TSTDIA: Mets 6 -- Phillies 3

And that's how you do it! Jose Reyes broke up the tie with a three run blast in the sixth. It was all backed up by seven strong innings by John Maine and a great bullpen performance by Joe Smith, Scott Schoeneweis, and the one and only Billy Wagner, who closed out the game 1-2-3 in the ninth.

And back into first...

Everyone is interested in everyone else

I hate that term. "The [INSERT TEAM NAME] are showing interest in [INSERT PLAYER NAME] and might be willing to give up [INSERT MINOR LEAGUER]."

How many times have you read that sentence, or something like it, in the past few days?

Rumors everywhere, who is going to get traded there and for what, what each team is willing to give up, what players can be traded where.

Zzzzzzzz...

Boring! Give me some meat! Some real news, fact, stories!

Ugh, I'm sick of the trade deadline already.

Maybe this will quiet the "Trade Billy Wagner" crowd

Last night, we saw a rag-tag team of bullpen pitchers attempt to close out a game. They failed.

Billy Wager is a closer for a reason. Being a closer is more than just throwing pitches. You have to be mentally tough, mentally prepared to have it all on your shoulder. The team could win or lose simply by the way you pitch to (hopefully) the next three batters.

Closing, in my opinion, is one of the hardest jobs to do in all of baseball. We all know how nervous we (the fans) get when Wagner is on the mound with the lead, can you imagine how he feels??

That is not a job I would want to have. But hopefully last night's loss does show some fans a new light: Wagner is a closer, a good one at that, for a reason. He's tougher than nails and can go out and do his thing on a day to day basis.

Pitchers will falter, they can't be perfect all the time, and injuries will happen. Hopefully fans realize how valuable Wagner is to the bullpen and this team.

Help Wanted: Competent third base coach

Position:
A third base coach who realizes when a ball is going to beat the runner by, say, 15 feet, you don't send him.

Must:
Have full sight.
Be able to swing arm in windmill motion.
Willing to wear plastic helmet.
Common sense.

Should:
Speak Spanish.
Have hands.

Not necessary:
Hold prior coaching job...ever. As long as you understand baseball more than Luis Aguayo.

Burn this image into your memory

Hey, Mets...I have some motivation for you.

Just study everything about this picture. Jimmy Rollins celebration, his posture, his fingers to the sky. Look at Damion Easley's slumped shoulders, dejected look, and "I'm going to stare at the ground and hope this is all a dream" stare.

This, right here, is your motivation. Remember this image tomorrow night. Remember this image Thursday afternoon. Remember this image for the rest of the games you play the rest of the year.

Here is your fodder, your spark. Here is something you need to overcome. Last nights loss was miserable, but if you can overcome that, shake everything about it from your minds except for this very picture, this moment in time, and use this to do what you need to do, then last night will live as a moral victory.

Remember this photograph...

(AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Early Morning Madness: Jerry pulled a Willie edition

There are two sides to every coin. On one hand, I leave Johan Santana out there for the 9th inning to work his magic. That's why he's getting the big bucks. On the flip-side, I can see why you don't want to run your "ace" out there and run up his pitch count, especially with Pedro Martinez ailing.

But, your closer is unavailable, and no one has really shone through as a viable replacement. Why not give Santana a shot? Maybe you keep him on a very short least, if he gives up a hit or two, you yank him. Easy as that. Just have the bullpen ready to go as soon as possible.

And again, on the other side of the coin, you should trust your bullpen enough to hold a three run lead with only three outs to get.

Jerry Manuel did his best Willie Randolph impression, and it only took one inning. When Manuel didn't send out Santana for the 9th, he made his first mistake. When Duaner Sanchez came in and gave up not one, not two, but three straight hits, he made his second. Again, without your closer, these players should be on a short leash in their attempt to fill his role. The first single should have been a huge warning sign, and the second one should have been enough to get him out of the game.

The Jose Reyes goof at second base on a ground ball induced from Joe Smith, can't be pinned on Manuel. That blame falls solely on Reyes.

When Manuel left Pedro Feliciano in after he gave up the tying hit, he was pulling a classic Willie. Not trusting your pitcher at all at times, and trusting others way too much. It seems like Randolph would always leave a pitcher in just a little too long, even though the common sense thing would be to pull him. It's as if he didn't want to hurt their feelings. Sometimes the pitchers just don't have it on a certain day, and unfortunately for the Mets, no one seemed to have it in the bullpen last night.

This was Manuel's first big mistake as the Mets manager. Unfortunately for everyone involved, it came against the Phillies, in a battle for first place, with the teams ace in line for a win (a dominant one at that), but things just did not go as planned.

"After seeing that, you can't help but . . . You hate not being out there," said Billy Wagner. I couldn't agree more.

TSTDIA: Phillies 8 -- Mets 6

Honestly, that was the most painful inning of baseball I've ever seen.

Truly awful.