Oh, you SHaMs, you. Way back at the All-Star Break when we naiively dreamed you had a run in you, we speculated it would take at least 45 victories out of the final 75 games for a realistic shot at the postseason, and a sizzling 50 wins to be safe.

To my horror, my anger, and eventually my acceptance, the Second Half Mets went and lost 47 of their next 75. Only a freak 3-game sweep against the mailed-it-in Astros this weekend stemmed the bleeding at 92 losses, and assured the SHaMs wouldn't reach the magical 50-loss post-all-star-break plateau.

Still, it's a pathetic showing thoughout, and tragic to have missed such a great opportunity to be the kind of up-against-it underdog the fans could get behind. The question shouldn't be, "Has any team ever lost so many players to injury?" It ought to be "Has any team ever lost so many players to injury and failed to replace even one of them adequately?" Right? We got Jerry's passive skippering, a parade of nondescript clockpunchers and a team that until the end preferred to play Schneider over Thole, and anybody over Evans, while even the regulars loafed about, made ridiculously costly errors, threw ball four eight times a night, whiffed with runners on third, bunted in every situation except those that might drive in a run, and indifferently flew out to medium right while while gift-wrapping signature moments for nearly every team they played down the stretch.

Hey, Mets: BOOOOOOO!

Yeah, take that.

It's obvious that Jerry ought to be fired. He hasn't gotten though to the players, the team barely had a single good run all year, and his passive managing style ("Hey. let's go out there and try not to lose!") drives me crazy and doesn't work. Omar should have been whacked last season for sitting on his hands while the Mets shanked a second gimmee putt, and the strenuous, reactive fiasco of acquiring not one but two faltering closers last offseason only to see the SS Met spring a few hundred other leaks, many of them completely foreseeable and potentially preventable (starting pitching, Brian Schneider, right field) should be answered for as well.

They won't be. Instead the Mets are making a show of blaming a development staff for failing to make major-league ready replacements of the 16-year-olds they signed in 2005. That and promising to try and do better. Hey, good luck, Mets!

I'm going to go ahead and name Luis Castillo the MBTN Player of the Year for 2009. He atoned for a bad season in 2008, he committed the signature screwup in a season jammed with them, but most of all, he really loved to bunt. May his example of improvement through desperation revisit the Mets in 2010.

There were 52 53 Mets in 2009, including 26 first-time players. The Number of the Year is 29: Issued to three of those 26 newbies, and one repeater who I've   already forgotten was a 2009 Met: Emil Brown, Andy Green, Robinson Cancel and Tobi Stoner.

We'll be back to keep current with the hot stove and other stuff too! For now, go Jets!

... and a Huskey New Year!

 

* Two of the four wearers of the No. 6 jersey last year, Gustavo Molina and Trot Nixon, have signed minor league deals with other clubs. Washington inked Molina last week, while Nixon will try and make it as a walk-on with Milwaukee. And you can add Abraham Nunez to the list of those we won't likely see again (has ever there been a more pointless Met?), leaving only Nick Evans as a survivor -- and not a sure one at that.

 

* Derek Lowe? Wore 32 with the Red Sox and 23 with the Dodgers. Carlos Muniz has appeared intermittentlkt in 32 over the last two seasons. 23 belongs to Brian Schneider whom I still think may not come back.

 

* Sure, the Yankees are creeps for signing a bunch of $20 million players this winter but before we hand over the division let's not forget Sabathia only replaces Mussina, who had an excellent year last year; Texiera replaces Giambi who was pretty good too, and Burnett's an unreliable douche. For a third place team, the Yankees are trying awful hard.

 

* Manny? Maybe?

Welcome back, Ryan Church. The brain-damaged Mets right fielder returned Friday after a lengthy absense while superfluous catcher Robinson Cancel was sent back down to AAA. A more difficult, Obama-picks-a-running-mate type question faces the Mets on Saturday, when unpopular second baseman Luis Castillo is expected to return from an extended break during which he was barely missed.

To be honest the solution ought to be clear if painful -- Argenis Reyes for all his good press isn't the kind of hitter you couldn't do without for a few days and to my knowledge only plays second base, so Castillo is probably an upgrade. Castillo in fact makes fewer outs than either Reyes or Damion Easley, and if actually and finally healthy, then he's the player they probably ought to have out there. A strong offensive showing out of the gate is essential though.

If Reyes won't go down you wonder how seriously they're ready to consider Duaner Sanchez who clearly isn't the same as he once was, while Luis Ayala is (what he was once but wasn't recently).

Met-Lovin' Big Shot George Thorogood is a guest on this week's episode of Mets Weekly on SNY, airing at 12:30 p.m. Saturday. The SNY people pursued Lonesome George as a profile subject after seeing the interview published here.

