Talking Turkey

I know that the talk all day on Friday was about the Frank Francisco "Chicken" comment. At least that was the case judging from what I'd heard listening to WFAN all afternoon. It was either that, or it was Yankee fans basically behaving like Yankee fans and calling Mike Francesa to accuse R.A. Dickey of doctoring the Baseball (something Francesa, known as a chief among Yankee backers, wouldn't even entertain). But, Dickey won't pitch until Sunday, and it was only Friday, so the Chicken was the story of the day.

I have the feeling that Francisco may have meant to call the Yankees Turkeys, rather than chickens. A chicken might have implied that they were scared, and I've never known the Yankees to be scared. Turkey might imply that they are slow, or old, which is slightly closer to the truth. Then again, Francisco elaborated to say that the Yankees were "complainers," which I wouldn't have derived from chicken or turkey. So, then, I have no idea what the hell he was trying to say, and let's just all leave it alone since he managed to get his way through another sweaty 9th inning on Friday night and finish out a much-needed, for sanity's sake, Mets victory.

The game offered quite a bit in the way of breaks going the Mets way, which probably would spur a bit of complaining from Yankee-dom, but it's fine with me. Ike Davis' 3-run Home Run in the first was aided a bit by Nick Swisher catching—but not catching—and then losing the ball over the wall. Yankee fans may cry cheap, but then again, Jeffrey Maier wasn't there to knock it back, so tough crap. This, of course, spurred on a flurry of "Ike's Back!" talk, which has been going on ever since he started to hit again last week in Tampa. Nothing to complain about there. So, the Mets broke through with a 5-run inning off Pettitte, probably more runs then they've scored all week (or at least it feels that way sometimes). Jonathon Niese settled down and cruised along before Yankee-do what Yankee-do and hit a couple of Home Runs in the 6th and 7th, and another in the 8th of Miguel Batista (8th inning man Miguel Batista? Another topic worth revisiting), and a feathery 9th inning from Francisco, punctuated by a 2-out pop-up that Omar Quintanilla staggered under for a few seconds, giving every Mets fan ever a mild heart attack from flashing back to Luis Castillo, before ultimately squeezing the last out.

Phew. Good. Another plucky win for the Mets who refuse to be plucked. At least these games won't be a total washout. But let's try to do this a couple more times.

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?