Happy Recap: Mets 7 Cubs 6

Oh the angst of being a Mets fan. After the most disheartening loss of the season, comes the most exhilirating win.

I know there are a lot of complaints about Carlos Beltran but say what you want, add this to a growing list of incredibly clutch base hits he's gotten during his career with the Mets. He'll forever be dogged by the strikeout against Adam Wainwright in the 2006 NLCS, but this was a hit, a run, a game, the Mets absolutely had to have -- and he delivered it.

Meanwhile David Wright struck out again. This time he did it with Reyes on first, but another big situation where he couldn't even put bat to ball. At least he got a sacrifice fly in the first inning.

I'd love to know what was going on with Daniel Murphy there. Did he miss signs, was Manuel giving the swing away motion to trick the Cubs? Either way he never should have been bunting in the first place. The play isn't beneficial to run production even with a good bunter at bat and pparently he's never had a sac bunt in pro baseball. I understand Reyes couldn't steal because it was muddy, but Murphy has a great chance of getting Reyes over by reaching base himself, without using an out. And once he looked so clueless they should have yelled "swing away" to make sure he took his hacks.

Ryan Church was awesome in this game, but his three hits were the least of his contributions. His amazing adroitness to avoid the tag when he scored the tying run was really the key (other than Beltran's hit) to winning this game.





The Mets also got amazing contributions from Robinson Cancel and Ramon Martinez. I think Manuel has to play Martinez, even if it's only three more good games, that's all they need.



Of course Pedro sucked as he has done so often this year. But after he allowed a run to leadoff the 3rd, he buckled down and gave up only 2 hits, one walk over the next four innings, while striking out 6. He showed some guts which will eventually separate him from the other Hall of Famer whose last Mets start was an absolute disaster.

Stokes, Schoeneweis and Smith all did their jobs to keep the Cubs at 6 long enough for the Mets to stage a comeback. No reliever is blameless in this season but it's no accident that Joe Smith is 6-3 while Aaron Heilman is 3-8.

It should be noted that this monumental win came against a Cubs team that sat its five best offensive players, all of whom hit more than 20 homers this year. And still, someone named Micah Hoffpauir went 5 for 5 with 2 homers and 5 RBI.

But anyway you slice this team has a habit of lifting fans up, then letting them down with a thud. But for now the Mets are tied with the wild card, a game behind the Phillies and looking to make the playoffs, or crash once again.

Unhappy Recap: Braves 4 Mets 2

The Mets can't win when they don't score 5 runs and they can't win when Pedro pitches.

He is absolutely awful. He puts them in a huge hole every time out, usually giving up only one run in the first inning, this time it was 3. But if it weren't for his bat the Mets would have gotten shut out.

A good job by Schoeneweis to at least keep the game close. And it was nice to see Parnell come into the game as well.

The 4th run for the Braves did come as the result of a bad call at second base. Jones was clearly out at second.

I have never seen Ramon Castro look worse in an at bat than he did striking out in the 7th inning with Castillo on base. In fact he looked like Castillo does in every at bat, where he just flails at the ball.

Castillo did get one hit, improving his September batting average to .154.

David Wright got two of the Mets hits which is nice because they really need him to play better at bat and in the field.

Unhappy Recap: Nationals 7 Mets 2

I think I've been on this ride before, and I want to get off. It seems like a lot of things from last year are starting to repeat themselves. Mainly, there was a huge psychological component to last year's meltdown and it already seems that doubt is creeping into the minds of Mets players and especially Mets fans.

I think that's why we saw Mets fans booing Luis Castillo (even though he'd been out for weeks) and Luis Ayala (even though he'd been doing fairly well as closer before Sunday) at Shea this weekend. Or maybe they just don't like players named Luis.

A big question coming down the stretch is going to be about Jerry Manuel's handling of the bullpen. It's clear that his strategy right now is to pitch the starters as long as possible, and the relievers as short as possible. He has shown that he doesn't want righties to face lefties or lefties to face righties. Unfortunately, this strategy maximizes the number of relievers he is going to use in each game. So every time a guy gets a few batters out, Manuel removes him, which is basically rolling the dice.

