Noodle Team

I would think it's safe to say most Mets fans are searching for some kind of answer after the way the last two games against the Padres played out. I have none. In terrible weather, the Mets, behind "spot starter" Rafael Montero, fell behind early, couldn't hit Dinelson Lamet, because historically when have the Mets ever hit a guy making his Major League debut, and against a meek Padres team the Mets just proved themselves even meeker in a 4-3 loss.

You could point to Michael Conforto striking out 4 times, or Jay Bruce popping out with the winning runs on base, or Addison Reed giving up what would prove to be the winning run in the 9th, or Asdrubal Cabrera, fresh off the DL, for grounding into a double play in a key spot in the 8th, but really, this game will be defined wholly by Rafael Montero and his complete and total inability to perform at the Major League level. I know that Montero somehow managed to work his way back into everyone's good graces by having a strong spring, but lots of players have strong springs and then fail to answer the bell once the season begins. This is the story of Montero's career. Tons of potential and no follow through. Given a cookie start against an opponent that should have been a cookie, Montero threw 47 pitches in the 1st inning. 47! It's more an indictment of the Padres that the score was only 2-0 at that point. Usually, when a pitcher slogs through 47 pitches in an inning, you figure the other team has hung 5-6 runs on him. But no. the Padres let him off easy. Hell, the Marlins hung 7 on him without him having to throw that many pitches.

47 in the 1st inning. By the 3rd he'd thrown 87 and I think everyone had seen enough. Paul Sewald followed and in the same number of innings threw fewer than half as many pitches and allowed 3 fewer runs. Maybe he should have been the spot starter.

I fell asleep at some point so I don't really know what went on from there. Montero will do that to you. Other than to say that by time I woke up and turned the game back on, it was the 9th inning and things hadn't exactly improved.

The Mets right now can't get out of their own way. I know that seasons go through ebbs and flows and at some point in the middle of last August I'd thought hope was lost and then it wasn't, so this group has done stranger things in less time. But under those circumstances they didn't have a bullpen full of noodles. Doesn't matter who gets used where or when, it seems. So, I mean, you want an answer? Don't look at me, man.

This Just In...

...Jacob deGrom is good. Did I say that before, because it's true. But in order to find that out, the Mets needed to slog their way through the weekend to get to his turn in the rotation.

The Mets usually find a good deal of success when the visit Arizona, however this weekend appeared headed down a rather miserable path. Though they won on Thursday night, when Matt Harvey got pissed off and inspired his teammates to fight back, the subsequent starting pitchers failed to provide similar impetus. Jon Niese took the mound on Friday night, and, let's face it, Jon Niese hasn't been inspiring anybody to do anything except track the latest outing by Steven Matz in AAA ball. Niese took the loss, which isn't anything new, in an effort where he allowed 3 runs and 6 hits with 8 strikeouts over 6 innings, and somehow this outing was deemed a success. That's a good indicator of how badly things have been going for Niese lately. All confidence in him has been abandoned, which is kind of sad because we all know he can do so much better.

Niese would have been wise this weekend to take a look in the opposing dugout, because he'd see a left-handed pitcher with a similarly high level of talent, and a very similar lack of mental ability, and perhaps he might learn the cautionary tale. Particularly since that left-handed pitcher used to be his teammate, your friend and mine, Oliver Perez. Amazingly, after all the headache Ollie caused the Mets and the general embarrassment he caused himself, someone was still willing to give him a job because he's left-handed and has some life in his arm, even though at this point he's a total caricature on the mound. Nobody could wean him out of the weird, bad habits he'd develop, so at this point it was determined the safest place for him was to come out of the bullpen and face left-handed hitters and hope for the best. And if Jon Niese doesn't get his act together, a similar fate will likely befall him.

Saturday, Bartolo Colon was handed a similar fate, though not because he's an idiot like Niese. Colon just fell victim to some bad luck, in the form of his offense not scoring any runs for him (surprise, surprise), and an errant pitch to Welington Castillo that sunk him. Colon is a caricature in and of himself, probably because he not only continues to succeed on the mound, but also because he continues to surprisingly get hits, as he pinged out his 4th of the season. Nonetheless, this and 9 other Mets hits were not enough to offset his one bad pitch, and thus the Mets lost a San Diego Special, 2-1.

