They’ve been “replaced” but not really, by guys like Jeff Conine and David Newhan, and, well, just name any relief pitcher !  Heilman has been disappointing,  Feliciano, Mota, Schoenweiss and Sosa a lot worse than that.  Joe Smith, who showed so much promise in the beginning of this year, has fizzled.  Like the Mets.

They don’t even deserve to make the post-season at this juncture.  What would be the point?  We’d need at least seven runs to win?  No, it’s not going to happen.  Pedro the Valiant, El Duque the Pro, Glavine the Consistent, John Maine and Oliver Perez the young flame-throwers, they couldn’t all go 9 innings.  It’d eventually come down to middle relief.  And these fellows would choke. 

There is some hope, I suppose, that once they had a chance to rest, to exhale a little after the grind of the regular season, they’d be better.  But it’s not likely.  The chemistry that was so evident last year has been muddled.  I guess I have to blame Omar Minaya, much as I hate to do it.  Too much age on this team.  You’d have to figure that, with 3 older starters, there’d likely be injuries among them, and, THUS, you’d need some strong middle relief.  But no, we just got more old guys.  Castillo hobbling, Conine hitting long pops and jogging to first, Newhan doing mostly nothing, and a bunch of relief pitchers who all seem to throw the same pitches with the same speed.  The exception, Moises Alou, hit in 30 straight games while playing a pretty fair left field.  But, being 40-ish, he missed a LOT of games.  Like El Duque, like Delgado, like Pedro.  So you get what you plan for.  How many games could we have won with younger pitchers, younger outfielders?  We’ll never know.

Well, enough said, it’s a shame, but at this point, I’d rather root for the Phillies.  They’ve got a cool older manager in Charlie Manuel, great hustlers like Aaron Rowand and Werth, great hitters like Jimmy Rollins and Ryan Howard and Pat Burrell the Mets-killer.  Why NOT the Phillies ?  They’ve overcome some huge pitching obstacles of their own.  And hung in there.  And swept the Mets a couple of times.  They’re exciting to watch.  And they deserve it.

The Mets now finish with Oliver Perez vs Kim, an almost sure shot win, then Maine vs somebody named Seddon, a total unknown, so that should present a good chance at a win, then Glavine vs Dontrelle Willis.  The Marlins, a good hitting team, are weak in the  field and make a LOT of mistakes.  So the Mets could win all three.

The Phillies play the Nationals, lately of Mets-killer fame, and the matchups are Cole Hamels vs Redding, a lock for a Phils win, then Matt Chico for the Nats against Adam Eaton, a possible problem for the Phils in this one, and finishing up the season with Jamie Moyer, another Glavine-like old pro versus Jason Bergmann, another up-and-coming star.  This could also be problematical for the Phils.

I think the Mets will take the first two games this weekend while the Phils will lose the second game.  But it’ll be up to Glavine to finish off the season while going against Dontrelle Willis, a young horse who could definitely mow down the Mets in a big spot.  If Glavine can’t finish it, it’ll come down to a one-game playoff.  And the ball given to Pedro.  Probably.  And why not, for it’s already been a storybook season.

And that’s not all bad.  For real baseball fans, why shouldn’t the seasons come to this once in a while ?  Hasn’t this colossal letdown already happened to the Phils and the Cubs?  Why not the Mets?

GM’s everywhere have to deal with risk.  They have to be comfortable with decision-making in just about every situation, but, when you’re given almost unlimited resources and told to WIN NOW !, it’s tough to pass up on the proven guys, even if they’re pushing 40-years-old, or, these days, even 50 years-old.  (I reference the venerable one, Julio Franco, who, at 49, did start this season with the Mets).  Brian Cashman made the same mistakes this season, but was prescient enough to mix in guys like Melky Cabrera, Phil Hughes and of course JOBA.  Joba Chamberlain has been the BEST middle-reliever in the Major Leagues these last 5 to 6 weeks.  Guys like Hughes and Kennedy have filled in admirably while the old veterans Clemens and Mussina either imploded or just got hurt.

Minaya traded a great young pitcher, Brian Bannister, for a bad closer named Ambiorix Burgos, one of the biggest head-cases since Armando Benitez, another Mets closer of yesteryear.  He picked up Conine who’s done nothing.  He brought in Shawn Green and Willie plays Shawn Green instead of Lastings Milledge.  What a trade-off, the slowest baserunner and outfielder in the world vs. the electric Lastings, who can’t hit the curve ball.  Or even recognize the curve ball, for that matter.

So it’s a shootout at two Ok-Corrals.  Between GMs and managers, between infielders, outfielders, starting pitchers, relief pitchers.  Reyes vs Rollins, Manuel vs Randolph, Burrell vs. Alou,  Beltran vs. Rowand,  and who’ll be the Earps?  But, in the final analysis, the biggest shootout of them all has already taken place, that of the GMs and, I fear, Minaya blinked first and a little too long.