Giveaway Games

"The reality is, coming here to Pittsburgh and getting swept, for me, I feel embarrassed… We need to find a way to play better and to focus more on what we need to accomplish… I mean, we have to take this personally. It can’t happen… I know the Pirates are a big-league team, but we’re better than them. We’re better than them, and we know we’re better than them... We have to do something about it" -- Carlos Beltran

Though certain to go over poorly in the Pirates clubhouse, Beltran's words needed to be said. The past three games against the Pirates were embarrassing.

First we lost a game we were leading 5-0. Then we lost a Johan start. The capper came yesterday when Mike Pelfrey got bombed and the Mets got blown out.

In SNY's pregame show leading into this series, Gary Cohen noted that the Mets had played poorly against the Pirates in recent years, getting swept by the team in late September '06 and suffering improbable, backbreaking losses in '07 and '08. Either of those improbable losses the past two years, Cohen noted, would have been enough to get the Mets into the playoffs.

You don't get these games back. You lose them in June and they kill you in September. In order to avoid the same fate as the past two seasons, the Mets need to start playing better.

Fortunately for them they have the league's beset invigorating tonic in the Washington Nationals this weekend. Sure we've got Tim Redding going for us tonight, but like Lou Brown calling on Rick Vaughn to face Clu Haywood with the game on the line, I've got a hunch Redding's due.

Personally I'm pissed at myself becuase I'd circled this series on the calendar as one I was going to get down to. I'd love to see the Nationals' new ballpark and I have a bunch of friends in DC so this is a bit of a missed opportunity, but oh well. Let's hope it doesn't turn into a missed opportunity for our Metsies as well.

- A.F.O.M.G.