So, it came down to Sunday, with Jacob deGrom on the mound to try to salvage the series and, for that matter, the road trip. deGrom found himself helped out early by Curtis Granderson, not helped out, and then helped out by Eric Campbell, and helped out some more by Wilmer Flores, but mostly he did the job himself. After Campbell's miserable error opened the door for Arizona in the 1st, deGrom settled down and delivered a pitching performance about as crucial as Harvey's was three days prior. His 7 inning effort was enough to put the Mets in position to win the series finale 6-3 and save the team from a completely disastrous 2-5 road trip, instead bringing the team back home with a partially passable 3-4 road trip. Actually, 3-4 isn't terrible considering they were on the West Coast, where they play games in the middle of the night and generally things just tend to go haywire for them. To put things in an even better perspective, the Mets come home from the West Coast in 1st place, if you can believe it, because for as much as the Mets have scuffled, Washington can't get out of their own way either.

For a season where they've had to battle a 2009-level number of injuries to key players, the fact that they've managed to keep themselves near the top of the standings to this point is a bit of a moral victory. But, then, how long can they keep this up...and when the hell will some of these injured players start to come back?

Turd In The Punchbowl

The now 0-3 Mets have had opportunities to win each of their three games so far this season. Each time, their bullpen, which has proven itself to be completely non-Major League quality has managed to ensure that the Mets would have no opportunity to win these games.

It's way too early in the season to be as frustrated as Mets fans already are, but after so many seasons of losing and being spoon-fed the tale of the great turnaround of 2014 only to have nothing new on the field is kind of galling. The offensive ineptitude was bad enough. But how much longer are we going to hear about all the great pitching up and down the organization and then go watch Scott Rice and Carlos Torres walk batters and then Jeurys Familia and John Lannan allow them all to score. That's basically the story of this 3-game Opening Washout the Mets puked up. The Mets broke camp this season without a Major League relief pitcher on the roster (except for an injured Bobby Parnell), which has to be some kind of a violation of Player's Association conduct.

The solution here shouldn't be so hard for Alderson and company to grasp. In fact, I don't think he needs me to tell him, but I'll tell him anyway. If the Mets are going to stink, why not let them stink with a bullpen that features some of this exciting young talent we keep hearing about. Instead of the second coming of the Aaron Heilman brigade, why not let Jacob deGrom, Jack Leathersich, Rafael Montero, Vic Black and/or Jeff Walters up here and at let them get their ears wet. How bad could it be? At absolute worse, they'll be as unreliable as the guys that are already here except that unlike the current bunch, there's some degree of upside, plus the team's not going anywhere anyway, and at best, they all work out and the pitching staff ends up being as good as we're being led to believe they can be. Hell, Aaron Heilman himself is starting to look good after three days of this shit stew.

Look, I know that nothing on earth is quite the inexact science of relief pitching in the Major Leagues. Guys catch lightning in a bottle for one season and then the next year they're giving up free steaks in Durham, NC. But I digress. There's still 159 more games for the Mets to get their act together. However, they're not inspiring much in the way of confidence thus far.

Addition By Subtraction

Following the enthusiasm generated by what is now being referred to in Mets circles as "Super Tuesday," the Mets went back out on Wednesday and looked like the same old annoying Mets.

Tuesday's pair of wins were punctuated by a number of roster moves, designed to get rid of a lot of the flotsam that hadn't proved useful at all to this point. Gone was Collin McHugh, who nobody will miss. After being designated for assignment on Sunday, McHugh was traded away altogether, gone to the Colorados for Eric Young, Jr. This may be because all the Colorados remember of McHugh is his ML Debut last year, but in reality, that Alderson was able to net a can of beans in return for McHugh is a victory in and of itself. McHugh had a great first game and was patently awful from there, culminating with his spending a few weeks either rotting on the bench or getting shelled by the Marlins before being deemed expendable.

Also gone was Collin Cowgill, who went from the outhouse to the doghouse pretty quickly. After his Grand Slam on Opening Day, Cowgill basically didn't hit anything to the point where he was sent to AAA. After a few middling weeks in Las Vegas, Cowgill returned and showed that his time in the minors made little impression, since he still couldn't hit. Unfortunately, the Mets already have a full stash of Outfielders who can't hit, so Cowgill was similarly designated for assignment, where he will either be sent back to the minors for the duration or released outright, remembered fondly if only for that Grand Slam. Andrew Brown replaces Cowgill, although I can't imagine this is anything more than a temporary move to have a warm body around, since Brown, like Cowgill, was already here and didn't impress anyone. I figure he will stick around for a week or two before the Mets finally decide they've had enough of him too, and move on to Plan Q (whatever that is).

