I agree with the Crank about the wisdom of trading Roberto Alomar, despite his solid play of late, as well as about last night’s exciting game.

Something that’s happened very quietly of late is that the Mets’ defense has noticeably improved. Announcer Dave O’Brien commented on this last night, noting, I believe, that the Mets have allowed the second fewest unearned runs in the National League in May. It is not much, but it is progress of a sort.

Jason Phillips has been surprisingly good at first base and Vance Wilson is a very solid defensive catcher. The Mets will certainly miss their bats down the road, but Piazza and Mo are not missed in the field.

On the other side of town, the Yankees continue to struggle and have temporarily fallen out of first again. They lost last night for, shockingly, their ninth loss in their last ten home games. Bernie Williams is now out four-six weeks with an injured knee. Jeter did not play last night but the Yankees record since his return has been awful; it has not been his fault, as I predicted, but I am left to wonder again if Mount Steinbrenner is due to erupt soon.

Of course, over the long haul, the Yankees will be fine and the Mets are probably doomed to resume losing, but it just goes to show that baseball is a long, long season.