Pedro beaten as Mets lose to Nats 7-2

Technically, should the Mets fail to win the National League East this season, it can't really be categorized as a collapse.

[MetMachine]

This game is on the offense - but a few notes. Pedro is finished...he struggles vs the Nats. Hang 'em up Pedro.

What is Manuel doing pulling Rincon who was cruising...to put in Sanchez who is awful? Absolutely ridiculous. Let these unknowns pitch. I don't want to see Heilman, Sanchez, or Schoenweis for the rest of the year. Just bench these bums....enough already.

And lastly - start Argenis Reyes at 2B, or Dan Murphy at 2B...the Mets need his bat in there. Luis Castillo his a human piece of garbage. He can't field. He has no range. And he probably is the worst position player hitter in baseball. I can't stand looking at him. If he's in the lineup tomorrow night, the Mets have a serious problem. Ever since he returned, and now starting - the Mets have sucked. He's the cancer to this team.

[dud dew]

When this writer and others promised this was a team different enough to escape another swoon, a handful of us pointed out that would only be known after the games of mid and late September.
It' was an open question before all the baseless suppositions during the long prologue of a season, and it still is. Personally, I've been from Missouri regarding this team in 2007 and 2008. They will have to show me...
They've done a pretty nice job holding the fort despite wave after wave of injuries, so kudos to the guys on the field, Jerry and his coaches. On the other hand, Omar and Co. have to take a hit here - most of these boo-boos were of the too-easily predicted kind. A GM can only hide behind a rash of unexpected misfortune, not the virtually guaranteed stuff:-)

[Busey]

good bullpen

[Jim]

Uh Oh!!!

[Jim]

Hey KAT-how's that Pedro prediction that you made holding up???

[Lenny]

Met fans ought to be proud of Pedro. He averaged less than 8 wins a year over his 4 year 60 million dollar contract. Amazing!! What will be even more amazing is another choke just like last year. What a beautiful thing that would be. Willie Randolph is probably laughing right now and we Yankee fans are laughing along with him at what the Mets are now doing.

[PhillyFan]

Mets lose again tonight guys?? LOL just give up. Its happenning again !!!

[saLvo]

Lenny wrote:

Met fans ought to be proud of Pedro. He averaged less than 8 wins a year over his 4 year 60 million dollar contract. Amazing!! What will be even more amazing is another choke just like last year. What a beautiful thing that would be. Willie Randolph is probably laughing right now and we Yankee fans are laughing along with him at what the Mets are now doing.

--
As a Met fan, I am almost kind of glad to see Pedro so consistently subpar because it was probable that Minaya and Co. would bring him back next year if Martinez threw a gem once every 6-7 weeks.
--
But as it is, Pedro won't be back and he'll leave less than half the wins that Steve Tracshel collected as a Met.
--
Adios, Pedro....good luck to you and your rooster-fighting entrepreneurship.

[Jim]

Pedro and ElDuque have a 9am mtg on Wednesday with Omar to sign their new long term deals!

[GulfCoastMet]

MetMachine wrote:

This game is on the offense - but a few notes. Pedro is finished...he struggles vs the Nats. Hang 'em up Pedro.
What is Manuel doing pulling Rincon who was cruising...to put in Sanchez who is awful? Absolutely ridiculous. Let these unknowns pitch. I don't want to see Heilman, Sanchez, or Schoenweis for the rest of the year. Just bench these bums....enough already.
And lastly - start Argenis Reyes at 2B, or Dan Murphy at 2B...the Mets need his bat in there. Luis Castillo his a human piece of garbage. He can't field. He has no range. And he probably is the worst position player hitter in baseball. I can't stand looking at him. If he's in the lineup tomorrow night, the Mets have a serious problem. Ever since he returned, and now starting - the Mets have sucked. He's the cancer to this team.

Agreed 100%. Castillo coming back was the worst thing that could happen. This was a fiery team with Easley and A. Reyes in there.

Also, the next time one of those SOBs walks the first batter he faces, Jerry should be on the mound yanking him before the runner even makes it to first. If the Mets are going to lose, I'd rather it be while trying with some of these call-ups instead of just watching those same jabronis make the same bad pitches over and over again.

Regardless of the season's outcome, Minaya needs to be unemployed by October. How in the heck can you not even ATTEMPT to fix this team's biggest weakness during the last off-season?

[AZGMenFan]

Lenny wrote:

Met fans ought to be proud of Pedro. He averaged less than 8 wins a year over his 4 year 60 million dollar contract. Amazing!!

Yeah but if you ask Omar and Wilpon they'll tell you Pedro put fannys in the seats. That's all they care about...Marketing!!!

[kcj]

how many games has the bullpen lost in the 9th inning? i believe its like 11 or 12. games like this shouldnt really matter bc if the mets had a bullpen they would be leading the division by a very healthy margin and have the best record in the NL. the angels and yankees have both proven what its like to have a great reliever. the mets still dont get it.

