Mets put on a clinic in DC

Mets put on a clinic in DC....of what not to do and what to do. The Mets should have put the game out of reach in the 6th, but were the poster boys of what not to do. It's hard to complain about a three run inning, but when you leave with a miniscule one run lead when you could have had lot more, it hurts. The Mets are struggling to score runs, and they could have turned this one into a laugher. The Mets had the bases loaded with no outs and one run in already. Then, Ramon Castro singled to left to score run only to stray to far off first base presumably as a result of David Wright waving the runners on after the ball got away from the catcher. The ball strayed a few feet, but Livan Hernandez was all over it and gunned Castro out at first. Ok, the Mets still had a guy on second with only one out, right? With Marlon Anderson on second base, Miguel Cairo lined out to right field on a ball that looked like it had a chance to drop in. Jose Guillen made the catch and gunned Anderson down trying to get back to the bag. Third out, the Mets stifle what could have been a big inning.

In the eighth inning, the Mets were the anti-Mets. Carlos Beltran and Cliff Floyd led off the inning with back to back singles. No outs, the Mets sitting in good position to add onto lead. The Mets managed no more hits, but did manufacture a run. Wright got out in the next at bat, but managed to drive the ball to right and moved Beltran over to third base on a productive out. Marlon Anderson then flied out to left allowing Carlos Beltran to tag up and score. The Mets only got one run when they put the first two batters on base, but they managed to not hit groundballs or shallow fly balls. They managed to turn outs into good ones. For this Met team, I take what I can in terms of their ability to produce runs, but that is something they have been horrible at this year. No Met has been as bad as Jose Reyes when it has come to productive outs and the Mets need to step up this part of their game.

Willie ball is supposed to be an aggressive style of play that lets the team put together runs and manufacture them. The Mets have been horrible in that situation this year and without the big bat they desperately need in the meat of this order, they need to become more adept at not squandering their chances with Men on base. As a team, they are batting .247/.339/.391 with men in scoring position and are batting .209/.253/.418 with the bases loaded. It is clear they really do not have a big RBI guy like Carlos Lee or Manny Ramirez, so they need to be more productive when they do get out. Of course I'm stating the obvious, but the Mets just shoot themselves in the foot more often than not and bail out the opposing team. That eighth inning was a perfect example of what they need to do.

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WWDD? Not put Schilling in the role of closer.

''He's never done it," Damon said of Schilling. ''He throws 60 pitches to get loose for a game. He needs to get loose. Two outs in the eighth, a home run is hit. Get ready, 10 pitches. He can't do it. Timlin could, Bronson could. I don't think it's a good move for us. We've always talked about all year he'd come back and be a starter, and be a good starter. He can't just walk in and be a good closer. He's not ready yet. He's not ready."

Omar:

"Today we're buyers. Today," the GM said yesterday. "We feel we're in the race. As far as the wild-card race right now, we're definitely in the race. And there's a lot of baseball left to go for the division. There is some separation, of course, between the Nationals and us right now. But when you look at the wild card right now, everyone is kind of in the same spot. Everybody is one good week from being the leaders."

Today, the Mets are five games off the Wildcard lead and nine games out of first place.

Minor update:

• Norfolk beat Columbus 9-2. Angel Pagan went 2 for 5 with a run scored, Anderson Hernandez went 3 for 3 with two runs scored, two RBIs, and a walk to bring his average up to .404, Victor Diaz went 2 for 5 with two homers and five RBIs, Eric Valent went 4 for 5 with two runs cored, Prentice Redman picked up two hits, and Chase Lambin went 3 for 4 with two runs score, a double, and a triple.
  
• Binghamton beat New Hampshire 4-2 in the first game of a double header. Mike Jacobs went 2 for 3 with two runs scored, a double, a homer, and two RBIs. He now has 16 homers and 58 RBIs. Wayne Lydon and Aarom Baldiris each went 2 for 3 as well. Yusmeiro Petit went the distance in a shortened seven innings game and allowed five hits, two earned runs, one walk, one homer, and struck out ten. He is 3-2 with a 2.97 ERA. In game two, New Hampshire beat Norfolk 6-2. Mike Jacobs went 2 for 3 with his seventeenth homer of the year. In 2003, he hit a career high 17 homers which he will obviously smash this year. Aarom Baldiris went 1 for 2 with a walk and a double and has brought his average up to .288.
  
• St. Lucie beat Fort Myers 4-0. Lastings Milledge went 2 for 4 with two RBIs to bring his average up to .302.
  
• Delmarva beat Hagerstown 8-7. Corey Coles went 3 for 5 with a run scored, one double, and one RBI. Carlos Gomez went 3 for 3 with three runs scored and two walks and Jesus Flores went 3 for 5 with a double and four RBIs.
  
• Brooklyn lost to Staten Island 6-1.
  
• Elizabethton beat Kingston 2-1.
  
• The GCL Mets beat the GCL Marlins 6-4.

Gaby Hernandez is still on BA's Prospect Hot Sheet and Anderson Hernandez and Brian Bannister are honorable mentions.

Pedro may skip the All-Star game and I think he should. His velocity is down and looks tired. The extra rest would do him well.

Heilman got a good look in a pressure role and passed with flying colors. He went 2.1 innings and got out of a bases loaded jam in the sixth. It took him only 25 pitches to get through those 2.1 innings and gave up no hits or no walks. Looper finished the game off with a perfect ninth and Met relievers went 3.1 innings in 32 pitches.