8 players who made a difference in 2010 for the NY Mets

I'll split these into two groups, see if you can spot the trends:

1. Daniel Murphy (who?)
2. Jason Bay (I don't like where this is going)
3. John Maine (make it stop)
4. Oliver Perez (dear god...)

Welcome to 2010, folks. Let's take a look at the 2nd half of the list:

5. Angel Pagan
6. RA Dickey
7. Ike Davis
8. Jonathon Niese

As bad as 2010 has been, how unbearably dreadful would it be without
guys 5-8? (Shudders)

Angel Pagan has me realistically considering trading Carlos Beltran.
RA Dickey is the new Tim Wakefield. Ike Davis and Jon Niese have
struggled a bit recently but have over achieved for at least half the
year. Catching a break is something the Mets are not used to and in
2010 they essentially caught 4 breaks with these guys coming up big.

And, amazingly, the Mets are wallowing around .500 and in 4th place in
the division. Which brings us back to Group 1.

Now admittedly, apart from Jason Bay, not much was expected from this
group. But, there is a difference between "not much" and "absolute
zero". Daniel Murphy, John Maine and Oliver Perez have combined to
give the Mets less than nothing. Ollie even went out of his way to
hurt the Mets when NOT playing by refusing a minor league assignment
and eating up an active roster spot.

And Jason Bay... good lord. I keep rooting for the guy but only
because Gary, Keith and Ron keep telling me that statistically Jason
Bay can't continue to be this bad. Well fellas, looks like old Jay Bay
is dis-proving your theories, or at least trying to.

Despite all the unexpected success of group 2, the colossal failure of
group 1 appears to be canceling it out. If group 2 caught lightning in
a bottle, group 1 uncorked the bottle, spit into it, swirled it around
and poured it straight down the drain.