The Kids Are All Right

This year's Mets team has been a pleasant surprise, going 45-42 with makeshift lineups and a lack of star power. They have performed above everyone's expectations, despite a slow start and injuries to their corner infielders and ace pitcher. The Mets are proving that the best teams aren't always the ones with a roster full of overpaid superstars (see New York Mets, 2007-2010). In fact, sometimes all a team needs is a young group of players with the hunger and desire to succeed.

Daniel Murphy, Jonathon Niese, Dillon Gee, Bobby Parnell, Justin Turner and Ruben Tejada were all supposed to be bit players on the Mets in 2011. Other than Niese, none of the players listed above was guaranteed a spot on the 25-man roster, with some of them opening the season at AAA-Buffalo. But through injuries and Terry Collins' desire to give his young players a chance, all have been instrumental in the team's success over the first half of the season.

Who would have thought that Daniel Murphy and Justin Turner would lead the Mets' infielders in RBI?

Daniel Murphy has kept his average around .300, while collecting his share of extra-base hits and clutch hits. His 17 doubles rank third on the team, while his .350 batting average with runners in scoring position have helped him collect 35 RBI, good for second on the team behind Carlos Beltran.

Jonathon Niese has continued his development from fringe pitcher to top of the rotation starter. He leads the team with 92 strikeouts and is tied for the team lead in wins with eight. Since starting the season slowly with a 1-4 record, Niese has gone 7-3 and has a 2.73 ERA over his last ten starts.

Dillon Gee went from Buffalo to near All-Star. He won his first seven decisions this season and is currently tied for the team lead in wins. His .800 winning percentage is tied for the National League lead with the Braves' Jair Jurrjens, a pitcher Gee defeated in their head-to-head matchup on June 4. He is also the hardest pitcher to hit in the Mets' starting rotation, allowing a .222 batting average to opposing hitters. As a result, the Mets are 11-2 in Gee's 13 starts.

Bobby Parnell has been an on-again, off-again pitcher since making his major league debut in 2008, but since returning from AAA-Buffalo in late May, he has been constantly in "on" mode. Parnell is the owner of a 0.96 ERA over his last 16 appearances and has held opposing hitters to a .200/.241/.218 mark in average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage, respectively, since the beginning of June. He has also become a strikeout machine, averaging 11.0 strikeouts per nine innings, after averaging 7.7 K/9 innings from 2008-2010.

Bobby Parnell, future closer? For now, he's an outstanding set-up man.

It's a fact that no one saw Justin Turner coming, but once he arrived, he made his presence felt, setting Mets rookie records in consecutive games with an RBI and consecutive games reaching base. He has also been the team's best hitter with runners in scoring position, batting .386 in such spots. As a result, he sits just one RBI behind Daniel Murphy for second place on the team despite having only played in 57 games.

Ruben Tejada was supposed to be the kid with the slick glove who wasn't supposed to do much with the bat. But in addition to his fielding prowess, his offense has been a pleasant surprise. In 44 games hitting mostly in the eighth spot in the batting order, Tejada has collected 18 RBI, the result of a .314 batting average with runners in scoring position and a .318 average with men on base. Also, unlike most free-swinging young players, the 21-year-old Tejada has made excellent contact this season, striking out only 25 times.

All of these players have given the Mets significant contributions this season despite lacking the experience that their higher paid colleagues possess. In addition to their mutual success, there is one other important feature shared by all six players. None of them is older than 26 years of age. Therefore, they all stand to have long careers in the major leagues should they continue to build on their achievements.

Hakuna Tejada! He's not "lion" down on the job. He's just playing his game.

There was a time when “the kids” meant Jose Reyes, David Wright and no one else. The team didn’t develop their own players, preferring to sign or trade for 30-something players like Pedro Martinez, Carlos Delgado, Billy Wagner, Orlando “The Dookie” Hernandez, Moises Alou and Luis Castillo, rather than giving their young players a chance. Many of those veteran players performed well at the start of their careers in New York, but broke down long before they played their last games for the Mets.

