Pitching was the story of this game. Claudio Vargas had a terrific first start for the Mets going 6.1 innings and gave up only only two runs. That was much more than the Mets expected from the journeyman pitcher just up from Triple-A New Orleans.
On the other end of the spectrum, Aaron Heilman was horrible again. I was dumbfounded when Willie Randolph brought in Heilman in the seventh with one out, one runner on base, and a tie game. Randolph said after the game that Scott Schoenweiss and Matt Wise were unavailable. Wise because he just pitched two days in a row, and Schoenweiss was sick.
Heilman threw gallons of gas on the fire by pitching .1 innings and gave up three runs plus let the inherited runner from Vargas score. He was booed mercilessly by the crowd throughout the inning. Randolph heard a lot of booing from the crowd too.
Earlier in the game Moises Alou was ejected for slamming his bat after being called out on strikes.
I feel like we’re watching this job slip away from Randolph before our eyes. The best that the Mets can do now is a split of a four game home series with the last place Nationals. There doesn’t seem to be any spark with this team. It’s becoming a problem.
The Mets Report 