Jersey Joe's Corner

The more things change...

Last season the New York Mets had a lot of games where they scored runs early, stopped scoring and watched the lead slowly disappear.

Last night was a painful reminder of the 2005 Mets.  Wright came through with a 2 out RBI single, Xavier Nady tacked on a solo home run and Carlos Delgado hit a massive two run homer to right field.  Brian Bannister pitched decently in his first major league start.  He actually had a no hitter going into the sixth inning.  He did give up a three run shot to Nick Johnson in the sixth, but three runs in six innings isn't a bad major league debut at all.

He then handed the game over to Omar Minaya's bullpen.  The offense was done scoring for the night.  Duaner Sanchez and Aaron Heilman took care of innings seven and eight just as they were supposed to.  As the ninth inning started, "Sandman" was playing as Billy Wagner came out of the bullpen to finish off another Met victory.  Only, somewhere between teh warning track and the pitcher's mound, Wagner turned into Braden Looper.  In Looperesque fashion, Wagner fell behind Ryan Zimmerman 3-0.  He got the count to 3-2 before he served up nice high fastball that left Zimmerman's bat much higher and faster than it left Wagner's hand.

There it was.  Fretful Mets fans will spend the rest of the season worrying that Wagner is either past his prime or unable to handle the pressure of playing in New York.  Wagner didn't help himself by saying he'd give the song back now since Mariano Rivera has never blown a save.  The best reaction is no reaction.  If Wagner wants the song to be played, it should be played.  And that should be the end of it.  If he shows he's getting agitated it only plays into the hands of the radio clowns who initiated the controversy.

The game did not end with the Zimmerman home run in the top of the ninth.  That's not the Mets' way.  First, they needed to load the bases in the bottom of the ninth only to not score.  Then they gave the ball to Jorge "Gas Can" Julio.  The SNY announcers remarked about how all the new aquisitions were helping the Mets when the team was winning.  They did not remark how one of Minaya's bigfree agent signings blew the lead and then his most inexplicable trade resulted in a horrible tenth inning meltdown.

 The Mets have been picked by a lot of people to make it to the post season.  If that is going to happen they need for a lot of things to happen.  Wagner needs to reassure the team that last night was just one of those nights that every closer has once in a while and not his inability to deal with New York.  Jorge Julio cannot be on this roster much longer.  Carlos Beltran needs to play like the star he was in Kansas City.  If he keeps pressing to live up to what he did in the 2004 playoffs with Houston, he will fail and the booing will get worse.  Anderson Hernandez needs to be able hit over .200.  Right now the young second baseman looks like a gold glover in the field and a relief pitcher in the batter's box.

The Mets did some good things last night.  That's why the meltdown is unacceptable.  The Mets are not young kids hoping to improve.  This team is a team that expects to win now.  We can accept that Brian Bannister pitched well for his first major league start and that was encouraging.  That's the only moral victoy to take from the game.  The Mets lost in a horrible fashion last night.  For a team of high priced veterans that's unacceptable. 

|  Add to del.icio.us |  digg this