Before last night’s game, Terry Collins told reporters that reliever Josh Edgin would make one more relief appearance this season before being shutdown for the season.
It didn’t go as planned…
With the Mets already being pounded 11-1 by the Phillies, Edgin came on for the final appearance of the season and inherrited a very hairy situation.
The left-hander was brought into the ninth inning with the bases loaded to relieve an ineffective Jeurys Familia. Edgin plunks Chase Utley to force home a run, and then BOOM… A grand slam by Ryan Howard…
This comes on the heels of Wednesday night’s loss to the Phillies who came back to beat Edgin in the ninth after he coughed up a game winning two-run homer to Ryan Howard. Who says lightning never strikes in the same place twice?
Both these appearances were supposed to be a huge test Edgin who the Mets are heavily relying on for next season’s bullpen. On wednesday night they brought him in for what could have been his first Major League save, and he blew it. And of course the big thing was his failure to retire four straight lefthanded sluggers who served him his lunch instead.
Before the Phillies rolled into town, Edgin had been pitching well out of the pen and in fact had a streak of 16 straight scoreless appearances snapped on Wednesday.
But there’s a difference between coming into a game in the ninth inning or the seventh inning – a huge difference. Just ask Bobby Parnell.
“If Josh Edgin is going to pitch in this league, he’s got to get one of those two guys out,’’ manager Terry Collins said.
Overall, Edgin has been good against lefties, holding them to a .164 batting average. But he finishes the season with an unsightly 4.56 ERA in 34 appearances for the Mets. Five of the 19 hits Edgin has allowed have been home runs, and small sample size or not, that’s not good.
There’s nothing certain about the Mets bullpen other than you can bank on a return by Frank Francisco who has a $6.5 million dollar deal for next season. That makes him untradeable. You can be certain that Robert Carson and Josh Edgin could come back, but who knows.
The fact of the matter is Sandy Alderson will get a third trip to the drawing board and another bullpen revamping is tops on the list of priorities this Winter.
Original Post 9/20
Terry Collins has told reporters that Josh Edgin will make one more relief appearance this season before being shutdown for the rest of the season.
Collins said the decision was based on Edgin’s workload this season.
Edgin is 1-2 with a 3.86 ERA in 33 relief appearances in the big leagues this season, and has made 74 relief appearances combined between the Majors and Minors this season.
