Welcome to third place in the worst division in baseball

 Welcome to a sub-.500 and third place, Mets fans.

Both the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Mets are 3-7 over their last 10 games.  The puts the Florida Marlins in the “surging” category, as they have won six of their last 10.

With a .534 winning percentage, the Phillies are the “worst” team to be leading a division.  The Washington Nationals, undoubtedly the worse team in the game, has a putrid 22-52 record, good for a .297 winning percentage.

The combined records of all five teams is 172-203.  That is a .458 winning percentage.

All this keeps me believing that the Mets actually have shot at the NL East title.  And I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.

Manuel’s Musing for June 29

“We're a below average team. Period.”

-Jerry Manuel

Completely Unfounded Rumor: Steroid list leaked

I hate rumor-mongering and I hate the argument over steroids, but this is too “juicy” to pass up.

Rotoinfo.com (who?) has posted a rumor of the list of 103 names on the mythical 2003 steroid list. Just look at all the former and current Mets on the list. Nos. 20 and 49 are especially disheartening.

Mets in bold, italics and underlined. “Mets” being loosely applied to anyone within the organization, ever.

I don't believe this to be true at all. Simply take a look at the names and feel free to discuss it in the comments. If you take it any further, please excuse yourself from the Internet.

1. Nomar Garciaparra
2. Manny Ramirez
3. Johnny Damon
4. Trot Nixon
5. David Ortiz
6. Shea Hillenbrand
7. Derek Lowe
8. Pedro Martinez
9. Brian Roberts
10. Jay Gibbons
11. Melvin Mora
12. Jerry Hairston
13. Jason Giambi
14. Alfonso Soriano
15. Raul Mondesi
16. Aaron Boone
17. Andy Pettitte
18. Jose Contreras
19. Roger Clemens
20. Carlos Delgado
21. Vernon Wells
22. Frank Catalanotto
23. Kenny Rogers
24. Magglio Ordonez
25. Sandy Alomar
26. Bartolo Colon
27. Brent Abernathy
28. Jose Lima
29. Milton Bradley
30. Casey Blake
31. Danys Baez
32. Craig Monroe
33. Dmitri Young
34. Alex Sanchez
35. Eric Chavez
36. Miguel Tejada
37. Eric Byrnes
38. Jose Guillen
39. Keith Foulke
40. Ricardo Rincon
41. Bret Boone
42. Mike Cameron
43. Randy Winn
44. Ryan Franklin
45. Freddy Garcia
46. Rafael Soriano
47. Scott Spiezio
48. Troy Glaus
49. Francisco Rodriguez
50. Ben Weber
51. Alex Rodriguez
52. Juan Gonzalez
53. Rafael Palmeiro
54. Carl Everett
55. Javy Lopez
56. Gary Sheffield
57. Mike Hampton
58. Ivan Rodriguez
59. Derrek Lee
60. Bobby Abreu
61. Terry Adams
62. Fernando Tatis
63. Livan Hernandez
64. Hector Almonte
65. Tony Armas
66. Dan Smith
67. Roberto Alomar
68. Cliff Floyd
69. Roger Cedeno
70. Jeromy Burnitz
71. Moises Alou
72. Sammy Sosa
73. Corey Patterson
74. Carlos Zambrano
75. Mark Prior
76. Kerry Wood
77. Matt Clement
78. Antonio Alfonseca
79. Juan Cruz
80. Aramis Ramirez
81. Craig Wilson
82. Kris Benson
83. Richie Sexson
84. Geoff Jenkins
85. Valerio de los Santos
86. Benito Santiago
87. Rich Aurilia
88. Barry Bonds
89. Andres Galarraga
90. Jason Schmidt
91. Felix Rodriguez
92. Jason Christiansen
93. Matt Herges
94. Paul Lo Duca
95. Shawn Green
96. Oliver Perez
97. Adrian Beltre
98. Eric Gagne
99. Guillermo Mota
100. Luis Gonzalez
101. Todd Helton
102. Ryan Klesko
103. Gary Matthews

Did I miss anyone?

This could all be a crock of nothing, and that’s the way I’m leaning right now. But geeze-louise, look at all those Mets.

Current Mets listed (7): Delgado, Alomar (coach), Rodriguez, Sheffield, Tatis, Hernandez, Perez

I, obviously, don’t believe this list further than I can throw my car. Take this with a grain of salt the size of Texas. If nothing else, it is interesting to look at and could be a jumping off point for a nice discussion in the comments.

[H/T JSchil]

Update: If you still, somehow, thought this was true. It's not.