Scott Atchison, who up to yesterday was only known as the oldest-looking Met in team history, was placed on the DL after not actually throwing a pitch since being removed from the DL. Atchison was set to start the 7th inning of the nightcap before coming up with a groin pull, and was last seen grousing and grumbling as he was led off the field. Had there not been a baseball game going on, one might have seen that scene and assumed he'd misplaced his bifocals somewhere. Replacing him, I'm not quite sure yet because I didn't bother do to my due diligence. Rest assured he will probably do something to draw my ire at some point, since this is a prerequisite for being a Met relief pitcher.

Shaun Marcum is still around, however, and the fact that he has tenure and a contract may be the only thing working in his favor right now. Wednesday night's start against the Braves was pretty similar to several of his other starts, in which he somehow allowed a 2-out rally to snowball into multiple runs, gave up a boatload of hits, looked sweaty and uncomfortable and took another loss, falling to 0-9 on the season, which is almost unconscionable for a pitcher of some reasonable acclaim. With Zack Wheeler now in the fold and immediately one of the top 3 pitchers on the staff (anointing him this status really isn't so much of a stretch), Marcum is on thin ice once the Mets finally wise up and drop this asinine 6-man rotation idea. Jeremy Hefner is as well, and since Hefner has relieved and is similarly inconsistent without Marcum's service time, he is, perhaps, the odd man out. I won't argue, but in his defense, Hefner has pitched better than Marcum a majority of the time, and even has a win to show for it. Though when he's bad, he may also be worse than Marcum. Dillon Gee has righted his ship and removed his name from any such jeopardy.

Point is, the wheels are in motion. It's too late to save this season, but everyone still wants to do the best they can and spout cliches win ballgames. The dispensation of McHugh and Cowgill are a nice start in the right direction of clearing out some of the crap and giving some new faces a chance. They may not be better than the guys they're replacing, but to this point they can't possibly be much worse.

Can't Get Out Of This Town Fast Enough

I already said yesterday that nothing good has ever happened to the Mets in Denver, and this week has more or less summed up the past 20 years of the Mets relationship with Colorado.

Bad Weather, Bad Pitching, Bad Results.

After 12 feet of snow on Monday led to 7 hours of losing on Tuesday, more snow came and wiped out the game on Wednesday. Thursday was just more of the same and the fact that they only played one game today was kind of a double-edged sword. It didn't snow, from what I heard on the radio, so I don't have actual visual evidence of that, but what Howie and Josh did remind us of, multiple times, was that the game time temperature was 27º. Or maybe it was 29º. Whatever it was, the Mets spent most of the day looking like they couldn't wait to get out of Coors Field. I didn't need to see any of the game to know it; the performance came through on the radio. I didn't bother to watch any of the "highlights (a game like today's has no highlights from the Mets point of view)" either, so it's not really worth hashing things over to see where everything went wrong (though another lousy performance from the bullpen is probably the culprit). I know the Mets were still trying hard to win, just like they do on any given day (no matter how hard that may be to believe at times), but after so many days playing in ridiculous freezing weather, I can't say I blame them for having had enough of this shit. So the good side of all this was that they only had to lose one game miserably to the Colorados today.

The bad side of this is, of course, they still have to come back to Denver and make up the stupid game they didn't play yesterday.

I Stand Corrected

So, the Phillies once again shut me up. After thinking maybe they were finished, I realize now that it's not so much the Phillies as it was Matt Harvey just being that much better than every other pitcher the Mets can throw at them.

After relatively solid starts in losses their first time out, both Jeremy Hefner and Dillon Gee made us suffer through a pair of 3-inning outings in Philadelphia that were probably just as brutal for us to watch as it was for them to endure it. Gee's outing was so putrid that it wasn't even worth writing very much about, and for that matter, Hefner on Wednesday isn't worthy of the ink either. But the two combined are kind of alarming because it reveals just how fragile this Mets starting rotation is. I didn't think it would be this bad, but then again I thought that before Johan Santana went down and Shaun Marcum proved unable to answer the bell for the season. Now, all of a sudden, Dillon Gee, a perfectly inconsistent 5th starter, is pressed into the role of a #3 that needs to eat innings, and Jeremy Hefner, who should be filling out some AAA roster, is in the #4 spot and somehow has a stranglehold on this role. This means that the #5 starter is likely to be enough to make you want to cover your eyes, and if you watched Aaron Laffey last Sunday, that's probably how you felt.

