Mets Fought the Law and the Nats Won

The Happy Recap: The Mets split 4 games over the holiday with the Washington Nationals. So why does it feel like a lost weekend?

It had to happen sooner than later. With Frankie Rodriguez constantly pitching behind hitters, walking leadoff men, allowing hits at an alarming rate, yet somehow escaping disaster time after time again, the law of averages finally caught up with him as he blew a sure victory and was on pace to blow Friday night's game as well before being bailed out by Ruben Tejada's alert pickoff play to end the game. The problem with fighting the law of averages is that it leads to stubbornness, which means Met fans will continue to see Jerry Manuel automatically go to Benitez (ahem... I mean Rodriguez), meaning no ninth inning lead is safe, even when you use 5 infielders and 2 outfielders before the winning run scores.

THE GOOD: Something amazing happened yesterday that not a single Met fan expected: the Mets bullpen didn't blow an 8-run lead. Oh, they tried, but KRod came into the game for a 1-2-3 ninth (equally unbelieveable!) to hold onto the win. That Frankie Rod sure is clutch in a 9-5 game. But most of all, this was a game the old Mets would have tanked after such a devasting loss the night before. Instead, Jason Bay came up big with a 4-rbi day and soon-to-be-replaced (or traded) Angel Pagan went 3-for-5 with 2 rbi from the leadoff spot in place of the injured Jose Reyes. Even Fernando Tatis got a hit in the game, as the Mets offense churned out 9 runs and 14 hits in the game to pick up the pitching staff for a change.

Then came the Mets 5-3 victory, otherwise known as light-hitting infielder day, with Alex Cora of all people having a 3-rbi game and Ruben Tejada finishing the game up with a nifty pick=off play. In a perfect world, Tejada, not KRod would have been credited with the save, as Jon Niese continued his amazing transformation going 7 strong innings (it should have been more - please Jerry - can we see a complete game?!?!) while raising his record to 6-2. Once again, we see Manuel fighting the law of averages by needlessly going to the bullpen, constantly trying to turn a sure-fire win into a loss.

And even though K-Fraud gave the game away on Saturday, let's not discount another huge outing by R.A. Dickey who pitched another great game over 7 innings without allowing an earned run and out-pitched Washington rookie sensation Stephen Strasburg. Can someone tell me why a knuckleball pitcher who's pitching great can't go nine innings? Is it too much stress on the arm? Why was this a huge game for RADical? (his new MetsFanClub.com nickname) Because he was pounded his last outing and many baseball "experts" predicted that debacle would be the start of his downfall. Instead, not for a crucial error by Ruben Tejada, KRod would have had to give up 5 runs instead of 3 to lose the game for him, and judging from the way the ninth inning unfolded, he would have!

What also goes unnoticed due to the loss is this Josh Thole kid, who's now hitting .556 on the season! 556!!! (which as coincidence would have it, is the exact number of steroid-tainted homeruns attributed to ARod).

The good news is that in general, everyone in the Mets lineup is hitting, from top to bottom. The bench players are performing well, the defense is solid, and every time the Mets play a game, they have a legit chance of victory due to a very impressive starting rotation. You would think with that being said, the Mets would have had their way with the Nats - but the KRod game made the entire split series seem like a loss. However, with all the positives in play, you have to feel good about the upcoming series with Cincinnati and Atlanta before the All-Star break, when even the Mets crack medical staff can't stop Carlos Beltran from coming back.

THE BAD: The Mets offensive explosions have eluded Johan Santana, and as usual, the Mets wasted a much-needed good outing from the Mets #3 pitcher in the Mets 2-1 loss in the series opener. It's amazing how this team just doesn't hit for this guy, although with Jose Reyes and Angel Pagan both a significant portion of the offense out due to injury, it probably wasn't a good idea for Jerry Manuel to have sat Jason Bay in the game. You need offense... Santana's pitching... let's sit Bay! Another head-scratcher from our fearless manager.

Met fans have to be a little concerned over the recent outings from Takman, who although not being horrendous, seems not to be the pitcher he was last month when he was blanking teams on a regular basis. "Why I Oughta" Igarashi has not been much better. And with just about everyone in the bullpen being a question mark each day, going from dominating to clueless, it's hard to figure out why Jerry Manuel continues to manage toward the weakest part of the team (or any team by definition for that matter).

Here's the number one law of winning baseball: you go with the hot hand. When your pitcher's pitching well, you stay with him. When you continue to fight that law, you'll eventually have to pay the price, as the Mets did with K-Rude. Is KFraud worth the money? Consider the Mets lead the league in walkoff losses by a huge margin. And who's generally on the mound on a walkoff?... your closer.

And speaking of Frankie... did you ever notice how "easy" it was for the Mets to acquire this guy in the first place? Why didn't the Angels put up more of a fight to keep him? Perhaps they "know something", as my west-coast Major League insiders constantly remind me of... Art Howe, JJ Putz, Jason Bay, Bobby Bonilla, Mo Vaughn... the list goes on and on with players and managers basically "given" to the Mets because no one else would touch them.

I mean, what general manager would be stupid enough to sign a player to a multi-year contract without even giving him a physical?

THE UGLY: The 4th of July is always a great holiday. And what's a holiday without a BBQ with hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill, right? But please, ESPN, hot-dog eating is NOT a sport. I don't want you cutting into my baseball broadcast for the latest updates on the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating "sporting event". Eating is not a sport - and judging from the family of four sitting next to us at the last Met game we attended, it's not very pretty either...