After ToTT foolishly proclaimed on Monday that the Mets DL might be getting a little lighter later this month, the all-powerful voodoo returned to teach us who is really in charge here...

On Tuesday, with the Mets daring to have taken the lead from the Cardinals, Luis Castillo fell down the dugout stairs.  Two innings later, K-Rod coughed up the lead and the rest was history... or Pujolstory...

Today, Castillo was out of the lineup with an ankle sprain and the Mets took an early lead... Which lead to pitcher Jon Niese tearing a hamstring tendon after 1+ innings after stretching for to complete a double play.  He will need surgery and is out for the season.  Then, so as to not fully enjoy the rare shuout win, Gary Sheffield... yes, the one that came of the DL on Saturday... left the game early with a hamstring injury.  The word is that it does not look serious... meaning he will likely join Niese under the knife soon enough...

We'd laugh, but this is absolutely ludicrous!  I have never seen a season-long rash of injuries as has befallen the Mets this year.  On the flip side, it is probably the suitable excuse that is keeping us Mets fans from becoming suicidal...

Oh, and Jose Reyes has been revealed to have some scar tissue on his injured knee, causing constant pain... There is no timetable for his return... really?

Very well voodoo doll, we submit to your power!

After teasing their fans by opening the week taking three straight from the wild card leading Rockies, cutting the gap in the WC to a seemingly manageable 5.5 games, the NY Mets Extended Spring Training Team would drop the last game of the series before then dropping 2 of the next 3 against the even worse (record-wise) Arizona Diamondbacks... thankfully, we never jumped back on the wagon after declaring the season over...

As for the lowlights:

• Not much truly to report.  The week was a 'success' in that the team finished with a 4-3 record, but still ended the same 7.5 back in the wild card that they were when the week started.
• The trading deadline came and went with no deals, which is good because there is no sense giving away prospects in a misguided effort to save a season already done with.
• Every Oliver Perez is compounded by the fact that for a few $$ more, Derek Lowe and his 11 wins could be with the team instead. Yeah, his 4.21 ERA is not great, but it should is a hell of a lot better than 2 wins and 7.03.
• Why is Tim Redding still on this team?
• On the 'plus' side, Gary Sheffield and Brian Schneider returned from the DL, and it sound like Carlos Beltran, JJ Putz and Billy Wagner... yes, that Billy Wagner... might rejoin the team in August.  To temper that though, there is still no time table for either Carlos Delgado, Jose Reyes or John Maine... although some still hope the hitters will come back optimistically sooner rather than later...

At the end of the day though, things stand pretty much as they did last week.  9.5 back in the NL East, 7.5 in the WC... The East is done, and there should be no misguided thoughts to the opposite... as Cliff Lee let us know in his first Phillies start... and the wild card is very unlikely with this roster.  By the time the 'talent' infusion comes, it will be too late... No, it is too late.

On the pluse side, NFL training camps opened last week.  And not a day too soon!

In the most amazing, successful stretch in a month and a half... funny how things look once you lower your expectations... the Mets Spring Training Split Squad broke even at 3-3, even taking a series from the Astros in the process.  As for the low, and even occassional, highlights...

- The series against the Nationals was truly pathetic, with the NYM STSS scoring three runs in two losses

- On the flip side, the bats came alive against the previously streaking Astros, getting 38 hits and 22 runs in 3 games!

- Rookie Jon Niese was solid on Saturday, allowing one run and 4 hits over 7 innings, hopefully finally earning a permanent spot on the rotation.

- The oddest aspect of the week though was the Gary Sheffield saga, who's been out for close to a week with a leg 'cramp'... then arrived on Saturday and pronounced himself ready to play... only to find out that he had been put on the deal... only the Mets...

This latest saga is the perfect example of the continued, apparent, ineptitude of the team in handling injuries.  Once more, they keep a player out with a 'minor' injury that can be addressed through 'rest', play shorthanded for days on end just for kicks... then end up putting the player on the DL anyway.... what?!!!....

Right now, Alex Cora is 'resting' his re-injured thumb, so the NYM STSS was actually playing 2 short for fun... Be careful Alex, you'll likely require surgery and/or amputation.

The team kicks off a 10 game homestand today  against the wild card leading Rockies, standing 10.5 back of the Phils in the NL East and 7.5 behind in the WC race.

While these last couple of games where very enjoyable to watch, we will not put the blinders back on just yet... And with Sheffield out, we are on the verge of downgraded to Extended Spring Training team. 

