The Mets are six-and-a-half games behind the Phillies (and of course also trail the Marlins and Braves) and are also six-and-a-half back in the wild card race (and have seven teams ahead of them), so it may take a miracle or at least wishful thinking for them to make the playoffs. But here are 10 reasons why the Mets should at least have some hope going into the second half of the season.

1. Their injured players are starting to come back. So far it’s only been Angel Pagan and Oliver Perez, but Pagan stabilizes their outfield defense and is a better leadoff man than Alex Cora. Cora can move to the eighth spot, and Luis Castillo slots into the second hole, which improves the lineup. Perez was his usual crazy self in his one start back, but he did win the game and he has to be better than Tim Redding, right? And there have been actual signs of life for Carlos Delgado and Jose Reyes. They’ve both started …

New York lost their summer-league opener, 90-86 to the Memphis Grizzles. Knicks SG Morris Almondscored the first points of the summer. He led the team with 17 points and made three shots from downtown. The former first-rounder (2007-Utah Jazz) is expected to earn a partially guaranteed contract for next season. He was third in the nation in scoring (26.4) in his senior season at Rice University.

Head coach Mike D’Antoni was impressed with his defense as he was matched up mostly against F Sam Young(finished 3-10 from the field). Almond is athletic and has good size for his position at 6″6″. Donnie Walsh tried to acquire him last season.

Another bright spot was rookie Toney Douglas who had 11 assists and zero turnovers. However, he shot just 2-13 scoring eight points. Walsh, felt Douglas ran the team well and believes he can be a capable backup to PG Chris Duhon. There have been rumors that the Greek team Olympiakos has made a two year offer to G Nate Robinson.

The other …