming players -- the bobblehead likeness of Jason Bay handed out on Sunday has hit about as well as the real one -- but that's just part of a baseball season. There is no longer a sense of doom around every corner and the team has exorcised the demons that befouled the 2009 season. 

That brings us to Carlos Beltran, who will make his long-awaited return to the lineup on Thursday batting cleanup and playing center field. It feels like it has been years since we've seen Beltran on a major league field -- did he really play last September and October? -- and if he is even 80 percent of the player in our memories it will be better than any trade pickup the Mets could hope to make before the trade deadline. 

Even better, his return means Jeff Francoeur will only play against left-handed pitchers. Angel Pagan will play right field against righty pitchers, making the Mets a better team simply by limiting each man's exposure to the pitchers that cause him the most trouble. This is being hailed in some quarters as some kind of heroic move by Manuel, who, thankfully, seems to be the only man alive not taken in by Frenchy's sunny personality and good rookie year in 2005. The move is overdue and welcome. 

Johan Santana hasn't been missing in action this season but he did touch off outbursts of worry last month that are looking sillier and sillier with every turn through the rotation. He shut out the Braves for seven innings in Sunday's 3-0 win and has allowed just one run in his last 23 innings. Manuel drew a parallel between getting Beltran back and getting the vintage Santana back following Sunday's game. It's a bit of a stretch thanks to Santana's being around all season but, once again, perception is a curious thing.

Where they are linked, however, is in their status as the frontmen for the Mets team that was supposed to have won a lot more than they have since Santana came to the team in 2007. How funny then that they are now teamed up to make a run at changing that outcome in the one year where no one expected anything out of them.

Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com. You can follow him on Twitter.

Copyright FREEL - NBC Local Media
Contact Us