Can't Find My Way Home

Why are you seeing a map of a baseball field? Because after tonight's 6-5 loss to the Pirates in 10 innings, hopefully every member of the Mets will print this map out and carry it with them at all times...because it's obvious they need one to get around the freakin' basepaths!

I can't fault Braden Looper tonight even though he oversaw a four run lead with two outs in the ninth sink to the bottom of the Allegheny. He had Tike Redman on the ropes with the bases loaded and up by four, but Tike fouled off eight pitches before driving in two with a Luis Sojo 28 hopper up the middle, setting up Matt Lawton's double to drive in the tying two runs that Cliff Floyd misplayed and let get behind him.

But don't blame Looper, and don't blame Cliff Floyd. Because the Mets would have won this game in regulation had Ramon Castro not had the Mets latest "LSD Moment On The Bases" in the ninth. Castro had a great night...for the most part. His dinger in the seventh gave the Mets breathing room (Fran Healy thinks that Josh Fogg was upset because Castro was "cadillacing" around the bases...Fran, it's Ramon Castro! He runs like a catcher, wouldn't you think he trots like one too?), and his RBI single in the ninth should have put it away. But then for some strange reason, he hesitated going around second on Brian Daubach's blast off the wall on a play he should have scored. But he stopped rounding third for some oddball reason, then tried to score and was thrown out. Maybe if his teammates would stop slapping him on his big noggin as a joke. Remember: It's all fun and games until there's brain damage. And after tonight's blunder, could the damage be done? And has it been done to Castro's brain cells? Or to the Mets season?

On the bright side...

We might be witnessing the blossoming of a leadoff hitter before our very eyes. The Walk-O-Meter is at 12, and if it keeps ticking at this pace it's going to blow up like the Death Star at the end of "Star Wars". For the second game in a row, Jose Reyes led off the game with a walk, then scored as he reached second on an attempted steal that should have been a steal (long story)reached third on a ground out, then scored on a speed induced balk.

Once again, give a load of credit to Reyes for the mature way he handled being briefly dropped down in the order to 7th. Instead of whining, pouting, and acting like Johnny Damon, he got the message and started taking pitches. Sometimes, that's what it takes to wake a guy up. Other times, it's the catalyst for losing a guy forever. Reyes, always portrayed as mature for his years, proved it. And also give credit to Willie Randolph for recognizing that Reyes got the message, and returned him to the leadoff spot immediately.

Speaking of credit, how about Victor Zambrano? As much as I still believe that Kazmir for Zambrano was the worst trade in franchise history (I will explain why it's worse than Ryan's or Seaver's trade at some point, perhaps upon request), the one blameless soul in all this is Zambrano. And it took longer than expected, Zambrano has turned it around and deserves a ton of credit for pitching lights out since the end of May. Key stat? One walk in eight innings.

Too bad that in the long run, the efforts of Reyes and Zambrano were wasted, along with winning three out of four in Washington.