Devastating loss? Not really

Charlie Manuel has got some 'splainin' to do...

Keith Hernandez hit it on the head when he noted that 30 years ago, your closer always came into the game when it was on the line, with men on base, whatever inning it was. Now, they're so groomed to pitching only the ninth and starting the inning that they look like scared 12-year-olds in the Little League World Series when they're asked to deviate at all from their comfort zone.

Charlie Manuel knows this. He also knows that Carlos Delgado is swinging the bat like a bad mother and that he flat-out owns the aged Rudy Seanez. Maybe because Seanez needed just one more out and had just struck out David Wright, or maybe he just wanted to avoid forcing Lidge to make the four-out save, he kept Seanez in to face Delgado.

Thanks, Chuck.

Delgado, of course, knocked his second homer of the game over the short porch in left to tie the score, and then the Mets proceeded to beat up on Lidge. An infield single by Carlos Beltran, a ridiculously easy stolen base, and an intentional walk to the still-rusty Ryan Church put Daniel Murphy up in a huge spot.

Here's why I blog and don't get paid big bucks to manage: I wondered if Endy Chavez should have bat for Murphy, figuring he'd come in for defense anyway, and was a more seasoned hitter against Lidge, especially with Murphy in an 0-for-16 skid. But Jerry Manuel gives his players a chance, and Murphy delivered big-time. Then Brian Schneider dinked a clutch double down the line and the Mets had a three-run lead.

I cringed when Gary Cohen, as the bottom of the eighth commenced, commented that if the Mets won the division, the Phillies would look back on this game and Charlie Manuel's decisions as crucial. Talk about putting the cart before the horse! With the Mets' bullpen? The Mets still needed six outs and only had a three-run cushion! You're talking about the division title? Shut your mouth.

Of course, Mets relievers got six straight outs after being given the lead, two by Pedro Feliciano, one by Joe Smith and three in the ninth by Luis Ayala. Wright made a fantastic play on a grounder by Shane Victorino, and anyone out there still criticizing Wright's defense just isn't paying attention. He stays at third for the forseeable future. Please.

Johan Santana pitched well, but not great, getting out of jams in the fifth and sixth. Give Brian Stokes credit for a scoreless seventh.

So the Mets get a well-deserved off day before visiting Florida while the Phils head straight to Chicago for four against the Cubbies. Have a nice flight, Rollins.