If It Happens Again

Game 118 - Mets

Phillies 11, Mets 4
Record: 71-47

That's enough penance by now, don't you think?

I can't come up with any reason to put forth any effort here, based on what I've seen over the last 28 hours. At least Jose Reyes came to play, launching three dingers into the Philly night to account for all four runs and three of the five hits that Mets starting players notched. His was a shining image amid a dugout full of eyesores.

Gluttons for punishment can just re-read last night's account and insert El Duque's sucking for Pedro's hurting. Nothing else differentiates itself at the moment. Oh, El Duque set a record for most runs allowed by a Mets starter . . . ever. With 11 of them.

And just to ignore the identical rock and hard place flanking Willie Randolph again tonight, let me just say that there was no doubt in my mind that this record would be broken under Willie's watchful eye.

Met blogs and forums everywhere began tallying magic numbers a couple of weeks ago, not just for a Mets postseason berth but for home field advantage, 100 wins, and all sorts of more ludicrous plateaus. Right now I'm just hoping the magic number for not being the nightly laughingstock is somewhere under 3.

Whatever the "shake it off" ritual was after last night, it didn't work. Boys, here's Dr. Lester's prescription: head over to McGillin's in Center City, get shnockered, play some stupid games with the videocamera in their stairwell, and hit on the waitresses until you drop. Maybe you'll get lucky tonight, and if you don't, maybe you'll get lucky tomorrow.