That's Entertainment (For Masochists)

At least this three game set against the Brewers was entertaining.

Yeah, if you were a Brewers fan, a fan of offense, or maybe a Satan deciphel (no, not new Islanders winger Miroslav Satan...I mean the prince of darkness).

This was a brutal, brutal, brutal loss for the Mets as Roberto Hernandez gave up five in the ninth to hand the Brewers a 12-9 win and a series win. And this was a game that featured a curious philosophy by Willie Randolph.

Okay, so Braden Looper had pitched four straight games, including more than 50 pitches over the last two hot days, so he's unavailable. Fine...obviously, Looper is gassed. But under the same pretense, why is Roberto Hernandez, who is 105 years old, and had pitched the last three games (unimpressively at that), available for the ninth? Obviously, he was gassed as well! Would it have been that much of a mortal sin to let the rarely used Danny Graves, who pitched well in a tight situation in the eighth (and the inherited run he gave up was due to a defensive lapse), at least start the ninth inning?

Now I know many of us in Met blogger land are scared to death of Danny Graves, and rightly so. But it has been Randolph all along who asks why a player is on the team if he can't get the job done. And although Graves has been spotty, he got the job done in the eighth...and considering the state of the bullpen, I think Randolph should have at least considered Graves in the ninth.

***

Matt Loughlin relayed to Mets viewers that Willie Randolph was quoted as "thinking" about Jae Seo for Saturday. When asked about Kaz Ishii, Randolph noted that it wasn't fair to put him in the bullpen, since he hasn't been there all year.

So if it's not fair for Ishii to be in the bullpen, it would probably be less fair to send him down to the minors. So the third option is the dreaded designated for assignment, where he can be picked up by a team desperate for pitching (you mean like the one on 161st and River?)

However, as the Mets have wasted this recent hitting surge by the Mets and Mike Piazza in particular (who for the first time all season is consistently hitting the ball hard) by overworking their bullpen, the Mets may have no choice but to keep Ishii in the bullpen for long work during Seo's alleged Saturday start to make sure the workhorses of the pen get a chance to recharge their batteries.

***

Great catch about Doug Mientkiewicz made by Michael Oliver, where Minky has an incentive clause that kicks in after a certain amount of plate appearances over the last two seasons. Michael asks whether the Mets would put money over winning by conveniently sitting Mientkiewicz intermittently over the last six or seven weeks of the season. This is the kind of thing that has existed in baseball all the way back to the days of the Black Sox, where pitcher Eddie Cicotte was held out of action in the last week of the 1919 season, preventing him from winning his 30th game and thereby collecting a $10,000 bonus. (This was generally regarded as one of the sparks which fueled the World Series scandal of that 1919 season).

While some may point to the contracts of Beltran and Pedro as proof that the Mets wouldn't do that, I point to them and say that's why they would do it. Recent Mets history has shown that the Wilpons would stoop to most available lows to be penny wise and pound foolish (see: Vladimir Guerrero, tiered ticket prices, $3.50 bottles of water). Minky was out of today's lineup due to a bruise in his back after his cut block on Rickie Weeks, and yes, he was walking like an old man after the game. But this is worth keeping an eye on now that Michael has astutely pointed it out to us.

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Today's FSN trivia question had to do with the most pinch hit homers in a season in Mets history. Danny Heep and Mark Carreon hold the record with four in a season. Which brings up a very interesting question that maybe someone with a little more knowledge than me can help out with...

What ever happened to Mark Carreon?

I vaguely remember a television report that Carreon had gone missing somewhere on planet earth other than North America...and that was the last I heard. According to this site, he's still alive because no date of death is listed. And there are some links that report that he lives in Summit, MS. But I don't remember when I heard about Carreon going missing and if the information I'm seeing is up to date. Does anyone know for sure? Did I make a mistake? Was I duped by a grand hoax? (I'm dumb enough to fall for something like that so it wouldn't surprise me). I turn to you, the loyal masses, for help...