Mets' midseason report

[TaborJet]

BY ADAM RUBIN

DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Jose Reyes stayed healthy. Pedro Martinez performed even better than advertised. The bullpen, for all the concern, has been serviceable. The bench contributed.

Yet the "New Mets" completed the first half at .500, in last place in the NL East. At 44-44, they're actually one game behind the pace of Art Howe's 2004 edition.

"We can do a much better job of just playing the game without the little mistakes that tend to hurt teams," manager Willie Randolph said.

A look back at the first half's successes and failures:

Five things that went right

Aces dealing: Pedro Martinez gave the Mets the ace they craved, plus a draw, with an average of 38,788 attending his home starts, 4,879 more than for other Flushing games. He is halfway to a 20-win season, and has an NL-best 138 strikeouts and the league's fifth-best ERA at 2.72. Meanwhile, Victor Zambrano (4-7) doesn't have the record to show it, but he has improved each month, his ERA dropping from 5.81 in April, to 3.52 in May, to 2.48 in June and to 2.25 in July - lessening some of the hostility over the Scott Kazmir trade. Kris Benson (6-3, 3.65 ERA), the other pickup last July, has been consistent. And while Kaz Ishii (2-8, 5.57) hasn't worked out, Steve Trachsel, recovering from back surgery, may be only three weeks away.

Cliff and Cam: Imagine if that Cliff Floyd-for-Sammy Sosa trade had gone through. Or if Mike Cameron had not told Omar Minaya he wanted to stay at Shea. Floyd might be the Mets' MVP. He has 22 homers and has remained healthy and displayed solid play in left, including eight assists. Cameron returned from a stint on the DL for a wrist injury and took off at the plate. He took a .276 average and 20 doubles into the break, even with a 6-for-32 (.188) trip to close the half.

Bench mark: Dramatically upgraded, the reserves have been solid with Marlon Anderson, Miguel Cairo and Chris Woodward all having played valuable roles, and catcher Ramon Castro's average up to .260. Anderson is the MLB leader in pinch-hits with 13 though he's beginning to show his glove doesn't match his bat.

Roberto kudos: Roberto Hernandez, 40, has emerged as a dependable eighth-inning reliever, a role slated for Mike DeJean. The bullpen has been good enough, even if it appears Randolph has little use for Dae-Sung Koo and Danny Graves hasn't found his form.

Battling: Disheartening defeats, they've had a few - from an 0-5 start, to the 1-5 trip to Oakland and Seattle, to the loss by Braden Looper with a sweep at Yankee Stadium at stake, to dropping the first two games in Pittsburgh after winning a series at Washington. Each time the Mets have stayed calm, though, with poise oozing from their manager. As a result, they remain in the postseason hunt, eight games behind the first-place Nationals and 5-1/2 games behind the Braves for the wild card.

Five things that went wrong

Right side wrong: Doug Mientkiewicz seemed like a good alternative to Carlos Delgado. However, Mientkiewicz's .219 average has negated his positive contributions in the field. As for Kaz Matsui, he all but lost his job to Miguel Cairo before suffering a bruised knee June 16. The Mets don't seem overly concerned when he might return, suggesting his three-year, $20.1 million deal is all that keeps him a Met.

The quad: Carlos Beltran has tried to play through a right quadriceps strain. In retrospect, a DL stint would have made sense. But Randolph expects Beltran - who has only four steals after registering two straight 40-plus seasons - will have a big second half.

Growing pains: David Wright and Jose Reyes should hold down the left side of the infield for years, but each is only 22. Wright has been capable with the bat, and is slowly emerging as the No. 5 hitter. He also has 15 errors, one behind leader Troy Glaus among NL third basemen. Reyes is finally healthy, after playing in only 122 of his first 262 Mets games. Yet while Reyes has 26 steals, three behind NL leader Rafael Furcal, he also has a .284 on-base percentage that ranks sixth from the bottom of the league among 79 batting-title qualifiers.

Age: Mike Piazza (nine HR) went a career-high 98 at-bats without a homer during the first half and sat out two of three games in Pittsburgh, including the finale. Meanwhile, 39-year-old Tom Glavine needs 62-1/3 more innings for his contract to kick in for 2006. That's not a good thing, considering his 6-7 record and 4.94 ERA.

Running into trouble: The gaffes on the bases have been worrisome. There were three more Sunday, when Anderson was doubled off first on a soft liner and Cameron was twice thrown out at second.

[TaborJet]

BY ADAM RUBIN

DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Jose Reyes stayed healthy. Pedro Martinez performed even better than advertised. The bullpen, for all the concern, has been serviceable. The bench contributed.

Yet the "New Mets" completed the first half at .500, in last place in the NL East. At 44-44, they're actually one game behind the pace of Art Howe's 2004 edition.

"We can do a much better job of just playing the game without the little mistakes that tend to hurt teams," manager Willie Randolph said.

