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Last night, according to the Daily News, ‘Jerry Manuel matched a franchise record for pitchers used in a nine-inning game with eight.’
The eighth and ninth inning looked more like a parade than a baseball game, during which Manuel used five different pitchers to get six outs against 10 batters.
In the game’s final batter, the Nationals sent up Luke Montz to pinch hit for the pitcher, so Manuel called upon Luis Ayala to pitch to Montz, who was then replaced by Roger Bernadina, who made the game’s final out.
In the end, Ayala was able to lock down his eighth save in 10 chances with a strike out to end the game.
Beltran, after the game, speaking about the bullpen, said:
“It would have been better if we had won, you know, like, with a good lead, but things happen…The most important thing is that we were able to hold the lead and win…It takes a lot out of the players, because, you know, you score two and you say, ‘Now we have the nice lead, let’s try to get 1–2–3, 1–2–3,’ and then all of a sudden they try to get back in the game and you wonder what’s going on with us. At the same time, we have to find a way to go out and shut them down…I know they’re trying, but it’s hard to believe it’s happening.”
First off, I have no idea what Beltran is really saying here. I think he’s essentially saying, ‘We’re doing our job on offense and defense, but the bullpen is leaving us no room for error,’ which I would agree with. He could also be saying, ‘It’s not their fault, they’re doing the best they can, we need to do better at the plate, and the other team is playing well, too.’ Or, maybe he is saying both. I’m not 100 percent sure.
Second, Aaron Heilman should no longer be allowed to pitch. Last night, in just his third appearance this month, he let up a leadoff double to Wil Nieves and a single to Aaron Boone to start the eighth inning. He’s a mess right now, he may be injured, and this is not Spring Training. It’s nothing against Heilman, but it’s Go Time here, this is it, and the Mets cannot afford to let him figure things out on the fly at this point. The Mets can fix his ego in the off-season, or next spring, assuming he is still on the team.
By the way, at Amazin’ Avenue, Eric Simon takes a month-by-month look at the team’s bullpen, who, oddly enough, are putting up their best ERA of the year in September.
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I think Beltran’s point is that nothing is coming easy for this team. When they are in a position to essentially win a game easy, it eventually becomes a nail biter, like last night. I don’t believe that he is calling out the bullpen as much as giving a back handed compliment to the opponent, in this case the Nats, who just refuse to go away and die.
agreed
I think Beltran is trying to be PC about the bullpen, but throwing them from the plane just the same. 4IP to protect 6 runs. Heilman is a joke at this point. It looks like Stokes doesn’t trust his stuff. Feliciano pitched well. Joe Smith looked alright. Even Schoeneweis looked good. Those last 3 guys should be the bullpen at this point. Throw away Heilman, bring in Du-Rod and Figueroa and Ayala, and call it a day. Maybe give Parnell a shot in random moments. But Rincon and Heilman and even Stokes should be used sparingly, and when I say sparingly, I mean 18-0 either way. Between Johan, OP, and Pelfrey to end the season, that leaves 4 games of innings for the bullpen, so they should be rested.
am i missing something? Du-Rod????
what is with people trying to make up nicknames…..whoever that is referring to, its a horrible nickname
Just go with it — it’ll feel better. Let’s Go Mets Go.
who the hell are you referring to with Du-Rod?
how bad much Carlos Muniz feel right about now? He’s so untrusted he cant even get a turn amongst all the other guy who somehow find a way to the top of the sh!t heap that is the mets middle relief.
to be fair, the Mets pen went all 9 last night, so give them credit for all 27 outs.
It’s Du-Rod, no worries, man. Let’s Go Mets Go.
Yup, I like that Duane Rodriguez guy too… they should pitch him more…
Man did we really turn down Fuentes for Heilman in the off season?
Ouch….
hindsight is always 20/20…nobody knew he would be THIS bad
Really? That seems odd even w/o knowing about our bullpen issues closing the season.
Well Fuentes is older and is a FA after this season.. so I guess that was the tradeoff.. a more steady pitcher for one year vs a lesser talent who you can control for a few more years….
To be fair Fuentes had lost his closers job and value was low.. but still.. would of been a nice grab right about now…
The bullpen is fine.. we just need to change Heilman’s role from relief pitcher to parking lot attendant.. I dont even want him INSIDE the park
best graphic yet. Truly inspired.
I also don’t think he’s calling out the ‘pen, exactly, as much as honestly expressing the team’s exasperation. No lead is big enough, as Gary pointed out last night, and that wears on everyone. It can’t be great for the bp’s psyche, either. What a crazy season this continues to be.