With only two really serviceable starters available for the Mets right now, things aren't looking very good. The starting pitching was supposed to be the strength here. Perhaps Dillon Gee will eventually get his act together, but for that to happen, he needs to turn these bludgeonings into simple bad outings. Tuesday night, he had a bad 2nd inning, and then let it turn into an absolute massacre, giving up 3 Home Runs in 5 Pitches. I mean, I know that the Phillies have a good lineup but come on, who does that at the Major League level? And this has been Gee's problem. He's got enough to tantalize you but that's about it. For every good outing  like the one he had against San Diego, there's one like the one in Philadelphia, and that's fine, if  you're expecting him to be a 5th starter, but if he's going to be anything more, he's got to at least try to minimize damage and keep the Mets in the game.

Jeremy Hefner, on the other hand, appears to be beyond hope. He has good outings and bad, too. Just so happens that his good outings are against awful teams like the Marlins, or the Pirates or a neutered, Howard and Utley-less Philly team. Every time he's faced a good team, his opponent has fed him his lunch several times over. Last year, Philly pasted him so badly he couldn't even escape the 1st inning (a game so far beyond reproach that I couldn't even be bothered to blog about it, so there's nothing to backlink to) and they appeared well on their way to doing it again last night but for a heads-up tag from Ruben Tejada and a nice catch from Jordany Valdespin. And yet Gary, Keith and Ron were somehow bandying his name around as making 30+ starts this season! If Jeremy Hefner is going to make 30 starts in 2013, then this is going to be a far worse season than I'm giving it credit for. In the words of Mike Francesa, "NNNEY STINKS!!!"

I realize there's some kind of plan here to not rush Zack Wheeler, and let him take his time, but the urgency to bring him here may come sooner rather than later. We all know he's ready, and we all know that even if he's terrible, he won't be as bad as Aaron Laffey. Or Jeremy Hefner. Or Collin McHugh. Or anyone else they think they can trot out there instead of him. If May 1st is that magic clock date, I'd have to imagine he's going to be up not long after that date. You know, if things haven't completely spiraled out of control before then.

To The Rescue!

I was feeling rather frustrated with 1 out in the 9th on Sunday. I didn't go to the game, and at that point I was pretty glad I didn't, because to that point, the Mets had more or less slogged through a game with the miserable Marlins that did nothing to inspire anyone, and had also lasted well over 3 hours and 30 minutes despite only 5 runs being scored. The game itself was far from notable, outside of the fact that the stories were sure to read that the Mets were just the first to fall victim to future White Sox Phenom Jose Fernandez. In fact, it was really one of those games that was just sort of "on TV" for me, much like the games I have "On the radio" in my office. It's sort of background noise while I'm doing something else; in this instance it was cleaning the bathroom. Then the kitchen. Then the living room floors. And so forth. Finally, I'd finished my cleaning and I figured I'd wait until the end of the game to go grocery shopping.

I didn't realize that it was already 4pm and the game was only in the 7th inning.

Jose Fernandez was long gone by this point, which I suppose was fortunate for the Mets. Given the hype and the incessant Dwight Gooden comparisons, I suppose I expected a little more flash from the 20-year old, but when you rack up 1 run, 3 hits and 8 strikeouts in 5 innings, that's all the flash you need. Fernandez was staked to a 3-run lead courtesy of Aaron Laffey, who I believe was about the 8th man down on the depth chart as far as Starting Pitching options go, but with Santana out and Marcum out and the other options being Chris Schwinden and Collin McHugh, I suppose, Laffeyable as it may be, that Laffey was the best available option to take the ball on this day. That speaks volumes. The best thing I can say about Aaron Laffey is that he is a Pitcher who has pitched in the Major Leagues. Against the Marlins, Laffey managed to allow the first 2 runners on base in every inning (and if he didn't, he made it seem like he did), and only managed to escape down by 3 runs because he was pitching against the Marlins. Against a better team, the 10 hits he allowed likely would have led to more runs. I can't say I feel especially inspired by that performance.

