This story has become tiresome

There's only so many walk-off losses a team can take, let alone its fans.

For a bullpen that has has done so well for so much of this first third of the season, it has given up more than its share of walk-off losses, making the Mets a real Jekyll and Hyde team when it comes to home vs. road.

At Citi Field, the Mets are unbeatable. On the road, not so much.

I know there will be a lot of talk about Jerry Manuel and why he allowed Raul Valdes to stay in the game with Jennry Mejia warming up in the bullpen. At what point should he have removed Valdes? Before or after David Eckstein was hit by a pitch? Because after making a good play forcing the runner at third on Jon Garland's bunt, it was one on and one out with Jerry Hairston up.

Hairston singled, and I can only surmise that Manuel was looking at Adrian Gonzalez in the on-deck circle. A lefty, Gonzalez is the most dangerous bat in the Padres lineup and Manuel must have felt that he'd rather have a lefty throwing to him than bringing in the 20-year-old Mejia in such a high-leverage situation.

Once Eckstein was hit to load the bases, again, you bring in a rookie righthander in that spot to face Gonzalez?

Valdes has had a couple of bad outings in a row after pitching very well. Give Gonzalez credit for coming up big with the game on the line.

The blame on this loss hangs on Frankie Rodriguez. The guy has said over and over that he needs work, and Jerry gave it to him, asking for the four-out save. K-Rod got the final out of the eighth and struck out two with a runner on second to move the Padres within one strike of a loss with -- there he is again -- Eckstein at the plate.

Sure, Eckstein delivered a 12-hop grounder up the middle and didn't exactly crush it, but a hit is a hit. Rodriguez is getting paid a ton of money to save games. He was asked to get four outs and not allow a run, and he failed.

And remember, if it wasn't for a perfect relay throw by David Wright from Jason Bay in left field after a double by Gonzalez, cutting down Eckstein at the plate, the game would gave ended in a 2-1 loss with K-Rod getting the 'L.'

Also tiresome is seeing the Mets waste great starts by Johan Santana, but every time Santana pitches he goes against another strong pitcher if not that team's ace. Santana and Clayton Richard were each far from dominant, but they did what they had to do to keep the opposition from stringing together enough hits to score more than one run.

On a night when an umpire stole a perfect game from Armando Galarraga and Ken Griffey Jr. retired, the Mets' loss was thankfully overshadowed, at least on the national level. Here at home, it was just the latest chapter in a tired tale.

Big Pelf is no illusion

Mike Pelfrey is 8-1, has won his last four starts, and -- as Matt Cerrone points out on MetsBlog -- Pelfrey is 6-0 when he starts the day after a Mets loss. Which makes him as much of a stopper as Johan Santana.

Pelfrey went eight innings for the win Tuesday night against the Padres, allowing just four hits and two walks while striking out eight. In his last four wins, his ERA is a scant 1.27, the kind of production that prompted Ike Davis to compare his ability to that of the Cy Young Award-winning Santana.

Jerry Manuel said after the game that Pelfrey deserves to be in the same conversation as Josh Johnson and Ubaldo Jimenez. Throw in Matt Cain, Cole Hamels, Jaime Garcia, David Price -- Pelfrey can hang with all of them, and the days of the Mets having no clear No. 2 behind Santana are long gone.

My gut feeling when I hear the accolades is: SHUT UP! STOP TALKING! DON'T JINX HIM! But that just comes from years of disappointment mixed with a splash of superstition. But as much as Mets fans don't want to get too high on Pelfrey, it's becoming clear that his success is no illusion, but part of a natural progression that we've been fortunate to see develop.

Pelfrey got home runs from Davis and David Wright, and Jeff Francoeur continued his surge with two more hits; he's batting close to .500 since his sit-down with Manuel a few days ago. Jose Reyes went 0-for-5 and saw his hitting streak snapped, but it didn't matter.

Frankie Rodriguez came on for the ninth inning, after Pelfrey was removed having thrown 110 pitches. The three-run lead was likened by Gary Cohen and Rod Darling as a layup, but K-Rod made it interesting, allowing three hits and a run before striking out the final two batters.

Could Manuel have left Pelfrey in for the complete game? Sure, but K-Rod has said time and again that he needs to be active and prefers more work rather than less. And 110 pitches is getting pretty close to Pelfrey's limit, anyway. Save situations have been less than abundant, so no one should have an issue with Manuel going by the book. (Although I can predict Joe Benigno will voice a problem with it on Wednesday afternoon. Write it down. Wait, I just did.)