This bit him in the ass in the 7th inning. After Ricardo Rincon retired 2 batters with no problem, Manuel went to Duaner Sanchez who gave up a walk, a single, a wild pitch and a 3-run homer to put the game completely out of reach.



Before this outing however, Sanchez had pitched 4 1/3 in his last 5 appearances allowing only 1 hit and no runs.

I think Manuel needs to adjust this strategy by leaving in guys who are going good and diminishing the number of pitchers he uses in each game and the number of outings for each pitcher over the next two weeks.

Because this slide (should it continue) has such a huge psychological component, I think David Wright's double play in the 8th was a huge hit to the team's confidence. Even if they could have cut the lead to 7-4 or 7-5 and still lost, it wouldn't seem like such a blowout.

Wright, Beltran and Delgado were a combined 0 for 11 in this game. The Mets need them to regain their form, or they can definitely kiss this season goodbye.

Bobby Parnell looked good in his inning, maybe he can contribute out of the bullpen.

Pedro Martinez is terrible. The Mets are now 7-13 when he starts. First off, he seems to allow a run in the 1st inning of every single game. And as I talk about a lot in this space, the Mets usually pick up an advantage by scoring first, Pedro almost always gives away that advantage. But he just gives up so many hits and so many runs. He has a 5.47 ERA, most guys would be out of the rotation if they pitched that poorly for three straight months, but the Mets continue to rely on him, for at least 2 more starts.

Unhappy Recap: Phillies 6 Mets 2

The Mets picked the wrong time to play one of their worst games of the year.

The offense was non-existent as the Mets didn't get a hit to the outfield until the 8th inning, when they got 2 runs.

But it was too little too late because Pedro got bombed.

There isn't too much else to analyze from this game because the Mets never really had a chance. There were no strategic turning points. The Mets couldn't hit Moyer and Pedro got bombed, that's the recap in its simplest form.

Greg Dobbs has 3 of his 8 home runs this season against the Mets.

Happy Recap: Mets 6 Marlins 2

The Mets needed this game to avoid losing the series. As long as they keep winning series I think they will be all right.

Carlos Beltran came through with a big home run to answer the Marlins' 2-run first inning.

After that they got back-to-back homers from Nick Evans and David Wright to take the lead.

And Pedro pitched pretty well after his rough first inning. He put tons of guys on in the first three innings but then retired 8 in a row to build the bridge to the bullpen.

Manuel was able to manipulate the bullpen to get Schoeneweis and Heilman through the 7th, then Feliciano and Smith in the 8th and turned it over to Brian Stokes in the 9th. Right now Stokes is the Mets most reliable reliever, but like everyone else he seems to pitch everyday (5 of the last 6 games) so he'll likely break down eventually, like everyone else.

But the key here was the Mets added insurance runs in the 7th on hits from Reyes and Church and tacked one more on with a sacrifice fly from Beltran.

That cushion seemed to give the bullpen the confidence to pitch 3 good innings and close this victory out.

Unhappy Recap: Phillies 8 Mets 7

Another absolute disaster against the Phillies. This loss was so awful it threatens to torpedo the whole season the way the series of bad losses to them did last year. I just can't fathom how this continues to happen.

Once again the bullpen failed, but it was the least of the team's problems. Pedro Feliciano is not getting anyone out right now. In his last four appearances, totaling 2 innings, he's allowed 6 hits and a walk. So he's more likely to put a man on, then to get him out.

Luis Ayala landed with a thud, blowing his first save as a Met. But Brian Schneider really should have fielded that ball, and Werth would have been out. Amazing how thin a line it is between incredible victory and crushing defeat.

Aaron Heilman actually pitched three scoreless innings, despite his best efforts to blow the game by constantly getting behind hitters and putting men on.

I think Schoeneweis got a little unlucky to lose this game, Victorino just ripped one down the line, putting it in the right spot.

