Feast or Famine

This is what you get with Bobby Parnell. Lately, it's been a lot of famine, but here now are a couple of scoreless outings sprinkled in. He's been more up and down than Oliver Perez in his heyday.

Brian Stokes put up a crooked number for the third time in the last four outings. Crooked numbers are good for batters, not pitchers. Give a Mets pitcher the eighth inning and he wilts under the pressure. Elmer Dessens, anyone? In defense of Stokes, this outing was not completely his fault despite giving up two. Angel Pagan continues to prove he is not deserving of a starting position in the major leagues by not calling a popup that Jeff Francoeur and Luis Castillo were waiting for him to catch. There's more to a player than the numbers. Perfect example.

Watching Alex Cora talking to Mike Pelfrey in the dugout continues to show why the Mets have to bring this guy back. Intangibles. Alex needs to spend more time with Angel.

How can we forget about the player of the game, Cory Sullivan? A homerun to start the scoring, a beautiful catch in left, an intentional walk (forget for a moment Omir Santos was following him in the lineup), and another single in the inning that broke the game open.

Game? What Game?

You know things are bad when at the 1pm hour you get all the reports of what the Mets lineup is going to be for their afternoon game, continue on at your job, get to your car at around 6pm, turn on the radio to listen to some sports talk and be surprised that you are listening to Wayne Hagin calling the 7th inning at Arizona- I completely forgot about this one.

The Mets won and Ollie pitched like crap once again. Yet, he gets the win, so he will get a pass from Mets brass.

I did manage to record the game but only got through an inning. What I did see was Oejaka or whatever his name is make yet another amazing play. What I also saw was Gary Sheffield typically hitting a groundball that he had to hustle to beat out in his first at bat back from a hamstring injury. I'm surprised he didn't tear the thing.

The boxscore shows Cory Sullivan sparking things from the leadoff spot and hitting a Jose Reyes-like two triples. Before we get too excited let's not forget how we were going ga-ga over Angel Pagan just a couple of weeks ago and now he finds himself on the bench.

If David Wright had to be pulled from this one because of that apparent leg injury that would've been icing on the cake. Carlos Delgado injures himself while he's still injured. You can't make this stuff up.

Finally, A Petco Win

Not before the Mets lost two more.


Friday:
Up by a score of 2-1 in the 9th, K-Rod arrives in a save situation, promptly walks the leadoff batter and all hell breaks loose. Some questionable balls and missed home plate calls aside, he still gave up the walks and the hits that made this one a 6-2 loss. If you can't throw strikes, you have no excuse.

Oliver Perez actually looked dominant through six, but it started to fall apart in the seventh. Encouraging signs? Maybe. That hesitation in his delivery could be just the thing he needs mentally, sort of like that change he made last season when Peterson was let go.

Why are both Cory Sullivan and Jeremy Reed on this team? They are two of exactly the same type of player. Good defense, a lefty bat, can play all three outfield positions. Move one of them for something.


Saturday:
Ah, this is the type of snoozer you are looking for from a team that's out of it following a crushing defeat. Alex Cora pulls a homerun into Julio Franco territory and that's that.

It was positive to watch Bobby Parnell get the start, but he was throwing way too many pitches, thus reaching his limit for the evening in the third inning. Perhaps he can get a little deeper next week. Nelson Figueroa and Tim Redding were okay, but how screwed up is the staff right now with a short guy starting and two long men pitching in relief? I think we're all done with Sean Green, who had no control on this day once again.

We get a blown call at the plate go in our favor this time, but to no avail. How bad have the umpires been this season?


Sunday:
Johan was just what the doctor ordered. Luis Castillo actually returned to the lineup. Anderson Hernandez had two hits. You know things have to be turning the corner when that happens.

Who was that guy pitching the ninth for the Mets? I like his stuff, and he can bring it up to the mid-90s- we haven't had a guy like that in the ninth since Billy Wagner last season.