"Cardiac Mets"

After the Mets' dramatic 5-4 win over the Marlins last night, SNY's Gary Cohen hit the nail right on the head. This year's ball club is the "Cardiac Mets." I found it a bit amusing, after I gave Mets reliever Aaron Heilman the nickname "Heart Attack Heilman" earlier in the season.

Last night's game was another chapter in a 2008 season in which a Mets fan never knows what will happen. Down to their final out in the 9th, trailing 2-1, New York loaded the bases for Carlos Beltran, who then hit a monstrous home run to right center at Dolphins Stadium to give the Mets a 5-2 lead.

If there is one thing a Mets fan does know about this '08 campaign, it is that no lead is safe. Enter Luis Ayala for the 9th, two Marlins score, and suddenly the Fish are a base hit away from walking off with a win. Thankfully the Mets got out of it, and with a Phillies loss, New York enters play today with a two game lead in the East.

1-8, 5.77

No, that is not the win-loss record and ERA of Aaron Heilman. "Heart Attack" Heilman is slightly better (2-7, 5.56). 1-8, 5.77 is the win-loss record and ERA of Luis Ayala, the former Nationals righty acquired by the Mets today in exchange for minor-league infielder Anderson Hernandez. The burning question for many Met fans, including myself, is "Why?" Ayala leads NL relievers in losses (8). His ERA in August is 7.36. Heilman's is 12.91, but he's already on the roster.

In searching for any plausible explanation for this deal, I have found two.

1. He was the best right-handed reliever on the market.

2. He owns the Phillies.

The numbers regarding #2 are intriguing. In 35 career appearances against the Phils, Ayala is 4-1, with a 1.47 ERA and .203 BAA. And with five more pivotal matchups against Philly, maybe this move will pay off.

The move also likely means the end of Eddie Kunz's first stint as a Met. Kunz struggled in very limited action with the big club (4 ER in 2.2 IP over 4 outings since being recalled two weeks ago), but expect him to be back once September call-ups roll around, if not sooner.

Meet the Mets

In the fall of 2000, the New York Yankees were on their way to steamrolling their way through the postseason on their way to yet another championship. Standing in their way was "New York's other team," as I like to call them, the New York Mets. Growing up a Red Sox fan, the last thing I wanted to see was another title in the Bronx. That being said, the 2000 Mets were my team that October.

After the Yankees completed that act of steamrolling, I didn't really follow the Mets for a few years. It was the beginning of this 2008 season, when the combination of moving to a house on the southwest coast of Rhode Island allowed me to clearly pull in WFAN on my radio, and more Mets fan friends lead me to follow my second team again.

The 2008 season came on the heels of one of the greatest September collapses of all-time when the Phillies stormed back to win the NL East. And it didn't start much better for "Los Mets." After a 34-35 start, skipper Willie Randolph was canned in an Anaheim hotel room in the middle of the night. Jerry Manuel was brought in as manager, but the Mets' Achilles heel, their bullpen, couldn't have been fixed if Casey Stengel came back from the dead.

Now, on August 17th, the Mets sit 2.5 games ahead of the Phillies, who as I write this are continuing their series of offensive futility in San Diego. The bullpen is still shaky, with Billy Wagner injured, Aaron Heilman pitching BP every time he takes the hill, and talk of Jerry Manuel screwing with the rotation and moving John Maine to the closer's role. The team is being carried by players like Fernando Tatis, who has returned from who knows where to be the Mets' big-hit man, and Daniel Murphy, who is hitting .415 in his first 15 big league games. September is right around the corner for Los Mets, and who knows what will happen for MLB's most inconsistent team.