In the immortal words of Coach Jimmy McGinty, speaking to Shane Falco:

Winners always want the ball… when the game is on the line.

Johan Santana is pulling a Shane Falco and demanding the ball for Saturday’s game. With that information, I’m doing a rain dance.

Because although Johan is clearly the ace, and the one “big game” pitcher the Mets have, I don’t see this as a great decision. First of all, Santana is pitching on short rest, and coming off a game in which he threw a career-high 125 pitches. If he has anything at all, it can’t be enough to get him through more than six innings — if that. Let’s pretend Johan no-hits the Fish through those six, then runs out of gas. Guess what? The vaunted Mets bullpen takes over. Yee ha.

Better yet, let’s assume the best possible scenario: Johan pitches great, the Mets win. Now who starts in the next version of the most important game of the season on Sunday? Ollie Perez on short rest? His history — both recent and working on short rest in his career — is questionable at best. Certainly Jon Niese won’t get the ball. I suppose Jerry Manuel would be forced to take his matchup strategy to the max — possibly using a different pitcher (or more) every single inning.

And then there’s thinking about beyond tomorrow, beyond Sunday, and beyond 2008. Johan Santana is signed for seven years. Although he hasn’t shown any signs of breaking down, pitching on three days’ rest, after throwing 125 pitches, could push him beyond his limits and cause the beginning of an overuse injury — particularly if the Mets DO make the postseason and Johan, obviously, continues pitching in October.

The desperate moves to push the team into the offseason should have happened on July 31, not September 28th. If it was so important to save the prospects “for the future”, and not give them up for people like Jon Rauch, Chad Bradford, Manny Ramirez, Xavier Nady, etc., then that same long-term thinking must be applied when it comes to protecting their most expensive investment. If the Mets truly are concerned about 2009 and beyond, then Johan does not pitch on Saturday — regardless of whether he wants the ball. Of course he wants the ball, he’s a winner!

Back to my original idea: rain dance. Let’s hope it rains all night and all Saturday, so Johan is forced to wait an extra day. It could mean all the difference in the world for the future of this franchise.

Marlins 6 Mets 1

With both the Brewers and the Mets entering the last three games of the seasons with identical records, the 162-game season was distilled into three. Unfortunately, the Mets find themselves a game behind with two to go.

Mike Pelfrey did his job, hurling six strong innings and allowing just three runs. However, no one else on the team did theirs, and as a result the Mets found themselves on the wrong end of the final tally.

Once again it took seven relievers to cover the last three innings of the game, and that crew allowed another three runs. But their ineffectiveness didn’t matter much in the end, since the offense was non-existent. The Mets managed to place 11 runners on base, stranded nine, and scored one — on a fielder’s choice.

Notes

What’s there to say? The bullpen is completely spent — has been for weeks — and now the offense feels a swelling in their throats. Two games to go, and the Mets are one behind. If the Brewers can win their next two games, there’s nothing the Mets can do.

Next Game

Saturday’s game is scheduled for 1:10 pm, and Johan Santana is insisting on taking the ball against Ricky Nolasco. I’m hoping for rain.

Mets 7 Cubs 6

It was an extremely exciting game, with all the late-inning dramatics a fan lives for. Yet, for some reason, it felt somewhat empty.

Perhaps it was the fact that the Mets were playing the Cubs’ second-stringers, and nearly lost to them.

Pedro Martinez pitched only OK, not great, though he kept the Mets in the game through six. He began the seventh by allowing the first two batters to reach base and was replaced by Ricardo Rincon. Unfortunately, Rincon’s nice string of performances came to an end, as the first pitch he threw was redirected over the right field wall for a three-run homer. Not only was Rincon due to fail — he hadn’t allowed a hit in six of his seven appearances this season — but he ran into the buzzsaw named Micah Hoffpauir. Hoffpauir — whose three-run dinger against Rincon highlighted a 5-for-5 day — is essentially the Cubs’ version of Valentino Pascucci, who after tearing up the PCL returned home to California rather than receiving a cup of coffee in Flushing.

The Mets fought back, though, scratching out a run in the bottom of the seventh and another two in the eighth to even things up. Then in the ninth, Jose Reyes led off with a walk against some scrub named Kevin Hart. Daniel Murphy failed three times to sacrifice Reyes to second and struck out by fouling away a bunt, but a Carlos Delgado walk pushed Reyes to second. That set up a heroic situation for Carlos Beltran, who took the bull by the horns and ripped a single past first baseman Micah Hoffpauir to chase Reyes home with the winning run.