So, all that being said, when I finally sat down and really started paying attention, the Marlins, behind Adeiny Hechaverria, Chris Tumbalalaika, Donovan Solano and Greg Dobbs (who, I believe, reached base every time he came to the plate this weekend) appeared primed to come away with a head-scratching series victory against the Mets. Sure, the Mets bullpen kept the game close (even LaTroy Hawkins), and sure, a nice bit of clutch hitting from Anthony Recker and another Home Run from Daniel Murphy made the game close, but it seemed to be somewhat cosmetic. This just seemed like a dead ballgame. Steve Cishek was going to come in, sling his sidearmed slider around and make the Mets look foolish in front of what appeared to be a Late September-sized crowd on a reasonably pleasant April Sunday.

Which is why the winning comeback seemed so jarring. It really came out of nowhere. Marlon Byrd can take the credit for the winning hit, but Ruben Tejada set everything up. With 1 out, Tejada came up and did what he usually does: work the count and foul off pitches, and finally reached base thanks to a Cishek pitch just grazing his jersey. Sometimes, that's all it takes. Tejada had already tried to jump-start a rally 2 innings earlier, stealing a base that ultimately went nowhere. In the 9th, he used his head and his legs again, going from 1st to 3rd when Kirk Nieuwenhuis' flare hit dropped in front of Cool Papa Pierre. The Mets had been taking advantage of Pierre's pop-gun arm all weekend, and Tejada played this to perfection, forcing Pierre into a lousy, off-line throw that not only wasn't close to getting Tejada, but also allowed Kirk to move up to 2nd base. With the dirty work done, Marlon Byrd was then able to ping a shot down the 3rd base line, past Tumbalalaika to easily score both runs and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat in every sense of the phrase. This really seemed like a game that the Mets had no business winning, because the Marlins were just getting men on base and threatening incessantly. They just couldn't put it out of reach, which is telling of the quality of their team, and ultimately, the Mets made them pay for it.

More importantly, however, Tejada, Nieuwenhuis and Byrd saved the Mets from what would certainly be the embarrassing indignity of losing a series to the Miserable Marlins. It's bad enough that they had to lose one game altogether, giving the Marlins their lone win of the season, but I suppose the Marlins weren't going to go 0-162, no matter how much they deserve it.

"...And Another County Heard From"

I know that the M.O., at least for the moment, was to try to let Matt Harvey marinate in the minors a little while longer, and hope for the best at the Major League level in the meantime. But, after a weekend in which basically every Mets pitcher took it on the chin, culminating with a 12th inning Meltdown from Ramon Ramirez, Johan Santana ending up on the DL (with all the yahoos screaming about his throwing 134 pitches in his No Hitter and ignoring the fact that he is out with an ankle injury, not an arm injury), and Miguel Batista ending up on the scrap heap where he belongs, it was clear that the move to promote Matt Harvey wasn't another move, it was the only move.

How Harvey fares with the Mets now should be academic. He's up, he's going to start on Thursday, and for better or worse, he should remain in the rotation for the remainder of the season. It's clear that the Mets aren't going to be able to do any better for right now, and, of course, as we've been repeating for weeks, the starting rotation hasn't been the problem here. At least, that's what the prevailing wisdom seems to be. But when Miguel Batista has to make starts for you, then the rotation is a problem. We've mostly been over this; but this is a problem that's been brewing ever since Mike Pelfrey went down. There was a limit to the amount of depth in the starting pitching the Mets had around before they got down to Harvey being really necessary, and the problem was, most of that depth was complete crap. So, now, with the Mets now in their worst stretch of the season, having fallen under .500 for the first time this year, and all the good vibes generated from the 1st half completely gone, the Mets have finally loaded that final bullet into the chamber. How this ends up, I'm not sure. Probably with the Mets playing out the string and finishing a distant 3rd. But even if that happens, if Harvey pitches reasonably well, then there's something to hang your hat on going forward. That's assuming Mets fans feel like hanging their hat on anything on this team anymore.

The Mets clearly aren't going to go balls in and try to land a real good starting pitcher, because this would mean parting with one of these stud pitchers. The key here will be if they can go out and try to flip some cheap crap for another brain-dead, slop-throwing relief pitcher who can catch lightning in a bottle and get some outs for a few weeks.

At least, that's how this appears to me. Whether or not this is a reality isn't quite clear. But bandages won't help anymore, and to this point, that's all they've been able to do. Josh Edgin, Elvin Ramirez and Pedro Beato aren't solutions. They're bandages, and cheap ones at that. It doesn't make sense in-season, but Alderson needs to clean the stink out of this bullpen like Omar did after 2008—get rid of everyone as quickly as possible, and let a new bunch try to figure it out. Because what should have been a really positive, launching point season has begun look an awful lot like just another shitty year in a string of shitty years.

