Closers

It was nice to see the Mets get a win yesterday. They certainly may you hold your breath but they did come away with the victory.

It was nice to see Fernando Tatis start hitting again. It was nice to see Daniel Murphy come up with an RBI double in a big spot, as well as turn a nice play in the field. It was nice to see Pelfrey pitch another strong game and come away with a victory after losing his last start. Hopefully this victory will start him on another tear, the type he had before he finally lost a game.

Aaron Heilman is a different story. So way, the Mets have to get him right. I truly think the Mets loused him up by not letting him try his hand at starting, once he found some success in the pen. I hate the Randolph philosophy that a relief pitcher who can pitch a number of times per week is more valuable than a starter.

Speaking of relief pitching, this brings up the question of Billy Wagner. Met announcers were wondering aloud yesterday if Omar Minaya might have traded some players he was relunctant to let go, to get a relief pitcher, if he knew Wagner was going to end up on the DL.

I am glad he did not know this. A couple of years ago, he traded Xavier Nady for Roberto Hernandez because of Dauner Sanchez’s injury due to a cab accident. Hernandez never became the eighth inning guy, ended up just for the rest of the year before leaving and ever since, Met fans and announcer talked about how Nady could be the answer to problems that arose the following years. I don’t want to relive that.

In addition, I still have a problem with the fact of needing a designated closer. I hate this approach. I realize that it is the way baseball is played but I don’t like it. As far as I am concerned, all you need to do is find a decent pitcher and ask him to pitch one inning. It should not matter whether that inning is the seventh, eighth or ninth. In fairness to Heilman, I don’t think it did. He just isn’t pitching well, regardless of what inning you give him. I just hope Jerry Manuel doesn’t start using three pitchers in the ninth to close out games. Pick a guy and make him your closer for the time Wags is on the DL.

That’s one fan’s opinion.

Let’s Go Mets!