Go Ahead, Tug On Superman's Cape

If you're a Met, and especially if you're Ruben Gotay, you can tug on Ryan Dempster's cape. Because when you google "Ryan Dempster Mets Blown Lead", you get May 17th, 2007. And you also get today.

Yes, Ruben Gotay is Dempster's Kryptonite. Remember, David Wright and Carlos Delgado, who got today's rally going, never got their chops on Dempster in the first game. But Ruben Gotay singled through the left side to drive home the second run of that inning. Today? The only difference was that it was the third run of the inning. But it was, again, a single through the left side. Weird part? Today's ninth inning was almost that ninth inning in reverse. If it wasn't Gotay, Wright, and Delgado, it was Wright, Delgado, and Gotay. And both games featured disappointing relievers making their record 1-0 (Ambiorix Burgos in May, Guillermo Mota today...and by the way, I couldn't even watch Mota in the eighth. I actually left my house, took a walk, ran some errands, and held my breath. And then got home and watched the bottom of the eighth in fast forward like I was ripping a band-aid off of a fresh wound.)

Here's another weird part, the Mets beat Carlos Zambrano, who has been...if not the greatest thing since sliced bread, has been definitely on that list since late May. So what do the Mets do? Why they listen to their new hitting coach and take hundreds of pitches, leading to seven Zambrano walks, and heat cramps after Fluff Castro's home run.

It seemed as if Mets hitters spent the first eight innings listening to the preachings of their current hitting coach, with long AB's against Zambrano and Bobby Howry (Delgado's first four at bats resulted in walks)...and then resorting to the "see it, hit it" philosophy of Rick Down in the ninth (Delgado's RBI double gave the Mets the ninth inning lead). It's tough when you have an angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other. (Lord help you if you have Hojo and Down having an argument in your head, and then Rickey Henderson chimes in and leaves all the other voices in your head speechless.)

Give credit to Orlando Hernandez, who while this wasn't a huge game, had a little juice to it with both the Mets and Cubs in first place, Chicago being as hot as they've been, and Zambrano on the mound. Hernandez was brilliant today with his movement, his eephus pitches, and all of that ice water in his veins. But also give credit to Pedro Feliciano, who I never, ever worried about until today's outing, since he's been shaky the last couple of spots he's been in. Today, however, he got the right handed Matt Murton swinging in a big spot in the seventh, and now I can go back to not worrying about him. There's enough to worry about.