Once Again, Nice and Slow ...

Playoff teams win games like these. I've been taking shots here for the last 48 hours by making one simple declaration - the New York Mets do not deserve to make the playoffs this season. After another embarrassing loss tonight and after having lost 7 of their last 11 games, who could possibly argue otherwise?

Baseball Prospectus has a sortable Run Expectancy Matrix on their site, which highlights just how profoundly the Mets failed tonight once Oliver Perez left the game in the fifth inning. The Mets got the leadoff runner on base on five straight occasions, between the fifth and the ninth innings. The REM shows that the average team in 2008 can expect to score 6.83 runs in those situations. The Mets scored one run. Tell me again why this team deserves to be in the postseason?

As for Ollie, he was just awful. I haven't even addressed the looming specter of Omar Minaya's undeserved four-year extension yet, but if it's true and the Mets are stuck with Minaya until 2012, my first request is that he lets Perez walk in the off-season. No one was asking for a repeat of Johan Santana's wonderful performance last night, but I don't think a quality start is too much to ask from a guy who thinks he deserves a multi-year deal averaging at least $10 million a season.

Four games to go and the Mets are still trailing the Phillies by 1.5 games. The Brewers have pulled even in the race for the Loser's Prize. What fresh horrors await Met fans this weekend? I don't even want to think about it.

Blame Pedro For This One

Another terrible loss for the Mets last night, and of course the bullpen will be front and center for criticism in this one. Pedro Feliciano in particular has been downright awful this season, after several solid years as an important bullpen contributor for the Mets. Jerry Manuel is simply going to have to stop using Feliciano in important situations for the rest of the season. Of course, Manuel also has to temper his matchup-happy ways; I know Omar Minaya inexplicably decided to pack the bullpen with specialists this year, but there are still a few relievers in the bullpen who can reasonably be asked to get lefties and righties out.

Let's not forget, however, that the bullpen gave up three runs in seven-plus innings of work last night. That's not the stuff of world-beaters, but it's not bad either. Aaron Heilman was heroic in extra innings, and Brian Stokes has been shockingly competent when you consider his professional body of work. The Mets had a 7-0 lead going into the bottom of the fourth inning, but Pedro Martinez was the pitcher most responsible for making it a competitive game again.

Pedro's August resurgence came to an abrupt end last night in a four-run fifth inning that got the Phillies back within shouting distance. Martinez is the nominal #4 starter in this rotation only because of John Maine's injury, and as I wrote for Flushing University this week his starts need to be minimized down the stretch. Any thoughts of re-signing Pedro for next season, even at a "discount" price, should be ignored unless there are four competent starters in front of him in the rotation.