Yes, yes, yes! That is what a major league team is supposed to do against Vance &%^$ing Worley. Four runs in the first inning, four runs in the second inning, and a cherry on top were all the Mets needed to salvage a shred of dignity against the Phillies.
Not that they didn’t try to blow it, turning a 9-1 lead into a 9-5 nailbiter. And if Jimmy Rollins didn’t inexplicably go for a double in the eighth inning while they were rallying, then who knows how close the Phillies make it (and who knows how many Met fans get rescued from ledges around the city, or … not rescued). Sure, you wouldn’t think 9-5 is a “nailbiter”, but if that’s the case then you haven’t seen this bullpen lately. It turned around after Joe Buck said that this was one of the best bullpens in baseball during last Saturday’s game against the Yankees. Ever since then, the best bullpen in baseball has reverted to being the group of drunken carnival goers who spend all their money at the dunk tank but never get the guy wet. I’d trust J.P. Hildebrand more than any of these guys to close a deal right now. (And at least finishing second in the Indy 500 is still pretty good. Finishing second in a baseball game is just a loss.)
The Mets missed Doc Halladay this series (and still lost two of three), but on Monday they get Charlie Morton, who looks like Doc when he throws. And if the Mets have to go without Carlos Beltran (I remember the last hundred times the Mets thought an injury was no big deal), and Charlie Morton gets to face a lineup that’s anchored by Justin Turner (Jason Bay doesn’t count), then tonight might be the game where we start wondering why we didn’t save any of Sunday’s runs for Monday.
Then we realize “oh yeah, because the bullpen is abominable”.
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