Fight to the end

The Mets find themselves in a precarious situation.

After a stellar pitching performance from Mike Pelfrey on Tuesday in which the Mets won 1-0 over the Colorado Rockies, they are again at .500 with a 56-56 record and eight and a half games out of first in the NL East, while seven games out of the wild card.

While the Mets have not instilled a lot of confidence in their fans (especially after coming back home from the Atlanta/Philadelphia road trip only winning two games), there is still no reason to throw in the towel.

While Jim Keller made a compelling argument on Mets360.com Monday, I am not ready to just give in to the youth movement and may go against popular opinion with this post.

Yes, the Mets have grossly underwhelmed the masses and the chances of catching the Braves and the Phillies will be yeomen’s work. However, as a franchise you should not tank the season and should always try to win every game like it’s your last game.

With that said, I want to end the season with dignity and want to go down fighting. The Mets will likely fall short of expectations, but as a fan base, let’s not just give up.

As the once great Met legend Tug McGraw said, “Ya gotta believe!”

So, while I like the youthful injection that a guy like Ruben Tejada and Fernando Martinez can give the team, I am not yet to write off the season and brush off a possible return of Jason Bay and have Jeff Francoeur just languish on the bench.

I realize that Bay and Francoeur have been terrible for the better part of the year, but it’s not like the Mets can get anything off the trade market of much value for any of their disappointing veterans (including Luis Castillo). So, just run them out there and roll the dice.

Anything can happen. Just look at the 2007 Colorado Rockies for inspiration. On Sept 1, 2007 the Rockies were six games out, and behind two teams in the NL West standings, and made a run all the way to the World Series.

If you examine the Mets roster closely, you’ll notice they have a nice mix of promising youth( Ike Davis, Jon Niese, Josh Thole, Tejada, etc.) and veterans in their prime (David Wright, Jose Reyes, Jason Bay, Johan Santana, Mike Pelfrey, Angel Pagan, etc.). With the exception of Castillo and Barajas (both 35), the Mets really don’t have many players whom you can consider over-the-hill and on the downside oft their careers.

Perhaps injuries are taking a toll on Carlos Beltran at age 33, and he can possibly be lumped in with this group , but the only other members on the team over the age of 32 on the team are R.A Dickey (who we can discount for the purposes of this post), Hisanori Takahashi, Henry Blanco, Elmer Dessens and Pedro Feliciano.

These are not a bunch of wounded dogs who need to be put down, but a bunch that needs to be given a new lease on their baseball life.

I know they have burned you before, but if the Mets can get Bay healthy (and who knows when you can expect that) and play up to their capabilities against a slightly less daunting schedule, anything can happen between now and October.

While trying to be optimistic, I do realize the harsh realities of the Mets franchise (shoddy coaching and a bumbling front office), but since when going down fighting ever hurt?