Mets Renounce Losing: Losing Is For Losers

Two solid outings in a row and you knew Oliver Perez was due an implosion.


Is Amanda Beard going to be the designated Opening Pitch thrower the rest of the season for the Mets?

Olly's 5th, perhaps predictably, was the moment we were all waiting for, the meltdown.


Olly does his patented floating baseball trick

That was the one he entered with a 3-1 lead and exiting with a 4-3 deficit. But it could have been much, much worse were it not for some real bonehead baserunning by the Angels.

I have to admit, bases loaded with none out and then Magic Vlad's 2-run RBI single threatening to blow the game wide open I figured that was it, Olly's TKO. Especially when Torii Hunter singled in another run. I mean were talking Olly had faced 5 batters and they had all gotten on base. It was just a matter of time before a few walks and a few wild pitches turned this into an Angels' route.

But then something funny happened. The Angels blew the game FOR Olly.


Part I of the bonehead play that probably cost the Angels the game...

Vlad was tossed out at the plate trying to score on a grounder to 3rd with one out and then, lo and behold, not just this move but then Hunter got hung up between second and third and before you knew it, bang. The inning was over.


Part II of the bonehead play that probably cost the Angels the game...

I mean you don't see Olly in many escape acts like this, no matter how often he gets himself into trouble.

And then, another moment of unexpected magic: down by a run and facing the indominable Francisco Rodriguez who almost always finishes the game off on a high note for the Angels, David Wright smacks a two-out single to tie the game. Who did he drive in? Jose Reyes of course, the guy who scored three runs on his own last night, the guy with the new motor and no dodgy hammies, the guy who a night earlier was throwing a tantrum and challenging the manager on his first night out and then apologising. The man the Mets need as the batting order's spark plug if the Mets are going to go anywhere this season, with or without Willie.

Not enough? Not improbable enough for you rounding out a Mets victory like this? Not just Damon Easley's shot in the 10th to give the Mets the lead but how about the bullpen? Are they blossoming in this new find certainty about their identity and roles? You tell me. Smith, Schoeneweiss, Sanchez and Billy Hillbilly all pitch a scoreless inning to not only hold the Angels until they could catch them, but hold them down once they did.

I mean that's how it was drawn up in the offseason, more or less.


What, me worry?

And just like that, Jerry Manuel's got his first victory. And a day after putting Jose Reyes in his place he had Jose Reyes playing like magic.

And this time, in the new era of Jerry Manuel, I'm going to say it and say it even with a straight face. Fuck it. The Mets have turned the corner.