Dead, from New York

So...I feel like you could make a better Mets team out of everyone on the DL at this point.

Look, it's just hard to stay optimistic. 3 teams are better than the Mets right now in the NL East, and one of them's Atlanta. For years, the Mets were able to keep the Braves at third, and that's not happening this year. Why? I dunno, you might wanna ask Ozzie Albies, Freddie Freeman and Nick Markakis.

The Mets right now are forced to rely upon a base that didn't think it'd need to exist yet. Amed Rosario, Brandon Nimmo and Dominic Smith are being thrust into the spotlight, and only Nimmo seems comfortable in the majors. Most of the work is being done by guys over 30 who didn't come up through the farm system- Todd Frazier, Asdrubal Cabrera, Devon Mesoraco...hell, even JOSE BAUTISTA is doing alright for them. When you're so low on options that you're forcing Bautista to play DEFENSE in 2018??? That's dire.

I mean, thank god there's pitching or else they'd really be screwed. de Grom is still one of the best pitchers in the game, and Zach Wheeler, Seth Lugo and Steven Matz aren't doing a bad job of keeping the back end of the rotation up in the absence of Thor. Right now the only 5th-starter option seems to be Corey Oswalt, and that's going...alright for them, but they'll get Syndergaard back in a few weeks and hopefully everything will be alright. The bullpen, though, could be a lot better.

This is a team in disarray, screwed by injuries that all came up at the exact wrong time. And they're in the same division as the Phillies...and Braves. And the Marlins are catching up.

THAT is why they call it Flushing.

Coming Tomorrow- This guy autographed a baseball for me, and now he's playing great. COINCIDENCE? ....yeah, probably.