Brewers 9 Mets 2

I believe the term is “playing out the string”.

Game Notes

Tough game for Dillon Gee, but hey, we couldn’t expect him to continue to pitch as far above expectations as he had done in his previous starts. Gee allowed 4 runs — 2 earned — on 7 hits and 3 walks in 6 innings. He did give the Mets decent length, and only allowed the two earned runs, but it wasn’t a great performance. His command was off and he gave up several hits — though, to be fair, a few didn’t leave the infield.

Still, we should be happy with what we’ve seen of Gee. Here’s the thing, though: what makes him and his September performance any different from what we saw of Nelson Figueroa and Pat Misch of September 2009? Granted, he’s younger than both of those journeymen, but not so young to expect him to improve dramatically. So please, do not get all excited about Gee being some great pitching prospect who will head the rotation next year. He is what he is: a soft-tossing righthander who pitches to contact (which I like) and relies heavily on control. In other words, at best, a decent fourth starter but more likely a fifth starter. He may be as good as Bobby Jones some day, which, to me, is something the Mets need. I’d rather see Dillon Gee at an MLB minimum salary at the end of the rotation in 2011 than Kevin Millwood or some other overpriced, 7-figure veteran.

The game was actually somewhat close until the sloppy, disgusting, embarrassing ninth inning. It came two innings after Gary Cohen lauded the Mets for their excellent team defense in this otherwise disappointing season. Nice.

Next Mets Game

The Mets begin the last series of the season by playing the Nationals in Flushing on Friday night at 7:10 PM. The lefthanded, 2009 version of Dillon Gee (Pat Misch) faces Jordan Zimmerman.

ESPN-NY is running a poll that is sadly all-to-fitting: Your New York Mets: Take ‘Em or Trash ‘Em.

For some reason, the names and faces on that page resemble a “most wanted” poster you might see at the post office. And certainly, many of those people have committed symbolic crimes as far as Mets fans are concerned — for example, Oliver Perez’s theft of $36M from the Wilpons. Oh, and then there is that one person who did actually commit a REAL crime. Yeesh.

We thought 2009 was bad, but it doesn’t compare. The funny thing is, we kept discussing here the fact that injuries were NOT to blame for a terrible ’09 — that there were fundamental problems with the franchise and glaring unfilled holes IN ADDITION to the injuries sustained. Anyone who bought into the team’s “oh if not for the injuries” excuse (which was perpetuated by the media), saw what nonsense that was by seeing the 2010 season.

The scary thing is, the team will continue to move backward in 2011, no matter who is fired and hired. The highest-paid players on the team are likely to continue to regress due to age and injuries (Carlos Beltran, Jason Bay) or be completely unavailable (Johan Santana). Further, the much-hyped homegrown youngsters may be fun to watch, but few if any are particularly special — and most of the ones that are supposed to be, are injury-prone. Sure, the kids who managed to stay on the field this year may hold their own and be average to slightly above-average big leaguers, but I wouldn’t build a team around any of them. David Wright and Jose Reyes remain the nucleus of the club, and there are some who think that even those two are no better than complementary players.

Bottom line is this team is in dire straits — in much worse shape than they were in 2004. Who they keep and who they jettison during this offseason will have a significant impact on the team’s success or failure over the next 5-10 years. So make your picks — who to keep, and who to trash.