Now that El Duque has left camp because of what might be a neck injury, how does that hurt the Mets chances this year, since they are already thin in the pitching department? Where does this put them at the end of September is El Duque is out for an extended period of time?

If the pennant hopes of any team are up to El Duque then your team is in trouble. He is 75 years old and he has a walker. He pitched that great inning for the White Sox against the Red Sox 2 years ago but the man is old and injured all the time. Let the kids pitch.

I think El Duque has HBOitis.

The mets are hurting in the picthing department but with new comers like pelfrey and humber they will be ok. as for the bullpen sanchez is return and will be the setup man for wanger. i will give there picthing this year a B+

It appears to hurt the Mets but you may never know what this may lead to. This could lead to Philip Humber making his first start or Mike Pelfrey starting off the season in the rotation. With those guys they may surprise everyone like possibly pitch the Mets first no-hitter.

mets are definetly going to feel his absence

I don't think the El Duque injury will be felt until October (if the Mets make it that far). The Mets are not a team that is going to outpitch you. They have a line-up full of hitters and the idea is to get the starters through 6 or 7 then hand it to the pen and hope you can outslug the opposition. In the rotation, they've got other veterans (Glavine, Park, Sele) who will fill the void, as well as last years pick-ups (Mayne and Perez), with help on the farm (Humber and Pelfry who will not start the season in the big leagues. Humber has never throw a pitch at Triple A and Pelfry only has had 4 starts there). The Mets are not built on starting pitching, they are built on their offense with the starting pitching held together until Pedro's return or a big-time trade. I think the loss is disappointing, but is doesn't kill the Mets.

The Mets are in trouble.

At the end of September you can bet the farm that the NY Mets will have a better record {then} (and make the playoffs) while the chicago whinny sux will not.