Let me clear things up: The outfield is not OK; Endy Chavez has been great; The Mets need someone

I'm seeing a bunch of comments arguing my point I made early this morning, and I feel the need to defend my points.

1. Moises Alou is old, gets hurt way too much, and I am going to hold out no hope of him returning and helping the team for more than 16.2 seconds.

2. Endy Chavez has played very well in Alou's and Ryan Church's absence. He can easily continue to start in the OF with no problem. He has a great glove and is perfect hitting behind Jose Reyes.

3. The Mets still need another OF. I don't think the platoon of Fernando Tatis, Marlon Anderson, Chris Aguila, Trot Nixon, Angel Pagan, etc. etc., will be enough to carry this team into postseason play.

4. I don't want Omar Minaya to sell the farm to pick up trade bait. Matt Holliday would be awesome, but I'm almost 100 percent sure Aaron Heilman, Fernando Martinez, and probably two other top flight minor leaguers would have to head west to land him. I don't feel comfortable watching all that young talent leave the already depleted farm system.

Yes, the Mets need another outfielder. Yes, Minaya will probably have to give up a blue chip prospect to land that guy. Yes, I'm confident that the guy he lands will help this team through the season.

So that's that. Thoughts??

Early Morning Madness: Moises Alou is old and crippled edition

I have one thought running through my head after the Mets and Johan Santana won 5-0 last night, and it has nothing to do with anything that happened in that game:

Moises Alou got hurt again?!?!

This is not a joke.

Alou was removed from his AA start with a pain in his quad. I think Omar Minaya should give Alou just one more shot. He has one more chance to slowly work himself back into shape and attempt to make it on the team. If he goes on the DL just one more time, it's adios muchacho!

Endy Chavez has been filling in admirably, batting well over .350 as a starter. The season started for him so poorly, but he has really turned a corner when given a chance to start. He also fits beautifully in the #2 hole, right behind Jose Reyes.

I don't feel like the Mets have a pressing need to go out and land a everyday outfielder. I wouldn't mind looking, but I'm sure everything will be costly, and the minor leagues isn't exactly filled with great players right now. Everyone the team has down there, I think they would prefer to keep.

If Minaya could land a quality 3/4 outfielder, I think that would be something plausible and helpful, without giving up too much. I have no specific names for you, but there are some fringe players out there who could be had for cheap, and might be able to add a little something to the squad.

Honestly, Moises, it's about time to hang 'em up. Or at least sign with an AL team so you can DH and not have to play the field. Unbelievable. He gets hurt more than me, and if you know me, it's a lot.

TSTDIA: Mets 5 -- Giants 0

The Mets pitching staff held the Giants to only three hits for the second straight game as Johan Santana won his first start in seven appearances.

This team is surprising even me now.

Maybe we shouldn't vote David Wright into the final All Star spot

David Wright is on the ballot for the final spot on the National League All Star roster. There are posts out the wazoo extolling all of Wright's accomplishments and achievements.

Yes, I'd like to see Wright get the recognition he deserves (he is tied for third in the league with 70 RBI). But I'd also like to see the Mets win.

We all saw what a day off does to this kid. Since he took a seat June 24 against Seattle, Wright is 19-53, a .358 batting average over that span. He's hit five home runs, scored 13 times, and driven in 14. His average has jumped 12 points, rising from .276 to .288, and his OBP has risen 10 points from .373 to .383.

In an even more drastic change, Wright has worked his slugging percentage up from .488 to .510 and improved his OPS from .861 to .893.

Now sit back, imagine what three days free of the grind of baseball could do, and see if you can still click your mouse around and vote for Wright. I've already cast three votes for Corey Hart as you are reading this.

Is Mike Pelfrey the Ace of the Mets?

Ace?

Mike Pelfrey jumped out of the gates of 2008 with two wins, completing a task that took him 12 starts to complete in 2007. With those two wins, he picked up 2/3 of his '07 season midway through April.

