Sinking Ship Sinks Deeper in Extra Inning Loss To Dodgers

Rats are the first to desert a sinking ship. Allegedly, that's because in the old days of wooden sailing vessels, rats lived in the holds of the ships and would be the first to know if a leak had developed. But that's the the point anyway, merely testing the minds ability to deflect, distract, deny the issue at hand which is: Mets 2005 season, a sinking ship?

You have to admit, it was a curious game to play.

Likely distracted by the news of the Cameron and Beltran injuries, which by all accounts, were even worse than dreaded and will likely see Cameron gone the rest of the season and Beltran more than a little shell-shocked for the next month, the Mets blew their chance at turning these losses into a positive and instead, absorbed yet another blow to the solar plexus, this time in the form of an 10th inning loss to the LA Dodgers, the fist being the homerun by the rookie Dodger catcher Dionar Navarro off closer Bradon Looper, his career first, to give the Dodgers their precious 9-8 victory and dump another load of unhappiness in the lap of the Mets.

It's not that this day, this game had to be an exercise in pain and misery. Not at all. Called up from Norfolk, Victor Diaz started in right field in place of Cameron and drove in three runs on two homers straight away as though to remind all of us in our depths of despair that there is still the Mets bright future to be happy about.

And who'd have thunk it? Jeromy Burnitz, still paying dividends?

But it has to make you wonder: the Mets gloom temporarily erased when the man called up to replace Cameron surprises us with two home runs and then they still lose the game anyway...

Looper's game-blowing gopher ball came on the heels of a six day lay off and he didn't hesitate to admit he was a little rusty but really one wonders: wasn't it just the last time around he was begging off because he'd been used too much? Too much, too little, both with the same results, blown saves, blown games and leaving the rest of us to come up with the idea that Manager Willie has to be a bloody alchemist to figure out what the precise calibration and combination of not enough work and too much work will be the magical elixir that coaxes Looper out of his shell game of throw and duck and blow another game and instad, start saving games like he's paid to do.

Of course, we could go on about Manager Willie's questionable tactics; using the closer on the road with the game tied but frankly, why bother? He'd already left Zambrano in too long and then when he finally brought in Aaron Heilman, Heilman waved in the next few runs like he was hailing a cab. If you can't rely on your bullpen is it any small wonder that Willie is reaching for the Roberto Phone 9 games out of 10?

Even before Looper's loser, the Mets pen had been shaky. Hernandez wove himself in and out of trouble in the 8th whilst in the 9th, they barely escaped losing in regular time again. Both times, they were able to escape and oddly enough, Looper's gopher came only after he'd recorded the first two outs without incident and we'd almost had a chance to relax. (Myself, I was drinking tea and listening live at 7 am, a fascinating proposition these time zones, to wake up at 6 in the morning and be able to listen live in the bottom of the 8th as the Mets nearly collapsed over and over...enough to dump the tea for a stiff single malt, but frankly, we're all getting used to this grisly sort of Met meltdown and can learn to laugh it off see, hahaha, last place and falling, wildcard disappearing, hahaha...)

So from this we can pick little optimism, and even Cliff Floyd sounded the same weary resignation in the locker room after the game so you know this is it, the Mets are tossing the life boats over, the ship is sinking. The rats are swimming.

*****

The score card reads as follows:

Cameron: 1 broken nose, multiple fractures of both cheekbones and a concussion. Beltran: also had a concussion, in addition to a small fracture in his cheekbone.

Piazza has thrown out 12 of 81 base runners attempting to steal on him this season. A double amputee buried up to his neck in concrete to do that well. Then again, Piazza helped kill a rally with a strike em out throw em out double play you'll probably never see in his career again, throwing out Oscar Robles whose name should join the other 11 in infamy as so slow even Mike Piazza could throw them out.

*****

For those in the mood to snort a dose of Kaz Ishii this morning, wasn't it eye-gouging to see Jason Phillips pound a two-run double over Cliff Floyd's head?

Ishii's replacement, the pitcher we could have had pitching out there for us all along without having to surrender Phillips, Jae Seo, RHP (3-1, 1.42) will take the mound in yet another futile effort against D.J. Houlton, RHP (4-5, 5.49), whose humdrum outings this season would lead one to believe that he will likely handcuff the Mets entirely for 6 or 7 innings on the way to victory.

Ahhhh, smell it. The tang of resignation hangs heavy in the air this morning. Or perhaps it's merely the smell of the future, the last thing to hold on to when there's really nothing left.