Memorable, but not in a good way

I couldn't understand why the Mets-Padres game was a night game on Memorial Day.

No baseball games should be played at night on Memorial Day. Same with July 4th. It's a holiday. Lots of people have off from work. Games should be played during the day, not only because it's a throwback to a time when most games were actually played in sunlight, but because that's the time to have a ballgame on a holiday.

Who wants to spend their day doing other Memorial Day activities, then when the day is over, sit down and watch a game? We've got work the next day, and we're toast after spending the day at the beach/pool/park/barbecue. Who has the energy to watch a night game, especially if it's on the West Coast?

Monday's game should have been a 4:10 p.m. PT start at worst. Then, you could either watch/attend the game live, or DVR it and watch it at a reasonable hour when you're home. Instead, I was stuck struggling to stay awake for a game at 10 p.m. at the end of an exhausting three-day weekend.

So I should be glad that the Mets chose this game to implode. I didn't miss much.

I know all about regression to the mean, but I thought we got that out of the way in the 8-6 loss to the Padres on Saturday. This was ridiculous.

Did we really expect Hisanori Takahashi to do something -- three straight six-inning scoreless starts in his first three starts -- that no one has done since 1906? No, and we knew he was going to get hit at some point.

Takahashi had a chance to escape, but hung a breaking pitch that was hammered for a grand slam. He clearly didn't have his up-to-now normal stuff, having trouble locating for strikes. But six runs was surprising, as was the beating absorbed by Raul Valdes, who had been pitching pretty well. You get two of those performances in the same game, you just write it off.

More concerning was the work turned in by Ryota Igarashi, who again was hit and hit hard. He has not shown the same ability as he did before he got hurt. He needs a couple of scoreless appearances before Jerry Manuel allows him to come into a tight game late with a lead.

The road record is also a concern, but if you look beneath the 7-17 record, you'll see that 11 of those games have been decided by 2 runs or less, including 6 one-run games (with several walk-off losses). That's a bunch of close games.

Sure, close losses usually mean the bullpen failed, or the team couldn't get a clutch hit, but at least it shows they're not completely helpless on the road. Hopefully the Mets can start getting some of those to fall in the other direction, and move toward a .500 road record by the end of the season.

Pelfrey and Santana will face off against LeBlanc and Richard to try and win the series and salvage a split. Both should enjoy pitching in Petco, which should be like a home away from home.

Never in our wildest dreams

Seriously. Forget about sweeping the Phillies at Citi Field. But shutting them out in all three games? Sure, the Phils are struggling at the plate, but zero runs in 27 innings? If I'd put $100 on the Mets to shut out the Phillies in three straight, I'd be richer than Tony Stark right now.

Funny how Ryan Howard brushed off Philly's ineptitude against R.A. Dickey by noting how rare it was to face a knuckleballer (let along two in less than a week), before saying they would bounce back against "a real pitcher." Well, they didn't fare too well against Hisanori Takahashi, and then when they had a chance to face Mike Pelfrey -- who doesn't rely on deception as much as Takahashi -- they still came up way, way short.

The series was as odd as it was enjoyable. Seeing Mets pitchers continue to throw with confidence and authority and control was glorious. Watching the awakening of Jose Reyes -- another huge clutch hit for a two-run double Thursday night sealed the sweep -- has been awesome. Almost expecting the team to come through with runners in scoring position? That's going to take some getting used to.

But how bad were the Phillies? They looked disinterested. Flat isn't the word. They showed no fight, no heart, no grit -- all things that are supposed to be hallmarks of baseball in the city of Brotherly Love. It was the Mets who showed some guts, who ran down balls in the outfield (nice catch by Angel Pagan Thursday), who stole bases and pitched out of jams.

It goes to show that what really matters isn't perception, but results. When the Phillies are winning, they are full of piss and vinegar and that's old-time baseball. When the Mets were losing, they had no heart.

The Phillies had a hole in their collective chest in this series. Maybe it's a temporary condition. The fact is the Mets took them to the woodshed in this series and made it look easy.

Now we'll see if the Mets can carry the momentum on the road, where they need to show improvement. In the meantime, it looks like there is a true home-field advantage at Citi Field, which will justify its design and dimensions. I really don't care if David Wright can't hit more than a handful of home runs there, if it means more wins for the home team.

