Once again, Mets fans are stunned as their favorite team has snatched a loss from the jaws of victory. In an eerily similar situation to many games last September, the Mets bullpen melted down spoiling a tremendous opportunity. The only difference this time is that there was no Willie Randolph to kick around after the game. This time it was interim manager Jerry Manuel who made like Ralph Kramden stammering his way through why he took out ace Johan Santana after 8 superb innings. Once again, the modern day approach to handling pitchers which is dictated by the almighty pitch count has reared its ugly head.

Santana pitched beautifully for eight innings allowing just 2 runs. After the first inning, when he struggled with two outs, Johan settled in and went through the Phillies lineup with ease only giving up a homerun to Shane Victorino the rest of the way. Unfortunately with Billy Wagner unavailable because of shoulder spasms, Manuel attempted to cobble together a closer by committee. Unfortunately, two of the four relievers used could not get anyone out. Sanchez loaded the bases by giving up three straight singles. After the game Sanchez said he made the pitches he wanted to make. Interesting, the pitches he wanted to make had nothing on them. They may have been in the location he wanted but the velocity was not where it should have been.

Joe Smith got the ground ball he wanted and it should have been an out. Jose Reyes miscalculated and tried to turn a double play but got neither. Pedro Feliciano came in carrying a can of gasoline instead of a glove. Five runs later, Aaron Heilman got the final out as the crowd of 55,000 plus let the Mets know just how they felt. The Mets scored one in their half of the ninth but any hopes of a comeback were dashed quickly and just as fast as you can say September 2007, the Mets were one game back instead of one game ahead.

Please explain something to me. Why does an organization trade four of its premier prospects and spend 137 million dollars on a pitcher but is afraid to let him complete his job? Santana should have been given the opportunity to start the ninth, especially because of the unavailability of Billy Wagner. I would have no qualms of taking Santana out had he given up a couple of hits in the 9th. Why do these pitchers get babied so much? The stock answer is, and it was bantered around last night, is that we need Johan for the stretch run. Well tell me then, where is the line in the sand? When will he be allowed to finish a game, after September 1st? Will it even matter by then? Santana only threw 105 pitches. You mean to tell me Santana didn’t have another 25 or 30 pitches last night.

No question that this loss bothers me as it must most Mets fans. But what troubles me more is that in the last four games, the Mets have reverted back to some of their old habits. In the six games prior to the All Star break, all Mets victories, the pitching gave up 4 runs. In the five games since the break the Mets pitching has given up 33! Even the offense, to some degree, has shown inklings of reverting to its former self. Last evening for example, the Mets scored 4 runs as a result of homeruns. They only manufactured one. Poor judgment by the third base coach Luis Aguayo choked off potential rallies too. The 10 game winning streak gave us hope and we thought perhaps things would change. But remove the 10 game streak and the body of work remaining is consistently inconsistent.

Last night’s game was a devastating loss. It could have been a real feel good story for the Mets but instead it became a nightmare. Will the Mets bounce back tonight or will things continue to deteriorate. A loss like last night should at least provide a lesson. The lesson should be that when your closer is not available, let your ace attempt to finish the job. That’s what he is paid to do.

I attended a Somerset Patriots game last night in beautiful Commerce Bank Park in Bridgewater, New Jersey. The Pats hosted the Long Island Ducks, both teams are in the independent Atlantic League. There are eight teams in the league where you often see former major leaguers attempting to resurrect their careers.

There was no exception last evening as the Ducks fielded Richard Hidalgo in right, the DH was Carl Everett, P.J. Rose, Pete’s son was at first, and none other than Edgardo Alfonso was at short. It would have made my night had Benny Agbayani pinched hit in the 9th but alas he is still playing in Japan for Bobby Valentine.  

Hidalgo played half a season for the Mets and can be most remembered for hitting a slew of homeruns against the New York Yankees in Shea Stadium. Everett had his moment with the Mets and if I recall he once won a game by hitting a grand slam. I may be wrong but honestly I don’t care enough to look it up. The one player that had me puzzled all evening long was Alfonso. What the heck happened to him? He was an excellent player who seemed to lose his skills all at once.

Edgardo came up to the Mets in 1995 under manager Dallas Green predominantly as a third baseman. He also played some at second and at short. He batted .315 with 27 doubles and 72 RBI in 1997. His best years however were in 1999 and 2000 the years the Mets won the wild card in back to back seasons. Alfonso had shifted to second to accommodate third baseman Robin Ventura. That infield including John Olerud at first and Rey Ordonez at short proved to be the stingiest in baseball history.

Offensively Alfonso hit 41 doubles in ’99 and 40 in 2000. He batted over .300 in both season with his career best .324 coming in 2000, the year the Mets last won the National League pennant. The only time Edgardo batted in more than 100 runs was in ’99 when he knocked in 108. In ’00 he batted in 94. His homerun production in those two seasons was way up as he hit 27 and 25 dingers respectively. During the 2000 season, I recall Derek Jeter claiming the best player in New York was Edgardo Alfonso.

After 2000, Alfonso’s numbers began to drop. He went from 94 RBI in 2000 to 49 in 2001. Nagging injuries kept him out of a lot of action. In ’01 he played in 124 games, down from 150 the year before. His numbers continued to drop and ultimately Alfonso left and signed with the San Francisco Giants as a free agent for the 2003 season. His major league career ended in the American League with Anaheim and Toronto during the 2006 season. Since then he has patrolled the minor leagues. This is Alfonso’s second stint with Long Island. He also played with the Mets triple A farm team last season and in the Mexican League earlier this year.

