The last few days have featured some of the Mets worst baseball of the season. With Pedro likely headed to the DL for the 2nd time this season, joining Cliff Floyd, the Mets have dropped their first two games at Philadelphia by a combined score of 24-4. Pedro only lasted one inning before being removed with an injured calf and El Duque set a Mets club record for most earned runs allowed in one appearance with 11. The bats have died with the exception of Jose Reyes who drove in all 4 of their runs on the first 3 homer game of his career. The fielding has been a nightware to watch as Lastings Milledge continues to butcher play after play in RF. Still, the Shea faithful has nothing to worry about as the Mets sit firmly atop the NL East with a 13 game lead. No matter what happens over the next two months, the Mets have all but clinched the division. Pedro is going to head into October with a fresh arm to anchor the Mets staff, and that is the most important thing. We would all love to see him out there now but why? Keep him in pitching shape but out of game action as long as possible. The Mets are one of the only teams with the luxury of being able to rest their players at will. When guys are out or being rested and your playing games with not that much on the line, it is very difficult to play your best baseball. Over 162 games, streaks like this are going to happen. Over that long of a period you are guarenteed to witness some of the worst baseball possible. You will see errors, unearned runs, misplays, bobbles, strikeouts, and blowouts and wonder how this team is even in first place. Willie Randolph has done an amazing job so far in keeping the players minds off the huge division lead and focusing on today. They will go over their bumps in the road but never let it get out of hand. It is very painful to watch Lastings out there at times but this is valuable learning experience for him and should not be embraced by his home fans. Just like the rest of you, I would love to be watching an exciting post-season race with meaningful September games vs Atlanta. I would love to tune into ESPN everyday and check out all the scores in the NL East hoping the Braves and Phillies lost and were gaining ground. I would love to watch every game the rest of the way biting my nails with each pitch. But the fact of the matter is the Mets have let us down. They have turned over a new leaf with a new way of playing. They have taken meaningful August and September games away from their fans. Just remember, that is a good thing, and the meaningful games in October will feel much better. |
