Nothing like making dumb play after dumb play and damn near getting swept at home by the Braves to take all the good feelings out of a seven-game win streak; then again there’s Carlos Delgado‘s hip, Jose Reyes‘ hopelessly casual attitude, the fact that JJ Putz can’t finish an inning in under 15 minutes, Jerry Manuel‘s continued baffling moves, and perhaps the season’s toughest road trip ahead of us, so don’t feel too bad yet.

The flight to san Francisco tonight — a long one, and they deserve it — won’t include Jon Niese, whose been optioned back to Buffalo after a subpar outing in his second turn as Oliver Perez‘s stand-in. His seat goes instead to Nelson Figueroa, who never made good on his threat to leave but may stick around for some time considering the sudden back-of-the-bullpen struggles of Ken Takahashi. Niese’s next start, it would seem, would go to Tim Redding as long as his Buffalo tune-ups continue progressing.

Delgado in the meantime appears headed to the disabled list, the Mets having compromised their bench for the requisite number of games without even a diagnosis of what’s actually bothering him. Speculation of a replacement is even harder to figure at this point, with Nick Evans batting 083 and the rest of the Buffalo lineup barely any better.