Maybe they're just not that good.....

The Mets couldn't even muster one run against a kid who pitched his way out of the major leagues with an 11 ERA. They ended a home-stand with a record of 3-4 against two teams in the bottom of the their respective divisions and two of those wins, the decisive runs came on errors /misplayed balls. I've been looking all along to find the answer as to why this playoff caliber team just couldn't play better then .500 ball, since about this time last year. I've blamed the hitting coach (Downs), the manager, the GM, the owner for not spending more money and different players ( Delgado, Heilman, Mota, Ollie, Etc...) all along thinking they were just one or two pieces away from putting it all together. But maybe this is as good as it gets, this team that individually looks great on paper can't put it all together and they are just a .500 team. Maybe my level of frustration shouldn't be from their performance but that my expectations are simply too high. I'm looking for 2006 and that team is no longer there, players had career years and others have grown old. For the first time since 2005 I'm not very optimistic about this team as a hole, I'm starting to think that they're just not that good.

No excuse to use Heilman

So this morning I'm reading some justifications for why Willie used Heilman and sorry I'm not buying it. Don't get me wrong I fully understand why Matt Wise and Scott Schnoeneweis were unavailable. Schoeneweis had spent the day in the hospital with what turned out to be flu like symptoms and Wise just returning from the DL can't immediately be used on back to back days. But that still leaves Willie with three solid options in Smith, Feliciano and Sanchez. If any of these three relievers were brought in and failed to get the job done, then Willie wouldn't be getting second guessed so much today, it would be the teams offense.

With that said, there's no way he should have been left in as long as he was, the minute Heilman exits the pen his back-up plan should be warming up. The excuse that no one was ready is as lame as using him in the first place, your worried about his ego ( which appears to be destroyed) then have Feliciano throwing so it looks like a match-up situation.

Omar should send Heilman down, there's no reason to carry a player that can only be used in limited situations (mop up duty) if he has options. While I don't feel Willie's hands were tied last night, going forward it's hard to manage a pen with one of the guys preforming the way Heilman has.

Willie is stubborn and makes questionable moves that effect the outcome of games. If this was as good as I believed the team to be, then I would blame the players and accept a mediocre 500 year. Not only do I believe that Willie's not utilizing his players properly through his odd decisions but I don't feel he's getting the most from this team. I still believe this is a playoff caliber team and they aren't playing up to their potential, which I directly attribute to the manager. It's the managers job to get the most from his players and Willie simply isn't getting that job done...............................

Why Heilman.... Willie what are you thinking

This game should have never come down to the seventh inning, but it did. Once again the offense wasted a great performance by a starting pitcher, this time it was new comer Claudio Vargas who went 6 1/3 allowing just two runs on 3 hits, 4 BB while striking out six. Against a last place team once again this offense has struggled way more then it should, tonight it had a pathetic six hits and scored three runs. So far in this series against the last place Nationals who have the worst batting average in the league and have the lowest runs scored totals, the Mets have scored 13 while the Nationals 18.

So onto tonight's game the teams entered the seventh inning tied 1-1, in the top of the inning Claudio Vargas struck out one and walk another batter. Willie decided to pull Vargas after he walked the batter and was at 100 pitches, I know some will second guess pulling Vargas but I have no problem with that decision.

What I do have a problem with is bringing Aaron Heilman into a tied game, Heilman has proven he can't be trusted in these situations. If I'm rolling my eyes and saying "oh boy here we go again", what do you think the players are saying to themselves. Willie is just so stubborn, bringing in Heilman because he's a reliever on his staff so he's going to use him kind of bravado, lacks common sense and kills the teams chances of winning games. I believe Heilman has options, if he does then he should be sent down and if he doesn't then he should be relegated to mop-up duty as Jorge Julio was two years ago. This is becoming painfully similar to the Mota situation last year. I'm not sure if Willie is so stubborn and blinded by his loyalty to certain players that he sends them out hoping they'll rebound. Or if he's using players performance to send a message to Omar that they stink and he needs them off the roster. Either way Willie's decisions are directly effecting the out come of the game and I can see how they could be impacting the morale of the team.

Just as any of us could have predicted, after getting the second out of the inning and going up by two strikes, Heilman allowed the inherited runner to score ( He's allowed six of eight inherited runners to score). Heilman doesn't appear to have faith in his stuff, after the first two strikes he tried to get the hitter swinging at balls way outside the zone until he was forced, in a full count to come back inside and that's when he gave up a hit. After that it was over, Heilman was lucky to be pulled after just three more runs as it appeared the Nats would have score for as long as Willie left him out there.

