Just think Mets faithful. If not for an old school, “I don’t that clown on my team” owner, and of course…..Bernie Madoff….this could have been your time to stand up and cheer for Manny’s triumphant first game back at Citi Field following his 50-game doping ban.

"Come catch him here folks....Manny Ramirez, the most beloved steroid cheat in the land!"

Sure would have been nice to have this guy’s bat back into the lineup instead of waiting on bated breath for the return of Angel Pagan. I will say this though, I almost feel bad for the Dodgers “fans” who seemingly have been forced to give Mannywood a hero’s welcome back. I guess if Manny was the Mets’ guy, the Citi faithful would have been hard pressed to give him the harsh treatment he really deserves..as just another in a long line of cheaters.

But moving on to baseball now, it will be interesting to see what kind of reception the home team gets at Citi tonight. The seats of course will be filled with Manny in town, but I think we are at the critical juncture this where the fans are about to turn on their venom machine full tilt. A few more losses in which mental mistakes play a huge role in the outcome and a few more one and two run offensive outputs, and the boo birds will rain down for sure.

From what I can glean from listening to talk radio, fans actually have less venom for the players than they have for Jerry Manuel and especially Omar Minaya and the Wilpons. NY fans are passionate and sometimes reactionary, but they are also smart. They can see that the Mets everyday lineup this past month or so is simply incapable of winning games based on the quality of talent it includes.   What they, and of I, am more upset about is how ill conceived the 40-man roster was in the first place. That leaves the bulls-eye squarely on Omar.

One more week of games to go before the All Star break and it isn’t a stretch to say that considering the caliber of the teams the Mets are playing (Cincy is 40-41 but dangerous) and the fact that the Phillies gotten out of their funk, they could be seven or eight out of first place by Sunday night.

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It took me a few hours in between starting and finishing this post but some significant news has come about since. In a pregame press conference the embattled GM sat in front of the media and provided some details on the injured stars and the news on that front is not promising to say the least.

Let’s start with the most distressing news of all, the prognosis on Jose Reyes. He’d been down in Florida rehabbing his injured hammy but after pushing himself too hard and reaggrvating the injury, he came back to New York for a cortisone shot. Reaggravation and cortisone shot are two things that to me spell Reyes being out for a good deal longer.

As far as Carlos Beltran goes, the news is a bit more reassuring. Beltran has been riding the stationary bike and is waiting to get the OK to start running. If all goes as planned and his post All Star break MRI goes well, he could be back in around three weeks. My guess is, don’t bet on it. I have a hunch we may not see Beltran until August.

It still looks like Carlos Delgado is on track to return right near the original target date of 12 weeks from his hip surgery. I’ll say it again…what can you really expect from a 36-year old slugger who relies heavily on his lower body and hips to generate power. My guess is not much. Here is how Omar summed up the Mets current predicament:

“I’d like to think a (Beltran and Reyes) are closer than Carlos Delgado is. When that is, I don’t know that. Delgado, we’re talking about the middle of August; we hope these other guys are before that.”

YIKES!!!! That sounds like a beaten man talking there.

He also gave us all an insight on what the possibility of making a deal in the near future.

“There’s not a trade out there that’s better than when we get our guys back. I’m not going to get a shortstop better than Jose Reyes.”

In other words, don’t hold your breath people. In fact, in a few weeks, it might be time for Omar to reluctantly put on his seller’s hat and start to replenish the non-existent farm system.