Notes

It’s a win, I’ll take it, but Lou Piniella seemed to do everything in his power to make it easy for the Mets — and they STILL nearly screwed it up. Piniella sat Alfonso Soriano, Derrek Lee, Aramis Ramirez, and Geovany Soto — plus Met killer Mark DeRosa, who is nursing a mild injury. And regular centerfielder and .307 hitter Reed Johnson rode the pine. Rich Harden was a shell of his usual self, topping out around 92-93 with poor command, rather than his typical 96-97 filthiness. In addition to sending out the “B” team, Piniella also refrained from asking Carlos Marmol to hold the lead in the 8th. So excuse me if I’m not as excited as some fans with this otherwise dramatic win.

Speaking of Harden, he looks EXACTLY like John Maine did before Maine went on the DL. Harden has the same fatal flaw in his delivery — he carries the ball behind his back, causing his front shoulder to fly open and pitches to ride up and away to lefties / up and in to righties. Every pitch he threw turned my stomach, and I can’t understand — especially after all his injury issues — why no one has ever took the time to make the correction. Teams can talk all they want about using the 100-pitch count to protect their investments, but if a guy throws like Maine or Harden, it doesn’t matter if you limit him to 50 pitches — eventually, there’s going to be a major breakdown.

Funniest quote of the night: “Jerry Manuel continues to push all the right buttons” — by Gary Cohen in
reference to Ramon Martinez’s RBI single in the 8th inning to pull the Mets within one. Um, yeah. Note to Gary: Manuel is the same guy who “pushed the button” to allow Pedro to start the seventh, and then “pushed the button” that brought in Ricardo Rincon to face Hoffpauir in the seventh.

Second funniest quote, by Keith Hernandez: “Jerry Manuel loves the hit and run … he’s hit and run quite a bit”. Keith, what games have you been watching? Manuel puts on the hit and run about three times a month — and I’m being generous.

Next Game

The Mets begin the final three-game series of the year, and play the final three baseball games ever at Shea Stadium, this weekend beginning with a 7:10 pm contest against the Marlins. Mike Pelfrey takes the hill against Chris Volstad.

Cubs 9 Mets 6

So much for the theory that Oliver Perez pitches better in “big” games, and/or against the better teams.

So much, also, for the theory that the Mets win when Argenis Reyes is the starting second baseman.

Perez squandered a 5-1 lead, allowing the Cubs to tie the score with a four-run fifth, and the Mets failed time and time again to command the game.

After falling behind 1-zip, the Mets exploded for a five-run third against Carlos Zambrano, highlighted by a grand slam off the bat of Mets MVP Carlos Delgado. But after the Cubs tied the game, and then went ahead 6-5, the Mets could only muster one more run, which tied the game in the eighth. The run came on a bases-loaded walk to Ramon Martinez, and it was a rally that should have produced more than one lousy score. Youngster Jeff Samardzija was struggling mightily, but the Mets let him off the hook. But that wasn’t the worst opportunity blown by the New York bats.

In the bottom of the ninth, Daniel Murphy led off with a triple. You would think that with no outs and a man on third, scoring at least one run is a given. It wasn’t. David Wright struck out swinging, Delgado and Beltran were intentionally walked, Ryan Church grounded into a forceout at home, and Ramon Castro whiffed to demolish a golden opportunity to win the game.

As it turned out, Luis Ayala pitched a second inning of relief, and the Cubs took advantage, first with a bloop RBI single by Derrek Lee and then with a two-run homer by Aramis Ramirez.

A stunning, head-shaking loss for the Mets, who were playing against a team that wasn’t necessarily focused on winning the game.

Notes

Another great job of bullpen management by Manager of the Year Jerry Manuel. Manuel had Joe Smith warming up in the fateful fifth, but when things got hairy, Smith sat down and Duaner Sanchez began tossing. Within three minutes after his first warmup pitch, Sanchez was summoned into the game with the bases loaded and one out. Ron Darling explained that Manuel might have had Smith getting ready to begin the sixth, and preferred to use Sanchez in a mid-inning situation, but I’m still scratching my head. So, you have your best righty ready in a crucial spot — maybe the most critical time of the game — against a righty-heavy lineup, but you save him for later? And instead you put in a guy who a) was proven to be spent in late July and b) is not ready to enter the game? Umm …. OK!

