Mets Win, Avoid Embarassing Series Loss To Nationals

Good thing John Maine isn't Steve Trachsel.

The Mets won yesterday, claiming a 5-0, rain-shortened victory over the NL East cellar-dwelling Washington Nationals. David Wright went 2-3 with 2 RBI singles, (one with 2 outs!) while premier backup catcher Ramon Castro hit a two-run homer to help buoy the Amazins.

No chance that's a real picture of a younger Ramon Castro. No chance.

But it all might have been for naught if John Maine was Steve Trachsel. If Maine hadn't taken the hill at Shea for five innings in a steady downpour and worked hard, fast, and efficiently to retire 15 Nationals on just 66 pitches, the Mets would have been left to pick up the pieces of a 2 out of 3 series loss to the Nats, staring down the barrel of an extra meeting in September with a team that clearly has at least a small piece of their number this year. As it was, had the abbreviated win been an abbreviated loss, the Mets would have dropped an embrassing mid-summer 3 out of 4 this weekend.

In 9 games against the Nationals this season, the Mets are 5 and 4, with wins of 3-2, 1-0, 3-1, 5-0 (yesterday), and 6-2 (that game was tied at 2 going into the 11th inning). Washington has beaten the Mets by scores of 6-2, 4-3, 6-2 and 6-5.
I guess my point is that the Mets haven't looked very good against their division's movementless, 83 mile-an-hour fastball of a last place team this year. Their wins have been indecisive, while their losses have been far more convincing. Maybe this means nothing. But it's food for thought.

As the Mets continue their season-long search for consistency, beating up on teams like Washington and Pittsburgh might help. After a West Coast swing that saw the Mets take 3 out of 4 from LA to pull a 4-3 mark in 7 games, the Mets came home and could barely swing 4-3 over two teams with a combined record (today) of 87-121.

I won't say that the Mets of 2006 would have performed differently because - whoops there it was I just said it. One point bears mentioning; in a blurb Sunday about losing to last place teams, metsblog's Anthony De Rosa notes that if the Mets win the division, when October goes down a shoddy end of July performance against the Nats will be a scant memory. This is true.

Still, championship teams don't screw around against lesser competition. They feast on it. And as the Mets prepare for another test over the course of the next two weeks, with games against Milwaukee, the rejuvenated Cubbies, and Atlanta, as fans we can only hope that they pass it with loftier colors than the last place teams test that they barely got away with failing to study for.

Good luck to Glavine tomorrow night as he goes for win no. 300.

At long last. Try not to let it drag out, Tommy. Get it quicker than Clemens and you'll have bragging rights forever.

(Photos courtesy baseball-almanac.com, digitalderek.typepad.com)

Hit Man

In the 5th inning of yesterday's Phillies/Nationals game, Nats rookie pitcher John Lannon hit Chase Utley in the hand, before hitting Ryan Howard with the very next pitch to earn a prompt ejection. Utley broke his hand, and the word from Philly is that he could be out up to 4 weeks.

Utley will miss some time; the Phillies today turned around and acquired Tadahito Iguchi from the Chicago White Sox to serve in his absence.

As this has become newsworthy, the word on the street in New York today is that John Lannon grew up in Long Beach, New York, went to Siena College, and happens to be a Mets fan. Hmmm.

The part about Lannon being a Mets fan has been refuted by a couple of sources (like his father) who claim that he was "always more of a Yankee fan," but these are minor details.

Let me just say that if Lannon, making his Major League debut for a last place team going nowhere, hit Utley and Howard on purpose in order to help the Mets because he knows that it doesn't really matter what he does for the Nationals...that would be awesome. It's my impression that that sort of thing used to happen a lot more in baseball and personally I'm kind of sad that the game doesn't seem to be as dirty as it used to be.

I hate to root for opposing players to get injured, but regardless of John Lannon's big apple baseball allegiances, he's certainly done something of a service to the Mets. No harm in pointing out the obvious.

And despite his claim that both pitches were fully unintentional, maybe he just doesn't like Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, and felt like having some fun because he knows the Nationals are going nowhere. That would be cool. Heck, I don't like Chase Utley or Ryan Howard. Utley could be a perfectly nice guy, but he looks like one of the same kind of cocky Connecticut prep school sissies with whom I used to compete and try to start fights in high school sports. For crying out loud, his name is Chase Utley. If I ever made it to the major leagues I might plunk him as well.

Chase Utley reminds me of this kid

So thanks for that, John Lannon. You've helped the Mets while making me feel better about myself in the process.

And get well soon, Chase. No decent human being should be denied the opportunity to engage in this country's great pastime. And I'd hate for the fans of your city to have an excuse when the Mets seal another year of playoff-less fate for you and your team.

(Pics courtesy of allposters.com, maxpreps.com)

More Appealing To The Eye

The Mets lost to the Pirates today by a score of 8-4, winning their series but failing to secure a 3-game sweep against the National League's worst team. Though the Mets looked strong for the first two games, it's still a little disheartening to see the orange and blue push the door closed, rather than slam it.

But I don't want to talk about today's game - I want to talk about Lastings Milledge.


To start things off, L Millz made a windmill motion while rounding the bases following John Maine's 2-run homer on Tuesday, playing third base coach and irritating the Pirates enough to hit him in his next at-bat. Then, after Milledge hit a towering home run to left in the at-bat after, he and Jose Reyes exchanged one of Reyes' trademark elaborate handshakes, in full view between home plate and the Mets dugout.

The Pirates weren't pleased about this, either. Solomon Torres plunked Milledge last night in the ribs on a 3-0 pitch in the 6th inning, and it looked intentional.

Anyway, the upshot of all this pretty much is apparently that L Millz is a flamboyantly cocky jerk who is sure to swiftly get on the first and last nerves of every team in the National League, the Pirates simply being the first of many teams to be put off by the 22 year-old's antics. Said Pittsburgh pitcher Tony Armas, Jr., who hit Milledge on Tuesday night: "Sooner or later, it's going to get him (Milledge) in trouble. I don't know him; he could be one of the best people around. But down the road a lot of veteran guys are going to notice."

Like trial lawyers chasing an ambulance, the New York media pounced on any story pinning Milledge in the middle of controversy, with pretty much every newspaper mentioning something about the trouble that young Lastings had gotten himself in now. Many articles quoted Willie Randolph when he said, after being asked about Milledge, that he felt the young outfielder's theatrics were "a little overzealous."

Milledge didn't hesitate in coming to his own defense. Said Lastings: “I like to use the word colorful; I don’t like to use the word flamboyant. It’s like you’ve got two TVs, a black-and-white one and a color one. What are you going to choose? They both show the same thing, but one of them’s more appealing to the eye.”

More appealing to the eye. This guy is one cocky dude and I'm loving it.

Let's show this guy some love

There's no way that Milledge should "tone down his act," in the language of some who have wondered aloud whether the man that I for one call "Thrilledge" is too exuberant. I think it's pretty clear that while he may put some teams off, he's not intentionally trying to show anyone up; he just loves playing baseball, loves being successful at baseball, and demonstrates it though the "colorful" style of play that comes naturally and seems to feel right for him. Showing the other team up at a certain point is about lacking respect for the game, and I don't think that Milledge has that problem at all.

The bottom line is that the Mets could use more players who put other teams off. My disappointment at the lack of brawlage in the 2007 Mets season notwithstanding, we all know that the Mets have put their tails between their legs a couple of times this year, and in general that they can sometimes come across as too nice. While it's weird for a rookie (effectively) to be providing such a needed spark, (maybe it's not) I think it's hard to argue that independent of his 12 RBIs in 14 games since being called up, Lastings Milledge has had a positive effect on the Mets attitudinally as well.

Just keep doing your thing, L Millz. You play hard, are extremely talented, and bring a lot of energy to the Mets as a team. Who cares if you irritate some of the other teams in the league sometimes? Let them be angry, and then let them be angrier when you help insure their defeat at the hands of your mighty squad.

At the end of the day the Mets are still trying to find some guts, and they're doing much better in their gut search ever since Milledge was called up a couple weeks ago.

Sorry, Tony Armas Jr.

(Pictures courtesy CNN.com, wikimedia.com)

"Crunch Time"

Monday? More like, Tuesday. Sorry about that. Really. After peacing out for the weekend, I said I'd be back with a post yesterday and when I honestly didn't feel like writing, I started thinking of ways to explain away my laziness. I thought about dipping back into the magic bag of high school homework excuses, but hopefully a simple apology will do. I'm sorry.

But this isn't about me. This is about them Mets. And after a disappointing-yet-somewhat-encouraging series loss to the Padres, them Mets rebounded nicely in LA, winning 3 out of 4 in the same ballpark where they melted down for 3 games just over a month ago.

No meltdown this time. Great success!

Tom Glavine apparently doesn't want to move any closer to winning his 300th game just yet, as he singlehandedly made a game out of what should have been a blowout last Thursday night, blowing a 6-0 lead handed to him before the Dodgers even came to bat. Fortunately the Met offense bailed him out, winning a game in which the starting pitcher gave up more than three runs for the first time since mid-May. There's not a touch of sarcasm in my voice (fingers?) right now. It had been that long.

Thank god for the Dodgers outfield. If it weren't for some shoddy right field defense by the Dodger blue in the 9th on Sunday, the Mets would have fell to a disappointing split of this past weekend's series, (after blowing a 4-0 lead on Saturday and this time not being able to recover) and Chip Ambres never would have gotten the opportunity to cash in on his 15 seconds of fame.

How in God's name did I find a picture of Chip Ambres?

I looked at the box score from Sunday's game yesterday morning at work, and Carlos Delgado is now hitting .251. In other news, the sky fell just before I took lunch. Really, though, it feels like just yesterday that I was hoping Delgado could pull .240. I dunno, regardless of how and when he gets his hits, it just feels good for Carlos not to be hitting .230 anymore. Here's hoping he doesn't go back down. .250 I can deal with. It's alright.

Moises Alou was supposed to come back tonight. The Mets game is currently in the bottom of the 8th and he's nowhere to be found. Until I see him on the field again, I will be forced to conclude that Moises Alou is an urban legend. The guy who played a month and a half for the Mets this year was a phony.

Moises Alou is a great big phony!

I'll try to be a more responsible blogger this week. While I'm trying to pull myself together, the Mets will play National League punching bags Pittsburgh and Washington. I titled this post "crunch time" because while the Amazins aren't going into an authentic "crunch time" home stand against, say, the Braves and Phillies, they're trying to pull themselves together right now and it's important for them to keep playing well and beat up on the lesserest of the lesser.

No monkeying around. The Yankees, unnervingly, have taken advantage of playing the Devil Rays, Blue Jays, and Royals since the all-star break to cruise to 6 games over .500 for the first time this year and put the word "playoffs" back into the mouths of cockily gleeful Yankee fans.

Hopefully the Mets have been taking notes. They've have grown back about half a cajone or so since the break, and maybe they can continue to make some progress on that front over the course of the next 6 days.

We'll see how the Mets can perform in crunch time...

(Photos courtesy calpoly.edu, sportsteamlayouts.com; Video courtesy youtube.com)

Out Of Town

The Mets have officially started their game and 4-game series against the Dodgers...and sweet Jeebus, they've taken a 6-0 lead before the Dodgers even get to hit! Wow. Hopefully they can shake the demons of their last trip to Chavez Ravine.

But while the Mets may currently be in action, this blogger will not be - from Friday thru Sunday this weekend. The Ocean State Reggae Fest summons.

Ohhhh yeah
(banner courtesy www.oceanstatereggae.com)

I'll be back with a post either Sunday night or Monday. In the meantime, happy July 20-22 weekend from Bleeding Blue and Orange.

Take it easy, and go Mets...

Blast From The Past?

...Eeee, I'm not sure. But it was good to see the Mets come back from 4-0 last night, after they could have easily rolled over following another rocky start from John Maine. Here's hoping Maine doesn't pull a Bobby Jones circa 1997 and tank the second half following a dazzling, all-star (caliber, in Maine's case) start to the season. They kind of look alike.

The Mets have had way too few dramatic three-run homers lately, and David Wright's 8th inning shot to tie the game off Scott Linebrink was so refreshingly 2006, or maybe even 1999 or 2000. As far as the outcome goes, what can you do? The Mets rolled over for 7 innings, but then came back on a clutch homer, and gave themselves a chance to win the game. In the end, Joe Smith - who has looked a little more hittable at the same time as the Mets have looked a little more beatable - couldn't get the job done as the Padres came back to win. Would I be more angry if it was Heilman who lost the game? Absolutely. But it's Joe Smith. Instead, the loss just sucks.


Tuesday night's game had the air of a breakthrough for the Mets offense and, in turn, the Mets. They came to play - El Duque got everybody up with a sick pitching performance and some prolific baserunning - and they looked like the genuinely solid squad that they haven't looked like in a while. They opened the night's scoring on a 2-out hit (by Paul Lo Duca) with a man in scoring position. They beat Jake Peavy. Carlos Beltran even had two doubles; one with a runner in scoring position.

No kidding

Losing last night's game was a little deflating, no doubt. There might be an undercurrent of positive change underneath the Mets had they managed to pull it out, rather than just a ripple. But out of all the Mets' series losses since the beginning of June, this is probably the most positive and encouraging one since the start of all this madness.

Maybe I should have titled this post "silver lining." Thank God the Braves and Phillies keep losing.

(Photos courtesy calfresno.edu, wikimedia.org, norfolktides.com)

Another Predictable Chapter

Another game against an above .500 team, another loss. Another poor hitting performance for the offense. More failure in the clutch. 3 more groundouts to second for Carlos Beltran. More failure to come from behind, this time after only falling behind 2-0 and keeping the score at 2-1 until another Aaron Heilman implosion in the 8th.

Good thing the Braves helped us out again (9-2 loss to the Reds). Even so, last night's game was another wasted opportunity to open up a bigger lead in a divisional race that shouldn't even exist to begin with.

Another west coast swing, another...well, it didn't get off to a good start at least.

The Mets fell to the Padres last night, 5-1, making David Wells look about 10 years younger and 100 pounds lighter in the process. Wells pitched 6 innings, giving up just one run while striking out two before letting the Padres bullpen finish shutting down the hapless Mets offense.

Big David Wells poses with big Michael Strahan and some dude from Bon Jovi

Jorge Sosa just about matched Wells; Sosa threw 98 pitches through 6 innings and gave up just a second inning 2-run single for the only runs on his sheet, but despite 7 hits against Wells the Mets were unable to break through, handing Sosa his 4th loss of the season.

Admittedly, I didn't watch most of the game; my boy burnsie fresh and I followed along online and chose to let MLB gameday tell us each time Carlos Beltran left a runner on base. Actually, Lastings Milledge was worse, (4 LOB for L Millz) but he's got more RBIs in 5 big league starts this season (5) than Beltran does in his last 3 series, (4, I think) so he gets a free pass.

Going into action last Thursday night, since June 1 the Mets were 28th in the majors in runs scored, 29th in walks, 29th in on-base percentage, 23rd in number of pitches per plate appearance, and 27th in batting average with runners in scoring position. Given that despite 3 wins in 5 games, the offense hasn't looked terribly rejuvenated since then, those ranks can't have changed much in the past few days.

El Duque and the floundering lineup have got their work cut out for them tonight against NL all-star starter Jake Peavy. Let us pray...

(Picture courtesy www.music-for-all.com. Stats courtesy The New York Times, Friday, July 13, 2007)

HO-JO

The jury remains out on what sort of impact Howard Johnson will have as the Mets' new hitting coach, but it's clear that he's at least going to do his best to work hard with the Mets hitters to correct their collective malaise of underacheivement.

For an interesting perspective on Johnson's work so far and what seems to be a good look at the ins and outs of big-league coaching, check out this article that appeared in yesterday's Sunday New York Times. Times beat writer Ben Shpigel does an excellent job covering the Mets, and this profile of sorts on Johnson is definitely a good read.

Here's the full link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/sports/baseball/
15johnson.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

"Nice hit, Dave. Just a single, that's all we need."

After taking an absolutely necessary 3 out of 4 from the Reds, the Mets move on to San Diego to start a tough 7 game West Coast swing against the Padres and Dodgers. Jorge Sosa will take on David Wells tonight at Petco Park, 10:05 PM New York time, to get things underway.

Good luck, Mets, and God speed...

L Millz Saves The Day

Thank god for Lastings Milledge. If not for his two-out, RBI single to drive in Shawn Green with the go-ahead run in the 8th inning of last night's 2-1 Mets victory over the Reds, his squad might have failed embarassingly to get Tom Glavine win no. 298 on a night when Glavine gave up just a solo home run and one other hit over 8 innings. If not for Milledge's two-out, RBI single, the Mets might have failed embarassingly to win, period, on a night when they honored an icon of their 46-year history.

Long before Gary, Ron, and Keith there was Ralph, Bob, and Lindsay

Speaking of L Millz, when he does an interview he certainly doesn't sound like the rap album-producing, Ron Artest-imitating thug that he of course must be because 5 New York newspaper columnists said so. In fact, he almost kind of sounds like a clean-cut, respectable athlete. Wonder how he puts on the act.

****

A few excerpts from last night's box score:

(the box score from the game where the Mets scored one run in 7 innings off of Matt Belisle, 5-6 with a 5.28 ERA coming into action last night for the worst team in the National League)

- no. 3 hitter Carlos Beltran went 1-3 with 2 runners left on base.

- no. 4 hitter David Wright went 2-4 with 4 runners left on base; one in scoring position with two outs.

- no. 5 hitter Carlos Delgado went 0-4 with 5 runners left on base; two in scoring position with two outs.

- That means Beltran, Wright, and Delgado were responsible for every Mets runner left on base last night (11).

- Both Mets RBIs on the night were with 2 outs. One came from the no. 7 hitter, (Shawn Green) one from the no. 8 hitter (Milledge).

****

A quick dip into the 2007 statbook:

- Carlos Beltran with runners in scoring position: .250
Carlos Beltran with runners in scoring position and 2 outs: .125

- David Wright with RISP: .268
Wright with RISP and two outs: .167

- Carlos Delgado with RISP: .211
RISP and two outs: .182

11 of Beltran's 16 home runs this year have been solo shots.
Beltran has 0 home runs with runners in scoring position.

****

What's wrong with the Mets' offense, again?

(Picture courtesy baseball-almanac.com. Stats courtesy CBSsportsline.com)

QUICK SIX

Quick six on the Mets and last night's 3-2 victory before I start my weekend:


- Ruben Gotay needs to start. He's just so much better than Jose Valentin right now. After providing the back end of back-to-back homers with Jose Reyes to lead off the game last night, (the first time, oddly, that that has ever happened in Mets history) Ruben knocked in Lastings Milledge with what proved to be the winning run in the 5th inning. Even before flying out in the 7th with Reyes at second, Gotay had an excellent at-bat. Love the 'stache, but Gotay certainly looks more comfortable at the plate right now. He's developing great chemistry with Reyes as well.

- Speaking of Milledge, how about this kid? The Mets' supposed bad apple and Elijah Dukes reincarnate did exactly as he did in Spring Training last night, coming up to the bigs, saying all the right things, and playing hard on the field. That Gotay single he scored on for the winning run? He came around from first, hustling all the way when he saw Ryan Freel fumble the ball in center. Hard to argue with that.

- Speaking of Reyes, it looks like he's trying to shut anyone up who's become critical of him since the not-running incident in Houston. Both his home run to lead off the game and hustle double in the 7th by Reyes definitely set a good tone for the second half of the year. Keep dancing, Jose.

Everyone's just jealous because you're having more fun than they are

- Good start for El Duque despite a 2nd inning blemish of a 2-run single by Scott Hatteberg. Last night's start (6 innings and 7 Ks with the 2 runs) is kind of like El Duque's season. Despite getting the win, he's now had only 9 decisions, (5-4) but it would be inaccurate to say he hasn't been good fairly consistently this year.

- Hopefully last night wasn't a sign of things to come in the second half for the Mets' still shaky clutch hitting. Paul Lo Duca may have lined into that double play in the 6th, but it was a soft liner. Then with second and third and no outs in the 8th, Carlos Delgado waved at a 3-1 something that was about a foot outside and possibly a quarter inch off his shoetops, flying out to too-shallow-to-score-on-a-sac-fly left. Following Delgado, Lo Duca and Shawn Green both failed to get either runner home as the Mets wasted a golden oppurtunity to add some insurance runs. This will play out as it will play out, but the Mets at some point are going to need to hit better with men on base.

- Lastly - As much as I love Willie Randolph, I think the Mets' firing of Rick Down and releasing of Julio Franco sends a good message. Willie is smart, and Willie likes guys who play hard, but Willie can also be very stubborn, and Willie can also make moves just to reiterate that he's in a position of power. Willie wasn't happy about Rick Down leaving, but Omar Minaya basically towel-whipped him and kept him honest by making what Willie called the "organizational decision" to fire Down. Then, the man that Willie's pinch-hit with over and over again this season to reiterate that he's in a position of power was let go. I love Randolph and the winning attitude he brings, and Omar should keep the power-usurption to a minimum, but in this case it was appropriate.

It's nice outside, the Mets won last night, and I got off of work 3 hours early today. Have a great weekend!

(Photos courtesy gettyimages, colorvisiontesting.com)

this blogger's giddy, and the second half hasn't even started yet

Over the last 16 hours or so, the Mets have made me extremely happy.

It all began late last night while I was listening to WFAN and I heard Rickey Henderson's name. It's after 1, I hear something about Rickey moving up to something else from special minor-league instructor status and all of a sudden I'm curious.

Then Rick Down's name is mentioned. Rick Down's name is mentioned in the same sentence as "fired." My ears start to perk up.

Finally, trusty FAN late-night show host Mark Malusis clarifies that (former) Mets hitting coach Rick Down has indeed been fired and replaced on the coaching staff with Rickey Henderson.

I went in to work today talking baseball with my boss and saying how happy I was with the coaching change. The Mets replaced a lame-duck coach with a man whose name is synonymous with "blindly confident;" the mention of it instantly calling to mind a word that the 2007 Mets have seemingly forgotten how to pronounce:

Swagger.

Rickey's one of the greatest of all time!

First off, understand that baseball, more than other sport, is a game of symbolic moves and gestures, many of which have absolutely no tangible statistical effect and are made just because, well, just because. In some sense, they're necessary.

The hiring and firing of hitting coaches is never anything more than a gesture along these lines. Major League Baseball players know how to hit and most likely tune out what some old bum who's making less than them has to say anyway.

That said, if you're team's hitting isn't quite right, what do you do?

That's right, when you're the Mets, your offense has underachieved all season, and your team is in dire need of some sort of shake-up, firing Rick Down is a fabulous idea. They should have done this three weeks ago.

And who better to give a team desperately lacking some cajones some cajones than Rickey himself. Rickey's just gonna be Rickey, and hopefully he brings some of his attitude and quirks to the team, making the Mets realize that all they have to do is just be the Mets, because if they actually play up to their potential there's no reason they can't decorate Shea with one more championship banner for its final year.

Give HoJo the hitting coach job, put Rickey at first and let him make Jose Reyes even better at stealing bases, and let the chips fall where they may.

So I'm happy. I'm home from work on a Thursday afternoon, Rickey Henderson is going to be a coach for the Mets, and there's one more day between today and the weekend. Then I learn that not only will Lastings Milledge be promoted, but Julio Franco will be designated for assignment to make room for him on the 25-man roster. Am I dreaming?

Thanks, Julio, for all that you've done to help Carlos Beltran play in New York, but you know as well as I do that it was time for you to go. Happy trails. In the meantime, the Mets made a roster move that has been needed for about a month and that I didn't think would get made this year.

The fans don't like up and down, and apparently neither do the Mets. Before I could say "inconsisent first half" again, I read on metsblog.com that Omar signed the recently-released-from-the-Dodgers Marlon Anderson to a minor-league contract.

Anderson's nothing special, but he was money as a pinch-hitter for us in '05. It can't hurt to at least give him another shot, especially with the Mets' bench sorely lacking a reliable pinch hitter at the moment.

Blockbuster acquisition Marlon Anderson could provide some pop to the middle of the Mets' order. Really, though, it's a move worth at least trying.

Good deal(s). The Mets didn't acquire Roy Oswalt, (although they may be able to?) but these moves show that Omar Minaya, for one, is at least a little serious about taking care of business again in Queens. More frequently than every other night.

I keep saying that the Mets don't really need any more impact players right now. Retooling is where we want to go. There's still 77 more games, but this is a step in the right direction. Symbolically, at least.

asleep at the wheel

No matter how second-guessable Willie Randolph may seem at any point during this season or any other, at least he's not Tony La Russa.

The supposed "managerial genius" gets a lot of praise around baseball, some of it probably deserved. Regardless of how much he had to do with it, his 83-win Cardinals did find a way to win the World Series last year.

La Russa definitely fell asleep in the 9th inning of the all-star game last night. Kind of like that time...sorry - tasteless.

But how do you go to Aaron Rowand with Albert Pujols sitting on the bench in that spot? Your own player, and one of the best in all of baseball! And who cares if it's the all-star game? You still play to win it!

With 2 outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th in the all-star game last night, the American League clinging to a 5-4 lead over the National League after the NL had plated two in the inning on a home run by Alfonso Soriano, La Russa did just that - only to watch Rowand fly out, the NL lose, and La Russa's best player express public dissatisfaction.

Tony's rationale was that if the game did go to extra innings, he'd need Pujols and his versatility to come into the game at that point. But with everyone watching dreading the idea of any more extra-inning all-star games after the 2002 debacle, why was La Russa only playing to tie? It's not as if the game was already knotted up and it was either win or go to extras for the NL. Essentially La Russa's excuse is that he sent Aaron Rowand up hoping for a dink single to tie the game, and he didn't want to burn Pujols after that happened.

Pujols was probably going to end the game in that spot one way or another; if he didn't make an out, it's likely that a hit from a man of his hitting prowess would have brought in two of the three runners on base to win the game. By not going to Pujols, La Russa not only made a bonehead managerial move, he created some potential clubhouse friction with his star player.

You've got to at least die by the sword in that spot, and with Aaron Rowand's flyout the NL died, at best, by the butterknife.


If the Mets find their way into the World Series this year, I'm blaming Tony La Russa when it starts in Detroit.

what we need

Happy all-star break everyone! With the game itself set to start after the usual marathon pre-game introductions, (this one counts, by the way) perhaps Jose Reyes, Carlos Beltran, and David Wright will be able to come up with some big hits in a game that could well determine whether the Mets start the World Series at Shea, or in some as-yet undetermined AL ballpark. Oh wait, this isn't 2006.

Last year at this time, the Mets sat atop the National League East. They had won 4 more games than they have up to the same point this year, and cruised into the break 12 games up on the rest of the NL East pack. It was already a special season in Queens; after a tone-setting April defined by multiple last at-bat victories and a never-say-die Mets attitude, in early June the orange and blue marched into LA, Arizona, and Philadelphia, won 10 straight, and ran away with the National League right then and there. The Mets just had to go through the motions in the second half of the year, saving themselves for one more special run with the leaves turning brown and the New York temperature dropping. The all-star game was on the radar of Mets fans for the sole reason that it looked essentially to be "let's see if the Mets can lock up home field in the World Series" game.

To this point, it looks like last year's all-star game counted a little bit more for the Mets

Then Duaner Sanchez got into the wrong cab, Pedro hurt his entire body, El Duque broke his hip, the Mets' offense turned cold with the October weather, Adam Wainwright dropped the Uncle Charlie on Carlos Beltran, and the hopes of Mets fans around the world were crushed. The elegantly-patterned Oriental rug pulled out from under our dreams. Even while this blogger was forced to follow his team on a weird schedule surrounded by a bunch of apathetic-to-baseball-and-sports-in-general Southern Californians, from his dejected position in a dormitory armchair he could hear the sound of little kids across the New York Tri-State area crying when Beltran's knees buckled. Heck, he himself might have shed a tear.

From the moment, though, that he blew off a 5-page essay that night, drowned his sorrows in, um, orange juice, and ran in his birthday suit through the quad and up to the University of Redlands gymnasium, this blogger also knew that as much as he wouldn't have minded if freak, out-of-season flodding along the banks of the Mississippi River destroyed New Busch Stadium and rendered the World Series unplayable, he would feel comfortable eventually closing the book on the 2006 Mets season because 2007 would be even more special.

It was stupid and immature, all right? I was just acting out my grief.

Even last July before the deadline, gotnysports? blogger Martin Burns and I discussed how 2006 might not even be the Mets' year. We were certain that '07 was the year that held all the promise, months before Wainwright's aforementioned string-pulling. It's not that '06 wasn't special; we just thought that as much fun as it was, our season would come this year. And this was months before we even sold the catchy slogan we'd thought of to the Mets marketing department in exchange for 2 David Wright-autographed baseballs.

It all started out well enough. Despite no Barry Zito and a baseball punditocracy that wouldn't stop hating on our starting ro, we still came out firing in St. Louis, giving the Cardinals and their fans a big (inappropriate) you as they enacted a three-day World Series championship celebration, banner-raising, and rings ceremony that was more lavish and drawn out than three Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parades. A three-game sweep, followed by a blowout victory in Atlanta, put us at 4-0 and in good position to pull off a perfect season. Throughout those first four games, we outscored our two opponents 31-3.

Just as I was beginning to fear that the Mets might actually become boringly good, 2 subsequent losses in Atlanta ruined the undefeated season. As miffed as I was, though, I came around when the Metsies went on to lose just 3 of their next 16 series, shearing themselves and building a comfortable 4 1/2 game lead on the hated Bravos by the end of May.

Carlos Delgado wasn't hitting? No matter. We wet the bed three times against the Braves? Scoreboaaaaaard. I didn't want to hear anything about how this year's team lacked fire, or maybe didn't look quite right. Clutch hitting? Psh. First place is first place! 15 games over .500 and counting, baby! Without Pedro!

We miss this guy

14-21 since June 1, though, and I'm worried. Legitimately. Not because I think we'll play at this clip for the rest of the year, or because I suddenly have any doubts about our credibility as a playoff team, but because we really don't look quite right. The issues that were negligible in May have become actual problems in July. We really can't get a clutch hit. And we haven't won a game where our starters have given up more than 3 runs since the May 16 6-5 thriller against the Cubbies.

You can sense a championship team. You look in the faces of the players (...through your TV screen) and you just feel it. Sometimes you're wrong. Sometimes your team isn't as special as you think they are. But no team can ever win without that collective feeling. They can lose with it. But they can't win without it.

I don't have that sense right now, and neither, it seems, do the Mets. They're good, and they know they're good, but watch out Jose Reyes - you haven't won Prom King just yet. The Mets are indeed acting like champions when they haven't won a darned thing. A division title really isn't that big of a deal anymore, boys.

There's no fire. No guts. Nothing convincing. As I mentioned on Sunday, the Mets are a winning team, but a winning team that simply goes through the motions has playoff exit at the hands of a team that cares written all over it. Didn't Willie Randolph learn anything from the '04 ALCS?

People all over the Mets fan base, from WFAN to the blogosphere, are clamoring for Omar Minaya to make a deal. We need a starting pitcher! Bench help! How about uh, Ricky Ledee for uh, Vladimir Guerrero? But as nice as it would be to have a more reliable bullpen, a pinch hitter who can pull the ball, or even a solid no. 6 hitter who can stay in the lineup, the Mets are lacking something much more fundamental. We still have Carlos Delgado, David Wright, and Carlos Beltran in the middle of our batting order. Jose Reyes still has 46 steals and is getting on base at a .387 clip.

We just have no heart. We can't come back. Unless we're cruising to a rosy multiple-run victory, we hang it up - Saturday night's game notwithstanding. Great catch once again by Beltran.

What we need is to start not acting, but playing like champions. Confidence is key. Cockiness kills. Would it be good to have some personnel reinforcements on this team? Yes. In particular, would a better set-up man be nice? Of course. But I'm confident that more than anything else, if the Mets would only play like they can, while in the process maybe finding that "we're going to find a way to beat you and there's nothing you can do about it" attitude that permeated the team in 2006 and seems to currently be hidden somewhere beneath Shea Stadium, the complaints and the concerns will go away faster than Jose Reyes can get down the first base line.

I know it's a tired refrain but the Mets just need to get it together. In the meantime, I'll keep waiting for that championship feeling. Who knows? '07 still could be our year.

(Photos courtesy of hardcoretees.net, 10000takes.com, youthlarge.com, newamericamedia.org)

great moments...

...maybe during the All-Star break the Mets can consult Todd Pratt for some tips on hitting in the clutch

(Picture courtesy of www.mbtn.net)

doggin' it

The Mets responded last night to a Friday spanking from Willie Randolph, showing some resiliency and beating the Houston Astros 5-3 in 17 innings, one night after Willie was forced to pull Jose Reyes from the Mets' 4-0 loss for not leaving the batter's box on an 8th inning ground ball Reyes hit to third base.

Had I gotten the chance to post something yesterday, I was prepared, like many other Mets fans, to rant about Reyes' lack of hustle and how it was the perfect metaphor for the Mets' 2007 season so far. In one night, however, the Mets did something else they've perfected this year, coming up with a win just big and hard-fought enough to turn back on my on and off sense of security about a team that has been just a little bit more on and off than last year's NL powerhouse.

The Mets' 2007 season

It seems like every time the Mets do something worrisome this year, they come back with one or more confidence-inspiring victories to convince fans and onlookers that everything's gonna be alright in 2007. That late-May series defeat in Atlanta that gave the Braves a 6-3 edge in head-to-head games against us this season? No matter; we swept the Marlins the following weekend and watched the Braves get beat up in their own ballpark by Philadelphia. That time we lost 14 out of 18 at the beginning of June? 8 wins in 10 games, including 3 consecutively decisive road victories against the Phillies, did something, at the very least, to salvage the month of June and allay the fears of frustrated fans.

This week, after last weekend's "on" series against the Phils, the Mets were right back "off" again, getting absolutely owned for three games by the Rockies at Coors Field. After a bounce-back, 6-2 victory on Thursday night, the lackluster play continued on Friday, when the combination of another pathetic performance by the lineup against a mediocre pitcher (it was Wandy Rodriguez's turn to play Sandy Koufax on Friday night) and an embarrassing play (or lack of a play) involving Jose Reyes seemed to be perfectly microcosmic of the woes that have plagued the Mets this season.

But then Carlos Beltran pulled a Willie Mays-like falling catch on the Minute Maid Park center field hill out of his back pocket in last night's 14th inning, and later singled home the Mets go-ahead run in the 17th to give the Amazins' a 5-hour and 9 minute, 5-3 victory in Houston last night. In a game that got to extras in the first place because the Mets came back from a 3-0 deficit on home runs from David Wright and Carlos Delgado, the big players on the team all came up big to put the Mets in a position to win last night. What a concept! The Jeckyll and Hyde act continues.

Carlos Beltran was Jeckyll on Saturday night; Jose Reyes played Hyde on Friday

The Mets looked good last night. I feel better about 2007 than I would have had they lost the game. But the on again, off again identity will continue to plague this team until it can play demonstrably more consistent baseball. Jose Reyes was the first Met this year to stand still at home plate after hitting a fair ball, but a Mets team that with consistent hitting and more regularly-sharp play could probably be 20 games over .500 and at least 7 games ahead in the NL East has been caught standing around many times this year and had to be forced into gear.

Blue and orange kool-aid is my favorite beverage in between the months of April and (hopefully, but not usually) October, and I've been quick to dismiss the Mets' difficulties this year while playing up the fact that they've remained in first place, but right now my blue and orange kool-aid is regularly being spat up and staining all my white clothing. The gripes coming from the Shea faithful this season have nothing to do with concern over whether the Mets will remain a winning team this year.

Or at least mine don't. The Mets will finish 2007 with a winning record. More than likely, they'll also make the playoffs. More than likely, they'll also win the division, at least if the Phillies and the Braves continue to have anything to do with the equation.

But 8 winning teams go the playoffs every year. One wins a championship. And if a team that expected to go the World Series last year, had it's heart broken, and then vowed to avenge its untimely 2006 death is going to get what it and its fans want in 2007, pretty good isn't going to be good enough. This team looks like it may have first-round playoff exit at the hands of the Milwaukee Brewers written all over it.

The bottom line is that on and off won't work in October. Something needs to change.

(Photo, video courtesy of dmsjusa.com, metsblog.com)

in-game blogger

After mailing it in for three straight nights in Denver, the Mets are in Houston tonight to take on the Astros. 3 decisive losses to Colorado, marked by inconsistent hitting, terrible starting pitching, pathetic play from a team that generally continues to test my confidence in their 2007 championship pedigree...I'm hoping to forget about all this for at least one night as John Maine tries to shut down the 'stros in Ten-run Field. Oh yeah, it's now Simply Orange Park. Oops. Sunny Delight Field?


At any rate, we'll pick this one up in the top of the 2nd, with the Mets already up 2-0 and Maine trying not to be the next Mets starter to blow an early lead. It's looking good so far; having already taken their aforementioned 2-0 lead, the Mets have the bases loaded with 2 outs right now and Carlos Beltran at the plate. Then again, that's also my primary cause for concern right about now...

Top 2, bases loaded, Beltran up: Carlos Beltran confirms my lack of confidence in Met clutch hitting, striking out on three pitches. I'd really like to be less pessimistic when the Mets have runners on base, but it's sort of been a trend this year for the Mets to fail miserably with ducks on the pond. Back to the hill for John Maine to face the Astros 4-5-6 hitters, starting with Carlos Lee.

The ducks just want to come home

Bottom 2, 1 out: SNY cuts to a clip of Willie Randolph addressing "the debacle in Colorado." (Gary Cohen's quote) Apparently the Mets aren't "mad," (Willie Randolph's quote) just disappointed in their play. I should hope so.

Top 3, 1 outs: Carlos Delgado hits a monster double up the center field hill at Minute Maid and off the fence, 436 feet from home plate. It was one of those classic one-handed Carlos Delgado home run swings, and it would have produced a home run in almost any other ballpark. Here's hoping Delgado can get going a little bit. .240 would be nice. Right now I just don't really expect anything good when he comes up and when he hits the ball like he just did off the fence, I'm more pleasantly surprised than anything else. Expecting failure is generally a very good way to deal with being a Mets fan. At least I end up being less disappointed.

Top 3, 1 out: Delgado is still at second; Jose Valentin just walked so now it's 1st and 2nd with one out for Shawn Green.

Top 3, 2 outs: Hallelujah! After a Shawn Green flyout, Ramon Castro bangs a double off the fence in left to plate Delgado and Valentin. For some reason it seems fitting that a Mets clutch hit came from a non-regular player. I probably have more faith in Ramon Castro with a runner on 2nd and 2 outs than Carlos Beltran right now. Check that, I definitely do.

Bottom 3, 0 outs: Not that he isn't having a great season, but John Maine will make himself a much better pitcher if he can stop doing things like getting behind no. 8 hitters 3-0 before walking them on 6 pitches. Houston catcher Eric Munson is on first base now with pitcher Jason Jennings going for the sacrifice.

Bottom 3, 1 out: Maine has now struck out 6 of the first 9 Astros hitters as Jennings fails to get down the sacrifice bunt. 3,000 hit man Craig Biggio comes to the plate and promptly pops up to Jose Reyes. 2 outs, Munson still on first.

End of 3: 7 Ks for Maine as Hunter Pence goes down on a low and outside 1-2 slider. Top of the order coming up for the Mets in the 4th.

Top of 4: Reyes is out on a weak grounder to second. Ricky Ledee is retired on a check-swing groundout to third. Carlos Beltran strikes out looking. (3rd punchout on the night for Beltran) Nice performance by the top of the order. Sometimes you just have to let the facts speak for themselves.

Bottom 4, 2 outs: After a near-circus play from David Wright, Mark Lorretta flies to deep left with Carlos Lee on first for the second out. Mike Lamb now at the bat. Keith Hernandez mistakes the oranges in the back of the Astros home run locomotive for pumpkins. Silly Keith Hernandez. I guess it's understandable. They are awfully big oranges. Mike Lamb F-7s for the final out.

Top 5, 1 out: Nice catch by right fielder Luke Scott on a David Wright blooper. Wright did a nice job inside-outing the pitch to right field, though. Thought that one was going to fall in.

Top 5, 1 out: Carlos Delgado is 3 for 3. jgshdgjksdhg?!? This isn't him coming out of his slump. This is one game and he happens to have 3 hits in it. Shut up New York media. Delgado remains at first after Scott makes another nice play on a Jose Valentin drive to right. The inning is over after a Shawn Green dribbler to second.

Bottom 5, 1 out: Keith Hernandez reads an ad for SNY's Jets Nation program, before making a casual, off-handed remark about how working out in the July heat for 300-pound NFL lineman "must kill them." Eeeee.

Top 6: Jose Reyes is 2 steals away from 200 for his career. Who's the youngest player to reach 200?

I don't know!

Ramon Castro leads off with a single to left for his second hit on the night. After a 2-strike sac bunt from John Maine, the aforementioned Reyes pops out to short. In case you forgot, there was a runner on second for Reyes. Next up is Ricky Ledee, who singles to right to drive in Castro. Another clutch hit for a Mets non-regular. Sometimes you just have to let the facts speak for themselves. Ledee steals second. 2-1 to Beltran, who grounds out to second. Sometimes you just have to let the facts speak for themselves.

Bottom 6: Rickey Henderson is the fastest player to reach 200 steals. He was 23. Reyes is 24 right now. Henderson got to 200 steals in 400 something career games. Reyes is playing his 519th tonight.

Bottom 6, 0 outs: Craig Biggio gets hit no. 3,010 on a flare to center. 2 runners on now for Lance Berkman after Ricky Ledee misplays a sinking Hunter Pence liner. Berkman strikes out swinging. 1 out. Maine strikes out Carlos Lee on a hard fastball. 2 outs. He looks angry. Maine gets out of the jam as Jose Valentin catches a harmless pop-up for the third out.

Top 7, 1 out: That was the worst swing I've ever seen David Wright take. Strike three on the slider from intimidating Astros reliever Matt Albers. Delgado walks on 5 pitches. Jose Valentin hits into a 4-6-3 double play to end the inning.

Bottom 7, 1 out: "I've been to rooster fights," says Keith Hernandez. "Tulsa, Oklahoma. It was ugly. Some serious buckaroos being bet on that stuff." Maine is now out of the 7th; the score remains 5-0 Mets.

Top 8: Shawn Green gets a seeing-eye base hit to center. None out and 1 on for the best clutch hitter on the team, Ramon Castro. Castro continues to swing a hot bat with a hard single through the hole into left. Didn't he hit a home run the other night too? John Maine pops up an attempted sac bunt to Lance Berkman, who web-gems Green at second to double him up for the second out.

Throw your bat and helmet after another weak groundout with a runner on base, Jose Reyes. Try to suck less next time. End of the inning.

Bottom 8: Hit number 3,010 on a double to right for Craig Biggio. His 661st double, too. Thanks Gary Cohen!

Bottom 8, 2 outs: Consecutive outs hold Biggio at second. Carlos Lee at the dish. After overmatching him with a couple of fastballs, Maine loses a 3-2 battle to Lee, who doubles home Craig Biggio. That'll be the end of John Maine's night after 7 2/3 innings and 121 pitches. 5-1 Mets.

Maine dished it out tonight and metaphorically marked his territory on the pitcher's mound in Houston

Bottom 8, 2 outs: Joe Smith continues to struggle, allowing Maine's second run to score on a base hit to right field. 5-2. You can close the book on Maine, who finishes with a line of 7 2/3 innings, 6 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, and 9 strikeouts. Smith is out after one batter; Pedro Feliciano is in.

Bottom 8, 2 outs: 1-2 to Morgan Ensberg for Feliciano. Gotta love the "back door" slider. 2-2 now, and...strike threeeee! The (front door?) slider catches Ensberg looking to end the inning.

Top 9: Does John Maine always look like he's about to kill somebody, or does John Maine always look like he's about to kill somebody? He's always got the same, stone-cold expression on his face. Personally, I love it. The man has got some cajones.

Top 9, 1 out: Carlos Beltran lines his 15th homer of the season over the high wall in left field, coming up big with a 5-2 9th inning lead and no one on base. 6-2 Mets. 2 down in the 9th after a David Wright strikeout.

Top 9, 2 outs: After fouling about 7 pitches off with the count 1-2, Carlos Delgado hits a line drive to center field to go 4-4 on the night. He's at first, but not anymore as Jose Valentin strikes out to take the game to the bottom of the ninth.

Bottom of the 9th: 1 out on a Chris Burke strikeout; Castro to Delgado completes the putout on the pitch in the dirt. 4-3 retires Brad Ausmus for the second out.

Bottom 9, 2 outs: Billy Wagner walks Eric somebody to put a man on first with 2 outs for Craig Biggio. Strike 3 to Biggio ends it.

****

Nice win for the orange and blue tonight. The Mets pretty much owned this game from the start with 2 first inning runs; unlike in Colorado, they were actually able to hold the lead. The Maine event has figured out how to throw pitches other than his fastball and continues to show why he should be on the NL all-star team and Cole Hamels shouldn't. 47-37 now for the Metsies; they'll await the result of Atlanta's game in LA to see if they gain any precious divisional ground.

The Mets improve to 1-4 in July as they take aim at some long-lost consistency. Winning consistency, that is. 3 more in Houston and the Mets will pack up the first half of the year and take Reyes, Wright, Beltran, Wagner, and Maine to San Francisco for the all-star game - oh wait.

Let's go Mets.

(Pics courtesy pbase.com, shraps.com, mets.com)

life's not fair

The Mets are not being fair to Paul Lo Duca. In a Sunday article for the New York Daily News this week, Mets beat writer Adam Rubin reports that the Mets front office "never fully embraced" the trade that brought Lo Duca to New York and has been "paving the way" to replace Lo Duca when the Met catcher's contract expires at the end of this season. Rubin's article reports that the Mets right now may be "laying the groundwork" for a trade this winter to pick up Pittsburgh catcher Ronny Paulino. Who?

Granted, Lo Duca is 35 years old. One could make the case that the Mets need to get rid of Paulie anyway and grab a younger catching replacement. Ronny Paulino looks like a good choice - the Pirates' backstop is hitting .231 this season with 24 RBIs and a gargantuan .346 slugging percentage. Seems like a no-brainer.

Not

Really though. Why Paul Lo Duca? This guy has been the heart and soul the last two years of a Mets team that has quickly become the class of the National League. The kind of team that other teams gun for. A team that Lo Duca has been right at the center of.

Remember Opening Day 2006? Our self-described "magician" of a catcher played a magic trick on Alfonso Soriano and the Washington Nationals, dropping the ball on a key play at the plate in the 8th inning but picking it up in time to hide the drop from the Home Plate Umpire and help seal a one-run victory for the Mets that kicked off and in many ways set the tone for last year's amazin' season.

This play demonstrated why it's good to have a guy like Lo Duca on your team

It's just frustrating to see a Mets team that has for the most part said and done all the right things the past couple of years throw such an integral part of the current ball club under the bus and in doing so, frankly, diminish what he brings to the team. While his teammates have supported him, the Mets' brass have largely let Lo Duca get crucified by the media for his equipment-throwing tirade a couple weeks back - an equipment throwing tirade that no one seems to credit for lighting a bit of a fire under what was then a very flat and slumping Mets team - and for remarks of Lo Duca's last week that were grossly misconstrued to infer that he is a racist. So much for the fact that Julio Franco, Jose Valentin, and Carlos Delgado all spoke out in defense of Lo Duca and the positive veteran leadership he brings to the team.

The Mets gave twin 40 year-olds Tom Glavine and Orlando Hernandez new contracts at the end of last season because both were important components of last year's team and were considered to be critical to the Mets' immediate future. In other words, if the team valued Lo Duca enough, his age wouldn't get in the way of giving him a one or two year contract extension to have him stay on and continue to be a solid catcher and fiery clubhouse presence until a prospect such as Francisco Pena or somebody else in the Mets' minor league system is ready to take over behind the dish at Citi Field.

The Mets should really reconsider the manner in which they're treating Paul Lo Duca. Paulie's a Brooklyn-born native son who seemed to fit in perfectly with the team until all of this recent nonsense, and the Mets will be making a big mistake if they continue to overlook and undervalue his contributions.

(Photos courtesy of gettyimages)

killer instinct

The Mets stayed smug yesterday afternoon, brushing off the Phillies' lone win this weekend at Citzen's Bank Park and reveling in a 3 out of 4 series win that pushed the Phillies to 5 games back in the National League East. It was nice to see the team stay positive after a loss and play the bigger picture game. Part of putting your little brother in his place involves dismissing any success he does have in an easy, breezy, law-of-averages sort of way.

Put the Phillies in their place the Mets did do. They swept a doubleheader on Friday to get things underway, and including yesterday's 5-2 defeat, hit 10 home runs this past weekend, including 4 by Carlos Beltran. They roughed up 2 interim members of Philadelphia's deep starting rotation, leaving a sufficiently large trail of smoldering structures and tearful senior citizens in the wake of their Friday/Saturday pillaging of the city of Philadelphia to insure that even Jimmy Rollins wouldn't be able to get too excited about his contributions to the Phillies' collective damage control on Sunday afternoon.

Why don't I look happy after hitting a home run? Because my team still isn't as good as the Mets

Normally, I might feel sorry for a team that is about to lose the 10,000th game in their franchise history. A team whose name is synonymous with futility. A team that has always been somewhat of a little brother to one of it's division rivals that itself doesn't have the most win-filled history. (Yeah, I'm talking about the Mets)

I would stop with the big brother/little brother analogy, too, but it just seems so apt. The Phillies have had a few good years, and their last World Championship was only 3 years before the Mets' most recent title. But they can just never seem to get over the hump. They've got a far more frequent knack for blowing it than the Mets do - and hey, that's saying something! Whether it's derived from less of a tendency to blow big games, or just more success for the Mets, big brother/little brother just feels right.

Mitch Williams or Armando Benitez?

Anyway. I'd feel sorry for the Phils if they accepted their shortcomings a bit more humbly. But they're just so reminiscent of that kid everybody knows and nobody likes, yet he/she still thinks they're really cool, and it really just makes you dislike them even more. The 2007 Phillies lost all my respect at "team to beat." Just sayin'.

This kid looks stupid...like the Phillies

Back to the Metsies, though. 3 out of 4 was nice this weekend, don't get me wrong. But when you win the first three games of a series, against a division rival, in relatively smooth fashion, it hurts to not go in for the kill. 3 out of 4 would have been great if they had split the doubleheader on Friday, but, but...come on! We won the fight, but we could have punched our opponent so much harder!

The Mets do this too often. Yesterday is more excusable for the simple fact that Mike Pelfrey was pitching instead of Tom Glavive, or Orlando Hernandez, or John Maine, or Oliver Perez, or...you get the idea, but how many times this year have we had another team 2-0, or 3-0, in a series, and failed to complete the sweep? Winning series is the fundamental thing, but a team should pat only itself on the back for winning a series if they've lost one of the first (usually 2) games and won the rubber match. Then it's good.

Forgive the second boxing analogy, but who likes a split decision when we could have had a knockout? It's safe to say that the weekend of June 29-July 1, 2007 was a successful one in Mets history, but in the end it was still nothing more than a failed sweep. It's unfortunate that at the end of another weekend of Mets baseball, there was still something left to be desired.

Rocky left it all in the ring when he knocked out Ivan Drago

A couple other quick notes from the game on Sunday...

-Aaron Heilman is still pouty and unreliable. The Phils 2 decisive runs yesterday came in the 7th with Heilman on the hill. Thanks for ruining the sweep, Aaron!

-Mike Pelfrey still has work to do. 2 earned runs on 102 pitches in 5 innings isn't good enough. He was dishing in the beginning of the game, striking out Ryan Howard in the 2nd inning with an impressive 97 mile-an-hour fastball, but the same problems that earned him a demotion to Triple-A in mid-May were still there. Work on those secondary pitches, Mikey. And don't throw a fastball right down the middle on a 2-0 count with a runner on first and one of the Phillies' best hitters up in the third inning of a tie game. Pelfrey pretty much asked Jimmy Rollins to beat him in that spot.

-Julio Franco is still old, and still can't do anything except ground out in big spots to end games. He was Willie's only option off the bench with Gotay on first and the Mets down 5-3 with 2 outs in the ninth yesterday, but maybe he should have been one of the two pinch hitters Willie used in one spot in the 7th, rather than being saved for prime time, and then not running out his weakly hit ground ball. I really hope it's only a matter of time until Lastings Milledge comes up, replaces Julio Franco on the 25-man roster, and platoons with Carlos Gomez in left. Except for the fact that they're both righties...oh well. Julio still needs to go.

-John Maine should be on the NL all-star team. Cole Hamels shouldn't. End of story.

On to Denver.

(Photo creds to gettyimages, answers.com, nj.com, movieprop.com, photobucket.com)