Brewers 10 – Mets 6

GOOD

• Ryan Church: 4-5
• Church’s outfield assist (even if it was Braden Looper running).
• Gary Sheffield: 3-5, HR, 3 RBI
• Elmer Dessens: 1.2 IP, 0 H
• Three run 9th inning rally
• Five extra-base hits

BAD & UGLY

• Too little, too late
• Braden Looper: 6.1 IP, 7 H, 3 R (1 ER), 2 BB, 2 K
• Argenis Reyes leading off
• Brian Stokes: 1 IP, 3 H, 4 ER, HR (GS)
• Fernando Nieve: 11 H in 3.1 IP.  He had allowed 10 hits over last three starts.

Game Ball: Ryan Church

Game Chat: NYM @ MIL [Game 1]

Fernando Nieve (3-0, 1.31 ERA) vs. Braden Looper (5-4, 5.16 ERA)

Join in for some barstool banter with your fellow fans!

(Chat removed, as usual.)

Beltran in Colorado for second opinion

I’ll let Bart Hubbuch of the Post pinch-hit here.  He says it better than I can (or want to):

In a ominous-sounding move, Mets center fielder Carlos Beltran flew to Vail, Colo., today for a second opinion on his ailing right knee from the inventor of microfracture surgery.
---
If Beltran ends up having microfracture surgery, he would miss the rest of the season, at the least.

The surgery, which involves drilling holes in the knee so that blood and bone marrow clot to form new cartilage, has been done on numerous NFL and NBA players.

The hits just keep on coming.

Update – 8:13 p.m.: Assistant GM John Ricco, on Beltran, “He asked to go have a second opinion, which is his right under the rules. With him, there’s no reason for us to not be in favor of that. Our doctors are fully on board with that.” (via Ben Shpigel)

Ollie’s next stop: Buffalo

Oliver Perez will join the Mets Triple-A affiliate, the Buffalo Bisons, for what is expected to be one start.

Adam Rubin expects him to pitch on Friday, so if you’re in the Buffalo area, plan accordingly.

What is expected to happen, says Jerry Manuel, is Perez and Tim Redding share starts.  That should be interesting to see be implemented.  It’s not that Redding has been bad, but he’s just the weakest part of the rotation.

Maybe it’d be good to get Perez’s .429 AVG and .500 OBP back in the lineup.

Lineup for game one against MIL

A Reyes is leading off, too bad it’s A. Reyes.

1. Argenis Reyes - SS
2. Daniel Murphy - 1B
3. David Wright - 3B
4. Gary Sheffield - LF
5. Ryan Church - RF
6. Fernando Martinez - CF
7. Brian Schneider - C
8. Luis Castillo - 2B
9. Fernando Nieve - RHP

Twitter Poll: Would you want the Mets to trade, and for whom?

At .500, the Mets are struggling to keep their heads above water.  It begs the question: Do the Mets need to trade?

So, as usual, I took to Twitter and asked my followers if they would want to see a Mets trade, and if so, for whom?

Here are their responses…

kerelcoop said: yes, for Adam Dunn

SundayNightMets said: Totally, I was all for Mark DeRosa but that is dead now. I hope they can grab an Adam Dunn now. They need a bat big time.

nymx5793 said: Yes, but I don't want them to mortgage the future. A guy like Mark Teahen would compliment Reyes and Beltran when they return

dopmmw said: Yes- targets should be Pierre, Wiggy, Peralta, Atkins

NYMetsGrrl94 said: yes, for joe smith. (jk, that would never happen). teahen or dunn.

julierubes said: Yes, not sure who though, and I don't know if it would really make that much of a difference.

BlackMagic718 said: Yes, Adam Dunn please!

DMXBRAND said: Mark tehan would be good

metstweets said: I do not want the Mets to make a trade -- unless they fall 10+ games back, in which case, sell.

ClareLafferty said: for anyone who can hit, hit, hit!!!!

MetsTalk_JT said: I wanted DeRosa, but apparently Omar and the rest of CitiField doesn't...could use the 13Hr and 50RBI..both would lead club

mikexdavis said: Carlos Lee: Hou.'s fading, and he's easier to get (prospect-wise) than Holliday because of his big contract (til 2012, $56M).

mikexdavis continues: Also, he's a righty who hits for avg. AND power, and has never committed more than 6 errors in a season, so could play LF ok.

And the jokesters…

dtmfr said: Mets should get Mark DeRosa from CLE for... wait, he was already traded?? Damn you, Omar!!

dances_w_vowels said: I'll trade Omar Minaya for Frank Cashen. #mets

metstweets said: RT @dances_w_vowels: I'll trade Omar Minaya for Frank Cashen.

patrickboegel said: They all lay eggs, Juan Samuel RT @dances_w_vowels: I'll trade Omar Minaya for Frank Cashen.

Not on Twitter?  Hit the comments to throw in your two cents a possible trade.

Follow me on Twitter (@TheRopolitans) to
participate in the next Twitter Poll!

Baseball Digest: Beaten, Battered and Bruised

Head over to Baseball Digest to read my latest article,
“The New York Mets: Beaten, Battered and Bruised”