The 2011 Mets have not lived by this mantra, giving players such as Daniel Murphy, Jonathon Niese, Dillon Gee, Bobby Parnell, Justin Turner and Ruben Tejada the opportunity to succeed at the major league level. Their success has translated into more wins for the Mets and the hope for meaningful games in the second half of the season, something that hasn’t been seen since the Mets moved across the parking lot into Citi Field.

Sure, having veteran leadership is always important, but how can those veterans lead when they can’t withstand the rigors of a 162-game season? The current Mets are better suited to play the entire season and are showing that they deserve to play. Before too long, there will come a day when Murphy, Niese, Gee, et al. are going to be the veterans that the next generation of players will be looking up to for leadership. It’s good to know that the 2011 Mets are getting the on-the-job training that will lead to success for this generation and future generations of Mets players.

I've got to give the Mets credit...

I've been brutal on the Mets both on my blog and the podcast.

I wondered how a team in New York could be losing money, putting a non contender on the field and be an absolute mess.

And I predicted that they will have a firesale and lose 90 games.

Now I stand by most of those statements.
But I have to give Terry Collins some credit.
He has been handed a crappy hand (and the aftermath of the Omar Minaya years) and has the team over .500.

He doesn't have David Wright nor Johan Santana at his disposal. And the line up and bullpen has been patch work.

Just last night the Mets had Willie Harris at DH, Lucas Duda at first base, Justin Turner at second base and Josh Thole at catcher. That's a lineup you'd expect at a split squad spring training game.

And they throttled Detroit to the tune of 14 runs. And that's not a chump team. That's a first place team they blew out of the water on the road.

I don't know how much longer this will last. I still think Reyes and Beltran and Rodriguez are going to be dealt in a month (and why not? They could get three valuable and cheap building blocks for them.)

And it is unlikely that they will leapfrog five teams for a playoff spot.
But if they split the next few games, they will be at the official half way spot with a winning record... and that's more than I was expecting.

And if I can give the Pirates, Nationals, Diamondbacks, Indians and Mariners all credit for exceeding expectations, then I suppose I should for the Mets as well.

Things could be worse for the Mets. They could be the Dodgers.

Is Terry Collins 2011's Answer To Bobby Valentine?

Prior to the 2011 season, the Mets interviewed a number of potential candidates for their open managerial position before deciding to hire Terry Collins, a pick that was popular in the front office, but not immediately liked by the fans. Less than half a season later, Collins has made believers out of the skeptics who thought anyone not named Wally Backman would be able to manage the Mets. After a rough 5-13 start, the Mets have responded by going 28-21 (.571 winning percentage) and currently find themselves in third place in the National League East.

Collins has been able to piece together a team that has been without Johan Santana for the entire season and sans corner infielders Ike Davis and David Wright for the past month. His makeshift lineups have led to the emergence of various players who had been career minor leaguers or fringe players. Players such as Justin Turner, Ruben Tejada and Daniel Murphy have all contributed in the absence of Davis and Wright, and pitchers such as Dillon Gee, Chris Capuano and Jonathon Niese have all flourished while Santana has been rehabbing his surgically repaired shoulder.

The 2011 Mets have all the makings of a nice story in Flushing, after two lost seasons at Citi Field which immediately followed two heartbreaking seasons at Shea Stadium. But this is not the first time a manager has taken a downtrodden Mets team and turned them around faster than anyone ever expected. In fact, it was only 14 years ago when another former major league manager was given a chance by the Mets to bring respectability back to the franchise.

Still beloved by Mets fans, Bobby Valentine was the club's second winningest manager after Davey Johnson.

Bobby Valentine managed the Texas Rangers from 1985-1992, where he became the franchise's all-time leader in managerial victories. But after a slow start in 1992, Valentine was relieved of his duties by future president George W. Bush and did not manage again for three years. In 1995, Bobby V took his managerial talents overseas and led the Chiba Lotte Marines to a surprising second-place finish in the Japanese Pacific League. Valentine's success in Japan (he was fired due to a conflict with the team's general manager) led him back to the States and a job managing the Mets' Triple-A team in Norfolk.

After leading the Tides to an 82-59 record in 1996, Valentine was promoted to the Mets to replace the recently ousted Dallas Green. The Mets finished the season by winning only 12 of the 31 games under their new skipper. However, with a new season came new hope, and Valentine was the purveyor of that hope.

