Ummm...Yeah

All that losing and bad baseball last night? The Mets are sorry. That wasn't supposed to happen. They weren't supposed to lay up a colossal stinker and shrivel up like something near and dear to me when I jump into some cold water. It's hard not to think about Delgado's 1st inning error, Willie's misuse of the bullpen, or Green's near catch on an eventual triple helped give a away a huge game for the Mets in game two. It is hard not to think about how the Mets lost two of their top three starting pitchers and had to hit the post season with duct tape and bubblegum holding the rotation together.

But all of that doesn't matter. The fact is the Mets are not executing when the need to. They have made too many mistakes in this series. The fact is that despite all their injuries, the Mets still should have been a better position in this series than they are currently in. Did the Cardinals appreciably outplay the Mets? Fuck no. The Mets more so outplayed themselves. Pitchers will get beat sometimes as hitters will get beat sometimes. However, failure to do the small things to win the game and diverge from the type of baseball they have been playing all year is disheartening. That's not the way to go down.

Can the Mets win the last two games of the series? Sure, anything is possible, but it is highly unlikely. The Mets only hope at this point is explode offensively as they did in game four and ride their bats into the World Series. If the bats are quiet like they were last night, there is no shot this Met team can pull things out.

* * *

I've never wanted to choke someone more than I did last night.



As Valentin took strike three on a perfect pitch by Adam Wainwright with men on second and third, I wanted to choke him. Not because he got beat. That pitch was filthy. But because he didn't try and fight it off and just looked at what was absolutely a strike in such a crucial spot with two strikes and proceeded to say "no fucking way" (or something like that) and made a face. Not swell man, you got beat badly. Not swell at all.

Are people actually still writing about who is starting game seven?

Billy Wagner backs up Tom Glavine.

"I know if Albert would have said that about me, I wouldn't have been as veteraned, as seasoned about it," said Wagner, the team's 34-year-old closer. "I probably would have said something back. That's me. Tom is classy all the way."

Stay classy Tom.

No pressure John. Just millions of rabid fans depending on you to save this season from ending tonight.

"I was walking too many people," Maine said of his Game 2 start. "That's what hurts. Just go out there and throw strikes, the fastball, work off that. I've just got to keep the walks down.

"I don't think it's so much nerves," Maine added. "I don't want to say focus. I go out there every pitch trying to focus. It's just one of those games, happened at a bad time. It's something that I can fix and something I'll work on between each start and ...I will be all right."

Trachsel revisited.

Trachsel faced 12 batters, and 10 reached base (five hits, five walks). That computes to 83 percent. Trachsel was thus the first pitcher to make a postseason start, face at least 10 batters and have more than 80 percent of them reach base by way of a hit, a walk or a hit batsman.

Before Trachsel came Todd Stottlemyre of St. Louis, who in Game 5 of the 1996 league championship series against Atlanta allowed 9 of 12 batters, or 75 percent, to reach base

Mesa beat Peoria 14-9 yesterday as Fernando Martinez pushed his average over .200. Martinez went 2 for 4 with two runs scored and an RBI. He also added a sacrifice in the game.

Kevin Mulvey will be on the mound today for Mesa as they take on Scottsdale.

In case you have not seen this Honda commerical, check it out. It might not bring you back off that ledge after the Mets big loss, but it will certainly make you a little bit happier.