Hammered

The world of oblivion is upon the Mets.

Some handled it well (two HR's for Marlon Anderson, Cliff Floyd and David Wright with a HR each).

Some...did not (Tim Hamulack's ERA is now at a healthy 23.14 after giving up 5 runs in two thirds of an inning. Steve Trachsel gave up 7 in 4 and 2/3's during tonight's 16-6 defeat).

For most, it was business as usual (Willie Randolph and Rick "The Genius" Peterson summoned Danny Graves and Kaz Ishii for no good reason other than to take up space.)

Now, it comes down to four games at Shea with the Colorado Rockies...where the only thing to look forward to is Mike Piazza Day on Sunday.

Hamulack, it goes without saying, didn't do himself any favors getting his bell rung today (not Heath Bell...who also faltered near the end of his outing on Wednesday). It will be interesting to see Randolph and Peterson's patterns regarding bullpen usage during the Rockies series. You could see Randolph trotting out the walking dead (Graves and Ishii) during the Phillie series, as you could rationalize the fact that the Phillies are still in a race, so the Mets had to at least make an effort to look like they were putting in an honest effort to the outside world (people familiar with the Mets like you readers know better). There will be nobody accusing the Mets of lying down and helping the Phillies in their playoff chase after this series.

But against the Rockies, who's only purpose right now is to set themselves up to get that second draft choice, there's no excuse for Mets coaches not to feed the Rocks a steady diet of Bell and Hamulack. Obviously you're not going to judge Hamulack on one bad outing in a bandbox ballpark (although he did get torched by lefties tonight), so how about more of a sample size for these two?

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Meanwhile, Pedro Martinez showed reporters his right foot today, proving that indeed it's a good idea not to trot him out to the mound in a meaningless game. (Also read how Peterson doesn't jog with the rest of the coaches).