It has come to that point of the New York Mets season again when the team is completely unbearable to watch, loses most games it plays, shows little to no effort nor desire to win, and acts like the Same Old Mets over and over again. But why should we Mets fans subject ourselves to only wallowing in the current brutal state of the team instead of looking forward to a rosier future?

This Father’s Day Weekend at Citi Field features a three-game series between two teams coming off recent interleague sweeps; the Reds against the Indians and of course, the Mets against the Rays. Cincinnati has been playing good baseball ever since they and the Mets split a two-game set at Citi back on May 17-18. With their sweep of Cleveland, the Reds have moved into sole possession of first place in the weak NL Central and are 2.5 games ahead of the surprising Pirates. Lets’ take a look at some other notes on this series between plus-.500 teams:

Coming into this past weekend’s much-anticipated Subway Series match-up with the hated Yankees, the Mets were six games above .500 and near the top of the NL East, hanging around the leading Washington Nationals. Of course, the weekend’s proceedings didn’t go exactly to the Mets’ plan, in fact, they didn’t match one bit of the Mets’ plan heading into the series. Even with a series loss to Washington, the Mets were riding high, way above the expectations bestowed upon them before this season began. Prior to the Mets taking the field this season in a regular season game, ESPN had them as the MLB’s 27th-best team, five spots behind the Twins, three behind the Cubs, and one behind the Padres.

Now, on June 11th, roughly 60-62 games into the season for most teams, the Twins are 24-35, the Cubs are 20-40, and the Padres are 20-41. The Mets? The Mets are 32-29, well ahead of all of the aforementioned that were projected to be better. If that doesn’t show how low the expectations were for this Mets’ season then I don’t know what does. That is what makes the Mets’ great start that much better, even with a measly three-game sweep by the Yankees that was greatly aided by the ridiculously hitter-friendly dimensions of the new Yankee Stadium.

Now, as Mets fans, we have learned from experience that this team disappoints us much more than it makes us joyous. That’s why many Met fans think that due to the team’s recent weak stretch, including losses in five of the last six games, the proverbial sky is falling and the Mets’ Cinderella story will be coming to an end soon, if it hasn’t already. However, there’s no reason to think that the Mets are finished, rather even anywhere near finished at this point of the relatively young season.

Some of you might remember that I wrote a much-maligned post a few days before the season began in which I talked about how the Mets might exceed expectations for a few reasons. The wide majority of the responses to that article were that I was being too optimistic and ignoring the fact that the Mets’ roster was simply devoid of talent. Well, of the five points I gave for holding optimism with this team, four have come true with the only exception being the Mets’ bullpen. With the offseason signings of Frank Francisco and Jon Rauch, I thought the pen would be much improved from last year but it has been the opposite instead, since the Mets’ pen is last in the MLB in ERA by a wide, wide margin.

Getting back to my original idea, the sweep the Mets suffered at the hands of the Yankees is very tough and really put a hold on the momentum the Mets had coming off Johan’s no-hitter and the team being six games above .500. Still, losing three in a row to one of the top teams in the MLB is acceptable and justifiable and considering how bad the Mets were supposed to be this season, only being 4.5 games out of first-place in the NL East after 60 games is a major success and shouldn’t be overshadowed by a stretch of bad games.

Sure, the bullpen is still awful and the lineup has more recent Buffalo Bisons than otherwise, but the Mets are still a fun, (mostly) homegrown team to watch that is shocking the baseball world with their surprise play. I implore you, fellow Mets fans, to have some hope and faith for a change and believe that this resilient bunch of ballplayers can turn the tide and snap this 1-5 stretch of play.

After yesterday’s excruciating Mets loss against that gross team from the Bronx (which loss isn’t), you might want something to take your mind off the fact that the Mets bullpen is simply horrendous and that Jason Bay and Ike Davis are near-automatic outs. Here are some links from around the NL to do that:

Crashburn Alley (Phillies) took an interesting, graphical look at how much money the Phillies’ many injuries this season have cost them in terms of missed games. I’m sure the Mets chart/graph would be much, much bigger.

