We Believe In Comebacks, But Not Winning

The Mets are off to their worst start in 18 years. Not since 1992 have they begun the season with a 2-6 record. The team is in last place, five games behind the Phillies. The team's slogan for 2010, "We Believe In Comebacks", was supposed to be for the team coming back into contention after a miserable 2009 season.

Apparently, the team didn't read the fine print when they were informed of the new slogan. So far, the Mets have been able to come back from late-inning deficits, but have not finished the job.

Last Wednesday against the Marlins, the Mets erased a five-run seventh-inning deficit, turning a 6-1 deficit into a 6-6 game that went into extra innings. Unfortunately, Hisanori Takahashi gave up the go-ahead run in the tenth inning and the Mets fell to the Marlins by the final score of 7-6.

On Saturday, the Mets entered the ninth inning against Nationals' closer Matt Capps trailing by one run. Capps was not particularly effective, giving up a line drive single to Jose Reyes, followed by two walks. The Mets appeared poised to complete the comeback when Rod Barajas lined a frozen rope to left field. Of course, that's Willie Harris territory, meaning that the catch was made and the comeback was thwarted.

Now we get to last night's game. The Mets were already in last place and needed a victory to get back on track. They were trailing 5-3 going to the eighth inning, but scored a run in each of the last two frames to send the game into extra innings. Could the Mets finally complete a comeback, pulling out a much-needed victory at Coors Field?

I'll let the following set of pictures paint the picture of what happened on the fourth pitch from Jenrry Mejia to Rockies' catcher Chris Iannetta.



For the third time this year, the Mets appeared poised to come back from a deficit, snaring a victory from the jaws of defeat. Instead, all they snared was another heartbreaking loss. Had they completed each comeback, their record would be a much more attractive 5-3 instead of the dreadful 2-6 that's staring back at us from the newspaper.

The Mets do believe in coming back. They've shown the ability to fight back from an early deficit on three occasions this year. However, if they want to remain relevant in the NL East race and not continue to be the laughing stock of baseball, they must add "We Believe In Winning" to the equation.

If the Mets don't learn how to pull out these tight ballgames soon, not only will their 2010 slogan seem silly, but the fans will stop believing in coming back...to Citi Field, that is.

Johan Santana And The Four Rainouts Need Backup Singers

Attention, Mets fans! Now you can be a backup singer for Johan Santana and The Four Rainouts! It's easy to qualify. Just come down to the Tradition Field Studios, trot out to the mound, throw your best stuff down the middle of the plate and let out your best scream as you watch your pitches belted all over the field. (No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited by law. Some assembly required. Must be 48" or taller to ride. Yada, yada, yada.)

Why am I making all this fuss about pitching performances in early March? Because it's alarming how the starting rotation has performed in their Grapefruit League debuts.

Early Spring Training starts are about developing arm strength, but since when did they have to resemble batting practice? To show you what I mean, here are the numbers for the starts by the four members of the starting rotation already guaranteed spots.

• Mike Pelfrey (Mar. 6): 3.0 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 0 K
• Oliver Perez (Mar. 7): 3.0 IP, 5 ER, 7 H, 1 BB, 2 K
• John Maine (Mar. 8): 1.2 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 1 BB, 4K
• Johan Santana (Mar. 9): 1.2 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 1 K

That's a total of 9.1 IP for the four starters. In those innings, they've combined to give up 13 earned runs and 22 hits. They have been throwing strikes, as shown by the total of three walks between the four pitchers, but they're strikes of the Rick Aguilera variety (Mr. Wild-In-The-Strike-Zone himself).

While singing the praises of Jenrry Mejia, Ike Davis and Fernando Martinez, has Jerry Manuel noticed that his starters have been getting hit hard? He can sugarcoat it by saying that they're throwing strikes, but wouldn't it be better if they were able to locate those strikes anywhere but the sweet spot of the opposing hitter's bat?

And what about the fifth starter? Whoever becomes the final member of Johan Santana and The Four Rainouts has to be ready to move up the food chain should one of the Drab Four get laryngitis (which Mets trainers would say is tendinosis and require a missed start or two). Can Jonathon Niese, Fernando Nieve and Nelson Figueroa be counted on to be the fifth starter and/or step up into a higher slot if needed?

The Mets cannot afford to have their pitching staff do poorly and hope to improve upon their fourth place finish of 2009. Only William Hung can take a shoddy performance and carry that all the way to the bank. (Okay, maybe Oliver Perez can do that too.) But whereas Mr. Hung did well with his fifteen minutes of fame, the Mets will have to do well with 162 minutes of game.

As a Mets fan, I expect Johan Santana and The Four Rainouts to be able to locate their pitches more effectively as Late Winter Training continues. They can throw all the strikes they want, but without location, the shower attendants will end up becoming good friends with them.

With their debut performances, Johan Santana and The Four Rainouts are soaring up the Hit Parade. Let's just hope they ease up on the hits as April approaches.

Photo of Johan Santana by Bruce Kluckhohn.

Photo of William Hung by some photographer who wishes to be in Bruce Kluckhohn's shoes.

Jerry Manuel To Jenrry Manuel: "Mejia Love You Long Time"

Jenrry Mejia is among the top prospects in the Mets organization, but if you hear Jerry Manuel and Dan Warthen speak, you'd think Mejia was going to be the fifth Beatle, adding his name to the Fab Four who will be inducted to the Mets Hall of Fame on August 1.

According to Mike Puma in the New York Post, Jerry Manuel was so impressed with his boy's pitching performance on Friday (Did you know Jenrry Mejia's full name is JENRRY MANUEL MEJIA? I kid you not.) that he was considering the 20-year-old Mejia as a potential reliever for the Mets when they break camp in four weeks. This comes on the heels of Papa Manuel's announcement last week that Junior's cutter reminded him of the one thrown by Mariano Rivera.

Pitching coach Dan Warthen also claimed that "it moved" (and he wasn't referring to Mejia's cutter; you figure it out.) when he witnessed Mejia's 2 1/3 inning performance in which the young hurler struck out four batters while not giving up any hits. On northjersey.com, Tara Sullivan reported that Warthen was comparing Mejia to a young Doc Gooden and called him "a major league pitcher today."

I have two words to say about the comments made by Manuel and Warthen and those two words are...

ARE THEY F**KIN' CRAZY?

Mejia pitched well on Friday, but how many established major leaguers did he face? Hanley Ramirez did not play for the Marlins, but no-names like Michael Stanton, Brett Hayes and Danny Richar did. Apparently, this was enough for the proud papa to say that Mejia might be good enough to bypass AAA and go straight to Citi Field.

And to pitching coach Dan Warthen, the man who "coached" the Mets to their next-to-last finish in walks allowed, here are the stats for Dwight Gooden in his final year in the minor leagues: 19-4 won-loss record, 2.50 ERA, 300 Ks in 191 innings.

What did Jenrry Mejia do last season in the minor leagues? How about a 4-6 won-loss record with a 3.14 ERA and 91 Ks in 94.2 innings. But apparently, visions of Doctor K are what Warthen sees.

Jenrry Manuel Mejia is a very good pitcher. He appears to be on track to be a starting pitcher in the major leagues at some point. But he is not a major league pitcher right now. Even if he continues to blow away career minor leaguers in Grapefruit League games, he should be a Buffalo Bison in April, not a New York Met.

It's too bad Manuel and Warthen have gone sweet for Oh Jenrry. If they get their wish to have Mejia on the major league roster come April, his development could go sour.