[Repeat]

Game 19 - Mets

Cubs 8, Mets 1
Record: 10-9

Well, on the plus side, I don't have to dig very deep to come up with my half-witted analysis as to why the Mets were embarrassed again. This game was as close to a carbon copy of its predecessor as consecutive baseball games get. Dammit.

Silent Metbats? Check. (For the uninitiated, Ted Lilly is no Carlos Zambrano, though he may be Victor Zambrano.)

Shoddy defense? Check. (No errors in the box score is a generosity of some note.)

Bullpen implosion? Checkmate. (Uh . . . wow.)

Once again the Mets found themselves on the ass end of a slim margin entering the late innings. Once again the final tally was a whacking. Once again reliever extraordinaire Jorge Sosa served some balled-up ground beef, this time a grand slam to the uber-slugging shortstop Ronny "Roger" Cedeno (lifetime slugging percentage: .357). On the plus side, Cubs fans again have a Sosa to cheer mightily for; on the minus side . . . yeah, you probably can figure that part out.

Worth mentioning is Carlos Delgado's free-fall into . . . dare I say it . . . oh, man, do I actually mean this? . . . fine, I'll say it . . . Robby Alomar Territory. True, the Mets got a decent (not All-Star) year out of Delgado, whereas the bait-and-switch began immediately with Mallomar. But considering Delgado's glove, or the cast-iron woodchuck trap he calls one, the comparisons aren't ludicrous. Where an inordinate amount of ability becomes liability, that's the crossroads where the Mets acquire guys.

It's the type of thing to drive a GM to drink. As fans, we're miles past that.

I'm not sure what these two-game series are all about, but swapping out two more games at Wrigley for a pair at Nationals Stadium right now is a blessing. On the Mets' worst days, they're infinitely more talented (and actually perform better) than the Nats. We've just seen the Mets' worst days, I pray, so let the Nats be a balm for what's burning the Metropolitans' hind quarters.