Nevermind Pedro, How About Some Run Support?

Hey kids, remember when it was mid August and the Mets lost three in a row to the Phillies by a combined 27-4 margin and Pedro had been hurt, El Duque had been battered, Tom Glavine had numb fingers and the World Series hopes of the Mets were being rubbished in every quarter?

Yeah. The Mets went on to reel off a 7 game winning streak and put our minds at ease.

And now, having been twice thrashed by our arch rivals in Atlanta by an aggragate 25-1 margin and having witnessed the disturbing possibility of a Pedro-less post season it is time to remember yet again, the days of the season when it felt like the wheels were coming off the great Mets World Series bandwagon.

After getting humiliated 12-0 the Mets showed a little hopeful backbone hitting rock bottom, talking about walk up calls and farting loudly in public places to show what little fear they had.

With Pedro taking the mound for the final time in the regular season there was an eerie aura of expectation as though THIS would be the moment, the defining moment when all our petty little fears could be laid to rest, all doubts and misgivings would be bundled and burned if only Pedro would come through as only Pedro can do and pitch a brilliant little outing.

Instead fuel is added to the fire of misgivings as Pedro responded to our cries for Superman! Superman! by allowing seven runs in a mere 2 2/3 innings in what was to gradually take shape as a 13-1 loss to the Atlanta Braves.


We May Not see Pedro again until next Spring...

With this outing all the little excuses just went out the window. Pedro has a 16.97 ERA over his last four starts, giving up 22 hits and 20 earned runs in 11 2-3 innings and Pedro isn't Pedro any more. Whoever it is wearing number 45 for the Mets, it won't be starting Game One of the postseason.

I'm not concerned about the postseason rotation quite frankly. Ever since Pedro's teary outing a few starts ago it was clear he doesn't have it and might not have it the rest of the season although blind optimism and the lies of Willie Randolph told us otherwise. The Mets have struggled on without him all season and could well do so in the postseason, as crazy as that sounds, to move forward without your ace, without your franchise face.

What DOES concern me is the hitting and the timing of this nearly team-wide slump. Don't go on about John Smoltz and Tim Hudson for crissakes - who will the Mets be facing in the postseason, Double AA rotations and other minor league imitations? Noooo. They will be facing some of the best pitchers in baseball and hitting slumps aside, they will need to batter them if they are going to score enough runs to offset the John Maines and Steve Trachsels of the Mets postseason rotation.

So sneaking in amid all this hand-wringing for Pedro, all these tears for the season that is lost, the Mets should be quietly taking batting practice and praying Carlos Beltran snaps out of his .190 tailspin over the last month.

Believe you me if Carlos Beltran revisits the Carlos Beltran of 2004 and hits 8 homeruns in the postseason we're going to forget all about Pedro Martinez until the World Series.

And by then, just maybe, Pedro will have healed.