In case you missed it, underneath the Wright post is one asking you describe the Mets’ season in a song. Some interesting posts so far.

The games are down to a precious few now. Would have loved for it to be this way with each pitch meaning something instead of being one pitch closer to winter. The Mets are in Florida where they could eliminate the Marlins from contention, then go to Washington next week.

Yup, there will be a lot of fannies in the seats the next six games.

The Mets, who spoke gallantly of their expectations in April, and of turning it around in July, spoke of pride and salvaging their season – maybe even .500 – at the beginning of the month.

They can’t even speak of that now after 23 of their past 31 games.

“It’s obviously been a disappointing season,“ Wright said. “At the end of the year, I’ll try to look back and make some improvements, clear my mind and get ready for next year. But it’s obviously been a grind. There’s no other way to explain it.”

Even Wright, who tries to be as optimistic as possible, said ready for this root canal of a season to end: “There’s not many positives we can take away from this year as a whole. It’s not a learning process dealing with failure. I’m ready after that last out to turn the page and get ready for next year, because this hasn’t been fun for anybody. In fact, it’s been very disappointing.”

I disagree with Wright about this not being a learning process. I’m willing to bet he’ll change his mind about that later.

I would hope so, because of all the Mets, he’s the one who must make the most adjustments to his game. Wright has gone from a .300-30-100 player to one hitting 10 homers with 131 strikeouts.

Wright adjusted his approach to taking everything to the opposite field and being more aggressive earlier in the count. Ironically, whenever Wright had problems in the past he cured them by being cognizant of going the opposite way.

OK, part of it could be Citi Field, but mostly it was Wright letting Citi Field get into his head. He conceded to the park from the outset. Another factor is without Carlos Beltran and Carlos Delgado in the line-up, pitchers could work around Wright more than in the past. And, without Jose Reyes on the bases, he didn’t have that cumbersome problem of getting a lot of fastballs.

Except that one in the head thrown by Matt Cain.

Wright admits it is still on his mind. Next time you see Wright batting from the center field camera you might notice him bailing a bit or twitching at a breaking ball.

When Wright returned from the disabled list Sept. 1 he spoke of confidence in ending the season strong. He has not, hitting just .235 with only five extra-base hits and 26 strikeouts in 22 games.

It has been a particularly rough season for the Mets. If the season could be condensed into a single song, what would it be?

We might as well have some fun with this since the team isn’t having any.

Former Mets outfielder Len Dykstra had this to say about teammate Kevin Mitchell’s penchant for the nightlife:

“Mitch found God in spring training. Then every night he went looking for a goddess.”

On this day in 1991, the Mets’ Howard Johnson hit his 37th homer to set a National League record for switch-hitters. Johnson will finish the season with 38 homers and 117 RBI.

It has been a rough season for Johnson, who, as with most Mets’ coaches, is getting heat for the team’s collapse.

In particular, Johnson is under scrutiny for the team’s poor power showing, especially that of David Wright, who reached double-digits in homers this month with a pair at Philadelphia.

Wright and Jeff Francoeur are planning to work with Johnson in the off-season.

Well, at least Mike Pelfrey hung around for six innings. However, with 116 pitches he has to go longer than. By definition, it was not a quality start for Big Pelf, which is another way saying Big Disappointment.

Pelfrey gave up nine hits and walked three, and 12 runners in six innings is constantly living on the edge. His problem in last night’s loss to Atlanta was what it has been all season in that he wasn’t able to minimize the damage and his command was off.

If spring training were to start next month, by default Pelfrey would be in the rotation. But, he wouldn’t be based on merit. The Mets simply don’t have anybody they could plug in to replace Pelfrey, and the expectations are they won’t sign somebody, either. At least, not somebody at the No. 2 level.

If Pelfrey were the only issue, the Mets might be able to cope, but Oliver Perez and John Maine are concerns of the physical variety. Pelfrey had forearm issues earlier that forced him to miss one start, but they haven’t resurfaced. I wouldn’t be shocked if it came out he had been pitching hurt. These hidden injuries always seem to be a part of the Mets’ winter landscape.

If Pelfrey is hurt, it would at least explain his bad season to some degree. If he’s fine, all the more maddening. He took a positive step last year and this summer was primed for a breakthrough. But, he doesn’t seem to have grasped the mental aspects of pitching with his pitch selection. He tends to lose focus and is unable to put away hitters and is vulnerable to the big inning.

No, that wasn’t a cut-and-paste of an earlier post about Perez.

This guy, despite his physical tools, has not developed like Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum, but then again, those are special pitchers. I would like to believe Pelfrey will develop as it is not uncommon for pitchers to develop later in their careers.

Still, the expectations were high for Pelfrey and we were singing his praises after a good start. They just haven’t been reached. If he duplicates this season in 2010, the Mets might have to start thinking this is as good as it gets for Pelfrey.

Mike Pelfrey gets the ball once more after tonight, so that gives him two opportunities to attempt to wash the sour taste that is the 2009 season out of his mouth and from our memories. Maybe it is possible for him to leave for winter on a positive note, but this is a guy who concerns me.

After last season’s positive big step, Pelfrey has slid back. Maybe not to square one, but not that much better. You’ll hear talk about him losing concentration because of his marriage and child, but that’s only a weak excuse.

Pelfrey still throws the ball hard and injuries aren’t an issue. However, much like Oliver Perez, his pitch selection and execution wander. He loses focus and can’t close out hitters or an inning. He’s prone to giving up runs in bunches. He easily gets rattled. How else can you explain all the balks, including three in one game?

Maddening, is he has these moments where you think he’s coming around, but he has far too many of the other kind. He can be dominant for four innings and lose it in the fifth. He can throw seven scoreless in one start and not make it out of the second in his next.

Pelfrey (10-11, 5.10) has a mind-boggling 7.04 ERA in his last five starts, and has lost four of his last six games. He has been particularly brutal lately, giving up a pair of two-run homers last Friday against Washington to Ryan Zimmerman and Josh Bard. Pelfrey also had the worst start of his career in his last start against the Braves, July 17, when he gave up nine runs in 1/3 innings.

Lifetime, he is 2-4 with a 6.36 ERA in eight starts against the Braves. The Mets have lost 12 of their past 15 games.

Just a reminder, I don’t know what kind of Internet access I’ll have tonight, but will do my best.

Salvage is a word I’ve used more than a few times this season. I’ll use it again tonight as that’s what the Mets will attempt to do against the Braves. They’ve lost the first two in this series and seven straight against the Braves.

Here’s the line-up Mike Pelfrey hopes will score him enough runs to dig himself out of whatever hole he gets into tonight:

Angel Pagan, LF
Luis Castillo, 2B
David Wright, 3B
Carlos Beltran, CF
Daniel Murphy, 1B
Jeff Francoeur, RF
Brian Schneider, C
Anderson Hernandez, SS
Mike Pelfrey, RP

NOTE: Pelfrey is 0-2 with an 8.74 ERA in his two starts this season against the Braves.