Speaking of bullpen management, Lou Piniella gave the Mets a gift by putting Jeff Samardzija on the mound in the eighth instead of Carlos Marmol. I know the Mets lit up Marmol the other day, but he’s still the best setup man in baseball. The Mets were DAMN LUCKY that the Cubs are more in “audition mode” right now, and don’t really care whether or not they win games — yet the still couldn’t take advantage.

As I’ve said many times before, Carlos Delgado is the key to the Mets’ success. Had he not hit that grand salami, the end of the game would not have been nearly as dramatic. Oh, and it was Delgado who started the eighth inning rally with a leadoff double. The Mets might be behind the Marlins right now if not for Delgado’s resurrection.

The Brewers won their game, which means the wild card race is tied. No, I’m still not concerned, because they have to finish their season against the Cubs, who proved in this game that even in “coast mode” are a better team than anyone else in the NL. If the Mets can’t take at least two from the Fish, they have no business in the postseason anyway.

Next Game

Mets finish their four-game series with the Cubs with a 7:10 pm finale on Wednesday. Pedro Martinez goes against Rich Harden.

Mets 6 Cubs 2

The Cubs offered the Mets an easy win, and Johan Santana took advantage.

Santana breezed through a Cubs lineup devoid of regulars Aramis Ramirez and Geovany Soto, allowing just two runs on seven hits through eight innings and 125 pitches. He struck out ten and also had a key broken-bat hit in the fifth that led to two Mets runs.

Santana’s strange single helped the Mets tie the game two-all, and the rest of the lineup scorched Cubs reliever Chad Gaudin for four runs one inning later. The key blow came off the bat of Jose Reyes, who cleared the bases with a bases-loaded triple — his 200th hit of the season.

Notes

Strange not to see Jose Reyes running on contact from third in the sixth inning with one out, Luis Castillo at the plate, and a four-run lead. With that kind of cushion, you have the luxury of being overly aggressive. As it turned out, Castillo bounced the ball to Mark DeRosa, and Reyes would have scored easily. Instead he was stranded after David Wright struck out to end the inning. In the end, the run didn’t matter, but still it was a situation that called for aggressiveness, and instead the Mets were passive. At this time of year, with so much at stake, I’d be leaning toward the aggressive side whenever possible.

David Wright had two hits and two RBI. For all the criticism he gets, Wright is hitting .300

Speaking of lack of aggressiveness, some funny quotes by Keith Hernandez in the fifth, regarding Jerry Manuel: “… he’s unpredictable, and he’s hit and run a lot since taking over …”

Actually, Keith, he’s remarkably predictable — you could set a watch by his managerial moves. And as far as the hit and run, no, actually, the Mets run it much LESS often since Jerry took over. It only seems more often because it’s so rare, you notice it. But we’ll excuse Keith — he also thinks the Mets have been stealing more bases since Manuel took over, while the numbers unabashedly prove otherwise. For example, did you know the Mets have stolen all of 12 bases this month? I’m really not understanding where Keith gets this notion of the Mets being “much more aggressive under Manuel” … if anything, JM leans toward the safe / conservative side of baseball.

SNY displayed a line of stats showing how the Mets relievers do not do well against opposite-hitting batters (i.e., lefties vs. righties and vice-versa). This was used as the explanation for why Jerry Manuel “needs” to use so many relievers every game, and work so hard on “matchups”. Well, here’s my theory: if you don’t give a guy a chance to face many opposite-hand hitters, and tell him he’s a specialist, he’ll turn into a specialist. I would have been more curious to see the actual number of at-bats, and the stats month-by-month. I have a funny feeling that these “specialists” were the product of nurture, rather than nature. This situation was created, and remarkably, all the “experts” are knocking their hands against their heads wondering how this happened. Is everyone else really that inattentive?

I’d love to be Luis Ayala’s agent right now … he is the king of the “up-by-three-plus-runs” save. All these easy saves will be wonderful artillery when Ayala goes for a new contract / arbitration this winter.

