Thursday, June 18, 2009

It's An Open Wound That Can't Be Closed

Every Mets fan that was around to experience 2007 knows the feeling of a bullpen ruining a team. By the end of the season there was no lead that felt large enough for the bullpen to hold. In 2008 the bullpen seemed stellar and other times it was the 2007 nightmare coming back. But ever since 2007 or maybe the 2006 NLCS where the Mets gave up leads and watched the knee-buckling pitches from the Cardinals, no amount of insurance runs has been enough.

This year the Mets bullpen has shown they can get the toughest of all hitters. And then they play down to the worse teams. Their great play has lead Jerry Manual to have perhaps too much confidence in them and overwork them. Pedro Feliciano hasn't gotten through a recent outing without having a run charged to his stats. And Sean Green went through a rough stretch at the beginning of the season. Bobby Parnell isn't where he was a few weeks ago. And Frankie has finally cracked.

To be honest, I didn't feel like Frankie was going to hold the lead from the moment SNY came back from commercials and showed him standing on the mound. It's been a while since I have felt 100% confidence giving any lead to the bullpen.

Perhaps, in a while, when none of the members of the 2006-2008 bullpen remains, I will feel like the Mets have a chance to have a consistent bullpen. A consistently good bullpen.

Let's Go Mets!

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