Game 14 - Cardinals 5, Mets 2

I'm starting this post without the benefit of the game ending, but I already know the outcome. This is the team I hate to love, especially when they bag it in the sixth inning like a high school team against a much better opponent.

They make average pitchers like Pinero look like Bob Gibson and watching Ramon Castro fling his bat at an outside fastball to roll a soft grounder to short is about as annoying as possible.

Games like this allows the announcers to look for ways to kill time and the easiest is to discuss the Mets pitching staff. The lead announcer said that after Santana it's a question to which Rick Sutcliffe said they shouldn't have paid Oliver Perez big money.

He then said that for the same three years and 36 million they paid for him, they could have had Derek Lowe. I didn't hear anyone try to correct him or explain that the Mets made that offer to Lowe first and foremost. It was on the board for a fortnight and the Braves upped the ante to 4 years and 60 million.

One could argue that the Mets should have matched, they should have pushed for more. But I'll take the thoughtful approach to this question. It's clear the Mets needed Lowe, but with the Bernie Madoff scandal and his close involvement deep in the Mets' front office. Add to that the fact that something has to be said for developing your own talent. John Maine is 28 years old, Oliver is 27 and Mike Pelfrey is 25. That is called young pitching and isn't that what everyone talks about having?

The offense is another matter entirely. They flashed a stat that showed the Mets are third in the league in average (.289) and on-base percentage, yet they are 11th in run scored. I can only imagine what they're hitting with runners in scoring position...

You gotta believe was the slogan more than 25 years ago. I have to believe that if I give this team time, they'll gel. They'll start bunching those hits together. They'll get a healthy Pelfrey and both he and Maine will find and trust their secondary pitch (changeup)...

Thus is the live of a Mets fan, each year and every year. And the sad fact is, I've got to look to Livan Hernandez to end this losing streak. And it's not the Livan from 1997. It's not even the one from five years ago who had nine complete games and a 3.98 ERA.