May 21, 2009, New York Mets bullpen off day story for Metro (NY) Newspaper
Testing the ’pen
Mets’ relievers proving you can’t buy happiness
“They’re proven winners. They’ve proven that they can get guys out.” John Maine
Before the streak
The Mets (5-7, 3.00 ERA, 12 saves) had the second-ranked bullpen in MLB behind only Kansas City.
METRO
It’s time to finally see if the Mets’ bullpen is worth anything.
General manager Omar Minaya spent more than $50 million on setup man J.J. Putz and closer Francisco Rodriguez in the offseason. In addition, Minaya and manager Jerry Manuel have put their necks on the line for the rest of the bullpen, calling it the deepest part of their team.
The Mets, though, are riding a season-high four-game skid heading into Friday’s series opener at Fenway against the Red Sox. The bullpen is charged with two of those losses and can either rebound or relapse against Boston.
The Mets’ starters have no worries.
“They’re proven winners,” John Maine said. “They’ve proven that they can get guys out, and it’s nice to have those guys on the back end.”
Wednesday night wasn’t so nice. Putz gave up the game-winning run in the eighth inning to the Dodgers. Two games prior, Brian Stokes earned a loss after walking the leadoff hitter, who turned out to be the game-winning run.
Of course, the Mets aren’t getting much help from their defense or their lineup, which went 3-for-27 with runners in scoring position against Los Angeles. That doesn’t figure to change, though, as Carlos Delgado’s hip surgery will keep him out at least 10 weeks and Jose Reyes left Wednesday’s game after re-aggravating a calf injury that forced him to miss five straight games earlier on the road trip.
With a depleted lineup, protecting late leads or keeping the game close becomes that much more important.
“It’s going to be challenging,” Manuel told reporters Wednesday, “in the position that we are in now.”
posted by Denis P. Gorman at 9:25 AM
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