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Bumblehead

With the Phillies having already lost when the Mets took the field last night, a second-consecutive victory over the Marlins would have pulled the Mets back to within one game of first place. However, with the Mets bats cooling off some and the continued bumbleheadedness of Art Howe, it wasn't meant to be.

Tom Glavine continued his regression towards the mean, allowing four earned runs and 11 baserunners (9 hits, 2 walks), while striking out only three and allowing a homerun in six innings of work. That's two consecutive poor starts for Glavine, both against division rivals. He blamed this one on everything from the bullpen pitching mound being different from the live one, to landing in a rut on the mound created by Marlins pitcher Brad Penny.

The Mets managed only five hits through the first six innings off of Brad Penny, but got a nice little rally going in the seventh. Mike Cameron led off the inning with a double, and was brought home by Shane Spencer's pinch-hit double. Todd Zeile then drew a walk off of reliever Matt Perisho, and Jose Reyes singled, plating Spencer.

With runners on first and second and still nobody out, Jack McKeon brought in Ben Howard to face the red-hot Kaz Matsui. The Mets were still trailing by two, 4-2, and you have to play for the win on the road, so no way do you sacrifice with Matsui, right? You do if you're name is Art Howe. With Mike Piazza waiting on deck, you know the Marlins will walk him. They do, and Howard proceeds to get Cliff Floyd to pop out and Richard Hidalgo to strike out on three pitches, ending the threat.

Armando Benitez came on in the eighth for the six-out save, and the Mets were toast. Jose Parra allowed a meaningless homerun to Alex Gonzalez, as the Mets futility against the league's best closers continued.

I could carry on about the Matsui bunt for several more paragraphs, but I'll spare you the curse-laden diatribe. Needless to say, this afternoon's game is a must-win for the Mets (side note: wtf is up with these game times in Florida? 6:05 pm yesterday, 3:05pm today? Sheesh). The Mets have now lost two-of-three, and really need to go into the All-Star break on a high note. If they lose today, they will lose the series to the Marlins, will have lost three-of-four, will stand only a single game over .500, and could be three games out of first and as far back as fourth place.

Al Leiter needs to get it done today, so he can head into the break with the league's best ERA (he currently does not have enough innings to qualify; a pitcher needs at least one IP per team game, and Leiter is just short), and Mike Piazza and Tom Glavine need to go pitch the softer side of New York to Randy Johnson in Houston.

Don't forget to catch the All-Star futures game this afternoon at 4pm on ESPN2. AAA Norfolk's David Wright and A St. Lucie's Yusmeiro Petit will be representing the Mets organization.