Catch the Flipping Ball For Pete's Sake

Dammit. I, and surely many other Mets fans, wanted to burn the Zito last night. But, thanks to two major fielding miscues, we were denied. Add in a blown call by an ump on a non-Home Run (AGAIN!), and it was a recipe for a loss.

Ollie did well for 4 innings, allowing 1 hit and no walks. In the fifth, it came apart. First, Ollie walked Ray Durham. Then, a damn Molina beat the Mets, thanks to an assist from an out of position umpire. He hit a fly to left that bounded off the top of the fence. The umps called it a homer, and so it was 2-1 Giants. Ollie recovered well, getting two outs, but then allowed a single to Zito. What followed was folly.

First, Damion Easley boots a playable grounder. With Zito running not so hard on the play, Easley could have thrown him out easily. Now, the Giants had runners on first and second with two outs. Ollie then induced a line drive to rights, which Shawn Green absolutely butchered. This was not a hard play. Well, Ollie then proceeded to give up a 3 run shot to Aurilia, making it 6-1. Ollie then walked Bonds and allowed a single to Durham. Lino Urdaneta came in and allowed another HR to Molina.

Now, one issue I had beyond the fielding was that Rick did not go out to talk to Ollie until it was a little late. We all know Ollie is prone to losing focus. In my mind, Rick should have gone out a little earlier, perhaps after the Green miscue. I'm not saying that Ollie shouldn't have borne down a bit more, but his defense let him down, giving two extra outs.

The other issue I have is with the umps. This is twice in 3 days that a HR call was blown. I'm not a huge fan of instant replay for all situations, but I think for HR calls, it needs to be looked at. That call had nearly as much to do with the problems in the inning as the two miscues in the field.

Still, they stand at 19-12. Wright had a couple of hits. Willie shook things up a little, moving Delgado to the 4 spot and hitting Wright 2nd again. I'm assuming PLD was 6th to break up Delgado and Green against a lefty, but I still don't like it. Green is hitting too well, he could offer some protection to Carlos (though there is some debate about protection being a myth).

Tonight, Glavine vs. Cain. I'm hoping that this beating wakes the boys up a little. To many bats are slumping, and Cain is good. They need to get off to a hot start tonight.