It's on!

Following a tough 3 game series with the rival Phillies over the weekend, the Mets found themselves 2 games ahead (in the loss column) with 19 left to play. On the bright side, this guarantees there will be no collapse like last years, since it's the easiest thing in the world to blow a 2 game lead. Hell, I have every sort of faith they could do that in a weekend. What follows is 12 consecutive games against the Nationals and Braves, the bottom feeders of the NL East. Of course, it was the lowly teams last year that knocked the Mets out of first, so this is by no means a slam dunk for the season, especially with the Phillies having an easy road to the finish themselves.

On a sad note, it is time to retire my favorite, tag, possibly forever. Billy Wagner will undergo Tommy John surgery to repair his damaged elbow, and could well have thrown his last pitch for the Mets. Good luck to you in your recovery Mr. Wagner, you'll always be a motherfucker in my book.

This means the team must now turn to Luis Ayala for the closing duties. Ayala has pitched brilliantly for the team thus far, and we can only hope that his struggles earlier in the year can be attributed to the scientifically proven fact that donning a Washington Nationals jersey makes you suck at baseball. If Ayala fails, the closing duties turn to Brian Stokes, who failed spectacularly in the bullpen for Tampa last season, but everyone knows that was due to the presence of the word "Devil" in the team's name. Beyond Stokes the Mets would turn to a motley crew who have failed so spectacularly in the role so far this season. Looking on the bright side, the Mets suddenly anemic offense (outside of the mysteriously resurgent Carlos Delgado) would have to actually score enough runs to take the lead for the bullpen to blow it, so they have that going for them.