Allan Schwartz has a piece in the NY Times today about the Mets finding it tough to get rid of the dead wood that wash up on the shores of Flushing Bay that became the 2007 Mets bullpen. As much as I’m a Aaron Heilman fan his time in NY has come and gone he really needs a new start and I’m sure there is a team out there that would trade for him to stick in the back of their rotation as he does have some nasty movement on his pitches and he’s cheap. Scott Schoenweis could be dealt as well due to the fact he throws baseballs with his left arm. Not very effectively but left handed just the same. Duaner Sanchez if not traded should just be non-tender he is ineffective and just too goddamn lazy for me. That three relievers gone without even me getting up off my couch and laptop so how hard could it be for Omar to dump these guys? Tip of the Mets cap to Eagle for the link.

Eddie Kunz has checked in from the AFL and puts a positive spin on his fall season and that of all the Mets prospects who’ve joined him:

{I have been pitching very well and making all my pitches work for me. Now I know the numbers are not shoiwing it but this is a league to work on things and get better so era and those things don’t matter that much at all. I am getting stronger and a better feel for my piitches as well which is nice. The rest of the mets on the team have been doing really good also. Murphy is still hitting the ball very well and getting alot better at 2nd base with his defense. Josh Thole is hitting alot better and still is doing a great job at catching. Bobby Parnell is still throwing the ball hard and getting people out, while working on things and getting better as a pitcher. Jason Vargas is also doing very well throwing all his pitches and keeping hitters off set and changing speeds, he gets stronger with every outting and looks great.}

I hope Eddie is right as he does seem very confident that what he’s working on in Arizona will help him come spring. The more you read about Jason Vargas the more you realize he is becoming a valuable part for the bullpen plan for 2009

Very inconsistent pitching by Jon Niese in his ML debut. All of his three innings were a chore as he had base runners and deep counts each of the innings. 73 pitches (39K/34B) in three innings is the definition of laboring. The first inning Niese was clearly nervous as he gave up a HR to Rickie Weeks on the second  pitch of the game. It wasn’t a total loss for Niese as he showed a real good curve ball that had a great break and he was able to change speeds as well, hitting 90 mph on the fastball and then coming in with a curve and change in the mid 70’s. 

Niese’ biggest problem on the night was location early, then fatigue from throwing so many pitches early as the Brewers just were teeing off on him in the 3rd. Hopefully Niese will have gotten over his bad case of big league-itis before his next start if there is a next start as J-Man has let it be known that this no time for auditions as we are in a pennant race.

Nelly Figs has come on and pitched well as it’s 5-5 in the top of the 6th so it will be up to the bullpen to keep the Brewskis off the board. Secure that pair of Depends folks it could be a rough night.

What, you didn’t see it coming? Of course the Mets were going to lose that game last night just the fact that Warlord Jerry was caught a bit short in the pen. Luis Ayala was a sore hammy and Mush Schoeneweies has his period. That left him Feliciano, Smith, Sanchez, Figs, Stokes and of course Heilman.  With that group available I have an issue with the way J-Man used them.

Big Pelf came up big again with a very good 6 2/3 inning and I have no problem with the Feliciano and Sanchez to end the inning but why do you come back with Dirty in the 8th when your best reliever Brain Stokes is warmed up in the pen? You go Stokes and then Heilman in the 9th to close then I have no problem but to try to go further with Dirty when he flat out sucks has not gotten through a full inning of relief since 8/11 was a big mistake. This mix and matching bullshit has to stop. Stokes has been great and Ayala has been fine in the 9th even with J-Man trying to exhaust him Friday night. As it stand now the late innings should be Feliciano/Smith, Stokes, Ayala and let the chips and earned runs fall where they may.

You just knew that after giving up a earned walk then throwing eight intentional balls, Heilman was a dead duck. This bullpen is not hard to figure. If the Mets do not score in double figures there in trouble of losing a game. That’s sad.

Maybe it’s time for J-Man to take a page out of Brewer GM Doug Melvin’ and my book on pitching and start your relievers in the beginning of a game. Melvin is on record as saying if the Brewers were not in the pennant race he would like to start his closer for the first two innings and then come in with a starter. This is a tactic I used this season in Little League and it worked. I did it due to strict pitch counts in the LL rule book. My 11 yr old pitchers could not pitch more that 85 pitches and if they hit that mark they required three full days of rest AND had to skip one game. Silly and unproductive rule. Three days rest yes but an additional game is ridiculous but I digress. Since I saw a pattern that my top guys were hitting that 85 pitch mark towards the late fourth inning, early fifth inning (LL games are six innings) it set up having to bring in lesser taltent kids to close out close games. After dropping three game like this I decided to start my lesser guys and let them give me 20 pitches (this way they needed no days of rest) the worst that could happen is we’re down five runs as there is a mercy rule of no more than five runs scored in an inning and five runs in a little league game like a Mets game is no big deficit. So I would use two lesser pitchers for two innings (unless I was down more than five runs in the second then I went with my best guy) and bring one of the two best pitchers I had to get through the rest of the game. So every game I had at least one of my better pitchers available. If this worked for me why not for J-Man.

Look Aaron Heilman wants to be a starter in the worst way right so let him start and pitch two innings, then say Stokes for an inning then come with your starter. Now this wouldn’t work with Johan Santana or even Petey (more due to his psyche than anything else) but how about having Big Pelf pitch the last five innings of a game or even OP? What’s the worst that could happen? This bullpen save for Stokes, is a crap shoot so why not flip the order around and see if that works.   

That’s it for John Maine. 5 IP 1 h 0 R 0 ER 4 BB 6K 90 pitches 53K Great night for Maine and I agree with Mex leave Maine in the rotation if I were to move a starter to the pen it would be Big Pelf as he throws hard and is nearing a point where you have to watch his innings pitched but hopefully with the new found sacks the Pen Men will overcome.

Stokes is in and promptly gives up a base hit to Zimmerman Thank you Austin Kern’s for that DP WHEW! Mets are out of the inning.

Gary and Mex will be taking calls (212) BUZZ-SNY is the number I’m tempted to call and ask Mex to reminisce about the nights he spent at Rusty’s Restaurant I don’t think the stuffed suits at SNY would appreciate it

Did they give the AFLAC answer yet? I still didn’t look it up so I’ll stick with Lance Johnson

Some days when I write a post it’s tougher to hit that publish button than others. Yesterday when I was ready to hit the button, I paused for a moment and re-read the post again thinking that maybe calling out the Mets relievers as a bunch of no balls sissy’s that I may have gone over the top. But I hit the button knowing that was just how I felt that no one has stepped up in time of adversity as you are supposed to do when injuries hit. Well, last night Warlord Jerry not only gave me his seal of approval of that post he in fact added to what I felt as he called out his bullpen dwellers by responding to questions of his pen by saying that he was ready to hand the closers role over to Eddie Kunz (until Billy Wags finishes his rehab and zeppole’s on Coney Island ) as he stated no one else has risen to the occasion. Which was the polite way of saying that the pen lacks testosterone. Then he laid out his plan to take either OP, John Maine, or Big Pelf into the pen for the rest of the season which was J-Man’s way of embarrassing the relievers. One bullpen bottom feeder, Scott Schoenewies, finally strapped on a pair of nuts and called a meeting of Men Without Testicles to see if any of his fellow arsonists are embarrassed enough to get some male enhancement and take the J-Man, Kranepool Society challenge and prove us wrong. 

It worked last night as J-Man brought in Joe Smith for the 8th and Pedro Feliciano for the 9th with Eddie Kunz warming away in the pen just in case. Give Warlord Jerry credit, if going to call out you players, it’s best to do it when your playing the worst team in baseball.  Joe Smith had tons of movement on his pitches last night and Feliciano after getting  lefty swinging Willie Harris  out he looked into the dugout toward J-Man waiting for him to trot out and raise his right hand high for Big Eddie. But J-Man just stared at Feliciano and made no movement, in effect telling the Other Pedro to show his balls to him and get out of the inning. And he did. Again it was the Nationals one of the suckiest teams I’ve seen a long time (the bloom is off the Manny Acta rose but the way) so let’s not wet our draws over the win last night. When I see the relievers taking on Chase Utley, Ryan Howard, and Pat Burrell and beating their ass then we will have something to celebrate.’  

I had more stuff to spew venom about but I have a ton of stuff to do today soooooo I think I’ll do some live blogging tonight during Mets-Nats and the return of John Maine. I’ll also flip around to the Cards-Marlins game for some commentary on that one so hopefully I’ll see you later.

Yes I feel like a horse’s ass today after going after D-Wright yesterday and he made me pay and if that’s what it takes for the Mets to win I’ll wear a big KICK ME sign on my back for the rest of the season. But give some credit to Warlord Jerry for lighting a fire under Wright by playing a little head game with him with the “you look tired take a day off” ploy that sparked Wright yesterday. Now deduct that credit slip Ieft to Warlord Jerry for his mishandling of the bullpen. I have no problem with Johan Santana getting lifted when he did yesterday as he is reaching uncharted territory with the number of pitches per start and he has been not good but great this year so no more questioning of Johan but the question still remains someone has to be designated as the closer until Wags gets back and at this point just give the job to Eddie Kunz already. We have seen enough of the $1.98 Beauty Pageant contestants and J-Man has to know that he can not keep bring in four or five relievers per game so just give the job to Kunz and stick with him and let him learn under fire. Why did you bring him up if your not going to use him? Makes no sense but then again this is the Mets.

The Bingo Boys had a great game yesterday and hopefully this will lead to a renewed way of doing busiiness in Flushing and building this team through scouting and minor league preperation. Having watched the Brooklyn Cyclones the last two years under Edgar Alfonzo he should be in charge of the minor league system as he is a nuts and bolts baseball guy who takes no bullshit from his players. Just this season he has disciplined Josh Satin for not running out a ground ball by benching him and having the organization send him to Kingsport for a couple of days to get the message across. I like that Alfonzo keeps pitchers in the game when they are in trouble to get them to learn how to pitch in a tough spot. With Edgardo playing for the Ducks and Eagar in Brooklyn OMar Minaya would do right by the organization to get both Alfonzo brothers locked in the Mets coaching staff.

All I know is I have tickets for the last game at Shea and I’m bringing a ratchet set with me no way I’m paying $869 for two seats. Fuck you Jeffy. They better have the National Guard ready for that last day as there has to be one last storming of the field at Shea a la 1969