It's Getting Hard Not to Believe in the 2011 Mets

REYES

After an incredible night in the Motor City — two grand slams, one from Jason Bay and another from Carlos Beltran — it's becoming almost impossible not to love this 2011 Mets team and just as impossible not to believe they'll somehow find a way to win the National League Wild Card.

So many regular Mets aren't even playing. Yet so many AAA Buffalo Bisons have played with more enthusiasm and joy for the game of baseball than many professionals do. Whether it's Justin Turner, Dillon Gee, Daniel Murphy, you name the player, this team has been scrappy. It has been remarkably enjoyable to watch. And for the most part, the home runs have been few and far between.

And then there's Jose Reyes.

Could anyone have been able to envision a season like Reyes is having right now?

Remember when it was "in" to call for Jose to be traded? Think again.

This man cannot be traded. What he's done this year is beyond almost anything any Mets fan has seen in 40 years. And again, he's doing it, like the entire team, without the benefit of home runs.

Back in 1998, when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were chasing Roger Maris's 61, it was so much fun to watch game after game, mammoth shot after shot. Yet the 2011 Mets have proven several things: You don't need to crush home runs to play exciting baseball and sometimes, better players come from a crop of kids who love the game more than the paycheck they get.

This surely might not be the best Mets team in history, but after a few long, horrible seasons of futility and utter chaos, this team is sure fun to watch — and with any luck, we'll be watching well into September.

• Some people say Michelle Bachmann is smart. Based on her answers to history questions, she's certainly shown she's far from it.

• Speaking of Mrs. Bachmann, I must admit to being amused in hearing Tom Petty doesn't want her to use "An American Girl" as her theme song. 

• If you are, like me, a fan of "HawthoRNe" on TNT, could you answer a question for me? Why is Christina being exiled by James River Hospital as she is? She was the victim of a savage beating! I can't understand why she was fired in the first place — and why she's being treated, now, by her former colleagues, like the Bubonic Plague.

• When I was a kid, I used to love the summer. As I get older, I hate, more and more, how life slows down during the summer. TV show repeats, people on extended vacation, a slower pace to just about everything. I never thought the day would come where I'd say this, but once it hits late June each year, I find I long, more and more, for September — when the pace picks back up.

• Chris Christie, governor of New Jersey, says he supports civil unions but not same-sex marriage in New Jersey. Don't worry, Chris. Chances are there isn't a gay man on this planet who'd ever want to marry your sorry fat self.

DOLAN

• Speaking of New York's new law, Archbishop Timmy Dolan says he's "sad" over it. It's so damn unfortunate he's never said he was "sad" over the perverted way his brother priests in the church have acted whilst placing their hands on the genitalia of unsuspecting little boys across the globe...for decades. Get your priorities straight, Timmy. No pun intended.

• Is it hockey season yet?

Until next time! Enjoy the rest of the week.