LeBron James Will Not be a Met

Despite a full court press by Bobby Bonilla, Vince Coleman, Alex Cora and Chico Escuela, Lebron James has decided to remain in the NBA and join the Miami Heat vice taking a run at a baseball career with the Mets.

"The Mets made me a very attractive offer--very attractive--but at the end of the day, staying true to myself and humble was my only option, so I decided to leave my hometown and join the Heat," said LeBron.

Mets manager Jerry Manuel had grandiose plans for James and was visibly upset with the announcement, "I thought pairing him with The Animal would pay huge dividends, and lord knows we need some bullpen help. I just hope Carlos Beltran can make up for this a bit when he returns."

The Mets can now return their focus on the first-place Atlanta Braves, who come to Citi Field tonight for a key three game series leading into the All-Star break. With a sweep the Mets can tie the Braves.

2nd Spot in the Order Still a Puzzle

I applauded Jerry Manuel's move of Angel Pagan to the 2 hole, but thus far, the results have been less than stellar.

With the small sample size for Pagan (39 at bats), it's likely that he was moved just as he went into his first slump of the season, and I'm still hopeful that he retains his place there as that is where his skills are most useful.

On the season, the Mets have received astonishingly poor production from what is a key position in the order.  This isn't surprising given that Luis Castillo and Alex Cora have manned it for the majority of the season.

With the Mets surging, it's tantalizing to think just how good this lineup can be with a hot Jose Reyes and Pagan as the table setters.

I have a very strong feeling that we're going to see this offense take off when the two of them get hot at the same time, which will hopefully begin tonight in Cleveland.

Below are the Mets totals for the season by lineup position:

Split	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	GDP	BAbip	sOPS+
Batting 1st	296	271	37	76	11	7	5	31	13	3	18	32	.280	.330	.428	.758	4	.301	113
Batting 2nd	287	241	22	54	8	3	0	28	10	2	34	20	.224	.318	.282	.600	8	.240	67
Batting 3rd	282	245	37	63	15	2	7	30	16	2	34	55	.257	.352	.420	.773	7	.306	94
Batting 4th	275	245	35	59	14	2	4	28	5	0	25	70	.241	.316	.363	.680	4	.318	68
Batting 5th	269	235	41	67	17	2	11	40	6	3	28	61	.285	.353	.515	.868	8	.331	114
Batting 6th	259	223	33	59	13	1	7	25	4	1	31	53	.265	.359	.426	.785	3	.315	109
Batting 7th	252	235	29	59	10	0	11	40	5	0	8	43	.251	.280	.434	.714	4	.259	96
Batting 8th	248	220	32	63	13	0	9	32	3	2	18	39	.286	.347	.468	.815	4	.305	133
Batting 9th	241	211	17	42	6	0	1	15	2	0	12	61	.199	.242	.242	.484	1	.275	70
Bat1-2,non-P	583	512	59	130	19	10	5	59	23	5	52	52	.254	.324	.359	.683	12	.271	90
Bat3-6,non-P	1085	948	146	248	59	7	29	123	31	6	118	239	.262	.345	.430	.775	22	.317	96
Bat7-9,non-P	605	551	72	144	26	0	21	81	10	2	32	107	.261	.307	.423	.730	9	.285	108

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/15/2010.

Mets Have Good Numbers vs Ricky Nolasco

Looks like Jerry is paying attention....Cora gets the start today.  DW and Jose could have big days.

	PA	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	SH	SF	IBB	HBP	GDP
David Wright	44	41	14	4	0	3	10	3	14	.341	.386	.659	1.045	0	0	0	0	1
Jose Reyes	36	35	14	1	1	3	5	1	6	.400	.417	.743	1.160	0	0	0	0	0
Jeff Francoeur	28	26	8	3	0	2	7	1	3	.308	.321	.654	.975	0	1	0	0	1
Jason Bay	18	17	4	1	0	0	0	1	1	.235	.278	.294	.572	0	0	0	0	1
Angel Pagan	10	8	3	1	0	0	0	2	1	.375	.500	.500	1.000	0	0	0	0	0
Alex Cora	9	8	4	1	1	0	1	1	0	.500	.556	.875	1.431	0	0	0	0	0
Fernando Tatis	9	9	2	0	1	0	1	0	2	.222	.222	.444	.667	0	0	0	0	0
Mike Pelfrey	6	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0	0
Rod Barajas	5	4	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	.250	.200	.250	.450	0	1	0	0	0
Johan Santana	4	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0	0
Henry Blanco	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0	0
Chris Carter	3	3	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	.333	.333	.333	.667	0	0	0	0	0
Ike Davis	3	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.000	.333	.000	.333	0	0	0	0	0
Omir Santos	2	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.500	.500	.500	1.000	0	0	0	0	0
Jonathon Niese	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000	1.000	1.000	2.000	0	0	0	0	0
Total	181	169	53	11	3	8	26	10	36	.314	.348	.556	.904	0	2	0	0	3

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/6/2010.