This isn't the way Jerry Manuel and Omar Minaya drew things up in the offseason.
The Mets put yet another star on the disabled list, this time center fielder Carlos Beltran. He joins Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes on the DL, and that's just in the lineup.
Pitchers John Maine, Oliver Perez and J.J. Putz sit on the DL for the Mets, as well.
So why am I so optimistic?
Amazingly, the Mets have been able to stay in the NL East race, as today they sit just 1.5 games behind first-place Philadelphia.
But is that the reason?
Not fully. The Mets are finally the underdogs again. They were in 2006, when no matter how talented the Mets looked on paper, you had to be crazy to pick them to win the East over the Atlanta Braves. But that was the last time.
They were expected to blow through the league in 2007, which they did for five months before having a dreadful September and coughing up the division to the Phillies.
And then in the offseason, Minaya traded for ace pitcher Johan Santana, making the Mets favorites, yet again, for the 2008 season.
And when the bullpen and late-inning offense failed in 2008, the Mets added All-Star closers Putz and Francisco Rodriguez, once again making the Mets the trendy pick for the 2009 season.
But as we stand right now, with the Mets 34-32, sitting in second place and decimated by injury, the Mets are finally the underdogs.
No one knows how the heck they're going to get things done, how they're going to win games. No one is penciling in production for high-paid superstars.
The tone out of Mets camp today is, "Man, we just have to find some way to get this done." No one will be leaning too heavily on any one, two or three players. They will just go out and play.
The 1969 champion Mets were underdogs. The 1986 champion Mets needed a mini-miracle to win it.
What will they say about the 2009 edition of the Mets?
