Our Bullpen Sucks, Yes It Do

The pitcher was dejected. He'd worked so hard, performed so well. It didn't seem fair, it didn't make sense; hadn't he done everything the organization asked him? Hadn't he built up his arm strength? Hadn't he performed effectively in Spring Training? What did Brian Bannister have on him, anyway?

The answers to the questions swirling inside Aaron Heilman's mind may never have come, but that day in late March 2006, there was some solace. The new closer strode over and put his hand on Heilman's shoulder.

"Welcome to the best bullpen in the National League," Billy Wagner told him.

I'm not sure one way or another whether the statistics bear it out, but I'm fairly certain the Mets had one of the best, if not the very best, bullpen's in baseball. Heilman-Sanchez-Wagner with a dash of Feliciano and Bradford and a pinch of Darren Oliver made last year's relief corps as sound as any we'd seen since the Turk-Cookie-Benitez dynamo days of the late 1990s.

But then came the offseason. Guillermo Mota was revealed to be a juicer, Duaner dithered in his rehab, Bradford signed with Baltimore, Scott Schowenweis was given the keys to the kingdom, and somehow all hell broke loose.

Wagner was automatic the first 4 months of the season, but has struggled down the stretch. Ditto Feliciano. Heilman has been kind of erratic all season, and Schowenweis is basically an affront to anyone cheering for this team.

The best bullpen in baseball it ain't. At times you wonder if it might be the worst.

None of it bodes well for October. The Mets have scored 7-plus runs in their last seven games now, but are only 4-3 in those games, owing to shoddy pitching, primarily out of the pen.

The good news for now is that today's win, coupled with Philly's loss, basically assures the Mets of making the postseason provided they don't completely shit the bed.

We're up 3 games in the loss column with 7 games left, 6 left for Philly. That means Philly needs us to lose at least 3 of our remaining 7 games just to have a chance. Could happen. At the same time though, Philly would need to go 6-0. The way they've been playing lately, I could totally see that happening. It wouldn't be easy though, and I don't think it can be expected.

What I mean to say is, whereas a few days ago I was basically convinced I was staring at an October full of watching SNY's "Street Games", by this point I'm comfortable again.

All will be revealed in a week's time.

Remember last year when some people complained that it wouldn't feel like we'd really earned the division title because we were basically unchallenged all season? Well, here we go. Let's earn it.

- A.F.O.M.G.