The New York Mets wrapped up a four game series with the Washington Nationals, losing the final game 1-0, and dropping three of four. Met’s starter Mike Pelfrey pitched a gem; he had a no hitter going through six, but in the top of the seventh Aaron Boone singled to right to break up Pelfrey’s no-hit bid. I hope we see more of this Mike Pelfrey, he pitched great going, 7 2/3 giving up just three hits, one earned run, three walks, and four strike outs. Too bad the Mets offense was no where to be seen.
The Mets got just five hits yesterday and have been pathetic at the plate the entire series-and pretty much the entire season. David Wright, Carlos Delgado, Ryan Church, Ramon Castro all had 0-fers yesterday. Wright’s average is down to .268. And when the Mets did get on base, they apparently forgot how to run the bases. In the eight inning, Jose Reyes lead off with an infield hit, Luis Castillo came up to bunt which was supposed to move Reyes to second and would have except Reyes’ aggressive nature got him in trouble, he noticed that no one was covering third and decided to try and take two bases on the sac bunt, however, Aaron Boone threw a perfect strike to Christian Guzman who beat Reyes in a footrace to the bag and like that Reyes was tagged out at third base for the second out of the inning.
Here is my question though, what was Willie Randolph doing? Why is Castillo bunting there? Isn’t Reyes supposed to get a chance to actually steal a base? Isn’t that what he does? Then once he steals second then maybe bunt him over to third? You know from watching Mets games, when Reyes in on first with the threat of a steal, it puts a lot of pressure on an opposing pitcher. Randolph jumped the gun there, he has to let it play out; he has said more than once that he thinks Castillo is still there best two hole hitter, so then let him do his thing Willie. Seriously, I know it was a tight game, I know the Mets needed to win, but it all seemed to not make sense. Maybe you can tell that there is a sense of urgency and that everything is not all ok, like Randolph likes to make it sound. It is getting a little late in the season to say that it is still early. The Mets have been terrible. Not just this season, but dating back to the end of last year. In fact, in a whole calendar year, the Mets are a .500 team. And we all know with the money they have spent and with the talent on this team, they are way under achieving.
I think we are starting to get some insight into the dynamics of the Mets Clubhouse. Billy Wagner pretty much put it out there yesterday when he made comments to the New York newspaper reporters and reiteratied his point again on his weekly radio spot, his point was that everyone has to be held accountable, and that he is sick of the other guys not holding up their end of the bargain. It seems he was talking about the Carloses. Rarely do either Beltran or Delgado answer questions, however yesterday, Carlos Beltran was available to the press and did answer some questions, but more often than not, guys like David Wright and Billy Wagner are left to answer for their teammates. Paul LoDuca said basically the same thing last year, but it turned into a problem because his comments came across as racist, he said some thing to the affect of, talk to those guys over there, they speak English. But like Wagner and Wright this year, last year LoDuca was often the go to guy for quotes because other guys didn’t make themselves available to the press.
The fact is, the guys who have a lot to do with how poorly the team is playing right now, don’t seem to want to be accountable. Even Aaron Heilman, who is a head case and who just stinks right now, even he answers questions after he has a terrible outing. Now I am not a huge Heilman fan right now, but I respect the fact that he stood in there and answered questions about why he stinks!
Mets fans get killed here local on sport talk radio and in the newspapers for booing this Mets team-and while I’m not really one for booing I understand. This is what is it, and this is New York. These guys make a lot of money, they have a strong fan base, and they get a lot of media attention, but some how they don’t want to be accountable. I think they have really fragile egos, and I think the Carloses are the biggest of the babies. Enough is enough and if these guys don’t get this figured out soon, Willie Randolph is going to be standing on an unemployment line-and I’m starting to think that might not be a bad place for him right now.
The Mets start a three game series with the last place New York Yankees tonight. Johan Santana will pitch for the Mets and the Yankees will send Darrell Rasner to the mound. Game time is set for 7:05 pm.
