Another one bites the dust: Phils 6, Mets 3 (10)

If you thought last season was frustrating, this one has the potential to top the cake.  Another brutal loss for the Mets tonight and I have a few things I want to say.

Jerry Manuel is starting to bother me…a lot.  I’ve been a fan of his from the start, but I’m starting to lose my faith in him.  Why is he bunting in the first inning of a Tim Redding-Jamie Moyer game!?  Not that it really matters.  You should never be bunting in the first inning unless the pitcher is up.  Never! I mean come on!  Are we ever going to have a big inning if after every leadoff double we get, we immediately give up an out!?  This is ridiculous and needs to stop immediately!  And the funny thing is the Mets scored after the bunt, and I still think it was a terrible move.  It’s just mind boggling.

And not that I disagreed with bringing in Ken Takahashi although I’m sure plenty of fans did, but it does seem like every questionable move Jerry makes turns out to be a bad one.  There should be times where Jerry will make a weird move and then afterwards can say “Told ya so!”  We haven’t seen that because he goes with his gut and his gut is usually wrong.

But really on a bigger note, the Phillies are better than the Mets right now which makes these last two games that much worse.  You’re probably questioning my logic but do let me explain.  With all the guys the Mets have hurt right now, there’s no question the Phils are the superior team.  So the only way for the Mets to pass up the defending champs is to take advantage of every chance they get.  Well the last two games they held multi-run leads in the sixth inning or later.  You have to win these games when given the chance because the Phils are going to get more chances since they’re better.

I respect the hell out of the Phillies though.  They play hard-nosed baseball, they’re great defensively and you almost never see them make a silly mistake on the basepaths.  It’s not a coincidence that they’re basically the opposite from the Mets on those standpoints.  The Phils just seem to always find a way to win and each night it’s a different guy.  I really admire the way they play the game.

On a positive note, I think the Mets’ effort was excellent this series.  You won’t hear a peep out of me as far as edge or hustle goes.  This team looked focus these past three games and just couldn’t execute when they needed to.  I’m just disappointed because everything was in place for a huge sweep that would have evened out both of their records and instead the Mets find themselved four games back.  And those four games seem like a lot because the Mets just aren’t that good right now.  It’s the sad truth.  Maybe a trip to the Bronx will cure their troubles, but I don’t know.  They go to 1-2 during this all-important 32-game stretch where each game counts oh so very much.  You just hope a good weekend in the Bronx will erase the bad memories of a disappointing week in Queens.