Offensive Donkey Cart Stalls, Mets Lose 4th In A Row

Whilst it's been easy for the last several days to be made physically ill by watching the Mets (whose broadcasts perhaps should come with their own Surgeon General's Warning label) and whilst the loss seemed almost inevitable, the loss tonight wasn't quite as sickening as the first two. So if you're one of those people who want to look for sprouts of hope in an otherwise horrifically miserable three game series in LA, here it is:

The Magical Murph's debut was a success. He had several fielding gems and never once had that deer-in-the-headlights look so familiar in his eyes when playing in left field. Of course his confidence at the plate has now gone spiralling downwards as a result of his nightly humiliations but he's a good hitter and if he can settle in at first base, his hitting will come around. Not power hitting, mind. No replacement for Delgado at the plate but matching Delgado's often lethargic fielding at first should certainly be no stretch.

Livan Hernandez's outing was encouraging and he's now 2-0 with a 3.33 ERA in May, eating those innings, as his portly figure would suggest.


And that's it for the good news.

Now, the stuff to worry about is enough to drown in, even considering the futile efforts at optimism.

Most importantly is absence of hitting.



With Jose Reyes limping out of the game, verifying that the injury is for real, not a secret benching or a secret pout, the top of the order is now shot. In fact, the only hitters remaining in the Mets lineup who can be counted on are Beltran and Wright.

Let's face it having Castro, Pagan and the pitcher closing out your order and with Tatis, Church, Sheffield and Murph all struggling, opposing teams will likely walk Beltran and Wright every time they're up and watch the rest of the Mets team pop up or ground into double plays or strike out to end innings, one after another.

Worse still, there is nothing on the horizon to allow yourself the fantasy that relief is on the corner.

There is no quick fix.

So yes, bemoaning the lack of foresight in putting together a roster of minor league migrants and free agent hopefuls is valid but other than Orlando Hudson who would you really have wanted Omar to sign? Another ageing outfield in Raul Ibanez? Sure, he's hot now but he'll be 37 with a fat contract in a week or so and the Mets have enough of that already. Manny? Pshaw.

Should the Mets have signed Adam Dunn instead of Delgado, knowing Delgado's diminishing body? Maybe, but let's not forget Dunn strikes out more than he hits. (True: 43 Ks, 39 hits this season).

If Alex Cora hadn't gotten hurt, Martinez wouldn't be seeing the light of day and there'd be at least one more reasonable bat and leadership in the lineup.

Can Jonathan Malo or Argenis Reyes possibly play short and hit worse than Martinez? And good god, why didn't Jerry pinch hit for him even if there wasn't a shortstop to replace him?! Why not toss Sheffield out there as a 40 year old return to short for an inning or two? Even at half strength with food poisoning, Sheffield has more promise than Martinez. Hell, even Rey Ordonez would be a welcomed sight over Martinez!

Is all the bellowing for Nick Johnson valid given his injury-prone career?

For a change, I'm going to get off the Hate Wagon.

Yes, the fielding stupidities and the mental fuck ups on the base paths are inexcusable.

But it's nobody's fault that Reyes, Cora and Delgado got hurt. In seriousness, even though they've got flaws, out of Murphy, Church, Sheffield and Tatis, one of these guys is going to going to get hot again - they're all decent hitters, so rather than panicking, perhaps it's best to ride this shite storm out, recognise the season is still in its infancy and hope for the best. There aren't any reasonable remedies to fix this at the moment.

And to be fair, this has to be the most unimpressive sweep registered by a team in a while. The Mets gave the first game away, the Dodgers didn't really win it. And again in the second game their mental and physical errors, whilst not the sole source of the loss, certainly contributed to that loss and tonight it was the matter of one hit with runners in scoring position. Sure, the Mets suck with runners in scoring position but believe it or not, in this series, the Dodgers were even worse.

So even though they've lost four in a row and might well see that expanded to five or six in a row before they leave Boston this weekend, for a change, I'm not going to throw up my hands and go running down the road screaming.

Not until JJ Putz gets another chance to lose another game, anyway. Do you really want your set-up guy, even if there are no leads to hold, letting runners get on base against him at a .320 clip?

Lastly, as much as Scott Schoeneweis disappointed as a Met, the sudden, shocking death of his missus is a sad occasion.