One Too Many Times

Well, sometimes a streak of good luck runs out at an inopportune time. That seems to be what happened this past weekend in Mickey Mouse Ballpark, where the Mets, by all right, should have swept the Mickey Mouse Marlins just like they did in New York.

But, the Mets were undone by the unit that has alternately been their strength and their weakness through the early going this season. Yes, it's our old friend, the Bullpen. The unit that was a boon in '06, caused several heart episodes in '07 and took 10 years off my life in '08. Well, they're up to their old tricks again.

Friday, the Mets fell behind 3-0 in the 1st inning. Lately, this appears to be the best thing an opponent can do to the Mets. Not that it's the best idea to make a habit of this, but if this is what the Mets need, well, why not. So, the Mets chip away and chip away, and they take the lead thanks to the efforts of David Wright, Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Mike Baxter, and here we are again, taking the lead late. An Ike Davis error in the 8th led to an unearned run, which didn't help, but in the 9th, it was Frank Francisco who ultimately spit the game up in a finish reminiscent of about 723 other games the Mets have played against the Marlins.

Saturday, the Mets scored early and often enough that the Bullpen didn't ever have a chance to screw things up.

Sunday, however, was another story. Staked to a 4-2 lead in the 9th, again Frank Francisco couldn't hold it, and Manny Acosta eventually tossed it into the fire completely, in the kind of 9th inning meltdown that would have made Armando Benitez proud.

Now, Frank Francisco as closer wasn't exactly an iron clad lock to begin with.For the most part, he's performed adequately well, but when he doesn't have it, he really doesn't have it, and it's been multiple times this season that Collins has had to come out and rescue his ass before things got out of hand. Sunday was one such game, and Collins got Francisco before the game was lost, or even tied, but his choice to replace Francisco was the human gas can, Manny Acosta. Now, I've made no secret of the fact that I don't like Acosta to begin with. He's been around for what, 3 years now, and he's done very little good. Ostensibly, Acosta is Oliver Perez from the right side. He's a rubbery-looking thing with a gangly arms-and-legs windup who throws great stuff that he has no concept of how to control. He displays no semblance of consistency or ability to harness his talent. You have no idea whether he'll retire the side in order or give up a string of long hits, and sometimes this happens within the same outing. They even crammed him into Perez's old #46 jersey, just so we wouldn't get confused. But Collins mysteriously seems to keep running him out there in key situations, despite the fact that better pitchers (not good pitchers, per se, just better pitchers than Acosta) such as Bobby Parnell were still available.

I could support bringing in Francisco and trying him out as closer, I can support keeping guys with upside like Bobby Parnell, and even Tim Byrdak and Jon Rauch, just because they're fresh faces. I couldn't support keeping Acosta around. There was no good reason to keep him on the roster when there are several other pitchers who are probably better situational pitchers on a day-to-day basis. For fuck's sake, Dillon Gee has managed to craft himself a role on this club despite having only average stuff because he KNOWS HOW TO PITCH! It's not such a novel idea. Surely, there's a right-handed relief pitcher somewhere in the organization who knows how and when to throw the pitches necessary to get good hitters out, not just rear back and heave a fastball so Giancarlo Stanton can hit it 500 feet the other way. I'm not totally crazy with this thought, am I?

Pitchers Wanted

So, it's taken two starts from Chris Schwinden (plus however many forgettable outings he had last September) for me to decide I've had enough of him. I realize that his line today was pretty much the same as Jonathon Niese's was last night, but I'm willing to give Niese a mulligan, primarily because he a) has talent and b) has a stinker every once in a while, but for the most part, he's pitched well. Schwinden, on the other hand, inspires a Wayne's World catchphrase moreso than he inspires confidence. It was bad enough in his first start when the Mets handed him a 4-run lead and he handed it right back to the Rockies. Today, with the Mets already reeling and in need of a solid outing, Schwinden stepped up and basically gave the Mets a mostly noncompetitive effort. After the Mets had to empty their bullpen behind Niese last night, Schwinden did the Mets no favors in his 4 innings.After his 4 innings, the Mets found themselves down 5-1. Not an insurmountable deficit, particularly in the hitter's haven that is Houston's Park of Many Names, but the problem is that Schwinden was followed to the mound by the equally talentless Manny Acosta, whom the Astros promptly torched for another 3 runs to finish off the Mets and send them back to Queens, hopefully feeling quite humbled over their performance.

