Further Down The Spiral

I'm not done.

My Postgame rant was short circuited by my overt hatred for #8 in the whatever the hell the color Philly wears, but nonetheless, there's more you can say about the events of early this morning or last night or whenever. I think my point was fairly clear, but in case it got lost in the virtual screaming and swearing, here it is again.

Last night's game proved what the general consensus in the league is: You can't take the Mets seriously, and you can always beat them if you catch them at the right moment. And last night was a prime example. The Makeup against Pittsburgh. The games in July vs. Philly. They've done it all season long, and they did it last year too. It's the sign of a team that has no guts, no heart and no Killer Instinct. Last year, it was exploited to the point of embarrassment. Teams that fall behind against good teams, and I mean GOOD teams, like, say, the Angels, when they fall behind, they know the game's over. The Angels will outhit you, bury you, and if it's close, they bring in guys like Shields and Francisco Rodriguez and get the fucking job done. End of story (Yes, I know). A team like the Pirates would piss their pants and go cry for their mommy. But not against the Mets. Teams always play against the Mets until the last out, because they don't respect the Mets, and the Mets will, every so often, spit it up like last night, and this lets teams, be they good, bad or whatever, that you'd better always play hard against the Mets, because if you can knock their starter out in the 5th or 6th, there's no guarantee that they can piece together the rest of the game. And this happens over and over and over and it's costing the Mets games, and big games against their chief rival, and ruining the confidence and the sanity of their fans, who, after the way this season has gone, can't tell up from down anymore.

To make matters worse, the Mets bullpen actually didn't pitch a bad game last night, if you cherry pick the guys you saw. Sanchez, Ayala and Schoeneweis were the ones who got tagged, in case you missed it. But then you have the chief whipping boy, Heilman, and his 9.90 ERA for August come in and throw 3 scoreless, albeit sweaty, innings. This bullpen is schizophrenic. You don't know who's going to show up! Is it the good Heilman, or the Heilman who walks 2 guys and gives up a 3-run HR? Is it the good Schoeneweis, or the Schoeneweis who gives up a leadoff triple? And this changes on a day-to-day basis. There's two starters right now who have proven themselves as bonafide innings eaters, and one of them is pushing a limit he's never been pushed to before. But can you blame Manuel for pushing him further? Consider the alternative!

Santana tonight, and if you don't think this is the biggest start he's made all season, well, then the Mets have already pushed you over the edge. The rest of us are pretty close to it.