At Least They're Not the Mets

by E. James Beale

After famously not blowing a single save all of last year, Brad Lidge has already blown four in the 2009 campaign. His 9.15 ERA is the second-worst mark of any Major League reliever (only Cincinnati's Mike Lincoln, who will never be named a Major League team's MVP, has been worse) and he has already allowed more earned runs than he did all of last year. Worse, he hasn't been alone: The Phils' starting pitchers carry a 6.03 ERA, the highest in baseball. Sure, it's early enough in the season for pitchers to turn it around, but it's also almost June — late enough to worry. Watching the games, I was worried.

Then as I drove back, awash in my fears, I turned on my radio and, after just a few minutes, let out a sigh of relief. It turns out WFAN, the flagship station of last year's NL East runner-up New York Mets, is also worried about its hometown team: "How do they put the guy with a plus-seven ERA out there in a situation like that?!" screamed one caller, upset that the Mets' bullpen had collapsed in Boston. Sean Green, a New York nobody, was Sunday's first reliever out of the pen, the guy with the plus-seven ERA. The caller continued, "How does a team with a $150 million payroll even have a guy with a plus-seven ERA on it?" Adam the Bull, the radio personality on air, tried to calm the caller down by reminding him that Brian Stokes, the guy who had the best ERA in the pen when the game started, gave up five runs himself. Or, as I heard it, "Even their good guys suck." Eventually cooler heads chimed in. One caller pointed out that the Mets had just taken two of three from a perennial powerhouse, and done so with half their lineup out with injury.

Wait, half their lineup? It's true. No less than eight contributing Mets have missed time to injury. Not that all the injuries have been bemoaned by fans. When All Star shortstop Jose Reyes went down with a bum calf, Mets nation sunk its teeth in. "Calf injury? I thought Reyes had an injury to his chest," mocked one New York Times commenter. "Now Reyes has a legitimate reason for not hustling!" said the next. Already, a week before June, the Mets faithful are in panic mode. I called up my buddy Jake, a Mets fan, for his take. "Here's the thing about the Mets: There's always something wrong," he said. "Half of the lineup is injured. Maybe Citi Field can play first base. At least it's young." Expensive, too — it'd fit right in.

This is more than just the zealotry of a nervous fan base. The Mets are legitimately in shambles. Despite their gaudy payroll, they manage to have no depth at all. When Jose Reyes went down, the team had to plug in an elderly gentlemen named Fernando Tatis at short. Prior to that, Tatis, originally a third baseman, was filling in for Delgado at first, splitting time with Jeremy Reed — all because manager Jerry Manuel was "scared to death" of letting one-time star prospect Daniel Murphy play the position, a move Manuel has since made.

And the problems go beyond injuries. The Mets don't seem to know how to pull out a win. Twice this year Mets ace Johan Santana has lost games in which he hasn't allowed a single earned run. The team lost one game when its starter balked three times, then another when it committed five errors. (The Mets have 35 on the year; the Phillies have 13.) In a rare perfect play-to-season analogy, Ryan Church, the starting right fielder, failed to touch third base before "scoring" a waved-off winning run. Naturally the Mets went on to lose. On top of all that, the organization gave Green, a new reliever, the jersey number of Aaron Heilman, the former Met most associated with 2008's collapse.

Every year the statistics crowd picks the Mets to win, and yet every year the Mets manage not to. The team looks good on paper, but on the field it lacks the necessary leadership, the required demeanor and the knowledge of how to win.

Look, I'm not saying I was wrong to worry about the Phils. Despite the chip and the hot hitting, they're far from perfect. The pitching is a legitimate concern. I'm just saying that, while the trip to New York put the fear of .500 in me, the trip back was enough to calm my mind. The Phils have their problems, yes. But at least they're not the Mets.