Carlos Beltran - fearless defender all year an AP Photo - Yahoo Sports - unattributed	Jose Reyes - has it all at shortstop  an AP Photo - Yahoo Sports - unattributed

It's the bottom of the 6th at Shea, and the Mets are still down 3-1 to the Marlins and who knows how this thing will turn out.  But as I've watched, I realize I'm thankful I've had the opportunity to watch certain players all season long.  Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado....they've really given us their all, at the plate and in the field. 

This occurred to me as I watched Beltran run hard to catch up to one of those Texas Leaguers and make the sliding underhanded grass-skimming catch, the kind of play that can spark a team.  That catch brought to mind other Beltran highlight-reel catches, his run into the wall the other day, pictured above, his over the shoulder hill-climbing grab in deepest centerrfield last year in Houston, and his face-smashing run into Mike Cameron.

Jose, what can you say about Jose?  Night in and night out, he does it all, at the plate, in the field, even in the dugout, and certainly on the basepaths.  Tonight, I watched him charge to his left to snag a softly-hit ground ball, then fire to Delgado, who made a beautiful scoop of Jose's hurried throw to nail another Marlins baserunner.  And that play brought to mind other plays only Jose could make, all those triples, Jose charging with that high-kicking gallop of his around second and on his way to third.  Yeah, and Jose and his high-jumping pirouette to celebrate, well, just about everything.

Delgado too, he's been the big guy at the plate, all those timely homers and doubles, sure, but pretty nifty around the bag too this year, at least in the second half.  Where would this team be without Delgado?

But, alas, there aren't really enough of these guys on this Mets team.  You could argue that Wright belongs in this upper- echelon too, I guess, and it's true that he's been pretty steady all year.  And he has a knack for making the spectacular play at third, but too often he misses the easy ones.  And too often he doesn't hit when you need him the most. 

My point is .... this team's been a lot of fun to watch, whether or not it makes the playoffs.  But there just isn't enough balance.  There are the superstars I've mentioned and then a bunch of guys who try hard; sometimes they'll come through but more often they won't.  I cringe when I see some of them.  I won't name names, we know who they are.

Yeah, it's 4-1 now and Feliciano has failed again, and Heilman is on his way to ruining any chance the Mets will have to come back in this thing.  How often have we seen that?  A lot.

Wright just made a great  stop of a hard line drive to keep the Mets in it but here's Willingham to face Heilman with the bases loaded.  Advantage Willingham, at least in this situation.  It's hard to think of a batter who wouldn't have the advantage against Heilman.

Heilman steps off the bag, he's afraid to let it go.  I don't blame him.  He misses outside, it's 3 and 2 now in another excruciating Mets moment.  Now he forces in the 5th run with a ball thrown not only into the dirt but into the dirt about four feet in front of the plate.  And here comes Manuel.  Again.

So...does this team deserve to make the playoffs?  Not really.  There just aren't enough good players.  I won't harp on the relief staff again, but really.....and what could this team accomplish in the playoffs anyway?

But they're fun to watch.  There can be no doubt about that.  Thanks, Carlos and Carlos and Jose.  Oh, and Johan too.  Too bad there aren't more like you.