Here we go again, Panic City.

Every year around this time Met fans are reminded, with the all star break just around the corner the annual free fall begins and it's wait till next year, that reminder came this past week when the Mets, in the midst of a 7 game losing streak, fell a game under 500, and there I was, thinking.. (here we go again!) the wheels are about to come off! But the 7 straight loses was than followed by a 4 game winning streak and the panic button was put on hold. Still, the bad stretch of games brought me back to reality, the Mets are a team with many glaring weaknesses with scoring runs as their main issue, so is playing defense and the bullpen scares me too. Yup the Mets are not good at many things, and if not for their pitching forgetaboutit!

Pitching is the one thing the Mets have going but right now the offensively challenged Mets is a crisis, they resemble a triple A team on a major league field, for the 1st two months they were able to get by and hang around in the standings, but to many key players on the DL and it was only a matter of time. Today the everyday lineup consist of too many prospects who are suspects, the Dilson Herrera's and Kevin Plawecki's are clearly not ready for prime time, not without David Wright, Daniel Murphy and Travis d'Arnaud out of it.

The lineup does not work and Terry Collins needs to get a little more creative, after 77 games Curtis Granderson as the leadoff man should had been put to rest by now, he is not paid to get on base and steal bases, it makes no sense, he is here to drive in runs and be in the middle of the lineup, another issue I have with the lineup is Lucas Duda batting 3rd, Duda should be the cleanup man, when Daniel Murphy comes back tonight from the DL I like to see him in the 3rd slot over Duda. The lineup needs to be more conventional, more traditional.

The offense needs to get it going, right now the pitching staff must feel like everyday they have to go out there and pitch a perfect game and that's too much pressure to put on you're young gunz, on top of that the defense is playing with a lot of pressure as well because if you cant score any runs than you cant afford to make any mistakes, everything has to be perfect. Hopefully the bats will find it soon. Than there is the bullpen where I bite my nails at the bits praying that the cast can get it done, other than Jeurys Familia who else can we trust? Bobby Parnell just came back but he is not the same Bobby Parnell, more help is on the way with Jenri Mejia just a week away from coming back from serving his 80 game drug suspension, still another arm wont hurt.

So what do the Mets do going forward? should they trade an arm like Noah Syndergaard for a bat like Todd Frazier? will that really make a difference to this triple A lineup? What the Mets need is a game changer, they need another Mike Piazza deal, a differences maker, a Paul Goldschmidt. Maybe the Mets should trade Matt Harvey for Kris Bryant? Yup easier said than done, a decision that Mr. Conservative Sandy Alderson has to make and I don't see him pulling that sort of a deal. If the Mets are to make some changes expect them to go after the Martin Prado's and the Ben Zorbist's, maybe adding an arm to the bullpen and that's it, this is the Wilpon's were dealing with.

For now the Mets will continue to pin there hopes on their starting pitching to continue to carry them through the 2nd half, just as it has done in the 1st half of the season, lucky for the Mets pitching win games and pitching they have. For now Panic City is on hold as I stay optimistic, for now.