The biggest reason they lost was Pedro Martinez. He was getting a lot of strikeouts but he put so many batters on, eventually it was going to catch up to him and it did in the 5th inning.

But even more inexlpicable is the consistent inability of the offense to score any runs late in games. Even more shocking in contrast to the constant instant offense nearly every first inning.

As bad as this loss was, the Mets have Santana going and can regain first place if he turns in another masterpiece. But he's probably going to need to pitch a complete game to earn the victory.

Happy Recap: Mets 5 Braves 4

Another exciting victory where Carlos Delgado came through in the clutch. But you have to admit his 5 for 5 in the box score is a little specious. His last two "hits" were both pretty much errors by the Braves. And if Infante doesn't lose the ball in the lights Delgado is a goat.

And maybe if Ohman covers first on time on Delgado's grounder in the 7th, the Mets would have lost this game.

But once again, the Mets were up against a bad team, a bad team that made mistakes, and the Mets capitalized on them. And that's all that matters.

Pedro pitched pretty well, and settled down after that leadoff homer. Why is he having so many problems in the first inning this year? He's allowed 5 homers and 14 runs in 14 1st innings. But I love the fact that he bounced back from a rough 6th inning and pitched a great 7th, and even tried to get back out there for the 8th.

After Pedro left the Mets got a little bit lucky when a bad bunt turned into a double play. But Pedro Feliciano insisted on trying to blow the game. But evidently Luis Ayala hasn't been here long enough to know he's supposed to blow the game because he cleaned up Feliciano's mess, then pitched a scoreless 9th, and got his second win of the season, first as a Met.

Happy Recap: Mets 7 Pirates 4

Once again the Mets bullpen had to make this one exciting. I guess this will end talk that Eddie Kunz should be the closer. I think this is the way Manuel has to do it, rely on matchups.

Another good start by Pedro Martinez, definitely his best of the year. In his last 6 starts Pedro is 2-1 with a 2.48 ERA, not allowing more than 3 runs in any of them. I think he is once again getting back to being a finesse pitcher, throwing more curveballs than fastballs.

The worst moment of the game for Pedro was when he almost got run down by Jose Reyes. Reyes homered in the first and tripled in the second, scoring both times. Right now Reyes has better numbers across the board in the average categories then he did in his breakout season of 2006. He won't do as well in the counting categories of runs and RBI because the team isn't as good. But after one bad month last season, the Mets really have nothing to worry about with him, he's awesome.

Of course, I have to mention Ramon Castro who seems to do something every time he plays.

I know these are bad teams the Mets are playing but winning 5 in a row is winning 5 in a row. The Mets are scoring first, pitching well and avoiding disasters by the bullpen.

Unhappy Recap: Pirates 7 Mets 5

Another unmitigated disaster as the Mets continue to try the same thing, expecting different results. These relief pitchers, in these roles, are not working. Something has to be done beyond crossing our fingers and hoping Aaron Heilman figures it out.

Aaron Heilman sucks. There's no surprise he's lost 7 games each of the past 2 years. He's terrible, especially in the clutch. He should be a mop-up guy and nothing more, ever.

Joe Smith faded at the end of last year and is fading again now. He can't get anyone out and they might need to demote him to make room for someone else.

Pedro Feliciano also sucks, but Manuel doesn't give him a chance, only giving him one batter at a time.

Their ERAs since the All-Star break, Heilman 11.66, Smith 12.91 and Feliciano 7.56. You can't win like that. The Mets need to try something different to get this bullpen, the most obvious of which would be making Eddie Kunz the closer and seeing how he does while Wagner is injured.

Pedro Martinez deserved better. He pitched really well but unfortunately he threw 99 pitches and obviously Jerry Manuel thought his bullpen could hold a 4-run lead, even though they've proven so many times they can't.

The offense produced 5 runs, which should have been enough, but it never is with this bullpen. Which is why the offense needs to pick up the slack and score even more runs.

In the fourth inning, Evans doubled and Wright and Beltran stranded him.
In the seventh, Wright go to third with one out and Tatis couldn't hit a sacrifice fly.
And in the eighth, Wright struck out with two men on.