The 1997 Mets went into the season with little to no expectations. Their biggest acquisition of the offseason was John Olerud, a former batting champion in 1993 who had done little since winning that batting title, averaging 13 HR and 61 RBI from 1994 to 1996, and failing to hit over .300 in each of those three seasons. The rest of the infield consisted of the past-his-prime Carlos Baerga at second, light-hitting shortstop Rey Ordoñez and young Edgardo Alfonzo, who had been shuttled back and forth between second and third base for the better part of three seasons.

Although Bernard Gilkey and Lance Johnson were returning to the outfield, both were coming off career years in 1996 that did little to help the team in the standings. Rounding out the outfield was Butch Huskey, who had always shown power potential, but never quite fulfilled it. Todd Hundley (he of the record-setting 41 home runs in 1996) was yet again behind the plate catching a ragtag group of starting pitchers that included Bobby Jones, Rick Reed, Dave Mlicki, Mark Clark, Armando Reynoso and Brian Bohanon. Those six pitchers combined to win a mere 40 games in 1996 and were now being counted on to lead the 1997 Mets. It didn't start off the way Valentine would have liked.

The 1997 Mets lost 10 of their first 14 games and were already seven games out of first place just two weeks into the season. But Bobby Valentine did not let the poor start deter his team. By mid-May, the Mets had climbed back to .500, but then hovered around the mediocre mark until mid-June. It was then that the team took off, winning six straight against Pittsburgh and Atlanta. By September, the Mets were still alive in the Wild Card race, but their playoff hopes finally burst during the final week of the season, as the Marlins took the Wild Card on the way to their first World Series championship. Despite falling just short of the playoffs, the Mets still finished the year with an impressive 88-74 record.

Bobby Jones and Rick Reed emerged as solid starting pitchers for the Mets, with Jones winning 15 games and earning his first (and only) All-Star selection and Reed finishing sixth in the National League with a 2.89 ERA, to go along with 13 wins (after winning a total of 10 games from 1988-1996). The infield also surpassed all expectations, with John Olerud leading the way. The first baseman batted .294 with 22 HR and 102 RBI. He also led the team in on-base percentage with an even .400 mark. The left side of the infield impressed as well, as Edgardo Alfonzo hit a then-career high .315 and Rey Ordoñez won his first Gold Glove Award. Bernard Gilkey and Lance Johnson couldn't sustain their 1996 paces, but Butch Huskey made up for that by setting career marks in batting average (.287), hits (135), doubles (26), home runs (24), RBI (81), stolen bases (8) and slugging percentage (.503). In addition, Todd Hundley followed up his memorable 1996 campaign with another solid season, batting .273 with 30 HR and 86 RBI.

No one would say that the 1997 Mets were loaded with All-Stars. But Bobby Valentine took that group of individuals and turned them into a team. Valentine used 143 different lineups, utilizing all 25 players on the roster and going with the hot hand whenever possible. The final result was the first winning season for the Mets in seven years.

Fast forward to 2011. Terry Collins is now the former major league manager who was hired by the Mets after a layoff of several years. After spending time guiding young players in the Mets' farm system in 2010, Collins is now managing a number of them in the big leagues.

Not much was expected from the Mets in 2011, but after a slow start, the Mets are now playing very good baseball. They're coming together as a team, with veteran leadership (Carlos Beltran, Jose Reyes), emerging talent (Justin Turner, Ruben Tejada, Daniel Murphy), and young pitchers developing into top starters (Jonathon Niese, Dillon Gee).

Like Bobby Valentine did with the 1997 Mets, Terry Collins is instilling confidence in the 2011 Mets. His goal is not to reach .500, but to surpass it. Mediocrity is not an option with the current Mets. It is a stepping stone. Terry Collins expects this team to perform on the field, regardless of who he puts out there. It is why the Mets have been able to leapfrog past the Nationals and Marlins in the NL East and why they are within 4½ games of the Braves for the Wild Card lead.

Bobby Valentine did wonders with a group of players that "on paper" shouldn't have performed as well as they did. He taught them how to believe in themselves and their ability to get the job on the baseball field. The players responded to their manager and made the fans believers as well. Fourteen years later, Terry Collins is trying to do the same thing with his group of Mets.

