Welcome to the NY Mets 2nd Annual Meltdown...
Okay, there's a need to vent, but I'll admit this one wasn't nearly as frustrating as last year's collapse. Perhaps I've matured. Perhaps I've lost hope. Not sure. In any event, I'd love to blame the bullpen, but everyone else is doing that already. Besides, let's for a moment suppose the Mets bullpen had only blown half as many leads as they did. Where would the Mets be? Yes, of course, they'd have locked up their division two weeks ago... Still, it's not their fault really*.
I blame the general manager, Omar Minaya. Exactly how many blown leads did he have to see before making a trade for a live arm - not saying a great reliever, those can be pretty scarce at season's end - just a couple of guys with ERAs a step or two away from double digits. A minor leaguer or two. They might have done a better job holding on to those giant leads the Mets Bullpen generally thought were just too large. Don't know how many times I saw the Mets had a half dozen run lead in late innings and checked back to hear they'd lost the game. Actually felt sorry for Johan Santana more than once though he's the millionaire and I'm the schmo.
Frankly, even if minor leaguers weren't available, Minaya could have had a talent search or something. Hell, I can give up back to back homeruns and that's pretty much what Met relievers were doing with regularity.
Of course, there's plenty of blame. With the exception of Santana, the Mets starters were not always stellar - Pedro Martinez is not the Pedro Martinez of old. Frankly, His gas tank seemed to be empty after forty pitches. Maybe he should have been in the bullpen...
And the offense was a bit thin. On the other hand, Reyes, Wright, Beltran, and Delgado hit the ball hard and put up great numbers and I don't think the Brewers (or the Phillies) have a substantially better offense though I haven't made any actual comparisons so I could easily be wrong on this.
Anyway, don't know whether to root for the Brewers or the Cubbies. Or maybe the Dodgers. What's their bullpen like?
* Unless you're a stickler for detail...and truth and things like that.
I blame the general manager, Omar Minaya. Exactly how many blown leads did he have to see before making a trade for a live arm - not saying a great reliever, those can be pretty scarce at season's end - just a couple of guys with ERAs a step or two away from double digits. A minor leaguer or two. They might have done a better job holding on to those giant leads the Mets Bullpen generally thought were just too large. Don't know how many times I saw the Mets had a half dozen run lead in late innings and checked back to hear they'd lost the game. Actually felt sorry for Johan Santana more than once though he's the millionaire and I'm the schmo.
Frankly, even if minor leaguers weren't available, Minaya could have had a talent search or something. Hell, I can give up back to back homeruns and that's pretty much what Met relievers were doing with regularity.
Of course, there's plenty of blame. With the exception of Santana, the Mets starters were not always stellar - Pedro Martinez is not the Pedro Martinez of old. Frankly, His gas tank seemed to be empty after forty pitches. Maybe he should have been in the bullpen...
And the offense was a bit thin. On the other hand, Reyes, Wright, Beltran, and Delgado hit the ball hard and put up great numbers and I don't think the Brewers (or the Phillies) have a substantially better offense though I haven't made any actual comparisons so I could easily be wrong on this.
Anyway, don't know whether to root for the Brewers or the Cubbies. Or maybe the Dodgers. What's their bullpen like?
* Unless you're a stickler for detail...and truth and things like that.
posted by Steven at
6:55 AM
1 Comments:
"I blame the general manager, Omar Minaya. Exactly how many blown leads did he have to see before making a trade for a live arm - not saying a great reliever, those can be pretty scarce at season's end - just a couple of guys with ERAs a step or two away from double digits. A minor leaguer or two. They might have done a better job holding on to those giant leads the Mets Bullpen generally thought were just too large."
I agree with you about Omar--he's got to go. But there was no more money for relievers--Omar had shoved all the money in gimpy-kneed Luis Castillo's pocket.
Pedro Martinez Says Goodbye to Shea Faithful
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