Come To Your Senses

And on Wednesday, Terry Collins wised up and fielded a "normal" lineup, featuring his pitcher, Bartolo Colon, batting 9th, where he should be batting. And Colon, sensing that he might need to help his own cause, driving a 6th inning double for his first hit in 8 seasons and in the process sparking a 2-run rally that would ultimately win the game for the Mets.

Strange as it may seem, Terry Collins decided, after two such successful games using his innovative and experimental pitcher batting 8th strategy, the project was abandoned and the Mets won a game. This doesn't prove anything in particular, really, but it's good, because conventional superstition would dictate that after two games of being innovative and experimental, and losing, followed by going back to normal and winning would mean that a) Tony LaRussa isn't always right and we should stop kissing his ass, and b) hopefully Terry Collins won't be so tempted to try this again. Of course one might think that the reason he decided to stop being innovative and experimental yesterday was probably because Bartolo Colon is a truly awful hitter even for a pitcher, today's hit notwithstanding, and not because he was ready to give it up. I guess if, tonight, we see Zack Wheeler batting 8th, we'll have our answer. Hopefully, he's batting 9th. 

But the story on Wednesday was less about the lineup and more about Bartolo Colon. Colon has, for whatever it's been worth, been the closest the Mets have had to a stopper of late. Niese has certainly pitched well and when he was healthy, so had Dillon Gee, but the rest of the rotation has been somewhat inconsistent. Bartolo Colon has not only pitched well, but he's won games, and Wednesday afternoon's sweaty affair in St. Louis was just such an example. The Mets didn't hit much, and that's nothing new, but the offense they did generate was enough for Colon, whose 8-inning, 86-pitch effort was so sorely needed, if nothing else to remind people that the Mets can, in fact, win a game, and I don't just mean win a game in St. Louis, where they rarely seem to win, but win a game in general. That hasn't happened much of late.

So, somehow, the Mets salvage a game in St. Louis and make something respectable out of it. Of course, they have the high pleasure of going from one place they rarely win to another place they rarely win in Miami, even though they really should try to win a few more games in the Puke Green Hell Hole than they actually end up doing. Might be nice. Just saying.