Questionable Managing of Pitchers, Sleepy Bats Doom Mets

The Mets lost to the Nationals 2-1 Thursday night on a walk-off sacrifice fly by Ryan Zimmerman. Santana got back on track and pitched very well, only giving up one earned run over seven innings, but, as has been all too common this season, the Mets' offense supplied no support.

Due to the rain delay for the last game in Puerto Rico, the team did not arrive at their Washington hotels until 7 AM, and Jerry Manuel thought that contributed to the dormant bats.

However, as much as the lack of hitting could be to blame for Thursday night's loss, some of Jerry Manuel's suspect pitching changes could also be considered part of the problem.

After throwing only 97 pitches after seven innings of one run ball, Santana was pulled by Manuel, because the coach wanted the pitcher to end his start on a good note. Huh? Wouldn't Santana feel like he ended his start on a better note if he left the game with the team winning? As Santana made clear after the game, he did not want to come out:

“No, not at all,” he said. “I felt pretty good throughout the whole game. I felt that everything was working. My fastball, my changeup and my slider was working pretty good. But Jerry is the manager and makes the decisions, and he decided what was good for me.”

Furthermore, the Mets bullpen had just been used a lot in the San Juan series, so seeing if Santana could handle the eighth would not have been such bad risk.

Unfortunately, Manuel's mistakes did not end there. With the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth and in need of a strike out, ground out or pop-up, Manuel decided to put in the wholly unstable Ryota Igarashi instead of closer, Francisco Rodriguez. Granted, Jerry has tended to overwork K-Rod this year, but to put the game on the line with your most inconsistent relief pitcher was simply throwing in the towel. Furthermore, Jerry's stubborn and simplistic explanation is enough to incense any New York Mets' fan:

"All the walk-off losses on the road is indicative of an eighth-inning guy," Manuel said, referring to their collective lack of proficiency this season. "That's where an eighth-inning guy pitches. It's basically that simple."

Sadly, Jerry's belief that a tied ball-game on the road with bases loaded is not the time to bring in the closer might prevent the Mets from winning a few close games that they will need to overcome the Braves and Phillies in the NL East race come September.

Even scarier for me, though, is that Manuel is married to his philosophies and not willing to conform his decisions to the nuances of the night;'s game or the pace of the season.

I hope I'm wrong, but I'm afraid Manuel is going to cost the Mets more games than he is going to win for them.