Power explosion: Mets 9, Reds 7

Man if the Mets somehow blew this one, it would not have been pretty.  But luckily they held on for a big win to end the first half on a semi positive note.

Gary Sheffield asked his way into today’s lineup and his three RBI turned out to be the difference.  In what’s been a terrible season for the Mets so far, Sheffield has really been the one guy who has far exceeded expectations.  I look for him to pick up where he left off in the second half.

Jeff Francoeur had another productive day for the Mets.  He delivered two hits and it seems like just having a fresh face in the lineup may have sparked some offense the past couple of days.  I know I was a little more excited to watch these past two games because of him.  You’d like to believe the players were a little more excited to play as well.

Good to see the home run draught come to an end with two bombs in three batters.  The apple not going up after Fernando Tatis’ home run was classic…just a fitting way to conclude this dreadful first half.

Mike Pelfrey was very good today.  He had one rough inning, which seems to happen during every one of his starts, but he managed to pull through and give the team two more innings.

The bullpen, however, was not very good today.  They got hammered pretty badly.  Sean Green was charged with three runs, but only Bobby Parnell was effective.  Parnell hasn’t given up a run in his last six appearances now.

And finally, how about Daniel Murphy!  If only Jerry Manuel had listened to me earlier and played the guy everyday.  Even Ronny mentioned today how much better the Mets are when Murphy is playing consecutive days rather than every other.

All in all a nice end to the first half as I wrote before.  It was also good to hear that Jose Reyes and Carlos Delgado are finally making some progress in returning this year.  I still think the season is more or less over, but a couple of things have to happen for this team make any sort of comeback.  First of all, you need to get at least two of your three core guys back by August 1st.  Then you could have at least a semblance of an offense.  But until that time, the Mets have a relatively easy schedule.  They need to play .500 baseball for the rest of this month or at least hold ground against the Phils.  I know two months is plenty of time to make up games, but the Phillies are too good to blow an eight to nine game lead.  So really, as unlucky as the Mets have been so far in 2009, they’ll need the reverse in the second half if they have any shot whatsoever.