Will Collins succeed as Bobby Valentine did almost a decade and a half ago? That remains to be seen. One thing is certain, though. If the players continue to follow Collins' philosophy, then there's no reason to believe that this team can't surpass expectations. The Mets can go as far as they want to go. It's a good thing they have a manager who knows this and is willing to take them there.

Justin Turner "Un-Vail-ed"

It seems like a lot of people have sent the Justin Turner bandwagon into overdrive. From #JustinTurnerFacts on Twitter (tip of the blue Mets cap to The Daily Stache for creating what has become a trending topic on Twitter) to this guy who's written too many blogs on him recently, Justin Turner seems to be on everyone's mind. Even a certain renowned writer who has an equal amount of "faith" and "fear" in his team has weighed in on Turner's recent accomplishments.

Needless to say, I noticed a connection between Justin Turner and Rusty Staub that has nothing to do with their hair color. Unfortunately, it's not one most Mets fans would want to make.

Let's hop into the DeLorean and set the time coordinates to 1975. At the time, the Mets were in a transitional phase. Yogi Berra was fired in August, replaced by Roy McMillan. 1969 World Series hero Cleon Jones was released outright. However, the Mets did produce their highest team batting average to date (.256), saw Dave Kingman belt a franchise-record 36 home runs and watched Rusty Staub become the first player to drive in 100 runs in a single season.

That team also produced a young outfielder named Mike Vail.

Mike Vail was a hitting machine at AAA-Tidewater in 1975, hitting .342 in 115 games. He was also a clutch hitter, driving in 79 runs despite hitting only seven home runs for the Tides. On August 18, he made his major league debut as a pinch-hitter. He singled in his first at-bat. Two days later, he made his first start and went 0-for-5. He wasn't held hitless again until September 16, when ironically, he did not collect a hit in an 18-inning victory over the St. Louis Cardinals, going 0-for-7 in the extra-inning affair.

Vail's 23-game hitting streak set the franchise record, unsurpassed until 1984 when Hubie Brooks hit in 24 consecutive games. After hitting .302 in 38 games in 1975, Vail made Rusty Staub expendable in the minds of the front office, who traded Le Grand Orange to the Detroit Tigers for the rotund and past-his-prime Mickey Lolich.

The Mets did well in 1976, finishing with the second-most wins in franchise history at the time (86), but that proved to be the final respectable season for the team until 1984. Rusty Staub went on to average 106 RBI per season for the Tigers from 1976-1978 (no Met drove in as many as 106 runs in a season until Darryl Strawberry collected 108 RBI in 1990). Mike Vail went kaplooie after being anointed as the "player of the future" following the 1975 season.

A basketball injury sustained during the off-season kept Vail on the disabled list for most of the 1976 season. Upon his return, Vail struggled, hitting only .217, scoring eight runs and driving in nine in 53 games. He performed slightly better in 1977, but still only produced a .262 batting average with eight home runs and 35 RBI in 108 games.

The so-called "player of the future" helped send the Mets back to their losing past. After being an excellent contact hitter in the minors, Vail struck out 114 times in 584 career at-bats for the Mets. He attempted eight stolen bases as a Met and was thrown out all eight times. Vail also made Jeff Francoeur look like a walking machine. From 1975-1977, Vail drew only 34 bases on balls, never walking more than 19 times in a single season for the Mets. This continued throughout his major league career, as Vail walked a mere 81 times in 10 big league seasons.

Now let's get back into the DeLorean, fire up the flux capacitor (anyone have a spare piece of plutonium lying around?) and return to 2011. Justin Turner just set the Mets' rookie record by driving in at least one run in his seventh consecutive game. Prior to his streak, Turner had only driven in six runs in his major league career. But like Vail, Turner was also an outstanding contact hitter in the minor leagues, hitting .309 and striking out only 279 times in 2,202 plate appearances.

Justin Turner is also playing third base, filling in admirably for the injured David Wright, who drove in over 100 runs last season. With just about every Met having the "untradeable" tag removed from them, could it be that history is about to repeat itself?