I agree with you 100% matt. Aaron heilman should be shut down at this point. I realize he has good stuff but idk if hes tipping or just bad luck but nothing is going right for this guy. We cannot afford to have any mistakes from here on in and this guy just puts us into a mess. Manuel should try auditioning parnell or al reyes for heilmans spot in the bullpen and come the post season..leave AAron out. As far as beltran..very ballze i believe he is talking about the bullpens inability to sustain a lead..be it small or large. Give the offense credit yesterday for scoring continuously throughout the game. Manuel has 12 arms in the bullpen and will find one that works. I dont know what the holdup on using parnel or al reyes. They should have followed rincon yesterday..not heilman.
People are saying the offense is pressing…of course! They have to score 9-10 runs to beat the Nats. Their last 3 wins vs. Nats:
10-8
13-10
9-7
Another thing that is discouraging as a Met fan is how other NL East teams play against the Mets vs. other teams in the division. Phils go up 4-0 in first vs. Braves, Braves throw in towel. Same thing goes for Nats and Marlins.
These teams get “up” for the Mets and want nothing more than to knock the Mets out. Braves series this weekend will be “very” tough, as will next week.
I just hope the Phils cool off…
it definitely seems that way. One positive is that the fish are still in it – albeit on the very edge, but they could still conceivably get there. They’ll play the phillies as hard as they can.
the odd thing, is that Bobby Cox was quoted as saying that they hoped to “help out the mets” this week too….
really bobby??? Maybe you want to, but the team (minus Chipper) sure doesn’t give a $hit
yea he wanted to “help the mets out” this weekend…by doing what they do to us in death valley
Braves are rolling over and dying for the Phillies…
Expect the same when they play next week and expect the Nats to do it as well…
i do have to say….
believing a team does not want to win vs one team or another is about as silly as believing Matt was a jinx by putting up the magic number. This year thus far and last year, the Phillies were just FLAT OUT playing better than the mets when facing the bad teams
The Nats just took 2 of 3 from the Phillies… some of you have really short attention spans.
I don’t think it’s that teams throw in the towel so much as other teams, like the Phillies have better bullpens.
The Phillies need a bruise. Until they get one, in their mind it is positive Deja Vu all Over Again.
Had the Braves managed to stumble Lidge the other night, who knows…
whatever whatever, the Mets need to win their games now.
Well a Mets win tonite ties them for the division lead, as I believe the Phils are off.
nope, Hamels goes tonight
No, I think it only seems that way because we are Met fans and if our team loses 2 of 3 to the braves, then g-dang it the braves need to beat philly too.
Bottom line is these are grown men with pride – all of them – and there’s simply no way they try harder against the Mets than the Phillies. If you look at these team’s records, there’s no way the Mets, if on their game, should lose to the Braves. But they’ve been beating us all year. Some years it’s just how it goes.
But I do agree, scoreboard watching during the game I rolled my eyes thinking, man you beat on us and you can’t beat on philly too? So it goes
They did not beat on us, the Mets offensively had opportunites to break open both losses, and the bullpen could have at least locked down one of the losses. Whatever those are gone.
The Phillies have three in Florida this weekend, Marlins have handled the Phillies very well this year and they might be going into the weekend really really loose. They have nothing to lose, if they don’t win their season is over so they can in many ways lay it all out on the line.
Did anyone catch Jerry Manuel’s post game interview? Man, he’s a funny, funny guy. Where Will-uh would have gone with the PC generic-ness, saying we gotta get on a roll, etc., Manuel’s having fun with it all. Anyway I forgot the context of what he was saying, but he started talking about tonight’s game, and…
“…tomorrow night we have Johan going for us [big, wide smile]…I could see, 9 innings, 170 pitches…” [ruckus laughter from the media men]
That was funny stuff. I like a manager like that, keeping the sense of humor and joking about these things.
And yes, the Mets may be in the wild card spot right now but I’d be deeply disapointed if the Phils win the division. A few weeks back I said theyd both get in (Phils via Wild Card) and play in the 2nd round – MAN would that be crazy? Mets-Phillies NLCS???? Insanity!!
I think on Thursday September 18th, there is not a Met fan alive that would not sign up for that guarantee.
But a lot of green. A lot of green still.
I’d definitely rather win the division, if only to avoid the cubs in the first round. They’re gonna be tough to beat no matter what, but I’d prefer, if we get to face them, that it be a 7 game set.
really? Actually I’d prefer to play a team like the Cubs in the first round.
But either way you prefer 3 home games as an option in a short series, so winning the Wild Card is not preferred.
why would you want a team like the cubs in the first? I mean, it’s mroe or less a crap shoot anyway, but three top flight starters, a great pen and a great offense (if not the best in the league in both categories)? Or are you saying that over a longer series it’d be harder to beat them (becasue, let’s face it, they’re a superior team)?
Its easier to beat a team that is better than you 3 times rather than 4 times. That is why you want the Cubs in the first round.
ok, I’ll buy that.
