James made his point prior to the game and I'll go ahead and belabor it here: There will be no meaningful games for the Mets in 2010, so why are Fernando Martinez and Ruben Tejada warming the bench while Jeff Francoeur and Luis Castillo get the bulk of the playing time? That Francoeur had a nice day at the plate is beside the point; we're blowing out candles on the Hindenberg here.
Some good things did happen tonight.
- Jon Niese allowed just one run in seven innings. He struck out five and walked none. He registered 13 swinging strikes in his 100 pitches. He's one of the silver linings of this cloud-ridden season.
- David Wright was ridiculously good tonight, making at least a few terrific plays in the field while going 3-for-4 at the plate.
- Carlos Beltran also looked great, gliding to a couple of nice catches and adding a 2-for-3 at the plate with a walk and his first home run. His .696 OPS is bad, but he's coming back from injury and it has only been a month. Francoeur's OPS is .671, which he has achieved with no known injuries over the entire season to this point.
Poem by Howard Megdal
Beltran's performance is turn back the clock
While Wright's bat finds some of its earlier sock
Even Francoeur runs deep counts (to our shock)
With K-Rod on the shelf, new closer is Tak
(Regardless, the playoffs are hardly a lock)