Overmatched and Overmanaged

Cardinals 6 - Mets 5

SLOW DOWN LITTLE FELLA'

Sometimes enthusiasm is not called for. Sometimes having a steady hand at the helm is what is needed. Tonight, Terry Collins' energy and spunk got the best of him as the Mets fell 6-5 to the Cards.

There was no reason to pull Chris Schwinden after 6 innings after he had given up only 3 runs on 6 hits. Mets Blob doesn't want to hear about the 92 pitches either. Let the kid go another inning.

Even if the decision is made to pull Schwinden, what possessed Terry to go to three pitchers to get through the 7th inning. Miguel Batista started the inning by getting a groundout and a strikeout. He then proceeded to give up a single to Albert Pujols - which is no great shame. Here is where Terry Collins started to lose his mind. 

Terry went to Daniel Herrera in order to turn Lance Berkman around to bat righthanded - his weaker side. Berkman promptly singled to put two men on, setting the stage for David Freese to club the game winning 3 run homer off Pedro Beato.

Miguel Batista is not the best pitcher in the league. He is a journeyman, who at this point in his career gets by on guts and guile. Still, he looked sharp tonight and had a much better chance of retiring Berkman than Herrera. Terry Collins has to learn to get his head out of the charts and go with what he sees.

Lefty/Righty match ups are overdone in baseball. If you can pitch, you can pitch. Whether the batter is righthanded or lefthanded does not matter. Even if you buy the match-up theory - in this case it was pointless. Berkman is a switch hitter. He was in no way affected by the presence of Daniel Herrera on the mound. His line drive proved that.

Mets Blob can only assume Terry was inspired to over manage by the king of screwing up baseball, Tony LaRussa.  

       Lucas "Dizzy" Duda

Lucas Duda played right field tonight like a guy wearing blue jeans in the company picnic softball game. Lucas left the game with dizziness after attempting to run backwards through the right field wall on a ball hit by Albert Pujols.The dizziness was compounded by Duda's next misplay, which forced him to track the pinball ricochet of a David Freese triple, as the ball caromed hyperspeed around the right field corner.


After the game Lucas was tested for a concussion. Determining if Lucas Duda has a concussion may be the most difficult challenge yet for the Mets troubled medical staff. Where would one start? Expecting the big lug to express himself at this point is a bit of a reach. Still its certainly worth a try: "Lucas if you have a head boo boo, stomp your foot once. If its all better, blink."