I guess what it proves is that an Athlete’s career is short and uncertain. Who knows why Alfonso’s skills left him. Last night all Alfonso could muster was a run scoring sacrifice fly. Honestly he did not hit the ball hard against the Patriot pitchers, none of which will be pitching in the Majors any time soon.

It was good to see Edgardo again. He was one of my favorite players at least for a short time. I hope he invested his money wisely and is just playing now for the love of the game. The alternative is too sad to think about.

The reason the Mets traded four prospects and paid Johan Santana 137 million bucks was tomorrow night’s game. The Mets find themselves deadlocked with the Philadelphia Phillies at the top of the National League East entering tomorrow’s opening game of the home stand. Their opponent is none other than the Phillies. The winner of tomorrow’s game takes sole possession of first place and perhaps sends a message to the other team as to who is in charge.

Santana has pitched well for the Mets. Certainly his record should be better than 8-7. There were many games where the Mets scored little for the left hander. But that could be said for other Mets pitchers as well. The reason a team wants to acquire a pitcher of Santana’s caliber is that if the offense can only score a couple of runs, it should be enough to stand up. He is supposed to be the stopper. On paper you could not ask for it to be set up any better than it will be at Shea Stadium tomorrow night.

Last season during an interleague series with Minnesota at Shea Stadium, Santana totally dominated the Mets lineup shutting them out. We have not seen that Johan Santana yet. We’ve seen hints of him but not consistently. Hopefully the magnitude of tomorrow’s game will get Johan’s adrenalin pumping. So far in his Mets career, Santana has not pitched in a bigger game.

It seems odd but I will actually be rooting for the Braves tonight against the Marlins. While we all anticipate tomorrow evening's showdown between the Mets and Phillies, let’s not forget the Marlins are only 1/2 game behind both clubs. Everyone seems to agree the Marlins won’t be able to hang in there all season but they are still there with young pitching and hitting to boot.

The Mets have not lost a series vs. the Phillies this year. They are 7-3 vs. Philadelphia having won 3 of 4 in Philly which started off the 10 game winning streak. The Phillies have not been at Shea since the opening series that began on April 8th.

Isn't it time that El-Duque goes away now?

For a minute I though I was watching an Ulti-Met classic game from 2006 on SNY last night. But then I realized players like Johan Santana and Fernando Tatis were not on the team then. Last night’s inspiring come back win was the kind of game commonly seen on SNY and CW11 two years ago.

On a night when Santana clearly had nothing and the bullpen gave up their first runs in God knows how long, the Mets still managed to win. In fact, they won their 10th consecutive game one shy of the club record. A club record 11 games was first set in 1969 then repeated a couple times in subsequent years including 1986.

Prior to a just two weeks ago I was writing on how when the Mets hit they don’t pitch and when they pitch they don’t hit. Last night looked like the former but the difference this time was that the Mets hitters just kept on hitting. Twice the Mets fell behind. After Carlos Delgado hit a moon shot into the Ohio River, the Reds game back in their half and scored 5 runs taking a 5-2 lead. Then the Mets took the lead 6-5 in part due to another homerun by Fernando Tatis. What a God-send Tatis has been. After Heilman loaded the bases with two out in the sixth, Scott Schoeneweis cleared them. It looked as if the magic had worn off. It looked as if the winning streak would stop at 9.

The Doubting Thomases amongst the Mets faithful had to be wondering if here we go again. But the Mets led by David Wright in the 9th inning trailing 8-6 would not say die. After Argenis Reyes singled, Wright launched an opposite field shot into the bleachers out of the reach of Ken Griffey Jr. to tie the game. Four more hits in a row followed against Francisco Cordero, the Reds closer. The hits included an opposite field single from Delgado for his third hit of the night. That hit put the Mets ahead. Then Fernando Tatis doubled down the left field line adding an insurance run. All Star Billy Wagner set the Reds down 1-2-3 and as Wright said in a post game interview, the Mets stole won for their 10th in a row winning 10-8.

The Mets have not lost a game since the Fourth of July, two weeks ago today. During this streak the Mets have had tremendous pitching. But in some of the games, the pitching has not been so great and yet the Mets still found a way to win. In two games against the Phillies, one against the Giants, and last night’s game Mets hitters were able to comeback after giving up leads. This is a great sign because a winning team is not going to have fantastic starting pitching every night and they are not going to score 10 runs every night either. So when the hitting can compensate for bad pitching and the pitching can compensate for bad hitting, a lot of games will be won.

Perhaps the most important aspect of the Mets right now is there confidence. This is the way the Mets looked in 2006. You get the feeling watching the Mets that they simply believe they can win every game. Of course the big test will come when this winning streak comes to an end. With 66 games left that’s bound to happen. How the Mets react to losing a couple in a row may well determine their ability to be a playoff caliber team. For the moment the Mets are in a flat footed tie for first place with the Phillies at 52-44. The Mets have made up as much ground on the Phillies as the Phillies did against the Mets last September. But it’s way too early to be popping champagne corks. There is a ton of baseball left to play. However, the outlook now looks a lot better than it did just two weeks ago.

Stadiumpage.com has some great new interior photos of Citi Field. In these pictures, you can see how the seating is coming along, how the first base side lower seating bowl concrete is complete and how the third base side is shaping up. You will also see the new scoreboards taking shape and what looks like the new press box. From the home page click on the Citi Field construction link then the July 15 link.

Also check out this site - http://www.eventsatcitifield.com/. Here you will see all the information in regards to bars, restaurants and conference rooms. And in case you haven't found this site check out http://www.seats3d.com/mlb/new_york_mets/ to get a virtual reality view of your seats at Citi Field. If you are at work, your productivity is bound to take a hit today.

I have permanently added these links to the left navigation panel of this site.