Skootched!

Any other former Mets want to step up to the dunk tank and sink the Mets even further in the N.L. East?

Marco Scutaro drove the first pitch he saw from Roberto Hernandez off the left field wall and the Athletics defeated the Mets 3-2 with a walk off hit in the ninth.

Royce Ring took the loss, and it's a shame. Ring struck out Eric Chavez in the 8th inning with runners at the corners to preserve a 2-2 tie, and help out Victor Zambrano. (Zambrano pitched well again, going 7 and 2/3 innings while giving up only 5 hits, 2 walks, and 2 runs.) Ring started the ninth against Bobby Kielty, and threw a 3-2 curveball that was just outside, and Kielty would eventually score the winning run on Scutaro's hit. MSG Network's Ted Robinson suggested that Willie Randolph would lecture Ring on pitch selection in that case, but it was a gutsy pitch to make, and it just missed. Ring should not be at fault in this case, and if he made that pitch 100 more times I'd be happy with it 100 more times.

Fault the baseball gods for putting Scutaro in a position to kill the Mets. As suggested by none other than Fran Healy, let's juxtapose Scutaro's two seasons with Oakland against Kaz Matsui's Mets career which spans the same time frame (not including tonight's debacle):

Scutaro: 636 AB's, 168 hits, 43 doubles, 10 HR's, 60 RBI's, 79 K's, .264 avg., 3 errors in 572 total chances at second base, 2 errors in 115 total chances at shortstop, $323,500 on the payroll
Matsu-E: 636 AB's, 166 hits, 36 doubles, 10 HR's, 65 RBI's, 129 K's, .261 avg., 7 errors in 204 total chances at second base, 23 errors in 520 total chances at shortstop, $7,058,333 on the payroll

(All toghether now: "Booooooooooooooooooooo!")

Fault the Mets lineup for getting 5 hits all game against Danny Haren and friends. You know the season is not going to go your way when you can't take advantage of Victor Zambrano's strong starts. Can you really depend on Z to do this all season? Sure, you want to believe he's fixed, but I believed in the easter bunny at one point too, and I'm still paying off the loan for all of that therapy I received.

You also know the season isn't going your way when you can't take advantage of an A's lineup that supposedly can't hit. If you haven't noticed, this isn't Reggie Jackson, Sal Bando and Joe Rudi out there, or Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco, and Rickey Henderson, nor is it Jason Giambi, Miguel Tejada, and Johnny Damon.

Meanwhile; Carlos Beltran is taking oh-fer's and swinging at balls thrown in the bullpen, Marlon Anderson has the highest average in your starting lineup, and Kaz Matsui is still employed! Not pretty.

All of this while Ryan Drese is hurling shutout innings (didn't take him 10 minutes to get fixed, eh?), Jose Guillen is assassinating former employers left and right, and Chad Cordero is doing Reggie Miller dances on the mound as the Washington National Expos of the District of Columbia are running and hiding. The same Washington Nationals who had no home for two seasons are now picking up players off waivers and turning them into Cy Young. Nice.

But don't worry. The Mets will hang around just enough to convince themselves that they're just one player away. One player that is probably 35 years old with a history of arm, knee, or brain problems...one player that the Mets will trade the next Jason Bay, Brady Clark, or yes, the next Marco Scutaro for.