Running To Stand Still

In a day filled with ups and downs, promising notes and disappointments, it was confirmed that Trachsel is going under the knife on Saturday morning.

"I spoke to Steve tonight and his voice was very determined," said Mets general manager Omar Minaya. "I said to him, 'Get well soon so you can be back for the second half of the season' and he agreed."

He agreed? Well, isn't that chummy of him. Trachsel reportedly sounded "very determined" about pitching again this season. I suppose he hasn't much choice but the bottom line is he'll be out AT LEAST three months and considering at 34, he's far from what you might call a spring chicken, the more conservative estimate of six months might be closer to a reality that isn't based on sniffing glue. That moves us to mid-September. That's pretty much the season. It's probably safest for Mr Trachsel to bid 2005 adieu and focus on 2006 whilst the Mets start focusing on filling this gaping new and unexpected hole in the rotation.

I dunno if this is some sort of wild spin machine out of control in the Mets Department of Giddy Optimism or not, but Victor Zambrano's outing against the Marlins is being officially classified as "encouraging".

In fact, pitching coach Rick Peterson was bubbling with feigned enthusiasm for Zambrano's outing. Peterson graded Zambrano at 79 percent in his complicated efficiency ratings - he deems 68 percent as acceptable - and particularly liked that Zambrano pitched out of a bases-loaded, no-out situation.

Hmmm. Did he forget that the Zzzzz man surrendered a 400-foot home run to our arch-enemy, Carlos Delgado on his first pitch after Delgado had been on an 0 fer 12 stretch to start his spring?

He did good in a bases-loaded, no-out situation on the one hand but on the other hand, HE was the one who got himself into the situation to begin with. I mean c'mon. How is this encouraging? In all, he faced 21 Marlins batters Wednesday, walked two of them, surrendered seven hits, including a home run, and allowed three runs in four innings, this I might add realistically, which was against the Marlins who only had three regulars playing. Is this encouraging simply because it wasn't AS horrific as his last outing?

Ugh.

On the bright side, Pedro isn't hurt yet. In fact, he was dominating against the hated Marlins, throwing 46 pitches, 32 for strikes, and looked especially sharp in striking out Delgado on eight pitches. Tsjaaaa, Mr Delgado! Take that!

Pedro added afterward: "I'm very happy with the way I feel. I feel strong. I feel consistent. I feel like my body has reacted pretty well. And I just hope everything continues to be the way it is."

We hope so too Pedro, else the season will be lost before it even starts.

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Good to see Art Howe still taking hits. Even in a USA Today paen to Hamstring Jose which notes:

"Former Mets manager Art Howe didn't help matters any.

When Reyes twisted his right ankle July 28 in Montreal, Howe left him in the game. Reyes limped off the field three innings later and missed the next two games.

"You've got to bite the bullet sometimes," Howe said at the time. "Spit on it, and let's go."

A few weeks later, Reyes complained of leg pain for several days but was told to keep playing. X-rays later revealed a stress fracture in his left fibula."

Ahhhh, the memories.

In the meantime, Reyes is hitting .313 with 6 stolen bases in 10 appearances. At such a rate, he'd have almost 100 steals for the season.

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