Series Recap: Mets Lose Series to Nationals (How Embarrassing!)

Honestly, I can't seriously be expected to write about this, am I? If you can't win two out of three games from a team that entered this series with a 26-65 record ...

I'll write about this instead: Angst called me yesterday afternoon to remind me that the Mets were hosting the Rockies for a four-game series starting next Monday. They just happen to be the final four games before the July trading deadline, which Angst is looking at as a final chance for the Mets to prove that maybe they are still in the race.

We proceeded to scream at each other for the next hour, about the Mets' future, Alex Rodriguez's "clutchiness" and whether or not momentum and other such intangibles actually existed. Angst and I end up screaming at each other in fully half the conversations we have, so while this wasn't out of the ordinary, it certainly was more spirited than usual.

I appreciate Angst's optimism, but this team is done. The Mets are 10.5 games out of first place and 7.5 games out of the wild card, with eight teams to leap-frog before getting there. None of the stars are coming back anytime soon and the Mets have neither the talent in the minor-league system to import multiple replacements. (Although, to be fair to my friend Mack, the word is that the Mets also have no desire to trade some of the legitimate top-end talent he writes about on his blog.)

Angst is a believer, though. He's a dreamer, and I probably shouldn't be so quick to poke holes in his balloons when he's dreaming. He's a fan, first and foremost, and fans have to be optimistic about their team sometimes. General managers, however, do not have that luxury.

"Right now we do not envision (being sellers at the trade deadline)," the GM said. "We are still kind of trying to find out how we can improve this team, if we can improve it through trades."

I can only hope that this is just a foolish and short-sighted display of bravado by a man who knows better. The Met farm system is not deep, but it has a few players who can be legitimate major leaguers one day. If Omar Minaya trades even one of them for a player to bolster the 2009 cause, he will be doing this organization an greater disservice than he already has.

Put down the phone, Omar, unless the person on the other line is calling you to ask about Pedro Feliciano, Alex Cora, Fernando Tatis or Gary Sheffield.