Mets: That's a clown bullpen, bro

Has the Mets' season really come down to trying to hold on until Frank Francisco gets back?  Interim closer Bobby Parnell had his second straight blown save Tuesday night. While Francisco will never be confused with Mariano Rivera, he did have just three blown saves in 21 chances before getting hurt.

As if blowing a save in the ninth wasn't bad enough, the Mets' bullpen lived up to its status as having the worst ERA in the National League by blowing a save in the tenth as well. After the Mets took the lead in the top  of the tenth, Tim Byrdak allowed a game-tying triple to the Nationals' Bryce Harper.

The game was still tied with two outs and the bases loaded when Pedro Beato decided there was room for one more bullpen goat when he threw a wild pitch, allowing the winning run to score.

The Mets have been competitive this season in large part due to the performances of R.A. Dickey and Johan Santana. Not only was Dickey putting up the best numbers in the National League and Santana was having a hot streak of his own, including the no-hitter, but they were going deep into games. Dickey and Santana have five complete games and three eight-inning starts between them. The Mets won all eight of those games. Nothing like avoiding that bullpen as much as possible.

Now the Mets are seven games out of first and six games ahead of the Phillies, closer to the cellar than to first place. The Phillies got Roy Halladay back last night and figure to be a lot stronger in the second half as long as they don't trade Cole Hamels. 

There's still plenty to root for this season - finishing above .500, staying ahead of the Phillies sticking around the wild-card hunt. But the Mets can't contend with this bullpen, and it will take more than a trade-deadline patch to fix it.

Mets vs. Yankees: The cluck stops here

Squawker Lisa, what happened to your jinx when we went to Friday night's Subway Series game? Did you "misremember" it, to use a word associated with last night's losing pitcher?

And after your criticism of Ike Davis for hoping the Mets could just get a victory, Ike had as much to do with anyone as to why the Mets got the win, with his three-run homer.

As much as I enjoyed last night's game, I did not enjoy the ninth inning. Frank Francisco is at best a serviceable closer who has no business shooting off his mouth. When he put two Yankees on in the ninth with the heart of the order coming up, I was dreading the game headline "FRANCISCO LAYS AN EGG."

Instead, everything went the Mets' way for a change. Davis' ball barely made it over the wall, Jon Niese gave up two homers but still got the win and Francisco got out of  the jam he got himself in.

Lisa, you like to say that when the Mets win, I do the Snoopy Dance. But last night, it was the chicken dance!

Subway Squawkers will be clucking at the Subway Series

So Squawker Jon and I will be at Friday and Sunday's Subway Series games. Sunday, in particular, looks to be shaping up as a great matchup, what with R.A. Dickey facing CC Sabathia. And just in time for the Subway Series, a Met has said something dopey and ridiculous.

I am not talking about closer Frank Francisco telling the New York Post that "I can’t wait to face those chickens," and that "I want to strike out the side against them. I’ve done it before." That is terrific, because it led to a front-page New York Post "Cluck You" cover, as well as the above graphic on the Post's web site. Besides, good-natured trash talk adds to the excitement over the series.

No, the Met comment I thought was very strange was Ike Davis telling the Post this:

“We’d like to get a win playing [the Yankees],” Ike Davis said.
Just a win would be fine?
“Anything — beat them one time,” Davis said. “I don’t like not beating a team in a season, so it’s our chance to get a ‘W’ off them.”

C'mon, Ike. One win out of three? That's all you're hoping for? Where's the bravado of Francisco? Come to think of it, Davis sounds like a Met fan -- or Eeyore! Squawker Jon, what say you? Care to make any predictions?

Speaking of predictions, I am fearlessly predicting that my Mets-jinxing powers will lead the Yankees to wins on Friday and Sunday, the games I will be at. Of course, this prediction conflicts with my prediction to Squawker Jon that R.A. Dickey will pitch a no-hitter soon. (I see it as being like the four-minute mile -- once Johan Santana showed it could actually be done, now more Mets will do it. Combine that with Dickey's dream season, and it's inevitable.) Now watch -- Dickey will do his no-hitter against the Yanks or something!

What are your predictions? Tell us about it!