It’s become almost impossible for me to watch the Mets now. And this should be the most exciting time of the season. We’re right in the playoff hunt and there’s only one week left in the regular season. The Phillies and Brewers have had their own problems at various times this season. The Mets are better than both of them, or they should be.
At the All-Star break I would’ve told you that if the Mets don’t make the playoffs in 2008 it’s because Carlos Delgado can’t hit anymore or Moises Alou is injured again. But Delgado can, and has, hit and the left field combination of Daniel Murphy, Endy Chavez, Fernando Tatis, and Nick Evans has worked.
Now it’s readily apparent to every Mets fan that if the Mets don’t make the playoffs it’s the bullpen’s fault. Johan Santana should have 20+ wins right now. He’s been victimized more than anyone save the fans. And the bullpen may cost Jerry Manuel a well-deserved shot at managing this team for the next three or four years.
Take a look at the Mets statistics in releif appearances this season. But don’t look at it right after eating. You might lose your lunch. If you go to MLB.com, click Stats, then select the Mets, pitching stats, in relief appearances you’ll see all of the Mets relief appearance stats and it isn’t a pretty sight.
I won’t even single anyone in the bullpen out because they’ve all been so bad. It’s time to move Bobby Parnell to the top of the heap. Could he be worse than what we’ve already seen? I don’t think so.
The Mets Report 
Hey Dave, I have followed the blog as usual and have kept my mouth (typing fingers) shut in the hope I was a wrong and to keep the small streak we had going (yes I am superstitious). But I have been reading. And as u guys remember I wrote us off several weeks ago because of this bullpen. I am sad albeit not at all surprised at how poorly the bullpen performs and sabotages this team. I am also going to say that if they fail to make the playoffs that this bullpen will cause a fine manager in Jerry to not get rehired.lets hope I am 100% wrong.I hope I am.
PS when they back up the truck to tear down Shea, I hope they put this clown convention of a bullpen in the truck.
LikeLike
Milwaukee’s bullpen stinks too, or the Mets would be completely out of luck. The Mets just need to outscore the Cubs. They can’t count on these pitchers. I actually yelled in anger at the TV when Delgado hit that home run yesterday because it made me that much more furious about those two runs allowed by Heilman in the eighth. And batting Easley there was a mistake.
But you know what, it’s time to try to be positive. Atlanta’s going to be 1-8 on this year’s ledger no matter what happens. No sitting around feeling sorry for ourselves–something Mets fan excel at–and instead try to bring this team home. The Mets were dead and buried when Jerry took over. They overtook a Philly team that has not had a blown save in the ninth all season. (Houston, you can think about how that Lidge trade worked out for you when you’re watching Philly on TV next week.) Support the team, for God sakes. You can complain about what happened for the next 25 weeks. Remember 1999, the tortuous and exhilerating final weekend in Mets history.
LikeLike
I have been trying to find a site that provides a reliever’s IRA (Inherited Runner Average). I couldn’t find it at baseball-reference or espn.com. Any have a thought. I’d be interested in seeing what the bullpen’s average is.
A positive view: Given that the pigpen has blown 29 saves, and given that they lost some pretty big named players for extended periods of time, I’m very surprised that the Met’s are still in the playoff hunt. If I had to choose between being out of the playoffs in the first week of August or the final day of the season, I’d choose the latter.
I still have confidence in this offense and the starters.
LikeLike
Robin, I was wondering what happened to you. You’ve been quiet for a while now. I’m glad to see Matt and TD chiming in with positive thoughts here. It’s actually inspiring me to be more positive in my posts, as difficult as that may be with opposing pitchers hitting grand slams off the Mets.
LikeLike
I have been here dave, in fact I occasionally replied to you on twitter. I am going to start convincing myself that this is just a bump on the the road.btw.. do you have an extra crash helmet? 😛 seriously, they must simply win one more game than Brewers, and as stated here before, Milwaukee has a bullpen that is as near as bad as Mets as one could get.
LikeLike
Not sure if any of you heard ESPN Radio this morning. Jayson stark was on with some pretty cool stats about the NL East and how important the bullpen’s have been. Here is a link to the discussion he had with Mike and Mike.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&page=pennantpulse/080922
LikeLike