Sad Panda

I should be worried more about the fact that a Mets offense can score 15 runs at 2:00, yet can't score after eight o'clock against Sidney Ponson despite filling the bases against Sidney in the first few innings like they were allegedly pouring drinks for him the night before a start (remember, I said allegedly).

(By the way, I knew some guys who couldn't score after eight. It was sad.)

But I worry more about Pedro Martinez. After the fifth inning, when Snoop Manuel was talking to him in the dugout, Pedro had this droopy, defeated look on his face. Every time I've seen that look from Pedro, he either cried or was on the disabled list within 24 hours.

Now I was convinced during this conversation, which took place after the fifth inning at 0-4 down, that Petey was done for the night. Snoop even made a motion towards Pedro as if to say he was done. I obviously misinterpreted the hand motion (wouldn't be the first time ... it once caused me not to score after eight.) Because Petey was right back out there for the sixth inning, where he gave up two more runs to turn a manageable deficit into garbage time in a 9-0 loss in the dual stadium nightcap.

Opponents are batting .336 against Martinez this season. That means that Petey is making the entire league hit like Tony Gwynn (and I'll have you know that's not just a random reference ... Gwynn was a career .338 hitter). And that's not even taking into account the walks, which his pushing his WHIP ever closer to 2.00. Heck, I'd look sad too, not only because the Yankees "adopted him" yet again, but 'cuz them there's some dangerous numbers. Much like the dangerous numbers which say that the Mets couldn't score off of Sidney Ponson after scoring 15 runs in the matinee. The Mets couldn't even tack on a garbage run against Kei Igawa. Heck, even that would have been a moral victory for me.

Instead, a day which is yet another microcosm of the Mets season. Some good ... some bad (very, very bad). Although I'm sure Pedro would love to experience some of the "some good" already. His body of work this season isn't making anybody hopeful. But the upside is that his problems seem to lie in his command and not his velocity. Yeah, command has always been his strength, but at least it can be worked on. A lack of velocity usually signifies physical problems. So it's a little something to be thankful for.

Big picture: I wanted three wins this series, which basically means putting all my chips on Johan Santana on Saturday, and then letting it ride on Oliver Perez the next day. That's no way to make a living if you're a gambler.

Revolution #9

What you saw today in the matinee is what the Mets should be doing to pitchers like Edwar Ramirez and Ross Ohlendorf.

But nine ribbies? A team record?

See, it's the blue hats. Carlos Delgado likes blue hats.

Argument fallacies aside, Delgado's nine ribbies changes the landscape significantly. Now, not only is Delgado on pace for 30-100 all of a sudden, but now I'm not going to get that shoulder shrug when someone sees me at Shea in my Delgado "1986 special". Heck, some stranger might even buy me a beer tomorrow (hint).

I guess we can stop the nonsense about benching Delgado (for now). And you know what, with Sidney Ponson going tonight, there's no reason why Carlos Delgado can't get nine more in the nightcap.

(To which Carlos Delgado replies: "You know Metstradamus, if you want to be an ass ...")

Not Worth The Paper It's Printed On

I'm guessing we can all agree that the Washington Nationals are the worst team on paper, correct?

And according to Jimmy Rollins, the Philadelphia Phillies are the best team on paper. Right?

Well, I've picked up the paper. Guess what it says:

Nationals 1-6
Phillies 1-6

The Nationals win the tie-breaker and thus are listed on the higher line....Because as we know, the first division tie-breaker is not head to head record, but less errors by players who make silly predictions. Jimmy Rollins' error brought home the tying run for the Mets today in their home opener, and opened the floodgates for the Phillies bullpen to give up six thousand more runs as the Mets won by a score of 6,005-5.

All right it was only six runs in an 11-5 victory. For the Phillies, it only seemed like 6,000 runs. For the Mets, it didn't seem like enough.

Here's my startling admission of the night: I never hope for sweeps. Sweeps, to me, are a lot to hope for. I've got one of those friends who wants to go 162-0 every season. Tells me on the phone: "You know, if we can win 19 of the next 20..." as if that kind of thing happened all the time in baseball. I'm always the one reigning him in, trying to keep his expectations somewhat reasonable so that he doesn't give himself a coronary episode if heaven forbid the Mets only win 6 out of 10.

That being said, I've gotta tell you: I want two more from these guys. I want this team demoralized immediately. I want the entire city of Philadelphia getting out of their houses at 2AM wandering around Logan Square wondering what the hell happened to their team. I want people at Pat Gillick's door with bats and billy clubs waiting for answers. I want Pat's and Geno's to be so disgusted with the Phillies that they pack up and move to New York. I want the Phanatic to wear blue and orange. I the city of Philadelphia to know that the defending division champs are not to be trifled with via cheap motivational speeches.

Yes, I'm hoping for a sweep.

A word about The Amburglar, if you will. You may disagree with me...no, check that: you will disagree with me. But I don't mind the decision to pitch to Ryan Howard in the sixth. Yes, there was a base open, but if you intentionally walk the struggling Howard, you bring up a Met killer with the bases loaded (a Met killer currently hitting .385, it should be noted). Damned if you do and damned if you don't...but Howard hadn't hit anything all season. And up until two strikes on Howard, Burgos proved that you can make him look silly.

But once Howard fouled off the first pitch after the second strike, I started to get a little nervous because Howard was starting to battle, and starting to time Burgos. Amburglar went to the well once too often, and there's no way that an off-speed pitch should have been anywhere near the strike zone...it was like he caught the Mota disease as he kept going to the junk instead of going upstairs with the heat, or throwing the splitter down by his ankles. Except that wasn't Scott Spiezio with his warning track power, that was Ryan Howard with his "I'm in a slump and if I get a pitch to hit it's going to the flippin' moon" power. So instead, we got what Keith Hernandez called "a helicopter slider" or some similar nonsense.

I was upset after the Burgos Bomb, and knew that it would be talked about for a while. But once the SNY crew was discussing the Gary Carter HR from Opening Day '85 I thought "you know what, it's the home opener. Deliciously evil things happen during home openers at Shea (unless it's 2003 and you're down 27-3)"...and I cheered up. And once Matt Smith took over for Wonderboy Cole Hamels, I cheered up some more.

And when Geoff Geary came in for Smith, the smile on my face grew wider than Sidney Ponson's pants size...because we all know the deeper you get into Philadelphia's bullpen, the better the odds that Charlie Manuel's face will turn beet red like his uniform (or those things the Braves wear on Sundays). It was fun to watch Geary walk a 78-year-old man, no? It was fun to watch Jimmy Rollins boot a Jose Reyes grounder to tie the game. And it was lotsa fun watching David Wright blast one off the top of the wall to put the game away in a grand eighth inning which bore seven runs of fruit for us.

And it will be just as much fun to pick up the paper tomorrow and see the best team on that paper in last place.