Can the Mets ever win a game in clear winning fashion? Does it always have to be like this? How in the world will I make it through an entire season if this is the way it’s going to be? The Mets used seven pitchers last night, seven! And that’s on a night when Johan Santana started! The hitters leave far too many runners on base. Tack on runs. Tack on runs for goodness sakes. If the Mets could cash in on some of these scoring opportunities, then not as many pitchers would have to be used. In a situation when the opposition scores a run or two, it wouldn’t be as critical to change pitchers if the Mets were up by 5 or 6 runs. But no, the Mets never seem to be able to get those extra runs.

Pitching has become a problem everywhere is baseball. You want to help the pitchers? Here’s how – first, make the umpires call strikes according to the baseball rulebook. Is it too much to ask a sport to abide by its own rules? Second, raise the pitchers mound back up to 15 inches the way it was before 1969. If not 15, then compromise at 12 inches. Pitchers might even benefit from fewer injuries too. Third, stop bringing the fences in. Many of these new ballparks like the one in Philadelphia are launching pads. Finaly, pitchers can help themselves by picking up the pace of the game. Get the ball from the catcher and throw the damn thing. It’ll keep the hitters off balance too. There’s my two cents.

Yesterday, Micheal Kay on 1050 ESPN Radio in New York was ranting about how stupid Mets fans are for booing their own players. I don’t disagree with him because I don’t like booing players on the team I root for either. But I am curious to see what his take will be today. Last night 49,000 plus at the Stadium booed Phil Hughes off the field. It was pretty sad. Will Kay be just as merciless to Yankee fans as he was to Mets fans? The Yankee centric announcer is always full of excuses for the Bombers.

As I said the Mets used 7 pitchers last night. Good thing they had Monday off. This is becoming an alarming trend. No wonder pitchers are so beat by August. There should be a pool. Everybody puts in 5 bucks and picks a date on the schedule. The winner takes all when a starting pitcher throws a complete game on their date. We may go through the entire season without a winner.

Here’s a trade possibility. Why not send Oliver Perez back to Pittsburgh for Xavier Nady and thank Pittsburgh for the rental. The Mets most definitely will need Nady’s bat because there is no way anyone can count on Alou to remain healthy. Perez has shown great stuff but his head is a mess when it comes to bearing down and keeping focus (must have a.d.d or something). Besides, if he has a ho-hum year which looks that way at the moment, will the Mets really offer him a contract with agent Scott Boras Badanov asking for the world? Oops there is one wrinkle with my trade. The Pirates would never pay Perez’s salary that he won in arbitration at over 6 million. The Mets would have to pay some of that. Also, who would the Mets replace Perez with, they are all in Minnesota now. This is why I am not a GM.

The Mets are doing better at home this year so far. After last night’s win the Mets have a record of 9-4 at Shea. They are 5-7 on the road. The Mets are 8-2 vs. lefties and only 6-9 vs. righties. With such a dominate left handed lineup, what’s up with that?

Perez faces the Pirates today. The last time he faced the Bucs was last season at Shea in another afternoon contest. Perez pitched brilliantly for 5 innings then the roof caved in. He and the Mets lost 8-4.