K-Rod: No stuff, no problem (but lots of agita)

Admit it, if the guys pitching in relief for the Mets tonight had been wearing the uniforms of last years culprits, you'd be screaming for their heads. But only one of them was from last year (and that one, Pedro Feliciano, did have the worst line - 2/3 inning and two earned runs). Sean Green allowed allowed an inherited runner to score and J.J. Putz gave up a run in the eighth.

If you just look at part of the box score, it would look like Francisco Rodriguez was the only reliever to get the job done. No runs, no hits for his second save. Actually, I wish I had just seen the box score later, and not have seen K-Rod labor through 30 pitches, only 12 of them for strikes.

Yes, K-Rod should have been out of the inning more routinely had the ump not called a phantom error on Carlos Delgado for supposedly taking his foot off the bag. But walking two batters, falling behind seemingly on all of them, and finally, with the bases loaded and two outs, Laynce Nix hits the ball to the warning track before it is caught for the final out. Whew!

K-Rod may have gone 2-0 on just about every batter, but the end result is that the Mets are 2-0. This was the type of game the bullpen would have lost last year. Maybe this year really is different.

Thursday will be quite a test, though. With the top relievers pitching twice already and laboring tonight, the Mets need to give them a break for the afternoon game that starts only about 13 1/2 hours after tonight's game ended. The Mets need their starter to be a real innings eater.

But Thursday's starter is Oliver Perez.

Well, whatever happens tomorrow, at least the Mets have already won the series. And at least the Mets don't have the Braves' bullpen, which blew a 10-3 lead with an eight-run inning in which Atlanta relievers walked FOUR Phillies with the bases loaded. Even Ollie hasn't done that.