I'd say that was effective

When the Mets built their 2 game lead in early September this year, I mentioned that the bullpen was still in disarray. Let's be honest here, it was their Achilles heel all season and proved to be the portion that contributed the most to the second place finish. With all world closer Billy Wagner (the motherfucker) shelved for 2009 following Tommy John surgery, the Mets were desperate to address the problem this offseason. I'm going to go ahead and say they accomplished their goal. Scroll down to the AL pitching reserves from the 2007 All Star game. Notice anything about that lineup? I'll give you a hint, if you count up from the bottom, by the time you get to 5 you'll have counted the Mets ace, their new closer, and their new set up man. Fuck and yes! The team sigined record setting closer Frankie "K-Rod" Rodriguez, and traded middling prospects and 2 members of last year's failed bullpen for J.J. "It's pronounced like 'puts'" Putz. Barring injury, apathy, or a mysterious loss of effectiveness, the Mets could well have upgraded from one of the worst bullpens in baseball to one of the very best.

It's on!

Following a tough 3 game series with the rival Phillies over the weekend, the Mets found themselves 2 games ahead (in the loss column) with 19 left to play. On the bright side, this guarantees there will be no collapse like last years, since it's the easiest thing in the world to blow a 2 game lead. Hell, I have every sort of faith they could do that in a weekend. What follows is 12 consecutive games against the Nationals and Braves, the bottom feeders of the NL East. Of course, it was the lowly teams last year that knocked the Mets out of first, so this is by no means a slam dunk for the season, especially with the Phillies having an easy road to the finish themselves.

On a sad note, it is time to retire my favorite, tag, possibly forever. Billy Wagner will undergo Tommy John surgery to repair his damaged elbow, and could well have thrown his last pitch for the Mets. Good luck to you in your recovery Mr. Wagner, you'll always be a motherfucker in my book.

This means the team must now turn to Luis Ayala for the closing duties. Ayala has pitched brilliantly for the team thus far, and we can only hope that his struggles earlier in the year can be attributed to the scientifically proven fact that donning a Washington Nationals jersey makes you suck at baseball. If Ayala fails, the closing duties turn to Brian Stokes, who failed spectacularly in the bullpen for Tampa last season, but everyone knows that was due to the presence of the word "Devil" in the team's name. Beyond Stokes the Mets would turn to a motley crew who have failed so spectacularly in the role so far this season. Looking on the bright side, the Mets suddenly anemic offense (outside of the mysteriously resurgent Carlos Delgado) would have to actually score enough runs to take the lead for the bullpen to blow it, so they have that going for them.

Anything you can do I can do worse

In a battle of ineptitude, managers Manuel matched up to see who could make the worst move in last night's 10-9 slugfest. Phillies manager Charlie cast the die with the curious decision to sacrifice rookie pitcher R.J. Swindle of the 55 MPH curveball fame. David Wright greeted him with a home run to left. The Mets would eventually push the lead to 10-1 against Swindle, and then since they didn't learn from some sort of calamity last year (people keep telling me about it, I have no idea what they're talking about) they took their foot off the gas and coasted home.

Mets manager Jerry, perhaps disgusted with his team's lack of effort in the later innings, decided to show them and brought in Tony Armas Jr. Hey, maybe there was a reason he was available! After Pedro pitched an effective 5 1/3 innings, Jerry brought Armas in for some mop up duty. He promptly gave the Phillies a glimmer of hope, allowing them to climb with 10-5. In marched Aaron Heilman, he of the short attention span and the uncanny knack to give up home runs. 1 1/3 innings later, Heilman turned it over to that motherfucker Billy Wagner at 10-7.

Not to be outdone, amidst the comeback Charlie removed his best player, secondbaseman Chase Utley for no good reason. Maybe he was afraid a monster left-handed bat in the lineup might have been able to push the tying run across the plate and then his fat ass would have to wait through extra innings to get to the buffet. For good measure, Jerry got ejected in the bottom of the 7th arguing a disputed home run call (replay anyone?), perhaps worried that Charlie might eat his way through the clubhouse before he got there.

Anyway, in the 9th that motherfucker Wagner came on and promptly allowed the first two batters to reach base. A strikeout and a fly out and Wagner found himself facing the tying run with two outs in the bottom of the 9th. Even though I wasn't watching a shiver of deja vu ran down my spine. Sure enough, a sharply hit single to center followed by a throwing error from Beltran allowed two runners to score and the tying run to reach scoring position, bringing up Sunday's hero (well, until the 12th) Jason Werth. This time that motherfucker Wagner induced a flyout, ending the game, and preventing what can only be presumed to be a crushing loss.

As always, I will try to see the bright side to the team nearly blowing a 9 run lead, so let's go with Jose Reyes. The man had a monster game and looks to be rounding into 2006 form when he was the spark plug that made the offense go. A big shout out to Endy Chavez whose 3 hits, 2 RBI and 2 runs were instrumental in building the early lead.

Billy Wagner is a motherfucker

"MOTHERFUCKER!" I screamed last night as a 2 out, 2 strike slider to Jason Werth in the bottom of the 9th inning disappeared over the left-centerfield wall. One bad pitch turned a 2-0 lead into a 2-2 extra innings affair. Fortunately for Billy, the Mets have Fernando Tatis. Huh, that sounds weird. Oh well, I'm going to roll with it. Fortunately, the Mets have Fernando Tatis who hit a home run in the top of the 12th, providing the Mets with the deciding runs in their 4-2 victory. Interestingly, just before Wagner blew the save the Mets announcers provided the interesting fact that the Mets had not won a game scoring 2 or fewer runs since last July. It was almost like Wagner heard them and thought to himself, "Yeehaw! Now that sounds like tradition and I ain't one to buck tradition. Here ya go Werthie!" For the record, I assume Billy Wagner starts every thought, sentence, and action with "Yeehaw!"

Oliver Perez pitched 7 shutout innings, Carlos Beltran drove in the first two Met runs with a solo home run and a two out RBI single, and the Mets escaped a 2 on, 1 out jam in the bottom of the 8th after a lengthy rain delay, but the unsung hero of the game was reliever Joe Smith. Smith spun 2 1/3 scoreless innings, matching his longest career outing, and even provided a moment of levity in the top of the 12th when his second career major league at bat saw him strike out on three pitches. Just a suggestion Joe, but next time you might want to try getting your feet entirely within the batter's box.

The Mets have won 2 of 3 from the first place Phillies, and conclude their series in the city of brotherly hate tonight at 7:05.