It wasn’t long ago, when on the night before the start of the All Star Break, Billy Wagner blew a save and reaped the wrath of many Mets fans who growled at the thought of Wags being the lone representative for the Mets in the 2008 All Star game. Thanks to a last minute injury, David Wright was able to join Wagner in Yankee Stadium, but that’s not the point of this rant.
Billy Wagner had his fair share of blown saves for the Mets this season, but when you compare him to the other top closers in the National League, you quickly learn that he was as good as it gets.
All it took was 15 days for Mets fans to realize how important Billy Wagner was to this team. In his absence, every 8th and 9th inning has been an adventure to the Twilight Zone. Every batter comes to the plate knowing all to well that the Mets have nobody who can scare them like Billy Wagner could. The opposition always knew how good Wagner could be… It took Mets fans a couple of weeks without him to come to the same realization.
So now we turn to other options…
SNY bounced around the names of David Weathers, Wil Ledezma, Miguel Batista and Al Reyes. <yawn>
Others are lobbying for Oliver Perez, John Maine and Mike Pelfrey to get banished to the pen. <shock and awe>
The truth is that our current cast just need to step up. Jerry Manuel knows it and so does Omar Minaya who admitted that any help from a trade wasn’t forthcoming.
Maybe Luis Ayala will help… he certainly did the job last night…
But when Aaron Heilman has his head screwed on straight, he can be every bit as good as any of the other closers out there. The other guys in the pen, just have to stay within themselves and chip in.
We will rise above this bullpen situation. It may mean a few extra sleepless nights and plenty of Tums, but in the end… we will prevail.
