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Same Old Mets: Pen, Defense and Hitting Cost Mets in St. Louis

CARDINALS 5
METS 4

Can we say it? The New York Mets are an average baseball team. No. Better yet; the New York Mets are a lousy baseball team. As has been the case for the past three seasons, and now in the first two and a half weeks of 2009, the Mets have a series of debilitating problems that cost them one game after another. (1) Bullpen, (2) Starting pitchers NOT named Johan Santana, (3) Lack of clutch hitting, (4) Poor defense.

The Mets had built a shocking 4-0 lead, shocking insofar as the lead came against the St. Louis Cardinals, a team that has haunted the Mets for over three seasons now;. nevertheless, the ghosts of 2006 NLCS past came back to bite the Mets ... as usual.

Oliver Perez lost total control of his pitches in the fifth inning. With two men on base, Albert Pujols lined a double to the left field corner to drive in two runners to cut the Mets lead in half. Then, Perez went wild, really wild. He walked Met killer Yadier Molina and surrendered a single to Chirs Duncan to load 'em up. Next, Perez walked Khalil Green to drive in Pujols to make it 4-3.

Jerry Manuel had no choice but to take Perez out of the game; in came Casey Fossum. As for Fossum, he did his job as if he were employed by the Cardinals: he walked Justin Thurston to tie the game at four, putting New York in a tenuous situation.

In the eighth, the Mets bullpen continued to spring leaks, this time from an unlikely scource ... J.J. Putz. Putz served up a triple to Brendon Ryan to start the inning, but it was not without major fault going to Daniel Murphy. Murphy misplayed the ball, falling down as the ball approached his head. Like they teach kids in little league, keep your eye on the ball; well, Murphy didn't get that memo. The ball glided over Murphy's head and rolled to the wall, allowing Ryan to sprint to third base. Rick Ankiel doubled to right to bring in Ryan with the game-winning run, making it clear that Putz just didn't have anything.

This is a horrendous loss for the Mets, but this is also painfully typical of this team. The Mets left 10 men on base, three of whom were runners in scoring position with two out in an inning. They just can't seem to get a big hit in a key situation. And for all the hoopla that the bullpen was improved, it was a main cuplrit in the loss tonight. There are only so many times during the course of a long season that a bullpen will be perfect; it needs the starters to help out a little, and that is where the Mets problems start. They have no starting pitching outside Johan Stantana and must address this issue sooner then the trade deadline if they hope to compete for a division title. BOX SCORE.

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