There wasn’t much worth remembering from Wednesday night’s Mets’ loss in St. Louis.  In fact there hasn’t been much worth remembering from the last three times the Mets took the field unless you have a fancy for stranded runners and defensive bloopers.

Oh, and I forgot, bad starting pitching.

I can’t help but begin to look for the panic button, but I’m trying my best to constrain myself.  We are only 14 games into the season, but this looks like the same uninspired bunch that made Mets fans suffer for 162 games in 2008 and the famous 17-7 September stretch the year before. 

My only hope is that the Mets will actually have the opportunity to affect the pennant race by winning this September.  It may be too late by then and the only man left to blame will be Minaya. 

Omar should be the man anxiously pecking away at that panic button.

The starting rotation he assembled is make-shift at best.  At least the patrons at his local bagel shop are happy since he addressed the bullpen.  Unfortunately, Frankie Rodriguez hasn’t sniffed a save opportunity since Saturday when the Mets gave Johan Santana all of one run.

If it all hits the fan, I can run for cover in the posh Caesar’s Club.  Minaya, however, won’t be able to hide this time.  Scapegoat Willie, who wasn’t exactly the second coming of Whitey Herzog, is long gone.  This is his team.  It will be his mess.

It’s not all doom and gloom though.  For Heaven’s Sake Jose Reyes worked out a six-pitch walk in the midst of a scoring threat.

It was good to see Reyes walk with two outs and one on in the third. 

Cardinals’ starter Joel Pineiro fell behind 0-2, but worked the count back even thanks to the charity of home plate umpire Ted Barrett.  Pineiro sharply hit the same spot on consecutive pitches, only it was so far low and away that Greg Maddux may not have even gotten that call from Eric Gregg circa 1996.

It was then I was almost certain Reyes would K.  I could see Pineiro going even further away and out of the zone and Reyes hacking air.  Only the Mets shortstop admirably took the next two to take first base and allow Daniel Murphy to send a RBI single up the middle.

Extra Bases
Kudos to Carlos Beltran for a three-hit night.  He kept the game alive by lacing a run-scoring double in the ninth inning, but I still always wonder why can’t this guy hit with the bases loaded? … Joel Pineiro went somewhere no Mets pitcher has been – eight full innings.