The Return of the "Minister of Offense"

In my visit to Shea Stadium Saturday I saw Ryan Church running though some drills on the field, and hoped to see him play that day. Well, it didn't happen Saturday, but Ryan returned to the line-up Sunday with a bang, a boom and a bloop. He made his return to the line-up and didn't skip a beat. He had a double, single, and 2 run homerun as he helped the Mets put some power into the offense.

All year this team has suffered from a wimpy offense. Pelfrey was the latest to suffer from no run support. If the offense from last nights game could be relied upon to make an appearance every night, the Mets would soon be headed for the top of the standings. But all too often Beltran has been MIA this season. Saturday I wanted him to blast 2 monster homeruns off the scoreboard. Well, I got one Saturday, and one last night. Although the one Sunday wasn't as far up the scoreboard, it still hit it. Delgado was been a shell of his reputation since the fall of '06, but Beltran is the one really hurting the team this season. A clean-up hitter's job is to drive in runs, not just get on base. Hopefully Beltran gets on a long tear and starts doing what we all know he's capable of. This team needs those 35 homeruns and 100+ RBI from him. In all respects, Ryan should be batting clean-up and Beltran 5th. Ryan has been the steadiest hitter all season, and has the power to drive runs in consistently.

Lost in the Mets early season power outage is the fact that David Wright is on a pace to hit 33 homeruns and drive in over 120 RBI. Both would be career highs, and his early season production is surprising considering the lack of protection in the line-up for him. With the return of Ryan and the hopeful resurgence of Beltran, David should continue to see his production increase. His Average is climbing towards .300, and he's looking more comfortable at the plate too. On the afternoon SNY show ,"LoudMouths", Chris Carlon had a surprising stat. Everyone always says that "as Reyes goes, so goes the Mets", but they're wrong. Carlon showed the stats for the 1st 52 games this year, and David is the force that makes the Mets successful, not Jose'. In the 26 wins for the Mets, David hit .380. In the 26 loses, he hit .117. Bottom line, if David isn't hitting and driving in runs, it doesn't matter what Jose' does, the Mets lose.

If Reyes and Castillo continue to get on base, the 3-5 hitters should be feasting on the opposing pitchers on a regular basis. Alou', if he ever returns, and Delgado should be 6th and 7th in the order. They can't be relied upon to stay healthy or produce when needed, so they don't deserve to hit higher than that. If the 1-5 positions can be kept intact, the Mets run production should become more consistent from game to game. And that is something that hasn't happened often enough this year.

Santana won his 100th game last night, but I was having Deja Vu' from Saturday's game. Just like Pelfrey on Saturday, Johan allowed a hit to Pierre and he quickly scored. And just like Saturday, Johan settled down and the Dodgers were losers in the end. The major difference was the offense gave Johan runs, and left Pelfrey hanging in the breeze. Starting Pitching so far this season is not the reason for the Mets troubles. As long as Heilman stays out of games, the bull-pen is doing it's job too. LOL.

What do all of you out there think? Should Ryan be batting Clean-up? Should David be hitting Clean-up? Will this power surge continue, or are we just being set up again for heartbreak?

I'm hoping for a successful road trip and the Phillies doing some stumbling in the standings. With any luck, maybe the Mets can move up in the standing this week.