Those Mets

THE OVERPAIED DISSAPOINTMENT

DAVID WRIGHT TOPS BLAME BOARD

A huge moment in Game 1 of the Subway Series felt like a huge moment in the Mets' season, maybe because every day feels like life and death for this ballclub and their manager at the moment. So here was David Wright, the face of the franchise whose troubles at the plate are at the center of all the Met drama, stepping in against Mariano Rivera, a base hit away from tying the game in the ninth inning and changing the course of this game, and perhaps the season. After all, if this weekend turns into an embarrassment for the Mets, Jerry Manuel could very well pay for it with his job. Yes, with his team trailing the Yankees 2-1 at the time, this was a chance for Wright to do so many things, for himself and his ballclub, but if you have been watching the Mets this season, you knew better. Wright, for whatever reason, is a lost soul at the plate these days. Two innings earlier he had taken a 3-2 fastball from Joba Chamberlain for strike three in another huge spot, with two runners on base. It was his second strikeout of the night and, incredibly, his 57th of the season, and at the time it seemed all too symbolic of the state of the Mets. Yet he had a chance to redeem himself in the ninth with Rivera looking vulnerable, having surrendered booming doubles to Jason Bay and Ike Davis. Only this time Wright grounded out to second base on the first pitch, and that was that. You hate to think the worst, but you got the feeling Wright just wanted to make contact early in the count, so he wouldn't be put in the position of striking out to end the game. Wright said it was a matter of not wanting to fall behind Rivera. "He's got such great stuff, you want to try to hit the first good one you see," he said. "I got a pitch and just grounded out." Whatever. On a night when Hisanori Takahashi should have inspired the Mets with six shutout innings in his first start in the majors, they sent their fans home from Citi Field with a 2-1 loss, once again thinking the worst about this team. The Mets lost in part because of a crucial error by Alex Cora at second base, but even as their pitching has become a crisis point for them, it is the repeated failures of Wright and the other Mets' hitters to deliver when it counts that has made it so exasperating for their fans. On this night, in fact, they managed all of one hit in six innings against Javy Vazquez, making him look more like an ace than a bust, making you wonder how bad it might get the next two days against Phil Hughes and CC Sabathia. That's why embarrassment is still in play for the weekend. That's why, with the Phillies following the Yankees into Citi Field on Tuesday, Manuel's job status could well hang in the balance. This was a day when Manuel actually won a battle of sorts, as the Mets put John Maine on the disabled list with shoulder weakness despite his protests that he was fine and dandy, validating the manager's decision to pull him after five pitches against the Nationals on Thursday. Unfortunately for Manuel, it's almost certainly one more reasoso n he eventually will lose the war and get fired before too long. It's not his fault that the Mets don't have enough pitching, the way things are going, to be serious contenders across a 162-game season. Everyone in the world could see the Mets were kidding themselves during the winter by refusing to reinforce their starting rotation, and now it's coming back to haunt them. Of Maine and Oliver Perez, the Mets surely were going to need at least one to have a big comeback season if they wanted to contend, and now the odds are stacked against both. And while Takahashi pitched brilliantly Friday night, it's hard to imagine the Mets surviving for long with him, R.A. Dickey and Raul Valdez forming three-fifths of the rotation. The blame for that falls mostly on ownership's unwillingness to spend for a free agent such as Joel Pineiro, but at some point it is the manager who is going to pay. Wright's latest failures at the plate might have just pushed up the expiration date. (NY Daily News)