I hadn't said much about the recent Mike Pelfrey injury and the resulting fallout from his injury. Though Pelfrey has been often inconsistent and often maligned for a lack of mound smarts and sometimes pitching like an idiot, one thing you could say is that Pelfrey was always a likeable player. Though he was never good for entire seasons, when he was good,  he was often very good, and could also always be counted on to eat innings and keep games competitive. But, with him now out for the season, and potentially gone from the Mets for good, it's created a bit of a void in the rotation that the Mets only seem marginally equipped to fill. Schwinden isn't the answer. Hopefully he won't start again, but then, the Mets don't really have any other solid options that are ready to step in. Jeremy Hefner seems the most likely candidate to get the call next. I don't know much about him, other than I suppose he can't be much worse than Schwinden. Chris Young is apparently about a month away. I like C.Y. quite a bit, but he simply hasn't proven himself able to stay healthy for any period of time over the past few seasons, so he may be a stopgap, at best. Jenrry Mejia (remember him?) is also kicking around, having come back from his own Tommy John surgery last year, and it remains to be seen if the Mets haven't totally screwed him up after wasting a year of his development by sticking him in the bullpen. The real studs, Matt Harvey, Zach Wheeler and Jeurys Familia aren't ready yet, and it appears that the Mets are in no rush to promote them, which is fine. None of them are really ready to be promoted yet, and Sandy Alderson in particular has shown a propensity to not rush prospects who aren't quite there yet. I won't argue. Unfortunately, this means more Schwinden, more Miguel Batista, more of the rotating pu-pu platter every 5th day until someone proves themselves capable of holding down a job on a regular basis. Something, eventually, has to work.

Hello Goodbye

The Mets Midseason Makeover continued late Thursday afternoon when, mercifully, Julio Franco was Designated for Assignment and Lastings Milledge was recalled. I'll admit I was a little surprised by the move, but I can't imagine anyone was especially upset by it, especially given that the only true outfielders existing on the Mets roster were Beltran, Green and Ricky Ledee (and I wasn't looking forward to seeing David Newhan in left).

It was a half-Ballclub appearance at Shea last night, for Milledge's return, a taut, albeit rather unexciting, 3-2 win against a miserable Cincinnati Reds team led by wiry righthander Bronson "Don't call me Brandon" Arroyo and a melange of relief pitchers you've never heard of (Marcus McBeth? Jon Coutlangus? Jared Burton? I half expected them to trot Josias Manzanillo in). Yes, we were treated to a bit of history with Reyes and Gotay kicking things off with back-to-back HRs (and the first time in 46 seasons that the Mets have had leadoff Back-to-back HRs), but it was Milledge who provided the thrill of the night. After he was robbed by Encarnacion after scorching a liner to 3rd in his first AB, Milledge led off the 5th with another frozen rope to right for his first hit of the season. He nearly got picked off by Arroyo, but after El Duque tried to throw his bat at the ball on a sacrifice attempt and Reyes flied to left, Milledge was still on first, but running as Gotay hit a sinking liner to center. Ryan Freel (Gin blossom drunk) dove for the ball, but only trapped it, then rolled over it, although to anyone watching, you couldn't tell whether or not he'd caught the ball until he'd fully tumbled. But it didn't matter. Milledge was running full bore, around third, as Freel uncorked a rather wimpy throw home that seemed to arrive just in time, but Milledge just snuck his hand around David Ross (and his .194 BA)'s tag, scoring what would be the winning run of the game.

Instant impact and a spark. Sometimes it's the little changes that make the difference. And a hell of a lot better than showing up for Ricky Ledee in left.

Other notes: Mike Stanton (affectionately referred to as "Dumpty" by a Yankee fan College colleague of El Guapo and myself, a companion to Jeff Nelson's "Humpty," the Yankee bullpen combo of a bygone era) entered into the game in the 8th, and was neither accompanied by his reactionary right-wing country music nor a giant American flag on the scoreboard, nor was he announced into the game by PA man Alex Anthony. Perhaps because of the warm reception he would undoubtedly have received. Most people didn't seem to realize he was in the game, perhaps because outside of him and Weathers, you wouldn't have any idea who any of the Reds relievers were.