Let's hope not. Justin Turner is on quite a bit of a roll, but he will never be David Wright, even when the longtime third baseman reverts to his David K. Wright persona. At best, Turner will platoon with Daniel Murphy at second base until Terry Collins decides that one of them has won the job outright.

Justin Turner is a nice player whose 15 minutes of fame have stretched into a second week. He's not David Wright just like Mike Vail was not Rusty Staub. Let's enjoy his hot streak while it lasts, but let's not make the mistake the front office made in 1975 by anointing him "the player of the future". For now, Justin Turner is a player of the present. We'll let the future take care of itself.

Joey's Small Bites: Putting The Band(box) Back Together

I attended Saturday night's middle game of the Subway Series at The House That Juice Built and I came home with whiplash. No, it wasn't because Bartolo Colon fell on my lap. It was because of all the times I snapped my neck turning to watch 250-foot home run after 250-foot home run leave the park.

The Yankees hit four home runs off Chris Capuano, one short of the franchise record of five set by Roger Craig on May 4, 1963. They have now scored 226 runs this season. Only 99 of them have scored without the ball going over the wall. That means the Bronx Bombers average 2.25 runs per game that score on something other than a home run. They better hope they never have to use Citi Field as their home ballpark (the Yankees called Shea Stadium home in 1974 and 1975 while the old Yankee Stadium was being renovated) because they'll score less than Steve Urkel there.

Despite my neck pain, I still enjoyed myself at the ballpark. Since my paws were unaffected by the barrage of Bomber baseballs, I'll still be able to recap the game for you, one small bite at a time.

To honor all the players in tonight's game who started the season at AAA-Buffalo, I decided to feast on Buffalo wings.

A.J. Burnett entered the game with only four wins in 18 career starts against the Mets (six losses, eight no-decisions), and the Mets started the game as if they were going to make it four wins in 19 starts. They plated two runs in the first inning, the second coming off the bat of Justin Turner, who broke Ron Swoboda's franchise record when he drove in Daniel Murphy with an opposite field single.

But then the Yankees clicked their heels and said "there's no place like home (runs)". First, Russell Martin tied the game with a two-run homer in the second inning. An inning later, Mark Teixeira launched a two-run blast to give the Yankees the lead. After the Mets tantalized their fans by cutting the lead to one in the fifth inning on an RBI single by Carlos Beltran (I'm surprised it wasn't a home run. It was hit softly enough.), the Yankees homered twice in the sixth inning, as Curtis Granderson and Alex Rodriguez connected off Capuano.

The Yankees added a new word to their vocabulary in the eighth inning, when they learned how to manufacture a run, as the less famous No. 2 in New York singled, stole second, took third on a fly ball, and scored on a sacrifice fly.

The Mets' offense went to sleep after scoring their final run in the fifth, despite the fact that Le Grand Justin Turner batted twice in the late innings.

At least there was a bright side to the Mets' 7-3 loss, as Frankie Rodriguez didn't get to finish the game. (K-Rod has finished 18 of the Mets' first 45 contests, putting him on pace to finish 65 games, or 10 more than is needed to make his contract vest for the 2012 season.)

The Mets will try to do something on Sunday that they have not done well against the Yankees - winning a rubber game. Since 1997, the Mets and Yankees have split the first two games of their series 13 times. The Mets have only won the rubber game three times. They'll look to buck the trend on Sunday, sending the improved Mike Pelfrey to the hill. His counterpart will be Ivan Nova, who has never faced the Mets or any other National League team, for that matter.

The Mets spent an entire month taking small bites to get back to .500. Now that they're back on the south side of the break-even point, they'll need to make room for one more bite against the Yankees on Sunday. Gluttony is the only way to go for the Mets in this series.

Le Grand Justin Turner

Rusty Staub was beloved as a Met, setting numerous club records during his underrated career. So cherished was Rusty in New York that the team honored him with "Thanks Rusty Day" on July 13, 1986.

Mets players poured out of the dugout wearing red wigs in appreciation of Le Grand Orange, a key player in the march to the National League pennant in 1973 and one of the best pinch-hitters of all-time during his second stint with the Mets in the 1980s.

It's been 25 years since the Mets honored their red-headed sparkplug. Now the Mets have another in Justin Turner.

