Mets seek relief from another collapse
Posted: Monday, September 15, 2008 2:33 PM
The New York Post back page Friday trumpeted the “Sweet 17” games remaining for the Mets. With a full-page picture of Johan Santana, the story proclaimed no repeat of the 2007 collapse for this year’s team.
Then over the weekend the Mets lost two of three to the Braves, with the bullpen blowing leads in both defeats. Santana left with a lead in the eighth Saturday in the first game of a day-night doubleheader and received a no-decision for the seventh time after the Mets lost, 3-2. He’d be the National League Cy Young front-runner with any sort of reliable relief from his teammates this season.
On Sunday the Mets’ bullpen crashed and burned – yet again. With closer Billy Wagner lost for the remainder of the season and likely all of next season, Luis Ayala, the man most trusted by Mets manager Jerry Manuel to fill Wagner’s role, coughed up a three-run homer to Greg Norton, part of five-run ninth inning that rallied the Braves to a 7-4 win.
One crazy weekend, highlighted by rain that disrupted series from Boston to Chicago, tightened two NL races. The Mets’ lead in the NL East is down to one game and the cloud of negativity that engulfed them last September is back. Best news for the Mets is they have left town, tonight beginning a seven-game road trip in Washington.
And the Phillies are not only chasing down the Mets but they have also caught the Brewers, now even with Milwaukee in the wild-card race. No games remain between the Phillies and Mets but Philadelphia can sit back and watch the Brewers and Mets both play the Cubs in the final two weeks. What Milwaukee -- with six rivalry games remaining against Chicago -- will hope for is that the Cubs will be in playoff-prep mode by the final weekend of the regular season when the teams wrap things up with a three-game series at Miller Park.
Meanwhile, the Mets filed out of Shea Stadium in a stunned state after Sunday’s shocking loss. Where has the help been for a bullpen that lost Wagner? Can Manuel piece together enough end-game pitching for his team to survive the final two weeks?
FOUR MORE SWINGS:
1. IS THERE ANY OTHER OWNER AS BELOVED AS...Angels owner Arte Moreno? When the Angels clinched the American League West last week, fans chanted “Arte, Arte” as Moreno joined the on-field celebration. Under his regime, the Angels have won four of the last five division titles. They are a model organization, proficient in player development and possess the game’s most unappreciated manager in Mike Sciocsia.
2. THE SADDEST STORY OF THE YEAR…came to an end over the weekend when the Dodgers took Andruw Jones off their 40-man roster. This is simple: he was badly overweight in spring training and never put his game together. Question: Will his agent, Scott Boras, take time away from reneging on two contracts signed for first-round free agents in last June’s amateur draft, to help his client avoid a complete career crash?
3. ALTHOUGH THIS MAY BE CATCH UP…a family friend of Pedro Alvarez characterized the grievance hearing underway in New York as an ethnic battle (my words). The friend was quoted in the New York Times as saying the Pirates took advantage of Alvarez, a NYC native, because of his socioeconomic status. Alvarez received a $6 million bonus from Pittsburgh. San Francisco gave Buster Posey $6.2 million. So all this is over $200,000. Pathetic.
4. THE NUMBER OF THE WEEKEND...138. That’s how many pitches Tim Lincecum threw in his first career shutout Saturday night. It’s mind boggling that the Giants would take such a risk. Lincecum has no signs of trouble and I accept the concept of a young pitcher maturing through complete games. But this risk-reward ratio is so low as to violate every business school principle.
Lincecum is not the winningest pitcher in the NL, but he -- by any statistical measure -- is the league’s best. His main Cy Young rival, Brandon Webb, has called him dominant.
So, why have the Giants, finishing respectably in an otherwise dreadful season, allowed Lincecum to work over 200 innings?
The root lies in a July 26 game in which Lincecum pitched against Brandon Webb. Through seven innings, Lincecum struck out 13 D’Backs and had outdueled Webb. With a 3-2 lead, the Giants removed Lincecum, and the bullpen lost the game.
The outrage in San Francisco was notable. Fans flooded talk shows with brutal criticism of Giants manager Bruce Bochy. No matter that the Giants season was long lost or that Lincecum was the organization’s most valuable player. Baseball had changed, starters were babied, and the fans were hacked off.
Since that game, Lincecum has made nine starts and thrown at least 114 pitches in seven of those. Two of his last three starts have had pitch counts of over 127. Bochy clearly heard the fans but his use of Lincecum is dangerous given the oft-cited recent history of Mark Prior.
Lincecum should win the NL Cy Young but he will be watched carefully next year.