Of larger importance, mostly to us Subway riding Mets fans living in Western Queens, Brooklyn and Manhattan, we all have reason to rejoyce! Finally, FINALLY, the MTA has relented to the complaints of riders and added Express service to Manhattan on the 7 train after the game. This is wonderful, ground-breaking news that deserves special mention and mild celebration. Yes, it is only for one hour after the game, and yes, it will be crowded. But it is a 15 minute ride from Grand Central to Shea, and I am looking forward to my ride home on the Subway of Mirth to be much shorter from here on out.

Now, will this continue once Citi Field opens? This, we shall see...

Good Riddance, Trachsel

I know, I know. I'm a couple of days behind the times on this one. But I couldn't let the signing of Steve Trachsel by the Baltimore Orioles go un-noticed.

I remember when Trachsel came to the Mets. His signing was about as heralded as that of, say, Rich Rodriguez or Allen Watson. This was during the Steve Phillips era. You know, when the team was run by a guy whose idea of mathematics was Kevin Appier + Steve Trachsel = Mike Hampton (c. 2000).

A friend of mine was quoted as saying in April of 2001, "I don't like this guy Trachsel. I don't like him, and I don't trust him."

"How bad could he be?" I mused. Well, 8-15 with two teams in 2000 didn't bode well.

Little did I know.

Trachsel was so putrid early on in his Mets days that he made Anthony Young look good by comparison. He got hammered for 10 runs in his first start against a mostly punchless Expos team. Another 7 against the same Expos 2 starts later. And his most memorable effort, 4 HRs given up in 1 inning to the Padres in May. He wasn't Trachsel. He was TRASH-el. He was so bad that he ended up getting demoted to the minors for a few weeks in July, following another thrashing at the hands of the Cubs, which dropped his record to a brilliant 2-10.

But something happened. After coming back from the minors, Trachsel seemed to right himself. All of a sudden, wins were piling up, and he ended up finishing the season with a mediocre but respectable record of 11-13 for the season. 2002 would be miserable for the Mets, but Trachsel again was nothing better than solid. In 2003, Trachsel had what could be called a career year, winning 16 games (for a team that lost over 90) and spun 2 one-hitters. Still, sporting a decidedly unsexy repertoire of pitches and working at a pace that made Sid Fernandez look fast, Trachsel still never quite won the fans over in New York. A good performance is a good performance, but it doesn't mean much for a losing team. Again in 2004, Trachsel was consistently mediocre. A back injury wiped out most of his season in 2005, and, for the first time, Trachsel actually gained some appreciation from Mets fans. 16 starts out of Kaz Ishii were enough to do that.

Then came 2006. In a season where Trachsel would have been counted on to do nothing more than what he had done in the past several seasons, Trachsel responded with his worst year since his arrival with the team. And yet, he won most of his starts. It helps when your team puts up 7+ runs routinely when you're starting. 15 wins, yes, but an ERA that ballooned to almost 5. And little love and no faith from the fans. But he did have one final shining moment, hurling shutout ball into the 7th inning in the Mets Division Clinching game.

And it was on to the playoffs for the first time for Trachsel, by now the longest tenured Met, and the lone holdover from the Bobby Valentine era. His closest playoff experience had been a brilliant performance in the 1998 Wild Card Play-in game, pitching for the Chicago Cubs. A few solid outings in the playoffs for the Mets would have certainly solidified himself fondly in the memories of Mets fans.

Wrong.

Pitching to clinch the NLDS, Trachsel did everything but blow an early 4-run Mets lead, departing what would become a wild Mets victory. OK, fine. That was a mere prelude to the epic stink-bomb Trachsel would vomit up in his Swan Song with the team, that Saturday evening in St. Louis. Barely getting out of the first inning allowing 2 runs, Trachsel proceeded to put his team in a major hole in the 2nd, first by allowing a home run to the opposing pitcher, and then departing with the bases loaded following getting hit in the leg by a comebacker. A performance of no grit, no guts and no heart. And that would be it for Trachsel. His final indignity with the Mets would be being bypassed for a potential Game 7 start in the NLCS for a man with a 3-13 record in the regular season. And out the door he went. Goodbye and good riddance.

And, irony of ironies, Trachsel is now called upon to fill the void left by another injured, ineffective ex-Met, Kris Benson, gone for the season from the Orioles with a rotator cuff.

Orioles fans, I have no sympathy for you. You know what you're getting into.