This Is The Team We’ve Been Waiting For

Boxscore

Tonight’s game vs. the Phillies outlines all the reasons that Mets’ fans find this team so frustrating. When they come together, there is not a team in the National League that can hang with them. Wright showed flashes of power that he’s been missing all year. Carlos Beltran knocked in runs. Clutch hits all over the place. Ryan Church proving (again) that there’s really no need to overreact and trade for a “bat” that we clearly have if Jerry Manuel would settle on a line-up.

A running theme as I watch these games is my desire for Manuel to just leave the line-up alone for two weeks, stop all the ridiculous platooning, and see where we are. This is why all the trade talk is crap. We really have no idea what we need because no guys, save for Wright, Beltran, and Castillo, are guaranteed a daily line-up spot. Let them go and see what we have. Maybe, just maybe, we have all the bats we need.

Regardless, I can’t complain. This is the baseball team I’ve wanted to see all year — resilient under pressure, doesn’t fold up shop in hard times, fights from behind, and plays with guts. Having a rock-solid bullpen pitching well under pressure. In no world would I have been confident in Billy Wagner to nail that down. I had full confidence in K-Rod.

Great game.