Dramatic Mets make themselves hard to ignore

The Mets have become baseball's version of that late-night movie you find on television right before you're about to go to sleep, the movie that ultimately keeps you awake an extra hour or two.

We've all been there. You keep telling yourself that you're going to turn the television off at the next commercial, but for some reason you never do. Deep down you want to see where this movie you've never heard of is going, even though if you know you're better off getting to bed.

It's so hard to envision this Mets team playing postseason games in October, but at the same time it sure is difficult to turn them off. They're only one game above .500, which means you can't call them a contender with a straight face. But we're still watching. We're still intrigued.

Last night's 8-7 loss in 13 innings to the St. Louis Cardinals included all the features that make this team so interesting - and excruciating - for their fans to follow.

Seeing their ace scorched for six runs in the first inning? No problem. The Mets brushed aside Johan Santana's stunning first-inning struggles with relative ease, fighting back to tie it with a four-run eighth and force extra innings.

But the Mets couldn't capitalize on the positive momentum, ultimately losing by a run. And isn't that sort of fitting for this team, to put up such a strong fight on a night when they needed it as much they have all season and they came away with nothing to show for it.

Before the game Jerry Manuel described his team as being "in transition," saying he believes they still very much had a chance because the National League was filled with many good teams but no great teams. The key, the manager said, would be how quickly his team can recover from their recent swindle.

And the Mets' struggles run deeper than their 2-9 West Coast swing to start the second half. They entered last night looking for their first two-game winning streak in more than a month. Yes, a month. The last time they won two straight was back on June 22-23, against the Tigers at Citi Field.

They've lost 20 of 30 games since.

"We feel pretty good about ourselves that we can start clicking the way we have done before earlier in the season," Manuel said before the game, and for a few innings there last night his team looked as if they recaptured that comeback attitude that worked so well for them earlier this season. But it wasn't enough.

There is still two months remaining in the regular season, and you might recall that the Mets won 35 of 55 games over a two-month stretch from April 19 until June 18. Can they do that again? You can't rule it out, and that's why everyone is going to still watch. They've earned our attention, for sure. But there's got to be a breaking point in here somewhere, and maybe the Mets have finally found it. Maybe.

If you were to pinpoint the best characteristic of Mets team, it has to be their ability to produce drama, night after night. No wonder SNY's television ratings for Mets telecasts are up this season. Give them credit for being resilient, for remaining relevant and interesting.

But as the losses pile up, eventually we have to come to accept that what we're watching is nothing more than a .500 team. It's an interesting one, at that, no doubt about it. As much entertainment as they have provided us, that will be little consolation if it results in another empty October.