Midnight in Miami

Marlins 4 - Mets 2

Last night sucked. I have nothing really positive to say about it. The Mets have decided to hurl themselves out of this race immediately after injecting themselves back in it, and I'm just plain tired of watching Dontrelle Willis romp through another game against us. I draw no comfort at all in the way the team fought to come back in the 9th. They've done this all year: nice to see them go down fighting but go down they almost always do. There are no moral victories. I'm just going to turn the page.

Just one general observation here: give up this 6 man rotation. All you're going to get out of it is that neither Zambrano nor Trachsel will pitch enough to be sharp. Go with Trachsel because Zambrano might actually give you something out of the pen. If we fall completely out of the race shut down Pedro for the season, maybe Benson, too, if he's as banged up as rumored to be. If we actually manage to stay in the race for a while, just pick one and live with him.

Big changes

In today's Daily News Adam Rubin has a story on a huge shakeup in the Mets scouting staff. I hope these moves signal a change in the organization's thinking.

With a few notable exceptions, the Mets system has failed to produce significant help for the big club. This must change if the Mets are going to build a consistently winning organization. Years of incompetence and lack of vision on the part of management has cost the Mets dearly with their fans. I think the biggest reason for all of the anger with the team is the lack of trust on the fans' part with team management.

It is sexier in the short term to go after big name, big money players through trades and free agency. It requires time, vision and courage to do the right thing and put the effort and monetary resources into building scouting and development into what it needs to be. Holding people accountable is only a first step in this process.