Cousin Oliver Redux

Could Brian Stokes have been the key all along?

Now far be it from me to be the one to make excuses for the outfit in the pen and the way they've been going these days. Heck, during the early stages of the Mets' 10-0 lead tonight, when you were thinking if there was anyone out there who thought the Mets' bullpen could blow this lead, the answer was yes ... me! But here's what I'm thinking:

Forget the whole "different roles" thing. That's an excuse. A lame one at that. But could it be ... just maybe ... that the whole reason the bullpen has reaked of fresh roadkill is due to the lack of a long option in the pen?

When Darren Oliver played here in '06, the Mets' record in games he's pitched in was 17-28. Look through his game log and you'll see a lot of the scores of the games he's been in are of the 15-2, 11-3, 10-1 variety. Now, go through this season and check out the boxscores of similar games with similar scores. For example: May 12th against the Nationals, where the game was decided by the sixth inning:

Sosa 1 IP
Sanchez 1 IP
Smith 1 IP
Wagner 1 IP

How about two days earlier, a game which was 10-3 after six innings:

Heilman 1 IP
Feliciano 1 IP
Sosa (Who's this Sosa guy?) 1 IP

Even July 3rd, a game with was 11-0 after five and a half.

Schoeneweis 1 IP
Smith 1 IP

Games like this in 2006 saw Darren Oliver eat inning, after inning, after inning. The above blowouts featured names that would be better serve to use their limited bullets on close games, and not blowouts (though the Heilman appearance was very well one of those "I need to find my game" appearances. Apparently, he lost it again.)

Tonight was one of those games that you knew was going to be a patchwork bullpen game with John Maine restricted in his first game back from his shoulder issue. And in a game without Brian Stokes, even with the score 10-0 (which would end 12-0) you would have seen Schoeneweis pitch an inning ... Filthy pitch an inning ... Smith pitch an inning ... heck, Jorge Sosa could have come in tonight just for laughs (Sosa is in the Seattle organization, in case you were wondering. I know you weren't. Heck, I wasn't until I was looking through old boxscores. How did I miss Jorge Sosa going to Seattle? Or should the question be: How could I not?)

But with Stokes on the roster, he fills the Darren Oliver role and gives the rest of the beleaguered some rest by pitching four innings and getting a save in a 12-0 game. And now I'm wondering if there's a way to keep Stokes on the roster when Country Time comes back. Which of course, there is ... with Eddie Kunz eligible to be sent down, and Fluff Castro probably overdue for a spot on the D.L.

And speaking of bullpens, notice how the Phillies bullpen melted late for the second night in a row? Yes, I felt dirty rooting for Chan Ho Park. Dirtier still rooting for Joe Torre. And dirtiest of all when Jeff Kent was up with the Dodgers down by two runs and second and third, and he lined one down the left field line to tie the game which was met with "Yes! Jeff!" A swear which was quickly followed by "I still hate you Jeff!!!", which is the baseball equivalent of blessing yourself after you swear which is what my grandmother did a lot ... thank you, Nana!

But we'll have to send the Dodgers some sort of bouquet of flowers of some sort for sweeping the Phillies and helping the Mets climb back into a tie for first. Hopefully Manny doesn't think it's lettuce and mistakenly eats it. Thank you, Nomar.

What You Already Know: The Bullpen

Something's not quite right.

No really, the Mets' bullpen, while still very good (and still better than the Phillies bullpen), isn't quite up to snuff from the high standards of 2006.

Guillermo Mota overinjected.

Filthy Sanchez overslept.

Aaron Heilman still dreams of the greener grass on the other side of the fence.

Juan "The Fly" Padilla is shutdown due to a sore elbow.

Darren Oliver is in Anaheim.

The only sure thing about the bullpen is that Billy Wagner will have the ninth inning all season. And despite all the hand wringing over a couple of horrid collapses against the Yankees and the Reds, Country Time having the ninth inning isn't a bad thing. Now that he has a new split fingered fastball in his arsenal, let's see if he can keep hitters off balance while they're coming back from 4 run deficits in the ninth inning.

Heilman, until Filthy and the Cheat get back from injury and suspension, has the eighth inning. The question is: what will happen when those two get back? Does Willie Randolph dare "demote" Heilman to the seventh inning if he's pitching well and risk losing him forever and ever? Probably not...not after Sanchez's repeated lateness episodes in spring training. Then again, would Sanchez have to be moved to the eighth inning because he can't get to the park in time for the seventh?

The success of the bullpen may very well be tied to the success (or failure) of Joe Smith. No, not that Joe Smith, the Joe Smith who was drafted in the third round of the 2006 draft out of Wright State. It's a testament to the improved drafting skills of the Omar Minaya regime that they can get a guy in the third round who makes the majors just nine months later. But Smith is going to have to use his killer slider and Bradford-like delivery to bridge the gap between Scott Schoeneweis and guys like Pedro Feliciano, Heilman, and Country Time.

As for Schoeneweis, he's a good alternative to Darren Oliver for the long man's role. If Oliver was like "Sweet N' Low", Schoeneweis would be like "Equal", but harder to spell. And Feliciano was solid most of last season, spectacular the rest of the time. Anything close to that would be welcome.

And speaking of hard to spell, there's Ambiorix Burgos. Rick Peterson would love for him to be the sixth guy out of the bullpen with his 99 mph heater and as the kids say: "freakish upside". But he's getting lit up this spring, and all of a sudden the Mets have another Jorge Julio on their hands...if Burgos makes the club, it will probably be in that capacity of "let's make this guy the one we put in with an 8-1 lead or 10-0 deficit, and let him work out his problems there. But what good would that be? With a starting rotation that on most nights barely cross five innings, this bullpen is going to need to be deep and effective. It will be when Filthy and Mota return. But until then, guys like Smith and Burgos, realistically or not, are going to have to grow up a little bit and perform in their roles at least until Filthy, the Fly, and the Cheat return.