Is Carlos Delgado's Slump Over?

I have spent the majority of the season worried about Carlos Delgado. I wasn't worried that he would never start hitting, I was worried that he would start hitting too late. The Mets and I have learned the hard way over the last 16 years that you can't go to sleep against the Braves.

My Mets broke their streak of division titles last year, but that doesn't mean the Braves are done. Quite the opposite! The Braves regrouped this off season with the intention of taking the East back from the Mets. And after leading a good part of this young season, the Braves remain only a few games behind the Mets.

What does this have to do with Carlos Delgado's slump?

Lots a people like to think that games in April and May don't mean as much. You hear the phrase "Hey, it's only April!" an awful lot. I've never agreed with this.

When it gets to September and you're out of first by 1 game and looking at golf reservations instead of the playoffs, where is the first place you look for games you could have won? You look at the games that just past because that's what's most familiar.

If you only look at the series in September where you won one of three in Atlanta instead of looking at the 3 games you lost in Pittsburgh in May, it will seem like the late games are the only important games. But the games in April and May count against your win/lose total the same as the games in August and September. Why treat them differently?

So with Carlos Delgado finally heating up here at the end of May, it means that we will likely have a good June. I would LOVE to see the Mets build at 9 or 10 game lead in the East in June like last year and cruise the rest of the season than fight off the Braves in September when they get hot.

Bobby Cox teams always perform well under pressure. They're not under as much pressure in May as they are in September, so you've got to beat them in May.

And you have to keep beating the teams you're supposed to beat. How many football teams wind up out the playoffs every year because they look forward and get beat by a team that is very bad? The Broncos last year proved that. There's at least one team every year that does it. Learn from their mistakes.

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So Delgado? OMG he's on fire.

2 Home runs in Florida so far tonight and a total of 5 hits / 8 at bats and 5 RBI in the series. He's on his way to really breaking out of this slump. I can't wait to see it.

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy either. Delgado has been a boon to every city he's played in (see my previous comments about Mo Vaughn - very similar in their communities).

Bad news for the Mets though: Gomez tweaked his leg and he's day to day. Shawn Green is shaken up from Friday and Moises Alou isn't due back for a few days. If we have to rely on David Newhan, we're screwed.

My brother Rob has this theory that David Newhan is a writer working on a story with the Mets and that's why he keeps getting playing time. I know he's not playing because of his hitting.