It does sound like Jose Reyes might start playing some rehab games soon and his return might not be until 2011 as some of the others seem likely to. 

So let's keep our fingers crossed and Let's go Mets STSS!

(updated 7/28 - 6:00am)

Did we say anything about drama, weirdenss and games being 'enjoyable to watch'?  Well the last 16 hours have brought plenty of it and then some...

- First, the Mets fire VP of Player Personnel Tony Bernazard, he of the shirtless fight challenge... no big surprise there, particularly as it was rumored this was not his first clash with players, including one with closer Fransisco Rodriguez earlier in the season....

- To announce this, the NYM calls a press conference... still normal... in which GM Omar Minaya gives the details of the firing and then... goes on a bizarre rant, basically accusing Daily News Mets beat writer of Adam Rubin of basically plotting the whole thing, from supposedly lobbying for a job with the Mets which he did not get to exposing Bernazard's actions... what, what, what?.... Minaya tops it all off by blaming Rubin for forcing him to fire 'his friend Tony' and saying to Rubin 'if I'm going down, I'm taking you with me'... huh? Again, only in the dysfunctional Mets does this sort of stuff happen... publicly at least.  Early returns are that this has been so poorly perceived, that Minaya might not survive it....

- Then to boot, the Mets STSS rallies from a 3-1 defecit... Ollie, Ollie, Ollie can you please go more than 5? .... to beat the Rockies on a pinch hit grand slam in the 8th by Fernando Tatis! .... what, what, what?!  ... for the team's third straight win.

And July is not even over... stay tuned because the soap opera will get more interesting... unfortunately, that is both funny and sad...

Well, we were going to wait until this weekend's series with the surging Astros was over for our weekly review, but why waste time. 

Last night, the Mets Spring Training Split Squad team lost to the MLB-worst Washington Nationals 3-1, on the heels of a 4-0 loss the night before.  The lineup, well take a look below and try not to laugh too hard:

1. A Pagan, CF
2. L Castillo, 2B
3. D Murphy, 1B
4. D Wright, 3B
5. J Francoeur, RF
6. C Sullivan, LF
7. A Berroa, SS
8. B Schneider, C

The Mets are now 10 behind the Phillies in the NL East and 7.5 behind the Rockies in the wild card.  And although neither is totally impossible to overcome, don't worry, the gap will be larger soon.  And with that, we proclaim the 2009 season officially over.

And we don't say it with anger, as no team could have withstood the devastating rash of injuries the Mets have had to deal with.  The trade deadline is next week, and there is no one trade... or two trades... that will right this ship.  So we will take off the rose-colored glasses, watch every game still out of morbid curiosity and take up the time honored mantra...

There's always next year!

It was another typically atrocious week for the NYM Spring Training Split Squad Team* ... * ToTT copyright pending... as they were repeatedly spanked by the Atlanta Braves, going 1-3... thanks Mr. Santana... Thankfully, the All Star Break prevented their record from being worse than it could have been. 

As for the lowlights:

- NYM STSS scored four runs in their three losses

- The NYM STSS can't hit... and boy, do they stink

- The voodoo doll also came out firing on all cylinders after the Break, narrowly missing fully taking out Gary Sheffield yesterday... reportedly only out with a leg cramp, yet missing today's game... then picking off Fernando Nieve on his way to first in the second inning... he seemed to be in a lot of pain and had to be carted out.  Looked pretty bad.  Tough break for what had been one of the feel good stories in the team this year.  Here's wishing for a fast recovery

- Who amongst you was surprised when Tim Redding gave up a HR to the first hitter he faced once he came in for Nieve?

The Mets STSS freefall continues unabaited, and the team now stands at 43-48, 9 games back in 4th place in the NL East, and 7 back in the wildcard behind eight other teams.  The only positive news is that the worst team in the NL is next on tap for a three game series.

We had kept hoping that the NYM STSS would hang around close enough until cavalry came off of the DL for one final push, but the slide that began in June is all out now and as we pointed out a couple of weeks ago, the team as it stands right now cannot compete with the upper half of the NL... The team has too many holes and nothing short of the infusion of 4 - 5 new players... or currently injured players... at once will be able to change that.

The deficit is slowly approaching the unsormountable mark and the season is precariously close to being over... Then again only a sucker...ie life long fan... would say its not, but leave us our delusions for now.  The 2007 Rockies proved its never over until its over... But stay tuned, because the curtain might come down a lot sooner than all of us expected.