Sorry for the lack of updates last week: I had a story about the bullpen woes and Omar's future on the unemployment line loaded and ready to blast a week ago, but then they started accomplishing good things, and I decided maybe it was best to give it the "no-hitter treatment" while it lasted.

But the forthcoming addition of Luis Ayala to the Met scrolls, and Billy Wagner's latest setback, are noteworthy enough to briefly interrupt my winning streak silence.

Though Ayala has been worked pretty hard -- he's in Heilman/Feliciano territory as far as appearances are concerned -- I like this deal if only because anything could help and he came so cheap.

One only needs to look at the uni numbers to see Anderson Hernandez had no future here. As a late-season callup in 2005 and opening day starter at second-base in 2006, Anderson wore No. 1, but he was stripped of that by the time the Mets acquired Luis Castillo and reappeared in No. 4. That number was subsequently issued to Robinson Cancel, and then to Argenis Reyes: Losing two numbers, to three guys, in less than a year, is a condition rarely recovered from. As for Ayala, he's No. 56 with Nationals: That uni currently belongs to Mets' bullpen pitcher Juan Lopez.

The update we didn't record was the unsurprising demotion of Carlos Muniz for John Maine last Wednesday.

 

With the New Orleans Zephyrs swept out of the AAA playoffs over the weekend, representatives of the losers arrived in time to see — and participate — in the worst display of Met baseball since the Art Howe Era.

Soft-tossing righty Brian Lawrence 54 stepped in and registered what we can only hope would be the last outing of his Mets career, coughing up a 4-run lead to Washington. Joe Smith 35 is back, but the velocity he sidearmed with earlier this year apparently didn’t come along with him. Ramon Castro 11 didn’t have the health to stick through short-season games with Brooklyn but is back here anyway. Weak-hitting utilityman David Newhan? Yes, he’s back too, still torturing Keith Hernandez in No. 17.

Perhaps the only interesting returnee from a unicentric standpoint is infielder Anderson Hernandez, who we last saw wearing No. 1 in July. Hernandez was recalled only to discover the Mets had issued No. 1 to Luis Castillo during Hernandez’ stay in New Orleans. No. 4 was hanging in his locker this time around. When he gets into a game, he’ll become the Mets’ 14th 15th player to wear No. 4, and the first since Chris Woodward a year ago Ben Johnson earlier this year. (Props to Gene, below for the correction).

Only time will tell whether this latest stumble is just another stumble or the beginnings of an historic collapse, but you can bet we’ll be here hating ourselves for watching every minute of it!

Looks like we’ll have to wait until tonight’s game in Milwaukee to see what number new second baseman Luis Castillo alights in, though we’d be very surprised if it’s not his familiar No. 1. Castillo was acquired yesterday for two minor leaguers with dubious futures, so we can’t get too excited over Castillo, a chubby slap-hitter, especially while Ruben Gotay 6 iseems to have so much thunder in his bat. That said we’re on board with the upgrade in defense and the stability Castillo ought to bring to the lineup everyday.

Nor is the exciterment too high over the fact that Carlos Beltran 15 will be out of action for another 2 or 3 weeks (maybe 4). (Maybe 5). (Who knows). That the Phillies and Braves have been very aggressive at the deadline so far seem to indicate they’re ready to fight this thing to end. Still waiting to hear how the Mets will work out the roster, and there’s still 4 more hours to make a non-waiver trade, so updates soon.

Paul LoDuca’s Saturday injury and the recent demotion of Sandsy Alomar Jr. meant the Mets on Sunday recalled Mike DiFelice for the umpteenth time in the last three years (Umpteen = 4). The news here is that DiDelice is in his third uniform number (9) after previous stints in 33 (2005) and 6 (2006). Mike Pelfrey 34 was sent down to make room.

The Mets won what feels like their biggest game of the year Sunday, overcoming a few deficits en route to a 5-4, 10-inning victory sparked by an RBI single from Chip Ambres 36 about whom we’ll probably always say, “Remember that game in Los Angeles…?”

The 9th-inning rally to tie the game featured a trip around the bases for pinch-runner Anderson Hernandez, called back to the big-league roster for the first time this year and still wearing the No. 1 jersey he sported a year ago. Hernandez is back in action because Jose Valentin 22 broke his leg on a badly aimed foul ball Friday. That’s not the way we wanted to see the second-base problem solved.

Headed home again this week, the Mets are expected to reacquire Moises Alou 18 from a lengthy stay on the disabled list, and Damion Easley 3 from the bereavement list, though it’s not clear at this point who goes where to accommodate them.