Shaky Pen Gets Mets Swept By 'Stros

    Sure enough, just after I wrote about how I’d like to see Jerry Manuel try to stretch Aaron Heilman for some more two-inning relief appearances, Heilman blew a tie game in his second inning of work on Friday night.  After getting through the seventh inning cleanly, Heilman loaded the bases in the eighth and gave up a game-winning grand slam to pinch hitter Mark Loretta.  To add insult to injury (literally, considering the ailing arms of John Maine and Billy Wagner), Heilman was tagged with the loss again on Saturday in another collapse of sorts from the Mets’ bullpen.  This one was a group effort though, with Scott Schoenweis and Billy Wagner contributing to the blown 4-1 lead.  After yet another solid, but insufficiently long, outing from Johan Santana, Schoenweis allowed a solo home run to Kaz Matsui, who has killed the Mets, hitting .438 against his former team over the last three years.  Wagner then gave up a bizzare two-run single to Geoff Blum with the bases loaded in the ninth to blow the save, as both runners crashed into one another and Ramon Castro all at once at the plate.  Then, in the tenth, Heilman put the first two runners on base before handing the ball over to Pedro Feliciano.  Feliciano actually did not pitch poorly, striking out the first batter he faced and then allowing the game-ending sacrifice fly on a weakly hit liner by Darin Erstad.  Fernando Tatis made an excellent catch on Erstad’s sinking flare, but was unable to throw Lance Berkman out at the plate.

    Between the two bullpen meltdowns and the former infielders, Nick Evans, Daniel Murphy and Fernando Tatis, manning the outfield in Houston, the three-game weekend series underlined the Mets’ two biggest needs, neither of which Omar Minaya addressed before last Thursday’s trade deadline:  a corner outfielder and a relief pitcher.  For weeks now I’ve been clamoring for the Mets to acquire a corner outfielder, saying that sooner or later the other shoe is going to drop and we’ll all be witnessing Fernando Tatis in the midst of an 0-25 slump.  I suppose the fact that Omar stood pat and did not splurge on an outfielder could be an indication that Mets’ brass is confident that Ryan Church will be capable of returning to action soon and playing regularly.  But although Church’s return will bolster the Mets’ suddenly stagnant offense, there are no guarantees when dealing with post-concussion syndrome, and the team would certainly be better served with a competent back-up plan.

    The Mets’ bullpen is admittedly suspect, but my reasoning for prioritizing a corner outfielder was twofold.  First, the quality of relievers who were available via trade this summer was fairly low to begin with.  For the most part, major league pitchers are either starters or closers, and pitchers who aren’t good enough to fill one of those roles are relegated to middle relief.  Middle relievers are generally inconsistent, not only from month to month, like Aaron Heilman (8.25 ERA in May, 0.64 ERA in June), but also season to season; the best set-up men in the league fluctuate almost every year.  Overall, there weren’t many middle relievers who actually would have been an upgrade over anyone currently in the Mets’ bullpen, and many teams’ asking prices were extraordinarily high as well.  Second, the easiest remedy to a shoddy bullpen is to minimize their workload, and the way to do that is for starters to go deeper into games.  During the Mets’ current four-game losing streak the starters have averaged just 5.1 innings per game, and it’s no coincidence that the bullpen ERA in that span is a horrid 7.50.

    Although the bullpen blew the first two games in Houston, Sunday was a different story.  While leaving 11 runners on base and committing several mental errors, the Mets looked to be in a general state of malaise yesterday and the effort was questionable for the first time since Jerry Manuel took over as manager.  Although I like how Manuel plays the hot hand and how he handles the media, I think people get a little too carried away about how great a job Manuel has done as manager.  Aside from the 10-game winning streak, the Mets have lost just as many excruciating games as when Willie Randolph was at the helm, and even with the streak they are still only 24-18, which is better, but still not spectacular.  Since the managerial change the Mets have seemed to play harder and fight more once they fall behind, but who knows if that is attributed the the manager himself or the feeling of ease created by the lack of uncertainty surrounding the manager’s job?  This next homestand will be an interesting test, as this four-game losing streak is the first real period of tribulation the team has experienced under Manuel.

 

Around The League

    With a win over the Indians on Sunday, the Twins took over first place in the AL Central.  They were helped by Kansas City, who beat the White Sox for the second straight day.  Minnesota has a fairly easy schedule the rest of the way, featuring three series with the Mariners, and several against the Royals, Indians, Orioles and Athletics.  Francisco Liriano, who was finally recalled from triple-A this weekend, pitched six scoreless innings for the victory yesterday and looked much like he did in 2006 when he went 12-3 with a 2.16 ERA.

    Tampa Bay has won five straight and is now three games ahead of the Red Sox in the AL East.  Strong starting pitching by Andy Sonnastine, James Shields, Matt Garza, Edwin Jackson and Scott Kazmir has kept them at the top, and they'll have to continue to roll as they reach their respective career highs in innings if the Rays are to make the playoffs.  The Red Sox swept Oakland after getting pounded by the Angels, and Jason Bay has looked good so far in Boston.  After losing the first two games to the Angels on Thursday and Friday, the Yankees bounced back to split the four-game series over the weekend.  Xavier Nady is hitting .385 with three homers and 10 RBI in eight games since coming over from the Pirates and was named co-Player of the Week in the AL.

    Manny Ramirez went 4-5 with a home run and three RBI on Sunday to help the Dodgers split a four-game series with the Diamondbacks.  Los Angeles is just a game over .500, but only one game behind Arizona for first place in the NL West.  Manny is 8-13 with two homers and five RBI in three games as a Dodger, so it seems that he's once again playing hard.  Still, neither team in the division is going to run away with it, so the race should go down to the wire.

 

*Statistical information derived from www.baseball-reference.com.