Watching The World Go By

Watching the world go by
Under a sunny sky
Strolling 'round the park on a (Saturday Night)
Oh how the moments fly
Watching the world go by

-Dean Martin

This was exactly what I was afraid of.

Bullpen? Yeah, it was bull-something. But with Johan Santana's short outing and John Maine's continued struggles starting out the second half of the season, Aaron Heilman has already been forced into three straight appearances to come out of the break. Granted, Mike Pelfrey has been pitching lights out. But now the Mets have put the pressure on him for Sunday to try to keep the bullpen somewhat fresh going into the Phillies series.

Of course, it doesn't help matters when Carlos Beltran is watching baseballs go by him in center field to help those Cincinnati runners along, much in the same way that he and his buddy Sugar Pants watched Mike Lincoln pitches go by in the seventh with the bases loaded. Those missed opportunities are an all-too familiar recipe for disaster that reared its ugly head once again.

***

While you may say that it wasn't Oliver Perez's best outing, I'll say that if Ollie's struggles amount to two earned runs in six innings, I'll take struggling every time. Hey, let's not be quick to forget the days when Ollie struggling meant ten runs in one and 1/3 innings.

Ollie merely okay? I for one am thrilled.

***

SNY, I'm willing to concede that it's not good business to use team battle lines when it comes to selling advertising, if you're willing to concede that showing a Derek Jeter Ford commercial for the millionth time right after a Met loss becomes official isn't the greatest idea in the world.

"Mets lose a tough one, we'll wrap it up after the break."

"Jeter's got an edge!"

"Bleep you."