Reinforcements Needed

A busy week this week in Ballclubland, where events of a different kind have precluded me from watching, and in many cases even following, most of the games this week. I did, however, listen (halfheartedly) to Wednesday's game in Pittsburgh on the radio, but work things mostly ruled the day, and it appeared that the game was finished in a brisk 43 minutes, a Mets victory that featured a lot of good Jon Niese and not much of anything else. I missed the other games in Pittsburgh completely, but I gathered that they went, more or less, the same way for the Mets as Wednesday. Monday, they didn't generate much offense, and Santana had a couple of bad innings, and then the bullpen gagged in the 8th. Tuesday, more of the same. Little offense, but instead, R.A. Dickey didn't let the Pirates back into the game.

So, basically, the Mets won a series in spite of the fact that nobody hit very much, including David Wright, who appeared to fall into a 2-day slump that knocked his average all the way down to .403. Shameful, indeed.

Tonight, I know, involved rain, and a rain delay, the Mets' first such happening of the season. I only know this because I was buzzed by ESPN's ScoreCenter. It's that black hole in the rotation, so Jeremy Hefner was the latest in the shuffle to get the call, and, again, I didn't see it, but it appears he didn't pitch very well after having to sit for an hour. Against a team with no offense like the Padres, that isn't good, and it's doubly not good when the Mets aren't hitting against a team with no pitching, like the Padres. Somehow, the Mets generated 5 runs tonight, but it seems that by time that happened, the game was well out of reach and even the Padres couldn't spit it up.

So, OK. I missed a week, basically, and I still think I have a firm grip on what's going on. The Mike Pelfrey rotation spot is just turning into a disaster area, and I think the calls for Matt Harvey (continued solid in AAA) are going to get louder and louder as time passes. Without Thole and Tejada, the Mets continue to scuffle. Andres Torres is slumping. Jerry Hairston is Jerry Hairston. Ike Davis continues to scuffle, even if he's not going to the minors. Ronny Cedeno is playing more than Ronny Cedeno should be playing. And the lower part of the lineup appears to be hitting a combined .158. But, such is what happens in a Baseball season. Fortunately, the Mets have managed to tread water with these guys out to this point. But looking bad against bad teams doesn't help morale.

At least I didn't have to see most of it.