The Unhappy Recap: Nats 1, Mets 0

Everybody breathe. And I'm not just talking to Mets fans, I'm talking to the players themselves, as well as you, dear reader, because this may be one of the longest posts in Metsfanclub.com history.

These afternoon games are tough when you're at work, and I followed the game on GameCast and one of the Mets message boards. So I had to wait until this evening to see the highlights -- if you could call them that -- of how the Mets lost this game. So I bounced back and forth between SNY and ESPN News to see Reyes getting thrown out, to see Willie Harris' catch down the left field line, and to see Beltran getting doubled up to end the game. And I found myself watching the plays in slow motion, over and over.

And then I realized... it is May 15.

The Mets are a game over .500, the Phillies and the Braves are right there with them, and no one believes the Marlins have what it takes to win this division or make the playoffs, at least this season. Only the Cubs and the Diamondbacks have gotten off to hot starts in the National League, and the Mets just took two of three from the D-Backs in Arizona. So from a win-loss point of view, the Mets are far from being in dire straits.

But for fans and the media, the collapse still looms large.

The only way the sense of doom would have been lifted off the Mets was if the team ran off to a 25-15 start or better, and even then there would have been naysayers pointing out that the Mets had a big lead last season only to blow it. So really, this season was destined to be tense from start to finish, all because of what happened at the end of 2007.

So now fans and pundits point to the fact that for the past calendar year, the Mets have only played .500 ball and that is far below where a team with this kind of talent should be. And that is absolutely true. And since you can't fire 25 players, you look at the manager, Willie Randolph, who has proven to be as stubborn as he is even-keeled, someone who doesn't throw praise around too often and yet isn't shy about slamming some of his players -- key word: some -- to the press. He also claims to prefer younger players, even though he can't connect with Jose Reyes, and also claims to like small ball but will never, ever call for a squeeze play. And his bullpen management issues are well-documented.

So is it his fault the Mets have been basically treading water for so long? The buck has to stop somewhere, and I have long passed the point of defending him. He had no major league managerial experience when he was hired. He learned at the knee of Joe Torre on Yankees teams that were veteran-led and talent-laden, where the manager filled out his lineup card and then took a three-hour nap. He is a good man certainly and his players have stood up for him throughout his tenure, but sometimes things just don't work out. Willie is not a manager that gets the most of his talent, clearly. He is not a manager whose acumen means a couple of extra wins a season. If he was fired, I wouldn't be surprised or disappointed.

But back to the game at hand. The Mets are simply in a stretch where they are not hitting. It happens to every team, and the Yankees are Exhibit A. You think the Mets are playing poorly? They're the Big Red Machine compared to the Yanks these days.

You can't get more than five hits against Jason Bergmann, who was in AAA, who couldn't make the major league roster in spring training, who had a double-digit ERA -- THAT'S why you lost. The hitting has been miserable lately and when you can't hit, you're going to go 3-4 at home against beatable teams.

And you wonder why Reyes tried to steal third in the eighth inning? Sure, he would have scored on a single -- but who was going to get that single? Wright? Beltran? Has anyone been hitting in the clutch? When Reyes got to second, Guzman was just a few feet away with no one covering third. Yes, it was over-aggressive, and no, he did not have to try and take third base. But that's Reyes' game. We love it when he legs out a triple. We love it when he goes first-to-third on a groundout, which he has done. And desperate offensive times call for desperate offensive measures, so I'll cut him some slack.

Give Guzman credit for not only winning the footrace with Reyes, but also to Aaron Boone for making a perfect throw. Should Reyes have slid? Maybe, but I think he was shocked the play was so close, plus Guzman was in his path and he would have been sliding into Guzman's moving legs, so all you armchair athletes out there, consider that.

Give credit to Willie Harris for making perhaps the catch of the season on Church's bloop down the line in left. A flat-out INCREDIBLE play. That drops in, the game is tied. Period.

And give credit to Boone again for turning the game-ending double play. That was just bad luck combined with a decision for Beltran to go on contact. Against the shift, if Delgado grounds to second, Beltran scores. So you have him go on contact. Of course, the one thing you can't have is a liner right at someone, and of course that's just what happened. A perfect storm of wrong decisions, bad luck and good defense.

And then there's the clubhouse. We all saw Billy Wagner's comments after the game. To answer his own question, why the f*&k is everyone interviewing the closer when he didn't play in the game? The answer is simple: Reporters need quotes, and Wagner is a quote machine.

To be fair, I saw interviews with Reyes and Wright and Beltran, so we know they stood up before the media. According to Matt Cerrone at Metsblog, eyewitnesses reported that Wagner directed his comments to the general direction of Carlos Delgado's locker. And in his regular spot on Michael Kay's show, Wagner said it has nothing to do with Latin players, or black or white, but just "certain" players who don't always stand up in good times and in bad.

Wagner was certainly frustrated and is clearly tired -- as Paul LoDuca was last season -- of being one of the few guys who are ALWAYS approached for comment. He added that he expected the situation to be addressed Friday by management, adding that the team is very close and doesn't hesitate to "get on each other" when necessary, which if true, is a good thing.

Is there a clubhouse rift? Not as bad as some blowhards in the media would like you to believe. But there are issues, and that being said, some of the greatest teams of all time had players who hated each other, so harmony is not a prerequisite for on-field success.

Still, you'd like to see things ironed out. I think Willie needs to have a closed-door meeting with this team at his old stomping grounds of Yankee Stadium and try and right the ship, to tell his players that he has their backs, that he knows they are better than what they have shown but that it's time to show it. That they have to play like they have something to prove, because in fact, they do. And what better time to do that than in the Subway Series?

Johan Santana against Darrell Rasner in game one is a great way to start.

And to end on a high note -- how about Big Pelf? Pelfrey became the 40th -- wow -- pitcher in Mets history to have a no-hitter through six innings, and pitched a hell of a game Thursday. He has been just terrific in his last two starts. So the Mets have that going for them.

Which is nice.

And one last thing - because we need a laugh - check out this ode to Mets all-time batting stances.