Another Typical Ballgame

It's a little difficult to get too exasperated over last night's game because you could have seen the final outcome a mile away. After Santana gutted out 8 innings and left with a 7-5 lead, after Rodriguez blew the save in the 9th, probably because it seems like he hasn't pitched in weeks, it came down to an extra inning game where the outcome seemed to have been already scripted out.

Start with Brian Stokes on the mound, in what probably should have been a 1-inning effort. Let him get through the inning and take it from there. 1 pitch and Molina is done. But Nooooooooooooooo! Here comes Jerry "By the Book" Manuel to remove him from the game in favor of Pedro Feliciano. Feliciano subsequently gives up a hit to the guy he was brought in to get out, follows that up with another hit, and a walk. By the 2nd hit, I've tuned out the game. I'm waiting for the dagger now. He's coming at some point, you know that. But Feliciano rebounds to strike out Schumaker, and maybe there's a glimmer of hope. Noooooooooo! again! Here comes Mr. Book to take Feliciano out of the game in favor of perhaps the last guy anyone wants to see in a situation like this, Sean Green. He had a chance to let Stokes, who is probably the most underutilized guy he's got, get through the inning, he had a chance to let Feliciano get out of his own jam, but Nooooooooo! He just HAD to go to Green. And he was richly rewarded for his decision. First pitch drills DeRosa on the arm to force in the lead run. And before the Met fan had finished cursing Green's fate, Pujols, as if on cue, drilled a Grand Slam to put the game to bed and, assumedly send 95% of the crowd to the exits.

There are games where the Mets play like idiots and they deserve to lose. Last night, I don't think any of the Mets played like idiots, I think the Manager managed the game like an idiot. And not so much the game as much as the last inning of the game. Seems like we've seen more than our fair share of those games, too. But, again, how exasperated can you get over a game like this? It's more or less a good example of how this season has gone.