The arrival of Turner came "Justin" time for the Mets.

Justin Turner quietly put together a successful minor league career, hitting .309 in five minor league seasons. A doubles machine, Turner hit 124 two-baggers in the minors, a number surpassed by only 16 players in Mets history (including Rusty Staub, who hit 130 doubles for the Mets).

Now given the chance to play every day for the Mets due to injuries to Ike Davis and David Wright, Turner has flourished. Entering tonight's game, he was hitting .364, continuing his doubles onslaught with seven two-base hits in only 55 at-bats. With his first-inning RBI single, Turner broke Ron Swoboda's 46-year-old rookie record for consecutive games with an RBI (seven). Over those seven games, Turner has driven in 12 runs.

Terry Collins will have a dilemma on his hands when Ike Davis and David Wright return from their injuries to play first base and third base, respectively. Who will lose playing time between Daniel Murphy and Justin Turner? Will the lefty-swinging Murphy platoon with the right-handed hitting RBI machine? Has Turner earned the opportunity to play every day? Will someone be traded?

One thing's for certain. In the '70s and '80s, Mets fans were treated to the fantastic play of Le Grand Orange, Rusty Staub. It's been over a quarter century since Rusty announced his retirement. Now the fans have a new redhead to cheer. Le Grand Justin Turner is winning the hearts of Mets fans all over the city and making opposing pitchers see red every time he drives in another run. Not bad for a guy who only had four major league hits before 2011.

Joey's Small Bites: Yankees Flaccid Against Dickey

The Mets entered this year's Subway Series on a roll, coming off a series shutout of the Washington Nationals. The two-game mini-sweep catapulted the Mets past the Nats in the NL East standings. But the Nats (.223 team batting average, 32 HR prior to last night's game) are clearly not the Yankees (65 HR entering the Subway Series opener).

The Yankees had scored 218 runs over their first 42 games. A total of 111 of those runs had scored on home runs (33 solo shots, 20 two-run homers, 10 three-run blasts and two grand slams). You wouldn't need Jaime Escalante to tell you that the Yankees have scored more than half of their runs on home runs. So basically, the formula to stop the Yankees is to keep them in the ballpark. Except for one solo pop-up by Mark Teixeira, that's exactly what R.A. Dickey and his fellow moundsmen did. This is Joey Beartran and you're about to read my small bites from last night's game.

I'll take the Mets' small ball style of play to the Yankees' "homers or nothing" approach any day of the week.

The Yankees took the early lead against the Mets on the "strength" of Mark Teixeira's pop-up to the shallow right field seats. Carlos Beltran gave it a valiant effort, but he was still unable to catch Big Texy's solo bloop. Had the game been played at Citi Field, Beltran probably would have had to come in to make the play.

The Mets responded quickly in the top of the fourth. Back-to-back two-out doubles by designated hitter Fernando Martinez and the man Jason Bay wishes he could hit like, Justin Turner, knotted the game at 1.

R.A. Dickey struggled a bit in the bottom of the fifth inning, allowing infield singles to Brett Gardner and the man who claims to have an Edge. But then his royal Edgeness' counterpart, Jose Reyes, made a spectacular game-changing defensive play on a grounder hit by third baseman Alex Rodriguez, diving to his left to rob Cameron Diaz's boy toy of a potential game-tying single. It was a play the aforementioned Edge driver would never have made due to his lack of range. Yes, it's a fact that Derek Jeter may have an Edge (I believe everything I see on TV, don't you?), but Jose Reyes has a Range Rover, and it proved to be the difference in last night's ballgame.

Speaking of differences, Daniel Murphy yanked a ball down the right field line that gave the Mets the lead in the sixth inning. Murphy's fourth homer of the year was one of only five hits surrendered by Yankee starter/Met castoff Freddy Garcia. However, four of those five hits went for extra bases and accounted for both runs scored by the Mets. (Aren't you glad the Mets went with Tim Redding as their No. 5 starter in 2009 rather than Freddy Garcia?)