With Sean Marshall on the mound, Henry Blanco behind the plate, Jason Marquis’ bat on the bench, and a guy named Casey something at third base, the Cubs were clearly giving this game away against Johan Santana. If the Mets lost this one, I might have begun to get concerned. However, since they won, and the Brewers remain a motherless child waiting to be eliminated, I am confident the Mets will cruise into the postseason via the wild card.

Next Game

The Mets will need an acelike performance from Oliver Perez as he faces Cubs ace Carlos Zambrano in another 7:10 pm start on Wednesday. Ollie’s been remarkably focused and effective in “big” games, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see a 7- or 8-inning gem from him. For Zambrano, it’s a tune up for the postseason, so I’m liking the Mets’ chances.

With the Mets’ bullpen breaking down due to overuse and gross mismanagement, desperate and curious considerations have been brought to the table. The most recent and ridiculous suggestions involve starters John Maine and Pedro Martinez.

First, let’s discuss Maine, who has no business throwing a baseball and should have had his surgery two weeks ago. Maine has managed to finagle a few bullpen sessions, at which he’s thrown well under his usual mid-90s velocity and with questionable control. The Mets are allowing John to do this because Jerry Manuel ran his top five relievers to the ground over the last four months, and Omar Minaya did absolutely nothing to fortify the bullpen against the predictable breakdown.

Naturally, Maine’s most recent session ended with a lot of positive remarks from the Mets’ staff and players. But did he REALLY look good, or was it desperate desire to see success clouding reality? The mind plays tricks on judgment in times like this — not unlike visions of an oasis in an empty desert. Yes, I’m talking mirage. One must step back from the situation and judge the session detached from the Mets’ bullpen performance of late. For example, if the Mets bullpen was doing a fine job, would Maine’s BP throwing look quite as impressive?

Even if his 86-MPH tosses did look great, what does he bring the Mets, other than a warm body? Let’s call a spade a spade: John Maine stunk prior to the shoulder injury. Perhaps time — or again, the bullpen situation — has glazed over the fact that John Maine was NOT an effective pitcher in June, July, or August. His performance, in fact, was not only down from 2007, but got worse as his velocity dropped. Even if he can top out at 92-93 MPH, that’s not enough for Maine to be a valuable asset — it makes him, essentially, another Duaner Sanchez or Aaron Heilman. We won’t even get into the precariousness of the situation — the possibility that he’ll hurt himself even worse. Sure, the “experts” claim that Maine can’t do any further damage to his shoulder — but that doesn’t mean he won’t change his already screwed-up mechanics to compensate for the pain, and hurt something else.

Even if Maine doesn’t hurt himself, and can get his velocity into the mid-90s for a one-inning stint, there are two other issues. First, there are six games left in the season — so when is he going to get a “safe” opportunity to pitch in a game? What are the chances that the Mets will be in a game where they have a five-run lead and can give an inning to Maine as a test? Second, I will point out this number: .300. That’s the batting average of the first batter to face Maine this season. That stat would suggest that Maine would only be effective starting an inning, with the bases empty.

Which makes for a great segue into the Pedro Martinez issue. Pedro made news by announcing he’d be willing and happy to come out of the bullpen in the postseason if necessary. Gee, Petey, that’s great, since there’s no chance in hell you’ll get a start if the Mets can help it. But let’s get right to the brass tacks: first hitters against Pedro are pounding him to the tune of .471! Yeah, that’s exactly the type of guy I want coming into a bases loaded situation … don’t we already have Scott Schoeneweis to clear the bases?

I can see Pedro pulling an El Duque in the playoffs — coming in to relieve Oliver Perez in the third inning of one of Ollie’s “Mr. Hyde” games, and giving the Mets four or five strong innings. But otherwise, I’m just not seeing him as an effective middle reliever — and that’s what the Mets need right now.

So if Maine and Martinez are not the answers, what can the Mets do for innings 7 and 8 (assuming Luis Ayala has the ninth covered)? Well, they might make trade for someone like Chad Bradford, Jon Rauch, Brian Fuentes, Scott Eyre, Arthur Rhodes, Anthony Reyes, David Weathers, Todd Coffey, Damaso Marte, Jamie Walker, or someone else who is available on the cheap. But then, that ship has sailed, as the Mets “didn’t have a match” for any of these men.

But the Mets didn’t have to wait until the trade deadline to pick up an arm. There were many pitchers available last winter, and mentioned here. Just a few off the top of my head: Joe Nelson (huh, we thought he was a good idea back in November 2007!), Troy Percival, Octavio Dotel, Eddie Guardado, Scott Strickland, Jorge Julio, and David Aardsma. All of those arms were available for next to nothing and would have been very useful.