Which brings me to the second point, why was he left out there for as long as he was. The second he gave up the go ahead run, Willie should have been sprinting to the mound for the ball, instead he wanted to let him get out of the inning on a positive note which resulted in the Mets trailing 5-1 with two men on and still only two outs.

Joe Smith came in ( who should have started the seventh) got the last out, stranding two and then pitched a clean eighth inning.

I've heard many say what does Willie have to do with the players on the field, I say plenty. If you don't think it impacts them to see Willie send in Heilman in a tie game in the seventh and then leave him in just to allow him to give up a big league against the Nats your fooling yourself. This is just one more bad decision in a long line of game costing bad decisions and I don't see how any player could have faith in him. This team needs to be shaken up and the first place they should look is at Willie and Peterson, this team has underachieved for way too long, someone needs to be held accountable because they're better then this....

I'm tired of hearing that it's early, because it's only getting later and we've been hearing it's early for too long now. This is the same team, that was playing the same way last year and we kept being told it's early and at least were still in first.

Now Willie's on board with Delgado bunting....Finally

I'm was very glad to see Carlos Delgado bunt against the shift, in fact I've been recommending it for over a year. In a post dated 1/27/07 called Keep em Honest in which I chronicled Delgado's struggles, the shift and said the following about bunting;

My concern with Delgado making an effort to hit the ball the other way, is that in doing so it may have compounded his mechanical problems. It appeared that during the slump his hips were flying out which would indicate a player who's attempting to be in front of the ball to hit it in the opposite direction. The slump seemed to start with Delgado hitting the ball hard directly at defenders in the shift, and then escalated in a mechanical problem, possibly by trying to hit the other way. My solution to the problem is to force the defense out of the shift by keeping them honest. Just how do I propose to do this; the first time Reyes or Beltran are on third and they put the shift on bunt. Yes, bunt. I don't like to take such a powerful bat out of the equation but the runner will score and you still have Wright and Alou behind him. It will be months before a team puts on the shift in a situation like that and you don't disturb Delgado rhythm. The easiest answer is to Keep em Honest, Bunt.

Last night the bunt worked to perfection for Carlos, I'm glad he's proving me wrong by getting it together at the plate and making some nice plays in the field. I know Willie has been against his power hitters bunting, he's said several times that he prefers to not take the bat out of their hands. It's funny to hear him now say that he'd like to see Carlos bunt more often against the severe over shift teams are using against him....

“He did that on his own. I like it. He should have been doing it a long time ago, actually…It’s an ocean out there with everybody on the other side.” Willie Randolph on Delgado source Metsblog

Castillo could land on the DL

Metsblog is reporting that the Buzz from Shea is that Luis Castillo could land on the DL. As I've said before I think the Mets are slow to put players on the DL especially veterans, if there's a respect of Castillo hurting himself worse or he's a detriment to the team then move him to the DL and bring someone in to fill the roster spot.

the buzz from shea suggests Luis Castillo could still end up on the disabled list, though he continues to tell reporters that such a move is not necessary source Metsblog

I'm not very comfortable with Easley's, Anderson's or Tatis' defense at second but their decent offensive players and will serve just fine to get us through the DL stint. I know many will be screaming about why we gave up Gotay, but his defense wasn't much better then the three above and as I predicted, that hot offensive start he had in '07' is gone, he's hitting .238 and hasn't had a hit against a left handed pitcher yet this season.

Jose Valentin could be getting close to returning and would be the perfect fit to fill in at second and then become a leader on the bench.

Temporarily if Castillo is put on the DL and Valentin isn't ready I could see them calling up Val Pascucci. The 29 y/o right handed outfielder and 1B who won numerous offensive minor league awards is killing the ball in New Orleans. The trick with these AAAA guys is use them when there hot, hope they've actually had a break through and are now a major leaguer or send them back down when their cold. Pascucci could caddy for Delgado and Alou if he can hit remotely similar to what he's doing in New Orleans ( 52 at bats: .393BA, .731 SLG, 1.124 OBP, 5 HR, 7 Doubles, 13 RBIs).

Casanova makes it through waivers

With so many injured catchers throughout the league, there was a risk that Raul Casanova would be claimed off waivers but the journeyman catcher made it through and will report to New Orleans. I'm glad we were able to keep him, as the back-up to the back-up Casanova did a decent job and with Castro on the team I'm sure he'll see more time with the big league team.

Casanova, 35, will join the Zephyrs on Thursday after clearing waivers this week. The veteran catcher was designated for assignment by the Mets on Friday to make room for Ramon Castro, who had been activated from the disabled list. Casanova was hitting .283 in 46 at-bats for the Mets with one home run and six RBI. He is a .236 lifetime hitting in parts of nine major league seasons. source MiLB