Overthinking the Easy Ones

How many times have we seen it before, with other teams, with other middle-relief guys who try on the closer's hat? They don't have a prayer. So it was with the Mets last night as they wasted a fine performance by Johan Santana and a 3-run lead to lose the opener of their three-game set with the Phils, 8-6.

What I don't understand is why Santana came out of the game at all. He was doing quite well, thank you. I can understand saving your starter when you have your closer in the bullpen, but when you don't, bite the bullet and have your starter try to finish the game, especially if it's one of the biggest games of the year.

But Jerry Manuel didn't do that. He decided to see what he had in his pen. He found out. He thought Duaner Sanchez could be a closer. Wrong! After three straight hits off Duaner, he went to Joe Smith, who did manage to induce a harmless ground ball that Reyes flubbed.

Why he took Smith out is another mystery because his replacement, Pedro Feliciano, did worse. In fact, nothing Manuel did last night worked out in any way, shape or form. Except for starting Santana, it was all down hill from there.

The handwriting was all over the wall, even before that sad ninth inning. They sent Endy Chavez home twice to get thrown out, one time with nobody out. It just didn't make sense. It seemed as if they were tempting fate, asking themselves "what can we do to turn a ridiculously easy victory into a damaging and embarrassing loss?"

Once again I’m left to contemplate what a strange game is baseball. A team that seemingly had everything going for it entering a series, a team that pretty much had its way with the Phils for eight full innings, loses it in the ninth in spectacularly horrid fashion, thus losing not only THIS game but also any momentum it had going in.

Okay, I’m done now. Coulda shoulda woulda. So Jerry Manuel blew a game. He’s won way more than he’s lost, and maybe he had this one coming. Who knows what Santana said to him after his eight innings on another hot, humid night at Shea? Who knows why he took out Smith, the only guy in that ninth inning who did anything right?

Last night Manuel lost much of the faith I had in him. The biggest game of the year was in the bag. He gave it back. Santana had thrown 105 pitches. He felt fine. Wagner was hurt. Sanchez had pitched two big innings on Sunday. I don’t understand what he was thinking. No thinking was required.

I can’t even discuss it anymore. A team as stupid as this one doesn’t deserve to win anything. Manuel thinks wins are cheap. He’s never heard the old saw “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”.

So the game that was in hand is now lost. Now the Mets face the Phils with lesser starters, less confidence and still no closer. The Phillies now have the edge in this all-important series. The Phillies delivered the big hits. The Phillies made the plays in the field. The Phillies have everything but the manager who snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

There must have been an old Willie handbook in the dugout, that one entitled “How to Lose Games with the Better Team”.

How many games can a team give back over the course of a season and still win? This team has given back about 20 games on the season. And counting.

Can they turn it around? Yeah, sure they can. With Delgado scorching the horsehide off the ball, and with horses like Beltran and Wright in the lineup, anything is possible. They have the best starters in the league. But it’s less likely for sure. It’ll take a little time to get over such a bad loss.

That Reyes reverted to making the big mistake doesn’t bode well either. His decision to reach for the second base bag when a flip to Easley would have done nicely kept the rally going strong. Instead of being up two with two men on and one man out, it became bases loaded once again with nobody out.

Although I understand the switch to Smith when Sanchez wasn’t doing the job, I don’t comprehend at all the switch to Feliciano. Smith had done his job. He got a ground ball when he needed it. Why switch to Feliciano? And then Heilman once the game was irretrievably lost.

But it was really all over much earlier. That would be when Santana came out of the game, much to the Phillies delight. The guy who had frustrated those heavy-hitters all night long would be on the bench. Wagner wasn’t a possibility. The Phillies licked their lips in anticipation. They could win this game after all. And did.

Of course there is a flip-side to all this. All Manuel really did was put the game in the hands of his relievers. It didn’t work out, but many would say he made the right move, all those pitch-count people, all those folks with fresh pitchers at the end of the season, for teams that will have lost way more than they will have won.

I’m already regretting all the nasty things I’ve said. Manuel hasn’t made many mistakes since he’s assumed the reins from the dead team he took over from Willie, a team with tired veterans, with a shortstop always looking over his shoulder, and with cleanup hitters gone bad.

So we Mets fans have to be patient with a mistake, even if it did come at the worst possible moment, against the worst possible opponent. For once, Manuel overthought the situation, and was caught counting chickens down the road, saving his ace for some game in October.

He just forgot that you first have to get to October.