In his third start, he received a no decision. His next six appearances all resulted in losses, even though he carried a no hitter into the top of the seventh inning on May 15 against the Nationals. He was tagged for 23 earned runs in 32 innings over that span.

On May 31, he pitched seven innings, allowing two earned runs, but did not earn a decision. His next start, he pitched six innings, allowed only one earned run, and again did not factor in the decision. On June 11, he pitched eight innings of five hit ball, allowing only one earned run to score, and once more, did not earn a decision.

Since June 16, Pelfrey has pitched in five games. On that day he allowed six earned runs through six innings, but earned the win. Since then, he's allowed five earned runs in 24 2-3 innings of baseball. He has won his last five starts, and hasn't lost since May 26.

Pelfrey turned in his second seven inning performance in a row, allowing only nine hits and one earned run over those 14 innings. He's only walked two while striking out 11 in that span.

He is currently 7-6 on the season, but has looked positively brilliant for a while now. In only his third season of professional baseball, things are looking up for Mike Pelfrey, and I, like any Mets fan out there, couldn't be more pleased. Sure, we had to wait a few years, but this guy seems like the real deal, and the ace of the 2008 Mets as of late.

Where are all the Mets detractors now?

For weeks and weeks I've been reading newspaper articles, blogs, forums and all that jazz clamoring for the Mets to make a move, fire people, spark a fire sale and the like.

Now that the Mets have gone on to win four in a row and pull within 1.5 games of first place, that seems to have died down significantly, which makes sense. But where is the praise for this team?

The team that has been playing without a healthy corner outfielder for the entire season? The team that seems to wins starts from every other starter but their bona-fide ace? The team that has a gimpy, old man as their second baseman? The team that as of now, looks to only have one player representing them in the All Star Game?

All those are true, but the Mets still manage to keep winning. The Mets are only two games over .500, but they're a different team than they once were. They're 46-44 heading into Wednesday's games, and with the teams they are playing, could easily go 4-1 or even 5-0 over the next five games heading into the All Star break.

This team has turned a corner, and though I'm not going to lay all the praise on Jerry Manuel, I think he deserved a heaping load of it. It's not that he's magically made talent come back to some players, but everyone in the dugout seems simply happy to be playing baseball. They smile, they joke, and they grow facial hair. It's much more relaxed, though Manuel seems like he'd rip your head off if you cross him (he's already been ejected three times this year).

The Mets are looking good, and the only thing I worry about right now is if the Mets get hot, will the three days off cool them down too much? This is a brand new season, ladies and gentlemen, and the Mets are right in the thick of it.

TSTDIA: Mets 7 -- Giants 0

Mike Pelfrey was absolutely dominant tonight, throwing seven innings of three hit ball, all the Giants could muster all night.

The Mets got home runs from Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, and Fernando Tatis and Argenis Reyes picked up his first major league hit as the Mets moved to within 1.5 games of first place with a Philadelphia Phillies loss.

Nick Evans to replace Church on roster

Nick Evans has been called up to replace Ryan Church.

Ryan Church back to the DL

Here we go again...

Ryan Church has been placed on the disabled list once again. Church has been struggling with the after effects of his second concussion and the extreme mishandling of it by both himself and the team. Church had missed the past few games with migraines.

I am convinced the corner outfield spots are cursed. The ghost of Jeromy Burnitz or something crazy like that.

The Mets need Church to get right. He should be absolutely shut down for an extended period of time, purely for his own good. His health is secondary to his contributions to the team.

Get well, Ryan.

Off Topic: CC was EZ for the Brewers

The Brewers trade for CC Sabathia took, by my guesstimates, well under
five days to start and end.

Mets fans, on the other hand, had to wade through months and months of
speculation and non-news before the team finally landed Johan Santana.
If only it was that easy, right?

It seemed like the winter meetings went on for months and Santana was
always destined to another location not named Flushing. Brew Crew
fans on the other hand had about three days of waiting and
anticipation as opposed to, say, 90 us Mets fans had to sit through.

Milwaukee, you don't know how easy you've got it.