The Unhappy Recap: Nats 5, Mets 3

Not to jump on Willie for every little thing that goes wrong, but Wednesday night's loss reminded me of something Tom Seaver has said several times about the state of the game today: Managers used to look for reasons to keep a pitcher in the game, now they look for reasons to take him out.

Claudio Vargas was pitching well in a 1-1 game, and had just struck out the leadoff hitter when he walked Elijiah Dukes. He had thrown 97 pitches at that point and the bottom of the order was coming up. Willie brings in the struggling Aaron Heilman.

Why not give Vargas the chance to pitch out of it? Let him face the next batter and take it from there. OK, you bring in Heilman and he gets the second out but after a single and a walk, with two outs in the seventh of a one-run game, why leave him in? Joe Smith -- who unlike Heilman is pitching well -- could have come on to face Felipe Lopez.

It's strange how some pitchers, like Heilman or Sosa or last year, Mota, are given enough rope to hang themselves by Willie while others, like Feliciano, have leashes shorter than Doug Christie's. In any case, it was an absolute shame that Vargas took the loss after pitching so well.

That's what made this loss so tough to take. By the time Heilman was gone, it was 5-1. Just like that. The Mets scratched out runs in the seventh and eighth but Jon Rauch moved them down in the ninth for the save.

So it comes down to this - the Mets need a win Thursday to salvage a split at home against the Nationals. Ugh. At least Pelfrey's pitching to Schneider again.