A National League of Their Own

I think the Rockford Peaches could beat any of the National League teams vying for a playoff spot. The Mets, Padres, Cubs, and Phillies are all doing their best impression of Vince Coleman's hamstring down the homestretch.

Quick thoughts:

-Wow, close but no cigar for the Mets tonight. An almost historic comeback effort falls just short as the Mets score 6 in the 9th, but lose to the Nats for the fourth time in five games which is just inexcusable.

-Hey Mets fans, what would be worse than losing the division to the Phillies? Losing it to the Braves. The Braves are only four back of the lead and if they sweep the Phils and the Mets continue to play as if they have never seen a ball, bat, or glove before it's not completely outlandish to think that the Bravos have a shot.

-Outside of a select few, the Mets pitchers have acoustic stuff (opposite of electric- a Tremont original I think)- especially in the bullpen where you can't count on anyone to get a big out. I know, I sound like a scratched cd (hats off to Ron Darling for his contemporizing the proverbial broken record) but this is the worst effn bullpen I've ever laid eyes on. At this point it's a moral victory if a pitcher lets up only one run in an inning.

-After last night's outing, I'm completely down on Mike Pelfrey. His secondary stuff continues to stink and he can't locate his fastball. Thus he is constantly pitching from behind and batters just sit on the heater and the only time that ball has sink is when it's fading behind the picnic area.

-I really wish the Mets could hire Manny Acta. Willie doesn't deserve to be fired, but I really like what I see in Acta. He has shown an aptitude for sabermetrics and logic- I'll call him the anti-Ozzie Guillen. He doesn't get suckered into playing his gut like Willie does all too often. I like Willie, but he has made some questionable decisions down the stretch. Tonight he brought Carlos Muniz back into the game after successfully navigating his first major league inning. Not a horrible move on its face, but Muniz needs to be on a super short leash, like the one Jimer's fiance has him on. Instead Willie stands idly by as Muniz walks two before bringing in ever flammable Jorge Sosa. To his credit Sosa should have made it out of the inning, but a Delgado physical error coupled with a Reyes mental error left the bases loaded with two outs. Brian Schneider, the feeble hitting lefty is stepping to the plate and "The Big Show" Scott Schoeneweis, a lefty, is ready in the bullpen, but Willie playing his gut rather than percentages left Sosa in. Sosa throws primarily sliders and is not overly effective against lefties, so I'm sure you can guess what happens next. Sosa gives up a big hit and the Mets go from a reasonable three run deficit to a much tougher to overcome five run hole. Those runs turned out to be very important tonight.

-Remember the Maine. Send John Maine to the bullpen. He is extremely effective the first time through the lineup and his already lively fastball will be even more so when he knows he can just let loose for an inning or two. At this point, what does the team have to lose? They need someone to throw high leverage innings and it isn't coming from anyone currently in the 'pen. Maybe Maine can be the Mets version of Joba Chamberlain or Adam Wainwright.