With 8 weeks left in the regular season, reality is settling in like a haze around Citi Field.  After losing 5 in a row, the Mets appear to have finally run out of magic.

But what does the blogosphere think?:

• Real Dirty Mets has a real dirty look at the problems that face Sandy Alderson
• Faith and Fear wishes Jason Bay were as good at hitting home runs as he is at swatting hope out of the park.
• Amazin’ Avenue has his weekly player performance meter.  Why are there so many red arrows?
• Metstradamus talks about…well, never mind that.  I just LOVE this picture of Mike Pelfrey.
• Mets 360 examines the Minayariffic signing of D.J. Carrasco by new GM, Sandy Alderson.
• Tedquarters says Pelfrey’s recent quotes about the Mets were simply a reflection of reality.

As they say in baseball, hang with ’em.  And keep hangin’ at Mets Today.

Last night’s pitching debut by Zack Wheeler as a minor leauge Met didn’t go as smoothly as the young pitcher might have wanted it to. Wheeler allowed four runs on seven hits in four innings, striking out four and walking none in a rain-shortened 9-1 loss to the Dunedin Blue Jays.

Coming off a highly anticipated trade from the San Francisco Giants to New York for outfielder Carlos Beltran, some wondered if Wheeler just was experiencing jitters.

He told the NY Post after the game,

“I felt good. There really wasn’t that much pressure going into it. It hasn’t really been stressful, but I came out a little tight.”

Wheeler hit 99 mph on the radar gun three times and threw 54 out of 82 pitches for strikes.

Prior to the trade, Wheeler made an adjustment to his mechanics.

“I’m back to what I was doing in high school — a high leg kick and high hands in my windup,” he said. “Before, the Giants tried to settle me down a little bit, and I guess settle down my motion.

“But I felt like I was counting . . . I was just thinking way too much. I had too much time, and it wasn’t really flowing. I just feel more comfortable now.”

Loyal MetsToday visitor and commenter “Walnutz15” made me aware of an SNY poll that I had missed from a few nights ago — who was the “best” outfielder in Mets history?

An interesting poll, so I figured let’s throw it out to you, the MetsToday visitor.

By using some fancy code generously provided by Baseball-Reference.com, below are the Mets stats of Beltran and Strawberry (note: though the stats are showing years other than when they were with the Mets, the totals at the bottom reflect ONLY time with the Mets; seems to be some kind of glitch with the code).

Carlos Beltran

Darryl Strawberry

Interestingly, both players spent 8 years with the Mets, so in that way it is a fair comparison. I have to say I’m a little surprised that Strawberry’s OPS is higher than Beltran’s, because Straw played at a time when pitchers had more of an edge than they did during Beltran’s era. I guess that just goes to show how great an offensive force Strawberry really was.

So, looking at the numbers, and examining your memories, and based solely on performance on the field, which player do you deem “best”? And if you had to make a choice, who would you rather have on your team?

Answer in the poll and please explain your decision in the comments.

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Would you ever have thought that Willie Harris and Mike Pelfrey would emerge as leaders in the Mets clubhouse?

According to various sources, Carlos Beltran has been traded to the San Francisco Giants in return for a top prospect that may or may not be pitcher Zach Wheeler.

More to come as information becomes available (and official).

Mike Pelfrey gave his opinion on the front office decision to trade Carlos Beltran yesterday.

“I understand that if you want to get something back for him you have to trade him,” Pelfrey told The NY Post before the Mets beat the Reds 4-2 last night. “But in the same sense I would think if we ended up getting rid of him, the front office’s view is that we don’t have a chance, because he gives us our best chance to win. If he’s not here, then they felt we can’t rebound from where we’re at.”

Pelfrey has been with the Mets his entire career, now playing his 6th season with the club.

“In the past we’ve kind of been close, and moves are kind of made at the deadline where guys are kind of like ‘We could have used this, we could have used that and been right there,’ ” Pelfrey said. “It hasn’t happened a couple of times, and I know it’s kind of gotten to some guys.”

Pelfrey didn’t go as far as to name what guys in particular it has “gotten to,” but his longest tenured teammates are David Wright, Jose Reyes and Beltran.

Pelfrey wishes the best for Beltran. “For his sake, I hope he goes wherever he goes and wins it all,” Pelfrey said.

Terry Collins, like any good manager, is thinking a few innings ahead, a few days ahead and a few trades ahead. The Mets manager has begun contemplating what he will say after the big Carlos Beltran trade expected this week.

According to the NY Times Collins said:

“I’ve been thinking about what I’m going to say and how I’m going to say it when the time comes, because they better understand, it’s not a white flag. They better understand they still have something to prove. This is the major leagues, and if you give in at any time, the other team will kick your butt.

One of the young players Collins will address his message to is Bobby Parnell. The future closer’s job is at stake here for Parnell and Collins would like the team to stay competitive. “There’s some guys in there fighting for jobs now,” Collins said.There are also some guys who will be free agents at the end of the year and are looking to impress.

Mets fans can only hope all players on the roster, regardless of future role or team, play hard every game and finish with a winning record.

K-Rod is gone and we’ve covered Carlos Beltran. Next on the trading block is Jason Isringhausen, who has proven to be healthy and effective in a setup role for the Mets. Do you know how many teams can use an effective middle- / late-inning reliever? About 29.

The fact the Mets picked up Izzy for virtually nothing and have turned him into a trading chip is to be commended — but it’s also time to trade in that chip. Considering the dearth of decent relief pitching available, I truly believe that a postseason-contending team would be willing to give up a decent prospect for a reliable setup man such as Isringhausen. Maybe not a top-ten prospect, but possibly a top-15, and at worst a top-20. And a top-20 prospect would be welcome indeed in return for a 38-year-old reliever whose contract expires at the end of the year.

So where might the Mets shop Izzy? Here are a few possibilities: