The Mets have reportedly sign Francisco Rodriguez to a three-year, $37-million deal today. While the money may have been a little more than I would have liked, I think this was a move that the Mets needed to get done, especially when you consider that the 9th inning was what kept us out of the postseason again this year. I still like that Omar is making these big moves though, these are moves that I feel must be made to put last season behind us.
Your thoughts?
Take my advice on this one. Let the loss last night go. It sucks, for sure. But let it go. It's only one game. There's a lot of work to do this season and I think that the team and fans need to look ahead. The Mets need to "bear down" as my dad used to say and win the next two games.
I asked myself plenty of questions after the top of the ninth inning last night. What if Billy Wagner had been available to close the game? What if Jose Reyes had gotten at least one out on the bouncer up the middle? What if Endy Chavez had been positioned correctly when So Taguchi hit a fly ball turned double? Lots of questions. In the end the collapse boiled down to bad pitching, bad defense and bad luck.
While we look at being consistently inconsistent, it is reassuring to know that we can rely on one element of the team. The bullpen has never failed to ensure that we have absolutely no chance of winning games that have been relatively tight. As I sit here, Jorge Sosa has just given up a grand slam home run. I've lost track by mid April of the number of homers given up by the bull pen, especially in tight positions. Frustrating is an understatement - we have to face facts with this. we are not pennant material if we continually shoot ourselves in the foot in the seventh and eighth inning. 2006 has never seemed so far away....It's more like '96 than '06 at the moment.
Second day running, and the bullpen have succeeded in making it nigh on impossible to catch a slender lead. Jorge Sosa last night was a disaster - a 30 pitch inning? Why didn't Willie pull him before the Kelly Johnson at-bat - he was obviously thinking it, after the meeting on the mound with Rick Peterson. That ended that game... and here I am watching live as Aaron Heilman blows it again, after we had kept it tight. I know there 3 outs left, but let's face it, there is no run support today anyway, so a difficult pull back has just become impossible. Santana pitches well, leaves just 6 outs to go and watches the bullpen blow it. Is the reminding us of anything? Have the lessons of last year not been learned?
This time last year Brian Bannister was the talk of the Mets having won an unlikely roster spot and a place in the starting rotation. This year we have Joe Smith.
He's a guy with 47 innings of pro ball under his belt, yet he could be one of the most important pieces of the Mets' bullpen. He's got a drop down sidearm delivery that could give batters hell in tight spots.
With the sad, sad news that Sanchez is out till August their are rumors swirling that the Mets are chasing Oriole reliver Todd Williams. He is described as a groundball pitcher if their ever was one. He is a veteran who can come in a pinch situation.
I the beginning of spring all us Met fans were extremely optimistic about the strength of our bullpen. Now the spring training is in full swing we are starting to experience some issues. Hopefully this is just rust that needs to be worn off rather then a issue for the 2007 campaign. Another suprise seems to be Oliver Perez.
The New York Post is running a story today on sinkerballer Joe Smith.
