Another Game, Another Lead Coughed Up By the Pen

It seems like I'm blogging about the same thing every time I write a new post. It's a game summary in which the Mets bullpen blew another lead. Today, the pen blew the game for Pedro Martinez.

After jumping out to a quick 4-0 lead thanks to a 3 run home run by David Wright in the first, and a Robinson Cancel run scoring single in the second, the Bucs got a run back in the third thanks to a run scoring single by First Baseman, and former Met Doug Mintkiewicz to cut the Mets lead to 4-1.

However, Cancel struck again in the bottom of the 6th with a homer to left to make the score 5-1 Mets. The scored stayed that way until the top of the 7th, when the Mets pen got tagged for three runs. It all started when Pinch Hitter Freddy Sanchez hit a run scoring double off of Joe Smith, who relieved Pedro, who allowed one run and three hits over six innings. After Smith's turn, it was time for Pedro Feliciano to get lit up. That he did, as Doug Mintkiewicz doubled to score Sanchez, to make the score 5-3, and then Catcher Ryan Doumit hit a sacrifice fly to make the score 5-4 Mets.

The bullpen destruction wasn't complete until the top of the 9th, when the Mets gave up another three runs to make the score its final of 7-5 Pirates. The ninth inning disaster got started when Doumit tied the score at 5 with a run scoring single off of Aaron Heilman. Then, Right Fielder Steve Pearce hit a 2 run single off of Scott Schoeneweis to complete the comeback.

After the game, Manager Jerry Manuel who got ejected for arguing balls and strikes in the bottom of the ninth, promised changes, and wasn't ruling anything out. "I might start using starters down there," he said with a grin. "We can't continue to perform this way late in the game; we have to make some adjustments. I have to figure out what I have and who is willing to step up in those roles."

Today's collapse by the pen marked the ninth time this season that the Mets have lost a game in which they led in the eighth inning or later. Today, Heilman absorbed his third blown save in five opportunities and is 1-4 with a 10.97 ERA in his last nine games.

To touch on what Manuel said again, he said: "I have to figure out what I have and who is willing to step up in those roles." Well Jerry, what you have is absolute garbage.