Padres 2 Mets 1, 14 innings of Zzzzzzz

"Well, if you're going to make outs, make 'em fast." - Cliff Floyd spouted this after noting how quickly the Mets played through five extra innings of work. Maybe that's why Cliff Floyd is hitting .208 this season. He's in a hurry to get out and go home.


Delgado's homer was the sole Met run in 14 fruitless innings

A night after battering what was allegedly the best bullpen in baseball the Mets produced only two base runners in five extra innings of play and not surprisingly, the first team to score were their opponents and the Mets lost an uninspiring game, 2-1.

Together, the Mets and Padres accumulated 18 hits and struck out 24 times.

Brian Bannister? The skeleton in his closet appears to be the yearning ache for walking batters. He gave up only 4 hits but walked six, making that 15 walks in 23 innings pitched. Whilst that might be sufficient against the likes of the Padres, what do you think a team like the Braves or the Cardinals would do with that many unnecessary baserunners? Bannister's 2.35 ERA would appear to reflect a clever ability to extract himself from potential disasters of his own making but I don't think you can rely on guile all season long when you're walking that many batters. Sooner or later it's going to catch up to him and quickly.

What was impressive was the bullpen throwing nearly 8 scoreless innings before Chad Bradford allowed Geoff Blum's RBI single in the bottom of the 14th to put a merciful end to a merciless night.

Replacement Mets Kaz Matsui and Endy Chavez were a combined two for ten from the plate but more importantly, left 8 runners on base. Endy Chavez is now hitting a brisk .143 on the season. What is the stuttering spiel of misguided logic which explains what Endy Chavez is doing playing centerfield during this uncertain period of Carlos Beltran's delicate hamstrings when Lastings Milledge is hitting .396 in his first 16 games with the Tides. You've got Victor Diaz and Milledge wasting away in Norfolk whilst the likes of Endy Chavez and Jose Valentin continue wasting space on the Mets roster.

Fair enough if you are making the argument that Diaz and Milledge need playing time and sitting on the bench is a waste of their growth but look, Chavez has played in as many games (12) as Beltran in center and Valentin has made appearances in 13 games so clearly, there's plenty of playing time to be had.

Speaking of Beltran, Carlos made an appearance in last night's game as a pinch hitter in the 7th inning with two outs and two men on only to ground out after a sharp play by Padre second baseman Josh Barfield. Carlos was thrown out without runnning full speed and still whinged about tightness in the hammies after the game.

Tight hamstrings, what a larf. There's something about finely tuned athletic bodies barking out delicate pain when multimillion dollar contracts are signed. You could empathise that the Mets will need a healthy Beltran for an entire season and it's best not to take any chances this early but after a season haunted by soreness last year, this is getting a little bit too predictable from Beltran. Dodgy right quadriceps last season were the excuse when he stumbled through May and June. Wonder what his offseason work regimen is like. In any event, the Multimillion dollar Man is hitting .143 with runners in scoring position this season. Endy Chavez is hitting .500 in 4 at bats with runners in scoring position, just to put it in perspective.

"Hamstrings are very funny. Very mysterious," Willie Randolph observed, the wisdom of all his years in baseball finally coming to fruition.

Very funny indeed, those hamstrings. I think I may have pulled one myself, just laughing about them.