The Day After

The question in my mind last night was how would the team react to the loss of Filthy. Would Heilman be able to step up? Would Hernandez be able to resume his role from last year? Would the rest of the pen be able to step up? Finally, would Pelfrey be able to go longer than he has of late to reduce the stress on the pen.

Notice that none of my worries were about the closer, Billy "Country Time" Wagner. He had done well of late, including a 1 1/3 inning stint on Sunday. It was nice to feel confident in the closer, and it was confidence earned. Alas, that is where the concern should have been placed.

Pelfrey did OK. Not great, but not poorly. A poor play by Lastings Milledge did not help in the first, as Lastings got a bad read on a ball and it fell in. That contributed to a run for the Marlins, which tied the score at 1. Carlos Beltran would continue his hot play of late with a 2 run homer to help the Mets to a 4-1 lead. Later, Pelfrey would give up 3 more runs to make it a 4-4 game. In his last inning, the 6th, Pelfrey would get out of a bases loaded jam with a key strikeout. Willie challenged him, like Willie had done to John Maine last week, and it worked out again.

Chad Bradford and Aaron Heilman each pitched scoreless innings. In the 7th, Jose Reyes gave the Mets the lead, seemingly giving Pelfrey a win. Wagner came in to the ninth, gave up a dink single, got an out on a sacrifice, then served up a fastball that pinch-hitter Josh Willingham clubbed for a game winning HR. Wagner appeared to have his velocity, but his placement was off.

Now, given that he has pitched well of late, Wagner should get a pass for last night. The best closers have their off nights, and this may have been one for Billy. The thing is, given the loss of Filthy, Met fans want to have that feeling of confidence in their closer. We had been getting there, but last night may cause it to waver a bit. Should Wagner bounce back strongly, it can be looked at as an aberration. Should another poor outing follow shortly, things will be different.

Good news from last night, Reyes had a walk, triple and HR with 3 runs scored. Paul Lo Duca went 3-5. Beltran went 2-4 with a HR. Lastings Milledge had 3 walks, showing some patience that was lacking his last time up with the Mets.

Bad news, well, David Wright continues a mild slump, 0-4 with 3 K's. Pelfrey had a few walks. Wagner was mentioned above. Then there was Milledge.

Milledge had the misplay, and appeared to walk away from Willie when the inning ended as Willie spoke to him. Now, I have given Lastings a lot of slack, I think some of what he has done has been honest rookie mistakes (the poor fielding in Fenway, the hi-5's) and some were a bit more worrisome (the lateness in Philly, the poor baserunning incident). However, if he did in fact turn away from Willie, this is a problem. I don't care who you are, if your boss is talking to you, you do not turn away. Now, maybe he did not hear Willie, I don't know, I was not there. But if he did hear him, and walked away, that is unacceptable.

The kid has a lot of talent. The last thing he needs is to get a bad reputation among his teammates, coaching staff, and fans. The Mets have seen a number of good young players over the years go down a bad path, to their detriment, and that of the team. Gregg Jeffries is one example. The guy had a lot of talent, but seemed to be a loner who did not need to listen to anyone. Jeff Kent had similar issues. While Jeffries did not have a great career, Kent did, alas on other teams. Not only would Lastings hurt his value to the team as a player, but as possible trade bait. Who is going to want to give up anything of value if he winds up with a bad rep? My hope is that Willie, another coach, or even a player can work with him. He is an important part of the team now, and he needs to know that. He also needs to know that he is no longer in high-school, meaning he is no longer the man.

Tonight we have Trachsel vs Nolasco. The Mets have hit Molasco pretty hard the two times they have faced him this year. Nolasco has pitched well of late though. Here's to a good performance by Trachsel and the bats tonight. With Nady being gone, the guys who have been slumping (Wright, Floyd) need to pick it up. A couple of hits from Milledge would be nice as well.