This is just the latest example of why this team is going nowhere this season. Digusting.

Unhappy Recap: Padres 4 Mets 2

Another tough loss where the Mets did everything wrong.

They couldn't get a key hit, they made a key error and the bullpen gave up an add-on run making a comeback impossible.

And their starting pitcher dug them an early hole by giving up 2 more home runs. Other than that Pedro was pretty good but I don't understand why he is allowing so many homers this season. He's now allowed 13 homers in 56 innings (roughly 1 in 4) which is absolutely atrocious.

David Wright did not get fooled by the spin on that ball. He took his eye off the ball.

Carlos Beltran is in a terrible slump and he is killing the team right now. It's the same thing we had most of the season with Delgado. A free out in the middle of the lineup, especially when runners are on base.

You can't kill Eddie Kunz for allowing a run but he's going to fight right in with the rest of the Mets bullpen.

Once again the Mets need Santana to pitch a great game to avoid losing a series to the one of the worst teams in the league.

Unhappy Recap: Astros 7 Mets 3

This is the game that proves the Mets did the right thing by not making any trades at the deadline. This team is a .500 team. Take out that 10-game winning streak and they're actually below .500. They have a hot offense but they still can't get a hit in the clutch. They have a horrible bullpen and they have 3 good starters and 2 huge question marks in the rotation.

It is inexcusable how this team constantly leaves runners on base. Bases loaded and no one out and they don't score? In the 7th inning of a tie game. And it happens all the time with this team. As I've been saying that's the biggest reason this team isn't going anywhere, they can't hit in key spots with men on base. For two weeks they were hitting, not they're back to this mess. It's sickening to watch.

But now as sickening as watching this awful bullpen. This is the fourth time in 10 games that the bullpen has allowed 4 runs or more. This time it was Heilman, but they've all been guilty, except Wagner on this recent stretch.

And Pedro sucked again, but was actually better than he's been. He only allowed solo homers this time. He allows about 2 homers every 9 innings so far this year. If he stayed healthy for a full year he'd allow more than 40.

Happy Recap: Mets 3 Rockies 0

This is getting ridiculous now. The bullpen has now pitched 18 1/3 innings without giving up a run. That's about 17 1/3 innings more than we normally expect.

Mets pitchers have allowed 4 runs and 13 hits in the last 5 games. That's incredible. 3 hits 4 games in a row followed by a 1-hitter (the 33rd in franchise history).

I guess there might be a little worry about Pedro because he says he hurt his surgically repaired shoulder (though he says it happened because of his injured groin) which could land him back on the disabled list, but things are going too well right now to even worry about it.

Fernando Tatis got another key RBI when his easy grounder pushed through a drawn in infield after Beltran stole third base. That steal was key in setting up the run.

Reyes homered and the Mets tacked on another and that was more than enough to continue this incredible winning streak.

Happy Recap: Mets 10 Phillies 9

"They win the damn thing by a score of 10 to 9."

In a blog that pays daily tribute to the memory of Bob Murphy you knew I had to break that one out for this game. This meltdown was actually more subtle than the one in 1990 when Murphy made that comment.

As bad as this game seemed, I really think we should focus on the positive.

The Mets won, they took 3 of 4 from the Phillies, in Philadelphia, after losing the opener, a game in which Johan Santana pitched against J.A. Happ.

The offense is really pounding the ball, they have 48 hits in the last 3 games.

Endy Chavez had 3 more hits. The reaction to him is so funny. When he's playing everyday and doing poorly everyone says "he's exposed," but when he's playing everyday and doing well everyone says "he's in the groove because he's playing everyday." The truth is, he's a decent player who would probably be a weak outfielder if he were an everyday starter. But when he starts only in short spurts he has hot streaks and slumps, just like any other player. But the fact is, he's a near perfect number 2 hitter for this team (he lacks a little patience at the plate) and a Gold Glove caliber outfielder. He's started 8 of the last 9 games and is 16 for 37 (.432) over that span.

