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Playoff Reality Hits in Game Two

So it finally happened. After a charmed second half of the season the vaunted Mets bullpen finally blew a big one.

Guillermo Mota started it off buy allowing Albert Pujols and Jim Edmunds to reach base with two out. At this point I’m not sure why Willie didn’t give him the hook. Then Mota either blew off Paul LoDuca or missed his location in throwing Scott Spezio a fastball on the inside of the plate. This was after Spezio missed badly on two changeups and had just drilled a fastball foul down the right field line. The result was a two run triple and a tie score.

Aaron Heilman did his job and passed it on to Billy Wagner in the ninth. Wagner was awful, starting with the Taghuchi homer. I had a bad feeling during that at bat. Then the Cards just kept eating him up. I’m not going to kill Billy Wagner for this one. He had a great second half and had done well in the playoffs before last night. That stated, he should never let that happen again in the playoffs.

There were other missed opportunities as well. The Mets had first and second in the eighth and Beltran hit into a double play. David Wright still hasn’t found his stoke yet in this series either. Paul LoDuca and Carlos Delgado have been a two man wrecking crew at the plate.

So the reality of the playoffs is that nothing is guaranteed. Certainly not a lead at home in the late innings. Every run counts. Every pitch counts. Maybe the Mets needed to realize that after four playoff wins in a row. The best way to remedy a loss is to win and we have the opportunity to do that again this evening. This Mets team can out hit and out run St. Louis. Our bullpen is better than their bullpen. The starting pitching matchups ain’t so bad either. So let’s get back on the horse tonight and take the series lead back.

Let’s Go Mets!

October 14th, 2006 Posted by Rob Safuto | Baseball, Blog, New York Mets | 3 comments