The John Delcos New York Mets Report Featuring Mets' commentary, analysis and news.

Game #82 at Nationals

Ten walk-off losses for a season sounds high, let alone 10 for the first half. That’s the number after Frankie Rodriguez’s latest meltdown yesterday.

“The worst performance I ever had in my life,’’ he called yesterday afternoon’s ninth inning, which for all practical purposes was over before Adam Dunn’s game-tying drive off the wall.

Walking Cristian Guzman on four pitches to open the ninth was as bad a sign as there is.

Rodriguez’s implosion made Stephen Strasburg a footnote and threw away what would have been RA Dickey’s seventh win.

Ten walk-off losses out of 36 is way to high a percentage and is something the Mets must address immediately. For all the talk about the eighth inning, a band-aid needed to be put on the ninth, too.

“We have our issues,’’ manager Jerry Manuel said. “We can’t have an issue at the end of the game.’’

But, they do.

While the Mets’ bullpen is an issue heading into the break, so to is Jose Reyes’ health. Reyes, who has a strained right oblique, won’t play again today at Washington and is now questionable for the Reds series starting tomorrow at Citi Field.

Posted under New York Mets 2008-09

I’ve read in several places where the Mets need a swagger. Sounds nice. Would be a good thing. Where do you get it?

It’s not like there’s a market that sells the stuff. All players have confidence, otherwise they can’t be a professional athlete. But, only a few have that bubbling cockiness, that swagger, that Darryl Strawberry and Ray Knight and Keith Hernandez had with the 86 Mets.

These Mets don’t have an abundance of players with that quality. And, what brings that quality to the surface collectively is winning.

We know the Mets, as a team, don’t have a swagger, and they won’t until they win. It’s great to hear Strawberry talking about the Mets needing a swagger, but it’s all moot until they win.

Posted under Commentary/2010, Mets Commentary

Joel Pineiro wanted four years and $40 million. He got two years and $16 million, numbers the Mets easily could have matched. But, they didn’t, and I don’t even know how serious they were about getting him.

And, with spring training inside a month away, it doesn’t appear they were that serious about improving their rotation.

Pineiro is a shade over .500 for his career, so it’s not as if they are losing an ace. But, he was coming off a good year and has been consistent, something the rotation could use.

It sounds like the usual group of suspects for the Mets this year. I can hardly contain myself.

Posted under Mets News, Mets News & Features/2010

Ambiorix Burgos is to be jailed for three months while awaiting trial for a hit-and-run accident that killed two women in the Dominican Republic. Burgos told the Dominican AP he was ordered jailed out of concerns for his safety. That sounds odd to me. I thought it was because he was a flight risk. He did take a week to turn himself in.

Said Burgos: “I am going to come out of this fine because my conscience is clear, and I’m not worried this will affect my career because I haven’t done anything.”

Burgos has an Oct. 23 court date in New York for assaulting his girl friend that he said he’ll attend. Burgos didn’t say when he’ll start throwing off the mound.

Posted under New York Mets 2008-09