Mets Bullpen Glory Days Were Back Again

The power went out in my town last night around the 5th inning. About the same time the Mets pitching lost its power too.

Inbetween getting the kids calmed down and back to sleep, I was able to watch the Mets bullpen dismantle on my BlackBerry. A painful way to spend an evening, I know.

But it did bring me back to the glory days of 2007 & 2008, when every other day I knew could have a blog post with the words BLOWpen or BLOWenweiss in it. Ah yes, the glory days of the Mets bullpen.

Now these things are bound to happen even to the best of teams. Mariano Rivera even had a blown save already this year. I don't expect it to be a regular occurence for the Mets though. This teams bullpen is much improved and I think hope pray that it's just one of those rare things that happens to a team every once in a while.

Day game today with the savior of the pitching staff on the mound.

The Most Hilarious Title of an Article This Year

So I went to Mets.com over vacation to catch a little of the Mets series against the Marlins on the MLB gameday audio when I came across an article that literally had me laughing out loud.

The title of the article was "Mets Bullpen Slowly Coming Together."

Seriously? Are you kidding me? Was the author's name Ima N. Denial? I would like to live in that fairy tale land.

The article might be the single biggest piece of propaganda that you've seen since the fall of the Iron Curtain. Sure the bullpen had a pretty good series against the Marlins. I'll even give credit to Aaron Heilman for pitching two innings without giving up a home run, but let's not get too excited here folks.

When's the last time you saw Carlo Muniz pitch and not give up a run? Hmmmm, how about never? Blowenweiss continues to live up to his name's sake, and Heilman is one home run away from crawling up into the fetal position. Pedro Feliciano seems to be doing fine as a lefty specialist and Joe Smith as a righty specialist, but please, please, please do not left them pitch to an opposite batter.

It seems like we've been talking about this very issue for months on end. You'd think the Mets would have done something about it by now. I do like that they brought up Eddie Kunz, but he's not the complete solution.

It's becoming more and more evident that the Mets starting rotation can't be relied on to go 7 innings. Pelfrey is struggling. Maine is questionable. Pedro can't throw more than 5 innings. Perez can throw 110 pitches, but outside of him and Santana pretty much every day we need the bullpen to give us some effort.

That's a scary realization with the arms that are currently throwing out there. No lead is safe until something happens.

Welcome Back David Wright

David Wright just brushed off his shoulder all the criticisms thrown his way over the past week by letting his bat do the talking.

On a day when everyone within 100 miles of Shea Stadium was saying that he needed to take the day off (myself included), he tells Jerry Manuel that he wants to play and then goes 3 for 5 with 2 RBI including a walk off homer to clinch it.

It never fails that the day I totally rip into a Mets player they come out and just prove that I know nothing. Everyone except for the Mets bullpen that is.

The sad story of the day is the fact that Johan Santana didn't get the win, yet again. Santana went 7 innings, striking out 7, while giving up 2 earned runs. But Blowenweiss, like the bad cliche that he is, came in to blow out.

It was almost perfectly written for David Wright to be the hero. 2 outs. Bottom of the 9th. The struggling hero tries to overcome adversity. It's poetic.

And it's a win. Let's hope this gets Wright back on track. Bring on the Marlins.

Big Let Down on Opening Day

I almost tried to skip out and head over to Shea for its last opening day. Now I'm glad I didn't.

Oliver Perez saw a well pitched game go to waste in the 7th inning thanks to Scott Blowenweis. The Mets didn't do a whole lot on the offensive front either leaving a ton of men on base.

Do you find yourself saying that it's only the 6th game of the season and that this isn't a big deal? Yeah, me too. It's called denial. The inability to put away NL East rivals at any point during the season is not a good sign.

Willie Randolph should be worried. This can't keep up or else the media and Mets fans will be calling for his head by the time May rolls around.

Still two games left in the series, and the Mets better get their act together real quick.