Sabathia - gets my Cy Young vote an AP Photo - Yahoo Sports - unattributed	Fielder - came thru in the clutch...  Photo by Scott Boehm - Getty

More later but for any regular readers, I'd just like to outline the crux of my last Mets story of the year:

    1. Core - as constructed by Omar Minaya, the "core" of the team was poorly conceived as evidenced by Moises Alou, Luis Castillo, Marlon Anderson, etc.  Even better contributors such as Ryan Church and Brian Schneider were flawed for one reason or another.  I love Pedro but he really wasn't that hot.  The irregulars were much better than the core.  Murphy, Evans, Argenis Reyes, Easley, Tatis etc. outshone the regulars.

    2.  Cubs game - symbolic of everything wrrong with the Mets - Lou Piniella pitched to Wright, walked Beltran and Delgado and then got thru the rest of the lineup

    3. Pitching - Relief REAL BAD, I mean what can you say...REAL BAD, did I say REAL BAD?? 

    4. Amazing They Went As Far As They Did - Credit Jerry Manuel

    5. Bad Luck - Losing Tatis and Church's concussion really screwed up the works.  Castillo's return from the DL was awful as he was awful, the good chemistry of Argenis Reyes, the Reyes to Reyes doubleplay combo, was ruined.  Wagner's injury may have been the nail in the coffin (except Ayala wasn't really that bad).

    6. Next Year's Team Should Be:
       catcher- delete Schneider - he has trade value but just doesn't get it done - what's wrong with Cancel and Castro?
       1B - Keep Delgado - but not if he demands a long-term contract
        2B - Give Argenis Reyes a chance, for pete's sake
     3b - Wright - but he really needs to calm down in pressure situations - a shrink would be good
    ss - Jose Reyes - what a player !  He'll improve with age
    lf - platoon Murphy and Evans - why the heck not?
    cf - Beltran - to me, he's the co-MVP with Delgado but less replaceable than Delgado
    rf - Church and Tatis - platoon, Church just isn't good enough vs lefties, if he can be traded for some relief pitching, I wouldn't be disappointed.  He was terrific before his injury though.

    Bench - Endy Chavez, Damien Easley, delete Anderson, Alou, Castillo, get another first baseman to relieve Delgado if necessary.

    Miscellaneous - get rid of the electronic garbage at the stadium - "Everybody Clap Your Hands" and all the other crap.  Get rid of the organist too.  To hear all that garbage when the Mets were losing the final game of the year was disgusting and offensive.