Wednesday, August 29, 2007

"One Shot"

The later portion of Tuesday night's loss had a very Deer Hunter feel to it. Not the video game, but the movie where Christopher Walken offs himself while playing Russian Roulette.

There's one problem: Can it really be a game of Russian Roulette if the gun only has bullets for one contestant?

Because apparently, the Mets wasted their lone bullet in the second inning, when Carlos Delgado hit a ball to the moon for a 2-0 Mets lead. Who knew that would be it off of Adam Eaton?
If the Mets don't hit Adam Eaton tomorrow night, not only should they be ashamed of themselves, but the Phillies are going to be back in this race with a load of confidence tomorrow. -Me, unfortunately, last night
Guess what cheech, we have a race. (And the Mets should be ashamed of themselves.)

Can't say there weren't plenty of chances to stretch the lead a little bit. Paul Lo Duca grounding into a double play in the fourth inning. Delgado just missing on a deep fly to right field in the sixth, followed by Lo Duca stranding Carlos Beltran at third base. Delgado striking out in the eighth with runners on first and second.

After that, and after Jimmy Rollins hit a home run off of Pedro Feliciano while Tom Glavine was doing his in-game interview on SNY, it was just a matter of when and how...not if.

(And while I'm on the subject, these in-game interviews have to stop for the good of humanity. Yes, they're informative...yes, they're fun. And yes, the Mets seem to lose every single time one of these interviews happen...especially to Glavine. So around the start of the seventh inning, Kevin Burkhardt needs to be tied to a chair and gagged for his own good...only to be let free when the game is safely over. Irrational? Yes. But is it important...)

Of course, it's always the "how" part of the equation that's most fun. How does a Lo Duca throwing error, plus a thirty foot bunt hit that Lo Duca let roll foul except for the fact that it rolled the complete opposite way and stayed fair to cause the 2-2 tie grab ya? Somebody had better get Paulie some Dramamine so that he can get to sleep and not have the nightmares of Tuesday's game that he's going to have?

The Phillies came back in the ninth with their closer, Brett Myers. Who do the Mets counter with? Guillermo Mota. That, apparently, is how you play Russian Roulette where the chamber in the gun is empty when the Phillies are holding it, and when the Mets take hold of the gun, the chamber has five hollow point bullets ready to pierce a hole in your brain so wide that even Doug Sisk can throw through it for a strike. Amazingly, the empty bullet slot came up in the ninth inning for Mota. Predictably, that same slot did not come up in the tenth for him, as he gave up a bloop hit to Shane Victorino, then a bomb to Ryan Howard to bring the Phillies to within four games of the divison lead.

Why was Mota in for two innings...again? Probably because Pedro Martinez called up from Port St. Lucie over the weekend because he spotted a mechanical flaw in Mota. Of course when Pedro talks, people listen. And Mota's two "Post-Pedro" scoreless innings on Sunday against the Dodgers gave everybody in the organization this warm and fuzzy feeling inside.

But did you know that you also get a warm and fuzzy feeling from drinking anti-freeze before you convulse and die? Apparently, that's what you get from Mota in his first inning of work before the Mets convulse and die during his second inning. Pedro spotted a mechanical flaw? Hooray! Who's going to spot the rocks in Mota's head which would cause him to throw a cookie to Howard on a 1-2 count?

How ironic is it going to be when the man who called collect to try to fix a flaw in Guillermo Mota's mechanics is going to be the same man who will put Mota out of a job when he returns? At least Met fans hope it's going to be really ironic. Because the Guillermo Mota experiment, which really should have ended long ago, has to end tomorrow after Willie and Omar get a night's sleep to think this over.

15 comments:

Charity said...

If I could only begin to express how much I HATE Mota and Heilman it would relieve the world of so much anger. Seriously our bullpen gives me nightmares.

Coop said...

trying to will that ball into foul territory was the dumbest move ever made. lets face it, the phils knew they could win it, they wanted it more and this mets team sucks big time.

Unknown said...

Why does he yank Glavine, while he is pitching a shutout?

Anonymous said...

Charity: Heilman did very well last night. He had bad luck (a swinging bunt, a broken bat, a throwing error), and loaded the bases, but still got out of it with only one run in by inducing an inning-ending grounder.
Daniel: Glavine did great last night, but was hardly dominant. He had thrown a lot of pitches. Leaving him in would have been a panic move. If the Mets can't get 2 decent innings from the pen, then they are just screwed.
Metstra: May I try my hand at prophecy? I am confident that the Mets will win. When Jose Reyes does not get on base, the Mets are 5-14. This means that they are 68-44 when he does get on base. Reyes will not be stopped for a third night in a row - and the Mets will win.

Anonymous said...

But did you know that you also get a warm and fuzzy feeling from drinking anti-freeze before you convulse and die?

Best line I'll read all day.

Anonymous said...

we're doomed.

Mike said...

I've asked before, and I'll ask again: why does Willie love Mota so much?

His ERA is over 6.00!

Anonymous said...

And how about that awful throw by LoDuca to Reyes in the bottom of the 8th, sending Victorino to third. Set up the tying run.

Mota . . . no idea why he is still on the team. Maybe he has pictures of Fred Wilpon in compromising positions?

Reyes and Wright - they've got to pick it up these next two games.

And I totally agree with MD - that was clearly an intentional pitch by Eaton, in response to Beltran stepping out in the middle of his wind-up on the previous pitch. Keith missed that - he was too busy listening to Kevin B.

Krup said...

I miss DiFelice...

Anonymous said...

i'm totally sickened. Even more so because I live and work near Philadelphia.

Folks around here are happy as a pig in poop. They forget that even if they win this series, the are just as likely going to get swept by the Marlins next week.

Whitney said...

It defies comprehension that we're still . . . still having to complain about Mota.

metbaseball said...

As I wrote today in my blog's title, the Mets are "Oh and two and heading downhill."

writerhoward
The metbaseball blogger

Anonymous said...

Woulda been nice to have Sandy AlomarJ r. around catcbing in the late innings.

4 runs in two games in the bandbox called Citizen's park just doesn't cut it. Sure El Destructo throws the meatball to Howard. And Feliciano threw that meatball to Rollins. And Lo Duca throws a ball to 2nd like Aunt Sally on a SB attempt by Victorino.

But where's the offense?

Anonymous said...

Hey! We hit someone--except it was the second baseman. Game over. 2007--your season has come--in your mouth!

Anonymous said...

"Metstra: May I try my hand at prophecy? I am confident that the Mets will win. When Jose Reyes does not get on base, the Mets are 5-14. This means that they are 68-44 when he does get on base. Reyes will not be stopped for a third night in a row - and the Mets will win."

Reyes was great--2 pickoffs in one game.