And yeah, that's an Asia video at the top. Best. Band. Ever.

You can't get any better than that

I believe it was Gary Cohen, in a recent Mets broadcast, who said that for starting pitchers like John Maine and Oliver Perez, "The scholarships are over." That point was repeated during Wednesday night's 5-0 win over the Phillies -- a second straight shutout -- as Hisanori Takahashi earned his first win as a starter with superb outing in his second consecutive start.

Gary, Keith and Ron all agreed that at this point, Mets starters not named Johan or Mike will have to prove themselves worthy of a rotation slot every time they go out there. Your contract means nothing. Your willingness to pitch in pain is admirable, but doesn't help win ballgames. Throwing strikes, limiting walks, putting up innings -- those things count the most.

Takahashi did just that in shutting down a Phillies lineup that has more flight than fight these days. Hernandez noted that Chase Utley looks like he's hurt his hip again -- either that or he is as lost at the plate as Mark Texeira -- and Ryan Howard was waving at breaking pitches like he was shooing away moths.

When the Mets moved Takahashi to the rotation, the concern was that the move would weaken the bullpen. But if Takahashi, who was a starter in Japan for years, continues to pitch like this, then he is much more valuable in the rotation. The guy flat knows how to pitch, and the difference between him and Perez -- who does not know how to pitch, yet somehow earns $12 million a year -- is stark.

When Jon Niese returns, he also will have to show that he's worthy, although he will be given plenty of slack, mainly because there's no one else to take his spot on a regular basis. Fernando Nieve will start Saturday as the Mets juggle that last position until Niese's return.

With Takahashi in complete command, once the Mets took the lead you got the feeling that the game was in hand, even when the Mets were only up 2-0. The vibe was 180 degrees from what it is typically against the Phillies, who have the kind of offense that can quickly eliminate any deficit.

Jose Reyes snapped a long homerless drought with a solo shot leading off the third, and then the Mets put the game away in the sixth on a leadoff double by Wright, a sweet bunt for a base hit by Pagan, a stolen base by Pagan (the Mets ran wild on Brian Schneider) and a two-run double by Barajas. A throwing error by Utley (nice) allowed Reyes to come up and single in the fifth run.

Just like that, two shutouts and the series is already won. The Mets go for the sweep (!) Thursday night in a showdown between Mike Pelfrey and Cole Hamels, who had a brutal April but has pitched well in his four starts in May.

The Mets have a secret weapon

R.A. Dickey's ultimate Mets fate will likely be no more than an answer to a trivia question, but for now, he is nothing less than a savior.

Missing a tendon in his pitching arm but possessing a knuckleball that at one point this season retired 27 straight AAA hitters in one game, Dickey has stepped up and saved the Mets' starting rotation from imploding under the weight of injury and ineffectiveness. He has helped the Mets turn their season around just when things were looking bleak, and he may have even helped save Jerry Manuel's job.

For now.

Dickey shut out the Phillies in Tuesday's series opener, won by the Mets by a convincing 8-0 margin. While elder statesman Jamie Moyer was ineffective, Dickey dodged bullets through six innings, allowing seven hits and walking three while striking out seven. The Phillies got runners on base, but none managed an extra-base hit against Dickey, which likely made Citi Field look even more cavernous to the Phils, compared to their adorable shoe box of a ballpark.

Dickey came to the knuckleball late in his career, turning to it almost in desperation. The Mets similarly turned to Dickey in desperation, having demoted Oliver Perez before seeing Jon Niese and then John Maine lost to the disabled list.

All Dickey has done is earn a spot in a starting rotation that has revived itself despite losing three of its pieces.

And let's not forget the work of Raul Valdes, a 32-year-old Cuban finally getting a chance and making the most of it. His three innings of scoreless relief not only earned him a save but gave the bullpen even more rest after an off-day Monday, which is invaluable for the Mets' busy relief corps.

The Mets' less-secret weapon is Jose Reyes, who busted out Tuesday with three hits, three runs, two steals and an RBI. For as long as he has been here, it has been said that as Reyes goes, so go the Mets. Any wonder that the Mets struggled while Reyes himself struggled for seven weeks to get back into playing shape after missing almost all of spring training?

It is Reyes' resurgence that will trigger a Mets turnaround, if one is coming. The lineup has enough depth and talent to score runs, especially if Reyes is leading the way.