Damion Easley is also filling in remarkably well for Castillo, but I expect him to slow down because he is old. With his 3 hits in this one, he is now 14 out of 30 (.467) in 7 starts in July.

David Wright had another good game, bringing him to 70 RBI and Jose Reyes reached base and got things started.

And Pedro Martinez gave his second best effort of the season, looking a lot better in doing so. And dropped his ERA below 7.



But when he started to peter out in the 6th, that's when the trouble started.

Tony Armas allowed 3 runs, the last 2 on a disputed home run by Ryan Howard. It should have been called a double. The obnoxious Phillies fan had his arms so far over the wall it was at least possible the ball wouldn't have gone out. In which case it has to be called a ground rule double. At the time it seemed meaningless, but it loomed large later.

Heilman got out of that inning but allowed 2 more runs of his own.

Then came Billy Wagner. All you can judge a closer on is saves and blown saves. And he got the job done here. So while I am still very worried about him down the stretch in crucial games, he got the save here, and for a closer that's all that matters.



And for a team too. If they had held on to the 10-1 lead or if they eked out a 10-9 victory, it counts the same in the standings.

And right now the standings are looking pretty good for the Mets. They're over .500 for the first time in more than a month. They're only 2 losses behind the Phillies and they've possibly exorcised some of last season's demons by beating the Phillies 7 of 10 times so far this season.

A win is a win and the Mets needed one, and got one.

Unhappy Recap: Cardinals 8 Mets 7

Another atrocious start by Pedro Martinez. No one has the right to expect him to be the Pedro of old, but this guy is horrible right now. He is getting bombed pretty consistently every time out. If his name were Jose Lima or Claudio Vargas he would have been released by now.

Carlos Beltran did have a big hit but he continues to frustrate me with his inability to get home runners from third with fewer than 2 outs. I cannot understand why it is so hard for the Mets to hit sacrifice flies.

And of course with this horrible bullpen a 2-run lead is not nearly enough.

Pedro Feliciano has been absolutely awful lately, even though his stats don't necessarily reflect that.

The Mets offense battled back from 4-0 and 5-4 deficits but this offense has only so many bullets in their gun.

And that's what makes this loss so heart breaking, because we've been waiting all season for this team to battle back from a deficit, and they finally did, and took the lead, and the bullpen blew it.

Just another example of why this team can't get a foothold and break free above .500.

Unhappy Recap: Yankees 9 Mets 0

Man does Pedro suck. We've been waiting three years for him to come back and be a good pitcher and he is absolutely awful.

But this is what a .500 team is like. Score 15 runs in the first game of a doubleheader, get shutout in the second game.

Combined score in the two games, Yankees 15 Mets 15.

We keep trying to deny it and holding onto hope but facts are facts, this is a .500 team.

But the Mets did have their chances early in this one but left the bases loaded in the second and third innings. The first time it was bases loaded and no outs.

Although it wouldn't have mattered if Pedro pitched the way he did. He allowed 11 base runners in 5 2/3 and the 6 runs allowed ballooned his ERA up to 7.12 in 30 1/3 innings overall.

He's had one good game, one decent game and four horrible games. Yet everyone praises Pedro and thinks he's great but those same people want to send Oliver Perez to the bullpen even though he has a 1 to 1 good to horrible start ratio.

The Mets need more out of Pedro.

Unhappy Recap: Rockies 7 Mets 1

It seems like we've been waiting for three years for Pedro to come back from injury. And now he finally is back, and he's terrible. I don't want to hear that he had four good innings, he got bombed. No one expects him to be anywhere near as good as the old Pedro but he needs to be as good as Maine and Perez to be a solid 4th starter. And right now he's not even as good as Pelfrey.

The Mets got a run off Ubaldo Jimenez in the first on a Reyes triple, then nothing. Literally nothing. The next hit didn't come until the 8th inning. And Jimenez was 1-7 coming into this game.

At least for once the pitching and hitting sucked in the same game, usually it's one or the other. But the bullpen pitched decently well, 3 2/3 with only one run allowed.

