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In his lead for the Associated Press, Tom Saladino says it best, writing, “Another late lead and another bullpen meltdown for the New York Mets.”
In yesterday’s loss, Mike Pelfrey handed off a two-run lead to his team’s bullpen, but Brian Stokes let up one run in the seventh, after which Scott Schoeneweis, Joe Smith, Pedro Feliciano and Aaron Heilman combined to let up four runs in the eighth inning.
Schoeneweis, speaking to reporters after the game, said:
“There’s no explanation anymore. I just don’t know what to say…I just don’t know what to say.
“We’re not consistently making big pitches at big times. We do it one night, we don’t do it the next night. There’s really nothing more to say or explain or philosophize about. We’ve just got to get it done, somehow.”
David Wright, talking to reporters after the game, said:
“It was one of the games where you could feel, as the game went on, the momentum kind of slipped away.”
…in other words, eventually, they always know that the bullpen must enter the game…ugh…we feel you, david…
“If the season ended today, we’re going to the playoffs,” Joe Smith is quoted as saying in Newsday.
…that’s the problem, though, the season doesn’t end today…
For more on the team’s bullpen, check out Howard Megdal’s column in the New York Observer.
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According to Pinella, he will run out a fairly regular lineup, maybe resting just a regular per day, but his starters will be on a much shorter pitch count, like Dempster’s 67 yesterday.
and yet, I’ll be surprised if we take 3 of these next 4 games…
BTW, you should know better than to say something like that Joe Smith - “If the season ended today, we’re going to the playoffs,” Joe Smith is quoted as saying in Newsday.
Does he not remember the infamous…
“The champagne will taste that much sweeter,”??
Can someone wiser than me please enlighten me as to why Jerry Manuel continues to consisantly bring in Aaron Heilman to pitch. J.M. has to be the only member of the Met fan base who doesn’t cringe every time that A.H. comes into the game.
I don’t give a rat’s axx that he can throw a 93 hour fast ball; there are kids in high school that can do that.
So please people tell me why because it’s driving me crazy!!
He does not bring him in consistently at all. Very sporadically, in fact. That being said, can someone explain to me why he uses Heilman at all????
..when 4 other pitchers fail to do thier job Heilman is about the only option left…
that said, yesterday would have been a great spot to use Ayala instead of Heilman. He hasnt pitched in four days…
Id be shocked if we split this series. maybe sweet lou wont use his SP for more than a certain pitch count but bottom line is we will still have to get guys like derek lee, aramis ramirez and alfonso soriano out in the last 3 innings of a game. clinch or not major league hitters (on teams other than the mets) do not give away at bats late in games.
I went back and looked at the schedule and results since the All-Star game. There have been seven games since the All-Star game in which the Mets have had a 2+ run lead from the seventh inning on and have lost. Once or twice may be normal but seven is disasterous.
That is a very telling stat.
Another one is that the Mets have lost 7 games this year in which they led going to the 9th inning.
The Phillies have lost ZERO of those games.
I was actually doing the same thing when I saw your post, so I broke it down a little further.
When the starter hands over a 1 run lead the pen has converted 1 of 7 chances.
When the starter hands over a 2 run lead the pen has converted 2 of 6 chances.
Thats 3 out of 13 with a 2 run lead or less.
Pathetic.
These are August and Sept numbers, for the record.
The bullpen being awful doesn’t only affect the bullpen.
It also affects the starts, who feel added pressure to give up less runs and go deeper into games.
It adds pressure to the hitters, who feel the need to score more runs in each game, because a 1 or 2 run lead is almost never enough.
It’s disasterous to say the least. No matter what happens the rest of this season (hopefully the team makes the playoffs, and we’ll see what happens after that *knock on wood*) - this bullpen needs to be completely revamped. I don’t want to see more than 1 or 2 faces back next year, if even that.
Great and accurate post prismo.
Right on. Take a look at yesterday’s game. You look at Pelfrey’s pitch count in the fourth inning and you already know he’s probably not going more than 6 or 7. The opposition knows that if they can get the starter out of there, they’ll get to face the bullpen over the last few innings. So they take more pitches early in the game and get into deeper counts to up the pitch count of a Pelfrey and/or Santana. Puts a lot of strain on the starter to try and economize on pitches.
Great point. Every pitcher’s gripping the ball harder. Every batter’s gripping the bat tighter and every coach is clenching his fists that much…
you get the point…
Wright can feel the game slipping away…maybe they should try to score after the second inning a little more often.
True, But its gotten to the point where NO lead is safe.
I know Mike w/o the maddog is a blowhard BUT the truest
thing I’ve heard him say in 20yrs is that this is the worst
bullpen hes seen on a contender in his 40+yrs following
the game. I, myself cant recall a worse one in MY 35yrs
following THIS team.
