Two up, nineteen to play

I'm am far from a pessimist. I almost always see the bright side in life and generally expect the good to happen over the bad.

But I can't help myself to look at the Mets this year and think about 2007 all over again. I've been pretty vocal about forgetting about last year, putting it behind us and just moving on. Well, the Mets have made that kind of hard to do.

Thankfully, they salvaged a win last night, as Johan Santana was masterful and the offense (Carlos Delgado) found a groove. Serious talk must be had about the year Delgado is having, and if the Mets can make it into the playoffs, he may very well win the MVP.

But here the Mets stand, with nineteen games to play and a two game lead. The two teams share almost the same schedule, with all but four games coming against similar teams. The Phillies get the Brewers, the Mets play the Cubs.

So it will be a test, a test of who can beat the Braves, Nationals, and Marlins. Who can take down the NL East rivals down the stretch, something the '07 Mets failed to do.

I hate to say it, but here we go again. Here's to another crazy September, another three weeks of scoreboard watching, another 23 days of agida. Break out the Pepcid, it's time to worry.