Ugly

Phillies 16 - Mets 6

I guess if you're going to end a nice winning streak you might as well do it in style. I watched this game off and on for most of the night, though normally I would have given up on it fairly early. As the season winds down it gets harder for me not to watch even the worst of games. Besides, it was good to see Heath Bell Pitching again, even if it wasn't a game he'd choose to remember.

I'm not all that broken-hearted that we lost this game, though it might have been fun to sweep. I'll be curious to watch and see what happens in these next four games. I don't really care much what place we finish in -- I would like to see the team finish up strong, maybe 3 of 4. They've done a decent job of keeping the season from really going down the toilet after falling out of the race, just bring it home now.

I wish that Steve Trachsel could have had a better finish to this season, especially since there's a chance this might have been his last as a Met. I like Trachsel, but to all of those that felt that the season depended on Trax starting games over Zambrano, lets go over his five starts since taking Victor's spot on September 5:

7.1 IP, 4R, 4ER, 7H, 2BB, 2HR -- Loss to Atlanta
5.0 IP, 4R, 4ER, 4H, 1BB, 2HR -- loss to St. Louis
6.0 IP, 5R, 2ER, 9H, 3BB, 1 HR -- Loss to Atlanta
6.0 IP, 0R, 0ER, 5H, 1 BB, 0HR -- ND to Washington
4.2 IP, 7R, 7ER, 10H, 3BB, 1 HR -- Loss to Philadelphia

Some people got mad at me when I said that I thought Trachsel and Zambrano are practically the same guy. Trachsel has better control and is more consistent, Zambrano has better stuff. Both can be great when they're on, excruciating to watch when they are not. I agreed with the move for Trachsel to start over Zambrano, but only because I thought Zambrano could give them something out of the pen and Trax was more experienced and consistent. And I like Trachsel and respect his performance for some bad Met teams.

For all of that, if you have a chance to deal Trachsel for some real bullpen help in the off-season, I say go for it.