Introspection

This is when I have to look into my soul.

Am I supposed to be worried that the Mets are 3-6 so far against the once and future nemesis Atlanta Braves after Thursday's 2-1 loss?

Or do I take comfort in the fact that at one and a half games ahead, the Mets are still the hunted while the Braves are still the hunter?

Look, nobody said that it was going to be easy. If you thought that 2007 was going to be the same kind of cakewalk as 2006, then your optimism is at a level that I can't even begin to understand. This 3-6 stuff, really, is only an issue if the Mets wind up going 3-4 or worse against this team in October. If this had happened say, two seasons ago, then yes...it's an issue. It's an issue because in '05 we had no idea if the Mets had the horses to reach the postseason. Obviously, the Mets have the horses this time around.

And think about how close Thursday's game really was...we're talking a Matt Diaz home run close, since the other two runs in the game were basically caused by errors (one by Carlos Delgado which wasn't an official error, but a ground ball he should have at least blocked led to a sac fly by Jeff Francoeur), and one by Kelly Johnson (who made a great play to rob Ruben Gotay of an RBI). In reality, the game was even closer than that, as David Wright should have at least seen one more pitch with the bases loaded in his third inning at bat against Smoltz (umpires have to stop calling every flinch of the bat a check swing strike).

(In fairness, even if Wright saw those extra pitches, there's no guarantee that he would have delivered...and I say that because I never thought that John Smoltz, who won his 200th game tonight, had lost control of the game. I'm not afraid to say that Smoltz, despite wearing the uniform of the enemy, is a damn good pitcher who deserves to be considered for Cooperstown.)

But what worries me more than six losses against Atlanta is this mini-slump that Jose Reyes is having. El Hombre Incredible is one for his last 14 with four walks, and not so coincidentally the Mets have only scored six runs in those four games. The four walks are a good sign, but Reyes has had the bad fortune of swinging at some nasty pitches and popping them up. It shows how valuable Reyes is that when he's off, so are the Mets.

Once he starts hitting, the Mets will be fine. And they'll live to fight another day. Sure, you'll want separation between the Mets and Braves, but don't count on it. In fact, don't expect the pennant race between the Mets and Braves to be anything other than this: