The third inning

It's the third inning, and the Mets are already down, 2-0. David Wright's at the plate with a man on base. You may recall that in a similar situation the last night, Wright drew a bases loaded walk. Then Carlos Beltran and Ryan Church drew bases loaded walks to put the Mets ahead, 3-1. Unfortunately, Angel Pagan, perhaps gunning for a bases loaded walk of his own, then struck out looking on a 3-2 fastball to end the only real threat the hapless Mets had all night. They went on to lose the game, 6-3.

But that was yesterday and this is today. It's the third inning, and the Mets are down, 2-0. David Wright's at the plate with Endy Chavez on first base. After going 8-11 in Philly last weekend, Wright is 0 for his last 19 and desperately needs a base hit. What does he do? Bang! Base hit through the first base hole into right. The Mets have two runners on base for Carlos Beltran.

You may also remember that Beltran hasn't been hitting the ball too well lately; despite a couple of good games in Washington, his average on the year is still closer to .200 than .250. You're expecting bad things, hoping for good ones. But where did that get you last September, or when Aaron Heilman came on to face Felipe Lopez on Thursday...sorry, I'm getting off track. But you're still not expecting good things. Until...crack! Beltran hits a long drive to center field...

Is it going to go over the fence? Is Mark Kotsay going to catch it? Is this going to somehow turn into a painful double play? I don't know!

The ball falls in on the warning track behind Kotsay. Endy will score to tie the game, Wright's being waved around third. Kotsay gets the ball to the cutoff man, Braves backup shortstop Brent (Brant?) Lillibridge, but he's too small and skinny to possibly come up with a good relay throw so Wright's going to be safe at the plate and the Mets will take the lead, right?

Holy crap, Lillibridge fires a bullet to the plate. Wright slides feet-first, attempting to poke his toe around the glove of Braves catcher Brian McCann. What's the verdict, Blue? Wright's safe! With a fist pump!

Things are going good, real good. The Mets came through in the clutch, with singles and doubles instead of RBI walks and groundouts. The Mets tie the game at 2 in the bottom of the third inning.

But wait! It gets better! Ryan Church is up, and, and, wait for it, BAM! Church knocks a shot right over the first base bag, and it's headed for the right field corner. He doesn't have the best speed, and Francoeur's got a pretty good arm, but it's kicking around back there, and he's going for three...he's safe! Yay! Church comes through! Singles, doubles, triples, the Mets are ahead 3-1!

And then? Uh-oh, it's no fun Delgado, here to ruin everyone's fun. He hits a weak tapper to first base, but Mark Teixera can't throw home because Delgado's in the way, and Church was running on contact so he scores, and all of a sudden the score is 4-1 Mets! Sweet!

No fun Delgado, here to ruin everyone's fun and refuse to give curtain calls. Gosh!

The Mets get just one more chance to score the rest of the game, and don't capitalize. But the damage is done. The Braves get back a run against Heilman in the sixth, but Sanchez and Wagner shut the door and the Mets have a 4-3 victory, their second in the last five games!

****

Not to place too much stock in four runs, but that's exactly the kind of inning we needed. The Met offense had looked so pathetic, with the RBI groundouts and runs scored only on mistakes by our opponents, that I had genuinely forgotten, a little bit, what it felt like to watch the Mets put together a solid attack. And Sunday's win, with the three home runs - two of them by Delgado - who decided to be no fun anyway and not give a curtain call even though he had just hit two homers, got us a series win against the big bad Braves, our third (series win) in four tries against them and the Phillies. And so while I don't doubt this Mets team's ability to be inconsistent, the third inning on Saturday afternoon was refreshing, encouraging, and exactly what I needed to see. Maybe it's a building block...who knows.

Johan (3-2, 3.12) goes for the Mets tonight opposite Ian Snell (2-1, 4.21). If we win three in a row, that's called a winning streak. It has happened before!

(Image courtesy mets.com)

Not cool!

Anyone reading this blog on Monday morning may be expecting me to say something about the Mets' somewhat redemptive but altogether sort-of hollow series win over the Braves this weekend. Considering the fact that the Mets could well come out of this Braves series and lose 2 of 3 to the Pirates these next few nights, I think I'd rather hold off until I can put two pretty good games in context.

But I'll tell you what I am angry about: SNY is sleeping with the devil. More accurately, the devil across town.

Has anyone else seen the new spots Derek Jeter is doing for Ford? One features about 30 seconds of people across the city of New York finding different ways of complimenting Derek Jeter and affirming that "that guy's got an edge." It's funny, right, because they could just be talking about the Yankee captain's legendary ice-cold nerves in clutch situations (thought not as much in the Yankees' consecutive first round playoff exits the past three years). Or it could be a deodorant commercial, right? Oh man, I was on the edge - no pun - of my seat the first time I saw that ad. What is this guy endorsing? Lending his "edge" to?

But wait, of course! They're all talking about his car! Ford's newest mid-size SUV, the Edge.

How could I be so remiss?

There's another commercial where Jeter plays himself playing it off as a coy sales associate while some Haley Joel Osmond looking little kid can't believe his parents aren't being sold a new family-size automobile by his pro baseball hero. "Jeter" drops several hints as talks up the Edge and its panoramic vista roof, showing off the Air Jordan wristbands under his dress shirt and the cleats he's chosen to wear instead of regular dress shoes. Finally the jig is up when Jeter makes an all-star play to catch a stray pair of Ford Edge keys and flip them into the hands of the perfect family's eager father. The commercial ends with a magnanimous Derek Jeter giving the wise kid an autographed baseball.

I'm sure Jeter is loving the extra millions he's currently earning through his latest media whore-out - he's signed on as the poster boy for Ford, specifically for the Edge SUVs. I hope he likes the free Ford Edge he surely drives to Yankee Stadium every now and again.

But let me be clear: that crap has no place on the METS television network. I understand that Sterling Mets owns only a third of Sportsnet New York, and that it does purport to be the network of New York Sports; unlike YES - the Yankee Entertainment Station, or whatever, the network with its Yankeeography segments, Michael Kay sit-downs, and homer announcers, dishing out propaganda that the Russian political regime would surely admire.

Still, the TV home of the Mets can't run some other ads? And it would be one thing if I only had to see Derek Jeter's face plastered over my team's television network like, once a game. That's not the case though. I'm seeing one of the Jeter ads at least once every break between innings.

I know the money, class, and Yankee image thing appeals to the Wilpons. Always has. But the mere fact that our well-spoken, good-looking young star would rather spend more time working on his swing than his endorsement pitches doesn't make it okay for us to repeatedly run lame ads on our station featuring the arguable face of our crosstown rivals.

Our guy's better than that

Is nothing sacred?

(Photos courtesy carbodydesign.com, davidwrightfoundation.com)

Is anyone surprised?

They certainly shouldn't be, not when it comes to witnessing another implosion by Aaron Heilman.


This guy might be. Aaron's his guy. He (Heilman) is just in a little funk, he'll snap out of it, start making some good little pitches, get some good little innings under his belt. Give him some time.


And this guy? He bends all the way over to pick up that routine grounder 9 times out of 10. Nothing you can do about that, just buck up and get it back against the Braves this weekend. His average will creep up, he'll get in a nice little groove.

And the Mets, as a whole? They're his guys, too. Big boys, they'll get the hang of it. They play hard night in and night out, for Willie, because they're his guys. We'll all sip a little champagne at our nice little party at the end of this long little season when we win this whole thing.

We're just starting to gel, give it some time.

Fire Willie.

Heilman allows slam as Mets fall to Nationals (Newsday)
AARON BLOWS IT AGAIN (New York Post)


(Pictures courtesy metsarebetterthansex.blogspot.com, metstradamus.blogspot.com, gotnysports.blogspot.com)

Dueling Perspectives

Pathetic. Lackluster. Frustrating. Profoundly irriating. Just when you think the Mets are getting going, just when you think we're back in gear, just when you think the cobwebs have been fully shaken off, just when you think a new mindset has finally taken over, it's the same old inconsistency. The same old up and down malaise that's been with us for over a year now.

The Mets win 5 in a row, take two of three from Philadelphia in their own building, and only fail to sweep the series when a second-rate shortstop pulls a play from Ozzie Smith's playbook straight out of his ass. Then, as if one tough, hard-fought loss somehow threatens to tear down all that is good and holy in the world, we lose two ugly games to the Cubs at Wrigley, 7 and 8 to 1.

Neither game got blown open until the eighth inning, but in either case it's not like the Mets had a chance anyway. We scored runs on a double play (Monday) and an RBI groundout. In general, we looked like a fresh-out-of-little league prepubescent seventh grader trying to hit high school pitching. Strikeout. Tapper. Pop-up. Soft groundball to short. It seemed like there was no solid contact in this series.

Carlos Delgado

Where does the malaise stop? The Mets don't have to be collapsing to be nothing better than a sorry group of .500 ball-playing underachievers. At a certain point Willie needs to be held accountable.

****

Now wait just a second. It's still early. We've seen some good things. That five-game winning streak was encouraging. We took a couple of tough losses, but how many runs could you have expected us to score off of Zambrano on Monday night, anyway?

The Mets still have to play 88% of their games. We've had some injury problems - when Brian Schneider gets back we can hit Ryan Church in the 2-hole again...the offense was really clicking when he was up there. Pedro'll be back in a couple months. Moises Alou will make our lineup more balanced and our offense more potent. Duaner Sanchez still has to work himself back to full strength; when he does, that's another reliable reliever that Willie can turn to more frequently.

Speaking of Willie, you can't always blame the manager. It's not his fault. He's all ABOUT fundamental baseball, but he can't keep Carlos Delgado from making senseless mental errors in the field. Willie's approach is exactly what this team needs right now. It's a long season, and we all just need to chill. The Mets have too much going for them to not be able to get going.

****

If the Mets do indeed still have 88% of their games to play, this season might kill me. There's nothing more frustrating than watching wasted potential. Wasn't Johan Santana supposed to bring a new attitude to this team? We were confident, right? Ready to go out and get it done on the field...is this team too mentally fragile to handle the slightest bit of adversity?

To borrow another little league analogy, the Mets are the team with all the big kids who can hit home runs and pitch fast but can't get a hold of themselves when they strike out or make an error, or get a bad call from an umpire. I guess the Phillies, in this analogy, would be the team with all the skinny kids who might make some mistakes but never quit and as a result probably end up winning some games (and division titles) that they shouldn't.

The hardest outs to get against the Phillies are the last nine. The Mets, collectively, are like a loud hyper-active puppy who yelps and runs away with its tail between its legs the first time it gets yelled at. No fight. If the Mets are down, they're probably out.

****

But what about Sunday night? They WANTED that game. What are you going to do about Eric Bruntlett, it was a fluke play. If the Mets didn't have any fight, they wouldn't have even come back from that defecit in the first place.

****

They can want the game all they want, they probably wanted to win the division last year, too. But the fact is, if they had it in them they would have found a way to pull it out. That's not even the issue though. I'm not complaining about the Phillies series.

The Mets have two - TWO - five game winning streaks in the last year-plus, now. The bigger issue is the fact that they can't seem to play well, consistently. And this goes back to what I was saying about Willie. That IS his fault. Whether he's just a bad motivator, or his approach is wrong for this team, or he's just not connecting with his players, whatever the case - they can't get anything meaningful going. 2006 FEELS like a long time ago.

When is he under fire?

The Mets should have roared out of the gate this season. Even without Pedro. Clearly something is still hanging over their heads.

****

I wouldn't pay much attention to that. As I mentioned, the Mets do have a few other injury issues, too. And the thing about this year is that where last year the Mets were allowed to strut around arrogantly playing up-and-down, .500 ball for most the summer, this season the fans, the media, the Mets' brass, everyone's on notice. No one's going to let them slide the way everyone did last season. And remember, we're still missing Alou and Pedro.

****

Alou and Pedro, Alou and Pedro. We got those two guys back last summer, too. Did a lot of good, right? I'm talking about the underlying mindset with this team. Whether they're scared, or emotionally fragile...I don't think they're passionless, they definitely want to be doing well.

The point is, Willie's level-headed approach doesn't seem to be working with this team. Someone better light a fire under these guys. Maybe the cloud of 2007 won't disappear until Willie does...

You're right, it is still early. But the jury won't be out for much longer.

****

Give it some time. Johan's pitching tonight.

I'm all torn up inside.


(Photos courtesy completist.wordpress.com, nymag.com)

Leave it

Aaron Heilman's got to go. I praised him yesterday for his handling of a sticky situation on Saturday, but that was a diamond in what has otherwise been a rough, rough season thus far for Heilman.

The essence of why he'll never be able to be counted on boils down to the fact that he's a pouty little sissy who can't put the team far enough ahead of himself in order to embrace his role as a reliever. Two years after the last chance he had to crack the starting rotation, dude still thinks he should be in the rotation.

But the problem with having Heilman in the bullpen is that if he is indeed a pouty little sissy who, rightfully or wrongfully, cannot embrace his role as a setup man, will he ever be truly reliable out of the bullpen? How can Aaron Heilman excel at a job he isn't fully committed to?

Trace his work as a reliever back to 2005, when the Mets foolishly committed him there in the first place. Heilman was sent to the bullpen because Willie Randolph though Kazuhisa Ishii to be a better bet in the rotation, and he (Heilman) pitched so well that he never left. Heilman finished '05 with a 5-3 record and a 3.17 ERA, but his ERA as a reliever was considerably lower. Despite the bullpen success, Heilman was still going to be given a chance to get back into the rotation to begin the 2006 season.

Heilman was lights out, as a starter, that spring, but that's when Brian Bannister came along as well. Bannister pitched just as well, Heilman was deemed to be more valuable as a reliever, and since then he hasn't left the pen. And while his ERA has held steady in the 3's (3.62 in '06, 3.03 last season), he just hasn't looked quite the same the last two years. He did pitch very well to end the 2006 season, but ever since Yadier Molina he's developed that knack for giving the big home run, or even just the big hit - witness last night, for example.

Jose Reyes made a leadoff error to allow Derrick Lee to reach base, but that was before Heilman hit Aramis Ramirez and gave up a single to Kosuke Fokudome to load the bases with no one out. He nearly worked out of it against the Cubs' 6, 7, and 8 hitters, but that was before Ronny Cedeno, that pesky eighth man, sent a high fastball straight back through the box for a floodgate-opening two-run single.

His heart just isn't in it. As a result, his demeanor on the mound radiates whiney me-first pansy over the 8th inning bulldog he needs to be. He just can't seem to make that critical out pitch, and as a result, hitters are convinced that if they just wait him out and foul a few off they'll get around on something. That's exactly what both Fokudome and Cedeno did last night. And you can blame the Reyes error all you want, but the rest was Heilman's fault. The other thing he consistently does poorly is work with the cards he's dealt. That's like, the essence of a go-to reliever's job.

Willie's got his blinders on, and we know he's going to continue calling on "his guy" in the big spots. He'll stay with him for way too long, just like he stayed with Guillermo Mota for way too long last season. I'm not sure I want to know anything else about the special relationship Willie seems to cultivate with his veterans.

At a certain point, though, the Mets are going to need to figure out what to do about Aaron Heilman. I'm convinced that if the team sees Heilman as an issue they want to address, a good solution is out there. The bullpen probably has enough depth without him, for one - we still need to see a little bit more from Duaner Sanchez. But I'm also betting that he could probably net a decent bullpen arm - the arm, perhaps, of someone who actually wants to pitch in the pen - from a team who might be looking for a guy who's got decent stuff and is still convinced he should be starting.

Whatever the case, the first step is admitting you have a problem.

(Photo courtesy graphics.nytimes.com)

Take it?

The Mets lost to the Phillies last night, snapping their second five game winning streak since September, 2006. Despite the loss, New York left Citizens Bank Park last night with a series win, a 4-2 advantage, in the early going, in head-t0-head match-ups against Philadelphia, and a 10-7 overall record.

Jose Reyes had a good week

The Mets are 5-1 since last Sunday's wretched loss against the Brewers sent fans' collective psyche to a new low, stoked anxieties about the Mets ability to overcome September, 2007, and renewed calls for Willie Randolph's firing.

So, if you're a Mets fan, do you take it? The Mets lost last night, which we never like to see, but they showed fight. They weren't just blowing off the third game of a three game series after winning the first two; you could tell this was a game they wanted to win. After falling behind 4-0 on two Chase Utley home runs, (even without the homers, Mike Pelfrey did NOT pitch so well last night) the Mets mounted a 4 run rally in the top of the sixth to tie the game. David Wright pumped his fist emphatically after scoring the third of those runs, and the Mets only fell behind again when Pedro Feliz hit a Shea Stadium double out to right for another Citizens Bandbox home run. The Mets rallied again in the ninth, but a would-be game-tying single by Carlos Beltran was turned into a fabulous play by the usually unreliable Eric Bruntlett, who dove to his left to stop the ball and fired a one-hopper to first to retire Beltran and end the game.

Despite the series win, and the encouraging effort last night, David Wright was pissed after the game. Said Wright, "these are the games that can bite you later on. We had a chance to deliver a knockout blow and we didn't. We won a series...great. But we had a chance to make a statement."

I'll certainly take that. The Mets young star and emerging leader is keenly aware of the cavalier attitude that doomed the Mets last season, and doesn't want to let a single game slip, or pass up a single chance to kick an opponent while they're down.

But while I'm happy that David Wright is angry, and that the Mets are bitter about losing last night, I'll take the results of the past week. There's certainly a lot to be encouraged by.

There's Jose Reyes, who was taken aside by Carlos Beltran before last Tuesday night's game and told, simply, to be himself again. For Jose, that bit of veteran advice has him at 12 for his last 28, with two home runs, a rally-igniting triple last night, and a return to the playfulness and dugout dances which, while oft criticized, are a signature part of who Reyes is and how he plays the game and energizes the rest of the Mets. I'll take seeing Jose Reyes perform one of these dances in the Phillies' house after hitting a key home run in the seventh inning Saturday afternoon which ended up providing the Mets' margin of victory.

I'll take seeing Aaron Heilman, who's still having a tough time so far this year, strike out Geoff Jenkins and Jayson Werth in the 8th inning of that same game, with the bases loaded for the Phillies and the Mets clinging to a 4-2 lead. That's a situation where Mets fans have been trained to expect the worst.

I'll take seeing the Mets withstand late Phillie surges in both that game and Friday night's game, where despite getting 7 innings and 10 strikeouts from Johan Santana (I'll take that too), the Mets still needed an insurance run in the ninth to gain some breathing room after the Phillies cut the lead from 5-1 to 5-4 on a Greg Dobbs home run.

I'll take the Mets missing multiple opportunities on Thursday night, but somehow finding a way to win in 14 innings to finish off a sweep of the Nationals. Even if they needed a walk, a wild pitch, a throwing error, and another wild pitch to score Damion Easley with the winning run. The bullpen had to be pretty good (7 innings, squat) to put the Mets in position to win at that stage of the game.

Speaking of the bullpen, for the most part, I'll take it. They've been great in the last six games. I'll take Duaner Sanchez coming back, finally, to bolster and help solidify things. I'll take Sanchez looking good, even in only three innings this past week. I'll take Scott Schoeneweis pitching pretty well so far this year, giving Willie another viable left-handed option in the late innings. I'll take Jorge Sosa continuing to justify Willie's decision to keep him in the bullpen. For the most part, he seems to be best suited for such a role.

Despite D Wright's disappointment at not coming out of Philly with a sweep, the Mets have made something of a statement in the past week, if not to the rest league yet, then certainly to Mets fans, or at least me: they're ready to re-establish themselves as winners, shake off the dust, and rise up.

Thanks, Matisyahu, for the metaphor

Most importantly over their last six, they've won. But the way they held off the Phillies, then made them scratch and claw for even one weekend win in their own building, was particularly encouraging.

Are we back? I don't know, but it's safe to say that 2007's cobwebs did trip us up in our first 12 or so games, especially after we suffered the misfortune in game two of losing Pedro indefinitely. Now Pedro says he's coming back earlier than expected, Moises Alou could return soon, the Mets are playing well, and all that stands between us and first place is the feisty Florida Marlins (yeah, okay Hanley Ramirez).

Have the Mets turned a corner, finally? If so, I'll take it.

(Pictures courtesy mets.com, modiya.nyu.edu)

The week that was

Whew, I've been slacking.  My ongoing goal and charge is to write 3-4 posts each week during the Mets' season, so that I may properly reflect the daily variables of a long baseball season and what it's like to follow any given team day in and day out as a diehard, loyal, and lifelong fan.  Particularly one following a team that drives me as crazy on a constant basis as the Mets do.  When I'm back in New York and have a chance to watch my usual 3 to 4 games per week over the summer, I'll be able to reflect this even better.  

That said, it's been a crazy week.  I left New Orleans on Tuesday, turned 20 last Sunday, and attended the 25th annual New Orleans French Quarter Music Festival (high marks - all for free, sponsored by locally brewed Abita beer...more high marks) pretty much all weekend, so basically, I'm making excuses.  But it has been difficult.  I took the internet access-less Amtrak from New Orleans all the way to Washington, DC, where I sit now, feeling the spring breeze blow through a Foggy Bottom dorm room at the George Washington University.  

The other thing about baseball season is that, beyond the day-to-day flow, there's really a marvelously complex feel to it when the games on those individual days stretch out into series, and homestands, and roadtrips, over the course of the weeks and months.  Baseball is the only sport that's played nearly every day for six full months, and in that sense I've always seen it as the game that in its professional season most honestly mimics the true pace of life, with the concept of the daily grind continuously developing into something broader and greater. 

If I had written in this space every day for the past week, you would have seen me project a positive message in response to last Friday night's win, something along the lines of: 

It sure is great that the Mets turned in a solid performance tonight and seem to be ready to build off of their dramatic walk-off win against the Phillies.  That's three in a row!

Saturday, I would have lamented Johan Santana's less-than-impressive debut, while probably resorting to some tired version of "can't win 'em all."  

On Sunday, I would have likely pulled my hair out before getting a chance to write about the Mets' 9-7 loss, the one where Oliver Perez had one of those meltdowns and helped give back a 6-2 lead.  The Met offense also hit into 5 double plays.  

Monday, I was all set to write a post called "Willie Watch," or "The Fire Willie Formula," or "Firing Willie," or something of that nature.  After Friday night's victory the Mets were lackluster the rest of the weekend, pathetic, punchless, so 2007.  The Mets need to turn the page on 2007 and what better way than to...I almost wrote this same post after the home opener, and it continues to be in the reserves.  I hope that it's like oil in Alaska and I never need to bust it out.  

These roller-coaster emotions, though, are all part of that daily beauty of baseball I was trying to refer to in those first few paragraphs.  With the benefit of hindsight, I recognize that the Mets ended this six game stretch where I didn't get to the computer pretty well (4-2 after the sweep tonight of the Nationals).  But one does get lost in the game-to-game whirlwind, for good reason sometimes.  

So yes, I can put things in perspective a little bit better, having withheld judgment and not taken the time to organize my thoughts until things played out a little bit more.  And while I hope my writing more often speaks to the raw daily emotions of being a Mets fan than the detached weekly analyst's perspective, once in a while, maybe the contrast is useful.  Just for it to be there, if nothing else.  

Mets fans - and by extension, the Mets - are going to need to maintain an attitude this year that continually serves to balance that contrast, between day-to-day and broader perspective.  Last year was all about broader view, to the point where we took the regular season for granted and paid for it in the end.  This year, we're all about holding the boys accountable, and it's great that everyone is just balls to the wall, every game, to the point that we're willing to let the boo birds fly for ridiculous offenses that under any normal circumstances are generally forgivable, certainly non-booable (like when Carlos Beltran got his for a 3rd inning double-play grounder on Tuesday night).  But we fans will have all have died horrible, stomach ulcer-related deaths by late September if we can't ever also chill out and think about the bigger picture.  And then we won't even be around to see how any potential pennant races pan out.  

As for the Mets, they played great this week.  Mike Pelfrey pitches 7 innings for the first time in his adult life?  Beautiful.  Jose Reyes (after a pep talk from Carlos Beltran) starts to look like he's having fun again (going 8 for 15, over three games, in the process)?  Even more beautiful. The aforementioned Beltran hits a clutch homer last night, D Wright carries the offense on Jackie Robinson night, Duaner Sanchez comes back, Nelson Figueroa pitches awesome, again, Joe Smith looks like the baller we all know he is, Carlos Delgado gets a clutch hit...oh mah GOD it all sounds so good!  But it's also only three games, and it also happened against the lowly Nationals (no offense, Lastings Milledge).  So I'm happy, but once again - dare I say - I have to withhold judgment, at least to a certain degree.  The key is consistency, folks.  The Mets still have recorded only one 5 game winning streak since September, 2006.  And it's the Nationals.  

I've got more to say, but I'm not wasting any material right now.  

But you know what I didn't realize?  We're going back to the Bank this weekend!  Citizen's Bank, that is, to play the Phillies.  Tomorrow night Johan Santana will face Cole Hamels at 7:05.  Oh boy.  We'll see how Johan fares in the old bandbox.  

But this is exactly what I'm talking about, with the consistency and the still figuring out what to think business.  Did the Mets study for this coming test?  We shall see.  

(Image courtesy www.lightrailnow.org)

In-game blogger, MLB Gameday style

One problem with the fact that I won't be back in New York for another three weeks is my somewhat-diminished credibility when I talk about the Mets in the early going. I can refer to all the initial indicators for this season and look for any positive or negative signs in the Mets' play in these first few games, but ultimately, I still haven't had the chance to watch a game, and I won't for another couple of weeks. Perhaps if I was going to be gone longer I'd invest in MLB.tv. Nahhhhh.

That said, I'm going to continue passing partially uninformed judgment for as long as I have to - gotta do whatcha gotta do, right? Tonight I'll be picking the rubber game of the Mets/Phillies series up in the top of the fourth inning, in-game blog style. I won't actually be watching a single pitch, but I'll still be able to bring you most of the action while it happens. Sort of, anyway.

MLB Gameday

For those of you who aren't familiar, the free pitch-by-pitch running scoreboard at MLB Gameday can be pretty useful in a pinch. Back in the day, a young burnsie fresh and I used to get on the computers at school and use Gameday to help track opening days and playoff games with funky start times. To the kids: just say you've got to go to the bathroom, and you've got a good ten minutes before the teacher starts to ask where you went and your classmates start making jokes.

It's only gotten more high-tech over the years. Used to be that all you had was a new window in your web browser, slow to refresh and with limited info beyond the line score, who's pitching, who's at the bat, who's on base, and other scoreboard standards...balls, strikes, outs, the whole bit. Now I can check out stuff in real time that I'd be at the mercy of the boys in the SNY truck for if I were watching this game on TV. For example, I can tell you right now that John Maine has throw 53 pitches - 34 strikes - through four innings. Four groundouts and eight flyouts; no K's yet for the Maine event. It also makes up for the lack of visuals by giving a pretty vivid description of what's going on on the field. Who writes this stuff? Do they get paid much?

Right now, John Maine just threw a fastball for a strike to Shane Victorino. That put the count to Victorino at 2-2. Since that happened, Maine threw another ball, before Victorino fouled off two pitches and took another ball for a walk. Leadoff free pass to the leadoff hitter...never good. (We're now in the top of sixth inning, by the way...quick break) It's sort of okay, because stand-in Phillies shortstop Eric Bruntlett flies out to right fielder Ryan Church for the first out of the inning just after that, before Shane Victorino is caught stealing on a throw from Brian Schneider to Jose Reyes on the following pitch. With Chase Utley batting. Now Utley's connected on a single, which will bring Ryan Howard to the plate here with a man on and two out. Full count on Howard...what does Maine do here? Foul ball on a 95 mph fastball...is Maine throwing a little harder? Utley was running with two outs and a 3-2 count.

Maine delivers more heat...another foul. Next pitch yields a walk to Howard. Not a bad idea to pitch around the big fella in this situation. Here comes Pat Burrell. Another walk, and the bases are loaded (yikes) for Geoff Jenkins (Not so bad). Good thing Brian Schneider's got a solid arm.

One thing about Gameday is that I have no sense of what any of these at-bats look like. I can see the outcome, but I can't watch how the Maine event is going after these Phillies hitters right now. You take what you can get...ahhh beautiful. Geoff Jenkins grounds out to first to end the inning; Maine's out of trouble.

I should note that the Mets took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning on a two-run single by Ryan Church. Angel Pagan (continues to impress) singled to lead off, before Carlos Beltran walked and Carlos Delgado did something useless. Actually, I guess he advanced the runners with a groundout: that's how Church was able to single home both Pagan and Beltran. At least he hit a weak, slow, non-double play groundball, I suppose.

Angel Pagan has just doubled on a line drive to left fielder Pat Burrell. David Wright's struggling a bit; he followed with a groundout, though it did advance Pagan to third.

All I know right now is in play-run(s), but in Gameday jargon, that's always good news if the Mets are up. More to come.

Beltran singled to right, scoring Pagan. He's on first now, still with one out. Pickoff attempt 1B fails. A few pitches and some weak swings by the Met first baseman later, Carlos Delgado strikes out swinging. Ryan Church to the dish. It's just a 1-1 count, but Carlos Beltran is caught stealing second. And a good day to you, Chris Coste (Phillies catcher - I hadn't heard of him either). Church will lead off the seventh.

This break in the action provides a nice opportunity to hail Mike Pelfrey for a solid effort last night. He only pitched five innings, but he was solid, and most of all, he didn't look like a loser on the mound the way he often did last season. He did all he had to do, and gave up just two runs to hold the Phillie offense at bay while four Phightin' errors helped the Mets pound out eight runs. Go Big Pelf. I actually saw game highlights on Baseball Tonight while I was out last night, and they helped put me in quite a good mood.

Here come the Phillies in the seventh: after a leadoff homer by Pedro Feliz and a double by the aforementioned Coste (he's the Phillies' catcher, by the way), Maine gets the hook in favor of Pedro Feliciano, who's now is facing Jayson Werth with Coste still on second. Walk to Werth. Jesus Christ.

Shane Victorino strikes out swinging for the first out. The potential inning-ending double play is set up right now, with Eric Bruntlett up. Just sayin'.

Eric Bruntlett's out on strikes. Looking. It's Utley time. Come on now, Pedro (the other one). 2-2 on Utley aaaaandd STRIKE THREE, inning over! Feliciano does it again. Stretch time.

This whole Gameday thing is actually working out alright. If I'm doing an in-game blog, my take is already coming secondhand. No different with Gameday: I can still give a delayed, fractured play-by-play. Like I said, my context just isn't quite as good without, you know, getting to watch the game.

But Gameday still does a pretty solid job picking up the slack. Brian Schneider lines out softly to second baseman Chase Utley. Two out. Marlon Anderson at the plate. Damion Easley is on second base after hitting a double following a lead-off flyout by Ryan Church.

Eight pitch at-bat going to Marlon Anderson. He's a gritty, tenacious, player - part of a solid bench for the Mets, in my view at least. According to MLB Gameday, he's really working Ryan Madson right now, fouling a lot of pitches off. I'm glad he's on the Mets. Nine pitches. Groundout to second. Oh well. End of the seventh.

Aaron Heilman gives up another gopher ball - this one to Ryan Howard to close the gap to 3-2. Jeeeez. Pat Burrell then walks, nobody's out and Geoff Jenkins is at the plate.

Aaron Heilman, you suck

Heilman got out of trouble in the eighth without giving the Phillies the lead, but he still managed to single-handedly screw things up and allow the Phils to tie the game. After the Howard homer (I didn't know this, but Gameday DOES have a video component and the title of the video was "Howard Kills Baseball"...christ) and the walk, a single by Jenkins and a groundout scored the always dangerous So Taguchi, who was running for Burrell. Heilman managed to retire the next two hitters on a K and groundout, but not before the damage had been done. Aaron Heilman, you suck. The Mets may want to consider finding, you know, a real set-up man. I wonder what Willie will have to say about Heilman after the game tonight, particularly if the Mets go on to lose.

...Billy Wagner's on in the ninth after the Mets failed to score in the bottom of the eighth...I really hope the Mets find a way to win this game...

Two quick outs in the ninth, but Chase Utley just worked out a walk to conclude an eight pitch at-bat. Howard at the plate. Glad Aaron Heilman's not pitching.

AHHHH SUCKA SUCKA. Wagner strikes out Howard, inning over. Even though he's an idiot, you've gotta love Billy Wagner - contrast that with my profound feelings of disgust whenever I see Heilman's stupid expression after giving up a late home run in a key spot. That's three now in 8 games on the year.

Even when he succeeds, he still kind of reacts like a loser

Ryan Church leads off the bottom of the ninth for the Mets. Come on now, L Millz...damn. Swinging strikeout. Brad Lidge is on his game tonight?

Damion Easley grounds out softly, 2 outs. Thanks Gameday.

Wouldn't it be something if Brian Schneider cranked a walk-off shot off Brad Lidge right now? You know, Albert Pujols in the '05 NLCS style...I know you've got it in you, Brian...aaaand it's a two-out walk for the Schneid. Gotta start somewhere I guess. Endy at the bat, pinch hitting for Wagner.

We're going to extras, as Endy lines out to Eric "vaseline hands" Bruntlett. Joe Smith comes on for the tenth inning.

Smith's out of the tenth, working around a walk and getting Chris Coste (who?) to line out to first to end the inning...top of the order's coming up in the bottom of the tenth. Come on, now...

For all the talk about Jose Reyes getting his crap together during the off-season, he's really played like a chump this year. He's called out on strikes to start the tenth, in just the situation where the Mets probably could have used a leadoff baserunner. Angel Pagan pops to short for out number two. Bruntlett manages to hold onto the ball.

David Wright walks, then steals second with Carlos Beltran at the plate. We already know he's got his head on much straighter than Reyes, but that's exactly what Jose needed to do and didn't to lead off the inning. 1-2 count now to Beltran. 3-2.

Strike three, as a key Mets player fails once again to get a big hit in a big spot. You only get so many chances...on to the 11th.

Leadoff single for Jayson Werth, followed by a "single" by Cole Hamels on a soft bunt ground ball to catcher Brian Schneider. Eric Bruntlett fails to lay one down, and it's a foul bunt strikeout. Scott Schoeneweis (gulp) is on to replace Joe Smith.

That's also not necessarily fair. I might have more confidence in Schoeneweis than Heilman at this point; that's not saying much but the Scho pitched his worst in his first few months in blue and orange.

Four 88 mile-an-hour fastballs later, Scho's got a 2-2 count on Chase Utley...another foul. Still 2-2. 2 on, 1 out. AH YES - Utley hits into a double play to end the inning. Scott Schoeneweis will grow on me if he can do this sort of thing with relative regularity. He pitched big in a big spot there. Now let's hope the Met offense can take up the cue...it's on you, Carlos Delgado.

It's on you, Ryan Church. Carlos "I'm still worthless" Delgado just struck out swinging...MLB Gameday won't tell me this, but I'll BET it was on a high inside fastball. Lord have mercy.

Ryan Church is also out on a swinging strikeout. Tom Gordon, just mowin' em down. Christ have mercy. Here's Damion Easley...1-2-3 go the Mets in the eleventh inning as Easley flies out to center.

...It's sort of funny, because the ebb and flow of checking and refreshing MLB Gameday is allowing me to blog, while reading the New York Times online at the same time. I'm alternating between reading calmly about politics and reacting emotionally when I come back to the Gameday page...

Scott Schoeneweis is now out of the game; he got two quick outs and should have been out of the inning but Geoff Jenkins was allowed to reach base on an error by Damion Easley. Where's Anderson Hernandez when you need him?

Jorge Sosa is on to replace Schoeneweis, and gets Pedro Feliz to ground into a fielder's choice to end the inning. The bottom of the twelfth inning beckons.

Two quick outs by Brian Schneider and Brady Clark - Jose Reyes is up, looking to stay above the Mendoza line with a hit, potentially. We'll see. A walk would also prevent any further slippage in his batting average. YES. Jose's on second base after hitting a double on a fly ball to center fielder Jayson Werth. Way, Jose.

WOW! THE METS FINALLY GET IT DONE, AS ANGEL PAGAN COMES THROUGH IN THE CLUTCH ONCE AGAIN AND SCORES JOSE REYES ON A SINGLE TO CENTER FIELD.

METS WIN!

Where did this guy (Pagan) come from? I don't know, but he's getting it done.

*************************************

This was an important game for the Mets to win. A really really really important game for the Mets to win. In September 2007 and home opening day 2008-like fashion, they blew a late lead to the Phillies - this one was three runs, and that's bad - and if they had lost, it would have reinforced some really negative vibes that, like a bad cold, or something worse maybe, might linger, stubbornly, with the wrong combination of circumstances. Like blowing leads and losing in really painful and avoidable fashion. Those kinds of circumstances.

Add to the blown lead the fact that the Mets blew a few opportunities after giving up the lead, but with some clutch pitching in the ninth (Wagner) and in extras (Smith, Schoeneweis, Sosa) were able to hold the Phightins best asset (offense) back long enough to take advantage of their greatest weakness (pitching). And they came away with a victory in the game tonight - important, sure - but less important than the bigger picture series win that they grinded out tonight after that ugly home opener on Tuesday.

In other news, Jose Reyes was totally out at home plate. A little luck can certainly go a long way, and this was, once again, a huge, huge win for the Mets.

Great stuff. Bring on the Brewers...


(Photos courtesy jerseysandhockeylove.com, mlb.com)

Opening Nightmare

The Mets lost to the Phillies yesterday, blowing a late lead on a costly error in the seventh inning before letting the game slip further away in the eighth and limping to a 5-2 loss - their third straight.

Wait, did I just recycle that sentence from last September?

If the Mets blow this season in April, at least they can just waste the whole damn thing instead of building up painfully false expectations. What's worse? Maybe we won't have to find out.

With the Mets in need of a win, Mike Pelfrey will take the hill tonight against Kyle Kendrick. Thi is a good opportunity for Pelfrey to show whether he is indeed major league material, or whether he's a tall goofy chump who the Mets should have traded to the Twins instead of Phil Humber. In his brief career, he's thus far showed an inclination toward the latter (tall goofy chump). If he has any stones at all he'll at least turn in a nice effort tonight and not pitch like a loser.

All eyes will be on tongue-boy in his '08 debut

I'm off to go take my mind off of baseball and see some live brass bands tear it up in Lafayette Square. I'll have more on the Mets home opening series, and the proper status of Willie Randolph's job, tomorrow night when I have a bit more time - the tone of that post should reflect the news I come home to tonight.

Until then...

(Image courtesy mets.com)

Manufactured Anxiety

The Mets concluded an awkward, rain-shortened two game series against the Braves yesterday, walking away from Turner Field with two irritating losses and a dent in the collective early-season confidence of Mets fans, which had been riding high after Wednesday night's 13-0 exclamation mark on our season-opening series win against the Marlins.

John Maine just didn't have it on Saturday - it took the Maine event 96 pitches to get 12 outs, and he put the Mets in an early 4-1 hole against Tim Hudson. The Mets closed to within 4-3, the Braves pushed it to 5-3; it was 5-3 in the seventh until Jorge Sosa came on and loaded the bases before giving up a grand slam to Kelly Johnson which pretty much put the game out of reach.

Not too many smiles for Maine in his first start

On Sunday, Johan Santana threw seven stellar innings, giving up just one run on seven hits. As usual, the Mets had a hard time figuring out John Smoltz, but the game was within reach at 1-0 until Aaron Heilman gave up a two-run homer to Mark Teixiera in the 8th which proved to be the difference. Down 3-0, the Mets tried to rally in the ninth, but a line drive by Brian Schneider went right to Teixiera, who's also a gold glove first baseman and was playing the line.

I don't think 2007 is going to go away this year. I don't mean that to sound like a depressed, doomsday lament or anything like that. I just think that even if we're doing well, the comparisons between the prototypical team of talented under-achievers (last year) and a talented team that lives up to its potential (this year, hopefully) will be irresistible. This spring, any visitor to my blog knows that in most of my posts I've been unable to avoid sizing up this year's team and looking for any indication that now we've got our head screwed on straight and this season might be different. Then there's also the simple truth (Regis Courtemanche of metsblog wrote about this today) that every loss - every tough loss, in particular - will probably remind us of those last two painful weeks of September '07, where the Mets found every conceivable way to lose and our relievers (Jorge Sosa and Aaron Heilman in particular) gave up late inning home runs in big spots with regularity.

So we Mets fans - understandably - are all freaked out after the Mets failed their first early season aptitude test. What if the Braves are back? What if we get swept by the Phillies this week, at home? What if we suck this year, even with Santana?

It's going to be like this all year, I think - another reason why we won't escape 2007 until we either make the playoffs or, and this is an even shakier bet, just as far as the odds for any team go - advance to the NLCS or World Series.

But we've got to keep things in perspective, or we're just going to drive ourselves crazy. This morning metsblog linked up these comments from the blog It's Mets for Me:

Get the feeling that John Smoltz would rise up from a molten grave to choke the life out of the Mets, like a Turner-ator? Smoltz was his typical Satanic Majesty and the Br*ves ruined Johan Santana's Atlanta debut. Poopeyface emerged on cue to serve up his usual BPSGB (big pressure situation gopher ball) and the world was again much like we remember it before 2006. No one is conceding anything, but I sometimes still scan the Mets dugout for Art Howe involuntarily. And if it wasn't clear before, the Br*ves more often then not beat the Mets in Turner Crypt because their stars, Smoltz and Larry Jones, simply want it more than our stars do. You can see it in their oily baby eating grins as they congratulate each other in the dugout each time they finish dispatching the Mets. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

So it counts for nothing that in a month (last September) where the Mets did all they could to send their season go to hell - ultimately succeeding - they won 5 out of 6, against magical, mystical, Atlanta? That included a sweep in Turner Field, by the way. Woooooo...the Braves! Oh my god!

And of course, we didn't basically finish off the Braves in '06 with a late-July sweep in Turner. Nothing has changed since the late 90s and early 2000s...nothing at all. And of course, a couple rough performances in our fourth and fifth games of the season mean that their stars want it more. Chipper Jones and John Smoltz wanted it more at the end of last year, too, right? Last I checked it was the Phillies - not the Braves - who took advantage of the collapse and backed into the 2007 NL East title.

Not every loss against the Braves can or should be chalked up to the same "Brave mystique" bs. At this point, Met fans who continue this ass-kissing tomahawk rattling are only tossing up a red herring for any of the team's actual troubles. As fans, we're only psyching ourselves out when we build up this unbeatable foe from Atlanta who the Mets always find a way to screw up against. Frankly, I think Mets fans believe this crap more than our players do. But still - when we sit in our seats at Shea and groan when David Wright makes a throwing error in the third inning of a game against the Braves, and say it's all because of some sort of predisposition for the Mets to lose to Atlanta, at what point does that attitude trickle down to the players, so this whole mumbo jumbo becomes something of a self-fulfilling prophecy?

I'd prefer to think that Aaron Heilman served up a gopher ball in a key spot yesterday because he's got a dangerous knack to do that sort of thing. Maybe we shouldn't trust him so much in the 8th inning. Do we have a choice? And I'd prefer to see Angel Pagan's misplay on Yunel Escobar's RBI double early in yesterday's game as a bad play, that he may have unfortunately made against anyone on any other sunny Sunday afternoon. The Mets played sloppily over the weekend. There's no excuse for that, but it didn't happen because they played the Braves.

If I'm worried about anything, it's that they'll play that way against the Phillies this week, and the Brewers this coming weekend, and the Nationals next week. To succeed this year, they'll have to be a little sharper than that, and Saturday's start by John Maine will have to have been an abberation, and the Mets will have to put up some runs when Johan Santana pitches valiantly without his best stuff and gives up just one run over seven innings.

We Met fans are going to drive ourselves crazy this year, one way or the other. I stated recently that I was more embarassed than scarred over the way last season ended, but '07 has left us so on edge as a fan base that we're prone to over-analyzing and getting worked up about every loss. As important as every game is (last year demonstrated this) we need to balance our sense of urgency as fans with the knowledge that we also need to give it a couple weeks before we can get a real accurate gauge on where the Mets are this year, at least in the early going. Really.

And it is hard. But let's first watch the home opener tomorrow, and maybe we'll forget about this first unfortunate trip to Atlanta in the same brief amount of time it took us to get all worked up. Or maybe not. But if we're going to take each game as seriously as we have so far, (a good thing, even it does make us nuts) then let's focus real hard on helping the Amazins' give Shea a final opening day to remember.

Go Mets.

I'm gonna miss the old ballpark

(Photos courtesy blog.ny.com, the-hud.com)

Slaughter in South Florida

The Mets annihilated the Marlins last night, winning 13-0 behind six scoreless innings from Oliver Perez (8 Ks, 5 hits and just one walk) and home runs by David Wright, Carlos Beltran, and Ryan Church.

I'm still in New Orleans, so I won't really be able to watch any games until I get back to New York in about three weeks or so. Maybe I'll try to make it out to a Zephyrs game while I'm down here...who knows. Maybe I'd try harder if the Mets' best prospects weren't all playing in Binghamton this year.

Anyway - my point is that my only frames of reference for these first few games have been MLB gameday, metsblog, and ESPN highlights (if I'm lucky). This was apparent the other day, when I talked about how great it was that Luis Castillo stole a base and was close to 100% healthy. I had no clue that he loafed around the bases in the first inning after a Carlos Beltran bloop double and cost the Mets an early run, while Willie Randolph attempted to justify his lack of hustle by claiming Castillo was "still a little banged up."

Speaking of Randolph: okay, he's a good manager. I'll give him that. He really wet the leadership bed last September, when he tried to guide the Mets through the collapse by continuing to insist that a fundamentally flawed and under-motivated team would eventually "sip a little champagne," before tearing up about the whole ordeal and acting surprised when the you-know-what finally hit the fan and the Mets really did blow a seven game lead in the last two-and-a-half weeks of the season. But I can still give him his props. Not a whole lot of managers have a deeper knowledge of the game of baseball - save managing a bullpen, maybe, but really - and he, along with everyone in the Mets organization, seems to have profoundly realized exactly what went wrong last year and seems like he's right on the ball as far as correcting the error of his, and the team's, ways. I hope. But the signs are good. Willie matching his realizations to action will be key to the Mets' success this year.

But I digress. My point: win or lose, it's a little bit funny because he's such a cornball. I think if the Mets have a good 2008, the dog days of summer will be prime time to just laugh at Willie and, in particular, his bizarre way of speaking to the media. While the Mets were playing sub-.500 baseball for all of last summer, it would irritate the hell out of me to hear Willie endlessly talk about "his guys" and how Guillermo Mota was one of them. Winning really changes everything though. If the Mets do well this summer, I think Willie will turn into that kind of weird but endearing character that, as fans, we all somehow come to appreciate, even it takes a while to get there. Not necessarily because he's that cool or anything, but, I dunno, think Tom Coughlin. Couldn't stand him, really, until the playoffs - now I love him, his rosy cheeks, and the '07-'08 unlikeliest of unlikely Super Bowl championships he helped bring home for Big Blue.

Maybe I'll do a longer post on Willie later this season, with my perspective varying depending on how things look to be turning out. For the meantime, here he is talking last night about Pedro's injury (more to come on that):

“We don’t trip on stuff like that, ya know. We’ve been a solid team, a together-team, ever since I’ve been here. These guys believe in each other. We love to play and get after it. If you’re here with us and join the party, that’s great. We’ll invite you, you’re there…That’s why I love this group. They don’t make excuses, they just play.”

I'd love to party with Willie Randolph.

****

BUZZ KILL!

Pedro Martinez is going to be out 4-6 weeks with what the Mets are calling a "strained left hamstring." 4-6 sounds like a pretty bad strain. This just sucks, pretty much.

But to piggyback on what Willie was saying, I don't think it will dampen the Mets' spirits too much. I was really looking forward to having Pedro around this season - and he talked during Spring Training about taking a more active clubhouse leadership role, which I was also very excited about. That was missing last year.

Now we've got a mini-situation of what happened last year, where the Mets will play it out and be waiting on Pedro again. For a shorter amount of time - if it is, indeed, only 4-6 weeks (crossing my fingers) - but still, he's not around now for a bit.

This year's set up to potentially be a little different though. We've got Johan Santana instead of Tom Glavine. In general, the team seems a lot more juiced up (that's NOT a reference to the Mitchell report) and a lot more equipped to hold it's own and not whine about Pedro being hurt and "missing Pedro" and playing aimlessly the entire season waiting for one player to come back from injury. I'm confident that we'll deal with Pedro being gone a little better.

Remember, this is what the Red Sox did for each of the last three years or so that Martinez spent in a Boston uniform. Pedro's hurt? The dude weighs like 20 pounds, big surprise...

It's all about how you work with the cards you've been dealt, and I think this year's orange and blue poker face is a lot more encouraging.

****

MEL ROJAS, ARMANDO BENITEZ, BRADEN LOOPER, JORGE JULIO, GUILLERMO MOTA, MATT WISE?

Matt Wise has made two appearances so far this year. In his first, he gave up two hits and recorded just one out in the eighth inning of a 7-2 ball game, before being bailed out by Scott Schoeneweis and Jorge Sosa. In his second, he struck out two hitters in the tenth inning of a tie game but then couldn't hold his liquor against Robert Andino - who? - and Andino hit a Wise fastball about nine miles or so to win the game for the Marlins.

Every team seems to have one - he's usually a relief pitcher, and you usually cringe when he enters the game. Actually you don't even cringe. His very appearance inspires profound feelings of...disgust, irritation, you feel like throwing something against a wall...hatred? Is that too strong?

Maybe every team doesn't have one, but the Mets ALWAYS seem to have that one reliever who you just have absolutely no faith in, ever. And that reliever usually does something on a somewhat regular basis to justify those feelings. Is Matt Wise this year's Guillermo Mota? If so, there could be a direct correlation between Willie Randolph's confidence in Wise and the greater successes and failures of the Met bullpen this season. We shall see.

****

Next up is the Braves tomorrow night. John Maine goes against Tim Hudson - should be a good match-up. On paper, at least, I fear the Braves more than the Phillies...it's early in the season but these next two series should give us a nice beginning gauge of where the Mets are really at so far this year. As the headline on mets.com points out, "Mets-Braves series to set tone in East." Yeah that sounds about right.

I'll try to dissect this early season showdown after Tom Glavine pitches on Saturday. These games are in Turner Field, but what I really can't wait for is Tommy's Shea homecoming...

Todd Zeile went out a bit more gracefully

(Photos courtesy virtualtourist.com, baseballchurch.blogspot.com, cnnsi.net)