Now the Mets put themselves in the unfortunate position of having to win the rubber game in order to take series and make this a winning road trip. If they lose they will continue to be what they've always been, a .500 team.

Happy Recap: Mets 4 Rangers 2

At least the Mets salvaged one game from the doubleheader and got the win in the series but with the hole they're in they need to start sweeping series, not just winning them.

Pedro pitched very well for 6 innings. Willie had to take him out when he did though. As nervous as the bullpen makes me you have to pinch hit with the bases loaded and 2 outs in a time game.

Luckily Robinson Cancel came through, the third big hit by a bench player in the doubleheader.

It was nice to see Billy Wagner bounce back with a save. Especially a strong 1-2-3 inning with 2 strikeouts.

Unhappy Recap: Padres 8 Mets 6

Another disastrous loss for the Mets. They are fading fast and in big trouble.

There is never a good time to blow a save but it sure seems like Billy Wagner always picks the worst times to do it. He's been excellent so far this year, yet he still has 3 blown saves.

I don't blame Willie for going to Wagner early, he needed to manage this game desperately, and he felt if he could get out of the 8th, Wagner would be ok for the 9th. But he wasn't.

I think the Mets lost this game when Pedro gave back the 3-run lead in the first inning. Right now I think this team is very weak mentally and when Pedro blew that lead I think they thought "here we go again."

Two Mets did play a great game, first Endy Chavez who should be playing everyday and batting second. He has a great arm and a great head for the game. That drag bunt was perfect. He's the only guy on the team who makes those little plays that win games.

And Carlos Delgado got 3 hits for the second straight day.

Carlos Beltran looked like he wanted no part of Hoffman in the 9th inning.

7 1/2 games behind the red hot Phillies with games against the Diamondbacks, Rangers and Angels coming up. Things are not looking very good right now.

Happy Recap: Mets 9 Giants 6

That turned out to be a little more difficult than it should have been, but a win is a win and I'll take it.

And Scott Schoeneweis has been so great this season that I'll forgive him this trespass if he promises never to do it again in a closer game.

I have mixed reviews on Pedro's comeback. He started off well, but lost his steam and only lasted 6 innings. I'm willing to concede that maybe he let up a little once he got the big lead. He did throw a lot of pitches but remember, he's recovering from a leg injury, not an arm injury.



Pedro even got two hits and exhibited some of his trademark enthusiasm which many are convinced will turn the Mets around.



There's not much to say about the Mets 4th inning other than it was awesome and they need to keep it going.

The Mets have now won 6 of 8 games, which is great, except they lost 7 of the 8 games before that.

Jose Reyes's 18-game hitting streak is over but he set a Mets record by reaching base in his 34th straight game, the most in one season.

Unhappy Recap: Marlins 5 Mets 4

I'm not going to freak out about 1 loss, especially this early in the season, but this one was about as bad as it gets.

The most important problem is obviously Pedro's injury. But Mets fans can't blame this on bad luck. The team is full of old broken down guys who can't stay healthy. This is part of the deal. In fact when the Mets signed Pedro after the 2004 season I said it was a bad move because by the time the team was good enough, he'd be too old, and too injured to help. He had a great first year on a mediocre team, he missed the second half of the second year, and pitched 5 games the third year. It looks like the Mets may have given $56 million to a cheerleader and recruiter.

Hopefully that's not the case, but this doesn't look good.

And is it more or less discouraging that Pedro was in the midst of getting bombed when he got injured?

I'm not too pissed about Matt Wise allowing the game winning homer because that's what happens when your bullpen is called on early and your 5th best guy is pitching in extra innings. But every team in the majors has a weak link in the back of their bullpen. Hopefully over the course of the season the Mets will win more games against other teams' bad relievers than other teams do against Wise, etc.

Carlos Delgado struck out with two men on, then popped out weakly with Wright on first.

Angel Pagan looks awesome and could be a good fillin for the 80 to 100 games that Alou is going to miss.