Since the Mets had no “match” for an external option, it’s necessary to solve the problem from within. Using Bobby Parnell before the last week of the season might have been a nice idea. Having Eddie Kunz on the expanded roster could have been of benefit. Eddie Camacho out-pitched both Parnell and Jon Niese with the B-Mets, and came out of the bullpen all season — why not give him a shot? One also wonders why the Mets kept Willie Collazo and Ruddy Lugo on the 40-man roster all season, only to DFA them both at the beginning of September — exactly the time when they were desperate to add arms to the ‘pen. Nate Field struck out 55 in 50 IP at AAA New Orleans, in the hitter-friendly PCL … where is he?

All these people are NOT on the team, yet we have Adam Bostick, Ramon Martinez (why is this guy on the roster?? did someone owe him a favor??), and Gustavo Molina hogging spots on the 40-man, not to mention Billy Wagner and Maine, who both should have been transferred to the 60-day. Oh, and did you know that only 38 of the 40 spots are currently filled? For the second straight year, there are serious questions about the way the September roster has been handled.

We keep hearing how the bullpen stinks, and the Mets just have nobody to turn to in the late innings, but looking back, they had plenty of opportunities to avoid this situation. Bottom line: there’s been mismanagement at every level, from the field up through the front office. At this point, all we can do is cross our fingers and hope for the best. It shouldn’t have come to this.

Cubs 9 Mets 5

Jon Niese was spectacular through his first inning and two-thirds, showing exactly why he was an “untouchable” at the trade deadline. However, he started to falter soon after, and the bullpen couldn’t get into the game quickly enough to keep it close.

Niese allowed 6 earned runs and was removed after allowing a grand slam homer to opposing pitcher Jason Marquis in the fourth (I think Marquis pulled similar two-way feats playing in the Staten Island little league). Nelson Figueroa didn’t fare much better — I’m guessing he didn’t have enough time to properly warm up — and by the time the inning ended the Cubs were up 7-2 and the Mets lost their enthusiasm.

But, our boys from Flushing did garner a bit of energy in the bottom of the ninth, rallying against lights-out reliever Carlos Marmol. It was nice to see, but too little, too late.

Notes

Jose Reyes, David Wright, Carlos Beltran, Carlos Delgado, and Ryan Church each had two hits apiece. Church and Delgado also walked twice each. However, for their combined eight times on base, only one run was scored, by Delgado on a wild pitch.

The Mets left a total of 11 runners on base.

Not sure why Ramon Castro didn’t start against Marquis, considering his .455 career average against him (Schneider was 1-for-17 against Marquis going into the game). I guess the Mets’ firewall blocks Jerry Manuel’s PC from sites like ESPN, which make stats like this readily available 24 hours a day. Who knows, maybe Castro would have driven in four or five runs.

Luis Castillo may keep Aaron Heilman alive … the Shea fans certainly would like to murder Castillo before they hang Heilman. Luis grounded into a DP, almost grounded into a second one, and made the last out during the Mets’ ninth-inning rally. Not sure why a pinch-hitter wasn’t brought in for Castillo in the ninth. I guess the desperation that causes all the relief pitching changes doesn’t necessarily apply to the offense.

Kind of funny to see Joe Smith warming up in the bullpen with two outs in the ninth, down by five. Surprised Scott Schoeneweis wasn’t tossing next to him.

If there was a silver lining in this game, it was the fact that the Mets got to Marmol, and forced an appearance by Kerry Wood. Chances are we won’t see either of those relievers on Tuesday.

Tottenville alum Jason Marquis wasn’t the only local boy who done good in this game — former Bergen Catholic standout Mark DeRosa went 3-for-4 with 2 runs scored. DeRosa would have had a fourth hit if not for a Gold Glove caliber catch by Carlos Beltran.

Next Game

The Mets and Cubs do it again at 7:10 pm on Tuesday. Ace Johan Santana takes the mound for the Mets against Sean Marshall. Originally, Rich Harden was supposed to make this start but Cubs manager Lou Piniella moved things around. On the bright side, it appears to be a “gimme” for the Mets. On the other hand, Harden will now start against Pedro Martinez in the series finale. Ouch.