WTF Was That?

For two games in a row now, the Mets have laid a giant turd. Sunday could sort of be written off, as Willie trotted out a new look lineup, and then pulled starters early. Last night though was different. The "playoff" lineup was put on the field. While they scored a few runs, and Beltran and Uncle Cliffy went yard, they still only managed 6 hits for the game, four off of Anibal Sanchez, making his first start since his no hitter last week (think the Red Sox are maybe kinda sorta regretting the Beckett deal now? Hanley Ramirez and Sanchez have done nice work).

The pitching let the Mets down last night. Dave Williams was the latest #4 playoff starter hopeful (granted, he was a long shot at best) to get the daylights smacked out of him. I'm not going to bury the guy, as he won 3 of his first 4 starts (the Mets won all 4), but giving up 9 runs on 11 hits in 3 innings is not going to help him make his case. Roberto Hernandez pitched 1 inning of scoreless ball, but then Heath Bell and Royce Ring came in, and the game got out of control. Phil Humber warmed up during the game. Alas, Willie did not give him a shot. I understand not wanting to hurt his confidence, but could he have done much worse? Maybe he could have given the team a shot in the arm. Heck, in the NHL, a goalie change sometimes does the trick, why not give it a shot? I'm not trying to kill Willie here, after all, how can you? But if there was ever a game to get the kid some work last night was it.

At the very least, maybe he could have done something about Cody Ross. Ross came into the game hitting 240, with 9 home runs. He added 3(!) home runs last night, victimizing Williams, Bell and Ring. WTF indeed. How the hell do you let a guy like that own you? The Marlins hit 5 HR's in all.

The ugliness arose on defense as well, as Reyes, Valentin and Green all made errors, the former two on throws, the latter on a catchable fly. None led to unearned runs, but still, very sloppy.

A game like this is going to happen every once in a while. The hope is that the team responds, and proceeds to kick some butt and take some names the next time out. The problem is that they had a bad game Sunday, so this makes two in a row. The last time that happened was in Boston. This series is a chance to put the Marlins further back in the WC race. I'm not saying the Mets should be afraid to play the Marlins, but they need to send the message. They've done it against better teams, now they need to do it here. The playoffs can be a crap shoot, WC teams make it to the World Series, as we Met fans know. You never know who will get hot.

I'm not going to sit here and gnash my teeth over all this though. The Magic Number remains at 4. For the first time since 2000, the Mets are going to the playoffs. Pedro is coming back this weekend. Glavine looked good this past weekend. So the two horses should be ready for the playoffs. Wright is hitting again. Beltran seems to be OK after his scare. Hopefully they get going again, and go into the post-season on a hot streak.

ISLANDERS NOTE
I'm getting increasingly concerned about the Rick DiPietro situation. As of a week or so ago, things were supposed to be close to resolution as far as a new contract. However, no announcement, and training camp opens in a couple of days. Wang's policy is no deal by camp, you don't play. I can understand his reasoning, but at the same time, Wang went on vacation for two weeks at the end of August/early September, losing precious negotiating time. He would not allow his nominal GM, Garth Snow, to negotiate in his absence. He should have given Garth parameters to work with.

Wang needs to get his priorities in order here. Rick is the goalie, for better or worse. I'm not saying Rick is a top goalie in the NHL, but he has shown flashes (he played well in the second half, and at the Olympics, not his fault that Team USA could not score). Other goalies with similar or lesser track records have signed recently. Wang decides to keep the albatross that is Alexi Yashin's contract around, but is nickel and diming his goalie? WTF? No one year deals here Charles. Sign him for 4 years, $10 million, and be done with it. If they lose this guy, Wang is not going to win his fans over. If he thinks reaction to the Neil Smith Fiasco was bad, he ain't seen nothing yet. He'll be lucky to get 5,000 per game as an average this year.

Charles, lock your ass in a conference room with Rick's agents. Break out the checkbook, use some of your CA money, and get this done. The last thing this team needs is this sort of distraction. Do you really want to go into the season with Wade Dubielewicz as your starter? I think not.

Get it done Charles.
Now.