What a disappointing loss for the Mets in game one of the double header on Saturday.  Johan Santana had pitched very well to shut the Braves out and you  know that Santana started the eighth inning because Jerry Manual has no confidence in his bullpen and rightfully so, because again the bullpen blew a game for Johan Santana. 

 

Now, maybe Santana should not have started the eighth inning yesterday, but you know he started the eighth because the bullpen is a wreck.  While Santana pitched very well yesterday, in his seven innings, not once did he retire the side in order; but he was able to shut the Braves out for seven innings.  The Braves, against Santana, were 1 for 17 with runners in scoring position.  Clearly Johan did his job. 

 

The bullpen situation is really tiring.  This pathetic performance was the seventh time the Mets bullpen has blown a game for Santana (meaning, Santana could be a 20 game winner, and the Mets could have a 10 game lead in the division)  Can someone just get an out?  Are the starters supposed to pitch eight innings eight innings every outing?  I know that when you are in a pennant race, the idea is to win, but, can the Mets starters go out there every start and pitch deep into games and continue to be effected not only down the stretch?  It makes you wonder, if they do make it to the playoffs, is the starting rotation going to be able to continue to pitch like this?

 

Now, the blame can’t fall squarely on the shoulders of bullpen because the offense didn’t exactly to their jobs either.  The Mets had the bases loaded two times and came away with nothing.  Brian Schneider hit into a double play with the bases loaded, one run scored but obviously he wasn’t getting credit for an RBI there.  Damion Easley did a terrible job, him hitting into a double play at that point of the game-especially because he “hit” ball four really changed the game there.  Also worth nothing is that Jose Reyes was 0-5 with two strikeouts, in the month of September Reyes is hitting just .161.  Needless to say, the Mets need Reyes to step it up if they are going to stay in this thing.  It isn’t just Reyes though, in all, the Mets left a total of eight guys on base, if someone gets a big base hit, then we aren’t having this conversation about the Mets bullpen.  It does go hand in hand, but it would be nice if the bullpen held up their end of the bargain sometime.