Manuel is a breathe of fresh air for his team, the media, and us fans. Win or lose, I find it very difficult to find fault with him. He is a stand-up guy that backs up his players, but holds them ACCOUNTABLE, which is a relief to me.
I think Beltran is saying that he is just as scared as we, the fans, are when the starting pitcher comes and and the bullpen comes in. I really don’t understand why we even saw Heilman in last night. It was like a slap in the face when i saw him warming up in the bullpen. Hopefully Jerry learned his leason and we wont’ be seeing him anymore. Seriously though, where is Parnell ? I would love to see him pitch again because he sure looked good the other day. Also do we have a pitcher named Al Reyes ? I thought i heard reports about him but apparently we don’t(sarcasm). Please Jerry change things up a bit.
I have never witnessed such futility in a bullpen as this one right now…
If we ever make the postseason, we will need to select 7 arms for the pen… Who are they? Who is reliable? Ugh…
Uh….well, that’s easy, you choose…let me think here…uh…
1. Pedro
2. Knight
3. Stokes
4. Schoeneweis
5. Smith
6. Feliciano
7. Ayala
yikes.
i think my response above inspires more confidence…LOL
It really is comical at this point. It’s as if the pen has had a collective loss of confidence. No one scares any hitter at this point.
Omar has to consider K-Rod in the offseason.
I wouldn’t mind K-rod, but I kind of feel like he’d be a really pretty expensive band-aid. I mean our bullpen problems go way deeper than closer.Our bullpen has been costing us games the last years even before Wagner started struggling.
K-Rod pushed himself SO hard this year just to get his save record. I really feel that next year it is going to go downhill for him.
It could be, it’s anyone’s guess. But, who is going to close games for this team next year? Are we really going to an entire year without a closer?
How so?
His usage and numbers seem about the same as years in the past. The Angels just played more close games this year.
He did a better job of conserving pitches and not trying to strike everyone out this year which has allowed him to pitch more days in a row when needed. He is getting better, not regressing.
I hear you, but I really think it all starts with the closer. When you have a dominant closer, you can then find a set up man, etc. To have lost 11 games in the 9th inning this year is tough. 27 blown saves? Horrible.
When the pen needs an overhaul (and this one does) and a premiere closer is available via free agency, you have to take a long hard look.
wouldnt you say a necessary band aid tho gina. As we can see closers would make life alot easier. As far as getting to the closer..I would think sanchez would get better with work and rest in the off season. We have to trade heilman and could package show for a decent bp arm. Stokes can pitch to R and L and can serve as long relief if needed. Parnell wouldnt be a bad option and if burgos gets his act together maybe he can join as well. Kunz is another option in the pen?
dirty, you have to ask the question: what were these guys drafted for if not to throw gas in the bullpen? parnell, kunz, muniz, etc.
I think a closer is absolutely necessary, but I’ll be just as happy signing Fuentes to a cheaper shorter deal. Unfortunately other than him there’s not a lot of other options in free agency. To me K-rod would be putting to many eggs in one basket.
I think Beltran was challenging the Pen without calling them out so to speak. It is a delicate situation. I love Heilman’s stuff but he has become such a head case that the Mets really need to move him I think, for both parties. The only problem is I don’t know if they will get enough for him. It is a horrible time to turn things over to pitchers that haven’t been there but Reyes, Rincon, Muniz, etc can’t do much worse than Heilman, Smith, etc. Feliciano did well last night until that throw the bat at it play by Neives. 8 times out ot 10 that ends up being a lazy pop out but with the no doubles defense it barely dropped in. Seems to be a lot of that going on. As Jerry said last night, Santana goes all 9 tonight and 170 pitches.
Yeah Beltran was really saying ‘I know you all want to talk to me because I hit two homers, but now you want to ask me about the bullpen but I don’t really want to talk about the bullpen, we all saw the game, it was a joke, there’s not much to say but I’m going to keep talking without saying much until you all leave me alone’
He did a pretty good job not bad mouthing them too much, he’s just not as charismatic and funny as Jerry!
You know you it bad when you are away and get boo’s from the mets fans in DC…that was funny stuff…Heilman is horrible, my stomach just started ache when i saw he was coming in the game, and the single that Pedro let up was pure luck that pitch was down and off the plate, sometimes thats all you need.
Stokes looks cooked, too. It’s time — past time, really — to run some fresh arms out there: Parnell, Reyes, Figgy.
Maine would help greatly as well.
Heilman is the new Mota.
All I can hope for is a different kind on parade in about a month…
As for last night, the last inning isn’t nearly as bad if D-Wright could just throw the ball to first base!
I thought it was perfectly clear. They score runs, think everything is going to be fine. Then in 3 seconds, that 5 run lead is 2 runs, 1 run, etc. Has to drive you nuts if you hit two home runs in the game. What else can you do.