Not Funny

The wheels may have not fallen off the bus just yet, but they are hanging on by one lugnut and wobbling like hell. In fact one wheel is being held on with duct tape.

The Mets scored ten runs, still lost by nine, John Franco gave up another two run blast and his ERA is 12.71 for the month of July (5.73 overall), Scott Erickson gave up seven earned runs in two innings, Wheeler gave up four earned runs in one inning, and Todd Zeile gave up five runs in one inning for a nifty 45.00 ERA. Yeah, Todd Zeile. I want to laugh about this game, but I just cannot. I wonder why the Mets catch so much shit from other people, I have to look no further than this game and how they have just completely shot themselves in the foot beginning with this last homestand. Just when they manage to be putting together a nice season, they turn it into a laugher in few weeks. They are now six games out and looking like a AAA ball club with the constant errors. The fact that Matsui cannot even catch a ball thrown or hit at him is an increasing concern. Maybe they will chip away, they have been down by six before, but they have never look this bad before. I do not care if the Expos are hot, the Mets should be beating this team. If they were playing bad against the Cardinals, I'd deal. But 19 runs from the worst offense in the majors and having the Expos beat you at home last series and looking like a joke in the opener in the Montreal series, I'm a bit concerned.

On top of it all, why is it that the Mets cannot score when they are in close games, but score 10 when they are getting blown out. Hidalgo smacked two homeruns, every starter had at least one hit, and Wright hit a blast for his first major league homerun. I could be over reacting and this happens to every team once in while, but after the last week + of what has been taking place, one has to think this is the direction the Mets are going. Their bullpen just does not have the steam to help this team make a playoff push. Not that it is all their fault, they just will not have the steam. Even if the Mets start hitting slightly better, it will not matter. This bullpen and holding leads is like oil and water.

My thing was always this. The Mets almost lost 100 games last year. Their main goal should have been to make .500 and make strides towards 2005. They were on track and then some due to a close division race. That was just an added bonus. If the Mets want to draw some serious interest from some big free agents, they need to make it look like this is a baseball club and not a circus. Right now, it looks like circus. The next three series are tough. A split on this one does not do them any good. If they lose this series with Montreal when Atlanta, Milwaukee, and St. Louis are on the horizon, things could start to look worse than this:



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The Twinkies are expected to announce a Kris Benson for Doug Mientkiewicz deal.

The Mets have inquired about Victor Zambrano. The Devil Rays will be looking for pitching prospects in return. Zambrano is not worth any top prospects but for a mid-level you have to listen. My only problem is that he is on the books for next season too. The Mets need Clement or Pavano like a crack whore needs another hit, but I fear that they will once again take the cheaper road and feel confident with Zambrano as their only addition next year in the rotation. Glavine, Leiter (after he resigns), Trachs, Zambrano, and Seo just will not cut it.

Howe on Franco's ejection:

"There's no way in the world Johnny was trying to hit the guy"

Who really cares? Franco should never step foot on the field again. This is getting silly. Righties are batting a Helton like .333 with a .911 OPS. So basically everytime Franco faces a rightie, it is like one the best players in the league at the plate. He would make Rey Ordonez look like Mark McGwire at this point. Someone please put Mets fans out of the misery of having to watch Franco pitch just about everyday.