The M&M Mets: Wine and Wagner

"I'm a half glass kind of man," my Uncle Knowlton said. He and my aunt were over on Saturday afternoon. I was pouring wine.

"What's that?" I replied, "You're a half-assed kind of guy?"

My uncle howled with laughter. I love my uncle, in large part because he enjoys corny jokes as much as I do. He's one of the few people who could walk into our house, see that we're watching a Mets game, and change the channel (to watch lacrosse, no less). The Mets were up 4-0. Wagner was coming in. What could go wrong?

Later, on the call-in shows, the consensus was to blame everyone but Wagner. It was Matsui's fault because he failed to turn the double play in the ninth (which is unfair, he didn't waste any time in catching the toss from Reyes nor in relaying the ball to Delgado). It was Randolph's fault because he shouldn't have used Wagner with a four run lead. (First, Wagner needed the work. When teams lose 9 out of 12 their closers have a lot of down time. Second, if the guy can't protect a four-run cushion in May, where's he going to be in September?)

Lost in the shuffle was Pedro's magnificent start. Seven shutout innings. His excellent has become so routine, so expected, that the Fox broadcasting duo of Tim McCarver and Joe Buck ran out of things to say. Grasping at straws (consciously or otherwise), they spent an entire half inning talking about Johnny Damon's hair.