The Cardiac Mets Continue to Win

I don't know about any of you out there, but I don't know if I'm going to make it to the end of September. The Mets continue to give me and others a daily stress test as they manage to win games in nail biting fashion.

Against the Phillies earlier this week they seemed to have a win in the bag for Pedro. Winning 7-0 in the 3rd inning and cruising thru the game, who would have thought that the game would do a 180 and become a loss. Pedro gave up 1 run at first, then the roof fell in on him in the 5th. He gives up 2 homeruns and before you know it it's a 7-5 game. The Mets hitters went to sleep, the Phillies tied the game because of another bull-pen fiasco and they lose in 13 innings. Where have we seen that play out before?

The next night the Mets had Santana pitching and things weren't much better. Johan didn't have his shutdown stuff but kept the Mets in the game. He left trailing 3-1 but was bailed out by Delgado. Carlos hit 2 solo HRs to tie the game. In the 8th inning Mighty Murphy hit a ball into the right field corner of "Lights Out" Lidge to score the go ahead run. The Mets then scored two insurance runs and Ayala closed out the game. If not for Stokes bailing out Johan, and Smith and Feliciano holding the lead, it could have been a disaster. The Mets would have been 1.5 games behind Phillie, not .5 games ahead.

The Phillies have been losing to the Cubs as the Mets watch their lead grow in the division. Friday's game was another cardiac event. After trailing most of the game, the Mets actually got some production from Beltran. At one time in the 9th inning, the Mets were down to their last strike before the rally started. Castillo got a hit, David walked, and Delgado was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Tailing 2-1 in the 9th inning, Beltran hits the 1st pitch thrown from Gregg, and hits a grandslam to put the Mets ahead 5-2. Then the fun started again. Ayala comes into close the game, and needless to say it was nerve racking to say the least. Why is it always so hard to get the last out in an inning or game? Ayala got the job done [he later complained of a sore groin] but it was interesting and he owes the save to Murphy in left field. On a drive by Canto down the line, Murphy used his 3rd base skills to keep the tying run from scoring. He hustled to cut off the ball and threw it on the run [as he was headed towards the foul line] to Jose' and held the runner at 3rd base. He leaped and threw the ball all in one motion just as if he was throwing a ball from 3rd to 1st base. It probably saved the game.

All these cardiac events wouldn't be needed if the team could score a few more runs in the middle innings. They score with regularity in the 1st inning or 2 but then the bats go silent all too frequently. If the Starters can continue to go deeper into games, it will make life easier on all of us. But, the hitters need to score more runs. Nobody is doing the job very well in the middle innings, and it's not a new situation. All year long the Mets have been stranding runners in scoring position. Of the 30 HRs hit by Delgado, only 1 has come after the 7th inning. David, Beltran, Easley, Tatis, have all left runners on the bases and it's got to change.

The Mets and Big Pelf need to take care of the Fish tonight. The Phillies are beating the Cubs and the Fish have hopes of staying in the race. A win tonight will get the monkey off Mike's back and keep the Phillies 2 game behind the Mets. With the Brewers coming up Monday, the Mets need all the cushion they can get.