The only questions about Flores are when and where.

Infielder Wilmer Flores and first baseman Allan Dykstra are headed to their respective league’s all-star games this year – Flores in Triple-A and Dykstra in Double-A. Each player took a different path to get to where they are now, and may still take a different path to the majors. Let’s take a look where these two might end up in the Mets plans.

Wilmer Flores

Flores has steadily grown more comfortable at the Triple-A level, and he’s starting to make it look easy. On Tuesday, he went 5-6 with 2 doubles. He’s hitting .320/.357/.520 this year with 27 doubles, 4 triples, 10 home runs, and 64 RBIs. Sandy Alderson considers him a propsect, and that’s not going out on a limb.

The 6’3″, 190 lb Flores was signed out of Venezuela at the ripe old age of 16. It feels like he’s been in the Mets farm system forever, but even after 6 seasons in the minor leagues, he’s still only 21 (turning 22 on August 6th).

He projected to fill out into a Miguel Cabrera-type frame, and that still may be a possibility. He doesn’t have Cabrera’s power as of now, but there’s no question he can hit. And his 41 extra base hits this year shows that he’s no slap hitter.

Rick Ankiel already helped the Mets once – during the 2000 playoffs.  Now they’ll hope he can help them again (in a more traditional sense).

The Mets signed recent Astros castoff Rick Ankiel today.

Terry Collins said the lefty-hitting Ankiel and righty-hitting Juan Lagares will platoon in center field. That’s a blow to Jordany Valdespin, who Collins said may play some second base if Daniel Murphy continues to struggle.

Apart from his arm, Ankiel doesn’t provide much of an upgrade in the outfield.  His last really good offensive season came in 2008, when he hit 28 home runs.  This year, he has a .715 OPS which is less than that of the other left-handed hitting outfielders Mike Baxter and Valdespin.

Looks like Sandy Alderson is trying to catch lightning in a bottle.  Or maybe the team was secretly hijacked by Omar Minaya.

Andrew Brown was optioned to Triple-A.

So there’s that.

Ike Davis strikes out on Sunday during a key moment in the game.

OK, you’re probably reading the headline and thinking, “more like ‘Seven Guys Not Slumping at the Same Time is the Key to Mets Offense.'”  Yes, the Mets are not exactly the reincarnation of the 1927 Yankees.

They don’t have an ideal leadoff hitter or a steady center fielder or right fielder.  Ruben Tejada has been nearly as unspectacular with the bat has he has been with the glove this year, and Daniel Murphy, after a hot start, has slumped mightily.  On April 25th, he was batting .346/.388/.538.  Since then, he’s hit only .130/.161/.167.

It seems in late April, everyone went into a slump following their hot start.  But the Mets need a stabilizing presence in the middle of the lineup to mitigate poor performance from the rest of the team – let’s say…a power-hitting left-handed bat.  Someone like Ike Davis.

28 games are in the books in 2013 – 28 embarrassing, encouraging, disastrous, delightful, hopeless and hopeful games.  One night, a fan could go from swearing off his beloved Mets for good, while another game brings about a glimmer of hope.  But the Mets have given us no reason to believe that 2013 edition of this team will deliver anything more than a glimmer.

Dodger Stadium

The Mets (40-36, 3rd place in the N.L. East) begin a 4-game set with the Dodgers (43-33, 1st place in the N.L. West) in Los Angeles tonight at 10:10 PM EDT.

The Dodgers have lost 8 of their last 9 games, and are coming off a sweep at the hands of the San Francisco Giants.  This recent run of games dropped the Dodgers into a first place tie with the Giants, after L.A. had held a steady lead in the N.L. West for the first 3 months of the season.

The Mets followed their 4-game winning streak with a 4-game losing streak.  They lost 2 in a row to the last-place Cubs before steamrolling them in game 3 of the series.

Following a rough offseason and uninspiring Pre-Season, the Mets are off to a surprising 4-0 start.  Too early to clear your October schedule?  Yes.  Too early to feel good about your favorite ballclub?  No.  With all the darkness that has shrouded this team for the past few year, it’s unusual to allow oneself to enjoy the team’s success.  Most fans are living in the moment, and savoring winning baseball, for however long it lasts.

Yo Blogs:

• Bleacher Report wonders if the Mets can keep up their winning ways, and learns something about the team’s character.
• Mets 360 examines Mike Pelfrey‘s gutsy start on Monday night.
• Rant Sports mentions the Mets will try to go 5-0 for the first time since 1985.
• Faith and Fear is reminded how much fun baseball can be.
• Metstradamus thinks this is all some beautiful, waking dream.
• Hot Foot remembers what it is like to believe (Right, Tug?)

Enjoy the ride while it lasts, and keep checking out Mets Today.

Do you find yourself making decisions in your life based upon the next Mets game? Not just clearing your schedule to watch all nine innings, but changing things to conform to your ideas about your own role in the action? Do you attach an unnecessary importance to completely unrelated and simple options such as picking what chair to sit in or when to look away from the TV?

You have to face the fact that