this is a test.

that's what Willie said after last night's loss, making it 8 losses in the last 9 games.

I hope it's only a test.

it's tough to watch these guys playing this way. it's making me face how much I care, how distracting this skid is for me. not surprisingly, it turns out that I care a lot-- that seeing the downtrodden look on Jose Reyes and David Wright's faces, not to mention the look of Maine and Perez in their last trips to the mound, makes me sad. really, actually sad.

it's not that I'm afraid they won't come back from this. I am completely certain they will. in fact, the worse it's gotten this month, the more zen I've become about their coming around. this is counterbalanced against my panic when we first lost four in a row, when everyone was reminding me to keep the long view in mind, to give Minaya his due, to trust that he gave Willie a team that can win. now, a week later, a lot of those same people (save my father, of course) are feeling the way I did when we first lost four in a row, and I feel quite sanguine about the ability of this team to fight back from this tumble. all good teams have three bad weeks. let's take care of that now, and let the rest of the season fall back into this team's regular taking-two-of-three pattern.

Daryl Strawberry appeared on SNY this afternoon, and was of course asked about the Mets' current situation. "I don't think anything is particularly wrong," he said. "It's baseball. It's what happens."

as was the case when I was 9 years old, I'm with Straw.