Niese is pitching lights out now, having just thrown a 5-hit shutout yesterday. If Livan continues to struggle, I’d like to see Niese take his spot in the rotation. At this point, the Mets cannot afford to put anything but their best personnel on the field every single game. They can’t afford to fall further behind because who knows when the bats will come back from the DL, and even when they do come back, it may take awhile for them to get going.

I hope we’ve heard the last of the complaints over Omar not getting Lowe. I think the amount of yearly dollars to Ollie didn’t make much sense, but clearly Lowe was not a much better alternative.

I know a lot of Mets fans are frustrated and so am I. But their current play has nothing to do with choking or grit and everything to do with a depleted roster. Being so undermanned has put a tremendous amount of pressure on all the players and its wearing on them.

The Mets have already proved earlier this year and last that when close to full strength they can beat the Phillies easily head-to-head.

I have no doubt that if the Phillies were without Ibanez, Utley, Rollins, two relievers, and two of their starters all at the same time — and the Mets were near full strength — the standings would be reversed.

It sucks that the Mets are playing so poorly now. But realistically, there is not much that can be done right now that isn’t just cosmetic. They have to wait for the wounded to return.

This is not really true. Here are the number of HRs hit by VISITING teams at some parks this year:

Citi — 36
PETCO — 39
CBP – 59
NYS — 61

So it appears that HRs are harder to hit at Citi than even PETCO which has always been considered to be one of the most pitcher-friendly parks in the majors. And that the new Yankee Stadium and CBP are deserving of their reputations as Coors Field East.

The Mets have hit 10 fewer HRs at home than their opponents, but I think you can attribute a lot of that to the loss of Delgado, Reyes and Beltran.

But since HRs are harder to hit at Citi, it might be best to move or lower the fences slightly next year. Not a lot, and they should be careful not to make it like CBP or the NYS. But make it a more neutral park.

The main thing I noticed about Wright on Saturday was that he did not pull the ball and was one of the few that actually managed to get the ball out of the infield on a fly.