Dickey was lifted after throwing 101 pitches in six effective innings, culminating his start with back-to-back strikeouts of Jorge Posada and Nick Swisher. It was then up to the bullpen to preserve the lead. Mike O'Connor (0.00 ERA, 0.35 WHIP in 5.2 innings), Jason Isringhausen (1.80 ERA, seven hits allowed in 15 innings) and Francisco Rodriguez (15 consecutive saves) retired every batter they faced, with K-Rod putting an end to the game the same way Dickey ended his outing, striking out Jorge Posada and Nick Swisher.

After the game, Yankee manager Joe Girardi said it best when he offered this explanation as to why his players were confounded at the plate throughout the game:

"Whenever you face a knuckleballer, you're really not sure what's going to happen because it's not something guys face every day. It's a totally different day for all of our hitters."

Thank you for saying it so succinctly, Joe. Facing a knuckleballer confused the hitters. In fact, they were so confused that they forgot how to hit the non-knuckleballing firm of O'Connor, Isringhausen and Rodriguez over the final three innings as well.

With the victory, the Mets improved to .500 on the season, a mark they hadn't reached since they were 4-4 on April 9. The Yankees fell to 23-20, or one step closer to where the Mets are now.

Tonight, Chris Capuano faces A.J. Burnett, who is making his 19th career start against the Mets, but has only won four of them (4-6, eight no-decisions). The game will be broadcast by FOX, which will afford Mets fans the opportunity to listen to Howie Rose call the game on WFAN.

I will not be watching the game on FOX or listening to it on WFAN. Instead, I will be in attendance at The House That Juice Built, hoping to see the Mets win their fifth road series of the year, which would be one more than they won all of last year.

The Yankees might be the ones currently taking large bites out of the New York fanbase, but the Mets showed that if they take enough small bites out of the Yankees' overhyped (and overpaid) machine, the teams can be on even ground. After all, small bites tend to make the meal more satisfying, while big bites just give you indigestion. I should know. I'm an expert on the topic.

Just In Time For Turner

Second baseman Brad Emaus has been designated for assignment by the Mets, less than a month after winning the job by default and because Argenis Reyes was no longer available. In his stead, the Mets have recalled Justin Turner from AAA-Buffalo.

Turner was hitting .300 (12-for-40) at Buffalo, with five of his hits going for extra bases (three doubles, two triples). In his minor league career, Turner has hit .309, never finishing a full season below .298. However, his prowess for hitting minor league pitching has yet to translate into major league success, as the 26-year-old second baseman has hit a mere .114 (3-for-35) in three separate short stints in the majors. (Turner was 1-for-8 in four games as a Met last year.)

It's obvious that the Mets need some offense from the second base position. The combined "talents" of Brad Emaus, Daniel Murphy and Chin-Lung Hu have managed to produce as many strikeouts as hits (11 hits in 60 at-bats with 11 Ks).

In addition, the second baseman of the future (Reese Havens) can't stay healthy in the present. Havens has still not played in a game this year, as he is recovering from off-season rib surgery. No timetable has been set for his return, but when he does come of the disabled list, he will most likely play for AA-Binghamton, which is the highest level he has reached in the minor leagues.

As shown below (thanks to the Mets' official Twitter page) Justin Turner will be in the starting lineup for the Mets tonight, batting eighth against Astros' pitcher Wandy Rodriguez.

For now, the right-handed hitting Turner will be in a platoon with the lefty-swinging Daniel Murphy. So far this season, Murphy has been the most productive hitter at second base, if you want to call a .226 batting average and a .294 on-base percentage productive. Murphy has also not shown an understanding of the "fundies" that Keith Hernandez lives by, as he was thrown out trying to steal third base with no outs (well, one out after his failed attempt at a theft) in the nightcap of Saturday's doubleheader against the Braves.

So now the Mets are giving Justin Turner a shot as Jose Reyes' double play partner. The Mets showed very little patience with Brad Emaus at second base. How much patience are they willing to show for the new kid on the bag? And if he fails to impress Terry Collins, will Daniel Murphy be given the everyday job at the position?

Ike Davis was called up last April 19 and gave the Mets a much-needed spark after a 4-8 start to the season. Can Justin Turner do the same this April 19? One thing's for sure. If he doesn't, someone else will be given the opportunity. It's the way these Mets roll.