Walk-off weekend, Ollie P., the Nationals,and the Bench

All right - I'm officially retracting my complaints regarding the signings of Rod Barajas and Henry Blanco to fix the catching situation. Apparently Brian Schneider just made me forget how important having a competent catcher is to a team's success. It's kind of impressive/scary that he erased memories of Mike Piazza and Paul LoDuca. Anyway, Barajas and Blanco each provided the Mets with a walk-off win over the Giants this weekend. I was at the Friday night game and it was incredible - the ball park went from completely flat (thanks, K-Rod..) to absolutely insane with one swing of the bat. (And that's not even taking Ike Davis's circus catch into account. Also, for whatever reason, "We Like Ike!" chants have no power at Citi Field... I'm hoping this changes soon).

So of course, after riding high on two walk off wins, we sent Oliver Perez to the mound on Sunday. Unfortunately for us, Bad Ollie showed up to play. I really don't even know what to say about him anymore. I'm going to chalk him up to a horrifically overpriced 5th starter and just leave it at that. Now my concerns are about how he just crushes the bullpen. He lasted only 3.1 innings on Sunday, during which he threw 98 pitches, walked 7, and hit a batter for good measure. It also didn't help that the Mets weren't able to get to Tim Lincecum early because he had a shaky start. But, it's a series win and obviously I'll take that every time.

And now the Nationals are in town. I'm not too happy with the Nationals imitating the Marlins at this point in the season. I suppose it's still too early to make decisive comments about what a team is or isn't - but it seems like the Nationals are much better than anyone gave them credit for, myself included. After dropping last night's game, I'd like for the Mets to come out and make a statement tonight - one that does NOT include getting ejected for arguing balls and strikes. The players are obviously frustrated, and I understand that, but getting thrown out of a game doesn't make you productive... it forces Jerry to use one of his not-so-stellar bench players.

Speaking of bench players! Frank Catalanotto was designated for assignment - and Chris Carter has been called up to replace him. Hopefully Carter can breathe a little life into this offense, like Ike Davis did immediately following his promotion to Queens. We certainly could use the help.