NYU

This game never even had a chance to be exciting. And now Willie puts in JORGE SOSA?! REALLY?! Is there a reason we didn't turn to El Duque in this situation? What....we want to wait until the Mets are down 9-2 in the 7th?!

Glavine needs to go after today. He's had a great career, he did well for the Mets while he was on the team, but he's not close to being the pitcher he once was. Three high-stakes games for him in a row and three bad starts in a row, this one already looking to be the worst. If he wants to pitch one more season and retire in Atlanta, let him, but the Mets would be crazy to spend a lot of money trying to re-sign him for next season. This is what I'm talking about when I say the pitching needs to be completely rehauled this offseason. How disappointing. In the first inning.

This ain't football, Lushus!

Yeesh. I've only heard that one since I was in second grade.

What a gem Maine pitched. I do hope it's not too little, too late. The Mets are determined to make this dramatic up until the absolute last day of the season.

James Dolan has mismanaged the Knicks in a way that others could only dream. Not to mention the Isiah Thomas sex scandal that he has suddenly found himself in the middle of. At least he can still rock on his guitar.

Seems you are not the sharpest wooden plank in the frat house. Must be cool having marijuana and beer and being the stage manager for the Triple H Squash Tour 2007

How come you edited your post two times, each to add an increasingly more enlightening two lines to each edit? I'm going to assume you used the wooden plank to hit all the pledges if you heard a "Whoosh" dare come from their direction. Please don't post a reply though to respond to that assumption. I actually don't care. Go Cubs.

Some people just can't contain their excitement.

I do think he'll survive this season but he's absolutely going to be given an ultimatum for next season to make the playoffs or else. This is just crushing though. The majority of this bullpen needs to be torn apart and shipped to any team willing to take them on. Particularly Mota -- he's the one pitcher everybody is placing the most blame on, and he needs to go. He has earned himself the same crown of thorns Armando Benitez wore while he was here.

That's not a bad theory. While it could be partly attributed to that, I think the majority of the blame still falls on Randolph over-taxing that bullpen to the point of exhaustion. I do feel though, that if anybody deserves to go after this season, it's Rick Petersen. He has just failed with this pitching staff in September on every level, and if Rick Down could be held accountable for their poor hitting earlier this season, Petersen absolutely deserves the boot for this total meltdown.

I'm surprised it hasn't caught on yet to refer to his dad as Joba The Hut. Of course, I would never say such things.

Er...no major league team has ever failed to win first place despite holding a 7-game lead at such a late point in the season. So it would be "historic." Read a newspaper.

And while I don't really think the Wilpons will be ready to cut Willie if the Mets finish this spectacular collapse, there are some rumblings that his job could be in jeopardy if things end badly. Jeff Wilpon has expressed his disappointment in him lately, his pitching decisions have been universally criticized -- the inexplicable over-reliance on Mota and Sosa for one, starting Brian Lawrence and Philip Humber in such a vital stretch of the season, etc -- and he's just getting panned unmercilessly now by the New York media for his apathy at this crucial time. Again, I personally don't see them dumping Randolph just yet, and I'm not even sure if that would be the right move anyway. But the wheels are slowly turning. As for Minaya, I would absolutely give him another season to steady the Titanic ship that is the New York Mets pitching staff. No doubt about it. But to let them go through the entire season with such a weak bullpen was a mistake that he should not be let off the hook for.

They just lost four of five to the Washington Nationals who should not have even been a threat to them. Period. Now they're going against the Cardinals in a one-and-done series and moving onto the Marlins who are suddenly looking like powerhouses against the Cubs. The momentum is clearly against the Mets at this point -- and it's not unreasonable to think with this pitching staff that they could finish the rest of the season without another win. No matter how many runs they score, it's never enough.

Sure, you can "panic, bitch, moan, or cry." Or you could show passion. Passion is not equal to the previous four emotions you mentioned. It's infuriating to watch Randolph act as though it wouldn't faze him to see the Mets crumble in the last two weeks of the season. Al, classiness is not the same thing as lethargy.

What would you like him to say? In the end it really is just a game. When you're on the brink of a historic collapse, "so be it" is not an acceptable response. This ain't checkers. This is a game you're getting paid millions of dollars to manage. A laissez-faire attitude just does not cut it.

I just love that when a reporter recently asked Willie Randolph what he would do if the Mets missed the postseason, he answered back with "If we smell the roses and sip some champagne, so be it. If not, that's life." Reminds me of somebody else. "Things just happen, dude."

Billy Wagner has been so fucking useless. Pathetic.

I don't understand. Schoeneweis went three up and three down in the top of the 6th. So then why are we taking him out to put an INJURED El Duque in the top of the 7th in a role he's not even used to? At least see if Schoeneweis gives up a hit in the 7th before you take him out! Especially since he was so strong in the 6th.

Why would Willie Randolph place JOE SMITH of all people in that spot to calm things down? I know they don't have any reliable bullpen pitchers. I realize that. But JOE SMITH. The man who has given up 23 of 44 inherited runners this season. Joe Smith. The man who has perhaps the blandest name in baseball. Joe Smith, who has shown practically no discernable talent and no heart for coming through in a big situation.

I can't watch this. They're on the verge of getting swept by the Washington Nationals.

And 6-2 suddenly turns into 6-5 with nobody out. The pitching is atrocious. Just atrocious. The last 5 games against the Nationals, the bullpen has an ERA of 7+ while the starting pitching has had an ERA of OVER 10. Horrific.

Oh my God, the Mets can't seem to hold onto a lead. Not even against the Nationals. This is turning into a nightmare.