The Inevitable Meltdown

Sometimes, you can see these things coming well before they happen.

It wasn't so much that you knew the Mets were going to find a way to lose the game, but you knew that it was going to be that 3-run Homer that did it to them. The Reds, who have mostly played like the class of the NL Central to this point even if the standings might not necessarily agree, had every opportunity to wipe the Mets off the board tonight, but somehow the Mets managed to hang in there. The Reds probably had 2 runners on in every inning, I wasn't exactly paying full attention but it sure seemed that way (and a game that was 0-0 into the bottom of the 9th lasting well over 3 hours is indicative of such). With 2 men on all the time, and the tiny ballpark in Cincinnati, and a lineup full of mashers, well, you do the math.

Chris Young departed in the 6th after basically starting every inning with a runner on 1st. It didn't happen then, Ramon Ramirez got Stubbs to ground out.

Bobby Parnell didn't serve it up either, though he'd be as likely a candidate as anyone. He wormed out of a bases loaded jam in the 7th.

Manny Acosta took the loss, and deservedly so after walking Phillips and giving up a hit to Ludwick. It would have served him right if Terry had left him in to face Meatman Jay Bruce. But nooooo. It fell to Josh Edgin. Acosta, I suppose, would have made more sense, because he is terrible and inspires no hope, and at least Edgin is a rookie with some alleged upside to him, but no matter how you threw the pitch, somehow Jay Bruce was going to hit that 3-run Home Run. You could see it coming as soon as Acosta took the mound and heaved 4 pitches higher and higher over Phillips' head. That was how it was going to end. And yet, for some reason, I kept it on, like there was going to be some kind of perverse joy I'd get out of being right and calling the Mets demise. I don't know. It's not exactly pleasant knowing that there's going to be some your team will inevitably screw up a game, but I guess it softens the sting, somewhat. Somewhat.

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?