6 runs. This is NOT on the offense. You should win that game.
its on the offense if you notice WHEN the runs were scored
That’s meaningless. This bullpen is not better when handed a big lead or a small lead. Had they scored a run an inning through the first 6 and were leading 6-2, that lead still would not have been safe. 6 runs should be enough to win a game.
have you watched this team all year?
Just about every game. So? You score 0 runs 1-8 and 12 in the ninth, you’ve scored 12 runs. You score a run every inning, you’ve scored 9. The final score does not weigh the inning in which you scored the runs. 6 runs scored during a nine inning game ought to be enough to win. The bullpen is destroying this team, not the offense.
Look, when they had runners on 1&2 twice yesterday and didn’t score, I knew that would be trouble, but only because I knew the bullpen would not hold. They still scored 6 and lost. That’s a pitching failure, not a hitting failure.
4 runs were scored in the first 8 innings. The two runs in the ninth came after the barn door was left open.
I know how it happened… I’m just saying that to blame an offense for not scoring enough after they scored 6 is not putting the blame where it belongs. Yes, there were some missed opportunities, but there are in every game for every team. The issue is simply not with the offense.
Tidewater is right. If the bullpen had given up 4 runs in 2 innings instead of 5, Delgado’s home run ties the game. (I’m counting the inherited run as being on the bullpen, because three specialists should be able to strand a runner at 1st with no outs.)
This means if the Bullpen’s ERA is 18.00 instead of 22.50, Delgado’s homer is meaningful. Regardless of when the runs are scored, you an ERA of 18.00 is not too much to ask from 6 specialists.
Agreed completely…you knock out a rookie starter in 3 innings (on just 4 runs when they had him on the ropes for far more) and you can’t touch their miserable parade of releivers all game?
When this team prepares for a game do they even think of anyone besides the starters?
Sorry, these two games in Atlanta are on the offense. Absolutely miserable performance.
The Phillies scored 3 & 5 runs respectively over the last 2 games and managed to win both games. Why? Because their bullpen did the job they’re suppose to do over the last third of the game when handed a lead.
Omar Minaya HAS TO make the bullpen a major priority in the offseason. I don’t care if the rest of the roster stays absolutely frozen, but this bullpen needs a complete overhaul.
With some halfway decent relief, the Mets would be coasting to their third straight division title right now, not just trying to hold on to the Wild Card.
He was supposed to do that last off season and did not address it.
I second that. My question is with the resigning alou and not doing anything for the bullpen why doesn’t Minaya get any flack? It is said the Wilpons and Minaya are already talking extension.
Do you read this blog? The man gets planety of ‘flak.’
Minaya did do a suboptimal job with the bullpen, but you can’t really blame him too much.
You could not have predicted that Heilman and Feliciano, both historically excellent setup men, would have historically bad years–Heilman’s number of homers with men on base is, I believe, a record for relievers.
You could not have predicted that out of Kunz, Muñiz, Collazo, and Parnell, 4 legit relief prospects, 3 out of 4 would be terrible, and one as yet untested.
Wagner has had a history of minor injuries, but you could not have predicted the end of his career.
Smith has performed as expected. That’s it. Omar could have done better, but this level of ineptitude is not his fault.
What do you mean he did not address the bullpen. What about Matt Wise?
It is clear that the bullpen is like Willie in that alone they are not that bad based on just numbers. However, the negative cloud that hangs over them effects the enitre mood and outcome of the game. Everyone plays tighter because of the stress, not just the pen but the entire team including Manuel.
The pressure is intense knowing that no lead is safe and that you must score a ton of runs each game in order to win.
Are you delusional? Alone, they are terrible based on just numbers.
They have 29 blown saves and just 1 more will tie them for first in the majors for the lead in blown saves.
They are 10th in the NL in bullpen ERA. Philadelphia is 2nd.
On sheer numbers alone, the Mets bullpen is a disgrace considering they have the highest payroll in the NL.
Geez.
Another sad number — Santana alone has had at least 7 of his leads blown by the pen. With the Twins last year he had ZERO leads blown.
As I mentioned earlier, 7 games lost since the All-Star game in which they held a 2+ run lead from the seventh inning on. Win 5 of them and you’re sitting pretty in the division and have basically clinched a postseason spot.
In June and July this was a pretty bad bullpen. It has gotten worse and worse and worse as the season went on. I don’t even have an adjective to describe this bullpen right now. It will be a miracle for this team to make the playoff’s with this joke of a pen.
Point is looking just at some individual ERA’s it’s decieving. Feliciano, Show, Smith all have decent numbers by themselves but as a group the entire pen can’t get an out.
Yeah it is deceiving. That’s because the 3 you mentioned are pretty good specialists. They have no support around them … not one guy that can pitch a clean inning, which forces Feliciano, Smith, and Showeneweis to pitch in situations they should not be in.
It’s a mess.