» Mets

Finally, finally….I am quite comfortable with the tail end of the Mets Bullpen. After the last two seasons, Mets fans were left with nothing more than shattered hopes and dreams. One of the core reasons for this was clearly the lack of stablity in the bullpen.

You know the numbers: the 2008 Mets had the best record in the major leagues if games ended, as they do in Little League, after six innings.

Looking at it now we pick up K-Rod and Putz. Two guys who clearly can make a serious difference when the game is on the line in the late innings.

So the Mets signed Rodriguez, a free agent, to a three-year, $36 million contract, and they traded with Seattle for Putz. Last year, Rodriguez set the major league record for saves in a season with 62.

Rodriguez has saved at least 40 games four years in a row, tied for the longest streak in history. He is the first pitcher ever to lead the American League in saves, then switch leagues the following year. A switch of leagues doesn’t appear to be an issue for him, nor is the pressure he might feel as being one of the saviors of the bullpen, if not the team. 

Again, I want to see K-Rod step up when it counts as he has in the past. In those big Mets and Phillies showdowns, I want to see the lights go out on the Phils offense in the later innings!

I can;t wait to see this revamped bullpen in action.

Let’s face it, the Phillies weren;t exactly the baseball “Experts” pick to win it all last year, but it happened. It happened because the Phillies simply found ways to get the job done. They won because they deserved to, plain and simple.

As a die hard Mets fan myself, I must take my hat off to the Phils, it is the “Never Give Up, Never Surrender” attitude, and that bullpen, that truly carried them though to the end. As I look back now, I realize that uncertainty is simply the only true certainty before a Major League Baseball season starts.

These in-season wins certainly led to some off season ones for the fightin’  Phils as well.

“The interest this offseason has been very, very strong, and there’s no question that has enabled us to perhaps be more aggressive than we might have been otherwise,” Phillies president David Montgomery said Monday from his corner office at Bright House Field.

Try to imagine the following possibilities: What if the Phillies failed to sweep the Brewers in their four game series? What if they didn’t win the National League East? What if the Brewers overtook them for the National League Wild Card?

Could the Phillies sign Ryan Howard? Or Cole Hamel’s multi-million contract extension? What about the three year $31.5 million offer to Raul Ibanez to replace Pat Burrell?

“We probably wouldn’t be sitting here saying we know we have sold nearly 24,000 season tickets,” Montgomery said. “It would probably be a number similar to last year, maybe not even as strong. So we would have definitely been doing the offseason differently. I don’t know if it would have manifested itself in multiyear deals or whether it would have manifested itself in not being able to add a player like Ibanez.

“It’s tough for me to able to say specifically what would have been different, but the answer is, yes, it absolutely would have been different. We are where we are because of the team’s success and the resulting fan support.”

So now, I must ask…what are the odds of another Phillies championship this year? Any Phillies, Mets. or any other fans out there care to comment?

Not again…As a Mets fan, I am truly sick and tired of seemingly empty threats! “We Are the team to beat!” Mr. Beltran made that very clear last season as well. He had it backwards…the Mets were the “Team to be beaten”. So in comes K-Rod…who I must say I am very excited to watch this season, proclaiming the very same thing.

Here is the problem with this statement. You are clearly aiming these words at the reigning champs, The Philadelphia Phillies. We already know that this team responds to these bulletin board threats, so why start this already?

As a lifetime Mets fan, I have learned one thing, there are never any locks or guarantees! Just play the game, and prove it on the field. Come August and September, I really hope the Mets are looking down on the Marlins, Braves, and yes…even the Phillies, but until that time, I don’t want to hear it! Save it for the field K-Rod!