The Mets are in the middle of a critical road trip for this season, and tonight they start a series with the Phillies which can either resurrect this road trip or send it straight down the toilet.
Even with a losing series in Philly, it is fully possible for the Mets to make a comeback, there is basically a third of the season left, there is plenty of time to flip the standings around. The feeling though right now is crushing. A month of ago the Mets were less than a stone's throw away from first place but now it is slipping away.
I stand by a stance that I have had for a while that the problem is mainly two-fold. The first problem is something that the Mets have no control over which is their investments are not playing as well as they should, or as well as dictated by historical stats (aka Jason Bay) the second is that although Manuel can recieve some of the blame, the front office and ownership needs to cut their losses. It is time for Oliver Perez to go. It is time for Castillo, although a hero of late, to go. The team needs to start some internal promotions if the Mets are going to make a serious run.
There is, however, a flip side. If the Mets continue to slide, then they need to keep playing the veterans because a slide this year, compounded with last year means the Mets will need to move Oliver, Castillo, Beltran possibly Maine, etc. In order to move them, these players who are in a situation to play need more opportunities to raise their trade stock so the Mets can get something out of them this offseason.
Either way, I think we are starting to look at a mini-firesale this offseason. It's about time. We could use a clean slate.
