Johan Santana

If you thought last night's pitching matchup was something, get a load of this one.

Tonight, in the rubber game of the Subway Series, it'll be a battle of left-handed aces. Two guys that have been paid over $150 million to lead their respective starting rotations.

For the Mets, that man is Johan Santana. Coming off of a game in which the Mets lost, to no fault of Santana, he'll be trying to pitch the Mets to a series win. That would be a feat in itself, considering the Mets lost against Javier Vazquez and had the hard task of beating the top two Yankees pitchers.

When looking at the Mets this year, fans can see there is one thing they truly lack: charisma.

Jerry Manuel is known for his laid back attitude and approach to the game. So far this has been terribly unsuccessful. He has a 147-152 record since taking over as Mets manager midway through the 2008 season. Mediocrity is not acceptable in New York.

The Mets need a charismatic manager who brings fire and passion to the game. The team needs to be energized. The perfect manager for the job is Bobby Valentine.

The New York Mets were defeated by the Washington Nationals at Citi Field on Wednesday afternoon by the score of 6-4, thus losing two of their last three and ending their six game home-stand at an even 3-3.

Sure, it was just one series loss. Heck, it was just one game.

But it was the continuation of a rather unsettling trend for the Mets—they have now lost all six of the rubber games they have played in 2010.

Am I the only one who watched the New York Mets drop two out of three games to the Philadelphia Phillies this weekend?  I thought most people did, but apparently Jon Miller, Joe Morgan, and Orel Hershiser did not.

Normally, I would not care if three people did not watch the weekend series between National League East rivals, but when you are broadcasting a game Sunday night in the series you should pay attention to the previous games.

Whatever way you want to slice and dice the Mets Sunday-night defeat in Philadelphia, there's no getting away from the fact that Johan Santana struggled.

Struggled is probably the nicest word to describe his shortcomings in Citizens Bank Park. It's like saying that Stalin struggled to understand the merits of democracy or that C.C. Sabathia struggled to fit into a pair or Chinos with a 36-inch waist.

On Aug. 16, 1969, New York's most beloved team, the New York Mets, beat the victory-challenged expansion San Diego Padres in the first game of a 10-game home stand.

At the time, the third-place Mets trailed the division-leading Chicago Cubs by nine games.

On Aug. 24, the Mets completed the home stand by defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was New York's ninth victory in the 10 games.

Earlier in the day, I wrote about how the rainout could cause the Mets to burn through an already taxed bullpen, but I left out some good news.

The rain delay has caused a change to the starting rotation. Oliver Perez and Johan Santana are now pitching on the same day.

Who would have thought that the New York Mets pitching staff would be the strongest part of the team, while the hitting staff would be the weakest?

Saturday, April 17 against the St. Louis Cardinals, the Mets hitting staff was shut down until the top of the 19th inning when Jose Reyes scored a run on a sacrifice fly against a position player converted to pitcher during the game. All regular relievers were already used up in the Cardinals bullpen, and the only pitchers available were starters.

Mets fans are passionate, loyal, and at times pessimistic.  They also hold very high expectations.  One can understand the pessimism, as we have been witness to quite the roller coaster in the past few years. 

I consider myself one of the more optimistic fans of the Amazins'.  As evidence, I provide you with exhibit one (read Opening Day Optimism ).

After an Opening Day victory against the Florida Marlins, the Mets dropped the following two games to start the season 1-2.

With the exception of last night, the team showed that it is capable of scoring runs. The preseason idea that the Mets will remain in a lot of games if their pitching is at least serviceable appears to be holding true.

With that in mind, the Mets will turn to essentially their No. 2 and No. 3 starters Friday and Saturday for the first two games against the Washington Nationals.