A look back at the first half's successes and failures:

Five things that went right

Aces dealing: Pedro Martinez gave the Mets the ace they craved, plus a draw, with an average of 38,788 attending his home starts, 4,879 more than for other Flushing games. He is halfway to a 20-win season, and has an NL-best 138 strikeouts and the league's fifth-best ERA at 2.72. Meanwhile, Victor Zambrano (4-7) doesn't have the record to show it, but he has improved each month, his ERA dropping from 5.81 in April, to 3.52 in May, to 2.48 in June and to 2.25 in July - lessening some of the hostility over the Scott Kazmir trade. Kris Benson (6-3, 3.65 ERA), the other pickup last July, has been consistent. And while Kaz Ishii (2-8, 5.57) hasn't worked out, Steve Trachsel, recovering from back surgery, may be only three weeks away.

Cliff and Cam: Imagine if that Cliff Floyd-for-Sammy Sosa trade had gone through. Or if Mike Cameron had not told Omar Minaya he wanted to stay at Shea. Floyd might be the Mets' MVP. He has 22 homers and has remained healthy and displayed solid play in left, including eight assists. Cameron returned from a stint on the DL for a wrist injury and took off at the plate. He took a .276 average and 20 doubles into the break, even with a 6-for-32 (.188) trip to close the half.

Bench mark: Dramatically upgraded, the reserves have been solid with Marlon Anderson, Miguel Cairo and Chris Woodward all having played valuable roles, and catcher Ramon Castro's average up to .260. Anderson is the MLB leader in pinch-hits with 13 though he's beginning to show his glove doesn't match his bat.

Roberto kudos: Roberto Hernandez, 40, has emerged as a dependable eighth-inning reliever, a role slated for Mike DeJean. The bullpen has been good enough, even if it appears Randolph has little use for Dae-Sung Koo and Danny Graves hasn't found his form.

Battling: Disheartening defeats, they've had a few - from an 0-5 start, to the 1-5 trip to Oakland and Seattle, to the loss by Braden Looper with a sweep at Yankee Stadium at stake, to dropping the first two games in Pittsburgh after winning a series at Washington. Each time the Mets have stayed calm, though, with poise oozing from their manager. As a result, they remain in the postseason hunt, eight games behind the first-place Nationals and 5-1/2 games behind the Braves for the wild card.

Five things that went wrong

Right side wrong: Doug Mientkiewicz seemed like a good alternative to Carlos Delgado. However, Mientkiewicz's .219 average has negated his positive contributions in the field. As for Kaz Matsui, he all but lost his job to Miguel Cairo before suffering a bruised knee June 16. The Mets don't seem overly concerned when he might return, suggesting his three-year, $20.1 million deal is all that keeps him a Met.

The quad: Carlos Beltran has tried to play through a right quadriceps strain. In retrospect, a DL stint would have made sense. But Randolph expects Beltran - who has only four steals after registering two straight 40-plus seasons - will have a big second half.

Growing pains: David Wright and Jose Reyes should hold down the left side of the infield for years, but each is only 22. Wright has been capable with the bat, and is slowly emerging as the No. 5 hitter. He also has 15 errors, one behind leader Troy Glaus among NL third basemen. Reyes is finally healthy, after playing in only 122 of his first 262 Mets games. Yet while Reyes has 26 steals, three behind NL leader Rafael Furcal, he also has a .284 on-base percentage that ranks sixth from the bottom of the league among 79 batting-title qualifiers.

Age: Mike Piazza (nine HR) went a career-high 98 at-bats without a homer during the first half and sat out two of three games in Pittsburgh, including the finale. Meanwhile, 39-year-old Tom Glavine needs 62-1/3 more innings for his contract to kick in for 2006. That's not a good thing, considering his 6-7 record and 4.94 ERA.

Running into trouble: The gaffes on the bases have been worrisome. There were three more Sunday, when Anderson was doubled off first on a soft liner and Cameron was twice thrown out at second.

[TomShane]

Met Disappointments:

1) Willie: Apparently Willie was listening to his IPod all those years when Joe Torre was teaching him how to run a baseball game. The fundamental errors on the basepaths and in the field are embarrassing and his handling of pitchers and pinch-hitters has been mind-boggling at times. Willie has kept the ship afloat, but a few more gaffes and his players are going to start running for the hills.

2) Beltran: Beltran will never be a .300 hitter, but he needs to start becoming a better all around player for the Mets. Stardom awaits this dude, so here's hoping that his struggles were really all about the quad.

3) Wright's glove: David Wright has a magnificent approach at the plate and, like Beltran, could be as big a star as the Mets have ever had, but his glove work has been absolutely shoddy. Wright came up with a rep of having a great glove, but some of his errors have been awful.

4) Piazza and Glavine, still with the team: Omar should have cut bait with these veteran losers before the season started. Piazza is useless if he's not hitting and Glavine's attitude really irks me as a fan. He says all the right things, but the guy has acted like he's been locked in prison since the day the Mets signed him.

[faba]

Willie's main strong point is to keep levelheaded ness about the team- he has made some unwise pitching decisions and moves but he is till learning the players and league as a an excuse

We still need to play better fundamental baseball- they are making to many errors in the field and baserunning blunders.

Beltran needs to relax a little and just play- having someone beside Piazza batting behind him would help

Hernandez has been the best acqusition by the Mets- without him the bullpen would have been almost a complete disaster