Angry John Maine wasn't totally horrible in his last........         And LaDainian and Cromartie (and others) preclude Jets drafting for need.........      Photo by Jim McIsaac - Getty                                                               Photo by Donald Miralle- Getty

Well, Jerry Manuel loosened the reins on his batters and voila!  They started swingin’ at the first pitch. They looked more aggressive at the plate.  But that wasn’t the biggest thing that happened to start changing Mets fortunes.  That accolade’s attributable to the effect of adding a first baseman that can hit, one Ike Davis.

Of course, Pelfrey’s seeming emergence from the pack also helped.  Pelfrey’s risen above the question marks for a while.  His confounding of the Cubs Tuesday night to the tune of three hits over 7 full innings went a long way towards solidifying him as the number 2 starter, a guy you send out with a heightened expectation of winning.

Even John Maine only gave up three runs over five innings in his last outing.  The new angry John Maine struck out four and walked four too.  He scattered six hits too, and although his WHIP was terrible, he pitched out of some tight spots too.  He kept the Mets in the game.

The other Mets question mark, Ollie Perez, also kept the Mets in the game, allowing only two earned runs over five innings.  But I had the feeling it could have been worse, that only with a little luck was he able to hold the Cubs to two. 

The relievers had been great, but they suffered a big crack when Igarashi strained a hammy fielding a little nubber.  ( I see lots of bunts in his future).  Previous to that little incident, though, he was really looking like the setup man for K-Rod.  Can the Mets please get a good break once in a while?

I sure hope the Cubbies Carlos Silva truly is as good as advertised.  If he’s not, the Mets just can’t hit…period.  It’s nice that Jose Reyes is breaking out a little bit, or even more than a little bit, depending upon your answer to the age-old question, “is the glass half-full?”

David Wright and Jason Bay, even Jeff Francoeur, who had been smacking the cover off the ball a week earlier, have been cold as ice.  Tonight they’ll be facing the Cubbies Tom Gorzellany, who so far this season has better stats than Johan Santana.  I guess we’ll see if the Mets can hit anybody tonight.

Of course, nobody might see whatever the Mets do tonight, as they’ll be sharing the stage with the NFL Draft, round 1, that’s scheduled for primetime airing tonight.  I know, as much a Mets fan as I am, I’ll be flipping back and forth quite a bit, especially early to see if the Rams really will take a quarterback with their first pick. 

Everybody seems to think so.  The Rams passed on a couple of good ones in Ryan and Sanchez, thank the football gods, and Sam Bradford is apparently impressive enough to warrant that #1, but it’s tough for me to see Steve Spagnola passing on some of the bigger linemen out there.  And, to me, there’s still a lot of work to do for Sam Bradford.

Then, there’s the question of where Tim Tebow will go.  I think Jacksonville has to take him, what with the crowds thinning out considerably there.  They could do worse.  They certainly have drafted worse in the past.  It’s a no-brainer, which is to say, it’s only fifty-fifty that the Jags will do the right thing.

Then there’s the local interest, of course, and I’ll be curious to see what the Giants do.  The Giants proved to the world they had no pass defense whatever last year.  They picked up a safety in free agency to prove they aren’t totally brain-dead.  But that’s just one guy.  They need about two or three others who can cover, not just tackle….cover.

So I’ll be hoping for a fast and tough linebacker, somebody to spell Antonio Pierce in a few years.  A rookie won’t really replace a guy like Pierce, that would be impossible, but it’d sure be nice to see a linebacker knockin’ down a pass here and there.  Either that or someone who’ll pressure the passer.  The Giants did neither last year.

The Jets made enough moves in the off-season to make the draft seem unnecessary.  Santonio Holmes, LaDainian Tomlinson, Antonio Cromartie, they don’t appear to need that much, especially after re-signing Leon Washington.  The Jets seem to be serious about a Super Bowl.

Of course, even the Jets defense can get better.  The pass rush wasn’t so hot and that big guy from Ohio State never worked out.  Gholston is now listed on the depth chart as the second right outside linebacker, behind Calvin Pace.

So the Jets will be very tough to beat….on paper.  I couldn’t help notice, though, that the Patriots have a lot of draft selections in the first couple of rounds.  Anything they do should improve that defense, and make that offense a little bit more dangerous.

 If you’re a real NFL fanatic, there are some other big mysteries surrounding the draft.  What’ll the Steelers do with Roethlisberger?  They’ve about had it with Big Ben.  Me too.  And what will Brett Favre do?  The Vikings have to be thinking about that.  Better them than me.

Then there’s the question of what effect the different draft format will have on the selection of players and the trading that might take place after that first round ends.  I’ll believe it when I see it.  You can bet that a few mavericks will try to take advantage of the situation.  There are always some GM’s thinking out of the box.

I just heard that Spagnola absolutely loves Bradford, this despite not having already signed him to a contract, something they certainly could have done.  Is it just a coincidence that all this additional drama is being created on the heels of a new draft television event?    Aah, why ruin it for myself thinking dark thoughts?

Be happy.  The Mets don’t totally suck, neither the Giants nor the Jets have made a big draft mistake yet, and the Yankees are currently losing, 3-zip to the not so hapless A’s.

 

 

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