Nationals Baseball discussed how the Nats can ride their pitching this season and just hope that the offense will contribute at least something.

Marlins Daily reviewed Miami’s draft results for all 40 rounds, highlighting 1st-round pick Andrew Healey, a pitcher from Oklahoma State.

Blake Street Bulletin (Rockies) made a case for Dexter Fowler to make the All-Star Game.

Dodger Thoughts recapped the odd, combined no-hitter the Mariners threw against the Dodgers on Friday night, a week after Johan’s masterpiece.

View From The Bleachers (Cubs) critiqued a new burger joint, Rockit Burger Bar, that opened this year in Wrigleyville near Wrigley Field. I would bet money that it doesn’t hold a candle to Shake Shack.

It is no secret right now in New York sports that the Mets are a second-class citizen when compared to the Yankees. They are in financial ruin, their tickets sell for pennies on the dollar on secondary markets, they haven’t made the playoffs since 2006, they haven’t won a World Series since 1986, and aren’t even expected to have a winning record for this upcoming 2012 MLB season. On the other hand, the Yankees have by far the highest payroll in the MLB, their tickets are nearly worth their weight in gold (not really, but you get what I mean), they won their division last season, won a World Series in 2009, and are serious contenders for another championship this season.

As one might think when shown all of these evidences for the ineptitude of the Mets, New York’s second-best MLB team is viewed as a laughingstock and with a rag-tag roster with no more than five established talents on it, that pessimism is justified amongst the media and even the fans. However, the Mets’ situation isn’t as bad as it is expressed in the public eye simply because the Mets won’t be that terrible/awful this season.

Let’s take a look at all the reasons why the Mets should be better from last year and actually be somewhat respectable this season:

According to EspnNewYork.com’s Adam Rubin,  Mets‘ outfielder Jason Pridie and utility-player Nick Evans cleared waivers on Friday and are officially free agents may opt for free agency. A few days earlier, Pridie and Evans had been outrighted to Triple-A Buffalo, which means that now they are off of the Mets’ 40-man roster and are free to sign with any team.

Releasing Pridie and Evans is a puzzling move by Sandy Alderson as the one thing that isn’t present on the Mets’ roster currently is

After being swept in rather embarrassing fashion at the hands of the playoff-bound Milwaukee Brewers this weekend at Citi Field, it became clear to Mets players, fans, and management that this incarnation of the New York Mets has no shot at reaching the 2011 MLB playoffs. So the prudent move right now for the organization to do is to utilize the last month and a half of this season to deeply evaluate the organization’s talent levels especially in the upper tiers (Double-A on up to the Majors). The best possible way to do this is to get some of these young players actual MLB game experience, which is exactly why the MLB created the whole “expanding rosters to 40 players on September 1st” rule. Here are some top candidates for the Mets to call up from he minors to fill out the up-to-40 man roster:

According to a source referenced to by ESPNNewYork.com’s Adam Rubin Jason Bay, Chris Capuano, D.J. Carrasco, Willie Harris and Angel Pagan of the Mets have all been placed on and have cleared waivers (and as you already know, Chris Capuano cleared waivers as well). This does not mean that any of the the aforementioned players will be traded, but it leaves the door open for the Mets to move them to a contending team if the right offer is presented.

Since July 31st’s non-waiver trade deadline has already passed, the only way for any trades to be completed is if the players involved are first offered to each MLB club by being placed on waivers. If no team makes a claim for any of the players, the team trading the players can then offer each player to any of the other 29 MLB teams.

This is a smart move for the Mets because as of right now, no other players on the team are immovable other than the team cornerstones, David Wright and Jose Reyes. If GM Sandy Alderson is presented with the right offer for any of the players that cleared waivers, we could see a trade within the next two weeks.

What do you think? Will any Mets be moved this month?