[Lunacy]

CHOKE

Pity, shame

[Steve]

What slide? Isn't this what the Mets are supposed to do?

[Joe Torre]

Lenny wrote:

Met fans ought to be proud of Pedro. He averaged less than 8 wins a year over his 4 year 60 million dollar contract. Amazing!! What will be even more amazing is another choke just like last year. What a beautiful thing that would be. Willie Randolph is probably laughing right now and we Yankee fans are laughing along with him at what the Mets are now doing.

Enjoying 4th place much?

[Amused]

Lenny wrote:

Met fans ought to be proud of Pedro. He averaged less than 8 wins a year over his 4 year 60 million dollar contract. Amazing!! What will be even more amazing is another choke just like last year. What a beautiful thing that would be. Willie Randolph is probably laughing right now and we Yankee fans are laughing along with him at what the Mets are now doing.

It's true, Minaya's Mets are playing at the level they are capable of. This is directly due to the terrible job Minaya has done over the last several years. He has a handle on how to choose mediocre and aging players over good prospects. Minaya makes it painful for me to be a Mets fan.

Oh yeah ... hey Lenny ... how do you have time to laugh at the Mets when your group of circus freaks in the Bronx continue to play sub par ball? Criticize your own losers.

[jimsha]

I guess all the fun they had sunday, after two extremely disapointing loses to the Braves, by hazing the rookies took a lot out of them. One hit in 7 innings to cy Lannan. It's so good to see that their focus is primed, and they understand the situation. I guess the last three head sratching losses to the cellar dweller is not surprizing considering what time of the year it is. OH yeah, another bases loaded failure. One run for the last 5 bases loaded situations. Way to understand whats at stake as Wright says.

[Todd Schuster]

Omar Papaya has got to go. With this shoddy bullpen & Luis Castillo, it's ging to be deja vu all over again. Another choke is in the works. Time to rid Duaner, Heilman, Schoeneweis, Castillo for a bag of golf balls 18 million dollars worth & a new GM who knows what the hell he's doing. I'd still keep Manuel. He's doing a pretty good job despit the bad bullpen. Also Petey must hang it up. HE'S D-O-E-N. DOEN!!!! to paraphrase Jerome from Manhattan. By the way Lenny enjoy your first offseason in 13 years without playoffs. Girardi some manager. You would've been better off with Torre who's on his way to the playoffs. What an insult.

[MIKE NJ]

kcj wrote:

how many games has the bullpen lost in the 9th inning? i believe its like 11 or 12. games like this shouldnt really matter bc if the mets had a bullpen they would be leading the division by a very healthy margin and have the best record in the NL. the angels and yankees have both proven what its like to have a great reliever. the mets still dont get it.

Ya and if the Phils had Walter Johnson, Cy Young, Christy Mathewson in our rotation we'd be blowing you guys away too. Stop making excuses and play with the hand you're dealt.

[New Yorker in Florida]

kcj wrote:

how many games has the bullpen lost in the 9th inning? i believe its like 11 or 12. games like this shouldnt really matter bc if the mets had a bullpen they would be leading the division by a very healthy margin and have the best record in the NL. the angels and yankees have both proven what its like to have a great reliever. the mets still dont get it.

You are on point here. Every team (Big Red Machine, Bronx Bombers of the 60s, pitching rich Dodgers - you name them) starts out knowing that there are going to be about 40 games thrown your way where the other team's pitcher has best game of his season and/or your starter comes out flat. It's winning most of the games where you have a 4-2 lead after 7 innings that determines if you are going to win 95-100 games. The Mets are at the very bottom of the league in this situation. Considering how many games they have played with LF, RF, 2B musical chairs - I would say that this team deserves some credit (minus the bullpen). Omar helped make some of that happen as the fill-in players are from the system. He also put together the bullpen that looked so good for almost all of 2006. Many of those guys contributed to the collapse (if not outright responsible for it). It was hard for me to tell if these relievers just slumped at the wrong time or if they needed to be cleared out. But I am not payed mega money to make that call. Omar is. He made a bad call. I am not thinking that there would be many teams that would have picked up these guys at their salary and after their performance last Sept but it seems now like they just lack the heart it takes to get over last year. This bares repeating : The Mets would be a couple of games behind the Cubs for best record if they had just an average bullpen. Not as good as Phillies pen has been - NO - just average. I have been upset with Reyes not getting on base enough and that when he was hot and seemed to be living on 2nd and 3rd base that Wright would just drive him in about 1/4 of the times but these guys (along w/Carlos and Carlos) can not be expected to drive in 150 runs and score 150 runs this season. They could have been better with tacking on runs but their numbers would have to be out of this world to account for what the bullpen has given up.
NOTE: Tack on runs are also easier to come by when the hitters are relaxed and the other team is mentally giving up - no Met hitter can ever relax and no team they play ever feels out of the game.
A bad bullpen is a cancer that roots itself into the team in too many ways to be accounted by just the runs they allow in late innings.