Mets Woes Are on Omar Minaya's Back

The New York Mets have just been swept by the Philadelphia Phillies, who for four games showed that they may want the National League East more than the Mets do as for four games the Phillies played with more guts, guile and hustle. Jose Reyes (1-for-15) had an awful series and the Mets bullpen was even worse, blowing lead after idea in a series that was of vital importance to both teams. The sweep by the Phillies sweep puts the Mets two games in front of the National League East as they limp to Atlanta. And with 6 games left on this 10-game road trip, there's a good chance the Mets could be out of first place by the time they finally make it home to Shea. If that happens and the Mets go on to miss the playoffs, I'm putting the blame squarely on GM Omar Minaya's back for several reasons that were highlighted during the Phillies sweep:

1) In the case of the bullpen, his over-the-top love for Latino players which has come back to bite him, esp. in the cases of Duaner Sanchez and Guillermo Mota. Sanchez let Omar and his team down immensely after a taxi accident last year he had no business being in. Mota turned out to be a cheat who the Mets had no business letting back on their team.

2) Not re-signing Chad Bradford, who had an excellent year last year for the team, just never made any sense.

3) Giving up way too early on starter Brian Bannister and trading him for mediocre relief pitcher Ambrioux Burgiois last year. Bannister is now having a great year for the Royals while Burgiois (who couldn't even make the Mets opening-day roster) is on the disabled list and now needs Tommy John surgery to repair his throwing arm.

Unfortunately, for Mets fans it seems like Omar has already given up on acquiring anyone new this year to help the relief corps: "The reality is, nobody's giving you bullpen right now," the Mets GM recently told the New York Post. "Nobody is getting through waivers."

All year long the Mets have allowed the Braves and the Phillies to hang in there, they haven't even had a 5-game winning streak all season. Carlos Delgado is having a maddening and underachieving year, who knows if Pedro Martinez will be any good if and when he finally comes back and the Mets have been horrible at home this season. If they are overtaken for the division, what with so many teams still being in the mix, there's a good chance that the Mets might not even win the wild card. Hard to imagine considering that the Mets clearly have the best team in the National League. Too bad if they aren't able to show it.