I don't feel too bad about the Cubs getting swept by the Dodgers in the playoffs. I didn't like the way Lou handled things down the stretch after he clinched, not always playing his best players esp. after he played us tough but eased up on the Brewers. I think it came back to bite him because the Cubs obviously lost their edge. Or like any team they just went into a hitting slump at the wrong time. Today we have the same situation with the Angels who dominated the Red Sox during the regular season but could be swept today. As a Mets fan it doesn't make me feel any better that good teams are also experiencing losing in clutch situations. We saw the Mets didn't hit in their last two games against Florida. But the main reason for the Mets was their bullpen. Guys who over a period of time showed they could not get the job done on a major league level. It broke the team down psychologically two years in a row and I believe affected the hitting. When your team loses big leads consistently even when the team is hitting it kills your confidence. You could tell by the look on the faces of the players and manager  down the stretch even after close wins after their bullpen gave up multiple runs and couldn't hold leads. 

Recently one of the announcers mentioned that Jerry Manuel had made a comment about not knowing what to do about the Mets ineffective bullpen. As we all know this was the main reason the team went down last Sept. And there hasn't been much change or improvement in 2008. Jerry's been dealt a bad hand but he's at least trying to do the best with what he has. I like his aggressive moves with the bullpen and his quick hook of pitchers courting disaster. He is sometimes using 6 or 7 pitchers per game. Trying to go with a guy's strength and pull him out after just a batter or two. Hopefully some of the Sept. call ups can help and give him a few innings, or at least an out or two. The Mets do not match up well going into Sept. against the Phillies because they have one of the best bullpens in the league and the Mets have one of the worst. I doubt that Willie would be doing the same thing. He would be more loyal to his players and taking the consequences. Losing. Whereas Jerry only cares about surviving and doing whatever it takes no matter what to win games. I'll take that any day.

Even if he did take steroids you can't deny that he is one of the all time great players in MLB. Steroids maybe gave him additional power and increased his HR total and maybe even gave him more hits (balls hit harder, etc.). But steroids did not improve his hand-eye coordination or even probably his bat speed, more important than power. Even though Barry was walked more than any player in the league and pitched around he still had unbelievable success as a hitter. Now even though he still wants to play he has no job. Is it blackballing. If so there are two reasons: Federal investigations and possible indictment and his own bitter, unfriendly persona. He is poison on any baseball team. Many teams including the Mets with all of their injuries could use him badly. There is no real good excuse for the Mets to not consider him. He is coming off of a not too bad season (340 AB-.276 BA-.480 OBP-28HR-66 RBI---that's right, .480 OBP). During the offseason Tony LaRussa told the press he would like to sign Barry but later after he heard about Bond's salary demands retracted his statement. Apparently Bonds is not willing to go at a discount rate. I would sign him if he is willing to take under $10 million per season. I'm surprised Billy Beane and the A's haven't gone for it if he were available at that price. Since he's always looking for a bargain and loves OBP. And that is a discount rate for him. It would seem a perfect match for Barry since he could stay at home. But maybe the A's just know too much about him.

First I want to make it clear that I'm a big fan of Willie Randolph and think he's gone a great job as a MLB manager. He's a man's man and has the respect and admiration of his players and everone in the game. But like all mgrs. he's still learning his baseball X's and O's esp. when it comes to working with a pitching staff. Last night his mistake was going with Darren Oliver against Jeff Kent. He was trying to get through the inning so he could pinch hit for Oliver, but as shown this was a big mistake and could have lost us the game. Kent is hot and hit a clutch home run against a left hander. Willie should have gone to either Bradford or Hernadez right then and forgotten about the pinch hitter the next inning. I think it's worth mentioning even though we won the game. PS Our MO on winning this season has been scoring 3 runs in the first inning. This has happened a good no. of times and when it does it's almost always a W. Even though the Mets blew the lead in last night's game the scene was set in the 1st inning.

Sorry to rain on Mike's parade but we all know that Pedro is the ultimate flake. He sensed the drama last week when Mike was in town and gave up the two homers. With a lead and the Mets in double digits over their nearest competitor I believe Pedro grooved both pitches into Mike. He probably felt the emotion in the stadium for Piazza and just wanted to make everyone happy. He didn't make me happy, though