Perhaps it was the residual tension from the Trade deadline/Duaner injury or maybe it was the fear of what blowing 2 straight games would do to the psyche, but the last few innings of last night’s game had me chewing my nails down to the knuckle. It was an odd feeling - we are up by over a dozen in August and for 30 minutes, it felt like we were fighting for our lives.
Working Backwards, the first Billy Wagner that showed up last night (the one that gave up a lead off single and hit a pinch-hitting pitcher in the knee) was scaring the crap out of me. He looked like a deer in the headlights. I don't know if it was whatever Rick Peterson said to him during their little chat on the mound that got him to pull his head out of his ass, but I do know that I am glad the other Billy Wagner showed up and struck out the next three guys. The last pitch of the game was a particular “beaut”….high heat....above the letters and totally unhittable.
Heilman turned in his second consecutive 1-2-3 8th inning. I think he is going to absolutely thrive on the new role he is being thrust into. He has been starved for an opportunity to take on a job title that carries some juice and this may be the opening he needed to bring out the best in him. So far so good.
The Mets at bat in the 8th was a rough one to leave empty-handed. We were staring at the bases loaded with nobody out with Delgado, Wright and Floyd coming up. Nine out of ten times we are gonna get medieval on their asses in that situation but last night we came up empty. It almost cost us.
Looking across the field at the fish, it really looked to me like Miguel Cabrerra was dogging it out there last night. For a guy with such immense talent, it looks like he is phoning it in defensively and on the basepath. His lackadaisical effort in turning a 5-3 double play and his lazy, unattentive base running probably cost his team the game. From the few times I’ve gotten to watch him play against the Mets, it seems like his nonchalance is the rule and not the exception. It seems like Girardi has an extremely talented head-case on his hands.
They had a great in-game interview with Jerry Manuel last night. I never heard him speak before and I had no idea how intelligent, articulate and baseball-wise he was. He made some excellent points and articulated them with class and perspective. Amongst his thoughts were:
· Lastings Milledge has the tools but he is going to be put in an extremely demanding position come October. Right now he is learning but come the fall, he is going to be asked to play at a championship level. To paraphrase, Manuel said
“We have two months to get this kid ready for the post-season, both defensively and mentally." He went on to say they are really planning to spend time schooling him on how to play for a “team”.
· This Met team has the mentality of a championship team….. A team that can come back after a tough loss like Tuesday nights and put it behind them (granted he said this when the Mets were still up by 6)
A few other random thoughts I had last night:
· How great a baseball name is Taylor Tankersly! We have to get this guy, if for no there reason than to hear him announced over the PA system. I would love to hear Bob Murphy work with this one:
“Taylor Tankersly has struck out 6 of his last 11 batters, 14 of his last 23 and 46 of his last 112”
· Paul LoDuca quietly has an 11 game hitting streak going
· Braden Looper, living in exile, is still killing us. I turned the channel to watch the Cardinal-Phillie game after the Mets won. Looper entered the game in the 8th with the Cards down by just 1. Five minutes later, he has given up 2 singles and a double and the Phillies break the game wide open. Three earned runs in 1/3 of an inning. So terribly, terribly familiar. Omar, can you trade for him and then ship him off to an
It takes a team with tremendous depth to do what we have done. It takes depth to weather the loss Pedro for a month. It takes depth to be able to nurture our phenoms like Pelfrey and Milledge and not force them into difficult positions without the seasoning they need, and it takes depth to have options when a pitcher as important as Duaner goes down. Willie and Omar have built a team for the long haul and it is really showing. Like a well-conditioned prize fighter we are taking blows that would knock out a lesser man and dishing out 2 punches for each once we take.
Pedro makes his triumphant return tonight against D-Train.
